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Barbara’s sister, Mrs. Joseph Goss, of 330 Palmetto Street, verified her sister had been with her the evening before. She was taken to view the body of the assailant but she shook her head. “I’ve never seen him before,” she said. “The cause of this trouble is a profound mystery to me and all members of our family. Barbara was at my house in Palmetto street until about 11 o’clock Wednesday night. She was in a most cheerful mood and we laughed and talked for two hours while sewing on a waist she was helping me make.”
The window through which the intruder entered was only about five feet from the pavement. The police were able to verify another detail in Cornelius’ story about the intruder shooting at him by locating the bullet buried in the wall opposite the window.
The detectives insisted from the start that the murder was motivated by jealousy or revenge. The killer had plenty of time to commit the murder and escape, if he wanted to.
Further investigation turned up two postal cards and at least one letter found among Barbara’s possessions. The first one, mailed Christmas, read: “Dear Bessie: From one who loves you and wishes you many happy returns on Christmas. G.” A second card, which was for Easter, read: “Dear Bessie: Best wishes of season from a self-made man. If all the people were like Lincoln what a grand world this would be. G. M.”
Another letter read in part: “Wishing that you may remain true to one that loves you! May you never be troubled by physical ills or mental troubles. May your path be strewn with roses the sincere wish of one that adores you.”
The communications were undated and all were mailed in envelopes that were since discarded.
The assailant hadn’t made much effort to hide his identity and the police soon found out who he was. By the time the bodies were removed to the Brooklyn Morgue in the Kings County Hospital, he was named as George McAghon, the assistant yardmaster of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He had been at his job for two years and earned a monthly salary of $120.
George was a 35-year-old widower who lived at 160 Erie street, Jersey City with his four daughters, who ranged in age from 5 years old to 12. His sister Jennie lived with them and cared for the girls. No one had anything bad to say about McAghon. He was described as a temperate man who was a member of the Brotherhood of Trainmen. He belonged to St. Mary’s Catholic Church and attended services there frequently. He also belonged to the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization.
Jennie McAghon said she’d never heard of Mrs. Cornelius. “It’s all too horrible for belief,” she said. “I can tell you absolutely nothing that will explain it.” She said she last saw her brother the night before the crime, when he left the house early in the evening.
A search of McAghon’s room revealed no letters from Mrs. Cornelius. Police, however, were confident that McAghon’s actions showed he was familiar with the layout of the Cornelius apartment. Neighbors who viewed the body of the dead man said they had seen him at the corner drug store recently, making purchases there that might be intended for a woman.
Cornelius said he had never heard of any admirer of his wife and declared he never saw the postcards and letters found among his wife’s effects. “I cannot account for what has happened,” he said. “My wife and I were very happy together. I never saw McAghon before and have no way of knowing that Mrs. Cornelius was acquainted with him.”
Based on the forensic evidence at the scene, Cornelius was completely absolved from any part in the crime.
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Barbara had a secret life that finally caught up with her. Seeing the quilt makes me think we really don’t know the complete history of an antique quilt.
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I believe you’re right, Judy. I wondered if maybe this fellow often came by after her husband left for work. Also wondered about the Knights of Columbus stuff. I bet you many antique quilts could tell a story!
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The Knights of Columbus is the Catholic version of the Masons. Yes, the male victim was very familiar with the house. He seemed to be obsessed with the female victim, considering the letters he wrote to her. I wonder just how many men she was involved with? She found one that was unbalanced and paid the price.
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You’re way ahead of me! I hadn’t even thought of other guys. But why not?
Re: the Catholic angle, the killer and the victim were Catholic, the husband was not. He must’ve put the pennant over their bedroom door…seems significant but I don’t know exactly how.
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George must have brought the Knights of Columbus pennant to the murder scene. Mrs. Cornelius wouldn’t have it nor her Protestant husband.
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Yes, that much seems to be a fact. It was an odd item for him to bring to their home. I wonder if it suggests premeditation? If I understood the Knights of Columbus more, I’d probably have a stronger opinion on this point.
