Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2011, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== NEWSPAPER: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, New York - Sunday May 28, 1922 =========================================================================== LEGALLY IDENTIFIES LILLIAN WHITE AS MURDERED GIRL __________________ Justice Tompkins Decides Against Sister of Brooklyn Girl Who Sued Out Writ. ______________ (Special to the Eagle) Nyack, N.Y., May 27-- The skull found on a mountain near Thiells, Rockland County, several weeks ago, was legally identified as that of Lil- lian White, of Brooklyn, former in- mate of the Letchworth Village Home, by Justice Arthur S. Tompkins in the Supreme Court here today. This was the same identification made by former Police Capt. Grant Williams, of Patchogue, L.I., when he reconstructed the face of the girl from the naked skull, but it was ques- tioned by Mrs. Catherine Copertino, of 1408 Bergen st., Lillian White's sis- ter. Voicing this doubt, Mrs. Coper- tino went to court with a writ of ha- beas corpus and demanded her sister, dead or alive. At the conclusion of the trial today, the complainant was handed what the court's decision called for -- the bare, sun-bleached skull of the murdered White girl, which had been resting on the court stenographer's table during the proceedings. Captain Williams' investigation pointed to the conclusion that Lillian White was murdered. The girl escaped from the Letchworth Village Home a little more than a year ago and was not heard of afterward. Last month two small boys hunting on Cheesecock Mountain found the skull that was produced in court today. Later a part of the skeleton was found near the same place. Through ingenious detective work by the police and the skillfully reconstructed face made by Captain Williams, it was con- cluded that it was what remained of Lillian White. That she was murdered was indicated by a cleft in the fore- head. Murder Mystery Still Unsolved The mystery of her death is as deep as it was on the day Captain Williams' identification was made. Nothing brought out in the suit served to throw any new light on it. The writ was directed against the Letchworth Village Home, Mrs. Co- pertino basing her suit on the facts that the institution was responsible for the girl's welfare, once she was legally remanded to it, and that if the Home officials presumed that the skull was not that of Lillian White, as it was said that they did; it was their duty to present the girl. Copies of the writ were served also on Coro- ner Stahlman and District Attorney Morton Lexow of Rockland County. When the case was called today Coroner Stahlman brought the skull and laid it on the table. The rest of the skeleton had been interred. The court ruling gave Mrs. Copertino per- mission to exhume it, if she wishes, and carry it back to Brooklyn. Photographs of the skull before and after the plaster model was placed on it and of Lillian White were produced by Captain Williams and compared by Justice Tompkins. The judge said he saw a resemblance in the skull con- tours of all of them and also with the skull contours of other members of Lillian White's family who were in court. Captain Williams said that he made his model, except for putting on the hair ribbon, before seeing a picture of Lillian White. District Attorney Lexow and officials of the Letchworth Village Home told the court that they did not wish to op- pose giving the skeleton and skull to Mrs. Copertino if the victim were really Lillian White. They declared they did not know whose skeleton it was. From his own observations, Jus- tice Tompkins sustained the writ, de- clared the skull to be that of Lillian White, and told her sister she could have it. Dr. Anna W. Hochfelder was Mrs. Copertino's attorney. ===========================================================================