Pennsylvania, P-R, 1909-1975, Undated

the night. I always follow my hunches
—never went wrong yet—”

Meyers warmed to his excuse,
worked it up with veiled threats to
Petrillo’s own safety, and after a
breath-taking, drawn-out moment of
moody introspection, Petrillo, with
sudden jerking movements, twisted the
ignition key, threw out the clutch and
let his right sole drop on the gas
pedal. A heavy, rasping sigh escaped
him.

“You tough guys give me a pain,”
he muttered. “Everything was perfect
for tonight.”

The car moved away down a side
street and Meyers drew his first free
breath. But his thoughts were still
whirling around the house they had
just left. To his mind, Petrillo’s evi-
dent “fixing” of the scene had a deeper
significance—and perhaps supplied the
motive for the plot on which Meyers

Lieutenant

Acting Detective
Samuel Riccardi dug into the
past history of a man of magic

had been trying desperately to stick a
finger.

Who was this handsome wife who
left the house so her husband could be
so conveniently murdered? Was Stella
Alfonsi Petrillo’s tool, even as he
planned Meyers to be? Or was she
simply his sweetheart? Was there
something far bigger and more ghastly
at the root of Petrillo’s murder plot?
George didn’t know, but something
told him that Petrillo was not a man
to be swayed utterly by his heart—
certainly not to the extent of murder.
Was there something else that mat-
tered? Was it money? But where was
that money coming from once Alfonsi
was out of the way?

HESE and other questions flickered
through Meyers’ mind, but mostly

he thought of his own narrow escape.
The experience had left him jittery
and unnerved. Things were getting
too thick for him to handle alone, and
as soon as Petrillo dropped him off he
called Phillips at the Secret Service
offices. Phillips agreed that the mur-
der angle was reaching a desperate
climax and promised that Meyers
never again would be placed in a
similar situation without protection.

Phillips immediately went into a
conference with Landvoight.

“Tt don’t like this set-up, Chief,” he
said. “While I hate to sacrifice our
counterfeit case, I’m convinced this
man Alfonsi is in real danger. If we
trip Petrillo up our case may go by
the boards.”

“Okay,” said Landvoight. “If that’s
the situation, the deuce with the case.

op—4

Alonzo: What

Doctor Henry di
caused his humble patient to be
stricken with severe toxemia?

Certainly a man’s life is more impor-
tant.”

Accordingly, Phillips acted at once
and called the Philadelphia authorities
to whom he gave the full details of
the murder plot. Assistant Attorney
Vincent P. McDevitt took over the
case immediately and assigned Acting
Detective Lieutenant Samuel Riccardi
and Detectives Anthony Franchetti
and Michael Schwartz to investigate.

“Betore you fellows go to work,”
McDevitt said, “here are a few angles
I want you to consider. In the first
place, I can’t help feeling that there’s
something behind Herman Petrillo’s
reference to ‘we’ in this case. If that
‘we’ means anything, it’s likely that
there ave more people than Petrillo
involved, which immediately leads to
the conclusion that the plot against
Alfonsi is more than a personal grudge.
Perhaps Alfonsi is a member of a
gang. That means we've got to go easy,
watch every move we make, but see
if you can find out.

“Now, secondly, we know already
that another person—other than Her-
man Petrillo—is involved. That person
we know only as ‘Paul,’ the man who
made the sand-bag. It may be that
Mrs. Alfonsi is in on the thing, but
we have only Herman Petrillo’s word
on that and we'll have to check it.
But we do know that ‘Paul’ has a con-
nection of some sort with Petrillo.
Find out who he is, what he does and
what his connections are.

“The third thing I want to discuss is
more indefinite, but I’m certain it has
a bearing on the case if a gang is in-
volved. In simple words, it’s this: I’m
not impressed with Petrillo’s brains.
Certainly he’s shown no_ outstanding
ability as a plotter. He has no
finesse. To begin with, he hires two
utter strangers to carry out a mur-
der; takes them into his confidence on
their own say-so that they’re tough
babies. That wasn’t smart and it
means there must be a person with
more brains behind Petrillo. Find out,
if you can, who this other person is.
See what I mean? Okay. Get going.”

It was agreed that Meyers and Phil-
lips, cooperating with Riccardi and
Franchetti, would continue their de-
ception. Phillips still hoped to slap a
counterfeiting charge against Petrillo
by making a buy, and believed it pos-
sible to do this before the Alfonsi af-
fair came to a climax. As long as he
and Meyers could stall off Petrillo on
the slaying, the Philadelphia cops

Paul Petrillo: His tailoring estab-
lishment was the market-place for
charms, potions and black magic

could dig into the other angles and
the whole case could be cleared up
with one swoop—unless Petrillo called
in other hired assassins. That one al-
ternative made it a fight against time.

Riccardi and Franchetti were the
first to turn up any real valuable ma-
terial. They started out for Phila-
delphia’s “Little Italy,” in the south
section of the city. Both men were
familiar with the area and proceeded
now to put their knowledge into prac-
tical use. Here and there they went
about collecting stray bits of informa-
tion that might provide a lead.

“Who is this Paul something-or-
other?” Riccardi asked one of his
trusted friends and regular informers.

“Paul?” The man’s eyebrows went
up and he made a gesture filled with
meaning. “Paul is one of the most

powerful and feared men in South
Philadelphia!”

“What do you mean?”

“Why, haven’t you ever heard of
him before? He’s a witch doctor!”

“A witch doctor?” Riccardi was
dumfounded. Somehow the idea of
witcheraft, streamlined into modern
gangdom’s modus operandi, was ludi-
crous—preposterous. “What are you
giving me?”

The other man held up his right
hand.

“As sure as I stand here,” the man
said, “Paul Petrillo is a witch doctor.”

“Petrillo, did you say? Any relation
to Herman?”

“Sure, his cousin. He has most of
this area under his thumb—everyone’s
scared to death of him.”

(Continued on Page 51)


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said the nurse as she stood in the

doorway. “Doctor says he’s all right
and in no danger.”

Tarkington talked. He talked about
a man who hit his wife with a re-
volver, lifted her out of the car; drove
the car over a steep, rock-strewn em-
bankment, leaping off as it teetered on
the rim. He mentioned the broad, flat
boulder, the broken revolver handle;
the jagged piece of rock with the blood
and hair on it. He did not forget the
sound the thrown rock would make
when it hit the metal oven.

When he came to that part he
noticed that Joe Boyce King, who had
been listening with open mouth, sud-
denly shut his eyes tight.

“And then,” continued the deputy
sheriff, “you heard we were investi-
gating you after you came home. You
worried a lot, finally you wrote that
note to yourself and then pulled this
stunt with two revolvers.” Joe Boyce
King opened his eyes. “Oh, yes, we
found the other revolver right where
you tossed it. The bandage on your
head was powder-burned so that ‘the
shot must have come from the right.
The bullet which missed you, so you
say, went through the right side of the
car. I think the bullet in the car came
from the thirty-eight and I’m going to
prove it with hair-width measure-
ments. You told Chief McEndree and
Sheriff Russell that you were seated
in your car when these shots were
fired, that you jumped out and started
shooting with your own gun after-
wards. That’s on record, no use try-
ing to change it now. You've over-
played the drama a bit, Joe. I’m
sorry for you.”

Tarkington kept his word and did
prove that the bullet-hole in King’s

car was made by a .38 caliber slug.
The car top was fabric and the bullet
passed through it, leaving a hole as
neat as the end of a pistol barrel. He
also proved that the powder burns on
the bandage must have been fired from
the right. And then he went a step
further, with the aid of the Bowling
Green doctors, and proved that the

wound in the young man’s shoulder.

could very, very easily have been self-
inflicted as he sat in the car. In fact,
the course the bullet took and the
powder burns around the wound and
on the victim’s shirt indicated to the
doctors that it was self-inflicted.

To Attorney General J. Carlton
Loser of Nashville, Tarkington made
these observations and offered the
proofs.

“I’m convinced,” he said, ‘‘that the
blue coupe was just a lucky thought;
that the two suspected holdup men
were a happy coincidence—happy, that
is, for King. And that he did not have
the nerve to put the finger on them
and throw himself into the clear when
he had the chance to send two inno-
cent men to death for his wife’s
murder.”

The Attorney General agreed to the
extent of obtaining an indictment
charging Joe Boyce King with first-
degree murder. That was on July 25,
1932. Joe Boyce King, under guard at
Bowling Green, had ample reason to
delay his trial. His wound was not
healing as quickly as it should.

Finally the trial was scheduled for
April, 1933.. The ‘charge, because of
the circumstantial evidence and the
chance that Joe Boyce King might
change his tale and say that the whole
affair from-start to finish was an ac-
cident, was changed ‘to second-degree

murder. King was allowed to furnish
a bond as soon as he left the hospital.

On November 10 Chief McEndree
was called to King’s home in a hurry.
The young man had been shot at again.
This time a bullet passed through his
vest and did not touch the flesh. With-
out a word the Police Chief began a
search of the outbuildings near where
the shooting-had occurred, and he was
not a bit surprised when he found a
gun hidden among the cobwebs be-
hind a rafter in a near-by chicken-
house.

Joe Boyce King did not get to trial
until April 15, 1933. Then, in David-
son County criminal court at Nash-
ville, before. Judge Chester K. Hart,
all the bizarre evidence and the cir-
cumstances of the coincidental holdup
of the Reverend T. C. Barr were te-
vealed in detail.

JURY of twelve men heard these

amazing disclosures and found Joe
Boyce King guilty as charged. Bob
Tarkington and Chief Elkin Lewis
smiled at each other and waited for
the defense lawyers to move.

They moved, demanding a retrial
and filing notices of appeal. These
moves lasted for two years, but dur-
ing that time the Tennessee authorities
hung on to their scheming murderer,
Joe Boyce King.

On: June 29, 1935, the case finally
was closed in the Supreme Court of
Tennessee, when the judges reviewed
all the evidence, the summations and
the appeals. They promptly ratified
the sentence and Joe Boyce King was
informed at the State penitentiary that
he was behind walls for 22 years of
his life for the brutal murder of his
wife with a gun and a jagged rock.

. ; , Read It First i
Murder As You Want It (Continued from Page 7) ogricial DETECTIVE STORIES

“What does he do, for instance?”
asked Riccardi.

“He sells charms and potions and
he takes curses off of people—puts ’em
on, too,” muttered the wide-eyed man,

“People believe all this stuff, of
course?”

“Oh, sure, sure.”

“And he gets paid for it?”

“But certainly. He’s rich.”

“And he knows everybody’s busi-
ness, too, eh?”

“Yes, Paul Petrillo knows every-
thing. He’s a witch.”

So that was it, thought Riccardi, and
not a bad idea either. Paul Petrillo
certainly was in a position to know
what was going on in the area. He
must know hundreds of intimate se-
erets and the financial standing of
most of the persons who came to him,
to say nothing of the information
brought to him of others.

Riccardi checked up on Paul Pe-
trillo immediately and learned that he
operated a tailoring establishment on
Passyunk Avenue, near Mifflin Street.
Because of what he had heard regard-
ing the man, Riccardi’s thoughts were
somber. He pictured this tailor sitting
cross-legged in his small shop, stitch-
ing, cutting, sewing patiently while
his mind wove outlandish schemes to
make money from the helpless who
came to him for advice. The picture
was so vivid that he immediately got
in touch with the D. A. and together
the two dug into Paul Petrillo’s back-
ground.

And the digging uncovered a,
strange history. Paul Petrillo, it was
learned, had been held in Brooklyn,
New York, in December, 1936, as a
material witness against his nephew,
John Cacopardo, who was charged
with fatally stabbing his sweetheart,
Molly Starace. Cacopardo, at that time
about 24 years old, narrowly escaped
being sentenced to the electric chair
for his act. And the man whose testi-
mony weighed most heavily against
the young fellow was his uncle, with
whom, he had been living.

These things apparently had no
bearing on the present situation, but
McDevitt, anxious to know more about
the witch doctor, instructed Riccardi

to get in touch with Sing Sing prison
authorities, who could question Caco-
pardo, now serving a 30-year-to-life
sentence in the New York prison for
the Starace slaying.

“J don’t know if this will turn up
anything,” McDevitt said, “but it’s an
angle that might give us a valuable
lead. Cacopardo certainly must bear
his uncle some malice and he won’t
pull his punches. Questioning him has
the added advantage of not letting
Paul Petrillo know we’re interested in
his history. Of course, we'll have to
discount a lot Cacopardo says, but
some of it’s bound to help.”

t! A REN’T we. getting somewhat

afield on this case?” Riccardi
asked. “You know, this thing may not
involve Herman Petrillo at all—only
his cousin, Paul.”

“That may be,” McDevitt said, “but
I don’t want to overlook any bets.
After all, this is a serious case and we
should have all the information we
can get. By the way, how are Meyers
and Phillips coming on?”

“They’re still stalling Herman and
apparently making a go of it. Phillips
wants to make a counterfeit buy so he
can nail Herman for that at least.
Then, too, they want to know for cer-
tain whether Mrs. Alfonsi has any-
thing to do with the plot. P’ll keep you
informed.”

“Okay,” said the D. A. ‘“Mean-
while, have one of your boys see if he
can get a list of Paul Petrillo’s black-
magic customers. We might get a lead
back to Herman that way.”

“Right,” said Riccardi.

So while the Philadelphia authorities
were working and developing every
possible angle in the thin case, George
Meyers and Stanley Phillips concen-
trated on their part of the counter-
plot. The Summer was almost gone
now and they were still stalling Her-
man off. But day by day and hour by
hour he was growing more and more
suspicious.

Meyers and Phillips were working
together now. Herman had protested
mildly at first, but later agreed that
perhaps two men were necessary for
the job.

op—¢#

“Yeah,” he had said, “the guy is
tough—not even poison phases him!”

“What do you. mean?” Phillips
asked, his quizzical eyebrows shooting
up in their peculiar twist.

“Oh nothing,” answered Herman.
“Jt was just a slip of the tongue. I
only meant this mug was so healthy
even rat poison wouldn’t kill him.”

“I see,” said Phillips, but he was
uneasy.

And then came the night that the
whole case almost blew up.

Herman had told Phillips and
Meyers to go out to Alfonsi’s and loak
at the picket fence around the place.

“Tf,” he said, “there’s a white towel
on the fence, it means that Stella has
taken the kids away and Ferdinand is
home alone. You just go in and do
your stuff. It’s all set. Stella’s going
to go to a show, like she did the last
time, and she won’t be back at home
until after ten-thirty.. That will give
you nearly three hours. When she
comes home she’ll find her husband at
the foot of the cellar steps and can
raise a howl. It’ll look like a real ac-
cident. She says that Ferdy hasn’t
been feeling so well lately, so it’ll be
easy. Got it straight? There mustn’t
be a hitch because a lot depends...”

Herman’s voice trailed off and
Meyers and Phillips agreed to go
through with the job on that night.
After they left Herman, Meyers turned
to Phillips.

“Now what do we do?” he asked.

“Go out there, of course.”

“But why?”

“T want to get ahold of Riccardi and
have him watch the place. If Stella
puts that towel on the fence, it means
she’s in on the thing—definitely. It’s
that angle we’ve been trying to es-
tablish. With Riccardi or one of his
men standing by as a witness, the in-
cident will make tough testimony to
break in court.”

And that night the towel was on the
fence!

Meyers realized, then, that he and
Phillips could stall Herman off no
longer. To Herman Petrillo, in the
ugly mood he had been in for the past
few weeks, it would be the final straw
if they turned up again with another

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excuse. And
had to do.

It was with fear and trembling that
Meyers walked with Phillips up to
Herman’s home the next morning. He
noticed that even the Secret Service
agent was a little nervous and the
fact caused his face to turn a shade
whiter. Both believed that the whole
game was up—and yet... .

Herman was almost beaming when
he met them at the door.

His evident pleasure was the most
disquieting thing of all. What did it
mean? He must know that they had
failed? Why should he be so profuse
in his greetings?

“Too many neighbors around—”
Phillips tried to get his excuse in be-
fore Herman’s mood would change, but
the other merely held up his spongy
hand and smiled.

“Never mind, boys,” he said, “I’ve
got something else to do today. You
say that you want to Pass some of this
queer of mine. Well, we’re going up
to Trenton, New Jersey, to the place
it’s printed. Have you got any money
on you?”

yet that is just what they

TH question was directed at Phil-
lips, uneasy and surprised at the
turn the thing had taken,
“Sure,” he managed to mumble.

“Okay, okay,” said Herman. “I’]]
make you boys’ fortunes. Come on,
let’s go.”

Burning with curiosity because of
Petrillo’s apparent disinterest in Al-
fonsi and wondering if they dared
Swarthy man, Meyers
and Phillips permitted themselves to
be taken to the New Jersey capital.
In the southern section of that city the
United States Secret Service agent
and the informer were taken to a
house and offered exciting greenbacks
in huge amounts—and at a price.

“Like I told you before,” Herman
Said expansively, “you can have two
hundred dollars worth for sixty bucks.
And that’s a good deal. Look how
perfect the stuff is.”

Phillips examined the proffered bill
minutely, turning it this way and that.
In color, line and weight it agreed in
a startling manner to the paper which
comes only from the Bureau of Print-
ing and Engraving in Washington.

Phillips grinned. “You're right,
Petrillo. This is some of the best I’ve
ever seen. I'll bite—here’s your sixty
bucks. I ought to get rid of this in a
hurry,” he said wryly.

Petrillo accepted Phillips’ real cash
for the phony and the deal was closed.
Both Meyers and Phillips, however,
still were worried about Herman’s un-
accustomed good humor.

When the three reached Philadel-
phia they went to Petrillo’s home and
once inside Meyers decided it was
time now to bring up the Alfonsi
thing again. He knew Petrillo could
be arrested now that Phillips had
made the counterfeit buy.

“I’ve got the whole thing settled,”
he said. “The job has been cased toa
fare-thee-well and I’m ready. I’ve de-
cided on that slugging tonight. It’s
my hunch that everything will work
out fine now that you’ve really shown
us that cash. That’s what we really
were worried about, Petrillo — you
should have taken us up to Trenton
before.”

Petrillo laughed good-naturedly, but
both Meyers and Phillips were chilled
by his laugh.

“You guys don’t need to bother,” he
said. “It took you too long—”

“You mean that you sent for the
guy from New York?” asked Meyers.

“Naw,” said Petrillo, bragging,
“didn’t need him either. Alfonsi’s in
the hospital now—JI don’t think he’ll
live!”

Petrillo’s harsh laugh sent chills up
and down the spines of his two lis-
teners. Finally it died away and Pe-
trillo looked sharply at Meyers and
Phillips.

“Poison is

Phillips

“I was wrong,” he said,
going to kill that guy—”

‘Did you feed him poison?”
asked so sharply that Herman looked
at him suspiciously.

“Not me,” he said hesitantly. “No,
not me... but somebody did. The
guy’s almost gone. He was taken to
the National Stomach Hospital. But
say, I’ve forgotten. You fellows’ time
is worth something—” He broke off,
dug into his pocket for a roll of bills
and peeled off five tens—‘Here’s
something,” he said, “to show that
Herman Petrillo’s a right guy to work
for.”

As soon as the Secret Service man
and his civilian aide left the Petrillo
home, they raced back to the offices
with their information and the pocket-
ful of counterfeit. Phillips threw the
roll of fake bills down on the desk
before Landvoight.

“Bought for sixty dollars in the
presence of a witness,” he said tersely,
“but the rest of the case looks bad—”

“Good work, Phillips.” Landvoight
looked up questioningly. “We’ve been
trying to get that guy for a long while,
but what do you mean about the, rest
of the case?”

“Alfonsi’s in the hospital—”

Landvoight jumped to his feet,

“What’s wrong with him?”

“We don’t know for sure, but Petril-
lo hinted that someone might have
poisoned him.”

“Have you got in touch with Ric-
cardi. or McDevitt?” Landvoight asked.
“They'll want to get a man over to
the hospital immediately.”

“Not yet,” Phillips replied, reaching
for a telephone. “We haven’t had
time.”

The telephone ‘call sent everyone
into action. Detectives Franchetti and
Schwartz hurried to the National
Stomach Hospital and a detail of Se-
cret Service agents rushed out to ar-
rest Petrillo. It was September 24,
1938. The swarthy-faced plotter made
a sorry spectacle as he was lined up in
front of local Federal authorities and
charged with counterfeiting and. pass-
ing spurious bills. But that incident
was of only Passing importance be-
cause of a discovery the Federal men
had made when they gave the Lang-
horne home a general cleaning.

Among the objects confiscated was a
book—a sinister volume in the light of
Alfonsi’s sudden sickness. It was a
chemistry text with many marked
Paragraphs on formulas and effects of
poisons of arsenical character!

Franchetti and Schwartz, mean-
while, asked to see Doctor Isaac
Strawbridge, a member of the staff at
the National Stomach Hospital.

“We're here to inquire about Fer-
dinand : Alfonsi,” Franchetti told the
physician briefly,

“He’s a very sick man,” the Doctor
reported. “He was brought here by
Doctor Henry di Alonzo just yesterday.
Doctor Alonzo Says he had a hard time
getting the wife’s permission for the
removal to the hospital, but managed
to do it almost against her will. The
patient has a severe case of toxemia—
caused by what we are at a loss to
understand.”

“May I question him?”
chetti.

“Tf you can

asked Fran-

get anything out of him,
we'd be only too pleased. He denies
that his diet has been unusual and
his poor English makes it hard for us
to question him in his weakened con-
dition,” explained Doctor Strawbridge.
Groans were coming from between
Ferdinand Alfonsi’s clenched lips as
Franchetti. and Schwartz approached
the bed. Intense, agonized suffering
which sedatives had failed to quiet
was creasing the man’s face. :
The detectives realized that they
had to work fast. They had to race
with the man of shadows who was
standing by waiting to silence the
humble WPA worker forever.
“Where have you been taking your

‘I’ve found that there

Ferdinand?” asked Detective

meals,
Franchetti.
“At home—like I always ' do.”
“You're being. poisoned—do you re-

alize that?”
frankly.

“I don’t see how—but wait a minute,
Those eggs—that orange juice—the
medicine. They all tasted alike—bit-
ter, bitter—”

“Who cooked those eggs and fixed
the orange juice?) Who gave you your
medicine?” The detective pursued his
questions relentlessly.

“Stella—my wife. I told her they
tasted funny. She said I imagined it.
Maybe I did—”

“Ferdinand, how much insurance do
you carry?”

“None. I ain’t got none. My family
won’t have nothing. Oh, my _ poor
babies—”

Franchetti’s theory was fading. But

the detective told him

he clung to it. “Think hard, Ferdinand.

You must have some insurance.”

“No—I couldn’t get none. Several
times I tried to get it. I signed ap-
plications and sent them in but every
time I got turned down. I don’t read
English, but my wife does. When the
letters came she always read them to
me. They said I didn’t pass; I couldn’t
get no insurance. Then’ my friend,
Herman Petrillo, brought an agent to
the house once. He said he knew he
could get it for me. All I had to do
was sign up for a small policy of two
hundred dollars. And if I didn’t pass,
the agent, who had to get new business
all the time or lose his job, would get
credit for it, anyhow. So I signed .. .”

Meanwhile Riccardi was reporting to
McDevitt the result of his investiga-
tions.

“T’ve_ been following up your sug-
gestions regarding Paul  Petrillo’s
black-magic customers,” he said, “and
were so many I
couldn’t begin to list them. But there
was one woman—Mrs. Corinna Frava-
to, who also went by the name of
Ingrao — who certainly would bear
looking into.”

“Why?” asked McDevitt.

“Because she not only knew Herman
and Paul Petrillo well, but because
there were two mysterious deaths,
sudden deaths, in her family. First her
husband, Charles, died and then her
stepson, Phillip Ingrao, a lad of eight-
een, checked out—”’

"AND you think — what?”
McDevitt, cutting in.

“I don’t think anything yet,” Ric-
cardi said. “But it looks funny, doesn’t
it?”

“Tl say it does,” McDevitt said
grimly. “It’s worse than you think if
we can put any credence in the story
that’s come back to us from the Sing
Sing authorities regarding Cacopardo.”

“Why? What do they say?”

“They say the guy claims that his
uncle, Paul Petrillo, double-crossed
him and testified against him in that
Stabbing case. That’s the usual sort
of story, but here’s what makes the
whole thing important: Cacopardo
says his uncle wanted him sent to the
electric chair because he had refused
the job of official executioner for
Petrillo’s ring of insurance killers!”

asked

sudden
and Phillip
Ingrao? The most astonishing facts in
to become
known. For further developments see
DETECTIVE

Friday, June 2

oD—4

salon ails. ..!


The Petrilles

Uncovering Philad

When George Meyers attempted to
borrow $25 to keep his business going
he stepped into the midst of one of the
most fantastic mass-murder rings ever
exposed in this country. Meyers was
sent to see Herman Petrillo in Phila-
delphia by a friend; instead of lending
him the $25, Petrillo offered him five
hundred if he would kill a man, also
promised him a job passing counterfeit
money. Meyers, afraid to demur, ac-
cepted both jobs, but went to the U. S.
Secret Service with his story. Agent
Stanley Phillips and Meyers then
stalled Petrillo along on the murder
plot, attempting to gain enough evi-
dence to convict him as a counterfeiter.
The man Meyers was supposed to
kill was Ferdinand Alfonsi. Meyers
and Phillips were about to arrest Pet-
rillo on the counterfeiting charge when
they discovered that he had made other
arrangements and Alfonsi was dying
from arsenic poisoning. The Phila-
delphia police were called in on the
case.
Detectives discovered that Paul Pet-

12

Official

Sica sea ec SED

By Fenton Mallory

Detective

murder-ring

Special Investigator for
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

rillo, Herman’s cousin, allegedly a
witch doctor, is involved in the ring.
They heard of a Mrs. Corinna Fravato,
who knew Paul Petrillo well and
whose husband, Charles Fravato, and
stepson, Phillip Ingrao, both had died
suddenly and mysteriously. They also
learned that Paul Petrillo’s nephew,
John Cacopardo, had been sent to Sing
Sing prison on his uncle’s testimony;
from the penitentiary Cacopardo talked

and declared that his uncle wanted him’

sent up because he refused the job of
official executioner for the ring of in-
surance killers. Now go on with the
story:

Dete€tive Stories,
Juhy, 1939

SSISTANT District Attorney
McDevitt called in Detective
Lieutenant Anthony Riccardi
and told him about the insurance angle.
“That’s just what I’ve felt all along,”
the detective finally managed to say.
“There’s something more than a love-
affair back of Alfonsi’s sickness, and
that something is money—insurance.
Franchetti and Schwartz think so, too,
but they haven’t been able to dig up
anything definite. We’ll ‘have to rip
open every. insurance office in town to
locate a policy of Alfonsi’s.”
“Okay,” McDevitt said. “You go
ahead on that angle, but keep an eye

elphia’s Arsenic Ring:

Murder As You

Anthony Franchetti
here taking a sample of earth from a
victim’s
analysis. Note the coffin behind the men

is shown

grave for poison

on the hospital and Mrs. Alfonsi. Better
have Franchetti and Schwartz talk to
Alfonsi’s doctor at the first opportu-
nity. This thing is beginning to break
all over the place.”

McDevitt told Riccardi that Acting
Lieutenant James A. Kelly of the
Homicide Squad was on his way to
question Cacopardo personally at Sing

Sing.
Detectives Franchetti and Schwartz,
meanwhile, clung to the National

Stomach Hospital like attaches, barely
leaving the bedside of Alfonsi long
enough to eat or sleep. They put in mo-
tion a wholesale investigation of Mrs.
Stella Alfonsi. Other members of the
squad were busy running down rumors
that the dusky-eyed beauty and Her-
man Petrillo had been long-time
sweethearts. Doctor Henry di Alonzo
was questioned at the first opportunity.

“Give us an outline of the whole
case, Doctor,” Franchetti instructed.
“When did you first visit the patient?”

“If you want to be technical,” the
Doctor replied, “it was more than a
year ago. But that had nothing to do
with this sickness. At that time I acted
for the Italian Sons and Daughters of
America and found Alfonsi in good
health. I never saw the patient again
until on August 27, 1938, when Mrs.
Alfonsi called me.”

“How did he look then?”

“He was a very sick man and told

Mrs. Susie di Martino: Chem-
ists found 72.98 milligrams of
arsenic in her husband’s body

oD—5

FEYRILLO, Khor ma. SAhul

a

Uncovering®

Murde

N PURSUANCE of a counterfeit investigation
ghetti salesman, a murder plot directed against Ferdinand Alfonsi is discov-

te

¢
Rp es

~

ered. Petrillo apparently is the.chief plotter, but, Philadelphia police arrest
both Herman and Alfonsi’s wife, Stella, when Alfonsi dies of arsenic poison in
a Philadelphia hospital, At first the police believe Alfonsi’s death is an isolated
case, but as the investigation broadens they learn of other mysterious deaths
among the superstitious acquaintances of Petrillo. Following up the lead, in-

vestigators question John Cacopardo, a
Petrillo, Herman’s witch-doctor cousin,

Sing Sing convict and a nephew of Paul
whose influence is great among the peo-

ple he contacts. Cacopardo says he once refused the position as official executioner
for his uncle’s insurance-murder ring. At last the-police have a motive. Arrests,
exhumation orders and a widespread investigation follow. Among those ar-
rested are: Mrs. Corinna Fravato, whose common-law husband, Charles Ingrao,
and stepson, Phillip, had died mysteriously; Mrs. Susie di Martino, whose hus-
band also'had come to a strange, sudden death. Every mysterious death for
the past ten years comes under the scrutiny of the District Attorney’s office.
There are-scores of them. Investigators learn that the arsenic ring was a reality
and that it arranged deaths for insurance and split the heavy death-benefits after.
the victims had been buried. Who was the master mind behind the plot? Herman
Petrillo was convicted of murder; Mrs. di Martino broke. and her confession

was followed by that of Mrs. Fravato’s.

Mrs. Fravato confessed to participation

in three murders and named many new names, among them those of Caesar

Valenti and Morris Bolber. Then Herman Petrillo began talking. Each new
story seemed to indicate that Bolber and his secretary,
as “The. Rose_of-Death,”- were. among thering’s: leaders... Byt: both were; mys~
teriously-missing: from: Philadelphia.:-.-Then,as.the hunt w
Bolber surrendered, Now go on with the story. ’

‘

CREAMS pierced . the. death-like
stillness—sudden, - shrill, terrify-

ing. ms Siete oe
Attendants in, thé women’s. wing of
the Moyamensing Prison rushed to the
block from -which -the disturbance
seemed to be: coming. » As’ they ap-
proached a cell near:the:end of ‘the
corridor, : terrorized’ words in garbled
English took form:.<°'<)0 ' > 005 3
~ “Witches! Witches! ‘They've : gotten
in! They’re running around: like: mice
—white mice!” The. husky. voice-was
high-pitched, waking every. inmate’in
that block. Many sat up in their. cots

staring into. the dark, shuddering at*

2

the screams, the: words and their im:

“That’s Mrs. Fravato,” mumbled one
prisoner to* ‘herself. as she watched
matrons whisk past toward the cell of
the ace poison widow. ee Jt ea
“What's wrong in there?’ asked a
matron gruffly.:She inserted a key and
“flung open the cell door. Within cow-

ered a squat, ‘swarthy: woman of mid-
_ dle age, her. wispy. hair. streaked with

gray. and her bulging eyes wide with
> terror.: Terror *of.’ things’ shesaw. by
‘night ‘in that: narrow’ prison ‘cell. This
“woman: who: ‘confessed — she* ‘killed
another. woman’s .son—a boy whom

Philadelphia

against Herman Petrillo, a spa- °

Mrs. Rose Carina, known -

ent. forward for them, *:

rf

she had taken from the Catholic Chil-
dren’s Bureau—as well as his father
and a boarder whom she had decoyed
into her evil home. Now it was her
turn to know the fright of approaching
death. Mrs. Fravato was screaming in
terror of the very things she had dealt
in—superstitious figments of her own
criminally. pervaded and perverted
mind. .
© “Witches!” cried Mrs. Fravato.
“Get them away!” + Bie

It took attendants the rest of the
night to quiet ~:the -woman. whose
screams had aroused the entire ‘prison.

The next day prison officials advised

,

~

“Mrs. Mary Gagliardl, >a fortune-teller,
gave photographers the “double hex” be-
fore turning to aid the District Attorney —

By Fenton Mallory
~ Special Investigator for’
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE

STORIES

Doctor Horace Perlman: Was a bomb left
on another’s doorstep intended for him?.

District Attorney Charles F. Kelley of
Mrs. Fravato’s breakdown. The D. A.
listened carefully, made a note of the
incident and instructed prison guards

and matrons to watch the poison .

widow carefully lest she attempt sui-
cide. Now that the witch woman’s
testimony was beginning to bear fruit,
he was not willing that she should
cheat the State of her punishment.
Besides, what about those new re-
cruits to the ranks of murderers who
were cluttering the cells, the ante+
chambers of police departments and
the dank minds of: newly arrested
men and women? Would they. deny

a

's. Arsenic Ring:

.

ii

“= This: fame assured. The self-styled psy-

‘, gifts denied the -humble folk who

‘often. sat gazing into a. crystal ‘globe,
’ Eagerly; too, ‘they pressed’ huge. sums
of money into the man’s palms in ex-
“change for »the: rites, -mystic’- and
mysterious, which. he, performed ‘over
them—or for. the potions;.philtres and

structed. Ltt ‘ ?
And great was the faith-healer’s
re over his many feminine clients.
. Unhappy, repressed wives visited him
with their problems. How could they
win back a straying husband? The
magic-man would smile slowly at the
question and request them to bring a
pair of the errant spouse’s: socks to his
office—the clinic of souls: Once in his
hands the humble garments became
the central objects ‘in a set of. weird
rites during which the magician mur-

However, the faith-healer showed
more interest in the type of wife who
was not interested in holding the love
of her husband but in ridding herself
-of it. To these women, with many
cautions and precautions—in which
were included the mercenary matter of
proper insurance—the — faith-healer
gave his most powerful attention in
the form of powder or liquid. He com-
forted them, also, by assuring them
that. soon their troubles would all be
over—or under the ground. And magic
of all magic, his words always came
_ true, Wasn’t that proof enough?

Every phase of detective work has been utilized in the case. Doctor
Martin Crane of the coroner's office is shown here searching for
traces of poison in specimens taken from a suspected ring victim

wders which he bade them use as’

mured occult formulas of mysticism.’

: crowded his home where the. divinator. , :::.“It’s Jike - the. tale which: runs—t

«, Grand ‘Canyon. was plowed ‘up by-c
man; if you. don’t believe it, go. se
‘said. the D. A.:“I’m afraid the r
proof of the faith-healer’s magic is :
feet underground. But just to convir
ourselves, let’s make out a warr:
for this faith-healer—Morris Bolbe
. That was back in’ December: wh
the report that police. had exhum
three bodies—those of Charles Ingr:
common-law husband of Mrs. ‘Frava
Phillip ‘Ingrao, her stepson; a
Guiseppe di Martino, husband
Susie, who put the blame on M
Fravato for his death. The finding
poison- in each of those three bod
had tipped the scales in the favor
justice, and after the tests for arse:
had proved all three men to be v
tims of well-plotted insurance-murc
schemes, the case had broken all 0.
the place. -

UT what of the faith-healer? W

had Bolber, magic-man among 1
poor and ignorant, fled at the fi
mention of the arsenic-victim discc
eries? Why had any man. with suct
huge “practise”. given it up’ wh
winds first blew. the~: stench
death from many “South and W.
Philadelphia’ homes?. And what h
happened to: his attractive’ secreta
Rose Carina, known to many of 1
people on the ragged fringes of -1
sub-world as the “kiss of death” w

Each New Body Discloses Intertwined Threads Leading to Still More :
Merchandised Deaths in the Nation's Most Appalling Case of Horrors

or confirm Mrs. Fravato’s accusations?
Would ‘they be held for murder or
merely as accessories before and after
the fact? From the towering mass of
evidence in the form.-of. whirlwind
notes, anonymous letters from outsid-
ers purporting to give “tips” to poison-
ring victims or members, confessions
of prisoners—both poisoners and aides-
de-camp of the gigantic ring—it was _
Kelley’s. job to sort out the important
leads, the momentous trivia that
might tip the scales in the favor of
justice. Newspapers had used up theif
entire supply of superlatives in dub-
‘ bing this.case the most bizarre, fan-
tastic and incredible case in American
crime annals. Kelley could well be-
lieve it—judging from the exhausting
work he and his men, as well as al-
. most the entire personnel of the Homi-
cide Squad of the Detective Bureau,
which had ‘been “borrowed” to work
on the case, had been expending month
after month in. the mammoth manh-.
hunt which suddenly had turned to a
woman-hunt.

