The Camden Mystery — January 26, 1889
Was she or wasn’t she? On January 26, 1889 nurse Annie Eisenhardt was found cut and bleeding in a restroom at Cooper Hospital. Her tale of what had happened to her and the physical evidence were in conflict, and it appears that her wounds were self-inflicted. Or were they?
I’ve only found a few articles relating to this event, so until I find some more, or some intrepid researcher hits the microfilms at the Camden County Historical Society, all I can tell you is what the press of the day, across the country, had to say about what allegedly occurred. I don’t know what became of Miss Eisenhardt after she left Cooper Hospital. It appears however, that she did not remain in Camden.
Besides Nurse Eisenhardt, other significant players in the story include Dr. Harry Jarrett of Cooper Hospital, Camden Chief of Police Samuel Dodd, Camden Mayor Jesse Pratt, Cooper Hospital night watchman Samuel Ellis, and Camden County prosecutor Wilson H. Jenkins.
April 6, 2005
Assaulting the Nurse
New York Times —
A Woman Badly Cut and Beaten and the Watchman Arrested.
Philadelphia, Jan. 26.—Annie Eisenhardt, a nurse in the Cooper Hospital, in Camden, N. J., was found lying face down in a pool of blood on the second floor of the building in the bath room, about 1 o’clock this morning, after being assaulted by an unknown man, who subsequently escaped from the building through the window, by means of a rope formed by tying towels together. Joseph Ellis, the night watchman and engineer, is now under arrest charged with assaulting and beating the girl.
The head physician tells the story of the assault substantially like this: At about 1 o’clock she entered the bathroom for the purpose of getting a sponge for a patient. When she entered the room she was seized by a man, who began the search of her clothing for money. “I have no money,” she replied, terribly frightened. “Yes, you have,” said the man. “You must—I don’t want your watch; I have come to rob you. If you scream or make any noise I will do the watchman,” he exclaimed the assailant.
At this the woman screamed, when the man grabbed hold of her and began to beat and cut her horribly. He cut her in several places on the back of her long head of hair. He also bumped her head against the floor and cut her face with some sharp instrument. He escaped and left her unconscious.
When she regained consciousness she found herself lying in a pool of blood, and then realized that she had been cut. She could not call for assistance, as the hall was dark and quiet, but her groans attracted the attention of Joseph Ellis, the night watchman, who was then making his rounds. He and a convalescent patient found the girl in the bathroom. She was found lying in a pool of blood on the floor. She was taken to another part of the building to be cared for, and her wounds were dressed by Dr. Jarrett, the resident physician.
The doctor found her badly cut up and weak from loss of blood. But no cut was very deep, and there was no great danger from them. There were nine cuts in all on her body. There was an imminent danger of her mind wandering after the shock she had undergone. The doctor said she had been cut in nine places with a very sharp instrument, and it was thought to be a razor, on her body: four of them on her face, one on the scalp, one on the left cheek, one on the right cheek, and one on the chin. The last cut was the deepest.
When the matter was first reported it came to cause the detention of Joseph Ellis, the night watchman, who at one time was thought to be the murderous assailant. The Mayor immediately had consultations with the police and committed Ellis to the lockup. It was stated that Ellis had a confession of guilt. Ellis, however, denied making any such statement. Chief of Police Dodd said Ellis told him that he had seen a man in the hospital, but could not stop him, and that the man made his escape through the window on a rope made of the towels.
Mayor Pratt expressed the opinion that the watchman committed the crime, and that the window story was an afterthought to explain the watchman’s supposed escape. The girl failed to recognize the watchman as her assailant when she was brought face to face with him. She has fully corroborated the physician’s account of what is said to have been done to her.
The Camden Mystery
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Nurse Eisenhardt Describes the Murderous Assault.
Doubt as to the Means of Escape
The Night Watchman Gives His Statement, and the Police Admit That As Yet They Have No Clue.
Although it has been two days since Annie Eisenhardt, the night nurse of the Cooper Hospital, Camden, was murderously assaulted in the bath room of that institution, the police are as much mystified as to who the fiend was as ever. Prosecutor Jenkins and Mayor Pratt have made every possible effort to get at the facts of the affair, but up to a late hour last night they had not succeeded in securing a single clue.
Story of the Crime.
Miss Eisenhardt was attacked about twenty minutes to 1 on Saturday morning by a man in the bath room of the male ward, on the second floor. In telling her distressing story she said: “Just as I entered a man sprang upon me and said: ‘I want some money.’ I told him I had no money, but he could have my watch. He replied he did not want that, and, seizing a towel from the roller and drawing it around my neck commenced choking me.
“I screamed, and he pulled the towel tighter. He then threw me down on the floor and tied my wrists and ankles with a piece of twine, after which he attempted to assault me, but I frustrated his fiendish design by struggling. The stranger then pulled a sharp instrument from his pocket and cut my hair off, and then commenced to slash at me with the instrument he had pulled from his pocket.
“He also tried to throw me out of the window, but was prevented from doing so by my struggling with him. He then snatched my jewelry and as he went out of the bath room window I became unconscious.”
Did He Escape from the Window?
The only window in the institution that was found unfastened was the window in the room where the assault occurred. This was up, and a rope made of strips of toweling was found dangling from the window sill.
Here is where the mysterious part of the crime commences. Officer Williams upon arriving on the scene, tested the strength of this rope, and says that he hardly attached to it the weight of twenty-five pounds before it parted. This he thought proved conclusively that no one ever made his escape by sliding down the knotted towels.
Another strange part of the story is the fact that the ground beneath the bath-room window was soft and smooth, and had any one slid down the toweling or jumped from the window foot prints would certainly have been discovered on the ground. No foot prints, however, were to be seen.
