Case File: Dr. Harvey Burdell
Overview
In 1927 a student of music and a member of the Mendelsohn Chorus was brutally killed just feet from her sisters home where she was staying. A small down girl, she had only returned two Minneapolis two weeks prior - having spent the previous year in college before going home in Pelican Rapids for part of the summer. She wasn't found until later in the afternoon when neighborhood boys were playign hide-and-seek, and one dodged into a shed to hid, but instead stumbled over the body of Pearl Osten.
Locations
- 31 Bond St, New York City, NY - home of Dr. Harvey Burdell
Gallery
People
| Type | Name | (Born-Died) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victim | Burdell, Dr. Harvey | ?-1856 | beaten and strangled |
| Suspects | Cunningham, Mrs. | landlady | |
| Snodgrass, Mr. | resident at 31 Bond St. | ||
| Witnesses | Burchell, John J. | boy who discovered the body | |
| Bulen, Mr. | brother-in-law to Mr. Snodgrass | ||
| Hannah | cook at 31 Bond St. | ||
| Officers & Investigators | Connery, Dr. | Coroner | |
| Francis, Dr. | conducted initial post mortem | ||
| Family | |||
Testimonies
John J. Burchell
John J. Burchell, sworn, says - I live at 319 East Thirteen Street; I was employed by Dr. Burdell as his boy; I have been with the doctor three weeks; the doctor was temperate in his habits; I have not heard any angry words between the doctor and the lady of the house; Mrs. Cunningham was in the doctor’s office yesterday morning; she said that I cleared out about 3 o’clock yesterday; at 3 o’clock he paid me my wages; I did not see him afterwards; I generally came in the morning at 8 o’clock, and made the fire in the working room; I never was in the doctor’s room upstairs; I left the scuttle at the door; I never observed male or female in his room; I never heard, directly or indirectly, any one threaten to injure the doctor; the only thing I heard was about coal; Mrs. Cunningham stated that she burned her coal in the doctor’s apartments, and her coal being consumed, she said he should get coal, to which he made no reply, but went up stairs; when I came this morning, I opened the working room door as usual, made the fire, and then brought up the scuttle of coal to leave at the doctor’s door; the door was closed, with the key outside; I then went down stairs an dbrought up another scuttle of coal to Mrs. Cunningham’s room; her room was open, and she was at breakfast; it was unusual to find the key outside of the doctor’s door; when I came up stairs the first time, it was to ask the doctor whether I should clean off the sidewalk; I opened the door, it was not locked, but the key was outside; the first thing that presented itself was the blood on the wall and closet door; I then beheld the doctor lying on his face close to the door, and surrounded with blood; I was frighteend, and slamming the door after me, I fell on my back outside of the door; I then got up and ran down stairs, and informed Hannah, the cook, that the doctor was dead and lying on the floor; she ran up crying, and told the rest of the family; Mr. Snodgrass came to the doctor’s room, and ran immediately to Mrs. Cunningham’s room, and told her what he had seen; Mrs. Cunningham began to cry; Mr. Snodgrass was holding her on the bed; I was then sent by Mr. Snodgrass to the corner of Broadway and Readed street, to bring up his brother-in-law, Mr. Bulen he came with me. This is all I know of the matter.
Allen T. Smith
Allen T. Smith deposed as follows: I am a dentist, living at 306 Fourth street; I am no relative of deceased; I was in partnership with deceased as far as the artificial work was concerned; I did not board with Mrs. C.; Dr. Burdell took his meals at the Metropolitan Hotel, and slept at Mrs. C's house; I have heard angry words between the doctor and Mrs. Cunningham; it was concerning some papers which were taken from the doctor; he charged her with having taken them; the papers were notes to a considerable amount; I did not hear either make use of foul words to the other; a policeman was called in by Mr. Burdell; angry words were used on both sides; I do not remember them; the policeman adjusted the matter between deceased and Mrs. C., and then went away; no row occured to my knoweledge subsequent to this; I saw the doctor last time yesterday, between 12 and 2 o'clock; he was then in good health; I heard no angry words between deceased and anybody in the house yesterday; this morning, about 8 o'clock, I was informed of his death; I never knew of anyboyd sleeping with the deceased at night, neither did I hear that a doctor from Havana slept with him last summer; I never heard or knew that any female slept with him; I have never heard from him that any one owed him ill will, except the difficulty between him and Mrs. C. about the notes; the doctor told me the day before yesterday that he was very ancious to preserve some papers, that the key of his safe was taken and that he thought he would deposit them in the bank, the nature of the documents was an agreement between him and Mrs. C. in relation to the giving up of the house on the 1st of May next to Mr. Burdell, exonerating him from all indebtedness.
Documentation
Burials
Newspaper Articles
- 12 Dec 1856 (New York Times): Bogus Insurance Company, Brooklyn, testimony by Dr. Harvey Burdell
- 1 Feb 1857 (New York Daily Herald): Horrible and Mysterious Murder in Bond Street
- 27 Nov 1904 (The Inter Ocean, Chicago): The Murdell Murder, A Mystery of the Century