HORTLY after the arrest of Herman .
Petrillo, whose one careless mistake

in trying to hire George Meyers to bump
off Ferdinand Alfonsi.had exposed the °
ring’s ‘existence, the District. Attor-
ney’s office, then being headed by
Vince McDevitt, Assistant D. A., be-
gan hunting for a certain man and
woman'.-who had: fled Philadelphia at
‘ the first whisper of the expose of the
poison ring. The man was known as
Morris Bolber, respected and feared
by the more unfortunate members
of the tenement world as a faith-
healer—a man who could soothe away
their many problems, their cares and
disturbances. His clients were legion,

chiatrist was a past master in the art
of -divination: He made predictions—
baleful, alarmingpredictions—and they
- always came true. What better proof
that the man was possessed of spiritual

visited him. Willingly, eagerly, they

Why did officials raid Doctor Hor-.
ace Periman’s offices and seize bags
and cases of evidence carried here
by these Philadelphia detectives?

'


,

man? Why: had she“also: deserted. her
home «when.'pickaxes ‘inthe. hands of °
police began unearthing bodies - in
cemetery plots? Why? % ‘

With Bolber’s “surrender” some of
those questions ‘were going to be .an-
swered, Kelley promised himself.

But before Bolber. could be brought
to the offices-in No. 582, a distressed-
looking man entered and asked to see

the District Attorney, claiming -that it:

was something about the arsenic-ring
cases he had on his mind. -

Even though the place was jammed
with detectives waiting assignments
and the flotsam and jetsam of “‘little
people” connected with the mammoth
case, Kelley told his aides to bring in
the stranger.

The man looked pale and ill. He
dropped into a chair once Kelley had

reatast: October 5"
, “Yes; goon, «

’

‘“2"D thought we: were going » tte ‘be
2 .wery:\happy.:. 1 didn’t :-know anything
about Rose’s past. But it was in No-:

vember, ‘just. about a:month ‘later, that
Rose began acting awfully queer—”
“What did she do?” asked Kelley.
“Well, she got awful cross. She
nagged my son, Gaetano, all the time;
yet; with me she was always silent.
She wouldn’t tell me what was wrong
but I knew she had something ‘on her
mind. On December 9, I came home

“from work and Rose was gone. She

took my $500 ring and $100 worth of

other stuff around the house. I never

heard from her again. But when I

read about this arsenic-murder case I

knew what was happening to me.”
Tropea’s eyes widened.

Mrs. Millie Giacobbe: She tried to take her own life when
police suspected her husband had not died of diabetes

agreed to let him into the inner room.
“'m Isadore Tropea,” the sad-eyed
man announced. He hesitated.

“Yes?” said Kelley. The name con-*

veyed nothing to him.

“I’m Rose Carina’s fifth husband,”
the visitor said quietly.

Kelley started. It was the last thing
he had expected to hear.

“Where’s your wife?” he barked.

“She left me last December. Now
I don’t feel so well. I been a sick man
for a long time—long before Rose left.
I’m glad that woman’s gone—”

ELLEY realized that the luck of the
Heavens was with him. This man

had a story. The D. A. relaxed in his,

chair. “Suppose you tell me all about
it from the first moment you met Rose
Carina,” Kelley said.

The little man fidgeted and then
took a deep breath. “Well, right from

the start, Rose had a strange power.
over me. She was a good-looking wo-.
man—but it wasn’t that. It was some=- .

thing else. I was afraid of her, but she
was irresistible. So I married her .. .”
“When was that?” put in the D. A.

14

“What do you mean?” the D, A.
asked him.

“T had begun to feel sick at my
stomach all the time. I couldn’t get no

relief. I couldn’t eat nothing at home

that didn’t make me sick. But when I
saw in the papers that Pietro Stea’s
body showed up that arsenic I knew
Rose was trying to poison me, too. Stea
was one of her former husbands. She
had five, including me—three of them
died. So I guess I know now what
ails jme. Cast you do ‘something. for
me?

‘ You" re lucky to. be alive: Tropea,”
said Kelley. “Get a good physician and
tell him your story. You'll be-all right

» under proper treatment,” “ar

‘It’s an awful thought—to’ ‘think
your insides are being gnawed away,”
Isadore Tropea told. the D..A. “I’m
glad Rose is gone.” —

Kelley was tapping the ‘desk with a
pencil thoughtfully.

“Tropea, what you tell me gives me
an idea. You say Rose .was. ‘irresisti-
ble.’ You ‘mean ‘she. induced you to

“marry her through methods you didn’t

understand but were afraid to resist?”

Assistant Prosecutor Vincent McDevitt,

» “That's sit.. Rose has a. funny: way

with men, They do as she says,” agreed

the deserted husband. “I guess that’s’

how she-got so many men crazy. about
her. Anyway, if I die now my son,
and not that awful. woman, will get
my insurance.”

“You’re not going to die, Tropes—
get it out of your head,” the D. A.
said. “And don’t worry—we'll get The
Rose!”

haem jumped up; the interview
was at an end. Tropea left after
assuring the police that he hadn’t heard
from: his former wife since her de-
sertion; hadn’t the slightest idea where
she had gone, and that if he heard
from her he’d let them know imme-
diately.
Kelley called in his detectives.

“Look, I was going to put the ‘B’
on Bolber right away. This latest
angle adds a new face to it. We’re
going to get more information on that
guy before I tackle him. We can track
him down much more readily if we
have the facts before he tells them.
Bring out that Bolber file.”

Quickly someone put the dossier
into the D. A.’s hands.

Kelley: thumbed through it rapidly.
Crowded into the folder was a mass
of reports and tips concerning Bolber’s
depredations in Philadelphia and New
York City among the poorer working
classes,

A woman named Mrs. Mary Gagliar-
di blabbed that Bolber was a bad egg.
And who should know better than Mrs.
Gagliardi, a fortune-teller? Kelley
read through Mrs. Gagliardi’s reported
tips and then closed the folder. “I
want you—Captain Kelly, Detective
Franchetti and you, McDevitt—to go
to New York immediately and track
down Bolber’s recent past in Brooklyn.
I'll call the Brooklyn District Attorney,
William F, X. Geoghan, and ask him
to give you the necessary help—”

Kelley: reached for .a ‘phone’ and the

three men started for the door.

Once in the New York borough, the
Philadelphia investigators and Assist-
ant District Attorney McDevitt found
the Brooklyn official waiting for them,
For two hours, the four men sat be-
hind closed doors while Bolber’s name
passed back and forth among them.
Two years previous to the conference,
Bolber had come to Brooklyn. and
opened a delicatessen store—and ‘that
wasn’t all. His reputation as a “psy-
chiatrist” was well known among the
humble folk of Bensonhurst and Bath
Beach. As the reputation of the man
now being held in Philadelphia for
questioning grew into gigantic propor-
tions, police were sent out to the
Bath Beach and Bensonhurst areas to
check the rumors.

left, took Morris Bolber In for arraignment
before Bolber told the story that brought order out of chaos in the arsenic investigation

The three Philadelphia men sped
back to Philadelphia the moment their
conference with Geoghan was over.
They had enough information to pin
back the ears of the anxiously wait-
ing D.

Kelley ‘whistled when he heard it.
“So it’s like that? Why, this case is
too fantastic to believe. This is the first
time, however, that the whole crazy,
incredible maze of intrigue has taken
on definite, recognizable shape. I see
it all, now. Here we have Bolber—a
man of undisputed power and rank
among the little people—and there the
poor dupes who have come from other
countries not knowing the ways of
this vast, untried civilization. Bolber
and his clan pick out the misfits and
the incompetents among them—the
crippled, the mentally unfit, the simple
and the gullible who can’t speak
English well enough to know what it’s
all about and are illiterate even in
their own language: He gains their
confidences, either by petty kindnesses
or downright occult threats; then when
they are totally his, he and: Rose open
up on them. She woos, weds and slays.

oD—7

Bolber finds her new victims and new
husbands, getting a good slice of cash
on each. insurance-murder deal.) And
the hopeless dupes that aren’t even
good bets for temporary spouses for
a woman like Rose become the imme-
diate victims of Bolber’s cunning by
outright butchery.”

mt boy D. A.’s analysis of what they
had brought home from Brooklyn
stunned every detective who heard it.
. Puzzling as the case had been up until
now, it was beginning to come out of
the mists which had shrouded it, ob-
scuring the real motives other than
individual greed and avarice. Why so
many individuals had taken up mur-
der as a_ side-line was something
which authorities up until now had
struggled| to learn. Kelley’s. keen

Do the attitudes of these three widows reflect their outlook on the future?

together, hand in glove?” queried one.

of the detectives, remembering the
seeming hot blood existing among all
the principals.

“At first—yes. Then several of them
caught. on and decided to do it their
own way. Paul Petrillo went and took «
a course in voodoo from a so-called
‘witch in Camac Street. Mrs. Fravato
took instructions from another witch
in her own neighborhood—a woman,
incidentally, who bled her of plenty—
to learn black magic. Then, with the
tools in their hands, they hung out
their own shingles. Herman, sheik of
the Philly outfit, lured the women as
Rose Carina had lured the men. Get

it? See how the idea caught on? This-

thing isn’t only a murder racket—it’s
a marriage-murder racket. Mrs. Car-
ina divorced her first husband—lucky

Left to right: Mrs. Anna Arena, Mrs. Rose Davis, Mrs. Christina Cerrone

puzzle-solving had split the arsenic
case wide open.

“This new angle, without a doubt,”
Kelley told his men, ‘proves what we
have suspected from the very -first—
that this thing was an organized mur-
der racket, operating over a period of
years, managed by the ‘brains’ and
operated by the henchmen and at-
taches in the lower brackets who
eventually became tops in their own
right by dint of practise. Bolber, the
fake psychiatrist; Paul Petrillo, the
witch-doctor; Herman Petrillo, the
lady-killer, Don Juan and double-
crosser whose side-lines were hit-skip
driving, arson, poison-supply and pass-
ing counterfeit; Mrs. Fravato,; witch and

administering death-angel who handed
out the stuff to the women. who
‘wanted to get rid of their husbands;

Mrs. Carina, lure for men who signed °

their death warrants when they put it
on a marriage certificate beside hers;
Valenti and all the rest—strong-arm
and nickel-collectors for the little jobs.
t rae it all, now. It fits together per-
ec
“Then you think they all wotked

op—1

man. He’s now running a farm in
New Jersey. Her second, third and
fourth all died mysteriously and the
fifth escaped | death only when she fied
from Philly.”

“You’ve got something, Chief,” said
one of the detectives.

“But we haven’t got Rose Carina.
She must be caught. The Rose of Death
is the keystone to another flock - of
killings. we haven’t even touched. Get
out. after her: I’ll send requests to
every state and near-by country where
she might be hiding. That woman is
not going to escape if brig such a
thing as justice left!”.

ipso saeaded ee police brochures were
filled with Rose Carina’s name and
description. They flew from Coast to
Coast, to Cuba, South America and
Mexico. The: Rose of Death might be

blooming anywhere.

And while the chase for the reputed
‘woo-and-wed widow: grew hotter and
hotter, Kelley decided that at last the
time was ‘ripe to call in Bolber, the
faith-healer, for a quiet cHat. :

Bolber’s attorney had ‘called:and in-:

formed the D. A.’s office that the so-

called psychiatrist. was
guiltless of any connection with the
arsenic-ring killings and was perfectly
willing to give police any information
about his “clients” they desired...

A grim smile rose to Kelley’s lips.
He had heard that one before—from
men in the shadow of the chair who
have decided: to sing for all its worth.

“Bring him in,” he ordered his de-..

tectives.

After a short summation by District
Attornéy Kelley of what the State held
in its cards. stacked against him, the
former Philadelphia faith-healer de-
cided that he needed the advice of his
attorney before answering the. ques-
tions flung at him by the battery. of
detectives.

To hasten Bolber’s spill, Kelley de-

| Valenti,

absolutely -

_v It.was the work of a few legal m
@. ments. to.
_ without bail for the. grand jury.

men behind the bench approached
fe aa

cided to have the man arraigne
once.’ Consequently he was. hu:

downstairs and added to the |

coterie of poison-ring suspects in
‘Court of: Common Pleas to be
raigned before Magistrate Thoma
O’Hara. Sharing the bench with 0’)
was Magistrate George Grevey.
sistant District Attorney McDevitt,
had done such excellent work du
the: first part of the poison-ring
vestigations while Kelley was ab:
presented the charges against
group that included Bolber. 1

* were;

Caesar Valenti, the giant from |
York whom police captured as he
released into their hands by immi
tion authorities;. Rafaele Polselli,
little man who stood only as hig]
Valenti’s shoulder and admitted p

Gaetano .Ciccanti: Police believ:
he might. have some of the answe

ing errand boy for Mrs. Fravato, :
poison widow and witch, who e\
now was muttering incantations in ]
Moyamensing Prison. cell; Da
Brandt, office-appliance salesman 3
former’ student of veterinary at 1
University of Pennsylvania’ wh:
police charged with being a ri
poison-supply agent, and Emilio

-celli, whose name had popped up 1

peatedly in connection with Herm
Petrillo and the death of Di Martino

As flash-bulbs began to pop, picki
out the five arraigned before the ben:
a minor explosion jarred the ner\
cracking silence as the men were abc
to be legally tied to the. fast-growi
roster of characters on the wrong si
of this fantastic drama. A photc
rapher’s flash-bulb _had_ explod
the man-mountain, jump
nervously, putting his huge, club
paws over his satanic-looking face.

hold Micelli- and Polse
lber’s ‘turn to ‘be presented to t

(Continued on Page: 43) :


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So! Peno hadn’t waited too long for
the “beautiful lady” whom Bolber and
Brandt had promised him. Married
again—and to whom? Was -Peno still
living with the second wife—or was
she still living? Had the newly discov-
ered matrimony-murder mill gotten to
work on Peno’s second affair of the
marriage mart?

Laborious inquiry around the neigh-
borhood netted them a new address
for the fugitive. It was on Tenth
Street near Moore. But here again the
detectives were thwarted. Peno hadn’t

.been seen there for a long while.

“But his wife lives on North Wana-
maker Street,” the residents told the
pet eg “Maybe she knows where

e is.”

So to North Wanamaker Street hus-
tled the perspiring police, feeling that
they finally were stalking the right
scent.

A. serious-looking woman, care-
worn and quiet, answered their knock
at No. 131, an address they obtained
by door-to-door knocking.

“Does Gaetano Peno live here?” the
detective queried quickly.

“No, he don’t,” the woman replied
hotly. “I had enough of that man.”

HE woman gave her name as Mrs.

Madeline Sylvester Peno.

“How long has it been since you
last saw your husband, Mrs. Peno?”

She made a gesture of exasperated
disgust. “I married him June 12, 1937.
On August 17—just two months
later—he left. I told him to go. He
never gave me any money and he ex-
pected me to work. I told him no man
was going to stay around here and
live off a woman!”

“You haven’t seen him since then?”
the detective asked, with a note of dis-
appointment creeping into his voice.
Mentally he was thinking how lucky
this second Mrs. Peno had been in
escaping the fate of a marriage-
murder-racket victim. Her indepen-
dence and quick ousting of the man
she had married probably had spared
her life. .

“J heard he’s living in Jersey, down
around Salem,” Mrs. Peno advised
police. “But I don’t know if it’s true
or not.”

Once again Philadelphia police were
confronted with the problem of track-
ing suspects over state boundaries.
New Jersey in particular, being the
next-door neighbor and separated from
Philadelphia by only the Delaware
River, had been the most natural and
logical means of exit for the arsenic-
ring operators. More, too. In adding
up the swelling list of arsenic-ring
membership, New Jersey’s score of
suspected killings now totaled 35!

Authorities in Jersey City, Newark,
Trenton, Hammonton, Salem and Sea
Isle City, already alert and watching
developments, now made definite plans
to investigate possible arsenic-ring op-
erations—and to cooperate in locating
wanted Philadelphia suspects.

Meanwhile police who were inves-
tigating the Arena fishing-party slay-
ing, committed somewhere off the Jer-
sey coast, hurried to Philadelphia to
confer with the Quaker City authori-
ties. One of the men at the very mo-
ment being tracked down by Detective
Franchetti—Steve Crispino—would be
claimed immediately by New Jersey
officials if it were proved’ that the
Arena death had occurred within the
three-mile limit from shore. | Also
Rodio—now being sought by G-Men,
and accused of having been in the
same boat with Crispino—would be
Jersey’s legal prisoner in case of arrest
for a homicide committed in that
State.

Discouraged but still dogged, the
team of men who had been sent out
to drop Peno returned to City Hall.

It was five o’clock in the morning
before Captain James A. Kelly and
Detective Anthony Franchetti arrived
at the municipal building with a man
between them. Once inside Room No.
562 they ushered the fellow up to the
judgment bar of the D. A.’s desk and

quietly announced, “Steve Crispino.”

The man whom Captain Kelly and
Franchetti had lifted from a Reading
hat factory was the chap whom both
Bolber and Herman Petrillo had
placed in Joseph Arena’s fatal fishing-

party.

“T didn’t do it, I tell you,” Crispino
began excitedly. “I don’t know what
they’re talking about. They’re just
trying to hang something on me.”

But Crispino was no different than
the rest. When he heard the D. A
state the case against him—from in-
formation supplied by Bolber and
Petrillo—his defense crumbled.

“Al right—yes, I was along on that
fishing-party,” he admitted. “But I
didn’t sock Joe.”

“Who did, Crispino?” barked Kelley.

“J don’t know. I had my _ back
turned. I heard a splash and when I
turned around I saw Joe in the water.
I thought he fell overboard.”

Steve Crispino was brought before
the court to be arraigned for a hearing
and held for further questioning.

“Now when the FBI boys bag Rodio
we can wash up the Arena murder
case for court procedure,” Kelley said
with a sigh of relief. He relaxed for
a second.

But the relaxation was only mo-
mentary. The Detective Division in-
vestigators, following through on their
leads, were washing up current busi-
ness rapidly. One of them burst into
the D. A.’s office with a bubbling-
over expression.

“Look!” he cried, waving a typed
sheet of names before the investiga-
tor’s weary eyes. His finger hastened
down a column and stopped at a name.
“It’s. Peno—Gaetano Peno, the man
we been hunting for—”

Kelley took the list from the de-
tective. Certainly there was listed the
name of their wanted man. ‘Where
did you get this?”

“It’s the obit column from the Phila-
delphia General Hospital! Peno has
just kicked off!”

“Listen, get out to that hospital as
fast as you can. Grab that body. Don’t
let an undertaker as much as touch it,”
Kelley ordered.

The door was already swinging as
he flung his final instructions at the
racing detective: “Take the remains to
the morgue for an autopsy.”

“Can you tie that?” the D. A. asked.
And then, his curiosity and impa-
tience getting the better of him, he
seized the telephone and called the
hospital. “What did your patient,
Gaetano Peno, die of?” he asked the

_attache who answered the phone.

“Paralysis—cause unknown,” came
back the reply. ‘He was in a comatose
condition when he was brought in.”

“How long ago was that?” Kelley
interrupted.

“About three weeks ago.”

“Who sent him?”

“No record—he came from Salem,
New Jersey.”

Kelley thanked the hospital at-
tendant and put the receiver down.

“That's a funny one. We've been

hunting this bird for more than three

weeks,” the D. A. remarked to the
little knot of his staff men who stood
near by. “It isn’t suicide, even though
he must have known we were after
him for the death of his wife, Jennie,
the bedridden invalid.”

“Maybe the ring members ‘put the
fix,’ as they say, on Peno to shut him
up,” suggested one of the men.

“you might have something there,”
the D. A. agreed. “Well, maybe the
autopsy will give us an answer to that
riddle, unless these killers have been
up to their pet trick—using a fugitive
poison not even science can identify.”

(A fugitive poison is one which
leaves no residue that can be traced
in the human system after it has re-
acted chemically.)

Meanwhile the Homicide Squad man
reached the Philadelphia General
Hospital just in time to rescue the
body of 51-year-old Gaetano Peno
from a firm of undertakers to which it
had been released. He immediately

claimed the remains as the property of
the State and ordered an autopsy.

Back in the City Hall more trouble
was brewing. A group of worried peo-
ple had found their way into the
D. A.’s office. They told him they were
members of the family of one of the
people under arrest as an arsenic-ring
suspect. Their lives were in danger.

The District Attorney scanned the
note which his visitors had brought to
his office. Mainly it was an extortion
note, asking for $300 to spring one of
the poison widows. There was nothing
exactly new about anonymous notes
and letters in the case. But there was
one point which struck Kelley as pe-
culiarly significant about this one.

“Here’s evidence that this case is by
no means ‘dead.’ People still at large
are even now trying to squeeze the
last penny in profits from this whole
miserable mess of intrigue. It’s like
vermin feasting on carrion—disgust-
ing. The sooner we can nab every
principal and each of his or her hench-
men the sooner we will be able to put
a stop to this sort of thing. When a
man like Peno can be trapped into his
own death-net even while we’re still
looking for him it shows we still have
a long way to go.”

The murder ring had struck again!
Right under the ferreting eyes of the
District Attorney and 22 Homicide
Squad detectives. What would the next
move be? Was Gaetano Peno slain to
seal his lips about the death of his
bedridden wife, Jennie? What would
autopsies on the bodies of this couple
prove? .

Kelley was once more moving a fin-
ger down the column of suspected
Killers. Name crowded on name—just
as they had fallen from Morris Bol-
ber’s sneering lips.

The D. A.’s little red pencil clicked
off several more names—those of peo-
ple long since dead whose families had
enjoyed a sudden rise in the financial
world shortly after there had been
funerals in their homes. A steely glint
came to his eyes as he noted with re-
newed interest that some of those peo-
ple had taken brides and bridegrooms
shortly after funerals, too.

“We're going to crack down hard on
this new marriage-murder guild,” he
told his staff. “These people have
mocked the most sacred rights of the
individual and made a laughing-stock
of our laws. And the next thing I’m
going after is more concrete evidence
against two of the top-notchers—Mor-
ris Bolber and Paul Petrillo. I want
you men of the Homicide Squad to
trace the bank accounts and financial
dealings of those two immediately.
Also round up Paul Petrillo’s every
known contact down on Passyunk
Avenue, where he used to have that
tailoring-shop. A lot of murders seem
to lead back to that foul little hole. I
want you to bring in everybody who
was ever seen in it—”

Bor Kelley was interrupted before
he could continue with his instruc-
tions. It was a call from the FBI and,
as he listened at his end, a gleam came
into his tired eyes. He was silent for
a moment after he had hung up the
receiver—as though even then he was
reviewing questions that must be an-
swered. He looked around the room
at his assistants.

“Rose Carina,” he announced in a
firm tone, “has just been picked up by
the G-Men.”

What will be the story of “The Rose
of Death”? Can she throw more light
on the sensational case? What other
startling climaxes will this seemingly
endless and exciting case bring? And
what of Dominic Rodio? Did double
homicide occur in the mysterious af-
fair of Gaetano Peno and his invalid
wife—or did Peno commit one slaying
and ring members another? What will
the men investigating Bolber’s and
Paul Petrillo’s intimate affairs have
to report? For further revelations in
this amazing and complex case, see the
forthcoming December issue of OFFI-
CIAL DETECTIVE STORIES.

December OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES on Sale Friday, October 27

oD—*®

ee sare

(ETR FELOS O4

Uncovering Philadelphia’s Arsenic Ring:

Murder As You Want |t

By Fenton Mallory

Special Investigator for
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

Mrs. Rose Carina, shown here with two Philadelphia detectives: She wasn

A POISON plot directed against Ferdinand Alfonsi gave Philadelphia detec-
"tives the first vague hints of an incredible murder-insurance ring. Herman
etrillo, instigator of the plot against Alfonsi, was arrested with Ferdinand’s
ife, Stella. The investigation broadened to include every unexplained death
uring the past ten years. There were scores of them—and upon most, good-
-ed insurance benefits had been paid. Petrillo confessed to murder and was
nvicted. His confession and conviction was followed by confessions from Mrs.
orinna Fravato, fat witch-woman, and Mrs. Susie di Martino, another death-
idow. Investigators learned the murder ring not only used poison to kill its
ictims but also faked accidents such as hit-run deaths and drownings. And
ways the insurance money had been paid and divided. The names of four
crsons became prominent in the stories told by witnesses. Those names were:
aul Petrillo, witch-doctor-tailor cousin of Herman; Mrs. Rose Carina, known
the “Kiss of Death”; Morris Bolber, former Brooklyn witch-doctor, and
caesar Valenti, a giant strong-arm man. All except Mrs. Carina were arrested.
le FBI was asked to find “The Rose” and a man by the name of Dominic
odio, who was believed to know the details in the drowning of Joseph Arena.
‘ne murder case after another was cleared up, but progress was slow. District
\ttorney Charles F, Kelley had just ordered a renewed investigation into Paul
ctrillo’s activities when his telephone rang. He answered it and then an-
ounced to his assistants: “Rose Carina has just been picked up by the G-Men.”
ow go on with the story:

6

tivity in the offices of Detective

Captain James Kelly, head of the
Homicide Squad at City Hall. Kelly
summoned the two detectives upon
whom much of the leg-work of the
arsenic-ring investigation already had
fallen, Michael Schwartz and Anthony
Franchetti.

“The District Attorney has just in-
formed me that Rose Carina has been
arrested by G-Men,” announced the
detective head. “We have no details
yet, but we do have on another arrest,
so let’s get going.” He finished by
grabbing his hat and starting toward
the door.

Their car sped down Chestnut
Street, dodging the jam of trolley cars
and thick traffic in the narrow one-
way street. Right on down to the end.
Just before the warehouses and ship-
ping company offices gave way to
waterfront, the police car came to a
whizzing halt at the corner of Second
Street. A magnificent gray stone
building, new and modern, soared

T ives flurry broke into excited ac-

’t the lady to linger when murder indictments began flying

above them as they jumped out and
ascended the steps. They crossed the
marble-paved rotunda decorated with
murals depicting the majesty of Fed-
eral law and stepped into an elevator
in the Customs House.

In a few moments the Captain and
his two detectives were in the United
States Marshal’s office facing Deputy
Marshal Harry Coxe and United States
Attorney E, A. Kallick. Between two
other deputy marshals, Hovenseck and
Black, stood a weary-looking man with
his eyes on the velvet carpet of the
office. His fingers still were stained
with ink and the results of his prints
lay on Kallick’s desk in plain view.

“Dominic Rodio,” announced Kal-
lick quietly, as the three Philadelphia
detectives stepped up to his desk. He
nodded to the deputies and the two
Federal officers led the prisoner, un-
resisting, from the room.

The attorney then explained to
Kelly and his men that G-Men, follow-
ing tips supplied by Philadelphia Po-
lice Superintendent Edward Hubbs,

OoD—10


raigned before Judge. Harry S. Mc-
Devitt. The following day he was for-
mally placed under custody and held
on charges of homicide and as an ac-
cessory before and after the fact of
murder. This completed the long
search for the three men, two of whom
had been fugitive, who knew most
about the drowning of Joseph Arena
in June, 1937.

T= three major divisions of the in-

vestigating regiment of Philadelphia
law-enforcing agencies were rejoicing
over the G-Men’s quick work in land-
ing their wanted man. Most exuber-
ant was District Attorney Charles F.
Kelley, who had wisely called in FBI
assistance to land suspects who had
skipped Pennsylvania when Philly de-
tectives got too hot on the trail.

“Now when they turn ‘The Rose’
over to us, we’can settle down ‘to clear-
ing up a lot of the smaller people on
our schedule,” remarked the official.
A smile was jerking the corners of
his mouth. The phone call but a few
moments before had sent his spirits
soaring. It seemed almost too good to
be true that Rose Carina was now in
custody in New York. The good news
had been flashed to Kelley by local
FBI Headquarters in the Liberty
Title and Trust Building.

Rose Carina! The Kiss of Death
woman whose evil charm had tempted
five men and three victims into her
poisonous arms. Rose, the common-
law wife of Pietro Stea, long since

18

dead from arsenic poisoning. Rose,
the vampire, who had lured men to
their deaths and collected their insur-
ance. Rose, who was reviled even by
her own father, had scented the end
of the trail in November, 1938, when

Ferdinand Alfonsi lay dying in a
Philadelphia hospital, while Detective
Franchetti hung over his bedside ques-
tioning him about his private affairs.
And when Stella, Alfonsi’s wife, had
been slapped in jail before her hus-
band was on a city morgue slab, Rose
Carina took to her heels. Widows with
histories weren’t going to be popular
in Philadelphia, and a widow with five
husbands behind her, one whose body
contained a deadly poison and another
who had told of Rose’s peculiar influ-
ence over men, wasn’t the lady to
linger when murder indictments be-
gan flying.

The Kiss of Death madam, however,
wasn’t the only problem still hanging
fire in the D. A.’s office. And until she
actually was in his custody, Kelley had
other work to do. There was a new
raft of arrests, a new flock of suspects
and a new flurry of accusations, re-
criminations and threats being cir-
culated among the now thoroughly
terrorized poison ringers. There was
still. the mystery of Gaetano Peno’s
death in a Philadelphia hospital. Was
Peno the murderer that Herman Pe-

Assistant District
Attorney Vincent
McDevitt, stand-
ing, was horrified
at implications
in Doctor Horace
Periman’s _ story

Antonio Mastro:
This material
witness flirted
once with a mis-
tress of death

trillo claimed? Had the ring bumped
him off to make one less witness
against them? Or had he really died
of natural causes after murdering his
wife?

“Have Mrs. Peno’s body exhumed,”
ordered the D. A., anxious to cross that
one off—or file it as evidence against
the person who calmly could plot the
death of a bedridden invalid, helpless
for years.

Another of those cases was already
on his books. There was the case of
one Lena Winkleman, whose son-in-
law, Joseph Swartz, was now on
ice. Joe had been one of the chaps
whose names popped up occasionally
in Petrillo’s conversation. Detectives
who queried Swartz convinced him
that denial of complicity with mem-
bers of the ring was useless. Friends
of Paul and Herman, of Bolber and
Rose Carina were subject to question-
ing, in any case, reasoned the Homi-
cide Squad men.

In a long “talk” in City Hall,
Swartz, turning suddenly white, blurt-
ed out in a moment of fear or
finesse: “All right! I did it. I
switched prescriptions on her. She got
on my nerves!”

Later Swartz regretted this hasty
confession and denied that he actually
roe admitted killing his mother-in-
aw.

“We'll see about that,” remarked
Kelley when informed of Swartz’
retraction. The D. A. was not the man
to let a fellow slip in and out of court
if he were not innocent merely because
insufficient evidence had been gath-
ered for a conviction.

“This means that we'll have to ex-
hume Lena Winkleman’s body, too,” he
sighed in exasperation. But he gave
the order and detectives went out to
execute it. This time, however, trou-
ble awaited. Mrs. Winkleman was not
buried in a Philadelphia cemetery but
was resting in a Bucks County burial-
ground which came under the jurisdic-
tion of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The’
law up there read that a member of
the deceased’s family must give con-
sent. before an exhumation might
occur. The wily Swartz undoubtedly
had thought of this the moment his
confession was out of his frightened
mouth. Panicky and still trying to beat
the law, he decided to borrow a stick
from the devil to beat him... use the
law to trip the law.

WAS decided finally that since Mrs.
Winkleman’s ‘body was in Bucks
County, Doylestown authorities would
have to pass down a decision. on the
legality of exhumation and autdpsy.

At the same time, a suspect whose
identity had been kept secret lost her
amateur standing as the “mystery wo-
man” when Mrs. Grace Giovanatti was
led before the bar in front of Judge
Harry S. McDevitt and charged with
murder. Quietly removed from her
home on Sigel Street, Mrs. Giovanatti,
whose husband, Pietro Piorelli, had
died mysteriously several years pre-
ra was summarily held without

ail.

As a result of Kelley’s order, detec-
tives began a thoroughgoing search of
Philadelphia banking houses in hope of
finding more concrete evidence against
Paul Petrillo and Morris Bolber. Even
these investigators raised overwearied
eyebrows when confronted by the fig-
ures put down opposite ‘Paul Petrillo’s
name. In one fell swoop the humble
little tailor’s account had zoomed up
to $18,000 in a single deposit. The date
corresponded nicely with the first
flock of insurance policies collected on
victims in the Philadelphia area.

A similar check-up in Brooklyn,
where Bolber had kept shop behind a
little delicatessen store, showed that
numerous and continuous large de-
posits of money had been made re-
peatedly by the witch-doctor. ,

While detectives were running down
the financial status of relatives pre-
ceding and following the multiple
murders of invalids, cripples, orphans
and unwanted husbands, wives and
mothers-in-law, the District Attorney
was puckering his brow over the latest
report from the city laboratories,
where the job of dissection and an-
alysis was still a night-and-day task.

“Luigi LeVecchio,” he read _ half
aloud. “Dead of poison.” He thought a
moment and then turned to an aide.
“Have Franchetti bring in Mrs. Rose
Davis,” ‘he said tersely.

Mrs., Davis had been jailed shortly
after the investigation opened in
earnest on widows whom insurance
companies had paid off handsomely.

Shortly after this request, Detective
Franchetti appeared in the D. .A.’s
office escorting a plump little woman
of middle age who came just to the
edge of his shoulder. She was well
dressed and not the’ unattractive
variety of hatless housewife who so
frequently had been ushered into that
inquisition chamber during the harried
months of the investigation. The D. A.
nodded her to a chair.

“I have here, Mrs. Davis, a number
of insurance policies that you obtained
on the life:of your former husband,
Luigi LeVecchio. His death was due to
poison.”

“T didn’t kill my Luigi,” Mrs. Davis
murmured, her .voice shaking with
emotion.

“But you collected his insurance.
Your signature is on these canceled
policies.” The D. A. held them up for
her to see.

(Continued on Page 47)

oD—10

had traced Rodio, the man they wanted
for questioning in connection with the
now famous fishing-party off the Jer-
sey Coast which had ended in the
murder of Joseph Arena.

“They picked him up yesterday in
Cleveland,” Kallick said.

Kelly whistled. That was just 24
hours after the warrant for Rodio’s
arrest had been placed in the hands of
the local FBI head, J. Bernard Leckie.
“Quick work, all right,” he said.

Kallick then proceeded to wash up
the legal details that would place the
prisoner in the hands of Philadelphia
authorities.

LITTLE later Rodio once more was

led out and turned over to Kelly.
Between Franchetti and Schwartz the
slightly built fellow, once a private de--
tective and former resident of Phila-
delphia, was raced downstairs and
placed in the police car. After round-
ing Second Street into Walnut, the car
began to zigzag uptown in an effort to
evade the following reporters and
photographers. Giving them the slip,
the detectives suddenly drew up at
their prearranged destination, 28th and
Oxford Streets, the 40th Philadelphia
Detective Division.

A strange little reception party
awaited within. As Dominic Rodio,
nicely dressed and carrying his top-
coat, stepped into an antechamber of
the station-house escorted by the three
detectives, he stopped short on the
door-sill. He gasped. Then he went in.

On a stiff-backed chair in the bar-
ren room sat a squat, pudgy man with

New Facts, New Names, Plots and

Horrors Were Uncovered Daily as

These Investigators Inched Their
Way into the Labyrinth of the
Incredible Syndicate of Murder

popping eyes which bored Rodio with:

an evil glance. Beside him, also bolt
upright, was parked a_nondescript-
looking individual with fear and sus-
pense crowding his features. He, too,
looked askance at Rodio.

“Now you boys can explain to us
just what happened to Joseph Arena
when you three took him fishing. Re-
member?” urged Captain Kelly.

Morris Bolber, fake faith-healer
and admitted instigator of witchcraft
practises which had led to the murder
of over 100 victims during a ten-year
period of depredations in Philadelphia,
Brooklyn, New Jersey and Delaware,
gave the two other men penetrating
glances. Steve Crispino, evidently
much younger than the 47-year-old

private detective and obviously in fear -
-of the man sitting beside him, winced

visibly. His lips opened and bubbles
of excitement formed on them, but no
words came.

oD—10

“Go ahead, Rodio,” insisted Kelly,
anxious to get on with the inquiry.
His was the smart move of a good in-
vestigator—surprising a suspect before
he had time to prearrange his story.

Dominic Rodio began to recite the
oft-repeated incidents of the Arena
fishing-party which Herman Petrillo
had outlined for authorities in one of
his lengthy spills.

But Rodio was not to finish his story
without interruption. Bolber clenched
and unclenched his fists. Suddenly one
of them swung out and attempted to
contact Rodio’s weak-looking jaw.
Franchetti seized it just in time to pre-
vent a disturbance.

“You lie!” shouted Bolber. The two
detectives pinioned Bolber’s arms to
his sides as he strained to attack Rodio.
“You pushed him off yourself. You
collected the insurance...”

Haltingly, Rodio’s story went on. He
denied having been the instrument of

Captain James
Kelly: He wanted
to know the story
of a fishing-trip

right:

Mrs. Grace Gio-
vanatti, left: She
lost her amateur
standing as a
mystery woman

Mrs. Rose Davis, .

Was she
befuddled by the
chicanery of
witch-doctors?

Joseph Arena’s death. Bolber, he
claimed, had concocted the plot.

A blast from Bolber which shook the
air of the station-house burst loose
from his thick lips. Never since the
moment of his arrest had the “faith-
healer” shown so much vociferous in-
terest in the accusations hurled against
him by both detectives and witnesses.