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George McAghon sounds like a serious guy. Took his faith and job and role as a father seriously. Perhaps if she did have other lovers, he thought he was justified in taking her life and his own? Like she led him astray on his spiritual path or something like that. He must have come planning to kill her and/or her husband. My money is on a religious motive. Maybe he felt guilty sinning with Mrs. Cornelius?
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I think you’re right, Ruby. I don’t know enough about the Knights of Columbus’ precepts but I wouldn’t be surprised if the presence of the pennant had a specific meaning attached to it. I wonder if finding the husband there was a surprise to him.
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“Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive.”
That idiom is a very ‘Shakespearean” phrase, though he did not write it. It was written by Sir Walter Scott, a Scottish author, in the early 19th Century. Those words are thought to mean when you lie or act dishonestly you are initiating problems and a domino structure of complications that will eventually become uncontrollable. Someone involved with the deaths of Barbara Cornelius and George McAghon weaved a tangled web to “deceive.” Using that concept as a premise, the facts and the sequence of events can lead to a different conclusion from the one reached by the police.
Police worked on the supposition that George McAghon shot Barbara Cornelius as the result of a “love triangle” and then committed suicide. As a devout Catholic, Mr. McAghon would have believed that suicide is a mortal sin and against the tenets of the Church. Committing such an act would damn him to Hell for Eternity.
The Carmen’s story of McAghon entering through the street level window and his frantic act of running out of the room in fear is very suspect. What “loving husband” runs from danger leaving his wife sleeping in bed? Why did Barbara Cornelius not run? And why did Carmen Cornelius run upstairs? Why not attempt to get the police? Police patrolled the streets in 1915 and there were call boxes on the streets to alert the police of trouble. Also suspicious is Mr. Cornelius’ claim he overslept, yet he admits to lying awake a half-hour after his normal departure time for work . . . listening for or to sounds of a possible intruder.
Wouldn’t gun shots at 1:30 a.m. echo through the building, waking the Jones’ upstairs? At least 4 shots were fired: two killing Barbara Cornelius, one killing McAghon and the one found in the wall. It must have been a matter of seconds between the four firings, yet Carmen Cornelius wants others to believe the Jones’ were aroused only after he woke them for help. Equally as strange is the bullet in the wall that allegedly was fired at Carmen Cornelius when running from the room. Why would McAghon want to murder Carmen Cornelius along with Barbara Cornelius, whom he supposed loved, and HIMSELF? With Carmen Cornelius dead, McAghon could have Barbara for himself?
The gun powder “smudges,” couldn’t that have easily been applied to McAghon’s hand by a murderer? Based on the police photo, the gun (not in the photo) and hat are too perfectly placed, as if they were staged, as was McAghon’s body. Normally, someone who holds a gun to their head and pulls the trigger, the weapon drops out of the person’s hand . . . . and not found still in the hand’s grasp. Additionally, if McAghon had been sitting on the bed when he shot himself, would his left leg be on the bed in full extension and his right leg bent under the right? The tale told of Leslie Jones’ actions, snatching the 22 caliber gun from the hands of an intruder , he believed to be alive, just does not sound plausible.
Lastly, are the “love letter” really “love letters?” Who refers to “Lincoln” in a “love letter?” Wouldn’t one sister divulge to the other her unhappy marriage and relationship with another man? That was not the case between Barbara Cornelius and her sister.
Sorry, but I do not subscribe to Carmen Cornelius’ explanation of events, but perhaps I am being too pragmatic. Carmen Cornelius had the opportunity, means and motive at that precise time to shoot his younger spouse and her supposed paramour?
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This is an Excellent breakdown of everything that does not make sense about this crime scene! Great job Jax! George’s body is placed all wrong. I don’t think many women would appreciate their husband sprinting from the room and leaving them alone with an intruder. And most men (I think) would have acted when they saw someone trying to get in instead of waiting until he was in the room and fleeing.
I still think the Knights of Columbus items are a clue… whether staged or not. But I don’t know where it’s supposed to point.
I didn’t consciously think it but what you say about Lincoln is very true! He should never appear in any love letter.
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Agreed. I also struggled with the Knights of Columbus paraphernalia and felt that if the crime scene was stage, logically every thing had to be staged. These murders were premeditated.
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