cancelled at Lambertville on July 26.  When she saw the envelope she called Petrosini’s attention to the fact that the stamp was a two-cent red stamp, and said, to his surprise, that she was able to identify the letter on that account as one mailed by Strollo on July 26.  As there is no local delivery in the town, she explained, “drop letters,” or letters mailed by residents to other residents, may be franked for one cent.  Now, in the first place, no Italian in Lambertville, except Strollo, so far as Miss Phillips could remember, had ever mailed a letter to another Italian in the same town.  A frugal Italian, moreover, if he had done so, would have put on only the required amount of postage.  On the 26th of July, Strollo had come to the post-office and pushed this identical letter through the window, at the same time handing her two cents and asking her to put on a red stamp for him.  She had been surprised at this, and had at first thought of calling his attention to the fact that only a one-cent stamp was necessary, but she had refrained and put on the stamp.  At the same time she had noticed that it was addressed to “Antonio Torsielli, Lambertville, New Jersey.”  Strollo had then taken the letter and slipped it into the “drop” and she had cancelled the stamp, taking the opportunity to examine the letter a second time.  A stranger coincidence could hardly be imagined, and this observing young lady from the country was thus able to supply the most important link in the chain against the murderer, and to demonstrate conclusively that the wretch had himself been mailing in Lambertville the letters purporting to come from the fictitious brother in Yonkers.

Strollo was now placed in the House of Detention as a “witness,” a course frequently pursued when it is desirable to prevent a suspect from knowing that he is accused.

The case against him was practically complete, for it did not seem humanly possible, that any jury would hesitate to convict him upon the evidence, but juries are loath to find any one guilty of murder in the first degree upon purely circumstantial evidence, and this was the first purely circumstantial case in a long time.  Inspector Price, therefore, conceived the idea of trapping Strollo into a confession by placing a detective in confinement with him under the guise of being a fellow-prisoner.  It was, of course, patent that Strollo was but a child mentally, but he was shrewd and sly, and if he denied his guilt, there was still a chance of his escape.  Accordingly, a detective named Repetto was assigned to the disagreeable task of taking the part of an accused criminal.  He was detailed to the House of Detention and remained there for five days, from September 8 to September 13.  Here Repetto became acquainted with Strollo and the other prisoners, giving his name as Silvio del Sordo and his address as 272 Bowery.  He played cards with them, read the papers aloud and made himself generally agreeable.  During this period he frequently saw the defendant write and familiarized himself with his chirography.