Detectives were engaged for the
next few moments in keeping the two
men from each. other’s__ throats.
Screaming epithets and accusations at
each other, they locked in a verbal
volcano of violence.

ties detective captain listened in si-
lence. It was just what he wanted.
Out. of this would come the truth.
Finally the fray broke into two camps.
Rodio told his story, and Crispino, the
hat-factory worker whom Philadelphia
detectives had pinched in Reading,
Pennsylvania, but a few days pre-
viously, backed him up. Bolber was
left out on the roost with his own ver-
sion of the fishing-party. He denied
even having been in the boat.

“You hurled him __ overboard,”
screamed Bolber, apoplectic with rage.

“How do you know what happened
if you weren’t in that boat?” put in
Kelly quickly.

That silenced the “psychiatrist”
momentarily. His vaunted use of psy-
chology had appeared mighty feeble in
opposition to the brainwork of the
detective captain.

When the fireworks in the police
station were over, Dominic Rodio was
rushed to City Hall, where he was ar-


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The Shadow at the Window

(Continued from page 33) She fell on the
bathroom floor. You’ve found no weapon?”

“None,” replied the Lieutenant. “There
is no gun and the only razor is in the
medicine cabinet. It’s a safety, and hasn’t
been washed recently.”

“There’s no sign of a struggle,” the Chief
observed as his sharp eyes took in the
details of the neat, well-furnished apart-
ment.

McCullough agreed, and pointed to the
two coffee cups on the dining-room table.
Kane nodded without speaking. At last
he stepped into the living-room where the
two neighbors had been requested to stay.

“Have you seen any men visiting Mrs.
Thase during the time of day when her.
husband is away?” he inquired of the
woman,

His shrewd eyes saw the startled look
in the neighbor’s face, but she replied
quickly: :

“Fern Thase was a young woman of
unusually fine character, and she loved
her ‘husband. She would not have enter-
tained men in his absence.”

M@ “YET,” OBSERVED the officer, “there

are two cups with coffee in them on the
dining-room table. And it is apparent that
the entire apartment has been cleaned
and put in order since breakfast.”

The friend of the victim regarded him
with a troubled look. It was obvious to the
officer that, she had been fond of her young
neighbor and intended to protect her
reputation. Seeing that he could not get
anything out of her, he turned to Brown
and said:

“Please take me over to your house.
Lieutenant McCullough will stand in the
bathroom where you saw the shadowy
figure. I wish to see exactly how plainly
you saw this man.” .

Brown led the way to his home. The
Chief followed into the dining-room and
up to the windows that faced the Thase
apartment. Sure enough, with the light
on in the bathroom, McCullough was visi-
ble, but only in shadow. Kane’s expres-
sion was thoughtful. He was convinced
that unless Brown had known the man
well, he would not have recognized him.

The Chief returned to the Thase apart-

ment just as Detective Rea arrived with ,

the murdered girl’s husband. Charles
Thase gazed around him in bewildered
shock. He peered at the strange officer as
if he thought he might be in the wrong
house. Kane, spoke to him sympatheti-
cally.

“Mr. Rea has informed you of the
tragedy that occurred here this morning?”
he inquired.

Thase nodded without replying, his
eyes still roaming about the living-room.
The Chief inquired:

“Have you any idea who might have
committed the crime?”

The husband drew back as if he had
been struck. His expression was dazed.
“Where is Fern?” he asked.

“We sent her to the hospital, but she
died on the way,” the officer told him
gently. :

“It must have been an accident,” sug-
gested Thase.

“No,” said Kane, “it was no accident. It
was ruthless murder.”

“But no one would harm Fern. It must
have been some fiend—a madman.”

' “No, that theory won’t hold up,” replied
the Chief. “Whoever killed her either had
a key to the apartment or was admitted
by your wife. And it must have been
someone she knew, for she served coffee
to him.” He pointed toward the dining-
room.

Thase glanced in, saw the coffee cups

JUNE, 1942

and sat down in the nearest chair. The
Chief’s tone was low and apologetic, as he
went on:

“I am truly sorry to bother you with
questions, Mr. Thase, but it is necessary
if we are to solve the crime before the
murderer manages to escape. At what
time did you leave your home this
morning?”

The bereaved man moistened his lips. It
was evident that the import of the ques-
tion was clear to him. His voice sounded
dry as he muttered, “At eight-thirty.”

“And your wife was well and happy at
that time?”

“Yes,”

“Now, Mr. Thase, the school that you
are reconstructing at the moment is only
a few blocks away. Did you happen to
return home for any reason this morn-
ing?” The officer’s eyes narrowed on the
man.

“No. I did not leave until your detective
came for me.”

“Can you prove that?”

“I think so. The other men will bear
me out, I’m sure.”

“Good!” exclaimed the Chief.

The husband’s face was pale and drawn,
but he looked up at Kane with steady
eyes as he said earnestly, “I loved my
wife and she was devoted to me. If she
entertained anyone here in the apartment
this morning, I believe it must have been
a woman.”

The Chief felt sorry for him, and asked, |*

“You’re sure you have no enemies?”
“None that I know of.” Then he re-

. peated, “It must have been a fiend.”

The knuckles of his hands, gripping the
arms of the chair, showed white. The
officer told him of the shadowy figure his
neighbor had seen, and asked if he could
identify the man.

Thase shook his head dazedly, and did
not answer.

Finally Kane asked him to go down to |.

the morgue with McCullough and identify
the body of his wife. He agreed and left
the house with the Lieutenant.

M WHEN THEY had departed, the Chief

instructed Rea, “Go down to the high
school and investigate his alibi. See if he
was there continuously from nine until
you brought him home.”

Kane went over the house again, but
found no clues. He probed the upstairs
neighbor, feeling convinced that she was
withholding information. She finally ad-
mitted reluctantly that she had seen two
different men calling at the Thase apart-
ment during hours when Fern’s husband
was not at home. She still insisted, how-
ever, that she did not know who the men
were, and also suggested:

“They might have been there on busi-
ness, perhaps to collect a bill or to sell
her something. I never heard Fern speak
of any man except her husband, and I
never saw her in the company of any other
man. ‘They were a devoted couple, as I
have told you.”

She was vague in her descriptions of
the two men she had seen, and when: the
officer finally climbed into his car and
drove back to Headquarters, he felt that
he was facing a mystery that would not
be solved easily. ;

He ordered detectives to question every-
one residing on the block where the vic-
tim had lived. He hoped to find someone
who had seen a man in overcoat and a
fedora hat entering or leaving the apart-
ment between the time the husband had
left, at eight-thirty, and the time Brown
had taken up his stand before the door
shortly after ten-thirty. But his men could
discover no such witness.

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a friend of
also knew

rs without
their home

igedy?” in-

as,” he said
ply sympa-
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as he in-
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been there
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business?”

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- the Thases’
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woman living
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2 Thase apart-

MASTER DETECTIVE

ment building at approximately ten-
thirty, the time set for the murder. The
witnesses had not recognized this man,
but both provided a good description of
him. Despite the fact that they lived in
the same block, neither of the witnesses
knew the Thases, even by sight.

When the Lieutenant had finished ques-
tioning them, he sought out the men
whose names Fern’s sister had given him.
It was late afternoon when he parked his
car in front of a house on Cottage Street.
He had contacted Rea and instructed the
detective to meet him there. As the Lieu-
tenant stepped from his car, he saw that
Rea was already there, walking up and
dewn, waiting for him. The sleuth came
forward to meet him. ;

“No one’s at home,” he said.

“We'll wait a few minutes,” McCullough
told him.

Hi WHILE THE two officers stood on the

sidewalk going over the case, compar-
ing the data they had gathered, a taxi
came speeding up the street. It pulled up
to the curb. McCullough and Rea strolled
over to the passenger who got out of the
cab. When the man had paid the driver

he turned and saw the officers. He looked

bewildered. The Lieutenant made him-
self known, then asked:

“You are George Prescott?”

“Yes,” replied the man.

“And you are a good friend of the
Thases, I understand?”

“That is correct. Charles and Fern have
been good friends of mine for a long time.
I have just learned of this morning’s
tragedy and am going over to see Charles
now.”

“Do you know a friend of theirs named
Harry Myers?” inquired the officer.

Prescott’s forehead wrinkled for a mo-
ment, then he said, “Yes, I’ve met him, but
don’t really know him.”

“Would you mind coming to Head-
quarters with us and giving the Chief cer-
tain information we need concerning your
friends?” queried McCullough.

“Certainly,” agreed Prescott. “I’ll be
only too glad to help your investigation
in any way that I can.”

“Do you know whether or not Thase
was jealous of his wife?” asked the Lieu-
tenant, as they drove to the North Side
Headquarters. :

“I’m sure that he was not. They were
devoted, and Fern would not have de-

‘ceived him.”

A few moments later when they en-
tered the Chief’s office, Kane motioned
Prescott to a chair beside his desk. He
regarded the newest witness with his keen
eyes, then inquired:

“First of all, Mr. Prescott, how did you
get that blood in the lines of your right
hand?” ;

George Prescott sprang to his feet. In
a high-pitched voice he demanded:

“What is all this? What are you in-
sinuating?”

“I merely asked a question,” replied the
Chief in a casual tone. “Why don’t you
answer it?”

The man did not sit down as he said
sullenly, “I happened to be cutting up
some meat for my dog earlier today.”

“I see,” replied Kane, and added, “By
the way, I might as well tell you that we
have proof that you visited Fern Thase
on several occasions when her husband
was not at home. You were in love with
here, weren’t you?”

“That’s a lie!” exclaimed Prescott hotly.

His face: had gone the color of putty.
The Chief, sitting calmly behind his desk,
regarded the suspect steadily. Prescott
did not notice that the door behind him
was quietly opening. The two persons
who entered stood at the back of the room,
studying the man. Within five minutes

‘JUNE, 1942

they were joined by two other persons.
Prescott explained angrily:

“Charles and Fern Thase were dear
friends of mine. Of course I went to the
house on errands several times. I thought

Fern one of the finest young women I’ve.

ever known, but I had no romantic in-
terest in her, nor did she in me.”

“You were there this morning,” an-
nounced Kane suddenly.

Prescott whirled to face the two who
now stepped forward. They were the
witnesses who had seen the man in the
overcoat and fedora leaving the Thase
apartment. They now identified him in-
stantly as this man.

“You're crazy!” Prescott fairly shouted
the words.

At a glance from McCullough another.
witness stepped forward. He was the
taxi driver who had driven the nervous
passenger from a point a block from the
Thase home to a downtown restaurant.
He now pointed at Prescott and declared
with conviction:

“That is the fellow.”

Prescott stared at his accusers, then
turned to face Kane.

“All right, I was at the Thase apart-
ment this morning, but I had nothing to
do with the crime.”

The Chief motioned the other witnesses
out of the office. The Lieutenant and Rea
remained in the background.

“What were you doing at the Thase
apartment at that hour of the morning?”
Kane inquired.

“Well,” replied the accused man hesi-
tantly, “I had been there on Sunday and
had left a book, which Charles wished to
read. I discovered that I wanted it, so I
called up Fern and she told me to come
around and get it this morning.”

HM THE OFFICER leaned across his desk.

“You mean to tell me, Mr. Prescott, that
you were at the apartment at the time of
the murder and yet you know nothing
about it?”

Prescott’s right hand had slipped into
his pocket. His gaze was riveted on the
Chief as he quietly drew the hand out.
Behind him McCullough and Rea had seen
the gesture and were coming forward.
Before they reached him they saw the
flash of bright steel, and sprang. They
were too late. With a lightning-like move-
ment the accused man slashed the razor
across his own throat.

McCullough grabbed a towel from the
corner washstand while Rea and Kane
supported the sagging figure. Deftly the
Lieutenant wrapped the towel around the
wound, pulling it tight to stop the flow
of blood. Prescott’s body seemed to
shrink as he lost consciousness. :

The Chief’s voice and manner were cool.
“Carry him out to my car and take him.
to the Presbyterian Hospital. I'll phone
them to have someone at the entrance. If
we wait for their ambulance it may be too
late to save his life.” ;

The two officers carried the desperately
wounded man out to the Chief’s car, and
placed him in the back. They tore through
the traffic, siren wailing, taking corners
at dangerous speed. White-coated order-
lies were waiting at the entrance. A sur-
geon opened the rear door as the car
pulled up. Prescott was‘taken at once to
the operating room, where it was an-
nounced that he was in a dangerous con-
dition but, because of the prompt action
taken by the police, he might recover.

McCullough went through the pockets
of his coat and found a gun, which ballis-

tics experts were able to prove was the

murder weapon. Meanwhile, back in
Kane’s office, the woman neighbor who
lived above the Thase flat, admitted that
she had seen Prescott calling on Fern on
several occasions.

“But I didn’t think much about it, be-
cause they bought their piano from him
and he used to collect the payments from
Fern. Knowing her, I did not believe she
was carrying on.a romance with him.”

Thase, himself, stared at the officers in
disbelief. He kept repeating:

“But you must be mistaken. George is
my best friend. Why, he was here for
supper only last Sunday. I’m positive that
he wasn’t interested in my wife.”

It was even difficult for him to believe
the truth when Prescott had recovered
sufficiently to confess, which he did while
still at the hospital, To the officers
grouped about his bed, he said:

*“T have been madly in love with Fern
for a long time. You see, I sold them their
piano, and used to call at the house to
collect the payments. Later, when I be-
came an insurance agent, they bought in-
surance from me. Thase and I became
good friends, They were a devoted couple
and, while I made excuses to visit Fern
when her husband was not at home, I
never once made any attempt to make
love to her. I knew that if I ever forgot
myself, she would not allow me to come
there again. She was one of the finest and
most sincere young women I’ve ever
known, and she loved Charles.”

“But why did you kill her?” queried the
Chief.

“Because I became jealous. I ran into
another man there once, and thought Fern
must be interested in him. Then last Sun-
day evening, after I left Charles at the
hospital where we’d been calling on a
friend of ours, I walked toward their
apartment. I saw this same man emerging
and, knowing that Charles was not at
home, I was beside myself with jealousy.

I brooded all night and next day. I couldn’t -

eat nor sleep.

“Finally, on Tuesday morning, I could
stand it no longer. I believed she might
be planning to go away with this man
and that I would not see her any more.
I phoned her, telling her that I needed the
book I had loaned Charles. She suspected
nothing, of course, and told me to come
around and get it.

“She had a cup of coffee for me and, as
we sat in the dining-room, I accused her
of carrying on a romance with the other
man. She denied it, and said that she had
told him he could not come there again
when her husband was not at home. But
I didn’t believe her. I told her how I felt
about her and tried to embrace her. She
fought me off and this maddened me still
more. She asked me to leave the house,
and when I refused, she went into her
bedroom to get away from me.

M™ “I FOLLOWED and shot her. She
staggered backward toward the bath-
room.. I ran after her and cut her throat.
She fell through the bathroom doorway,
onto the floor. I went into the hall and
put on my hat and coat. Then, seeing I had
blood on my hands, I hastily washed them.
But I evidently didn’t get it off, because
Chief Kane saw it on my hand.”
“Did you go to the Wayne Street Sta-
tion afterward?” asked McCullough.
“Yes, I drove to the restaurant first and
had some drinks. Then I went to the sta-
tion, thinking I would leave town; but
there was no train for an hour, so I went
into another café and had more drinks.
Then I went home, and you were there.”
The killer recovered, and on October
13th, 1924, seven months after the crime,
he was brought to trial. He was convicted
and sentenced to be electrocuted. The

-sentence was carried out in May, 1926.

Nore: In consideration for the person con-
cerned, the actual name of one of the char-
acters appearing in the foregoing article has
been withheld, and a fictitious one substi-
tuted: namely, Harry Myers.—Ed. -

51


The examining physician reported that
the bullet had penetrated the heart. When
it was removed it proved to have been
fired from a .38-caliber gun. The doctor
also stated that Fern had not been crim-
inally attacked.

When Thase had identified his wife’s
body, McCullough took him to Kane’s
office, where they questioned him further
about his friends. He gave the names of
the men with whom he was most intimate,
and stared dumfounded when the Chief

informed him that his neighbor had seen

two different men entering his apartment
at an hour when he was not at home.

“I don’t believe it,’ said the husband
flatly. :

“Nevertheless it is a fact that she enter-
tained someone at coffee this morning,
after you left,” Kane reminded him.

“If any man entered the apartment, it
was on business of some sort,” the be-
reaved husband insisted.

“Do you know of any man with whom
your wife might have had business?” in-
quired the officer.

@ “WELL, SHE pays all the bills. It could
have been someone collecting a bill,”
Thase said lamely.

“She would hardly have invited such a
person into your home and given him
coffee,” remarked Kane.

When at last he had finished question-
ing Thase and had dismissed him, the
Chief observed thoughtfully:

“The brutal aspect of the slaying sug-
gests a powerful motive such as revenge,
jealousy or unrequited love.”

McCullough agreed. At that moment
Rea returned from investigating the hus-
band’s alibi. He reported that at the high
school, officials had stated Thase had been
there continuously, so far as they knew,
— nine o’clock until he had been sent

or.

“They were positive?” asked Kane.

“They said they were,” answered the
‘detective. “But somehow I wasn’t en-
tirely convinced. The school is not far
from his apartment.”

“H’mm,” mused the other officer. Then
he added, “Thase told me that he spent a
good deal of time at his club. Suppose
-you go over there and:see if you can dig
up some information.”

The two officers departed. Each person
they questioned spoke well of Thase. It

was obvious that he was popular with his
many friends. They learned the names of
the men seen frequently with the be-
reaved husband, and started out to locate
these friends at their homes or offices. All
those interviewed stated that Thase was
a man of unusually fine character, who
had been devoted to his attractive wife.
One of these men, Harry Myers, seemed

. difficult to locate.

Meanwhile, other detectives working on
the case had discovered a taxi driver who
had picked up a young man in overcoat
and black fedora hat, a block from the
Thase apartment shortly after ten-thirty
that morning. This was the time set for
the murder. The driver stated:

“He was a good-looking fellow in his
late thirties, but he looked as if he’d seen a
ghost. He kept urging me to go faster,
saying that he would be late for an impor-
tant engagement. I took him to a down-
town restaurant where he dismissed me.”

When McCullough learned of this de-
velopment, he hastened to the restaurant,
where he questioned the waiters, Two re-
membered seeing the man. .

“But he didn’t meet anyone,” said the
waiter who had served the suspect. “He
just ordered several drinks in quick suc-
cession, drank them, and left.”

No one could identify the young man.
Outside, the Lieutenant walked to the
nearest taxi stand and asked if any of the
drivers remembered a passenger of that
description. One did.

“Sure I remember him. I drove him to
the Wayne Street Station,” he explained.

“At what time?” queried the officer.

“Oh, about eleven-thirty, I think,” was
the reply.

The Lieutenant sped to the railroad
station, where he could discover no one
who had seen the man for whom he was
searching. There had been no trains at
that hour, and McCullough felt convinced
that if the fellow had waited for the train
that left an hour later, someone would
have noticed him. “If he’s the killer he’s
still in town,” deduced the Lieutenant, “He
probably drove to the station to put us off
the trail, thinking we'd believe he had
skipped out of the city.”

When at last Harry Myers was located,
McCullough and Rea went to his home
to interview him. He regarded the officers
in surprise, and asked, “What can I do for
you?”

An unexpected incident occurred in Pittsburgh's North Side police station (above)

after Lieutenant McCullough and Detective Rea had brought in their captive

50

“We understand that you are a friend of
Charles Thase and that you also knew
his wife.”

“That is true,” replied Myers without
hesitation. “I have dined at their home
several times.”

“You have learned of the tragedy?” in-
quired the Lieutenant.

The young man nodded. “Yes,” he said
in a low voice, “and I feel deeply sympa-
thetic; for Charles Thase loved his wife.”

McCullough studied Myers as he in-
quired, “Ever visit Mrs. Thase when her
husband was not at home?”

“Of course not,” was the quick reply.
But the shrewd officer had seen the look
of fear that swept the young man’s face,
and he now requested him to accompany
them to Headquarters. On the way, he
queried:

“Where were you this morning?”

“At my apartment. I have been there
all ‘day except for an hour when I went
out for lunch.”

“You did not go to your business?”
probed the officer.

“Not today. I wasn’t feeling well.”

“I see,” said the Lieutenant.

At Headquarters, he sent for the Thases’

upstairs neighbor, and the Chief ques-
tioned Myers further while they waited
for her to reach the building. The taxi
driver was also summoned.
. When the woman arrived, the Lieuten-
ant led her to Kane’s room. She studied
the young man for a full minute, then
slowly nodded her head. McCullough took
her out into the corridor’ where she
asserted:

“Yes, that is one of the men I saw en-
tering the Thase apartment one afternoon
when I knew Fern’s husband was not at
home.”

When confronted with this statement,
the suspect admitted that he had once
called when his friend Charles had not
been there. He said:

“I WENT on an errand. I had loaned

Charles a tool to mend a table and found
I needed it, so I went around and picked
it up. I only stayed a few minutes.”

“Was that the only time you called on
Mrs. Thase?”,

“Yes, that was the only time.”

“Did Thase know of this visit?” asked
the Chief.

“I’m sure I don’t know.”

“Did you ever hear the Thases quarrel?”

“No, never,” was the prompt reply.
“They were devoted to each other.”

“Was your friend jealous of his attrac-
tive wife?”

“I’m sure he was not, for he trusted her
implicitly.”

While the Chief went on questioning
him, McCullough and Rea slipped out of
the building and began investigating
another angle of the case. They separated,
each taking a car and traveling in differ-
ent directions. The Lieutenant drove to
the Jackson Street apartment where he
once more interviewed the woman living
above the Thase flat, and also the slain
girl’s sister, who had reached the apart-
ment by this time. ‘The sister insisted that
Fern had not received men at the house
in her husband’s absence. She gave him
the names of three men she had met at
her sister’s home—friends of her brother-
in-law. One was Harry Myers; but she
could give the officer no information con-
cerning him, except that she was positive
that he had not been interested in Fern.

McCullough finally left and began.a
systematic checkup of the houses on the
block, which had already been visited that
morning. He managed to locate two per-
sons who had not been interviewed earlier,
and who stated that they had seen a young
man in overcoat and black fedora walk-
ing rapidly away from the Thase apart-

MASTER DETECTIVE

.
7 Moa

west

ment
thirty,
witnes
but be _-
him. Despit:
the same bl
knew the Th
When the °
tioning ther
whose name:
It was late a
car in front
He had cont:
detective to:
tenant stepp:
Rea was alr
down, waitir
forward to n
“No one’s
“We'll wait
told him.

Hi WHILE T)
sidewalk ¢
ing the data
came speedin
to the curb.

over to the 5

cab. When t

he turned an

bewildered.

self known, t

“You are (
“Yes,” repli
“And you
Thases, I unc
“That is cor
been good fric
I have just
tragedy and a
now.”
“Do you kn

Harry Myers?

Prescott’s fc
ment, then he
don’t really }

“Would yo

quarters with
tain informati
friend: —

“Cer
only -t
in any way u

“Do you kr
was jealous oi
tenant, as the
Headquarters.

“I’m sure tli
devoted, and
‘ceived him.”

A few mon
tered the Chi
Prescott to a
regarded the n
eyes, then ing

“First of all,
get that blood
hand?”

George Pres
a high-pitchec

“What is al
sinuating?”

“I merely as
Chief in a cas
answer it?”

The man di
sullenly, “I hi:
some meat for

“T see,” rep)
the way, I mig
have proof th
on several occ
was not at hor
here, weren’t -

“That’s a lie!

His face hac
The Chief, sitti
regarded the
did not notice
was quietly 0}
who entered stc
studying the 1

‘JUNE, 1942


—

PROBST, Anton, wh, hanged Philadelphia, PA
June 8, 1866 ind atia

Philadelphia's Amazing
By Captain ANDREW J. EMANUEL,

HRISTOPHER DEAR-

ING whistled as he

drove along the cobbled

streets of Philadelphia.

It was a bright spring morning

of April 7th, 1866, and he felt
lighthearted and carefree.

He had just paid a visit te
his landlord, Mr. Theodore
Mitchell, and made an account-
ing for the management of the
farm on Point House Road in
South Philadelphia which he oc-
cupied with his wife and five
children. He had _ left his
son, William, ten, with his
grandfather for a visit.

He drew his horse and wagon
up to the curb on Second
Street near Mifflin and went
into the meat shop of Jane
Greenwell.

“T want a fine roast,’ he
explained. ‘We're having com-
pany. My niece is coming for
& Visit.’

He remained there for a few
minutes talking with the shop-
keeper as the meat was being
prepared.

When he stepped out once
more into the spring sunlight, he put the package under the
wagon seat and then, climbing up, he started toward the
steamboat Janding on the nearby Delaware River. His
niece, Elizabeth Dolan, was due in there from Burlington,
New Jersey. He passed several friends, including Miss Mar-
garet Wilson, with whom he stopped to chat a moment.

‘And how is your wife and the chilcrsn?” the good woman
asked.

Christopher Dearing beamed as he uncovered his head in
deference. He was a fine figure of a man of thirty-eight, his
face ruddy from long days in the open country.

‘Very well, thank ye,” he replied. “She will be glad to
learn you are in good health, as I can see.’’

He drove on, and was waiting on the wharf when the little
river boat came steaming down the Delaware. He greeted his
niece warmly. Elizabeth Dolan, a comely young woman of
twenty-five, spent much of her time at the Dearing farm.
The children were devoted to her and she was extremely fond
of them. Although she had been away only three days, she
had not forgotten to bring some toys for the smallest young-
sters. Christopher Dearing helped her up to the seat beside
him.

“Ts it a new bonnet ye have?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Indeed, it is,” the girl blushed, “and I bought’ a kerchief
for Aunt,”

Slowly the team threaded its way through the busy streets.

“Is everyone well?” asked Elizabeth. “TI feel as though I
had been away a year.’’

“All well,” answered Dearing and added piously, “the good
God be thanked,” and reverently crossed himself.

‘William has gone out to his grandfather in West Phila-
delphia for a few days’ visit. The rest are all at home and wait-
ing for you.”

How pleasant the spring sun felt after the long terrible
winter. How fragrant was the April wind as it swept across the
busy thoroughfares. And as the town was left behind and the
country slowly advanced to meet them, there came to them the
pungent odor of new earth. Upon the fields that marched to
the skyline was the first soft velvety carpet of grass. And at
the edge of the road, violets blew in the wind.

The Dearing farm lay on the Point House Road, which is

62

TRUE DETECTIVE, August, 1935

Captain Andrew J. Emanuel: he tells the April 9th
story of the Philadelphia “‘massacre’’ that re- et c

mains the crime without a parallel

As told to D.

known even to this day as
“The Neck.” It was in a
lonely spot, the nearest neigh-
bor being a quarter of a mile
away. Neat fences surrounded
it. Fruit trees, white in spring
blossoms, stood like sentinels
in the orchard behind the house.
The big barns, fifty yards
away, had survived the storms
of fifty winters. \Vithin those
walls fat cattle and sleek horses
were quartered. There was
always a bustle, about the place,
for there was plenty of work to
be done.

The apprentice boy, Cornelius
Carey, seventeen, who had
been bound out to Dearing,
was a familiar figure around the
grounds.

And so, to Abraham Everett,
who lived at the nearest farm,
it seemed strange that there
was no one in sight when he
drove by on Monday evening,

Each Sunday it was the
custom for one of the Dearings
to come to his house for the
newspaper. Sometimes the eld-
est boy, William, who was ten, came to get it. Occasionally
John, who was eight; and even Thomas, who was six, accom-
panied him. And on several trips they brought the two young-
est, Anna, four, and Emily, the baby, two, in a little cart their
father had built for them.

But Sunday, April 8th, had come and gone and the paper
lay, unclaimed, on the Everett porch, where a driver from the
city had left it.

As he came abreast of the house, Abraham drew in his horse
and waited for some greeting, but there was only silence.

“Hallo!’’ he cried.

Across the field the echo of his own voice came back to hin
—nothing more. Finally, he drove on. They were at work
around the place, he told himself, and did not want to be dis-
turbed.

When, on the following day, there still was no one about
and no sign of activity around the farm, Everett grew curious.
And in the evening he walked ‘over to have a look around. The
sun had gone, but the afterglow still stained the sky. The
frogs in the meadow pond set up a loud chorus. The cool
breeze of coming night wafted across the fields pregnant with
the smell of rich, fertile soil. As he passed through the orchard,
a dog set up a great barking and came bounding forward eag-
erly to meet him. The animal whimpered around his feet
and then slunk away.

“THAT'S funny,”’? murmured the farmer, and he whistled

for the dog. But, although it came to him at once, it
stayed at his side but an instant before darting off under the
porch. Yet it made no protest when Everett peered over the
windowsill into the house.

The room was empty. It looked mussed. There were some
things on the floor. But no person was in sight. Softly, his
steps muffled in the earth, Everett went tip-toeing around the
building gazing into each window. He saw no one.

But this survey of the house did not satisfy him. He con-
tinued out to the stable and, as he entered, the cattled cried
out piteously. From their stalls, the horses neighed inces-
santly. Then Everett saw that the water buckets were dry
and the feed boxes empty.

“They’re starving for food and drink,” he said aloud. And

PI}
A

being
from °
things
their 1
manger
their }
lookin
Ont
the fai
And it
the po
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spine
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like u
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Even
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and |
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As
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from :
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and, a

RESIDEACE

RECORD

Dut LIMBA EIST |
Liglt, PAE Oe

ip laut CLs aherct ie LEgnp B Aer.

th 4 MN feat Vida digatia Ou. ay
AY Chessis, ence, Lesu Anh) Oba ey Sar, heh Chi Coad
Lipsttajun. Lbs Do ae tem jolbuug. che ensplayes hearth dace
hk etd thik. fi pascmccnulles Lal Lio thks. fll be flied
Aeseeteo, he ttnis Bota (en Eheyclavens? staked leceelf Pride

thiit foreuclintrspay, he having chcaged he flat is eee
haters 6a Chud tu thie lon fod ach tatht phere s bad a
Ly plod,’ Review wet ge7ewore sane obs bait dO Pes LM plo gf baila
acting hee & bore 0 layit kadeakit elf Ah toan feel dyin aa Lise, hig |
z aid Bugle, had thal kez, He daT hu Sa, az htole Lr her
tippy WA La net tad AL Ahad blrodiy, aalorly caukong
bie Aho Levted esece Ldiyy S A201 Bed pat pin OY
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Aegis

OTHER

METHOD SY ot Lilien

TRIAL

APPEALS : byla SL., Kfpepeal.d On Fras ttt? YOR Beat y deeroace}
EF EEA Bia lange Lear. nctdheses betel Chrrect~

LAST WORDS

EXECUTION

RANK NEWTON OFFICE SUPPLY=OOTHAN


nth GB eo & Sr

se hot ©

2

£ &

22 SUPREME COURT [Philadelphia

[Quigley v. Commonwealth. ]

the homicide, there is no room to raise a defence to his horrid and
unnatural act, none to palliate or excuse, none to detract from the
intention which the law draws from the act of one who aims a
deadly weapon at a vital part, who twice discharges it against this
part, and who would have discharged it a third time, but on the
failure of the cartridge to ignite. Much of the language in McCue
v. Commonwealth, 28 P. F. Smith 185, might be applied to this
case. Clearly the act was wilful and intentional, and death was
the probable and natural consequence of the act. What other
intention than an intention to kill can rationally be inferred from
the conduct of the prisoner? As said in Cathcart v. 'The Com-
monwealth, 1 Wright 112, “‘TIuman reason will not tolerate the
denial that a man who intentionally, not accidentally, fires a mus-
ket ball through the body of his wife, and thus inflicts a mortal
wound, has a heart fatally bent upon mischief and intent to kill.”
Much less can human reason deny this wickedness of heart, when
a husband not only fires one ball into the brain of his wife, but
fires a second time at her head and attempts to fire a third time.
There are many minor circumstances in this case lending additional
weight to the conclusion, but the main body of the facts is sufficient
to support the verdict without their aid.

‘he sentence of the court below is affirmed, and the
record is ordered to be remitted to the Court of Oyer
and ‘T'erminer for the purpose of carrying the sentence
into execution.

Gilkyson versus County of Bucks.

Where vagrants are committed to the county jail by a justice of the peace,
the county is not liable for the costs if the vayrants are discharged by the
sheriff at the expiration of the time for which they were sentenced, without
the payment of costs.

February 28th 1877. Before Anew, C. J., SHarswoop, Mer-
cur, Gordon, Paxson and Woopwarp, JJ.

Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks county: Of
January Term 1877, No. 9.

This was an amicable action brought by James Gilkyson, Esq.,
against the county of Bucks wherein a case was stated for the
opinion of the court below, which was substantially as follows :—

The plaintiff is, and has been, a justice of the peace in Doyles-
town. In that capacity, on the 11th of March 1876, on his own
view and at the request and upon the confession of the parties, he
convicted as vagrants two poor, houseless strangers and travel-
lers, having no settlement in the county, wandering about and beg-
ging, and belonging to that class of persons familiarly known as

ial

r hein sasha dichinicl lin

a %

1877. OF PENNSYLVANIA. 23

[Gilkyson rc. County of Bucks. |
tramps,” and committed them, under the Acts of nh Pig ed
1767. 1 Sm. Laws 269 $1, Purd. Dig. 1453-4, and o : i
1s, Pamph. L. 548, Purd. Dig. 1453, to the common jail 0 the
~-onty at hard labor for the period of fifteen hours, at the expi-
nef which time they were discharged from jail hero aR
raeut of costs. During their imprisonment they pel ase” "0
tard labor, no opportunity being afforded in the jail or clsew -
a the county for the fulfilment of such a sentence. Both the

Fuaiis

rd
piles -ere included in tl charge and com-
persons thus sentenced were included in the one ge oe
tuitiment, as was the practice with the justice in cases where two “4
taure vagrants were before him at the same time. This was only
one of uany commitments made by similar magistrates of Doyles-
town borough. ‘The plaintiff claimed as costs forty cents for com-
tuitment and twenty cents for docket entry and sought to obtain
the same from the county, which the commissioners refused to pay,
contending that the county was not liable for the payment of these
Cresta. “ é

The court below, Watson, P. J., sustained this contention of the
retituissteners im an opinion, which, after a discussion of the evils
of sagraney, continued, “The punishment of vagrants 1s provided
for by the Acts of 1767 and 1836. he former act makes it law-
ful for any justice of the peace to commit such offenders (being
thereof legally convicted before him, on his’ own view, or by the
confession of such offenders, or by the oath or affirmation of one or
wore credible witnesses), to the workhouse of said county, if such
there be, otherwise to the common jail of the county, there to be
kept at hard labor by the keeper of such workhouse or jail, for any
tine not exceeding one month. %

“In this county we have no workhouse. The commitment is
therefore necessarily to the common jail. No employment is pro-
vided in the jail for such offenders, so that they may be kept at
hard labor, as sentenced.

* The Act of 1836 describes and defines the several classes of
persons who are liable to be punished as vagrants. Among them
are tall persons going about from door to door, or placing them-
selves in streets, highways or other roads, to beg or gather alms,
and all other persons wandering abroad and begging.’ ‘ All per-
sous who shall come from any place without this Commonwealth to
any place within it, and shall be found loitering or residing therein,
and shall follow no labor, trade, occupation or business, and have
uy Virible means of subsistence, and can give no reasonable account
of themsclves, or their business in such place.’ |

** The persons mentioned in the case stated are clearly within one
or the other of the above-described classes of vagrants. Besides,
the judgment of the justice determines the fact of vagrancy, and
where the proceeding is regular .on its face, as this is, we cannot
inquire into the propriety of his judgment in this collateral proceed-

DOE & MEANS

RESIDENCE

METHOD

SYypPSIS

Os Kiana bernng he Les te Abel (iy Mckee Al PW > Aebease Lt 2 faethe Alia

adic Of Lcmad tre, ecm tf haan hes trarhed


c

DOE & MEANS

Bee hate aggro Chabon Fsna [26ftag

RECORD

OTHER

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fos hilhid . Trt ds at
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Frank neg@ofy orrice sur WLY-OOTHAN

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Carte Nowe TU 0d 12/01, <G2G fog po[ztfor

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i


eDUNGTTTU TRA
FETE THIEUTE
PAID FRRRALI

Parkway Dedication|
By Mayor Climaxes|
Program of Opening
- Day’s Events

mcs te | Ce ES BR

$59.95

é

wed

lisses and Women

very timel y ones, too, fer just about
coats like these,

a3

=
LEE

Shot Down by Bandith
Recently Released;
, , te
8s. Remember, the Lot Is Limited Another Policeman
( Captures Killer
A fi-yeat-cld policeman was abot
and hiled shorily beiore migzignt
fast night whem he interrupted a pe-4
soled convict im the comumisdon of a
hold-up on Bath st. betweea Upland
Way and Tancaster ave.
The bandit was overpowered and
pacity beaten after a struggle fn
which the dying officer mede s he-
yols effort to erappic with Bis seseil-
| a ;
| A brother officer, Philo BL Funme.
| bore, Who Was sanciog @ few feet
i

h-Grade English
sle Secks | ocSo-o7)

MWgvre

‘ The tend policeman Was GUT ;
y fre Handclof, 37, of &382 Spruca et. pF : ; os in o
anached to the Cist and Thompson = ents : : eee ee ng Ns specious Parkesy } 3
ns. sition. #> : sm = Le — lag night in ths naus of Benjamin: e:
LAYER GIVES ALIAS Franklin, Fousorpiis optasd Lis |
Under sriest 15 & Tie WHO Gave éolortul ceremonies ‘to the teésy | ass
Foetetire tion of the iota’ anniversary | e:

slack end ather shades. Alsg miy.

