ab sh IN Se
»ward the steps. When he
wo officers following him he
. nearby cellarway. Both de-
routed at him to stop, then
1 fired three shots at him. That
h for Frankie. He threw away
2 was carrying and came out
's raised high, pleading and
g. Despite the gathering
\{cCarthy retrieved the weapon
vay by Frankie. It proved to
issing .38, with Jack West’s
caved on it,
the shots, Patrolmen Vincent
d Charles Saylor, cruising on
venue, put on speed and braked
beside the car in which the
ed youth still sat.
nd Saylor leaped out, approach-
‘rom either side with guns
all the shooting about?” Maz-
as he looked into the front
know, officer,” replied Dotson
lank stare. As he spoke he
1 revolver lying beside him.
’t need that,” Mazzio growled,
‘ersing his own gun to club
h the butt end. He might have
extra zing into the blow, had
vhat Detectives McCarthy and
told him a minute later: “We
: got the killer who cut down
that patrolman out on Long
nks for the help, boys. Except
s fellow in the car might have
ilé we were taming his
ation at the Gates Ave-
1, wotson, his head bleeding
illen and defiant, was taken
s to Manhattan to be charged
ion of the Sullivan law. In
Lieut. Dan Murphy abruptly
ine to bark at Dotson: ‘
kill Patrolman Jack West?”
d,” was the muttered answer
lowered his staring gaze.
followed Dotson in the line-
rged with Sullivan law viola-
otson’s furnished room on
‘eet, Brooklyn, police found
t Harrington & Richardson
the so-called “ladies’ size.”
used to kill West was the .38
esson pistol he had with him
ired, he said, and ballistics
ore out this statement.
ng admitted his crime, Den-
Dotson, his nerve completely
freely. He was 24 years old,
Clendenin, W. Va. Official
2aled an amazing history of
breaking, since the age of 12.
1 in and out of three different
ols, having escaped from one
ir times, and even then was
om the reformatory at Elmira,
<ie Bartolilio was a parolee
ame reformatory, where he
ent for car theft. Dotson’s
s crimes of record had been
and “breaking and entering.”
in the presence of Nassau
cials and reporters, Dotson
details of the wanton mur-
1ost car,
West because I knew when
ne up that I was in for a
stretch this time. I nearly
last time I was up...
oked better than going back
ow I wish it had been me who
id of the cop.”
continued: “When the
d that Buick I was driv-
iad no license, he made
RODRI GUEZ,
Luix
SUPPOSE you sat on a jury and were
confronted with these facts from the
records of the National Secret Police of
the Republic of Panama. Suppose these
facts were verified—as I verified them—
with the Inspector General, Capt. Julio E.
Cordovez and Special Investigator: Juan
S. Perez. What would your verdict be?
Guilty or not guilty? ‘
It was the star-spangled night of
March 11, 1945. Suddenly two men locked
in combat spilled through the swinging
doors of Cantima La Herradura—the
Horseshoe Bar—on D Street in Panama
City. Almost immediately a crowd
‘gathered. °
A swift murmur of apprehension went
up as the antagonists fell to the ground
in front of the Oriental Farmacia, a drug
Store next to the Hotel Espana. In a
moment one of the gladiators picked him-
self up. His shirt was torn and bloodied.
Blood dripped from his trembling fingers.
But it was the blood of his foe, who lay
still on the pavement.
Grimly, the onlookers closed in on him,
He cast a last haunted look at the pros-
trate figure on the ground, then fled. The
throng was at his heels in an instant.
When the mob, panting and bent on
meting out speedy justice, overtook their
prey; he cried out, “I am innocent! I did
not kill him.” ,
He would have been lynched then and
there—save for the chance intervention
of Victor Gonzalez, a corporal on the
Panama police force. ,
The: prisoner, Manuel Torres, 23, of
Red Tank, Canal Zone, kept up a chant
of innocence when informed that his
adversary died en route to Santo Tomas
Hospital in Bella Vista,
Carlos Gonzalez indignantly told au-
thorities that he saw Torres strike down
the murder victim, and that he saw the
man drop, bleeding to the sidewalk.
An autopsy by Dr. Carlos Mendoza
revealed that the dead man, Tomas En-
rique Coloma, a former Panama police-
man, had been stabbed in the heart with
a knife or a punal—a sharp, two-bladed
dagger. Prosecuting Attorney J. M.
Vasquez Diaz joined in the investigation.
An open and shut case? What would
your verdict have been? Guilty
or not guilty? Half a hundred
persons were ready to swear
that they saw Manuel Torres
kill a man. Could they believe
what the¥ saw?
Special Investigator Perez,
intrigued by Torres’ insistent
professions of innocence, meant
to find out. He had Torres
taken to the Horseshoe Bar for.
a re-enactment of the crime. He
handed the prisoner a knife.
Perez was startled by the
demonstration. He had Torres
go through it several times with
progressively increased speed so
that the suspect would have no
chance to think out his moves.
Back at Carcel Modelo, Perez
questioned Torres painstak-
OR NOT?
ingly. He offered Torres cigarets from
time to time.
Perez went without sleep for 24 hours,
conducting a door-to-door canvass of
the congested Santa Ana_ neighbor-
hood. When he finished, he located two
men, Felipe Sucre and Trinidad Valerin,
who actually saw the fatal stabbing.
By. piecing together the information
furnished by them and Torres, detectives
were able within the next two hours to
bring in Luis Rodriguez, Torres’ com-
paniion on the night of the slaying,
Identified by Sucre and Valerin,: Rod-
riguez sullenly confessed.
He and Torres became iiivolved in an
argument with Coloma at the Horseshoe
Bar. He declared that Coloma knocked
him against the wall, meanwhile con-
tinuing the dispute with Torres. Rodri-
guez reached into his pocket for a three-
inch pen knife and drove the blade into
Coloma’s heart while the former was
embroiled with Torres. Torres was un-
aware that his foe had been stabbed as
he and Coloma lurched to the street.
Rodriguez slipped away unnoticed.
Later, Investigator Perez told how he
had been convinced of Torres’ innocence
of murder.
“When Torres wielded the knife with
his left hand in the re-enactment,” he
-said, “I realized that he might be telling
the truth after all. The death blow was
inflicted with great force by a right-
handed man. But first I wanted to be
sure Torres was not faking. When I
questioned him, I casually offered him
cigarets. He accepted them with his left
hand, and struck the match with his left
hafid.”
In the absence of premeditation, it is
not expected that Rodriquez will pay the
extreme penalty for his crime,
—By William Tusher
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted