Clara Fischer
Submitted by Herman R "Buck" Seibert Jr. March 22, 2012
Cincinnati Enquirer, July 23, 1919, page 8
GRAVE: Of Girl Reopened. Clara Fischer's Left Arm Broken, Doctors Find, Match Found in Casket
Reopening last yesterday afternoon at St Stephens Cemetery, Ft Thomas, of the grave of Clara Fischer, pretty fifteen year old daughter of Anton Fischer, 605 East Third Street Newport, served to verify many of the assumptions upon which investigators have been working since last Friday in an effort to establish the identity of the ghoul or ghouls who took the body from its grave last Thursday night.
Detectives are pondering upon the possible significance of one new feature of the case, namely, the fact that the girl's left arm was broken, presumably when the body was exhumed by the ghouls in the silence of the night and dragged to the shelter of a tree several yards away from the grave. A match found in the grave yesterday may furnish another clew, detectives said.
Another angle developed when detectives were informed from a source which they said, they were not at liberty to disclose, that a Newport woman who suffers from a deformity had been told by a fortune teller that a deformity of the kind could be cured if rubbed with a cloth or rag taken from attire of a dead person.
PHYSICIAN EXAMINE BODY
The exhumation and examination were made under the supervision of Dr. Claude Youtsey and Dr. J M Digby, a former Coroner of Campbell County. The grave was opened in the presence of Campbell County officials, operatives of the Cal Crim Detective Bureau which has been conducting the investigation of the mystery and Trustees of St Stephens Cemetery.
After examination of the body Drs. Youtsey and
Digby announced these things:
That the left arm was broken
That there were stains and mud on the clothing, mostly the stockings and
slippers
That a cloth used to hold the body in place, known among undertakes as a "body
napkin" had been removed
That a thorough search of the grave, the coffin, the clothing and of the
premises failed to reveal any trace of the lily which was in the girl's hand at
the time of the funeral last Thursday morning.
That while the lily was missing, a sprig of fern said by one of the family to
have been placed in the hand of the girl with the lily just before the funeral,
was found in the casket near the feet of Clara Fischer's body. This helped
to confirm the opinion of those who hold to the theory that the body was exhumed
for the purpose of obtaining this flower.
That a rosary that had been placed in the other hand of the girl had not been
removed from her grasp
That the body had not been mistreated to the extent feared by members of the
Fischer family and detective who viewed the body Friday.
PARENTS CALLED TO CHAPEL
When the examination had been completed to the satisfaction of the physicians and detectives, who endeavoring to learn the identity of the person or persons who desecrated the grave last Thursday night, the parents of Clara Fischer and other relatives in the cemetery were called to the cemetery chapel and viewed the body. The body is to be re-interred at ? o'clock this morning. Arrangements have been made to seal the grave with cement.
Detectives say that they are not fully satisfied with the story of the woman suspected of being the mysterious "woman in black" that she had visited the cemetery late last Thursday night to view the grave of her uncle. They say they cannot understand why she disregarded the rules of the cemetery which promote visitors after 5 pm and point to the fact that previous visit she had made to the cemetery were in day light.
Stains found on the garments of the dead girl may be placed under a microscope today.
GRAVE DIGGING IS TIMED
It required twenty-four minutes for two experienced grave diggers and a helper to remove the earth above the coffin yesterday. Detectives estimated it would have required one man working at night approximately three hours to have made the disinterment Thursday night. They again called attention to their previous assertion that the banking of the earth ghouls evidently was the work of experienced hands.
Detectives said yesterday that they have not discarded a theory that the deed may have been inspired by enmity said to have existed between a grave digger and a resident of the neighborhood who seized upon the opportunity offered by the burial of the Fischer girl in the lonely spot in the cemetery to deposit the grave in an effort to discredit Sexton Blye.
County Attorney Blaine McLaughlin of Campbell County said last night he had not requested to draw an affidavit or to issue any warrants in the case, but added that he was expected to examine one man is under suspicion. He gave it as his personal opinion, from what he has learned of the case, that an attempt to discredit the work of a sexton may have been a motive for the outrage. A sum of money said to be due another man living in the same locality may have prompted a desire for "getting even" McLaughlin said.
County attorney Edward Hamilton is working with operatives of the Cal Crim Detective Bureau in the investigation. Interest in the case was increased yesterday when Detective Paul V Ryan, principal in the investigation, conducted by the Cal Crim Detective Bureau, announced that threats had been made against him.
Mr. Ryan said he was called at 2 o'clock yesterday morning by the ringing of his telephone. The person who made the call, he said, informed him it "would be as much as his life was worth" if he were seen in the vicinity of Ft Thomas "after dusk Tuesday evening." Mr. Ryan said he kept up the conversation as long as he could endeavoring to "draw out" the person who called him, but was unable to gain an expression which might have given him a clew to the identity of the author of the threat.
Detectives said there were no further developments in their investigation of the crew furnished by William Schoulties, farmer living a mile from St Stephens, who said that last Friday morning at 4:30 o'clock, as he was on his way on horseback to Ft Thomas to telephone a veterinarian, he had seen two men sitting along the Three Mile Creek road, 300 feet from the cemetery. This road runs off from the Alexandria pike, on which St Stephens Cemetery is located. There were stains of mud on the men's trousers, said Schoulties.