‘Today’s Program
2P.M—Continuation af
Behuyikill Oufboard Regatie,
“ 9P, M~Visiting Meyors take |
part in patriotie ceremonies st In- |
Gependence Hall, |
8 P. M.—Reception and dinner | *
in honor of*viaiting Mayors in the ha
Sellevue-Birstiord, * yf
& P, M—Water carnival, epeed- ( £.
host races, water ctreus end canz- :
Ung fireworks display oa Sebuyl- | pe
SiN gouth of Btrewherry Afansfon | 4
Bridge, Free admittance and tree |»
a
jt
'

2

_ parking.

We Cen Offer These Fine Hose et Helf § St samt st Fred Fensons, 22, of
Tice Pecause of Slight Knitting Irrezs. a Oe ee of the signing of thie Constitution. | |

ities (im perceptib} cent ¢ sk BINS, -BOCHERIOR, 5 Cmeeen,
Ad ir. U 2 Ercent va) Trained ang the man wes cescharged oa Poe

‘yes), These are the fameds €x3 English

sibbed Socks, Identical to the Imported § 7 on eptiietend
oe Wrich Sell . at per Peir! Knitted, & — Oe
1 America, on Machines Brought Over “leek: domes 2 ‘
‘rom England, on se’ ie snared with

dade cf Finest Meresrized Liste Yera =; a peg ng gah peg’

a Plain Bi N. Gres; 4
in Black, Newy,- oerres _—w F * Pocehoro were ernising the neigh |

borhood was proceeding mecth om

EEPENBURS ‘Q Men's s Hosiery Dept, First Floer $n et, When Handle saw 9 men
; = ; @ het an automobile on the high.

: way, just heyond Lancaster eve. at

. _ Thousands why gethered alorg the :
bred vhoreughtare Bisecting the! up
heart of the elty from City Hat! to th:
the Art Museam witnetsad the clic) *)
mectic event of e day of dedications, |
pageants, regattas, and historical |.

tours,

asa ts tia eens wants ot War be
S. Davis Wilcon, ax he eulogized the | be:
Gocumens ¢rafted in Independence b
Peay ma con taesenn.

ee
| “wars rstop REAsr = Soe = eee es |:
Bandi jumped from th. pri Eee ‘ty mobeer a acer oar]

car ts St rolled tom halt, ts the reat ;
ef the other machine and, gun in}: NEW YORK, Eept. 19 (A. PL); was get wins dhe 1 aelobebedaio
hand, approached the methine on There'll be no pulitios for the norws ; jin Cane ie We Speeding ef the School
the right-hand side, mn the Bousehold of Prenkin D.lierm :
i  Ecfore he hed opportunity even to| Rocsevelt, Ir, who returned todey | The coat, ecitep’ when ‘the ‘Eu-
- greaahs query, &— hes was thrust }with bis bride: id sinegllgezedaged! bs Te anchored at quaramtiny shorty}
; sh the open windew, end g shot | Pont, trom a two-month vacation in bejore noon, recelred intérviewers tn p ee .
Teng out a Burope. | thelr clelerooni sé the beat proceed- | br gelle-af 46900 persone thronged | 2
It struck the officer in the thigh,| “Thet's too far awey.” Young /et to ite Manhattan pier, Mee, Rewet- tap Arde sqound the Institute, About | sr
whiting him about, His run fet to Rhosevelt repiled when csked if ne | ve? ¢ Wore & tun eud'trown outat. « 6500—s hinge Humber then attend. | an «
the pavement, but he lunged forward | planned to ¢o into politice when be! They sald they would remain a Gay od Sis epening—trok, adventage of | fr:
a dying effort to grapple with bis | COmmctes his law Fludics at the! op tro ct the ramily residence here the Institute's “open house” to view | Ger

aida University of Virginis. grits em {ts myriad exhbibita, el AD
—- “I think a person should ion | © dink! go to Hyde Park to aee Those who re-! A

Receboro, wha was but = few feet) abead only as fer ts his can we," he |e Provident etd Bare Roosewens | mained culside found amusement io | Co
behing him, sprinted wo the meahine,: said, oddiug his immediate concer, & 12) procemiag to Virginia, watch “Gaps Laue ot ent, :
enh, Wrisling out of the cor on ——= | thrown by unti-atreratt rearchtights, | ine:

se receeoe GIMEY INDIGATES. (501 MOD BETS JESS =
wits & shaNbeflag thee Paotam the [ fest way and from 30th st, were operated { bein:

SP atatine 10 deys| wo:
and myriad ac-| ge:
Sriita Wald sl not end votl Bua. eee?

Or

by men of the Army Ant!-Alrernft | dire

tedden scons) | E> Seat 1 SOMO TUK) £1S°COT IM ATTHOK| SS emaremere ce

. 94 Coats | ; peony gees Grows pag a vrei, «, A som

hands end knees end then ecliapecd| "ven If the Board of Educetion fol! Public outrage at recurring in-| His original “clectrie machine” rey

; | Bt ihe Sidewalk, ~ lows a policy of “rigid economy” Im | stance: of attacks by sex offenders 7
sd fe 95. A evia C. London, 45, of 2121 N.} the. balance of the 1827 fiscal yecr, lagetn ust chidren came os y Continued on Page 3 wr
WG at, owner of the car, aod the and in ite budget-mektog for the! close to the lynching evar Acer mean:
Cratinved ex Page 8 flacal yea: 1982, the reveous Which |Noctnene: section of the eity last|SCROOL Goes on Afr | sone
ing that EVERY thrifty ; wil be roguired will demand a avd right, when a throng of men In Pa is Crisis nae
hey'll dicappear in a twiaklog! with a Th as fi cent Incresss in the present tx7#lt.|ty hancied a 4¢Sepearsold ee ralys i
var me hts will have plenty ef need for reat of Brig That is, a tax of $1.15 for every | cud of raiesting @ 4-yea “aid Gist , CHICAGO, Sept. 10 (0. P.)—Cht- | 24).
f. Kert- -weight coats, ; ey En $100 of real valuation. H Hac {i not heen for the awift ae- cago children, barred feoxa sitend- =
Child-on's §: : ; * b The only alternatives are eer tion of a i < tng schoo] by an infantile per _
en's Sizes J te 6 Year: " ds Ship Strike revenue frota some other source, | quster bas: er eit chad bs = eee
in every pivle. = MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Sept Jocal or Biate, of so sharp a sian in| RUey, of Oricnns Bb i wy valle. school Monde
8 2, ayy Oa ‘ bear Prankford Ben!
YBORGS) lintents’ W £ + 4 ©. ?)—~Crew members of the U.& budget Sten.s sx will Lmperil the ef-! eve, might Sevsa a itheally In-| School be fd offictal len
be ie 37) ‘ ear, Escond Floor ge Sa . otra ange aehanie eweier *« x gi, gt i ne a etn te ek et on ee


+ et ae.

EW REPUBLIC.
SET UPIN CHINA

ipanase sponsor Reformed

Gavernment 7

1 The united Press -

SHANGHAI, March 28—The Jap-
\ese-sponsored “Reformed Governi-
ent of the Republic of China” was
‘oclaimed today with headquarters

Nanking. |
The five-barred _ flag of the for-
er republic] w. hoisted over the
ew Asia Hotelihere and inaugura-
on ceremo sa were held ‘in Nan-
ng.

The government is only tempo-
‘ry and will be amalgamated with
ie Peiping provisional government
* North China “as soon as the
jentsin-Pukow Lunghai commun|+
itions are restored.”

A manifesto denounced the Chi-
ese Nationalist Government fdr
ieading an unprepared country inf
a unequal combat.”

Communists — Flayed 4

The “scorched earth” policy of the
‘ommunists was condemned as na-
‘onal suicide. Referring to the
‘communists,’ the: manifesto “sald
he Natlonellists “invited robbers
:to our horne.” |

The man‘festo - was ‘signed © “ty
dang Cheng-Chi and Wen Tsung-:
“ao, 62-year-old . retired govern-
ent official! who was Vice Minister.

{ Foreign Affairs in the first re-
ublic,

It was reported Liang would head
le regime for a ‘while. If it ap-
ears successful, - ‘it. will be taken
ver by Tang, 8hao4¥i, 77-year-old
time Minister under the republic.
Gan Shunftoku Hata, commander-
iechief of the Japanese forces in
re Yangtze Valley, pledged support
> the Nanking regime and said he
‘as gratified at the new govern-
ents, policy, to maintain “intimate,
o-operation| with Japan.” ifs
Jap nae Halted

Meanwhile| Japanese admitted triat
Thinese detachments had _ xe-
rossed the 'Yellow River in North
Yentral Chita and that 10,000 Cai-

THE PITTSBURGH PRFSS

/\ Catholic chaplain,

dvance hting raged:at 1-Chow
Liny}).

The Japanese army threatened ‘to
womb the reer Presbyterian
Aission at /I-Chow, in . Shantung
?rovince, less || Chinese a
eave its vicinity,

Chinese c imed the recapture ; lot
. dozen wns as the greatest:
chinese’ counter-offensive smastlied
it the Japanese at five points in the
Yorth Central area. ‘Casualties

iese ce, Pighing © the Japansse

vere i aii enornious. :

pio aarcds om ke. t

(nner ress — as

Three
In 15

Pl hel

3 nutes at Rpclpiew

Special to The Pittsbergn Press
BELLEFONTE, Pai March 28—jc
Three killérs—one who burned two’
women to feath to escape marriage, '
another who ‘shot 4 Philadelphia

‘| policeman and a gangster who mur-:

4  hanker—died | bod
within a few minute: -af each other!
sat Rockview:
nye aaa shortl " , ere mid-;
£. t
_ It required less ¢ 15 niinites!

to execute the sla¥ers, strangers.

until (86 hours befor@ they. walked,’
onée-b¥4one, to, the 'deaths; The:
executions. brought tq 272 the num-

ber of: persons elegtroducted | for.
their crimes in the. eH ane ;

Those who died w

Ralph E. Hawk, 1 “of Marion,
Pa., who’ burned two women to
death in an attempt; to avoid imar-,
riage.
Pred Retbaldi, 27, ia Philadelphia,
who killed: a. poll

Albert W. Gregg. 131, & Chicago

ganster, who robbed; a department |;

store and killed Philadelphia
banker while shoot g his way to
freedom. 4
Hawk was first to die. He stepped
ly, the:few paces from the death
house ‘to the execution chamber, a
smile upon his lips. j: He ‘was silent
and-stared ‘upward funtil the black

‘death mask was slipped over: his
jhead.

Two ministers 'accdmpanied Hawk

on, his walk to the chair. Rev;

Clyde Meadows, of }Chambersburg:
near Marion, a friena of Hawk's in
earlier days, gazed teadily | ‘at: the
doomed man who d turned to
him for réligious consolation. —
Rev. C.F. Lauer, prison chaplain:
walked along with Hawk, intoning a
psalm. He. pronoun benediction.’
The charge na Hawk at
12:314%4 a! m. He
dead at 12:34 a. m. |

Reibald{ walked. ipto the execus|

body was iremoved, e was actome

tion chamber. as n as Hawk's
panied by Rev. Me P. McCreesh,'

o murmured a
special prayer for the dead: Pale-

faced; tbadli wet! his lips ‘with
the tip of his tong¥e nervously as
his gaze rested { ni Deputy Warden

Frank Craver of Hol esburg ‘County
Prison, Philadelph where | the
doomed man had; (been held ae
weeks, |

“So long, Warder}, good tuck to
you. That's all,” hea :

“So long,”. whispeyed “Mr. icraver.
, meecutianer Robert Elliot threw
, & m. Reibaldi

e\switch at 12:38:
wad pronounced dear at 12:39%.

Gregg iwas’ pale; and his; ‘lips.

kéd, hesitantly,

quivered ias he w
He! ‘said

into: the jdeath chamber,

nothing, ‘put 8 , fascinated, at
the chair until | He stumbled
against it, =| } pte |

;| Wanamaker

as pronounce | 3

die pobconsinl He’ ‘ smoked in-
ntly, and the dimilight in the
death hotise wax traced'by the glow
of a cigaret ag’ he re lessly ‘paced
er and: forth, |
was. the only: unclaimed
y. Burial Was planed for him |
hay the’ prison cemetery! today. Mrs.
Bertha Reibaldi of {Philadelphia
claimed the body of: her husband,
‘ithe father of two children. Hawk's
father, John E, Hawks claimed the
body of his sori. :

Young Hawk had been a farm |
hand at Marton until ‘jhe sought to
burn .the. family of Catherine Gel-
wix, his flancee and gn expectant
‘| mother, in an effort to avoid marry-
ing the girl, | Mrs. Hazel Gelwix |
and a daughter, Heleg, | 15, burned |
to death in bed but neighbors res-
cued Catheriné althotgh she hdd
been hit across the Head with a!
flashlight. $ %

Reibaldi, a ‘paroled : “convict, was
given the supreme pefialty for the
fatal shooting’ of a; “Philadelphia |
policeman, Maurice Handloff, who |
;| Surprised Reibaldi when he held up
a motorist ata traffic signal. |

Gregg was another parolee. He '
was convicted ‘of shodting C. Mor- |
gan Knight, socially prominent in- |
vestment banker of }Philadelphia,
when Mr. - Knight - thterfered as |
Gregg escaped Wandgmnaker’s de-|
partment store.in Philadelphia with |

$1200 he obtained in @ holdup. |

Police at Philadelp said Gregg |
also confessed robbing the Boule- |
vard bank of Chicago:of $5000
holdup several months before the |

a!

rapbery. |


er republic! was hoisted over the
ew Asia Hotelihere and inaugurs-
on ceremonles were held in Nan-
ng.
The government is only . tempo-
iry and will be amalgamated with
ie Pelping provisional government
‘ North ChKina “as soon as the
jentsin-Pukow Lunghai communi:
itions are restored.”
A manifesto denounced the chi-
ese Nationalist Government fér
ieading an unprepared country in
n unequal combat. ".

Communists Flayed !
The “scorched earth” policy of the
‘ommunists was condemned as na-
onal suicide. Referring tothe
‘ommunists,' the’ manifesto ‘said
he Nationellists “invited robbers

1to our horhe.” :

The man 'festo | was signed © ‘ty

Jang Cheng:-Chi and Wen Tsunz-

“ao, 62-year-old | retired govern-

rent official! who was Vice Minister.
{ ‘Foreign Affairs in the first re-

ublic,

It was reported Liang would head
ie regime ;for a'while. If it ap-
ears succéssful, it’ will be taken
, Shao 4¥i, 77-year-old
rime Minister under the republic.
u Hata, commander-

ne Yangtze } alley, pledged support
9 the Nanking regime and said he
‘as gratified at the new govern-
1ents, policy, to maintain “intimate,
‘o-operation| with Japan.” ii:

Jap Advance Halted | |,
Meanwhile| Japanese admitted triat
chinese detachments had re-
rossed the [Yellow River in No;‘th
ventral Chiga and that 10,000 Cai-

iese were blocking the Japan‘se
vdvance. hting raged ‘at 1-Chiber
Linyi).

The Japanese army threatened tc
yomb the "merical Presbyterian
Mission at |I-Chow, in . Shantung
?rovince, less |j Chinese troaps
eave its vichity.

Chinese c imed the recapture ; lof
wns as the greatest
ter-offensive smastied
it the Japanese at five points in the
North - Central area. ‘Casualties
enormous.

lapan Will Pay U.S. |
Panay D mages oe fe

By The United Press :
TOKYO, |March | | ¢—dapin }as
greed to meet:the United Sta’ es’

demand for | $2,214,007 as gy a

for sinking jof bap American Gh

hoat Panay) by anese aircraft
last December, e Foreign Of‘ice
will dispatch a note to Secretary
dell Hull in Washing-

of State C

‘on some time this week to me
effect.:; °

\ T an

vest y WASACU,
The five barred flag of the f0"-| one-byspne, to their; deaths, ‘The:

executions brought tq 272 the num-
ber of persons te for.
their crimés in the. nh se )
Those who died w
Ralph E. Hawk, 1. ‘of Marion,
Pa., who ‘ burned two women to
death in an attempt; to avoid imar-

riage.
i Philadelphia,

Pred Relbaldi, 27,
who killed a polic

Gregg. i a Chicago
& department

Albert W.
ganster, who rob

store and killed Philadelphia
banker while shoot bg his way to
freedom.

Hawk was first to le. He stepped
figmly,the:few paces from the death
house to the execution chamber, a
smile upon his lips. {He 'was silent
and-stared ‘upward fintil the black
death mask was slfj pped over. his
head. :

Two ministers. accd: panied Hawk
on. his walk to the -chair. Rev;
Clyde Meadows,. of sChambersburg;
near Marion, r= driers of Hawk’ s in
earlier days, gazed Bteadily | at: the
doomed man who had turned to
him for réligious consolation; —

Rev. C.F. Lauer, frison chaplain;
walked along with ‘Hawk, intoning a
psalm. He pronounded benediction. :

The charge stryck Hawk at
12:31%4 a} m. He
dead at 12:34 a. m.

Reibald{ walked

i

hto the ! execu

tion chamber as n as Hawk’
body was removed. e Was actome
panied by Rev. Fe P. McCreesh,
‘) Catholic chaplain, who murmured a
special prayer for the dead. Pale-
faced, ibadli wet: his lips ‘with
the tip of his tong le nervously as

his gaze vetted upon! Deputy Warden
Frank Craver of Ho nesburg : ‘County
Prison, Philadelphia, where | the
doomed man had been! held tor

weeks. /
“So long, Ward good Juels to
you. That's all,” he ial
“So long,” whispe;j loraver.
Executioner R Elliot threw
switch at 12:36% ms m. Reibaldi

ary
Gregg ‘was pale:
quivered ‘as he walkéd, hesitantly,
into the ideath chd@mber. He. said

pronounced deck at 12:39%. 5

nothing, but s , fascinated, at
the chair until: He stumbled
against it. }

Gregg Was the anly one of the
trio who’ died wi lout turning to
religion. ‘Rev. Lauer. attemp ‘to
convert him, ‘but until the last: {t

was doubted that ¢
giveness. |

Gregg's identity was uncertain.
Some belleved Albext W. Gregg was!
ana
vealing “his real
charge ‘struck him
and he was. proneynced dead Mines
minutes Jater

Gregg ‘was the only man! who

Showed ‘much ¢ agitali on ‘as the ia

‘' ns

m

’
a:

bo as

,| Wanamaker maphers

HAS pronounce

and his: lips.

‘If so, he @ied ‘without re-/
fat 12:42 a. m. |

Young Hawk had been a farm |}
hand at Marton until he sought to
burn the family of Catherine Gel-
wix, his flancee and fn expectant
mother, in an effort to avoid marry-
ing the girl, Mrs. Hazel Gelwix
and a daughter, Heleg, | 15, burned
to death in bed but neighbors res-
cued Catherine althoggh she hdd
been hit across the fiead with a
flashlight. "
Reibaldi, a paroled « sconvict, was
given the supreme penalty for the
fatal shooting of a ::Philadelphia
policeman, Maurice Handloff, who
;| Surprised Reibaldi whén he held up
a motorist at:a traffic signal.
Gregg was another: parolee. He
was convicted ‘of shodting C. Mor-
gan Knight, socially prominent in-
vestment banker of : + Philadelphia,
when Mr. . Knight - interfered as ;
Gregg escaped Wangmaker's de-|
partment store in Philgdelphia a

$1200 he obtained in @ holdup. |
Police at Philadelp said Gregg !
also confessed’ robbing the Boule-/|

vard bank of Chicazo-df $5000 in a |
holdup several months before the}

ar.
**


THE. PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, MONDAY MORNING, MARCH 728, 1958

ison Dedicates? MENIE NCH
TLOsee cain FORPHILA, MURDERS

i
Handloff,

‘Killers of
ntinued From First Page i - ,
knight Executed

By ROBERT BARRY

n for the Senate” he a@id. (The |

‘eXiic pooming of alopiares mace
pause rather longer than nevea- |

v fre cheers) *But Til be asie to

Beliind prison walle at Nelefonte, |

things for the civ down in Whah-

. " Pa oearly tertas the Cammone i
Ton, 100 wealth oof PennesIvania evened
lhe Maver drove up at 3.0CloCk. ings for Patrolman Maurice Haid- |

log before tae amial an ale defand © Morgan Kright, a young
Shesthut Hall broker,
et jpterminable stream of cars C }
acne Handolf, veteran of years of

headed for Mog Dsinnd to inspect: i

e and tbe oewly com- pounding police Leats, and Knight

aus are dead victims of gun-carry.ng
Tedd rear wae, hold-up men
yor on! paris of the city and) And this morning the men who

killed them. Fred Hetbaid! abas Freq)
Parsons and Albert Geege, alias)
Russell Wilson a Mid-Western bed |
; man, walned the last long mile to the
congesnen Asif more were needed chair in) Rockview Pen
fiothe qathabattaion of boo en aey ° |
eo clomee dd the roads anda i
alatin ora fire in the imme. WALK IN SILENCE j
te otecaty ealied engines) fron Both Pehbaldi and Greege walked to
sto and Tinicum ave, depth in ao grim silence which
when the former
wdintou.

irbs tae visitors came, ard irss
t} of Saturday §
ewan on hand to present traf.

non id polce

elec tre

ark

. teir
. Bas broker ¢
ANDS FIDTED cryed aiit, as Lhe was st!

a Gait,

ayy bd
chain:

“So Jong
soul Thats ail” |

The prison attendants pulled the
brown mask over his head at 3230 A.
Mowhile he mumbled further words
that could not be heard, Three ands j
a-half uiunutes later he was dead His
body was claimed by his wife, Bertha,

Aoed car speeding fo straighten
ngs out broke down and had w
towed Buay.

veverthecess. more than 14000
were checked tito the atrpori
etemporar, stands were filed
wben the Mayers of
ived for the encore

s
1th)
verMawtor
A} party arr

eation |
‘op blvstery March wind made it] of this cits H
jossible for the National Guard] It was 1238 A.M. when Grege.:

rs. under the Jeadership of Ma} ; without a word, sat trussed in the hot:
tor Dallin, to pull some of the, seat. Physiclans offically recorded ;
nis they had practiced $n ade, hisend at 1245 A M. Becaiise no one
vce, and sudden squalls whipped, esked for his bedy at will be burled in,
clouds of dust from the hard, dry. the prison cemetery.

fare of tableland, But the crowd | Father both had talked freely, Rel-
sed on. , baldi asserting he had slept well Sat-|
Vhat flying there was—well exe- urday night. Greggs slumber ¥as
ed formation maneuvers—was de- | restless,

ibed in detail over the amplifiers! pops EX-PAROLEES

Dick Bircher, the city’s pilot, He
> explained that the wind was tno! Both were parolees, the former |

ky to permit the picking up of from the Eastern Penitentiary and
ssages froin the ground. That was both returned to freedom to finish!
have been the feature stunt of the off their careers with murder,
ernoon. Both were sentenced by Judge Har-
“hen the Mavor took over the) TY 8. McDevitt to pay with ther
vadcasting syslem. ,own Jives for thase they had taken.
This new airport we're inspecting | Handloff died a hero's death, from
‘ay was one of the toughest jobs, ® bullet fired from inside a coat
« had to put across in my admin- pocket of Reibaldi last Sept. 10. He
-ation,” he declared. ‘I found it and a fellow officer, Philo Roseboro,
-mant, I got it moving. surprised the bandit as he attempted
, to stick up a motorist at a atop-iigh?
\PPIER THAN EVER at 59th rt. and Lancaster ave.
When ft is completed it will be the], Only a mechanical defect in the,
gest In the United States and one | killer's revolver, which caused it to
the largest in the world. Pianes misfire, saved the life of Raseboro,
m all over the Nation willJand on |*20 clubbed Reibaldt into subav.s-
s runway and the others to. be | #0".
it. Seaplanes from Bouth Amer-

As a result of the arrest, Hand-)
and Europe will jard in the basin. | J0f's brother was presented a check |
By the way, I'm glad to see what

for $1000 by The Inquirer in recogni-!
e drainage we have here, The air- tion of the policeman’s heroism. At
—_ aark in muddy. 1 told; ihe *ame time Roseboro received The
: : “4 Nar fo | Inquirer's monthly hero award of
Gaughter I'd give her a dollar for} g500 ong tater he was recipient of
ry puddle of water she found at |.) 0° Inquirer's medal as the out-
i. ——_ standing police hero of 1937.

. 7 Knight, who was only 28 years old,
aot pill tt oa a. a was shot down by Gregg when he at-
; Iphia Land values will ine tempted to halt the gunman’s flight
— lauder onl come ‘here after a $1200 robbery on the eighth

. y floor of the Wanamaker store, last
ousands of jobs will be opened UP) oO 97 ‘
mn.
lt was a disgrace for us to have to

TRAPPED IN DOOR
«the Camden airport. This makes ,
» happier than any other accom- The killer was finally captured by

‘ pe Patrolman John McSparron, who
= of my administration. rt | vaPped him in a tavelving door at
some doubt as to when the @irport | the rote] Vendig, after pursuing him
oject will be completed was ex-

several blocks, Por his capture Mc-
eased Inst night, however, by E. :
irke Wilford, chairman of the Avi- Sparron alto recelved an Inquirer

Hero Award.
on Committee of Philadelphia, ; :
a déted ation to gincer- A third killer who went to Penn-

rylvania’s electric chair today was a
g report prepared by one of the aay
Casal tae ieauchard. 21-year-old farmhand, Ralph Hawk,

of Franklin county.
ATTER OF CONJECTURE

He Piso convicted of killing his
. « rweetheart's mother and sister, Mrs.
Bhp oo of FeingMake Harel Gelwix and her daughter,
_—— And & summary 8hOUlC | Helen, 15, and burning their bodies.
avaliable to the people of
wladelphia so they can realize that
ere ia & great deal to do and that
e exact date of completion is a,
atter of how the project ts co- |

*

2 Women Are Injured

With Third Slayer |

| Network and Local Radio F eatures on the Air To

|

9 A.M.

WEIL, WJZ Breakfast Club

1 Wort Variets

WCAL WAKO Fan Mall

KYW Every Morning *

WIP Caraline Valentine

WEA hp Momen and the News
B.1S—VUK Modern Living

MCA -Acrosa the Breaklast

Table

KW, WEAF- Homey

Philosophy

9.28--WABC News (KYW, |

WEAF, WIZ at 440 A MO
9 O—WIP- News, Carol

Cramer

WOR Rhythm ot

WCAU, WAEC-The Road of

Life

WEAF Iandt Tria

KYW lanten Basket
9.48—WOR Hymn Singer

WCAU. WABC Bachelor s

Children

WEAF-Dan Harding's Wile

KYW. Your Deatiny

WIP-On Parade

WEIL Musicule

0.65—-WEIL-Ne 6

10 A. M.

KYW. WEAF-Mra. Wiggs,
sketen

WCAU Melodies
WOR-Pure Foot Hour
WABC-Kitty Kelly
WEIL, WJZ-Varety Pree

gTem
36.15—KYW, WEAF-

John's Other Wile

WCAU, WABC-Myrt and

rye
. WIZ-Marget of
Caatlew ood *

0.10—WIP-Theima Reed,

LJ
KYW, WEAF-Plain Bill
WFIL, WJZ Terry Kegan

WARC- Richard
Maxvell

$0.46—WEIL, WJZ-Crosby
age.

KYW. WEAP-Woman fa
White

wi

Wwe

P-Continentals
CAU, WAKC-Ma Perkins

ALM,

KYW, WEAF. Devid Harum
WIP Mextern Living

WABC Ruth Carhart
WOR-Shopping Talk
WCAU-lleart of Juita
Biake

WJZ-Mary Marin

WOCAU, WASC- Valbant
Lady

2 P.M.
, WIZ 8 Navy Band
WEIL Way Down Fast
WCAU. WABC-Kathrya
c

CAN Schedules fa Eastern Standerd Time)-—Mondey, Merch 78, 1938

WRIL-Lenten Service
KYW Farm and Firesive
PB —WEIL,WORK-Bucice
aoe
WIP Petit Concert
KYW, WEAF- Escorts !
D.30—APIL- Battle's Orch |
KYW-Arthur Hinett
WEAF-Worda and Musle
WOK-The Wife Saver
WJZ-Month in-law, shetch
WIP-Cortese Trio
WCAUL W ABC-(Qimm's
Daughter
1.46-—-WFIL, WOR-Voice
of bapenence
KYW Home Forum
WIP Shirley Winters,
Contralto
WJZ-Jack and Torette

ra.ens
WIP-In Old Vienna
WOR-RKITT) Keane
KYW, WEAE-Cloutier’s
Orch
2.15—WCAU, WABC-The
ONeill
WEIL-Melody Parade
WOR-Way Down Fast
2.30—VIP-Leisure Hour
WABC. American School of
the Air
WOR- Houseboat Hannah
WEAF-Negro Health Week
talks, Surgeon Genera)
Thomas Parron and Othere
WCAU-Women's Club
KYW-Program Resume
2.45—KYW-In the Muale

Room

WEAF-Wooester College

Men's Glee Club

WOR- Heart of Julia Blake
3 P.M.

|

‘NFIL, WJZ-Rochester Civic
Oreh : {
KYW, WEAF-Pepper Young |
WOR-Martha Deane
WCAU, WABC- Matinee
MIP. News: Capers
© 3.1S—WIP Villanova-
Randolph-Macon Debate
KYW, WEAF-Ma_ Perkins
3.30—-KYW, WEAF-Vic
and Sade
WABC-Wormen'’s National

Exposition of Arta and
Industry
WCAU-Organ Recital: News

¢
3.48—WCAU-Dr. Friendly

life

‘IP-High School News
WEIL Unele Jims
WOP-Restful Khsthms

5 P.M.

KYW, WEAF Dick Tracy
WCAU, WABC- ‘ullow the
Moon’

W.t-Nelghbor Nell
WOR-Wemen Make the News
WERIL-Candelori's Orch.

6 10—WJIZ- News
B.1G—WFIL-King Cole
KYW. WEAr-Terry and the

Pirates
WCAU, WABC-Life of Mary
Southern
WOR-Chartie Chan, sketch
WJIZ-Don Winslow

About

5.25—-WIP- Man
Town

B.10—-WFIL, WJIZ-Singing
Lady
KYW, WEAF-Jack Arm-

on
WCAU, WARC-"Stepmoth-
featuring Francis X.
Bushman
WOR-Orphan Annie
WIP-Cubens
5.45—WOR-Junior G-men
KYW. WEAF-Orphan Annie

CAU, WABC-"Hilltop
Tope.’ with Besa Johnson
FIL, WJZ-Three Cheers

6 P. M.

WI? News; U.S. Army
Rand
WFEIL-Hal Simmonds;
Sports
WOR-Unecle Don
WABC-News; New Horizons
KYW-Newsa; Andy Arcari
WCAU-Ben Alley
WEAF-Crengh Mathues
wee t
6.1S—KYW, WEAF-Top
Hatters
WCAU-BIIL Dyer; Organ
Recital
WABKC- Dear Teacher
WIP- Arkansas Traveler
WFIL-That's My mtory
€.25—WIZ-Stage Relief
Speaker
6.90—WFIL-News; Sports
Review
WCAU. WABC. Boake Carter
WEAF-Newa; Songs
WJZ-Waltz Serenade;
Revelers
YW-Arthur Tinett
‘OR-Newa;, Kambiers
6.45—W EAF-Musig Féu-

NEWS IN ENGLISH

, i , D . » 1 wane ve 1648
| STATIONS ON THE ATR: wrth wciies Tom Broadcast Highlights pcan cee ae er e 1
wri Lat WIRG Kn! Kuenances in eriuse Gar- Preanne Dutoe ! 1. 4
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wen Zig WIN Zan We women ti the News and his Caravan with Gladys Swarthout,  bYS PAP cer oe ate ies
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$ - . fi . . . — ' & oe
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A.M. WOH Myrt ant Marge tenor. her eee ‘ Sete
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OE STL ites SO eh MIP Mapyy Veber) 9 oy pb og oWRIL, WJZ- Philadelphia Or- AL Woue Pam Mme rea -¥)
een " . é. _ KYW MEAP Fessty Talk cheatra, Eugene Ormandy, conducting; | oP, M. lee sees
A. Nie ard Se té Ps vy thece se
wake Mortir in money MOCAU WABC Bg Sister Eugene List, plano soloist ; ee . “ whee Trurpere | ne
KYW Hayin, ark he LL last dich 600 P.M—WCAU, WABC— Radio Theatre | Agus Meveprad Himorr tt wy sees
wy , . , ’ ire Pits
ieee tip and’ Amite 14b— SIL WOK Mare presenta Helen Jepson and Lewrence 9 oP Cetert:ve Mystery hed ag pia:
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7 Leegeheotes +s by oe * o" . . .
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WIZ work bh Wipe aticte oreh Libby Holman and Toby Wing. A hore ea,
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WIZ Norsemen WCAL, WABC News Parade “UP On Bar ne Abner ywoOM EAP Pr j 1t.se--%
MIP Pe une Rewe WJZ Halley Axton  WABC Nan Monn. Songs WIP Taree Thomas ata aes ‘s j Juv.ioe Cte
Wok News KYW, WEAF The © Seu! 4PM + WIP-Unele Wigs MIP AG Lin | MRAK- Der:
WAC Sunny Melaiea WOM Garden Chub eerahl | KYW Dance Time MCAL. WABC Radio Thee.) ¥ iP Bu
WCAL Larry Vine eh h WIP Laerny KYW. Whar jesenze Jones WIL Hilltisy Mise tre fawrence Tibtett and ¥C AL bale
Well. News Jack Bere * -y ; WIP-Rhathm and Stu Helen Jepoon in ° Naughty WABC-Cr
WEAD Children’s Steves parm te Wz. Fare , WOR News, Goung Wider | 7 P.M. | tans ta’ “—? WOR-Pant
RIS—WEIL, Cataven \OR AB Stele Doe'las j Jones WEIL WIT To Cede ote } 1b 6s—*
Wt Sows WIPNewa) Gort Selghbor | WABC- Columbia Cham her Orchestra bugene Grmandy,; win Soares
Wok Beo Tak Mukti hews, Consumers’ [orchestra Hongel Senes conduct ta Kew Fron
pW Al Mevates Quy Clut WEEE Thratt Verade 9 1S—WOR Arden's {
WIZ Milam Meader, WCAL. WABC Helen Trent, | WCAL- Happy Valley Boys Oren
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eat Deep River Buys KYW Den Harding's Wife 1 ee WiP-Fubrman’s ’ WOR Or he
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hw WEAR Du You Ke KYW ‘Sewn Gabriel Haettee 450—HiM. WEAF Harn TIS WAT MARC. , KY WEAF Music for ¥
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WCAU Don Bovas dustries WCAL, WABC-The Gold- KYW, WEAF Uncie Frra
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WOR Health Talk Alian Ray Dafoe mest! Rurenbeg Boprane MOR Kaper
WEAF.N tptke! KYW, WEAP-The Road of TAO—\W FIL, WOR Lore WCAUL WABC- Rica's Orch. | KYW, WEA
WEAF News, Merkets
: Ranger. «WOR-True or False 12.46—W1t

Today's Short-Wave Broadc

| FRANCE
1
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| England--8 30 A. M -17.78, 4.90 P.M -17.79) RAD!O COLONTALE, 15.34

Carmany-- 8 18.10.¥) PL Mo on V1.6 meg.
| France—10 30 P.M .11 77 megs.
; aly -6.u0 P. M-100 PL OM-9 63,
Spain—EAR, 7.50 P, M.-9.48 megs,

ENGLAND

GSG, 17.74 megs.

3000 A. M.- Folk music

3.30 P. M.—The Count of Monte Cristo
12°") P. M.- Bull's orchestra

IN THE EVENING

GSB, 951 meas
725 P. M.--Program of Pipe Musle
10.80 P, M.—''The Khyber Pass"
ITALY

2-RO. Rome, © 63

7.33 P. M.— Folk musie.

Town’

815 P M.--"Mare Anthory Cores to}

830 PL M.—Orchestra, or
On 11.77 megs.

515 PM.--12.00 mM

GYRMANY

 DdD, 11.77 megs.

