The
Mysterious
ecith
Of Mr. Fink

In 1929 a resident of this New York apartment
building died under strange circumstances.

Can you help us solve the case?

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
PHOTOGRAPHER JENNIFER WEISBORD

This is a true story, a murder mystery that has never
been solved.
The Jewish News is inviting reader's to submit imag-
inative solutions to the case. We'll select one to win
first prize of four passes to see any film at the Star The-
ater in Southfield. In addition, we'll run the best 10
in the Sept. 12 issue of the paper.
Submissions should be no more than two, double-
spaced, typed pages and must be original Include
your name, daytime phone number and address.
All entries become the property of The Jewish News
and must be at our office no later than 9 a.m. Sept
1. We will notify the first-place winner only by Sept 4.
Mail submissions to Mystery, The Jewish News, 27676
Franklin Road, Southfield, MI 48034, or fax (248) 354-
6069. No phone calls, please.

iss Locklin Smith
was in her apart-
ment when she
heard a commotion,
loud thuds, and
then a terrible
moaning.
Seeking help, she

So begins one of the strangest cases in
American criminal history, a mystery that
left very few clues. It is the story of Isidore
Fick, of whom little was known both in
death and life, who met his end one spring
evening in a small laundry in New York
City.
"Hunt On In Harlem for Tenement
ran into the street.
Slayer," reads a headline in the
The police were called.
March 11, 1929 New York
Opposite page:
Patrolman Albert Kattenborn
Times. It is a hunt that contin-
The building where
was the first on the scene at
ues to this day.
Isidore Fink was
10:45 p.m. Saturday night. Miss
The mysterious murder of
murdered. Over the
Smith directed him to the site of years, it has been home Isidore Fink has intrigued writ-
the noise, a laundry. Patrolman to various businesses ers and film makers (Alfred
Kattenborn tried the door, but it
and residents.
Hitchcock was said to have
was locked. When he managed Curiously, several years planned a movie about the
ago it once again
to get inside he saw a dead man,
case), as well as the public.
became a laundry.
lying on his stomach.
After the incident, some in
It didn't take long before po-
New York began to speculate
lice noticed something very odd.
that Fink had created a contraption, hid-
The victim had been shot three times. den in the walls, which he operated by re-
Initially, police speculated suicide. But mote control and used to end his own life.
there was no gun. Yet how could it have But police tore the place up, and they
been a murder when all the doors were couldn't find anything.
locked from the inside?
Then there was the rumor, fueled, no