What the Watchman Says.
Early on Saturday morning Joseph Ellis, the engineer and night watchman, was summoned to the City Hall and in the presence of Mayor Pratt, Prosecutor Jenkins and the Chief of Police made this statement:
“About twenty-five minutes of 1 o’clock this morning (Saturday) I met Miss Eisenhardt on my rounds in the ward on the second floor. I then went into the convalescing room and commenced talking to a patient named Buchanan about seeing a strange man about the building the night before.
“My conversation was interrupted by the patient, who said there must be a new arrival, as he had heard groans. I next started down into the engine room, but my progress down stairs was arrested by groans coming from the bath room. Going in, I found Miss Eisenhardt lying upon the floor bleeding. I was only twenty-five feet away from where the assault occurred, and had there been any altercation or outcry I must have heard it.”
The watchman concluded his statement by giving it as his opinion that some one in the institution committed the assault or Miss Eisenhardt’s wounds were inflicted by her own hand.
Miss Eisenhardt is 30 years of age. She came to the Cooper Hospital about three months ago from the Jewish Hospital, this city. She described her assailant as being about 150 pounds in weight, and even in the hurry and confusion of the struggle she noted that he had a black moustache and wore a black cap and black overcoat.
What the Officials Say.
Mayor Pratt said to an INQUIRER reporter yesterday that the crime was still as much of a mystery to the police as when first reported. “I have made every available effort,” he said, “to get at the bottom of the affair, but thus far have failed. My opinion is that Miss Eisenhardt knows more than she tells.”
Chief of Police Dodd, when asked yesterday if the police were working on any clue, replied: “Sunday is a day of rest, so we will rest to-day and go to work on the case again to-morrow.”
Prosecutor Jenkins and Dr. Jarrett, the resident physician of the hospital, were closeted with the injured nurse for nearly an hour yesterday. Both said that she gave no further details, but merely reiterated her former statement.
Miss Eisenhardt says that she has no friends in this country, but that while she was at the Jewish Hospital a man, whose name she refused to divulge, had wanted her to marry him.
In White Chapel Style
Wheeling, West Virginia Register —
A Fiendish Assault on the Cooper Hospital Nurse.
Camden, N. J., January 26.—Miss Annie Eisenhart is the head nurse at the Cooper Hospital. Shortly after one o’clock this morning she was tending patients in the male ward on the second floor, and started to the bath-room for some hot water to wet a bandage. Just as she was entering the bath-room a man stepped from behind the door and grasped her by the wrist, saying, “I want some money.” She replied that she had no money, but said she would give him her watch. The man replied that he did not want that, and then, snatching a towel, put it around her neck and began choking her. She screamed and the man pulled the towel tighter, and then secured her wrists and ankles with a heavy cord. After attempting to assault her he drew a long knife and cut off her hair, which was found on the floor in her lace cap, saturated with blood. After stabbing her repeatedly he left her in a dying condition.
Will Recover
Trenton Times —
The physicians say that Annie Eisenhart, the night nurse in the Cooper Hospital at Camden, who was assaulted, will recover. There is still no clew to her assailant. She has repeated her first story of the assault in substantially the same words. She accurately describes her assailant, and is confident she could identify him. She said she saw the man twice on Friday.
The Camden Mystery
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Nurse Eisenhardt, of the Cooper Hospital, Now Much Better; Will Testify About Her Assailant.
Miss Annie Eisenhardt, the injured nurse, who was admitted to Cooper Hospital’s ward for treatment, is now much better. A mysterious man who slashed her on Saturday morning is still sought by the authorities. She steadfastly declares that she did not inflict the wounds herself.
Mrs. Moore, of Jenkinstown, with whom Nurse Eisenhardt had engaged a boarding position at the Cooper Hospital, went to see her in the ward yesterday. Nurse Eisenhardt was able to sit up in her bed and seemed pleased to see Mrs. Moore. She told her, as a friend, that she did not inflict her wounds.
Search for the missing evidence has been continued, but no trace has been found.
The police say they have learned nothing new in the case. The mystery presents perplexing difficulties, and the idea that the whole story is a fabrication has gained ground.
The Nurse Inflicted Her Own Injuries
Kansas City Star —
Philadelphia, Jan. 31.—It is now the popular belief that the Camden hospital nurse, Annie Eisenhart, inflicted her own injuries. She adheres to her original statement that some strange man assaulted her, but there are many contradictions in her various statements. A physician who made an examination says she was not criminally assaulted.
No Nearer Solution
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Prosecutor Jenkins Thinks Nurse Eisenhardt’s Wounds Were Self-Inflicted.
Prosecutor Jenkins, accompanied by Dr. Walsh, yesterday afternoon paid another visit to the Cooper Hospital and held a conversation with Miss Annie Eisenhardt, the nurse who was assaulted early last Saturday morning. The Prosecutor told her of the many conflicting parts in her story with an idea of abstracting from her a confession.
Miss Eisenhardt turned her face to the Prosecutor and looking him right straight in the eyes said: “You may doubt my story, but you will find when the mystery is cleared away that I am telling the truth.”
The Prosecutor is inclined to the opinion that Miss Eisenhardt’s wounds were self-inflicted.
Dots and Dashes
Kansas City Times —
It is now stated that Annie Eisenhart, the head nurse at the hospital at Camden, N. J., who was found terribly cut and beaten, inflicted the wounds on herself while temporarily insane.
Camden’s News Budget
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Miss Annie Eisenhardt, the young nurse who was assaulted in the Cooper Hospital about two weeks ago, has fully recovered and will probably leave the institution this or next week. Whether Miss Eisenhardt will leave on her own account or whether she has been requested to resign is not known, although it is believed that she has been ordered to resign.