500 P. Mg—King of Bart
8%) P, M.—Concert of L
930 P, M.—Hello Kentuc

OTHERS ON THE AIR

CBAIS, sSantlago ,
. Tokio, Japan
aw

SLR, Prague.
YVSRC, Caracas, Venezue

32.3, Tokio, Jepan .-.....-

Red

=== BURNS=
GENERAL @) ELECT!
REFRIGERAT BR

© Hermeticetly Sasted Mexks:
@ Ferced-Feed Lebricatica

i © Stelatess Steel -Preedeg Ci:
. © ALL-STEEL CABINET

LOW. PRICEC£AST
See the Yarleors Medel:

Wh
dinated and whether the money 1s} - Struck by Auto

‘aflable. As they were returning home frora

“Alriines perying Philadelphia In- Church Jast night Mra, Louise Rudy,
nd to start onerationa from the | 67, of 1679 Brill at., and Mrs. Lillian

it

tay

*
re tite
Eat


“Aaah tahoe aise mee RNR

wr 4 Eel

Reet EaT ose eee fis

oS

Ye galoais

=

Joseoh
James J, Riggs

oOo

DOE & MEANS

F, 325-193)
GEN = .
S, Native NYC

R Native Serantoen
Ww SVE 7GY aris OF

PLACE — ciITY OR COUNTY
Pa. SP. (Lackawanna)

RESIDENCE

NAME

Wallace Skawinski ("Shorty") .

©°8 F-15-1910 (ay OCCUPATION
R (apeenite

REcoRO Both served terms in Sing Sing

CRIME DATE OTHER
Murder h-1-1933
“S WICTIM AGE RACE METHOD
Detective Lt. Lewis Roberts White| Shot

MOTIVE

Chain Store holdup in East Scranton

SYNOPSIS

Skawinski born NYC 9-16-1910, When 8, his parents moved whith family to farm at, Colchester, Cohn,
and he attended school until 15 when went to work with construction gange Ran away and secured
job in Hartford factory and then back to NYC where he and companion held vn taxi driver in “este
chester Co, Arested shortly afterwards and sentenced to f-to-10 years in Sing Sing, There he
met Riggs, Seyearsold native of Scranton who had Lived there uritil 5 when family moved to a farm
ear-Mostcow, Parents separated wien he was I and mother took all ten children to NYC, When 15
quit school to take job as conductor on Brooklyn Street car and then worked in a store and in a
factorys—in-L93t _he-and-corpanion-hetd up_taundry track driver in-damrica, captured shortly after
and sent to Sing Sine for 7-to-1h years, After both had served lsessthan a year at Sinz Sing were
transfferred to Camstock Prison Farm—and—on March-1, 1933, they vere transferred to—valkitt Farms
near Highland, an honor institution without walls or bars, On March 26, while walking with 20
prisoners on a hike mm they and another inmate, John Nelson escaned, sleeping in woods that nicht
and next day hopping a freight to Deposit, N, Y, ‘‘alked to Bingharpton and higbb hiked to Oly-
phant, Then walked to Scranton, arriving late in afternoon of 3-28, The next night they held up

Kaiser's Drugstore in Green Ridge, stealing $20, The night of 3-30, held upa bawdy house in “ilke

Barre, stealing #65, Had met up with two other young men who owned a car and furnished transpor-
—tation-to-“tikes Barre where Nelson had been negognized and arrested, Returned to Scranton and on
nite of h-l borrawed friend's car and cruised around to locate place for holdup. At 9:30 in even-

ine went +9 $n ATPTD ata, + 7D. de be A £342. See prcahes wie 3 3 3 4 7
LAP—-SESPe AT TTrESCoUt ane Vitve witer G UMEY Saw two CLerks ana One CUSULOMET. LEVe

oO

Rokerts was customer and when they entered with drawn pistols and announced holdup, he made a lunge

at Skawinski, knocking to floor, —‘Strugeline_—for possession of—pun-when tices usd _buttof pistot

to pound Roberts on head, stunning, Bkawinski rose and shot Roberts through abdomen, inflicting
wound from which he died the next day. Riggs reached auto first and drove off leaving Skawinski

who fled on foot throuzh alley, removing coat which he threw in yard to facilitate escapes
Riggs caught freight to New York where sister provided with funds for bus ticket to §leveland.

Skawinski caught frbight to Port Morris, N. Jey where he was found sle@ine by railraad detective

in box car, Was being taken in for ovestioning when detective stopped to look at an auto accident. ps

". —SiwainskKi drove off in his car but was caught shortly afterwards in Netcong restaurant where he

was eating and booked for theft of car. He was there when bulletins from Scranton arrived and re-

turned theres Police received tin on t=? that Riegs was regestered in Cleveland, Ohio, YMA urd er
name of John Scanlon and he was arrested asleep in room there, Returned to Scranton, Paul Bader

aeroe— mise

epeeand—a 32 333 he had nided
SeCont Gerree MurcePr vecause He tas ees

+ A ash — Sclod Ln ene oe —-\ ad fa,
nemeof friend whe provided Care fe S—S ONT ENE CAT OT

both in gettine out of town, Both had gone to him and he had driven to freight trains out of towne

Sentenced to 1l0\to-20 vears,
Fxecution: Skawinski went first at 7:01 AM and pronounced dead at 7:05, Riggs went at 7:05 and
pronounced dead at 7:11, Undertakers took bodies, Riggs to be buried in Scranton and Skawinski

in Portland, Me. Both, pale and nervous, walked to deaths without faltering. Rigas entered room
ghastly white as Skawinski being wheeled out, Skawinski, only 5' tall, had fallen in weight from

—I35 Ibs, when apprehended to 110, Riges had fallen from 165 to 133, mostly in Last two weeks
Both ate little ing death house and on night preceding executions, tossed and tumbled all night.
Riegs asked permission to olay harmonican throughout night and refused.

TRIAL

APPEALS

169 ATLANTIC 895, 896

LAST WOROS

EXECUTION

SOURCE
Scranton Times, Scranton, Pa,, 3-2, 3-3, 3-5-1931 (Photo page one of 3-5)

FRANK NEWTON OFFICE SUPPLY DOTHAN


IS usually ruddy face gray and
H rigid, young Detective George

Donaldson slammed the receiver
into the police box, took the pavement on
the double, and leaped to the running
board of the police cruiser purring un-
der the street light at the curb.

“Lew Roberts’s been shot, Bill,” Don-
aldson informed his cruise-mate. “A
stickup at the A. & P., Prescott avenue
and Olive street. Step on it.”

Detective William Stumm needed no
urging. Lieut. Lewis Roberts, head of
the Scranton, Pa., criminal identification
bureau, was the best liked man on the
force. “Camera-Eye” Roberts, the news-
papers fondly called him. Tall, muscular
and jovial, he was said to have the best
knowledge of criminal faces in the whole
state of Pennsylvania. And not only that.
he also was a crack shot and lightning on
the draw.

This last fact struck Stumm as the
cruiser snaked swiftly through the Sat-
urday night shopping crowds. “This is
the first time anybody beat Lew to the

34

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ISABEL STEPHEN

draw,” he said. “What did he do to the
other fellow ?”

“Both bandits escaped untouched,”
Donaldson said grimly.

Once clear of the traffic, Stumm floored
the accelerator and in a matter of seconds
crunched to a stop at the tail of an am-
bulance.

Donaldson and Stumm sprang from
the car. .

Stumm remained outside to hunt pos-
sible passersby who might have seen
cither the arrival or getaway of the rob-
bers. Donaldson shouldered through the
awed mob and strode into the store. He
found Roberts sprawled on the floor in a
widening pool of blood. Bending over
the stricken officer was a doctor, hypo-
dermic needle poised.

Bierce

“Not yet, doc,” Roberts. was protest-
ing in a hoarse whisper. “I’ve something
to do first.” ;

Donaldson quickly knelt by his side.
“Who did. it, Lew ?” ;

Roberts looked at him with pain-glazed
eyes. “They’re nobody we ever had,

George. Their mug shots aren’t in our:

file.”

Donaldson clawed a notebook from his
pocket and entered the date and time:
“April 1, 1933, 9:45 p, m.”

Fighting back spasms of agony, Rob-
certs gave the younger detective amazingly
itemized descriptions of the bandits. Only
an expert of long experience in pho-
tographing criminals and taking their

Bertillon measurements could have taken.

in so many details in a few moments of
action,

Both hoodlums had been about 22 years
old, Roberts said. The one who had shot
him. was about 5 feet 4 inches tall,
weighed about 120 pounds, had wavy
chestnut hair, dark blue.eves, wore a
shabby light tan overcoat, used a .38 cal-


the trial that several stagecoaches had passed on the road and that neither man had made
any attempt to get a ride. Rice claimed that the extra money he had in his possession came
from winning at a card game near Harrisburg.

The trial began on January 26, 1842 and the verdict was received on the 29th. He was
found guilty as charged. The attorneys on both sides were the ablest from Bedford and
Somerset Counties. All the evidence was purely circumstantial. However, the jury
deliberated only for two hours before reaching a verdict.

A motion for a new trial was made but the judge denied the motion. When the Judge
asked the condemned man if he had anything to say why the sentence of death should not
be passed upon, Rice replied that ‘the never killed any man and that all witnesses who
testified against him were all liars.” However the Judge sentenced the prisoner to be
hanged. The governor set the date of execution as June 17. However due to strong feelings
in favor of the condemned man he granted a reprieve. Petitions containing hundreds of
signatures were obtained, not only in Bedford but from as far as Green, Washington and
Fayette Counties. The governor declined to interfere and thus set the execution date for
September 2, 1843.

When Rice was led up on the scaffold, the sheriff asked him if he were guilty or not guilty,
to which he replied in a trembling voice ‘‘I am Innocent’’.

For several hours prior to the hanging, the town of Bedford was a hustling town. People
came from all sections of the county to witness the hanging. The walls of the jail yard and
the surrounding houses were crowded with people. None of Rice’s friends or relatives
came to offer their condolences in his last hours. Some believed a brother was in the crowd,
but if this were true he never made himself known.

According to stories, for years the spot where this murder took place was marked so that
travelers passing over the hill could easily find it. Someone had placed a crude outline of a
coffin on a nearby telegraph pole. In the old English days crosses were erected to indicate
the place where a violent death had taken place.

The Tull Murders

In one of my previous articles I wrote about the many murders committed by the Indians
in Bedford County, however I did not dwell on any particular incident. Just recently I found
some old references which had many historical facts about the events that happened
within the past one hundred to one hundred and fifty years. I feel that some of them
deserve re-telling at this time.

The first incident deals with the story of the murder of the ‘Tull family’. Most everyone in
the county, particularly in the western part knows where ‘Tull’s Hill’ is located. This hill
got its name from the Tull family incident.

The earliest known written account was published in 1843 by the honorable George Burd
and John Mower, Esq., called ‘Historical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania’. An
extract of this report states ‘In the year of 1777 a family named Tull resided about six
miles west of Bedford on a hill which the name of the family was given. There were ten
children, nine daughters and a son’’.

This man Tull settled along the old Packers road which crossed this hill a few rods north
of where the old Bedford-Stoystown Turnpike was built. Actually the exact year of the
family’s settlement is not known, but, the name of Tull does not appear in the assessment
list for the year 1776, thus it is reasonable to conclude they settled here after 1776.

The Tulls’ nearest neighbor was a James Williams family who lived about three miles to

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proprietor, contains
ley, a drover of Ohio
of Mahoning County,

in the book, this lot
igton County Pa. No
of Madison County
d of the hotel. His
from Illinois was a
e date of August 22
mne James Floyd of

County with sheep
J stock hogs. Three
ster with 200 stock
rket with 140 stock
ittlé. The following
The same evening
and the next day
om Green County
\sa Balchari from

Wheeler of North

L.

omerset who kept
_ According to his
10 le highest

d do to the road-
or the purpose of
every five miles

S around the toll

‘aps some of the
ould care to join
‘for 73 drinks at
—y stock brokers

One purchased
hirty seven and
learing the dust

«

ivestock traffic
ig place. There
, §topped over-

ree men would
summer when

ith a long rope
le the horse. It

was his job to keep the livestock from straying from the herd.

Flocks of sheep might go as high as two thousand. The daily expense for pasture and
lodging for the drovers might average about $25.00. Horses were usually taken in lots of six
being tied to a lead horse. One rider was responsible for six horses. They were capable of
traveling more than twenty miles per day. The daily rate paid to a farmer for providing
pasture or other feed was forty cents per animal. Mules were driven in larger numbers.
The eastern markets had quite a demand for these animals, particularly around quarries,
forges, furnaces and factories.

Quite often hogs and cattle were driven as one herd. The drovers found that the hogs
would eat the corn or other feed which the cattle did not eat. When hogs were driven
separately. they might number up to several hundred. Many times this gave the farmer an
opportunity to buy or perhaps trade the cost of the overnight lodging for several hogs for
his own winter’s supply of meat for his family.

The demand in the eastern markets became so great that they sent buyers out into the
country to meet the drovers at taverns and farm homes to look over the flocks or droves
and perhaps make a purchase thus beating out their competitors. These men were called
‘speculators’. They traveled on horseback or where the roads permitted and lodgings were
available, they would travel in sulkies.

Tavern or Inn Keepers profited financially from the large quantities of ale, gin, brandy
and local made whiskey purchased by these speculators for the drovers. Many tran-
sactions were closed over the tavern tables. Many taverns in Bedford County beeame very
famous for their excellent service to the drovers and purchasers. Aliso many taverns
provided many forms of entertainment for their guests.

These drivers received an average of forty cents per day and ‘found’, meaning that all
their meals and lodging were paid while they were going to and from the market. Not only
was the life of the drover exciting but dangerous. Many times the men returning home with
large sums of money from the sale of their stock were targets of highwaymen who relieved
them of their bundle but on one or more occasions they were murdered. One such incident
took place in Bedford County.

It happened on August 25, 1841. Two little girls wandered away from their home located
on the highway on Ray’s Hill to pick wild flowers along the road sides. Just as one at-
tempted to pick a flower on the edge of the road she suddenly screamed. She had
discovered the body of a man lying face up in the undergrowth. Both girls were frightened.
They ran to their home to tell what they had found. Soon the entire community learned the
tragic news. A bloody club was found beside the body.

After some difficulty it was learned that this man was one of the drovers who had passed
through the area several weeks previously. He was identified as James McBurney from
Ohio and that he had been hired in Coshocten by Benjamin Ricket, a stock dealer to drive a
herd of cattle from that place to Lancaster, Pa. Also hired was a young man by the name of
James Rice. After they reached Lancaster both McBurney and Rice were paid for their job
so they started back to Ohio. They were last seen together near Ray’s Hill. Rice was
carrying a club in one hand and saddle bags over his shoulder. Rice was seen along the
road early the next morning near Mrs. Defibaugh’s tavern east of Bedford. (Willows)
Another traveler on horseback caught up with Rice and they both came to Bedford.
However, the rider rode up Pitt street but Rice walked through the back streets of the town
so he would not be noticed.

Word soon spread out for the apprehension for this man. He was finally apprehended in
Connellsville, Fayette County. He was returned to Bedford and placed in jail. Several
possessions belonging to McBurney were found on Rice, including several pieces of
clothing and more money than had been paid to him.

Rice vigorously denied he ever killed his friend. He claimed that McBurney said he
wanted to wait for a stage coach while he insisted on walking until a stage caught up with
them.

The local paper carried many columns about the murder and the trial. It was proven at


in two people who had seen the geta-
way car. Both of them claimed that it
was @ green coupe equipped with many
accessories. -

“It went down Olive Street,” one of
them said, “as if it were headed for the
central city.”

While Green and Williams were
questioning the people, two small boys
elbowed their way through the crowd
outside the store and approached the
Officers. The youngsters said that they
had been standing near the store when
the two gunmen entered.

“Yeah, and they watched the place
for quite a while before they went in,”
one youngster said.

REEN looked at Williams. ‘They
were casing the joint. This doesn’t
sound as if we’re looking for amateurs.”
He nodded toward the door. “Let's

you and me take a walk. Maybe they -

cased some other places around here.”

The two detectives walked from
store to store, inquiring if any of the
proprietors had seen the thugs. They
learned nothing of value until they

reached the store of Abraham Kahno-
vitz, which was only a few blocks from
where Roberts had been shot.

“Sure, I saw those guys,” Kahnovitz
told them. ‘They came in here and
bought a pack of cigarettes. I thought
i wen ee er ee oe

ere.” > :

“Would you recognize them if you
saw them again?” Green asked.

“I sure would.”

The detectives inquired at other
stores. At another chain store, near
Kahnovits’ establishment, they learned
that the two men also had bought olga-

Seen. eRe on: cin clan iadaee dione ne ee ean eet
+
abe.

’

‘rettes there and had loitered around
suspiciously. ‘The .employes at the
chain store said that they also would
be able to identify the two men.
Green phoned in his report to Head-
quarters, where the atmosphere was
tense and gloomy. An officer had been
shot and was dying. Every member
of the force would have given plenty
to be able to get his hands on the gun-
men. . :

Te lines in Superintendent of Police
; A. J. Rodway’s face appeared to
grow deeper.as he sat in his office and
heard Captain Jack Phillips’ report.
“Not much to go on,” Phillips said.
“But we have a good description of
the pair and also of their car. Now
if Roberts can only talk.” ,
- Rodway nodded. “Yes, if he’s able
to talk it may help us a lot. He knows
every mebster in town and it’s not for
nothing that those newspapermen
have been calling him ‘Camera Eye.’
When it comes to remembering the
face of a crook I doubt if Roberts has
any equal-in the department.”

Wallace Skawinski:” He
rode a freight car—to
help the investigators

This is the interior of the chain store
where Lieutenant Roberts was shot
in a struggle with the gunmen

“You're right there!” Phillips shook
his head weakly. “When I think of
Roberts—-”

“Suppose we go to the hospital now.

Maybe we'll be able to talk to him.”
The officers drove to the hospital
“Rodway’s private car. '

'.The nurse who hovered about
Roberts’ bedside held up a warning

- finger to the two police officials while

admitting them to the room.. “You
‘ean talk with him but remember, only
a few minutes.”

* Rodway and Phillips stood over the
wounded man and looked at him.

Roberts’ eyes were open and his lips
were tight, as if he were fighting in-
tense pain. :

Rodway leaned over him.
fellow!” he said.

Roberts tried

: to siniie. é

“Who shot you? Could you make
them out?” Aree

Roberts shook his head feebly. His
breath was coming heavily and he
spoke in short gasps. “No—weren't
local boys—short fellow with wavy
rad shot me—never saw him — be-
‘ore,”’

The nurse touched Rodway on tho

ral

“Hello, .

James Joseph |
He borrowed a to
that he never ret

shoulder and he and Phillips 1
away. As they were leaving, R
called out to them weakly.
“Chief—-” nit =
Rodway hurried back. ‘What

“Maybe—I can help. One fe
had blood on his coat. If you ca
that—” .

His voice trailed off into a wi
The nurse escorted Rodway and
lips to the corridor.

“Is—is there any hope?” P.
asked her, his voice choking.

“Tm afraid not. The bullet is]
in his spine. The end may coi
any minute.” The two officers t
away.

41 A REAL copper right to the fi

Rodway commented as hi
Phillips walked out to the car. ‘“‘T:
man to do what he did and th
practically uses his dying breath
to give a clew.”

At Headquarters the investi
had zipped in high gear. Lights |
all night in the squad room whil
len flotsam of the underworlc
herded together for questioning.

- Roberts’ unerring memory for

had not failed him. This time th
mobsters were definitely in the
None of them even vaguely ans
to the description of the heisters
then were the gunmen? Why ha
chosen Scranton for the holdur

The night’s work produced n
in the way of leads. Toward day
Phillips sent his men home for
hours’ sleep. The investigation .
had drawn blanks.

Rodway and Phillips were c
ring at Headquarters the foll
afternoon when the uniformed :
manning the switchboard rush

“The hospital just called. Lic
ant Roberts is dead.”

Rodway thought’ deeply
speaking. Then he turned to C:
Phillips. “Call all your men int
squad room. I have something «
them.”

The detectives filed into the
Rodway’s voice seemed to waver :

‘dy and his face looked worn and |

cast.

“TI have assembled you here,” h
soberly, “to tell you that Lieut
Roberts -is-dead, the victim of a
dit’s gun. The honor of this fc
at stake. This murder must be av:
There is no room in Scranton f

(Continued on Paye 44)

“ any

mb lo wmotiner Witis
ring if at last they
. The narcotics

trom one 4

telling the agents of their activities
only when they are ready to make the

pinch. .

Not always, of course. But Max
Dent’s arrests had been made mostly in
that way. He would come to the agents
and say he knew a man who sold nar-
cotics and that he was ready to make
a buy; frequently they would make the
pinch that same day, without having

With Only Inflammable: Milk Bottles

fered a reward.

Rodway’s feeling that the murder
constituted a direct challenge to the
Scranton Police Department was
shared by District Attorney John J
Owens. The District Attorney hurried
to Headquarters and sought out Rod-.
way and Phillips.

“Any headway in the investigation?”
Owens asked.

Rodway shook his head. “We're as
far away now as we were in the begin- -
ning. And what’s more I’m beginning
to feel that these killers have slipped
out of town on us. We’ve turned the
underworld upside down and if they
were holed up here we'd have a line on’
this time.”

couldn’t finish it.”

41) AAYBE there was something else
about the coat that made it

loom in Roberts’ mind as a hot clew.

Something we can’t make out.”

“Maybe. But whatever it was we'll
never know unless—” Before Rodway
could finish what he was about to say
the phone on his desk rang. His con-
versation was brief and when he
cradled the receiver, he was smiling

grimly.
“The coat has just been found,” he.
said. “A fellow picked it up in an

44

knew. He had ‘seen the gentleman here
many times, often with his wife and
little girl. His name?

ie WAS the same as the owner of the
car, the man from whom it had been
stolen. :
Flabbergasted, the officers got in
touch with the owner. Of course, he
said, he often went to the little res-
taurant. Why did the officers ask?
So that was that. The paper nap-
kin was wholly unconnected with the
case. Sheer — and malevolent — co-
incidence was all this angle amounted
to. The.rightful owner of the car, a
respectable businessman, happened to
go to the restaurant in Chinatown

- alley near the store where Roberts was

shot. He turned it over to Detectives
Kelly and Green and they’re on their
way in with it now.”

Fifteen minutes later Detectives
Kelly and Green came into Headquar-
ters. Kelly tossed a tan, camel-hair
topcoat, mottled with brownish spots,
on Rodway’s desk.
oT she is, Chief, bloodstains and

Rodway looked the coat over hur-
riedly. “No labels on it. Find any
thing in the pockets?”

“IT was just coming to that, Chief.
We found something in the pockets
that we think worth following up.” He

dug into. his coat and produced a half-.

dozen booklets of paper matches of a
peculiar size and shape. Each match
was formed like a milk bottle and bore
advertising of a Scranton dairy.

a“ E NEVER ran across any

matches like these before,” said
Kelly. “We figured they must be some-
thing new so we checked at this dairy
on the way in. Sure enough, they told
us that they’ve only been distributing

’ these matches for the past few days.

They put. them in about fifteen drug
stores and soda fountains in the central
part of town. We have a list of the

places.”
Rodway the two detectives
skeptically. “You'd - hardly

expect
those drugstore clerks to be able to re-
member who received these matches,
would you?”

“Well, it’s this way, Chief,” Green
said. - “We reasoned that when you
buy a pack of cigarettes it’s not often
that they give you more than one pack
of matches. But if a clerk handed out
six packs to one man we thought there
was a chance of him either knowing
him‘or remembering him.”

“It’s a shot in the dark, but it
sounds pretty good. Suppose you check
it out. Meanwhile, I’ll send the coat
to the laboratory.”

Rodway turned to Phillips.

x

“I can’t

the up-and-up — except that the cops
got hold of Jerry Frost, booker for the
Lawndale Theater, and he said they
hadn’t booked pictures of the Louis-
Baer fight.

And then police, going through Max
Dent’s personal effects, discovered a
note, in the form of memorandum, that
the informer had written sometime
before his murder. The note, in Dent’s
handwriting, said that if anything
happened to him, it would be caused
by Joe Rappaport—who had tried to
get rid of him several times because of
the pending trial.

Confronted with this Rappaport be-

came confused. His whole alibi start- -

éd falling apart. He tried changing his

(Continued from
Page 39)

help thinking that the men we are
hunting have been in stir. Seems like
they could have subdued Roberts with-
out shooting their way out. That makes
it look like they were wanted for an-
other job.”

“We've got nothing resembling them
in our files. Croop and Markwith went
over every mug shot but couldn’t finger

.a@ suspect. And, furthermore, if they
were ever mugged here Roberts would
have them.”

“Well, that leaves us nothing but the
matches.” He spoke to Kelly and
Green. “Better get going. Check on
the matches angle. It’s not much of a
clew but there’s nothing else in sight.
See if you can find some killers with
those milk bottles—inflammable milk
bottles at that!”

Walking out of Headquarters, Kelly
and Green discussed the various facets
of the case. Had the gunmen killed
Roberts because they were wanted for
another crime and they couldn’t take a
chance on being picked up? Or was

the slaying?
that the thugs were out-of-towners—
since Roberts didn’t recognize them—
why did they pick Scranton for the
holdup and murder? Was this just the
beginning of a wave of terror that
would break over the entire city? And
were other holdups and murders to fol-
low this one? ;

| GOT an idea,” Kelly said suddenly.
“If Rodway hasn't sent the coat to
the lab, I think I'll take it with us.
Maybe we can do more with the coat
than the matches.”

. Kelly ran into the building and in a
few minutes, came out with the coat.
over his arm. ‘

The detectives’ plan was to visit every
-possible cigar store and drug’store to
see if any employe or proprietor re-
called handing out six pads of these
particular matches. And to a man who
wore such a coat. They knew that the
job ahead of them was long and tedi-

he said he saw the shooting, and
a friend of Joe Rappaport’s had
wu slim to fabricate that story. ‘The
other witness’ account, apparently
given in sincerity, never was cleared up.
It is probable. that the rain and fog,
coupled with her imagination, played
tricks on her.* ;
The jury convicted Rappaport o:
first-degree murder and he was sen-
tenced to death. His appeal to the
Supreme Court failed and the Gover-
nor refused to intervene at the last

minute after a dramatic lie detector ~

test which, administered in the death
house, showed that Rappaport was
lying. He was executed at 12.12 a. m.
on March 2, 1937..

Read It First In
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

ese mayday oan

” aie

questions,

“Maybe you can help us,” Green
said. “We’re here to investigate a mur-
der and—” :

Te detective paused. He noticed
that the youth’s gaze was fixed on
the coat in Kelly’s hands, that his face
had grown more pale. —

“Ever seen that coat before?” Green
asked quickly. ie :

The clerk started to say some :
then stopped. He shook his head,
greke softly. “No—I never saw it be-

‘ore.’

“You're not telling us the truth.
What is it? Where have you seen this
coat?”

The youth shook his head again. “I
tell you I never saw it.”

Kelly started to walk behind the
counter, his handcuffs out. “Okay,
Buddy, if that’s the way you want it.

But we don’t believe you—”
The clerk stepped back. “Wait a
minute. I'll talk, but you got to be-

lieve me. .'That’s my coat—” :

“So you never saw it before! Well,
there’s a little thing like murder you're
going to have to explain about!”

“You can’t pin any murder on me!”
the clerk cried. “I, don’t know any-
thing about any murder!” :

“Then how do you explain this coat?”

“Tt’s my coat all right, but I haven’t

ath

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ference witha —

JIDIGGS and a
Skawinski

Prison up in Nev
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_"And Serve with Bran:

* thoroughly on
Mike Hollerin

Gorman had
Silliman, his wife and
by mid-morning.

at No. 1534
learned that
Howell, of W
cased 29 c
there on the
gd
dramatics. some \.
and “Watkins
Mike Holle
pointed out
ure the ne

1ad nothing to do with
his car, nor with Max

ours later the two men
*n the car were caught
or. They were identified
two gunmen who had
cal filling-stations and
the South Side. They
do with Max Dent. And
he time of Dent’s mur-
S: At that precise hour
sticking up a South Side
9 identified them posi-

2 cops still were getting
‘ghtened out, Joe Rap-
ollapsed.

ht—up to a point. But
shat he had seen at the

there he claimed he had
1e Of the crime, he lied.

» he had seen a feature
ughty Marietta, and a
included shots of the
it, Mussolini and Ethi-
diano player, a tableaux
1” letters. It was all on
— except that the cops
y Frost, booker for the
ter, and he said they
Pictures of the Louis-

ce, going through Max

effects, discovered a
1 of memorandum, that
1ad_written sometime
2r. The note, in Dent’s
‘id that if anything
m, it would be caused
»rt—who had tried to
— times because of
i.

th this Rappaport be-
His whole alibi start-
He tried changing his

atinued from
Page 39)

hat the men we are
‘nin stir. Seems like
subdued Roberts with-
° way out. That makes
were wanted for an-

hing resembling them
Pp and Markwith went
10t but couldn’t finger
furthermore, if they
i here Roberts would
hem.”
‘es us nothing but the
spoke to Kelly and
get going. Check on
e. It’s not much of a
aothing else in sight.
ind some killers with
*s—inflammable milk

Headquarters, Kelly
sed the various facets
d the gunmen killed
hey were wanted for

story, became completely mixed up.
And then he refused to talk at all.

“You don’t have to talk,” Fenn told
Rappaport.. “We know that you killed
Dent. You were afraid he’d testify at
your trial and you wanted him out of
the way.” He paused for a moment,
added softly, “But killing him didn’t do
you any good, because all you did was
Pass up jail for the chair.”

But Rappaport said nothing, even
when Mrs. Dent, Max Dent’s mother,
identified him as the tall thin man
she had seen kill her son. She also
recalled that he had, on three occa-
sions previously, brought little cap-

es, presumably containing narcotics,
to her home to give to Max.

tricks on her.’

The jury convicted Rappaport of
first-degree murder and he was sen-
tenced to death. His appeal to the
Supreme Court failed and the Gover-
nor refused to intervene at the last

minute after a rosa lie detector -

test which, 2 : in the death
house, showed that Rappaport was
lying. He was executed at 12.12 a. m.
on March 2, 1937.

Read It First In

OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

ous and, perhaps, would result in no
tangible lead. But they plunged into
it eagerly. :

The two detectives plodded from one
store to the other, asking questions,
handing the coat over the counter to
be inspected by store owners, showing
the proprietors the pads of matches.
But they got nowhere. Was this, their
first real clew, to fall through?

The afternoon had turned to dusk
when the officers walked up to the
cigar counter, in one of the last few
stores on their list.

The clerk, a sallow-faced youth of
about 20, greeted them. Green,\ cup-
ping his badge in his palm, started
questioning him.

“Maybe you can help us,” Green
said. “We're here to investigate a mur-
der and—”

THE detective paused. He noticed
thet the vouth’s eaze wes fixed on

it since last Thursday night. I
’s stains on that coat.

42%
R
5

Astoria, Long Island.”

The clerk paused to light a cigarette
—with a match that resembled a milk
bottle; this wasn’t lost on the detec-
tives. = :

the

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ghse

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:

looked around oy ery After.a mo-
ment he shook
“No, I don’t—” He stopped. “Wait

a@ second! There he is!”

Woods pointed to a swarthy, broad-

JIDIGGS and a fellow named Wallace
ged ner broke out of Wallkill
Prison up in New York,” he told them.
Phillips took the phone again and

take
train out to Scranton and bring you
the Pictures. We sent them out before

but I guess you never got them. Yl.

there in the morning.
ey Doyle arrived the next day,
he showed the mug shots of Riggs and
Skawinski to Markwith and Croop, the
employes at the chain store where Rob-
erts had been murdered.

“That’s him — that’s the guy who
shot Roberts,” Croop said, pointing to
Skawinski’s picture. .

Markwith

guy there—he was with him.”

Captain Phillips wanted to smile in
triumph, but he knew that the hardest
job now lay ahead of him—to trap the
kill ‘wo

was one of the fugitives.
He brought his revolver up, almost
to the forehead of the pasty-faced man

When the man was brought to
Scranton under heavy guard, he was
identified as Wallace Skawinski; and

nodded. “And the other _ his statement, “I was never in Scranton

’ in my life,” was riddled by Croop and

Markwith. Faced with the witnesses
to the murder, Skawinski confessed.
Before the ink was dry on Skawin-
ski’s confession, in which he insisted
that his gun “went off accidentally” in
his struggle with Roberts, detectives
returned to the bowling alley where

for the suspect.

t the Central Y. M. C. A. they learn-
ed that a man, who was registered as
John Scanlon, answered to the descrip-
tion of Riggs.

Scranton murder. He
poe 4 saition and he was brought back

icted Skawinski, Riggs, z
ielios for murder. Skawinski and
Riggs were found guilty of murder in
the first-degree and were sentenced to

_ death in the electric chair.

Although it was proven that Bader

Rollins was cleared of
brought against him, and he was ac-
uitted.
. On March 5, 1934, Skawinski and
Riggs died in the electric chair at Rock-
view Prison, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
Bader was paroled from the Eastern
State Penitentiary in October, 1943.

tious to protect the identity of tzzo-
cent persons.

| "And Serve with Brandy Until Cold" (Continued from Page 37) opriciat DETECTIVE STORIES


E; kttenen ar REILLY stopped sweeping the Se ee

kitchen and listened in tense silence. little }
Yes, there it was—the sound she had nightn
dreaded hearing all morning—that fumbling at the in «
front door that meant her husband had come home been
drunk again. . Septer
How could she endure another of the cursing, the fa
threatening scenes he always made when he had sudde:
been drinking too much? , ; of the
The fact that their children probably would see magist
him made her wince. It was bad enough for the his art
little ones at play on the parlor floor, for he shouted batter:
at them and made them cry. But that John, enjoy- He \
ing his Saturday holiday with other youngsters of Philad
’ the neighborhood, should witness his father stag- It w
gering by was harder to bear. For John was eleven in jail
| and had endured many taunts at school about “your ence.
| old man’s loaded.” home
*% James Reilly (/eft) It was too late now for Elizabeth Reilly to re- addres
| wasa bully until proach herself for having married the man. And abeth.
the strange event oc- she could find no escape from a life that daily grew drinkir
| curred that was to send more dificult. When her few friends advised her beset t!
| him fleeing in feor to leave him she would reply, wearily: ; that h
“Who wants a woman with five children?’ woman
She had a passionate desire for a home of her Soon
own. She used to tell herself that she would put househ.
up with anything in order to keep her brood to- more o:
gether under one roof. Even when Reilly cursed And,
and raved she tolerated him for the sake of her at her °
young ones. handso:
He had never been a very genial man, even As th
when sober. On several occasions passengers on the she fac:
trolley he operated for the Philadelphia Transit could n
Company had reported his sullen manner. longer.
He took a self-righteous pride in the fact that he kitchen
did not drink while on duty. But week ends, when 1912, sh
¥ aa
ij «x The state turned back the clod to give
TRUE DETECTIVE Btay. 194

- C

VAR ( GY S


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\'be '


Here Are All the Facts Behind the Investigation That Last Jan-
uary Disclosed the Nation's Deadliest Mass Murder Syndicate

You Want It@

“I know the ropes,” Meyers said.
He wasn’t going to let himself be
pushed out of this opportunity.
Thoughts chased themselves _helter-
skelter through his mind. Five hun-
dred dollars was real money. He could
afford to take a few chances. He
noticed that Petrillo was watching
him closely and he didn’t want to
appear weak. Petrillo apparently rec-
ognized Meyers as a man in desperate
circumstances — his clothes indicated
that—a man who might be willing to
go the limit. Meyers, it appeared, was
the man Petrillo needed just at that
moment, and now, with his feet planted
firmly on the floar, Petrillo placed one
of his heavy hands on the table and
started tapping with his thick fore-
finger.

“Now listen to this, Meyers,” he ex-
plained. “I’m willing to pay five hun-
dred dollars for this job. If I don’t get
you, I can easily get someone from
New York. You can have the money
in real cash or twenty-five hundred
in the other kind, queer—you under-
stand, don’t you—counterfeit, but good
stuff.”

George Meyers, to Petrillo and to
others, might have looked like an un-
derworld habitue, but he was far from
that. Down on his luck now and will-

Ob—4

ing to do most anything reasonable,
Meyers, like his friend, Paulisino, was
an honest, industrious fellow. There-
fore when Petrillo explained his
methods of payment, Meyers had a
hard time preventing his mouth from
dropping open.

HE other kind? Counterfeit? An

uncanny presence of mind leaped to
Meyers’ support. He sensed that he
had stumbled into something dan-
gerous, a situation he might have diffi-
culty getting out of. He stuck his
hands in his pockets to conceal their
shaking, bit his lips and stared blankly
at Petrillo, who took Meyers’ silence
to be the natural hesitation of a cau-
tious man.

“Oh,” said the swarthy-faced one
boastingly and waving his hand de-
precatingly, “this job won’t be so hard.
It'll be simple. Nothing to it. I’ve
got everything figured out and all set.
All you'll have to do is follow my
instructions. Nothing can go wrong—
this is an old gaine with us. We—’”

Even the earth from suspected
victims’ graves was saved by
investigators for poison analysis

LPL LIRR ARETE EA PETIA

a

PRE

Kai ichiicde erinpeantcne ey

FR le endl Sa Ace einai sA Le RNNREES


Petrillo hesitated as if he had made a
slip of the tongue—“I mean I’ve gone
through this thing before, but this is
the neatest set-up I’ve seen yet.”

