Only Two of the Five Witness Picked Kiernan Out as the Man They Saw In the Cab with McAuliffe - One of the Witnesses a Whitechapel Jew and Another Served Jail Sentences.
New York, April 10.
District Attorney Jerome said this morning that he does not place much faith in the identification of Detective Sergeant
Kiernan who was pointed out at the 47th. street station last night as one of the men who was with James McAuliffe in a cab on
the morning the latter was found bleeding and dying on the sidewalk. The investigation of the McAuliffe case which is being
pushed by a local newspaper, brought forth witnesses, each of whom put a link in the chain to prove that McAuliffe was taken
from the 47th. street station, placed in a cab, battered by police officers and then left in the street. The police say
McAuliffe died a natural death.
These five witnesses were taken to the 47th. street station last night and all the patrolmen on duty there were lined up for identification. Aaron Cohen and John Lennon two of the witnesses picked Kiernan out as one of the men they had seen in a cab with McAuliffe. This morning District Attorney Jerome said relative to this identification: "The witnesses had an opportunity to identify Kiernan in the criminal courts building yesterday afternoon. They were there and so was Kiernan. They were asked to looked over the men and both said they had never seen Kiernan before. In the meantime they learned something evidently which led them to the conclusion that Kiernan was the man. "I do not consider this identification important and shall not take the case before the grand jury nor prosecute Kiernan on any such testimony. One of the witnesses is a Whitechapel Jew and the other a man who has served jail sentences. "Cohen offered himself as a witness in the Burus case and sent the detectives on a wild goose chase so that we have had experience with him"
