[Carbon copy, patrolman's report, Port Hume City Police Form 22. Corona Personal No. 3. Filed night of 14 Oct 1923.]

PORT HUME CITY POLICE — FIRST REPORT OF OFFICER AT SCENE

Officer: E. Reilly, Badge 411, Ptl., H.P. (responding; call received from St. Casimir's Church per J. Kamiński.) Date / Time: 14 October 1923 — 9:21 p.m. Location: St. Casimir's Polish Catholic Parish rectory, 118 Halicka Street, Little Warsaw. Nature of Incident: Death — apparent accidental fall.

Narrative.

Summoned by Mr. J. Kamiński, sacristan, who met me at the rectory door. Kamiński stated he had returned to the church at approximately 9:05 p.m. to lock the sacristy after the end of an altar-society meeting, entered the rectory by the connecting passage to ask Father Jarzembek whether he required anything further for the evening, and upon entering the front hallway had found Father Jarzembek lying face down on the floor, head east, feet west, approximately six feet from the base of the staircase which rises to the rectory's second floor.

Upon my arrival I observed the body in the position described by Mr. Kamiński. I checked for pulse at the wrist and at the neck; none. Body was cool but not cold; lividity had begun to settle in the forward portions of the face. Death had occurred within the hour, in my estimate.

Observations of the scene, in the order in which I noted them.

  1. Position of body. Six feet measured from foot of staircase. The hallway runs north-to-south from the rectory door (south end) to the staircase (north end). Body was oriented head-east, feet-west, i.e. perpendicular to the hallway and therefore to the line of fall from the staircase. A body falling headlong from the stair would typically come to rest with its long axis parallel to the direction of fall, i.e. north-to-south in this hallway, not east-to-west.

  2. Brass candlestick on hall side table. A single brass candlestick of the parish's regular sacristy kind, with a taper partially burned. The candlestick was standing upright. The surface of the side table was dusty except for an approximately circular clean patch where the candlestick stood, and a second clean area roughly six inches square beside it, as if a cloth had recently been wiped over both. The candlestick itself was the only object in the hallway that had been recently cleaned.

  3. Wool scarf on the hall bench. A dark green wool scarf, folded neatly, was placed on the hall bench by the doorway. Mr. Kamiński, when I asked whether it was Father Jarzembek's, examined it and said it was not. He stated that Father Jarzembek owned three scarves, all black, and that this was not one of them. He did not know to whom it belonged.

  4. Side door, ajar. The side door of the rectory, which opens onto the alley between the rectory and the parish school, was ajar by approximately four inches. No draft was present (night was still); the door would not have been blown open. Door hardware intact, not forced.

  5. No signs of struggle elsewhere. The study at the rear of the rectory, which I briefly inspected at Mr. Kamiński's suggestion, was in ordinary order, papers on the desk as if recently in use, a cup of tea (cold) on the table beside the reading chair. One drawer of the desk was open by approximately two inches, its contents neatly ordered but the drawer itself not closed.

  6. Face of the deceased. A small abrasion on the left temple, consistent with a fall against the hallway baluster. No other visible injury above the collar line. Neck appeared displaced at the upper cervical spine. Hands clean; no bruising on the knuckles.

Call to Det. Ostermann: placed at 9:28 p.m. Ostermann arrived at 9:53 p.m. Body remained in the position found until photographed by the Coroner's photographer at 10:14 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, [signed] E. Reilly, Ptl. 411 14 October 1923, 11:48 p.m.

[pencil annotation at foot:]

"Typed original given to Det. Ostermann on the 15th morning. A 'reviewed' version of the report was filed in the case file two days later. Observations 1, 2, 3, and 5 above were omitted from the reviewed version. I have kept this carbon. — E.R."