“Yes,” Meyers said, thinking furi-
ously all the while, “but what is it you
want me to do?” ,

Petrillo’s voice became hoarse as he
leaned close to Meyers’ ear and said:

“I want a guy bumped off!”

Meyers felt a flush of vertigo sweep
over him. Next it was followed by
chills. This was worse than he had
thought. He was in a tough spot and
he knew that if he betrayed the
slightest sign of disgust, resistance or
hesitation, it might be fatal. If, for
example, Petrillo felt this secret wasn’t
safe with him, Meyers himself would
be slain. How was he going to get out
of here alive? And how was he going
to stay that way after Petrillo learned
that he was no gunman? Despite these
disquieting thoughts, the thin man
managed to maintain his composure.

“How do you want it done?” he
asked—anything to stall for time now.

Petrillo smiled and it was the smile
of a self-assured man who is certain
of his own judgment. He believed that
he had gauged Meyers to perfection—
the guy would do anything for a few
dollars. Petrillo became expansive.

a | WANT a good, clean job done,” he
said. “No bungling. You got to get
this mug right, and get him the first
time. If you mess it up there’ll be the
very devil to pay. But I don’t see how
you can make a mistake with such a
perfect set-up. There’s just one thing:
You can’t use a rod on this job. You'll
have to sock the guy with an iron pipe
and shove him downstairs. We've got
to make it look like an accident. See?”
“Sure—sure, I get you,” Meyers
mumbled while he thought how he
himself might look stretched out flat
with a great dent across the back of
his head and a piece of tape plastered
over his silent blue lips. Excuses.
That’s what he needed to get out of
here. He had to think fast. “Are you
sure,” he asked, “that the queer is
good stuff? I don’t want to go through
with a job like this for nothing; be-
sides that, it’s not quite in my line.”
Petrillo could see nothing wrong in

Meyers’ objection—the question about
the counterfeit was natural. Any gun-
man would ask the same thing in like
circumstances.

“Ts it good?” he exclaimed. “Why,
I'd almost take it myself. Of course
it’s good.”

“Tl tell you what I’ll do,” Meyers
said suddenly. “You give me a sample
of that money and I’ll have a friend
of mine look it over. If he says it’s
okay, then I’ll come back and you can
give me the name of the mug you
want bumped.”

Would the excuse work? Would
Petrillo fall for it? Would this be his
ticket-of-leave? Meyers’ face was ex-
pressionless as he watched Petrillo.

"| Don't Like Killin

Once in the heart of Philadelphia
again, Meyers came out of his trance.
He thanked his lucky stars that he had
come away from the visit with a whole
skin, but what to do now? How was
he going to buy his own safety and
how was he going to prevent the mur-
der of a man whose name had not
been mentioned?

IS active mind swirled dizzily.

Then, in another second, it came
to an abrupt halt. He had a plan to get
Petrillo out of the way and he
wouldn’t have to turn over a hand.
Sure of himself, he spurted down a
side street and into an office building.
It was an address long known to him

g Someone | Know

... I've Got Rid of a Lot of People in

My Time, But |

For a moment the room was silent.
Petrillo finally spread his hands.

“If that’s the way you want it,” he
said, “it’s okay with me, but don’t take
too long. This thing can’t wait, You
come back tomorrow at this same time
and tell me whether you’ll go through
with it or not. If you don’t we’ll—
I'll get someone else. I can’t wait all
Summer. I want to get this business
washed up.” ;

Petrillo walked into another room,
leaving Meyers seated at the table
breathing a suppressed sigh of relief.
The swarthy-faced man was gone only
a moment, and when he returned he
had a five-dollar bill in his hand.

“Here,” he said, “you take that to
your friend; he’ll tell you it’s the best
queer he’s seen.”

Meyers took the proffered counter-
feit bill and stuffed it in his pocket
without looking at it. With that the
conference was over.

George Meyers: He came for a
small loan and was hired to kill

Never Knew 'Em"

—the local headquarters of the United
States Secret Service.

But Meyers had not counted upon
his appearance—the same appearance
that had convinced Petrillo that he
was a gunman. His peaked face and
long, crooked nose were startling and
his gray eyes now burned with excite-
ment. It was small wonder that he
was held up for some time before be-
ing admitted into the office of Super-
vising Agent William H. Landvoight.

And it was the counterfeit bill that
was his passport. He had turned the
piece of fake money over to a girl to
hand to the head of the office, then
sat down to wait. Landvoight him-
self had come out of his cubicle to
inquire where the man was who had
turned in “some of Herman Petrillo’s
queer.”

Meyers was surprised to learn that
the Secret Service agents could rec-
ognize the phony money, although he

should have known that counterfeiters
like other workmen, always leave
their stamp on their product. Petrillo
may not have made the counterfeit
himself, but his name was associated
with it as the passer.

“We’ve been trying to get that fel-
low for two years,” Landvoight told
Meyers, “and now it looks like you've
brought us a hot lead. I’ll assign Agent
Stanley Phillips to investigate. You
tell Phillips your story; give him all
the help you can and we'll pay you
for your service—”

“But,” Meyers cut in, “I don’t want
to get mixed up in this business at
all. It’s more than counterfeiting—it's
murder. Petrillo wanted to hire me t
kill someone.”

“That’s pretty fantastic, don’t you
think?”

“It may be,’’ Meyers answered, “but
it’s the truth.”

“Well,” Landvoight said, “you tell
Phillips all about it. Murder isn’t up
our alley exactly, but Phillips will
know what to do.”

With that he called for Phillips, a
man who had been with the Secret
Service for more than 20 years
Meyers, who was beginning to have
doubts about whether he’d done the«
wise thing, was more confident when
he was introduced to the agent.

PHILLIPS, partly bald, had a strong.

humorous sort of face with quizzi-
cal eyes. Landvoight, who was busy,
hurried over the details.

“This bill,” he said, pointing to the
fake five Meyers had brought in.
“proves this man has a_ connection
with Petrillo. You better listen to his
story. I think the right way to go at
this thing would be to swear Meyers
in as a special agent. The two of you
can work out the details, make a buy
and we’ll jug Petrillo.”

“But the murder?” asked Meyers,
still not certain that he wanted to get
into a sure eight-ball position with the
swarthy-faced Petrillo. “How are we
going to prevent this killing? This
yegg means business.”

“You'll stall him off,’ Phillips said.
“You'll pretend you’re going along
with him; make it last as long as pos-
sible until we get some evidence—”

George Meyers and Secret Service Agent Stanley
Phillips risked their lives to play a deadly game

opD—4


“Me?” Meyers asked. “Say, mister,
I’ve been in that hot spot once and
got out. I don’t want any more of it.
The way I sized up that fellow he’d
just as soon shoot you as drink with
you.”

Meyers could see that neither Phil-
lips nor Landvoight took the murder
angle seriously and wondered why.
The truth of it was that both probably
thought that the tall man was exag-
gerating; that he had some sort of a
grudge against Petrillo and this was
his way of getting even. The Secret
Service men hardly could be blamed,
as both were in the habit of dealing
with informers. Besides that, catch-
ing counterfeiters, not killers, was
their business. Their attitude, how-
ever, brought out a streak of stubborn-
ness in Meyers.

“Okay, you fellows.” he said, “Ill
string along with you; I'll convince you
that my story’s Straight. If I get in a
tight pinch I'l] bring Phillips in.”

HE Secret Service agent laughed.
“That’s the stuff,” he said, patting

Meyers on the back, “and I'll see that
we both pull out of it okay.”

“I’m not thinking so much about
us,”” Meyers said. “It’s that other guy.
Petrillo said he might get someone else
to do the job, if I don't.”

“In that case,” Phillips said, “we’ll
just have to play our cards closer. If

Mrs. Stella Alfonsi: She was gone

when killers called: Ferdinand

Alfonsi, her husband: His orange
juice and eggs tasted bitter

it comes to a showdown, we'll call in
the police. But first I’d like to build

sharply.
he said.

“I don’t blame you much,” fix us up... wait a minute and I’ll

call him.” “I can’t, very well,” Petrillo an-

up this counterfeit case, and besides
that we don’t know yet what the name
of the guy is that Petrillo wants to
bump off. That’ll be the next thing to
find out after we can’t stall any more,”

And so it was worked out between
Phillips and Meyers. The next day
Meyers was to visit Petrillo again,
stall him if possible and learn the
name of the proposed murder victim
and open the way for Phillips to come
into the case.

Meyers was more nervous than be-
fore when he knocked on Petrillo’s
door and was admitted immediately.

“Well,” Petrillo asked, “how did you
find that money?”

“My friend wasn’t in town, but he’ll
be back tomorrow. I’ll see him then.”

“I don’t like this delay,” Petrillo
said, “but I suppose nothing can be
done about it.” He looked at Meyers

oD—4

Meyers was glad that the excuse had

gone over. Now he turned the talk
to another angle.

EVE been thinking,” he said, “and

that iron-pipe idea doesn’t sound so
good to me. There must be other ways
of making this job look like an acci-
dent.”

“That’s right,” Petrillo said, “but
I’ve considered ’em all. First I thought
I'd take this guy out and get another
fellow to run him down on the road—
hit-run stuff, you know. But I thought
the dicks would get wise to that be-
cause it meant too many complications
and it wasn’t so sure. Then f thought
of drowning him, but that wasn’t so
sure, either. But, say! I’ve improved
on the iron pipe. A padded sandbag
would be even better, I’ve got just the
fellow who can make one. Paul can

Petrillo rose and went to a tele-
phone. He called a number in South
Philadelphia and ordered the man
answering to make the special weapon.
Meyers made a mental note of the
telephone number and_ the name,
“Paul.”

Petrillo put the receiver back on the
hook and leered at Meyers,

“There,” he said, “you can forget
about that iron pipe. This sandbag
will be the nuts—silk covered. It
won't be ready for a couple of days, so
don’t come back until next week. All
set?”

“Yeah,” Meyers agreed. Then, as an
afterthought, he asked: “Why do you
want this fellow bumped?”

“Oh,” Petrillo said, “this mug is
married to a girl friend of mine. I
have plenty of other girls, but I’d like
to get him out of the way.”

ee

swered. “He knows me. I don’t like
killing someone I know. It’s different
if you don’t know the person. Why,
we—” Petrillo hesitated again over the
“we” and Meyers noticed it—“I mean
I’ve got rid of a lot of people in my
time, but I never knew ’em.”

“What's this guy’s name?”

Meyers was surprised at his own
bravery. These questions were just
the thing to, make Petrillo suspicious
and now he noticed with a quaking
heart that the spaghetti salesman was
looking at him with a queer light in
his eyes. x

“What do you care?” Petrillo asked
in a harsh voice. “You're going to get
paid for the job and your business
ain’t asking questions. I'll tell you the
night I take you out there to give you
the lay of the land. It’s out in North
Philly.”

j
“Why don’t you kill him yourself?” |

“Okay, boss,” Meyers said, “I'll be
seeing you next week.”

“Yeah, sure. So long.”

Meyers sought out Phillips the next
day and told him about the conversa-
tion and gave him the telephone num-
ber he had overheard.

“But,” Meyers added, “I think
there’s something else in back of this
thing. Petrillo’s always bragging about
how many dames he knows, so why
should he pick on this one guy? Then
every once in a while he says ‘we,’
then stops and corrects himself, I
think there’s more guys in on this.
What if they should get wise? Why,
they’d make me look like a sieve. I
don’t like it at all.”

“It does sound fishy,’ Phillips
agreed. He was beginning to believe
Meyers’ story. He said nothing for a
moment, then came to a decision.
“Vl tell you what we’ll do. The next
time you go out there I’ll go along.
You've told him about your friend
that knows all about queer. Well,
that’s me. I want to look this thing
over a bit—it’s beginning to look like
a police case to me.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” said
Meyers, “but you know how risky it’s
going to be. This guy’s tough and I
don’t want him to get it into his head
that I’ve been telling you about the
killing angle. Remember, all you know
about is the counterfeit. I’ll tell him
you’d like to pass some.”

KAT ENS was even more nervous the
next time he called on Petrillo be-
cause Phillips was with him. He didn’t
know how Petrillo was going to take to
this idea, and he hoped that Phillips’
shabby clothes, donned for the occa-
sion, would get by as a disguise. It
was late afternoon but still light, and
if Petrillo had ever seen Phillips be-
fore, he’d recognize him now. It was
Meyers who knocked on the door.

Petrillo came at once. If he was sur-
prised at Phillips’ presence, he con-
cealed his emotions. He did nothing
but glare at the Secret Service agent.

“Who are you?” he asked, after
nodding to Meyers.

“He’s all right, Herman,” Meyers
explained quickly. “He’s that friend I
was telling you about. He told me

your stuff is okay and said he’d like

John Cacopardo: Testimony
given by his uncle almost
sent him to the electric chair

scutes nels

Authorities believed there was more than witchcraft behind
the deaths of Mrs. Corinna Fravato’s husband and stepson

to get some of it to pass. He’s just
out of stir and on his uppers a bit, but
he knows his way around.”

Petrillo continued to stare at the dis-
guised agent, but apparently he was
satisfied. “Okay,” he said, “come in.”

abe he told Phillips to go into
the living-room and sit down.

“You,” he said to Meyers, “come out
here with me.”

Was this the blow-off? Had Petrillo
seen through Phillips’ disguise? Why
did he want to separate the two? Re-
luctantly Meyers followed Petrillo to
the kitchen. Phillips sat uneasily in
the living-room. He noticed that the
curtains were drawn and that appar-
ently he could not be spied upon. He
felt inside his coat and put his hand
on his pistol in its holster, loosened
it in the leather hanging.

Ten minutes’ went by. Fifteen.
Twenty. Still Petrillo and Meyers re-
mained out of the room. Was Petrillo
wise and doing away with the tall in-
former? Then would he come back for
Phillips? The Secret Service agent
was on the point of leaving for the
kitchen when abruptly Petrillo and
Meyers returned. The swarthy-faced
man cast him a baleful look. He no-
ticed that Petrillo had a big bulge in
his pocket and wondered if it was the
sand-bag Meyers had spoken about.

“You'll do, I guess.” He addressed
Phillips. “You look like a right guy,
all right. I guess I can trust you.
Meyers will tell you about a little job
I’ve planned. You can cut in on it.”

“Sure,” Phillips agreed, wondering
all the while what Meyers had said
about him. “I’m okay, all right. I used

SA ca tal

to be a torpedo up in Jersey, but the
gang broke up. Then a judge threw
the book at me. But I’m rarin’ to go
now—I’ve got to make some quick
cash,”

“That’s fine,” Petrillo said. “Meyers
said you’d like to pass some of this
stuff of mine. I'll give you two hun-
dred for sixty dollars in real cash and
it’s like stealing the money, this stuff

“is so good. But you better cut in on

this other proposition—it’s easier still.
Meyers will tell you about it tomor-
row. Right now he and I are going
out to look the place over. We’ll drop
you off where you want to go.”

The three men crawled into Petril-
lo’s car and Phillips was let out in
downtown Philadelphia, then Meyers
and Petrillo continued on to North
Philly. It was just dusk as they drew
silently to the curb before a house

- at No. 2515 Ann Street.

Petrillo pointed it out.

“That’s Ferdinand’s house.”

“Is he home?’ queried Meyers, his
palm growing moist as it touched the
silk-covered sandbag Petrillo had
given him after they left Phillips.

“He’s home, all right,’’ Petrillo said,
chuckling. ‘“‘And this is the night. I
dumped Phillips on purpose so we
could come out here together. No
sense him cutting in with you, is
there?”

“What do you mean?”

“IT mean now’s the time. I got it all
fixed up with Stella—that’s his wife.
She’s going to take the kids to the
movies. While she’s gone, you go in,
slug Alfonsi and push him down the
cellar stairs. I'll wait out here in the
ear and drive you home—”

Ferdinand Alfonsi! So that, thought
Meyers, was the spotted man’s name.
He noticed that it was getting darker.
How could he squirm out of this pre-
dicament? If he didn’t go in to kill
Alfonsi, Petrillo might kill him. What
to do?

The two men sat like motionless
stones. It was completely dark when,
a few moments later, the door of Al-
fonsi’s house opened. In it were sil-
houetted three figures from the light in
the hall. An attractive young woman,
prettily dressed, was coming out with
two small children beside her. To-
gether, without so much as glancing
toward the car parked at the curb, the
woman and her children went off down
the street.

LOW laugh rumbled in Petrillo’s
throat.

“Stella’s the nuts, all right,” he said,
chuckling. ‘Never missed a_ trick.
Her husband’s alone in there, so hop
to it, George.”

Petrillo put his pudgy hand en the
car door and Meyers’ heart skipped a
beat.

“Wait a second,’ he said, stopping
Petrillo’s hand on the door-handle.
“This don’t look good. to me.” He
knew his face had gone pale and that
he was trembling with fear. “I ain't
seen none of that money yet—and I'd
like to case this joint a few more times
before I swing on that guy—”

“What are you stalling for?” Petril-
lo cut in with a snort of disgust.
“J got everything fixed perfect for
you—”

“It won’t be healthy for you if I slip,
Petrillo, and I got a hunch this ain't

oD—4


a

x

Read It First in

Murder As You Want It (Continued from Page 15) ogriciat DETECTIVE STORIES

gardless of what_it was, would do one
important thing—put the finger .more
or less heavily on the men and women
already behind bars and possibly re-

veal that most wanted of all informa- >

tion—the source of the arsenic used
in the multiple murders.

“Polselli,” the D. A. said, opening
up on the Washingtonian, “we know
that you supplied arsenic to Emilio
Micelli, a boarder at the home of
Mrs. di Martino and the man we are
holding in connection with the death
of her husband.”

“Yes, I took it to Micelli—but I
— know it was arsenic,” Polselli
said.

“Why not?” snapped Kelley. “You
certainly knew what you were doing..
Where did you get the arsenic?”

“T didn’t get it nowhere. All I did
was carry $300 from Mrs. Fravato to
Herman Petrillo. He gave me a little
package—a little envelope with some-
thing white in it—and told me to take
it to Micelli. That’s all I know about
it. How did I know it was arsenic?”

“Didn’t you act as errand-boy on
other occasions, too? Didn’t you get

‘ supplies from Caesar Valenti in New

York?”

“No, I never did business for Va-
lenti. I knew him well, of course, ever
since I met him in 1918. He was a
killer then, not a poisoner. I intro-
duced him to Mrs. Fravato in 1935—”

“Did they become friendly after
that?” pursued Kelley.

A twisted grin swept Polselli’s fea-
tures. “Business partners, I guess
you’d call it. But that didn’t stop Mrs.
Fravato from working out on Valenti.
Some nerve, that woman’s got. She
ain’t afraid of the devil himself.”

“You mean Mrs. Fravato actually
attempted to poison Caesar Valenti?”
gasped the prosecutor. That any wo-
man would dare to murder the gigantic
badman whose satanic face was
enough to throw fright into lesser-
proportioned men, to say nothing of
women, was incredible.

“He was getting in her way, that’s
all. So she sent to California for some
insurance on him. She knew he’d get
wise to stuff around here.”

“You mean a mail-order policy?”
asked Kelley.

“That’s right. It was for $6,000. But
there was a hitch somewhere and Va-
lenti got back in stir before Mrs. Fra-
vato could bump him off,” Polselli
said.

The listening detectives shuddered
despite their now familiarity with the
hideous callousness of the ring mem-
bers. It confirmed the stories which
they had picked up in Mrs. Fravato’s
neighborhood concerning the witch
woman. Time after time the investiga-
tors had been told by the people who
lived close to her that they lived in
constant fear of the strange for-
bidding woman who sat by herself
in her dark house, friendless and alone
except for one neighbor who “felt
sorry for her.”

This woman would take her cro-
cheting and timidly approach the two-
storied brick house where Mrs. Fra-
vato might be ‘found sitting behind the
drawn yellow. shades, or, if -it were
vrarm, squatting on the little flight of
brown steps outside. Mrs. Fravato’s
plump hands wielded a pair of knitting-
needles so adeptly that it was impos-
sible for the eye to follow. From.them
flowed a never-ending procession of
lovely handicraft, bedspreads, shawls
and knit garments. And with the
weaving and knitting and crocheting,
how many darkly sinister plots were
being unraveled in the witch wo-
man’s shaded mind?

Sometimes she made desperate ef-
forts to dispel the fear which her
neighbors very evidently felt for her.
They told police: “Sometimes she
would stop us in the street and ask us
to have some of her spaghetti, or offer
us wine. She could speak English when
she wanted to.” This last was news
to police who had been hampered in
questioning the woman by her pre-
tended lack of all knowledge of En-

op—6

glish. “She gave us wine sometimes,
too. But we were afraid to drink it.

Why did ‘she want to be friendly with.

us? We didn’t like her.
ways afraid of her.”

And these simple people with almost
prescient divination had given Mrs.
Fravato a wide berth, only too.glad
when they could sneak by her dark-
ened house without being seen.

Polselli’s story was surprising—but
not incredible. Police files showed that
Mrs. Fravato’s house had been raided
three times—always on the complaint
of neighbors that illegal liquor was
being sold there. Three times when
police entered they found caches of
liquor in the cellar, which was fitted
up in a semi-kitchen, semi-barroom
fashion. And once the investigators
found a cache of.the bootleg hidden
in a hole under the front walk.

They also found some peculiar and
unexplainable fetishes which at the
time meant nothing to the liquor
raiders. Mrs. Fravato’s house contained
queer little bags holding a white sub-
stance. Some of them were tied to the
window shades, and in some places
there were rings of it marked on the
floor. :

“What’s that?” they had asked. the
woman, purely out of curiosity.

“It’s to keep evil spirits: out,” Mrs.
Fravato informed them. “No devil can
get in a window with that there.”

She told them it was common salt.
Neighbors said, too, that they saw huge
bags of it being taken into the house.
And they told police, also, that Mrs.
Fravato knew well another witch who
lived near Fifth and Venango Streets.
Her sister, Mrs. Fannie Marchesano,
also told the poison-ring investi-
gators at the time of Mrs. Fravato’s
arrest that the big woman was a vic-
tim of superstitious practise. ‘That
witch she goes to bleeds her of plenty,”
Mrs. Marchesano told detectives.

On the liquor charges, Mrs. Fravato
and her common-law husband, Charles
Ingrao, whose later murder she ad-
mitted, always. were convicted and
fined.

“So. Mrs. Fravato even tried to get
Valenti, did she?” commented the
District Attorney.

“Yes, but she slipped up for once.”
Polselli grinned. ve

Kelley was making rapid notes. ‘One
word stood out ‘in capitals—‘Cali-
fornia”—mail-order policies. :

Something else which seemed unim-
portant at the time but now loomed
large was: the record of the police
findings of those peculiar witch trap-
pings in Mrs. Fravato’s home during
the liquor raids. What was in those
peculiar bags hanging in the windows?
Was that white substance really salt?
Or was it a deadly poison which would
kill hundreds of innocent people when
properly applied by Mrs. Fravato’s
witchcraft methods? And, since the
neighbors had seen it. coming in in
bags they supposed had been salt-bags,
was it not possible that it was the
arsenic arriving virtually in carload
lots? Was it thus possible for the aver-
age citizen to purchase huge stores of
the poisonous substance as easily as
that? Kelley decided to investigate
that angle immediately. °°

We were al-

FoR the present, however, Kelley de-
cided to bring Petrillo back into
the picture—to confront him with Pol-

selli’s testimony. To date, Herman,

while striking right and left in his ac-
cusations of others, stoutly had main-
tained his innocence in actual mur-
ders. He had attempted to attack the
jury-woman who had read his death
knell from the jury-box. ‘

Since this key witness had been’ the
constant companion and business part-
ner of Mrs. Fravato, feared witch. wo-
man, and, since her house: had been
filled with suspicious white powder,
was it not possible that Petrillo himself
was the wholesaler for the poison?

Remembering Petrillo’s fear and
refusal to talk in front of his former
associates, Kelley decided to keep Pol-
selli in the background and use only

se it tet i tS een Bh is

his revelations in opening up Petrillo.

. Again Kelley’s subtle ruse outwitted
a poison-ring leader. The District At-
torney told’ the condemned man that
Polselli had put him on the spot as
the arsenic supply man.

. “It’s a lie!” screamed the excitable
Petrillo. “All right, I delivered the
stuff for the murders—”

“To how many people?” Kelley
caught him up quickly.

“Right,” returned Petrillo. “But I
don’t know where Mrs. Fravato bought
the stuff.”

S° PETRILLO admitted part in eight

murders. This man who until now
staunchly had upheld his own inno-
cence.

Although Kelley and his men sought
desperately to learn from Petrillo the
source of the poison used by mem-
bers of the ring, the condemned man
realized that he had made additional
damaging statements. He dried up and
refused to talk.

But Kelley was gratified. He intend-
ed to track down every suspicious per-
son who possibly might have been an
errand-boy for. murder-ring members.
Surely one of ‘them’ eventually would
break and tell where he got it.

In going over file-case stuff turned
in by investigators, Kelley came to the
name of one David Brandt. He was in
the files as a close associate of Morris
Bolber (Bolber also was known as
‘Louie, the Rabbi’), the man whom de-
tectives at this moment were. tracking
down. Brandt, it was further revealed,
was a typewriter salesman. But that
wasn’t all. He was also a veterinary.
This last information gave Kelley an
idea. Anyone. who knew something
about drugs and medicines was sure to
know something about poisons. If this
man were a dealer in drugs—even for
animals—and also an associate of Bol-
ber’s, was it not possible that he might
be a dealer in the deadly poison?

Without another moment’s delay,
Kelley called Franchetti. “Go get
David Brandt,” was the terse order.

The District Attorney next turned
Polselli over to a squad of detectives
for further questioning.

“Bear down on one point in particu-
lar,” the D. A. told his men. “Keep
your ears open for the slightest men-
tion of. errand-boys _who - carried
strange substances, or dealers in any
kind of goods termed ‘magic.’ ”

. Consequently, Herman Petrillo was
consigned to a quiet corner of one of
the antechambers while Chief. of
County Detectives William Connelly,
Detective James A. Kelley of_ the
Homicide Squad, and Detective Sam-
uel Riccardi went to town on Polselli.

With various squads of men nicely
detailed to take care of immediate con-
tingencies, Kelley, meticulous in his
thoroughness in tracking down every
important phase of the investigation,
called in expert aid in the form of
pharmaceutical chemists from a local
Philadelphia pharmacy school.

“What,” he asked the expert, “is the
background of arsenic poisoning? Is
it common knowledge that it may be
obtained readily? Is it a recent de-
velopment as an instrument of torture
and death? Or has it long been used
as a murder weapon?”

The expert smiled grimly. “New?
The art of arsenic poisoning has been
known for several thousand years. But
it was really in Italy of the medieval
times that. arsenic poisoning became a
finished art. Strangely enough, as his-
tory will show, its use usually pre-
sents itself in an epidemic form. Where
there is one death by . arsenic—look
for more. A poisoner is rarely a one-
murder man or, more usually, woman.
And what is worse, its use usually
spreads rapidly from person to person
once the idea is planted in a tainted

mind. Doctors should always suspect.

the ‘stomach ailment’ which re-
sembles old-fashioned Summer com-
plaint. Cases which look suspicious in
any manner should be brought to the
attention of the police.”

“Then how,” asked Kelley, “do you

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45

Caesar Valenti, at
right of Assistant
District Attorney
Vincent McDevitt:
“Ah, it is a faith
cure.. magic water”

In his own hand-
writing, Herman
Petrillo denied 21
murders, but he did
mention one name
that was important

oy" Alves Land oe uated Ak
th sine Volant: aita

ae a Coane Sock
wytonatie

be 4 once. 6

bs
ae » foe a
wee ree pir te. 3 ?
ork bul | dont sith. tag ov aet Gxcers

the coroner’s office and request the
exhumations of John Wolosyn, from
St. Mary’s Cemetery; Romaine Man-
diuk, same cemetery, and_ Antonio
Romaldo, New Cathedral Cemetery.
Take them to the morgue and have
their viscerae removed and sent to the
City Chemist. Tell him to run the
usual arsenic tests. If he doesn’t find
that, then try for other poisons. I
want those reports as quickly as pos-
sible.”

pkey pie SCHWARTZ waited
only long enough to get the re-
quired forms made up before hurrying
on his gruesome errand. While the
wives of these men waited anxiously in
custody of police, pickaxes began to
ring in the two cemeteries over the
graves of the dead husbands.
Meanwhile, Kelley was passing out
orders among the 40 detectives and
their aides who were crammed into

oD—6

Room No. 3 or waiting in the little cor-
ridor outside.

“Go get. Morris. Bolber and Mrs.
Rose Carina,” were his next orders. A
squad of men set out to find the two
wanted people.

“And I think we might have a little
talk with Polselli next,” he said to
Detective Franchetti.

Franchetti and Riccardi left the
offices and in a few moments were
back with Rafaele Polselli, a 47-year-
old Washington man who had _ sur-
rendered to police when he heard that
the Philadelphia detectives were “look-
ing for him.” As yet, Kelley had given
no order for the arrest of Polselli and
he was anxious to hear what the man
had to say for himself. Definitely
linked to the murder ring by Mrs.
Fravato herself, Kelley was wondering
just what this man’s “out” would be.
But more important, his attitude, re-

(Continued on Page 45)

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46

suppose so many people were able to
obtain so much arsenic? Druggists are
not permitted by law to sell it in any
such amounts, are they?”

“Certainly not,” replied the expert.
“And what is embarrassing for the
law-abiding pharmacist about a case
of this sort is the fact that the charla-
tan can give even the corner druggist a
black name.”

“Then we'll sort out the culprits in
this case if it takes us all Summer—or
longer,” promised the D, A. .

News of the hunt for the arsenic
cache and its dealers had leaked out
through the press and pandemonium
broke loose among law-abiding Phila-
delphia pharmacists. As a consequence,
600 Philadelphia druggists chartered a
train and went to Harrisburg, capital
of Pennsylvania, to appear before the
legislature to present a plea for im-
mediate revision of existing state laws,
which they claimed were too anti-
quated to cope with the race of mod-
ern chemistry.

The District Attorney was now
ready to talk to Valenti, the Italian
giant from Riker’s Island Prison in
New York.

He told his detectives to bring the
man in. “And have Petrillo and Pol-
selli in the room when he arrives.”

Polselli, queried for hours by the
squad of men whom Kelley had de-
tailed to take down the man’s state-
ments, had pinned exactly 21 murders
or conspiracy in that number on Her-
man Petrillo. Petrillo had slipped into
admitting only eight. Too, the in-
former had pinned plenty on the pris-
oner whom detectives were now bring-
ing up from his downstairs cell.

Tension grew in Room No. 3 as Pol-
selli and Petrillo and the detectives
waited for Valenti. When at last the
outer door labeled “582” swung open
and the huge man, linked to two de-
tectives, barged into the little corridor
inside and then was led to the door
of No. 3, Polselli, who came just to the
giant’s shoulder, began to quake. He
opened his mouth to speak, but no
words came. He trembled visibly and
at last jumped to his feet and ran out
of the room.

A detective nabbed him as he ran.
“Say, Rafaele, why didn’t you tell him
what you told us—that you saw him
put poison in Charles Ingrao’s coffee?”

“I—I—I’ll tell him—later, later. Not
now. Please, not now,” spluttered Pol-
selli, evidently too frightened to accuse
the towering Valenti of the things he
had imparted readily enough to the
detectives.

“The evil eye again, I suppose,” said
one of the detectives wearily.

“Yes—didn’t you see him stare at
me when he came in?” asked Polselli.

Knowing it was useless to bring Pol-
selli back at that moment, Kelley took
Valenti in hand.

From the start, however, Valenti
denied his knowledge of or conspiracy
with the poison ring.

“But you delivered poison to some
of the members. You delivered some to
Mrs. Fravato,” Kelley reminded the
huge, grizzled but calm New Yorker,
wondering at the same time how the
witch woman had summoned courage
to make an attempt on this man’s
life.

AESAR VALENTI sniffed and
waved his paw. “That wasn’t poi-
son. It was ‘fatura,’” Valenti explained.
“What is fatura?” queried Kelley.
“It’s magic water—what you call a
medicine.”

“Medicine? What kind?”

“Ah, it is a faith cure. Harmless—
you understand? But people have faith
in it. It’s a magic water.”

Was this the secret of the poison de-
liveries? What had this “faith cure”
contained?

“And you delivered this to Mrs.
Fravato?” pressed Kelley in the pres-
ence of a gathering group of detectives,
Franchetti had pulled Polselli back
into the room and Petrillo sat cowering
in a corner.

“Yes—once I took her a bottle of
this stuff—of fatura.”

Kelley swung on Polselli. “Was this
the stuff Valenti poured in Charles In-
grao’s coffee?” he asked.

’ Schuylkill Rivers.

Polselli, shaking with fright, nodded.
Spurred on by detectives, he repeated
the charges he had made earlier in the
day against the ferocious-looking man-
mountain from the New York prison, a
man whose whole career in America
had been one of crime and violence.

After the conference was over for
the day, a reporter nabbed Petrillo as
he was being rushed back to his cell.
“Did you confess?” the reporter asked.

“No—not to twenty-one murders, no.
Anyone who says that lies,” said the
spaghetti-dealer heatedly.

But upstairs behind the doors of
No. 582 reams of additional testimony
was being typed off by the detectives’
two-finger method and packed away
into the bursting file-cases.

The City Hall corridors were electric
with tension. A crowd of newspaper-
men and photographers as well as the
usual curiosity seekers were waiting
around the elevator. A rumor was
afoot that a new suspect was being
brought in.

When at last the elevator whizzed to
a stop on the fifth floor, Detective
Anthony Franchetti stepped off. On the
other end of his cuffs was a worried-
looking young man, well dressed and
bespectacled—a type of man who dif-
fered exceedingly from the previous
prisoners whom the detectives had
brought along that via dolorosa to the
D. A.’s office during the last months.

Franchetti, always serious, always
wordless, rushed his man down the
hall as a guard shouted, “Clear the
corridor—clear the corridor.”

As innumerable flash-bulbs popped
from the top of photographers’ cameras,
Franchetti plowed his way through
them and, ushering his man before him,
slipped into the unlabeled door im-
mediately before No. 582.

He went on to No. 3 and hesitated in
the doorway. Kelley looked up with a
sharp question in his eyes.

“David Brandt,” announced Fran-
chetti quietly. Once again Franchetti
had bagged his man single-handed and
brought him in without aid to the
door-sill of the inquisition chamber.

Meanwhile, the grim business of ex-
huming three bodies—those of Ro-
maine Mandiuk, John Wolosyn and
Antonio Romaldo—had been accom-
plished.

Detectives escorted the “death”
wagons to the city morgue.

One after the other the three bodies
arrived at the house of the dead.

Detective Schwartz ordered the
workmen to place the bodies in the
vaults temporarily until autopsies
could be begun. Rows and rows of
refrigerator doors—almost like a huge
packing-house—confronted the men.
Schwartz placed a hand on the door
of one and swung it open, exposing
racks of huge trays.

A gust of cold, fetid air laden with
the dread odors of death concealed by
powerful formaldehyde solution swept
across his face as he signaled two at-
tendants to draw out one of the sliding
trays. Wrapping paper covered the
macaber contents of that tray.
Schwartz turned back the edge of the
-paper and looked on the frozen fea-
tures of a cadaver—handiwork of the
murder ring. He glanced at the metal
tag attathed to the great toe of the
body. It bore the number which cor-
responded to the name of the victim
in morgue records.

As two attendants attached similar
tags to the toes of the three new bodies
to be placed on those trays, Detective
Schwartz let his glance slide along row
after row of similar receptacles—each
bearing the body of a man, woman or
child. Most of them were being held
for identification. Some of them were
awaiting the scalpel of the coroner’s
physician.

“I wonder how many of these are
the work of the poison ring,” Schwartz
said to himself as he gave a cursory
glance at the ghastly contents of some
of the trays. Some of the bodies had
been fished out of the Delaware and
Some had been
picked up, horribly mangled, in freight
yards, and some mercilessly had been
mowed down in city streets by hit-
run demons at the wheel of a speed-
ing car. Many of the labels read:

“Unidentified.” Some read “suicide”—
“drowning.”

“And they’re not all here, either,”
Schwartz commented dourly to him-
self. What of the hundreds who had
come and gone in this gigantic charnel
house during the years of the 1930’s?
No unidentified body was held here for
more than 30 days. After that, the un-
called-for dead, whose tag still dangled
pitifully from the great toe, was taken
out to Potter’s Field and uncere-
moniously assigned to a grave. But
even there the body was not secure
for long. After a short stay the un-
claimed body was lifted from the over-
crowded and ever-in-demand munici-
pal burying-ground and consigned to
the crematorium—ever making way
for more and more bodies which were
arriving daily from the city morgue.

