12 January 1937 Tonawanda News
North Tonawanda NY

Trousers, Hammer Clues in Slaying of Pretty Bride

New York, Jan. 12 (U.P) - A pair of trousers and a machinist's hammer,
discovered in an incinerator, gave police their first clues today in the
bathtub murder of pretty Mary Robinson Case, 26-year-old college graduate,
a bride of a year.

Her body was found last night in the overflowing tub in the bath room of
her Jackson Heights apartment. An autopsy showed she died of strangulation
and a fractured skull. There was evidence of a terrific struggle.

It was discovered by her husband, Frank Case, 30, an employee of the
American Hotel Association.

Struck Down in Kitchen

A few hours before, at Albany, attorneys were pleading for clemency for
John Fiorenza, apprentice upholsterer, who strangled Mrs. Nancy Titterton
and threw her lifeless body into a bathtub in her apartment on April 10,
1936. Fiorenza is to die in the electric chair at Sing Sing Jan. 21.

Mrs. Case was struck down in her kitchen, police believed, and then
recovered to fight her assailant. Furniture and rugs in other rooms were
in disorder. It appeared as if she had made a last desperate defense in
the bathroom before she was killed. The walls and floors were stained.

Her slayer dumped the body, attired in chemise and smock, into the tub,
put in the stopper and turned on the water. A sheet was thrown over
the tub.

Not Criminally Attacked

Dr. Richard Grimes, assistant medical examiner of Queens borough, who
performed the autopsy said Mrs. Case had not been criminally attacked.

Scores of police and detectives spread through the populous borough of
Queens checking on persons who might have been in the apartment. They
were at a loss for a motive, although the possibility of robbery was
considered because Mrs. Case's empty pocketbook was found at the bottom
of the incinerator shaft. She was said to have about $15.

The incinerator shat produced the machinist's hammer and trousers both
bearing dark stains. They were sent to the city toxologist for tests.
Police said the trousers had not belonged to Case.

Husband Phoned

Benjamin Weisberg, a laundry employee, said he had delivered the
laundry found just inside the door of the Case apartment. He had tried
to deliver the package in the morning, he said, but no one answered the
door. On a second trip he tried the door found it unlocked and placed
the laundry inside.

The Cases lived on the fourth floor of the 88-fmaily building. Case
told police he telephoned the apartment about 6 p.m. to tell his wife he
would be late. Worried because he received no response he hurried home
immediately, and found the front door ajar and several lights burning.

Case says he pulled his wife's body out of the tub and called a physician.

Case Quizzed by Police

Meanwhile, water from the overflowing tub had seeped through the floor
down into the apartment below, occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair Reid.
Unaware of the tragedy, Mrs. Reid summoned John Caldy, building
superintendent.

Caldy went to the Case apartment and was admitted by Case.

"Where is the leak?" he asked.

"Look in the bathroom," Case replied.

Caldy saw Mrs. Case's body lying on the floor over the threshold, where
her husband had dragged it. He reported to the owners of the building
who then summoned police.

Case was questioned for several hours. Mrs. Case was a graduate of
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. Her parents live in Lancaster,
Pa.

Member of Junior League

Lancaster, Pa., Jan. 12 (U. P.) Mary Harriet Robinson Case, slain in
a Long Island 'bathtub murder,' was a member of the Junior League here
and prominent among the younger social set.

She was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Robinson. Her father, a
leading local undertaker is active in civic affairs and in the Chamber
of Commerce.

Mrs. Case, who was 26 last Oct. 3, attended local grade schools and was
graduated from Stevens High School, in the class of 1929. She entered
Skidmore college at Saratoga Springs, and was graduated with the class
of 1933 after extensive art training. While in college she met her future
husband, a native of Saratoga Springs.

Immediately after her graduation from Skidmore, Miss Robinson went to
work for Saks, Fifth avenue, New York as a designer of leather and silver
bracelets. Some of her work in silver and in pottery was displayed here.

One of the most important events of the Lancaster social season of 1935
was her marriage in the First Reformed church on November 25.

Besides her parents, who left for New York last night after learning of
their daughter's death, Mrs. Case is survived by two brothers, William
J., a graduate of Penn State and member of the Lancaster Junior Chamber
of Commerce, and Thomas, who attends a Lancaster High School.

While in school she met her future husband who lived in the city. They
were married in 1935.

Case's father was a leading upstate contractor before his death a number
of years ago. His mother and a sister, Mrs. Douglas Williams reside here.

Case worked in Schenectady, N. Y., for two years at the hotel Van Curler
after graduating from Cornell and before his marriage. He was a room
clerk, later advancing to the job as auditor. Gaining experience he
left Schenectady to become a traveling auditor for the American Hotel
corporation.

Case was a graduate of Cornell University. He is an accountant. He
had rented the apartment on Nov. 23, 1935, moving in a month after
his marriage.

Last summer the apartment was robbed by a thief who broke in and stole
clothing and personal effects, including a diamond brooch of small
value which Mrs. Case has received as a wedding gift. A Negro porter,
employed by the Bachelors' club, an organization which rents rooms in
one wing of the building to single men, was questioned at the time but
established an alibi. He was sought for questioning today.