FoR this reason establishment of cor-

pus delicti for a crime committed
too long ago to permit rechecking
within the time limit allotted to a body
in the morgue and a temporary grave
in Potter’s Field would be absolutely
impossible. What of the unidentified
men whom the murder ring had slain
throughout the years? How many of
them had found a month’s resting-
place on these trays—and how many
of them had slept momentarily in
Potter’s Field before being forever ob-
literated in the fires of the crema-
torium? Only the men who had re-
ceived decent burial in local ceme-
teries, thus making exhumation pos-
sible, could be accounted for. Unless
confessions were obtained, or circum-
stantial evidence put an unmistakable
finger on the demise of an erstwhile
acquaintance of the two Petrillos, Mrs.
Fravato and possibly others, how could
police ever determine the actual num-
ber of murders perpetrated by this
incredibly horrible set of dealers in
death?

Getting the orders for the autopsies
on Wolosyn, Mandiuk and Romaldo
under way, Schwartz returned to the
City Hall. The arsenic tests were
lengthy affairs—it would be days be-
fore the results of the examinations
would be known. Meanwhile—

District Attorney Kelley was almost
snowed under by weight of matters
demanding his immediate attention.
There was that little matter of mail-
order insurance from California. What
was the meaning of that? Was it so
easy to obtain insurance on an un-
suspecting victim that it was merely
necessary to apply for it? Or was there
in California a set of killers operating
in unison with the Philadelphia poison
ring?

There was only one way to solve
that: Get men out there and investi-
gate. Kelley decided to do that im-
mediately. Next—what of Brandt and
Bolber and the rumors that murders
in Newark, New Jersey, and New York
as well, were being accounted the
work of the Philadelphia insurance
baiters? More men would have to be
detailed to track down those rumors.
And where was the money coming
from? Twenty-five. thousand dollars
already had been consumed in prose-
cuting and carrying on the investiga-
tion. An additional $25,000 was needed
at once if the investigation were to
proceed under full steam. Kelley was
prepared to ask the Commonwealth
for that sum, but meanwhile the in-
vestigators themselves would have to
dip into their own jeans to finance
their projects in connection with the
murder-ring investigation. What he
was determined should not happen
was that a single suspect should go
scot-free. Every man, woman or child
who had the slightest dealings with
any of the known ring-leaders of this
diabolical set of monsters would have
to “tell it to the judge.”

The men whom Kelley had assigned
to tracking down the mysterious “Rose
of Death” were shuffling uneasily out-
side the little cubicle known as “Num-
ber Three,” where the major part of
the poison-ring investigation was being
conducted.

When the room was momentarily
cleared the two weary detectives
stepped in. :

“What did you get?” Kelley barked.

OD—6


“Not The Rose,” one of the men said
disconsolately.

“She skipped when the first arrests
in the case were made and nobody
knows where she is,’ added his
partner.

“Did you get a line on her?” Kelley
asked.

“Plenty. What a dame! She’s been
married five times and three of the
husbands are dead. Pietro Stea, a
common-law husband, was the last to
go. He kicked off in a hurry in a semi-
mysterious fashion—”

“We'll look him up,” decided Kel-
ley immediately. “Have papers made
out in the coroner’s office immediately
for the disinterment of this Pietro
Stea. Run the usual arsenic tests but
try for other things if it doesn’t work.”

“Five husbands—one a common-law
—” Kelley mused. Suddenly he banged
a fist on the table. “I’ve got an idea!
This woman seems like the lure used
by Bolber and some of the other ring
members to trap men to their deaths.
Marry and kill—or marry, insure and
kill! I’m beginning to see how this
woman earned herself the name of
‘Rose of Death.’

“J wonder if Rose is the possessor
of the feminine voice that warned
Joseph Pontorelli to keep his mother

Knifing of Millionaire Ung (Continued from Page 11) ogriciai DETECTIVE

a logical conclusion, arrived in his
mind at a definite starting point. The
answer to Dunn’s death, he believed,
lay among the four men found in the
York Quon rooms.

But their lawyers now had definitely
barred these men from further police
interrogation.

The stumped investigators turned to
Chin.

“lve got to find out what went on
in the York Quon place Saturday
night,” he told the interpreter.
“Trainor and I want to question every-
body living in the association’s rooms.
I know they won’t come right out and
tell all they know, but one of them
might drop a useful hint.”

The interrogation began immedi-
ately. Harvey and Trainor sweated the
young association members through
Chin, but appeared not to be getting
results.

“All I can learn from them,” con-
fided Chin to the officers, “is that
Dunn gave some kind of a party on
Saturday night. Lots to eat. After that
he began playing poker with his
guests.” ‘

Harvey’s ears perked open. He knew
the poker game figured somewhere in
the problem. Could it have been that
a sore loser did away with Dunn? The
Sergeant considered the motive too
prosaic.

“During the game,” Chin continued,
“a telephone call came for Dunn. He
got up to answer it. Lung Gow, who
took the call originally, says it was a
woman.”

Harvey and Trainor eyed each other.
This was another of Harvey’s pet
theories in the case.

“Put them all together,” jibed
Trainor, “and what do you get? You
got me, pal. Proceed Chin.”

But Harvey halted the interpreter.

“How was Dunn doing in the poker
game?” he asked.

Chin repeated the question in Chi-
nese.

“He was losing,” finally came the
answer.

Harvey’s brows furrowed. Then he
shot another question.

“Did anybody hear what he said on
the phone?”

The answer soon came back in En-
glish.

“They say Dunn was very angry. He
said, ‘Can’t go now,’ or something like
that.”

Harvey, still thoughtful, asked
again:

“Did Dunn leave the game during
the evening? If not, did anybody come
to see him?”

Chin repeated the questions, then
turned back to Harvey.

“They say Dunn didn’t leave all

op—6

quiet or else? Who else would swing
enough power over Mrs. Fravato to
shut her up—to make her see witches
in her cell or to put across an effective
threat against her son? Only a woman
—and we know that mysterious voice
was that of a woman—who was even
more powerful than Mrs. Fravato her-
self in this murder racket. I have a
theory that ‘The Rose of Death’ is that
woman and we’ve got to drop her and
drop her quick! She’s got influence
enough to put a crimp into the con-
fessions and squeals of the people

_ we've got on ice right now. Once we

put her on the spot and the rest know
it they’ll crack down. We've got to get
‘The Rose’!”

The phone in an outer office jangled
through the smoky atmosphere of the
District Attorney’s City Hall quarters.
In another moment he was told the call
was for him.

“Bolber is here,” a voice on the wire
fairly shouted.

“Bolber?” the D. A. repeated ex-
citedly. “Where did you pick him up?”

“We didn’t. We were laying for him
out at his house. He smelled a rat
and decided to walk in down here and
call it a day.”

“That’s the well-known bluff of the
guilty. Where is he?”

night. But someone did come to see
him.”

When Chin fired back this question,
the Chinese just shook their heads and
looked at the floor.

“No use,” Harvey announced, “they
won’t talk. Okay, tell them we’re
through. And give them my thanks.”

Harvey and Trainor left the York
Quon rooms and began walking down
Harrison Avenue, under the Elevated.

“Why thank them?” Trainor queried
at last. “They didn’t tell us very
much.”

Harvey kept strolling in silence,
thinking. Then he uttered one word
laconically.

“Enough,” he said.

Trainor sensed something heavy.
“What’s on your mind?” he finally
asked.

HARVEY stopped and leaned against
an E] pillar.

“Here’s the setup as I see it,” he
began.

“Dunn was the poker tutor at the
York Quon rooms. He got all the
Chinese playing it, and being a stuck~
up kid, thought himself invincible. But
last Saturday night the going was
rough.

“Then a woman called him on the
telephone. You know the old supersti-
tion about leaving a game and coming
back to it. That call made Dunn plenty
sore.

“The woman apparently wanted to
meet him, but Dunn wouldn’t go. Later
somebody came to see Dunn. There’s
a good possibility he came from the
woman. Then something happened at
the game, but those Chinamen won’t
talk about it.

“Anyway, the last hand Dunn played
was a one-card draw to a royal flush
in hearts. Dunn drew a black queen,
giving him a pair. It may not mean
anything, but that black queen is the
card of death!

“Failing to fill the hand made Dunn
doubly sore, especially as he was be-
ing interrupted by a woman’s emissary.
T’ll call him that until I learn differ-
ently.

“Anyway, Dunn threw down the
hand in disgust and got up. He was all
through. That broke up the game. I’m
not certain, but I think there was a
fight—or at least some words tossed
back and forth. In throwing down the
cards Dunn flipped the black queen
face up. If that wasn’t done purposely
to scare someone, it turned out to be a
perfect omen anyway.”

Trainor began scratching his head,
then jammed his felt hat back on.

“Boy,” he said to Harvey, “you’d
better see that you’re taken off this

“Down here in the. Detective
Bureau.”

“Bring him up. That’s the best news
I’ve heard yet.”

Kelley slammed down the phone and
rubbed his hands. “I have a feeling
that we’re getting somewhere now. If
only we can catch up to ‘The Rose of
Death’ we'll be ready to go to town
on this gang.”

What did Bolber have to tell police?
What was the result of the autopsies
on the bodies of Wolosyn, Mandiuk
and Romaldo? Was Valenti’s magic
water known as “fatura” only a harm-
less faith cure? What new angles of the
case will the men who are carrying
the investigation to New York, New
Jersey and California reveal? What
was the cause of Pietro Stea’s death?
Will the woman with a quintet of ex-
husbands,’ three of whom died mys-
teriously, prove to be the real power
behind the arsenic ring? Where is she
hiding and why? For further revela-
tions in this sensational and bizarre
case see the next instalment in the
September issue of OFFICIAL DETECTIVE
STORIES.

Please turn to Page 40 for an addi-
tional picture with this story.

n
STORIES

Chinese beat before that stuff becomes
a‘ habit.” :

Harvey laughed. “I’ll stick by it,
hop dream or not.”

Trainor stared. “Listen, pal,’ he
ventured, “you’re not forgetting Ang
and the locked door, are you?
thought you were trying to sew up
this case against him.”

Harvey shook his head. “We'll have
to straighten that out later—see where
he fits in. But right now we've got
other things to do.”

Trainor stood still, as though he
hadn’t heard correctly.

“That’s right,’ Harvey insisted,
“we're going to follow up this lead
right away. I might seem hopped to
you, but I think we’re on a hot trail.”

They walked on in silence, then
Harvey began musing aloud.

“Do you know the place to start on
a lead like this? Well, it’s that row of
taxicabs we’re coming to. Taxi-drivers
know everything worth knowing about
a neighborhood—especially if a certain
person keeps coming to it every night.”

“Meaning who?”

“Meaning Donald Dunn’s girl friend!”

During the next two hours Harvey
and Trainor questioned drivers in all
sections of Chinatown—unsuccessfully.
Then, on Washington Street, Harvey
met an old acquaintance, Dave Harris.

“Sure,” replied Dave, “I’ve driven
Dunn and a white woman around a lot.
Only last Saturday I took this dame
home to Roxbury. Her name’s Stella
Owen.”

Last Saturday night!

But at the Roxbury address provided
by Harris a woman not related to Stella
Owen answered the bell.

“She’s out of town,” the woman said.
“She got a telegram and left.”

Harvey was puzzled. The pieces
didn’t fit.

“The woman is so hot she ducks,”
Trainor commented. “That makes her
look pretty guilty.”

But Harvey went to the neighbor-
hood telegraph office and spoke con-
fidentially to the clerk. Just as con-
fidentially the clerk told him that the
Owen wire had come from Manchester,
New Hampshire.

“Jt was signed ‘Mother’,” said the
clerk.

Harvey went home to bed.

The first morning train, however,
took him to Manchester. He sat in the
railroad station, calling up every Owen
family in the book until he found the
right one.

“Stella was here yesterday,” said
the woman’s mother, “because I was
sick. But she left last night for Maine.”

The mother didn’t know where in
Maine, so Harvey talked to the ticket
agent.

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47

The Petrilles

Uncovering Philadelphias Arsenic Ring:

Murder As

Mrs. Anna Arena fainted when sne heard the details of her
husband's drowning; attendants helped her from the courtroom

EDERAL officers, conducting a counterfeit investigation, uncover a death
plot directed against a young workman named Ferdinand Alfonsi. The chief
plotter appears to be Herman Petrillo, who, at first, is believed to be in love
cith Ferdinand’s wife, Stella. Later investigation, however, reveals that the
death plot is only a part of a weird scheme to collect insurance by arranging
nurder of unsuspecting victims. Alfonsi dies of arsenic poison and the name
cf Herman’s cousin, Paul Petrillo, a practicing witch-doctor, is brought into
the case. Then Mrs. Corinna Fravato, fat witch-woman, is arrested.
Mysterious deaths for the past ten years are investigated by the District
Attorney's office and the case broadens out into the most far-reaching murder
iot of modern times, with the total death toll believed to be approximately 200.

The murder ring, playing on the ignorance of its victims, chooses its candidates
ior death carefully so that when they are murdered the crimes will appear the
normal outcome of sickness or accident. In all cases large death benefits are

collected by the ring.

The District Attorney plays off one suspect against another and Herman
Petrillo confesses. His confession is followed by the dramatic confession of three
murders by Mrs. Fravato. Then Mrs. Susie di Martino talks. Testimony fast
links in the names of Morris Bolber, fake faith-healer, Caesar Valenti, strong-
arm giant, and Mrs. Rose Carina, known as “The Rose of Death.” Bolber sur-
renders and Valenti is found in jail. New names and new deaths are disclosed
as the search continues for Mrs. Carina, believed to be a ringleader.

As the story unfolds, it appears not only that arsenic and many obscure

cisons were used but also that the ring staged fake drownings, accidents and
nlain strong-arm sluggings. Such a case was that of Joseph Arena, who went
fishing one day with Herman Petrillo, Steve Crispino and Dominic Rodio but
never returned. The District Attorney’s office is burdened with work and the aid
cf the FBI is called upon in the search for Mrs. Carina. Now go on with the story.

mused the District Attorney Rodio. He’s missing from his home at

aloud. He glanced up at the Rosewood and Ritner Streets. He was

ring of detectives from the Homicide once a private detective, so I guess he

Squad which surrounded his desk. knows what the score is. The men

“What have you done about these you put on that detail report that they

people?” he queried. have good reason to believe that Rodio
Chief of County Detectives Connelly has gone west... but not far.”

16

IVT imuse fugitives from justice,” spoke up. “My men traced Dominic

OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES,
November, 1939

ou Want It

By

Jerome lannuzzi: Authorities put
him under hospital observation
when he became afraid for his life

“Hardly encouraging,” admitted Kel-
ley glumly. Rodio was one of the
much-wanted men. Rodio had been fin-
gered by Bolber and Herman Petrillo
as being involved in the slaying of
Joseph Arena, the man who was
pushed out of a fishing-boat in an inlet
behind Sea Isle City, New Jersey.
Rodio, it was thought, might hold the
real secret of that particular death.

Arena’s proved death by drowning
and Sam Sortino’s confession to the
slaying of Raphael Caruso by slugging-
drowning had opened up an entirely

Fenton Mallory

Special Investigator for
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

new wing of the death ring’s methods.
In fact, the poisoning angle was a
later find of the plotters. First they
had indulged in the more direct meth-
ods of hire-kill sluggings, hit-run
deaths and drownings. Later, as their
technique improved, they had gone
over almost entirely to the more subtle
and insidious attacks on victims by the
longer but more simple means of
poison.

So far Bolber and Herman Petrillo
had managed to let themselves nicely
out of the Arena drowning episode.
Both put the finger on Rodio and
Stephen Crispino.

“And where’s Crispino?” barked
Kelley. “Found him yet?”

Detective Anthony Franchetti, ace
detective on whom the brunt of much
of the manhunting had fallen ever
since he cracked the Ferdinand Al-
fonsi poisoning incident, stepped up to
the desk. “Crispino has skipped, too.
But we’ve got some good leads. I hear
he is working in a hat factory in
Reading.”

“Go out after him, Franchetti,” the
D. A. said. “That’s:in this State and,
even if it is out of our jurisdiction, I
hardly think we’ll run into difficulty
in nabbing any of these poison-ring
suspects. Police of both county and
State have offered their assistance in

Oob—9


Could There Be a Death Ring
Inside a Death Ring, Inveigling Per-
sons into One Murder and Forcing
Them on to More and More?

Mrs. Romaldo, pointing to Mrs.
Wolosyn: “She’s in this just like me!”

tracking down fugitives. Contact the
State police in Reading and go up there
immediately.

“But we still haven’t pinched the
woman in this case who is behind a
lot of the funny stuff still going on
right under our noses.”” Kelley pound-
ed his desk. Silence followed his re-
mark. Rose Carina, the Kiss of Death
woman, was a sore point among the
various departments of police working
on the case. Each secretly blamed the
other for not having located the wo-
man they hoped would be the key wit-
ness in the huge poison-puzzle. The
real truth of the matter was that each
group had been too overweighted with
constant contingencies to take the re-
sponsibility of trailing Rose Carina.

“Any more reports on Rose Carina?”
Kelley asked.

One detective cleared his throat.
“Someone reported having seen her on
a Philly bus a few days ago. But it
was a needle-in-a-haystack sort of
lead.”

Another officer spoke up. ‘We’ve
been watching her former home in
Hammonton, New Jersey. Her fami-
ly—Dominick Ruggerio, Mrs. Carina’s
father, and her stepmother—haven’t
seen a trace of her. Both washed their
hands of the woman a long time ago
and say they wish they could help us

Joseph Swartz: His name was

checked with a red pencil

oDpD—?

Stephen Crispino:
“They're just try-
ing to hang some-
thing on me”

find her. They describe her as fairly
attractive, about forty years of age
and quite sure of herself. She has a
little girl, an eleven-year-old_ kid,
daughter of one of her five marriages.
The kid’s missing, too, so it may be
teil that Rose has the child with
er.”

“That’s an idea,” snapped Kelley.
“Best I’ve heard yet. It’s pretty hard
to conceal a kid—and one always gets
sympathy for a woman. Rose is smart
enough to know that. Let’s get out
some handbills with a picture of Rose.
Have police hunt for a woman of forty
traveling with an eleven-year-old girl
—that’ll give them something to work
on. We’ll pass it out to Jersey and
other state police. Keep circulating
around South Jersey towns, too, be-
cause if Rose was raised in Hammon-
ton she’ll probably know that section
best.”

1 hablwdeana with assignments filed
out

ut.

Grimly Kelley tackled the next im-
portant job. “Bring in Mrs. Millie
Giacobbe,” he told his men.

Mrs. Giacobbe, short, plump but not
unattractive shopkeeper of Passyunk
Avenue; was the woman who had
made such desperate attempts to foil
police by twice attempting suicide.
The hospital at last had informed
Kelley’s office that Mrs. Giacobbe was
in perfect health and could be ques-
tioned.

Mrs. Dora Sherman: She _ had
reason to fear the faith-healer
who defrauded her of her money

Despite the many exciting twists
and turns and unexpected explosions
which had complicated the entire in-
vestigation, characterized by one sen-
sation after the other, Kelley was anx-

iously anticipating Mrs. Giacobbe’s
story. Behind it lay. he Knew, a whole
unguessed maze of intrigue and

shadow—an as yet untapped fountain-
head of information. Before atter
ing to execute her suicide, Mrs. G
cobbe had written a letter and left
in the safe of her dry-goods store on
Passyunk Avenue. Realizing that he
suicide attempt might be thwarted
after all, Mrs. Giacobbe had tried to
destroy that letter—too late Police
seized the document, which was la-
beled, ‘‘my last will and testar to
and it was this document which Kelley
was fingering as the woman was
brought into Room No. 562 by tw
detectives.

RAILING Mrs. Giacobbe as she was
led from Hahnemann Hospital was

her lawyer, Claude O. Lanciano, but
as the woman was ushered into tt
room, detectives barred the door to th
attorney.

“What is the charge against her?’
the man asked, bewildered by the
mistakable excitement which
client’s appearance in the D. A.’s office
was causing.

“Murder” was the one ominous
word which the closing door clipped
off into his stunned ears.

And as the door snapped shut be-
hind the 50-year-old “widow she
came face to face with Morris Bolber
Once again Kelley had pulled his
pet trick—confronting principals y

other members of the ring in crucial
moments.

Bolber and Mrs. Giacobbe glared
ominously at each other. One could

almost smell the brimstone emanating
from their hatred. And behind the
eyes of each it was obvious to observ -
ers that their thoughts were scamper-
ing madly.

The District Attorney waved Mrs
Giacobbe’s letter significantly The
woman gazed at it fixedly for a few
seconds. “All right—yes, I wrote it. I
thought that was going to be my last

17


through the shrubbery and up the
street.
Warnock yelled. A neighbor took up

the cry. The fleeing prowler leaped:

into a car, pressed the starter, careened
away from the curb and was off.

The fugitive drove for two blocks,
where Radio Policemen D. A. Mc-
Coole and E. L. Berger, members of
the watchful army, having heard the
shouts and seen the speeding car,
crowded him against the curb.

In the car they found a length of
two-by-three scantling. But there was
no blood on the end of it. No human
hair. They also found a kit of bur-
glar tools and a pair of cheap leather
gloves.

In the Hollywood station, Deputy
Chief Homer Cross looked across the
desk at a cringing, slender young man

_Wwith a white oval face and haggard,

bloodshot eyes.

“Ray Pinker, the chemist up at
Headquarters, says the fabric fibers on
the club out of your car are the same
as on the other clubs.”

The prisoner had been questioned
all night. He turned his face to the
wan, gray light that was seeping
through the window, and his lips
moved soundlessly.

“What do you say to that?” in-
sisted Cross.

“Club... fibers . . . I don’t know
what you mean,” said the man who
had identified himself as DeWitt Clin-
ton Cook, 24 years old, a former print-
er from Waterloo, Iowa, and—an im-
portant admission—a former inmate of
the Iowa Reform School at Eldora.

Captain Hoffman arrived. He tossed
a pair of gloves to the desk in front
of Cook. “Try them on,” he said.

Slowly and carefully the prisoner
pulled on the gloves. They were a
perfect fit.

Hoffman looked at the man’s shoes.
They were canvas shoes with smooth
rubber soles.

Murder As

weight of the entire investigation was
beginning to gall his overburdened
shoulders.

Working on the theory that The
Rose of Death sooner or later would
run out of cash—and the woman had
been missing since last November—the
Philadelphia investigators decided to

case factories, stores and other types:

of establishments which employed
women. Throughout South Jersey
towns the detectives kept a close vigi-
lance on every spot where women
came and went to work.

Then one of-them got a tip that Rose
had been seen in a restaurant in a New
Jersey resort town. And she was not
at a table, but serving it! Just as they
had supposed, the kiss of death woman
had found herself a job.

The Philly officers swooped down on
Lakewood, New Jersey, and “planted”
themselves around the restaurant
which reputedly had held the Rose of
Death. But disappointment awaited
them. Rose never came back to her
job. How had she managed to escape

so adroitly after having nerve enough '

to obtain and keep a job in a public
place not 50 miles from Philadelphia?
It seemed that Rose Carina was mock-
ing the police. While frantic search
had spread over the entire country and
to Canada, Mexico and Cuba, Rose had
calmly settled down to hash-slinging
in a near-by town—even though po-
lice fliers were flooding the mails the
country over.

Next Kelley turned to the stack of
toppling developments which had been
crowding into his office in the course
of the last few hours. It was charac-
teristic of the investigation that flocks
and floods of leads developed into a
torrent of new suspects, arrests and
exhumations—all at once.

He glanced down his sheet of “next
in order” names to investigate. Some
of them had been on that sheet too
long. For instance—what about this
chap Joseph Swartz? His mother-in-
law, Mrs. Lena Winkleman, had died
suddenly. And Swartz was quite

oD—%a

Cross spoke: “Our men were out to
his house; he lives right here in Hol-
lywood. They found a pair of rubber-
soled moccasins, badly worn; maybe
no good to Pinker, but we sent them
in. We also found a tweed suit...”

The prisoner was staring ‘at the
gloves. He looked from them to the
suit held by the investigators.

“There was some lacquered furni-
ture up at his house, too,’ went on
Cross. “Red and green, a home-made
lacquer job.”

DeWitt Clinton Cook raised his
pointed chin. He looked at the window
again but the dawn light was stronger.
The moon had sailed across the sky
and disappeared. He turned his face
back to his inquisitors.

“I done that Bogart girl job you
asked me about,” he said. “I done that
job. And the Wagner kid in the house
—I—I done that—I guess I done that,

‘too. And them burglaries, all them
burglaries and—”

Silence for a throbbing minute.
Then Cross’ voice said firmly, “And
the other? What about the other?
Name it. You read the papers. Come
on, name it. What about the first?”

5 aoremonang The prisoner pressed his
fingers to his temples.

“When the moon .. .” Hoffman let
his voice trail off; he wanted the word
moon to get across. It did.

“I done that, too,” Cook screamed.
“T killed her. I touched her body. The
girl in the dancing-dress. Anya—Anya
—what the devil was her name? Yeah,
I killed her.”

The trap for a prowler had caught a
moon-mad clubber. The trick of a
word had fired a sadist’s brain and
brought out the truth.

At the time the officers had visited
Cook’s home they had questioned Mrs.
Ruby Cook, a dark-haired, bespec-
tacled woman in her late forties, who
said she was Cook’s mother, and Mrs.

Lorraine Cook, his wife. Prosecuting
Attorney Blalock talked to the two
women. Lorraine Cook said the pris-
oner was.her. first cousin; she had
married him over his mother’s objec-
tions. The girl sobbed quietly as she
talked, declaring that neither she nor
her mother-in- law knew anything
about Cook’s activities.

“He told us that he was working
for a jeweler who also had a pawn-
shop,” she said. “That’s where we
thought all the stuff he brought came
from.”

DeWitt Clinton Cook enlarged upon
his confession a few hours later for
Prosecuting Attorney Eugene Blalock.
Doctor Paul DeRivers, a’ police psy-
chiatrist, was present. The Doctor said
the Iowa printer was in full possession
of his faculties; he had a keen wit and
a shrewd brain. His sadism was the
minor part of his mind that had turned
inwards like a nail to form a fester-
ing sore. Gene Bechtel, a skilled ste-
nographer, took the confession in
shorthand. —

And DeWitt Clinton Cook signed it.
He signed it with a flourish, although
he had been warned that his signature
opened the doors to thé gashouse in
San Quentin Penitentiary.

“Turn her on,” said Cook. “Turn
on the gas. I done them jobs just like
I said. Mostly nothing bothers me,
but when the moon gets right—when
the moon is bright and kind’a yellow
light is everywhere—when I see things
like that—’ He paused and drew a
long deep breath:

“I don’t know what’s happening,”
he said.

Cook later repudiated his confession,
and pleaded not guilty. As this issue
of OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES went on
press his trial was tentatively sched-
uled for October

Other pictures with this story may
be found on Pages 36 and 40.

You Want It (Continued from Page 18)

chummy with the Petrillos and Morris
Bolber. That was suspicious and
Kelley checked Joseph Swartz’ name
with a red pencil.

And what had happened to Gaetano
Peno? This was a man Herman Petril-
lo had squawked about in his most re-
cent “talk” to detectives. Previously
Herman had written down a lengthy
and meandering statement. Now, once
again, he had tried his hand at writing.
Prosecutor Kelle:y browsed through the
bald-pated spaghetti-dealer’s saga.

According to Petrillo’s written state-
ment, Bolber and Brandt had planned
and executed the slaying of one Mrs.
Jennie Peno—an invalid, bedridden
for many years. So down had gone
Peno’s name on the D. A.’s black list.

“Time to turn on the Petrillo mouth-
piece again,” the D. A. advised his
men. “Bring him in and let’s see what
he has to broadcast this time.”

The arsonist, poisoner, slugger and
murderer was soon jerked up from his
City Hall cell and placed in a chair
opposite the D. A.

“Peno?” Kelley asked shortly. “What
do you know about him?”

Herman Petrillo began to laugh.
“He’s still waiting for a beautiful
lady!” he chuckled. ‘“He’ll have some
wait.”

“A beautiful lady?” repeated Kelley,
not making the connection between
romance and a slain invalid.

“Yeh—they told him a_ beautiful
lady was crazy about him. They—”

“Who’s they?”

“Morris Bolber and David Brandt.
They told him the dame had about
$20,000 and a lot of valuable property
and she wanted to marry him. Can
you imagine it? Gaetano Peno was
only a fish-peddler!”

Petrillo gave way to his amusement
in nervous, spouting guffaws. Kelley
saw nothing funny about it.

“So Peno stood by while his sick
wife died? Is that it? And Bolber and
Brandt split the big take in insurance
profits?”

“Yes, Bolber and Brandt went

around to Peno and told him his wife
was going to die anyway, so he might
as well help the job along. Then they
told him about the wealthy lady who
wanted to marry him and offered to
fix up more insurance on Jennie, his
wife. They told him he wouldn’t need
it himself, since he was going to marry
money and they’d get the insurance
for fixing him up with the rich lady.
So he fell for it. They took the insur-
ance and left Peno in the hole—no
job and five kids to support!”

Petrillo rocked the ceiling with his
raucous laughter.

“Take him out,” barked Kelley, in-
dicating Petrillo and giving Peno’s
name a vicious little check-mark. “Go
get this bird immediately,” he ordered
his men. “And if he’s’ skipped Phila-
delphia we ‘ll turn the name over to
the G-Men.”

ESIDE the name of Antonio Gia-
cobbe, slated for disinterment, he

placed those of Mrs. Jennie Peno and
Mrs. Lena Winkleman. The list of
candidates for the clogged city labora-
tories and morgue was steadily mount-
ing again. So overburdened were the
chemists and laboratory assistants in
their autopsies that it was impossible
to get quick reports on suspected cases.

But’ Kelley had no time to worry
about that. His most pressing job was
to spot and have pinched the men and
women whom the tongues of Mrs. Fra-
vato, Morris Bolber and Herman Pe-
trillo already had involved in actual
murder. .

Detectives under Police Superin-
tendent Hubbs were already on the
detail of the Peno pursuit. A team of
the detectives from City Hall started
from scratch—Peno’s one-time address
at No. 1518 East Passyunk Avenue.

In answer to the detectives’ tap, a
family who had heard only vaguely of
the former residents confronted the
Homicide Squad men. “Peno moved
away after his wife died,” they in-
formed the police. “He’s married
again—”

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Mrs. Rose Carina, shown here with her eleven-year-old daughter,

Rita, was a sore point among the various departments of police

day on earth and I wanted to tell you
1] about it.”

“So you and Bolber knew something

your husband’s death?” the D. A.
isked.

“Yes—she did it!” Bolber screamed
t Mrs. Giacobbe.

The woman turned on him furious-
y. “You he—you did it yourself—you
Wd ith”

ELLEY let the two stand there ac-
cusing each other while his detec-

tuves took down the conversation word
for word.
“He insured him.” Mrs. Giacobbe

ndicated Bolber. ‘Paul and me was
going to get married—”’

The D. A. was immediately alert.
Here was what he was waiting for.
Mysterious hints that another murder
ring existed somewhere in Philadel-
phia—only slightly connected with the
larger parent ring of arsenic practi-
tioners —had_ insinuated ‘themselves
continuously into the investigation,
yet nothing definite had brought this
ther ring to light.

“Suppose you tell me just what hap-
ened to you—in connection with Paul
Petrillo.” Kelley urged. So far he and
his men had been letting the surly

Paul sweat it out in . Moyamensing
Prison, where he had maintained a
rigid silence.

Mrs. Giacobbe moistened her thick
lips. “Paul said he’d get rid of my
husband—” . - °°

“Did you approach him first?” Kel-
ley put in, .

“I merely went to him to get him to
‘put the fix’ on my husband. We
wasn’t getting along very well,” Mrs.
Giacobbe admitted. “But Paul fell in
love with me—” the big woman’s eyes

fluttered to the floor—“and he said:

he’d fix everything. He promised to
get rid of his wife and marry me.”

“Just how did Paul accomplish the
death of your husband? Did he give
you poison to use on him?”

“No!” she screamed, half rising from
her chair. Then she caught herself
and relaxed. ‘Paul bewitched him.
He died. That’s all I know about it—”

“But his insurance?”

“This man here—” she _ indicated
Bolber—‘‘and Paul got it. I tell you I
didn’t have nothing to do with it.”

“But you just told me now, and you
said in your letter, that you and Paul
had arranged to marry just as soon as
his wife and your husband were out
of the way—”

“I didn’t know he was’ going to kill
them,” Mrs. Giacobbe said.

“We'll see’ about that, Mrs. Giacobbe.

Your husband’s body will prove just
what type of poison killed him—and
possibly who might have administered
it. Long-time poisons, usually are
given by the person: who cooks, for
the victim.” . ‘
When Mrs.: Giacobbe had been slated
for. a .hearing downStairs in court,
Kelley turned: to Morris Bolber.. ‘‘What
do you: know about this marriage-
murder factory? .Didn’t your former
secretary; Rose ‘Carina, marry: five
husbands, three of whom died?”

Bolber thought a moment. The

noose was tightening around his feet.
Next it would. be his neck.
another racket,” he said.
senic ring.”

“That was
“Not the ar-

Mrs. Agnes Mandiuk: Police be-
lieve a faith-healer knew strange
details of her husband’s death

“It was what? A marriage racket?
You mean there was another ring be-
sides the poison guild operating in
Philadelphia?”

“Exactly.. It didn’t have any con-
nection with the poison ring. Some of
the same men supplied them with
dope, that’s all. Here’s. how. it worked:

“Every time the matrimony ring got
wind of a couple who weren’t getting
along so well together they’d send out
scouts to investigate. If the rumors
proved to be true and the woman was

the injured party; the matrimonial
agents would approach her with their
‘plan.’ This was simply that they
would help her get rid of the husband

.—-and make her a ‘profit besides with-

out the.'slightest danger to herself. If
she cottoned to the idea, they brought
in the insurance agents and loaded her
up with policies on her husband’s life.
Then they’d either take over the kill-
ing or give her poison. and tell her how
to administer it. But that was only
the first. part of the story.” Bolber

‘paused sighificantly. ‘‘The arsenic-ring

members stopped right there, satisfied
with the profits they got out of the
job. But this other ring went on from
there—”

“How do you mean?” asked Kelley.

" ELL, as soon as the funeral was
out of the way and the victim’s
insurance had been collected without a
hitch, the agents went back to the
widow they had newly created and
broached the subject of remarriage.
They told her a wealthy man was in-
terested in her. or asked her to ‘make
a date’ with a person they would pick
out’for her. If she refused they re-
minded her of the little matter of her
complicity in her first husband's death.
Seeing no way out, the woman usually
agreed. And so she married another
man and helped the matrimonial ring
bump him off, too. And another and
another—in an endless chain.”

“And you think,” said Kelley, whose
ears were running over with what he
had just heard, “that Paul Petrillo’s
promise to marry Millie Giacobbe was
just a gesture to trap.her into the
matrimonial ring?”

Bolber spread his thick paws. “How
would I know? Maybe he was in love
with her,” He smiled.

Kelley turned to the men. ‘Get the
facts on Antonio Giacobbe’s death,” he
said. -“Bring them back as soon as
possible. I think we have another dis-

‘interment job on our hands.”

And Kelley was right there. An-

tonio Giacobbe’s death certificate
showed that he had died from ‘‘dia-
betes” on April 2, 1933. Insurance

records showed that Gaetano Ciccanti
had handled the policies for Giacobbe.
Ciccanti was the New Jersey insur-
ance agent now in a downstairs cell
suspected of fingering Joseph Arena
and writing huge amounts of insurance
on Arena’s doomed life, and with pay-
ing the insurance premiums on Raphael
Caruso, who met death one dark night
on the Girard Avenue bridge.

“Gosh, how can any one man keep
all this straight?” moaned Kelley, re-
alizing for the first time that the

(Continued on Page 51)

There seemed an endless stream of witnesses and suspects. Left to right: Detective Anthony Franchetti, Gae-
tano. Ciccanti, Joseph Swartz, Mrs. Anna Arena, Mrs. Rose Davis, Mrs. Christina Cerrone and Detective Kelleher

oD—?9

By NIGEL TRASK

the first-floor apartment at 306

Jackson Street in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, on an evening in late
March. She was practising a Chopin
waltz, and glanced up in surprise when
the doorbell rang. Pushing back the
bench, she crossed the room and opened
the door. The dark-haired young man
who stood there smiled at her. She said
hastily:

“I’m sorry, Harry, but Charles has
gone to the club this evening. I’m
alone.”

If she expected him to bow his way
out, she was mistaken, for he calmly
stepped into the house and began taking
off his overcoat. He had been there
often at her husband’s invitation and
knew exactly where to put his things.
As he placed them in the hall closet, he
told her:

“J could hear you playing from out-
side. Please play that waltz again,
Fern.”

With a smile, his hostess went across
to the piano and complied with the
request. As her fingers flitted over the
keys, the man’s gaze was fixed intently:
on her. Although she was not beautiful,
Fern was unusually attractive to men.
She. had great charm of manner and
a certain warmth. She also wore her
clothes well. When she had finished
the piece, she stood up, and asked:

‘Which shall it be, sherry or a high-
ball?” ;

“Sherry,” Harry replied, and fol-
lowed her into the dining-room where
she picked up the decanter and two
glasses. Returning to the living-room,

F':. THASE sat at the piano in-

. the young man sat down on one side

of the sofa, moving over as if expect-
ing her to sit down beside him. But she
took a chair opposite, with the small
table between them. ‘
Fern was a little uncomfortable. She
didn’t feel certain that Charles would
understand his friend’s being there if
he suddenly walked in. It was not the
first time her husband’s friends had
called when he was not at home. They
always had a good excuse. Usually she
could handle such situations with poise,
but tonight she felt nervous. The rea-
son was that she sensed the.fact that
Harry was strongly attracted to her and,
while she couldn’t help feeling a little
pleased, she was also somewhat fright-

She was relieved when he arose at
ten. o’clock and said goodnight. As he
was putting on his overcoat, he sug-
gested:

“Perhaps it would be better not to
mention this call to Charles.”

Fern eyed him steadily without re-
plying. When she had closed the door

after him, she leaned against it, her
head thrown back against the wooden
panel, her eyes half-closed. She knew,
of course, that he had come there with
the knowledge that her husband was
not at home. ‘

She couldn’t shake off a slight feeling
of guilt; but told herself, “That’s silly.
I didn’t invite him here. I can’t help
it if Charles’ friends like me and come’
calling when he’s out.” She could not
convince herself, however. She loved
her husband and would not have done
anything to hurt him.

Opening her eyes, Fern saw the two
glasses. and the decanter of sherry.
Hurriedly. she went over and picked
them up. As she washed the glasses,
her dark eyes held a brooding look.
She wondered whether to follow
Harry’s suggestion, or whether she

should tell of his visit. Hanging up the

dishcloth, she replaced the glasses in
the china cabinet and went to her bed-
room; undressed hastily, climbed into
bed and turned out the light.

Tomorrow she would think it all out
carefully, and decide. what to do, but
this evening she didn’t want to face
Charles. When he came in a few min-
utes later, she pretended to be asleep.
And the next morning she said nothing
of her caller.

“Ig anything the matter, Fern?”
Charles asked. “You look sort of
worried.”

“No, nothing’s the matter,” she
answered quickly, and kissed him good-
by.

She still had not told him of his
friend’s secret visit by the following
Sunday afternoon. Once more she sat
at the piano, letting her fingers travel

idly over the keys. In the dining-room, -

Charles and his old friend George Pres-
cott were arguing about politics. Every
little while, Fern glanced from the
window at,the people passing by on the
street. Finally she pushed back the
piano bench and went into the kitchen,
where she opened the ice box and began
preparing supper.

Going into the dining-room to set the
table, she smiled cordially at George,
and invited:

“You'll stay for supper, won’t you?”

Charles answered for his guest. “Yes,
he’s staying and we're going to call on
Fred in the hospital right afterward,
if you won’t mind.” :

“Of course I don’t mind,” Fern as-
‘sured him. ;

After supper, as they sat talking over
their. coffee, George suggested, “If we
don’t get. started, they won’t let us into
the hospital. It will be too late.”

She went to the door with them and
kissed Charles as they left. Thase, a

MASTER DETECTIVE

ibe . aAneren

OO a

aoe oo :

powerfully
was a succe:
He now gaz
wife as he p
“T’'ll be he
They were
of many of '
larity pleas:
proud of-her
smiling goc
strode off to;
Fern was :
bell rang.
straightened
door. Harry
the living-rc
and stepped
“I saw the:
one else her
She shook
clear the dis)
washing th:
quiet and
inquired:
“What's t
evening?”
" She dried
towel, then f
“Harry,- I
here again v
I don’t thin
my husband
thing to hw
Harry sta
Was convinc

ad

“and her eyes
<<. “But you

you?” he as

“Of cours
“But I shar
again when

mM HARRY
and sudd
She fought
_had kissed h
emotion he
“You see,
Fern’s hee
hard to kee}
*You mus
insisted, anc
door. She o
for him to gc
room fell on
white, dra.
frightened |
“Don’t str
Charles,” s)
friends.”
He did nc
her, he stoo
her forehea
strode out.
Neither o
shadowy fig
stood, moti
scene.

sung, 1942


her
yden
aew,
with
was

eling
silly.
help
come’
d not
loved
done

ie two
herry.
picked
‘lasses,
t look.
follow
ar she
up the °
sses in
er bed-
ed into

: all out
do, but
to face
ow min-
2 asleep.
( nothing

Fern?”
sort of

er,” she
iim good~

m of his”
following
re she sat
sers travel
aing-room, °
orge Pres-
tics. Every
from the
g by on the
i back . the
the kitchen,
x and began

ym to set the
, at George,

yn’t let us into
too late.”

with them and
left. Thase,

MASTER DETECTIVE

powerfully built man with kindly eyes,
was a successful construction engineer.
He now gazed fondly at his attractive
wife as he promised: .

“[’]] be home early, darling.”

They were a devoted couple, the envy
of many of their friends. Fern’s popu-
larity pleased her husband, He was
proud of'her. George Prescott waved a

iling good-by and the two men
strode off together.

Fern was clearing the table when the

straightened her hair and went to the
door. Harry sent a furtive ‘glance into
the living-room, then brushed past her
and stepped inside. :

“J saw them go,” he whispered. ‘“Any-
one else here?”

She shook her head. He helped her
clear the dishes away, and insisted upon
washing them. Fern was unusually
quiet and at last the young man
inquired: :

“What’s the matter with you this
evening?”

’ She dried her hands, hung up the
towel, then faced him, saying earnestly:

“Yarry,- Td rather you didn’t come
here again when Charles is not at home.
I don’t think he would like it. I love
my. Jnusband and don’t wish to do any-
thing to hurt him.”

Harry stared. Her low, serious tone
was convincing. Her face was flushed

Send her eyes bright.
Lo “But you do like me, Fern, don’t

you?” he asked.

“Of course I like you,” .she replied.
“But I shan’t let you in if you come
again when I’m here alone.”

m@ HARRY TOOK a step toward ‘her
and suddenly she was in his arms.
She fought him off, but not before he
had kissed her. In a voice shaking with
emotion he told her:
“you see, I love you.”
Fern’s heart was pounding, and it was
hard to keep her voice from trembling.
“You must leave now, at once,” she
insisted, and walked swiftly to the front
door. She opened it and stood waiting
for him to go. The light from the living-
room fell on her and also upon Harry’s
white, drawn face. His expression
frightened her, and she spoke quickly.
“Don’t spoil your friendship with
Charles,” she begged. . “Let’s all be
friends.”
He did not speak, but, as he passed

her, he stooped suddenly and aushed
her forehead with his lips. Tnen he
* strode out.

Neither of them was aware of the
shadowy figure across the street who
stood, motionless, watching the little

scene.
_ gown, 1942

quired:

AK woman's terrified scream—
then an ominous shadow at
the window. Sleuths were ,
_ presented with a baffling :
murder puzzle in this case

ne

Fern was at the piano, trying to
calm herself, when Charles walked in
a few minutes jater. She tried to make
her voice sound natural as she in-

“where's George?” she asked.

“He left me at the hospital and went
home. I dropped in at the club for a
‘few minutes.”

He sat down and began reading the
paper. Fern knew he had already read
it that morning, and felt distinctly un-
comfortable. His expression seem
strange to her. She stopped playing and
picked up a book. But she didn’t read
it. She sat there, thinking. -

“From now on,” she decided, “I’m
never going to let any of Charles’ friends
into the apartment unless he is at home,
I’m flattered by the attention of his
friends, and it pleases me to have them
attracted to me. But nothing is going
to spoil my marriage. I love Charles
too much.” She felt better when she
had come to that decision, and presently -
brought her husband a glass of sherry

and sat down on the arm of his chair
to chat. :

* * *

The following day passed quietly, but
on Tuesday morning the Thases’ next-
door neighbor, Mr. Brown, was elec-
trified.to hear a woman’s scream. He
thought it had come from the Thase

hat, who seemed to be washing his
hands. .The window was frosted, sO —aag
that the figure was merely a dark ,
shadow.. ;

' Mr. Brown stood gazing at the form,
listening intently for another scream,
put no sound came. He didn’t know


ad an am-
found the
or mortally

two neigh-
tly, McCul-
> bathroom,
it over the
yor. After a
> to see the
in the door-
ock.

asked.

an. “That is

ambulance
itly a white-
sdly into the
de the body,
ngers to stop
red from the

» ammounced.
oii...

been fixed on
art. The sur-.
‘e now gently
examine the
powder burns
ies placed the
stretcher and
ance, the doc-

it with a razor-
. bullet has un-
her heart.
h the hospital.”
e drew away
Xullough began
ghbors. Brown
ire he had seen

wW.
ve you did not
inquired the

who it was.”

Thase?” ’

never spoken to:

slain,
house

x
%.
4

The murderer (above) took a drastic measure in his attempt to escape
punishment. "The brutal aspect of the slaying suggests a pets mo-

five such as revenge, jealousy or unrequited love," declared former
Police Chief William Kane (right), who directed the investigation

| . .
“Could it have been him?” asked the
Lieutenant. . :

“t yeally couldn’t say,” replied
Brown. “As I tell you, it was a man in
hat and overcoat; -but it was only a
shadow, and if’ the light had not. been
on in the bathroom I wouldn’t have
seen him.” sie

“Do either of you know where Mr.
Thase can be located?” inquired the
officer. : °

“Yes,” . replied the woman. “Only
yesterday Mrs. Thase told me that they
were planning to remodel the David
Oliver High School, and that her hus-
band would be there for: the next. few

days.”
zune, 1942

“Why, that’s over here on the North
Side, only a few blocks away,” said
McCullough. |

He turned to Rea and instructed him
to go to:the high school and inform
Thase of the tragedy, and that his wife
had been taken to the Presbyterian
Hospital. At that moment the telephone
rang. It was the hospital, informing the
Lieutenant that Fern Thase had died
before reaching there and that her body
had been removed to the morgue. :

Rea. had started out of the door, but
now the Lieutenant called him back.

“Bring the husband here to the apart-.

ment,” he ordered. Then he returned
to probing the neighbors.

“you heard no sounds before you left
the building to do your marketing this
morning?” he asked the woman..

‘ “The Thases were quiet people,” she

‘replied. “Except for the piano I seldom

heard anything.. This. morning it was

‘like all other times. I heard nothing

unusual.” :

“And you're sure you left your apart-
ment at ten?”

“That is correct,” she agreed.

‘mM “YOU CAN’T remember seeing any-

one approaching the building—any
man in a fedora hat?” . :

She shook her: head. “No, I saw no"

one.” . 7
“And you, Mr. Brown, are sure you

heard the scream at approximately ten-

thirty?”
“That's right,” was the response.”
The Lieutenant spoke slowly. “Who-

-ever was here in the apartment must

have left during the few minutes it took
you to reach the Thases’ front . door.
We'll hope that someone on the block
saw him leave and may be able to
identify him.”

He stepped over to the telephone and

- called North Side Headquarters, where ‘-

he notified Chief William Kane of the
crime. a
“I'll be right over,” that officer told

~ him.

The Chief arrived within a few min-
utes and took charge of the investiga-
tion. McCullough led him into-the bed-

room, then through the small hall to >

the bathroom. The two officers studied
the bloodstains, and at last Kane said:

“The young woman was probably
standing in the bedroom at the time the
shot was fired, and staggered backward
toward the bathroom. The killer fol-
lowed and slashed her throat here in the
narrow hall. (Continued on page 49)


quite what he ought to do. After all,
there was someone in the apartment, so
he would not be needed. The man at
the washbowl seemed calm. And yet,
the more he thought about it, the more
worried he became. There had been
real terror, real agony ‘in that sudden
shriek.

At last he turned away from the
window. The shadowy figure had by
this. time disappeared. Brown put on
his hat and walked swiftly over to the
Thase apartment, He rang the bell
insistently, but no done answered. He
was wondering what his next move
should be when the woman who lived
upstairs came into the building, her
‘arms full of packages. She sent him an
inquiring look, and he explained.

Dropping her packages on the stairs
leading to the floor above, she pressed
the doorbell. ‘

“J suppose you heard nothing?”
Brown inquired. ish

“Not a sound,” she answered. “But
I’ve been out marketing for the last
half-hour.”

“Do you know the Thases?” inquired.
the man.

“yes, indeed. Fern and I are friends.
She’s a charming young woman, and
Mr. Thase is nice, tao.”

@ AFTER A few minutes, Brown sug-
gested, “Don’t you think we ought
to call the police and make sure every-
thing is all right?”.
“Yes,” agreed the neighbor. “I’ll go
up to my apartment and telephone.”
She went rapidly up the stairs and
called the North Side Headquarters.
Within a few minutes two officers
reached the Jackson Street house.
Lieutenant William McCullough
climbed out of his car and walked
rapidly across the sidewalk to where
Brown was still standing before the
Thases’ front door. Detective James
Rea followed his superior officer, and

the upstairs neighbor joined them,

“What’s wrong?” asked the Lieu-
tenant.

Brown explained about the scream,
and that they had been unable to get
‘into the apartment. McCullough once
more pressed the doorbell. No sound
came from within. .

“Any other entranc
ment?” he asked.

“Well,” replied Brown, “my yard is
‘ight next to the bedroom window. I
believe we might climb in: that way.”

“All right, come along and show me,”
ordered the officer. “You others wait
here.”

The next-door neighbor led McCul-
Jough into his yard, and pointed to the:
window. The officer managed to climb
‘up, and found it unlocked: He pushed
up the lower part and peered into the
room. So far as he,could see it was in
perfect order. Nevertheless, he climbed
inside. There was no one in the bed-
room, nor in the living-room. He
walked rapidly through the rooms, then
on to the kitchen. The house was as neat
and clean as a pin, with no sign of
disorder or. of a struggle. Returning to
the bedroom, he opened a door he be-
lieved might ‘be the bathroom, but
found it was a closet.

A small hall led off the bedroom toa
closed door. He strode toward it, then
halted abruptly. On the floor in’ front
of the closed door was a large stain. Mc-
Cullough bent down and saw that it
was blood. He straightened, at the same
time reaching for the doorknob. This
was the bathroom. On the floor lay the

body of a woman. He bent over her,
but could not be certain whether she
was alive or dead. She lay motionless,
face down, her. clothing and the floor
bloodstained. Her body was warm.

The Lieutenant got up and strode to
the front door. Opening it, he instructed
Rea: :

“Get the Presbyterian Hospital on the

to the apart-

telephone. -Tell them to send an am-
bulance immediately. I’ve found the
woman. She’s either dead or mortally
wounded.”

Without a glance at the two neigh-
bors, who came in hesitantly, McCul-
lough hastened back to the bathroom,
where he once more bent over the
motionless figure on the floor. After a
few moments he looked up to see the
upstairs neighbor standing in the door-
way, her eyes wide with shock.

“Ts this Mrs. Thase?” he asked.

“Yes,” replied the woman. “That is
Fern.” : :

At that moment the ambulance
wailed outside, and presently a white-
coated doctor came hurriedly into the
“apartment. He knelt beside the body,
working with swift, deft fingers to stop
the flow of blood that poured from the
gash in the girl’s throat.

“She’s still alive,” he announced.
“We'll get her to the hospital.” .

McCullough’s eyes had been fixed on
the small hole over the heart. The sur-.
geon had also seen it. He now gently
moved the clothing to examine the
bullet hole. There.were powder burns
around it. While orderlies placed the
unconscious Fern on a stretcher and
carried her to the ambulance, the doc-
tor said: :

“yer throat has been cut with a razor-
like instrument, and that bullet has un-
doubtedly struck near her heart. I
doubt if she lives to reach the hospital.”

When the ambulance drew away

from the ‘building, McCullough began
questioning the two neighbors. Brown
told of the shadowy figure he had seen
at the bathroom window.

“But you are positive you did not
recognize the man?” inquired the
Lieutenant. }

“No, I have no idea who it was.”

“Do you know Mr. Thase?”

him.

Through the streets of Pittsburgh's North Side, the district where Fern Thase was so cruelly slain,
detectives searched for a clue to the identity of the man who cast t

he shadow in the murder house

“Only by sight. I’ve never spoken to.

The mu:
punishn
tive suc
Police

“Could it
Lieutenant.
“I really
Brown. “As
hat and ov
shadow, anc
on in the |
seen him.”
“Do eithe
3 Thase can
oo officer.
“Yes,” . re
yesterday WV
were plann
Oliver High
band would
days.”

JUNE, 1942

eT ae


ROO EO ee wee mt tin ee erence ene

yt th
fH Wh

i As
pay *

™m auseye | jor

“alny. ferelir s tof fedr ‘as he
pliord pee h while ne Bask

im rie the blac
head, ia

"he ‘nal ‘of read
> Sprung theitrak
istpady, [i frony

paid. | THe! ached:
aelpioek and) ‘then

milkeo | isle | Leute
JAnYy one, KAN ‘hin
jof any p Fson.|
anid expect | to |
di Giood | bye.” | i
ire his reedlnielse|
Phe black cap w 8 |
Wdocand ‘the’ nor Sey
nd} his neck. Thpni!
vars 1 from the doomed
of this: jhead-—the! sheriff
yh tacco's ‘body
Aba ts i!

oh fee —
~— Se:

Walked
i Then tp
| hibited: ‘

ic spay a

j Father Ma

joan afd contin
‘ng I aq }
Lee Rte dy ve leq.

pj Was! xp
tees
if iM leS$t fama fri

yy Huse He

ntister, fore ntaw 0 rife Pénnsy Iva nij

[thie Paley ,to the scaffa hd |
te Bat, ten nt te hik epiritia? |
ailige ferent oO Mathra of Hilla. |
i ay np! believed that ihe would
L to Isaty! all hie wanted to
Howe ko; UG askeil the priegt
Q ‘his uc ment in

INITATNG HT
iene
1

Iglish, it
SEINNOCENGCE, 7)
{o. Father{ Matura,

Jiuad anv: idea who

rtf nev
thy Rim |) wiht ‘len. /Ife! said. he
fixed lip fy the Prk He

orgave' every iperson and sent
7 eness | th he judge. before
way tried) ithe district at.
‘county lofictra who had
* o the jc

4 trom. he’ a peal

rf zo enidd his uppli-'
ail die ; innocently:
Me rd rent he ex-

oday:

foe to the scaf-
{| tha! Pt iast ‘and: a few
id Au ins felt a crustfix and

stemdity I.

K. ‘trade of ‘motion ex.

, Inurdarer, ag he jstepped :
nee his; little huares .

seowus betne adjusted

00d |beside the oomed ,
the jlast; rite’ of! th

ade his. respon es'in aj}

en eee a eens “ane

entry ]
j pa h

sprung. and: ‘Racco's
lroppé doh f ee Was! broken and |

gakt) {hat tlhe. mg | rope would |
‘er suf Me lis heavy bddy |

t| fulfilled, Te t
' ithe hanging Stated |
& Was) brokeniand dekth |

at 12 minut fs after |

|
lf detiby |
ble that /for']
‘ paid} fo felt “ith “that life.
1 half. av niged? for j
Hdwliof ithe!
ited, >. planned atid Ps
ry it ia qharged, but! h 5
t

e$4\|

[bes Mate h 2, 0, |
Irdoveo wconceaied: |
fe ket along; a path |
|; Would take in go-
he railroad) iptation.
toften hee: warned that h
hae bit alwys! ldughted

|
{
|
I

asitao uick in drawing: n
oreo Raced hated |
ntfculiriy ivan d |had’ sworn to; kill |

kK jhad shot -Mis net | ‘dag |
found “n thier, Italian Hanti Can

H bf son
ouk! cat fe rit in ten! feet of the
| wie ed to] have fired
|| froth eter. Houk

rs. jj it hah. ‘nod robb |
Qf | dis urb $2 carried:

ola Hee or r val tars

ithe | Mokis; own. with pine ane

af) train ng Hiv eu, where 1

\ red | April 23° by (Sto:

section, [BENE | | ae iF Hl]

RACCA, Rocco, white, hanged New Castle, Lawrence Co., October 26, 1909.
“BLACK HAND CHIEF DIES ON GIBBET;
“Rocco Racco, Slayer of Lawrence County Game Warden, Expiates Crime in
New Castle Jail;
“Shed first tears at farewell from wife.

“New Castle, Pa., Oct. 26-Without a trace of fear and expressing his forgiveness for all the
officials, Rocco Racco, the deposed ‘Big Chief’ of the Black Hand Society, and murderer of Selee
Houk, a deputy game warden, was shot into eternity on the gibbet in the Lawrence County jail
yard at 10:30 o’clock this morning. His neck was broken and he was pronounced dead at 10:42%
o’clock. Not a muscle of his face moved or betrayed any feelings of fear as he made a short
speech while standing on the scaffold, just before the black cap was drawn over his head. After
his speech he waved a signal of readiness to the sheriff who sprung the trap.

“Racco walked with steady step from his cell to the gallows. He reached the gallows at
10:27 o’clock and then made this short address: ‘Gentlemen, I didn’t see Selee Houk killed. I
didn’t see anyone kill him and I have no suspicion of any person. I pardon everybody and expect
to go to Jesus right now. Goodbye.’ With this he waved his readiness to his execution. The
black cap was placed over his head and the noose drawn down around his neck. Then at another
signal from the doomed man - a nod of his head - the sheriff sprung the trap and Racco’s body
shot downward.

“Prior to the march to the scaffold, Racco made a statement to his spiritual adviser Father
Rocco Matura of Hillsville. Raccok believed that he would not be able to say all he wanted to on
the gallows , so he asked the priest to give out his statement in English. In his statement to Father
Matura, Racco said he never had any idea who killed the game warden. He said he was not mixed
up in the killing. He said he forgave every person and sent his forgiveness to the judge before
whom he was tried, the district attorney and the county officers who had him in charge, also the
judges of the court to whom he appealed his case and lately to the pardon board which, only a few
days ago, denied his application. He said he died innocently like his Master and Lord whom he
expected to see today. Just before the march to the scaffold he kissed the priest and a few
countrymen. He carried a crucifix and walked steadily.

“There was no trace of emotion exhibited by the murderer as he stepped on the trap and
made his little address. While the noose was being adjusted, Father Matura stood beside the man
and continued the last rites of the church. Racco made his responses in a clear, steady voice.

As the trap was sprung and Racco’s body dropped his neck was broken and his boast that the
small rope would be too weak to support his heavy body and break was not fulfilled. Physicians
attending the hanging stated that his neck was broken and death ensued at 10:42 % , just 12
minutes after the trap was sprung.

“One of the most cold-blooded and deliberate crimes imaginable was that for which Racco
paid forfeit with his life. Yet the law is only half avenged, for James Murdocco, brother-in-law of
the man just executed, also planned and aided in the murder, it is charged, but he escaped to Italy.
Upon the morning of March 2, 1906, Rocco Racco and Murdocco concealed themselves behind a
thicket along a path they knew Selee Houk would take in going from Hillsville to the railroad
station. Houk had often been warned that he would be murdered, but always laughed and said he
was too quick in drawing a gun to be harmed. Rocco Racco hated him particularly and had sworn
to kill him when Houk had shot his pet dog when he found another Italian hunting with it out of
season. When Houk came within ten feet of the two men, both are alleged to have fired buckshot


charges from shotguns. Houk fell in his tracks.

“Revenge was their object, not robbery, for they did not disturb $206 which he carried,
nor his gold watch or revolver. They weighted the body down with stones and sank it in the
Mahoning River, where it lay undiscovered April 23 by Scott Hoffmaster, foreman of the
Pennsylvania railroad section gang.”-Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 10/26/1909.

RACCA, Rocco, white, hanged New Castle, Pa., on October 26, 1909.

(From articles DIVISION OF IAW ENFORCEMENT, by Paul L, Fgilor, Wildlife Conservation
Specialist.)


M. Gaskill, and a sister, Mrz.
. Terres, He died August 2!
on, Ariz.

p Odenhelmer, of Bustleton
| Selma st., who died Beptem-
ef an estate of $15,800 to
. Mrs. Josephine L. Brown,
{ H.. Cumberiand  st.,
dmost.of ber $22,000- estate
hilidren,
feny to inventories filed, John
read of a printing firm, Jeft
a) optate of $32,795, and Ella
ms‘left 685,979, . —

8A. of State
its ‘Alien Isms’

ng a national drive against
sms,” the . State executive
ee, Patriotle Order Sons of
. yesterday urged a cam-
» “Americanize” foreign-born
amd “lukewarm native born.”
rrowp, carrying out instruc-
' the last State convention,
¢ this propose! in a resolu-
ich it presented to the na-
reculive committee of the or-

session at the Benjam'n
n. The proposal will be of-
» the ‘national convention of
. 8. A. in North Carolina later

nth.
dject of the resolution, ac-
to Harry J. Leary, State

it, is “to bring together the
‘8 various racial groups for
interests of America.”

Inited States, Leary sald. is
pon “to make the decision
it shall exist as a nation of
foreign names, races and
and imperil ita existence by
w half native and half
r whether there shall be

a

+~ @urviving him are his widow,

yi *

~ Biarrita, Prance, fhe was

fairs of the Home for Destitute
Bind ae) SOE:
‘Burviving her are her husband
and three daughters, Mrs. Leonard
J. Cushing and Mrs. Richard T,
Tucker, both of Mill Neck. Long Is-
land, and Mr’: James D. P. Bishop,
of Mt. Kiaco, N. Y., and glx grand-
children.

THOMAS F> SWEENEY ~~
Thomas F. Sweeney, Newtown
Square farmer, died at his home on
West Chester pike Thursday after a
atroke. sn sersaelilbegsnte se
Mr. Sweeney, who.was 70, was ac-
tive im civic and cHureh affairs in
his community, He was a member of
Newtown Square Volunteer Fire
Oornpeny end active in St. Anasta-
sia’s Catholic Church, where he was
® member of the Holy Name 8o-
clety. °

Ellen W. Sweeney, two sons, John
and Thomas, Jr. and six daughters,
Margaretta, Anna, Heasie, Mre.
James Loughrey, Mrs. Andrew Sul-
ivan and Mrs, James Paul.

Solemn Requiem Mass wilt be-
celebrated at 10 A. M. tomorrow in
St. Anastasia's Church and inter-
ment will be made in St. Denis
Cemetery.

MRS. LOUISE SWAN

Mrs. Loulse Swan, of 320 Crest ave.,
Haddon Heights, N. J., died Friday
in Cooper Hospital, Camden. She
is survived by her husband, George,
and three daughters, Mrs, Olga Sal-
mon, of Gloucester, N. J., and Helen
and Mary Swan.

Funeral services will be held at 318
Monmouth ave., Gloucester, at 2 P.
M. Monday. Burial will be in Lake-
view Memorial Cemetery.

MRS. CHARLES RILEY

Mra, Carrie Zollinger Riley, for-
merly of 374 Baird rd., Merton, died
in Karlstad, Sweden, on Avgust 26,
according to word recelved by friends
here yesterday.

“a Nation-wide loyalty that
ent rebellion and strife.”

in Bandit’
Without Bail

‘Aapirin bandit,” James C.
Jr, of Jamison, Pa., really
An aspirin yesterday as he
‘ without bat! for a further
September 20 by Magistrate

ng to police, Giheon has |
{ to eight hald-upe and the
three automobiles. He be-
tingle-handed “reign of ter-
gust 16 when he held up.
ntwister, a di t, of

‘mm and Erie aves, Wednes-

sept, 11 (A, P).—Dr.
" Jones, internationally

rvard University, died

Acts! George Helier Wentz, died. today
‘jas her home, 818 Dekalb st., Norris-

NEL F.JONES :

Fer husband, Charles Riley, a
prominent caterer, was with her at
the time. They had been making a
tour 0 Scandinavian countries.

Mrs. Riley, who was 65, was a
brother of the late Luther Rees Zale
linger, one-time engineering execu-
tive of the Pennsyivania Railroad.

She recently sold her home in
Merion and purchased a n¢w one at
4911 Parkside ave. Philadelphia.
Mrs, Miley was a director of the Over-
brook Needlework Guild of America.
- In addition to her husband, she is
survived several nephews and
nieces in this city, Pittaburgh and
Dundalx, Md. j ;

MRS. GEORGE H. WENTZ
Mrs. Clara Mann Wentgs, 79, widow

Moward Pp. | ot,

“Geidon, 88, of 2131 N. $4th
® Gacollne service station oper-

; : Mre.

Soild he t ed victim of what

Shinn, of eebehedie N. J.-and| ator, Was the intend :
probably will be Parson's last stop-

ae Leonora Koelisted, of New York light hold-up attempt.

¥- ti 3 But {t was not from London that
. fies > Police obtained their most graphic
LADY EDITH MACNEAL | eye-witness account of what hap-

EAST HAMPTON, L, L., Sept, 11
(U. P.),-Following .a Jong !liness,
Lady Edith Gould MacNeal, es-
-tranged wife of Sir Hector MacNeal}
and daughter of the late George
Gould and Faith Kingdon Gould,
died here today at her home, Gui
Crest. She was 38. |:

Her first husband waa Carroll Liv-
ington Wainwright, from whom she
waa divofced in October, 1931, mar-
rying Sir- Héctor MacNeal the fol-
jowing January, hai
~ Three -children-by her first mar-
riage survive, Stuyvesant Watn-
wright, 17; Caroline, 14, and Carroll,
Jr, 12,

MRS, C. HEFLEBOWER

CINCINNATI, O., Sept. 11 (A. P.).
—Mrs. Clara Keck Heflebower,
former national president of . the
League of American Penwomen, was
buried today: following rites in which
a “last wish,” expressed in verse bev-
eral years Wag carried out.
~Mre, Heflebower in a poem,
“Requiem,” had requested that ivory-
tinted candles be placed close by her
head “when it Mes low.”

t services. last: night Mrs. 3. .Y.
Williams, also a writer of verse, read
‘the poen: Miss George Etitson, Cin-
cinnatt poet, lighted two tapers at the
head of the casket,

a

MRS. FANNIE'B. LESSER

Mrs, Fannie B, Lesser, widow of
the late Gustav Lesser, 4542 N. 10th
st., will be buried today in Adath
Jeshurun Cemetery following ser-
vices at 2009 N, Broad st. at 2 o'clock.

Mrs. Lesser, who was 69, died
Thursday at her home after a long
illness, Bhe was honorary president
of the Daughters of Temple Beth
Israel, 32d st. and Montgomery ave.

She leaves three sons, Maurice,
Charles and David Lesser, and a
daughter, Mrs. Hortense Linker,

EDWARD BARCLAY

WILMINGTON, . Sept. 11.—Ed-
ward T, Barclay, founder of the blue
print firm of Barclay Bros, 310 Tor-
bert st., here, died at his home, 1312
Jeffernon st,, yesterday.

Mr. Barclay, who was 72, founded
the business 30 years ago with a
brother, John, who survives. A son
of Mr. and Mrs, William Barclay,
life-long reafdents of Wilmington, he

unmarried, He belonged to the
asOnic Order and the Odd Fellows.

MRS. ANNIE McCANN

Mrs, Annie E. McCann, sister of
the Rev. John W, Keogh, chapiain
of the Newman Club of the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, died "Thursday
night In Jewish Hospital several
hours after undergoing an opera-
tion, She was 62.

Mrs. McCann, who lived at 3378
Amber st., was a member of St.
Anna’s T. A. B, Society and 8t. Bede's
Auxillary of the University of Penn-
sy!vania,

Sotemn requiem mass will be cele-
brated at 10 A. M. Monday, in the
Church of t! ativity. Father Ke-
ogh will be célebrant. Burial
will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

FreeCell & Delivery, Phone Sep. 6006

i.

Mer m tong titness.

pened, ’ :

TELLS OF HOLD-UP

It came from Parsons himself,
who, according to Captain éf Detec-
tives James Ryan, sald:
- “I ran into Hook O’Hara over near

60th and Market sts, He says ‘I need:

some dough,’ and | says ‘80 do. ls
how about a couple of stick-ups?'™

“But Hook says 'No; guns and stuff
like that ain’t in my Jine.’ 80 1 go
over.to the bridge myself and stick
this guy up, When the guy.I. was
sticking up sees some harness dicks
(Handjoff and Roseboro in uniform)
coming up in @ red car he yells ‘Help!
Hold-upt’

“Chen he grabs me when I try to
shut him up, we fight.

“When gne of the dicks starts to-
ward the car I get my hand on my
gun, which is in my coat pocket,
and let him have it. He goes down
and I swing.on the other one; But
when I pull the trigger the damn gun
don't go off. Then the other copper
clips me and I’m out like a Nght."
EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT

Picking.up-the story from” this

point, young Antipin ‘described. in|}

this fashion what ‘happened after

Roseboro clubbed Parsons into. sub- |.
mission: ©;

“I.nad fust seen a police red car

go by me and speeti part way over | i

the bridge, where !t had stopped sud.
denly and two policemen had leaped

out. I was about half a block away, |.

I heard some-stiots and ran back,

“I got there: just as they were
putting the wouttded policeman In an
automobile, There was blood all over
the street. He'had been shot in the
stomach, near obe thigh. While this
was going.on I saw the other police-
man, Mr, Roseboro, holding Parsons
— his ‘efforts to Night his way

ree, |; feast Ot :
IDENTIFIES LAYER ¥

“A minute or so later more police

— yo ane Wer took Aad nen ep

r Capiain Ryan asked meio go

td tn a st. and bie yer Pot

station, where ‘1..posilively

identified Parsons ns the man who

had shot Policeman Handloff and
fought with Puliceman Roseboro,”

Only the fafure of ofe of the bul-
lets in Parsons’ gun to explode saved
Reseboro from serious injury or pos-
sitle death at the thug's hands,
Roseboro told his superiors yester-
day. London, the intended hold-up
victim, corroborated this.

CAPTAIN'S REPORT

Captain Ryan's report of the fatal!

shooting and the events leading up to
it follows: -

Young Antipin telephoned to po-
lice at about 11.15 P. M. that he had
seen three men acting suspiciously
in the vicinity of the railfoad bridge.
Handloff and Rosebore picked up a
radio order and proceeded to the des-

They reached the .scene | simul-

{contention that Parsons ,“has been}.
gunntan all his;life” 3s this poltee j/

Upon the thug wne had wounded nis
colleague and tried to kill him, Par-
sons collapsed. peside the fallen po-
lceman, 1 eg agit RY
DIES AT HOSPITAL’.
Handloff died on an operating table
fn Misericordia Hospita! shortly after
niidnight, Physicians indicated loss
of blood caused by internal hemgr-
rhages had been responsible, *
Parsons was treated at Presbyterian.
Hospital for the blackjack wounds
inflicted upon him by Roseboro and
injuries sustained at the ‘hands
of other policemen when hé fought
with them in a patrol wagon.on the
way there..Then he waa taken to 32d
st. and Woodland ave. fot question-
ing. . ‘ i
Handloff was unmarried. He had
been commended sever times tor
conspicuous courage tn the perform~
ance of his duties, The martyred pe-
trolman joined the force tn 1925. He
lived at 5252 Spruce: st. with a broth.
er, David, a salesman, ’
Roseboro, 34, married, lives at 5415

Catherine st. He was appointed a po-| ‘

iceman in October, 1930. ae

liceman in October, 1930. Roseboro
has three daughters, Betty, 13; Jean,
12, and Barbara, six. His wife, Edith,

is 30, ; Piseisy b eee e ie. +
Substantlating “Judge MoDevitt's |

BNR Sy

i

ve

ADMITS BURGLARY

June 17, 1932—Discharred by Mae-
tstrate Fi when straigned as

“

‘Oct. 12. 193 3 aa pr Bag ba -

giary fn store at 6ibd Locust
st. p Renn sora ps eo guilty

tx i

AUSTIN: : wf

HERMAN A. BECKER,
0 UPAR AMEMRE
Why Susiness and Labor’

‘Ei Should Vote fer. =

bss For Clty ;

EEO india 5

we

*
ee eee eee

J ase
% aa
- “,

Le Ee ~

. be counted tren as
Beginning with t

<> 9° a | commencement day.

graduated and her
..¢cnts ere tormed ve
because of the aehx
pacity, ‘
The school te tmz
trastees: Mr, Cloth:
«Harvey Byers, Albe:
_ Williron Smith, Arc
~—>-Henry..C. Teq@neenc
of ~-f0d Alexander Dol
4 20 slumnus and tre:
‘ident of the “echeg,
Sheerin ts sereter;
weasurer of the boar

np

wt

TEACHERS ADDED
Three new addiito
feculty were” anneer
Johnson, forihérly &
-. Furniture Compaay,
; brs been appotater |

erpartmens of paint:

éeccrating: }
~~ several yeart on ]
-. Echoo) vocational: 3
the department: of
Practice, and Herber
instruct in the aagle:
charg: of athisti¢-tirs

4 a

ey « }
bs ; hed gah CF x es
ioe Pye teriane etsy ‘
} 4 } ete hs P we ore; MOT
? i, ey
Gari i oy Eby A. -
tommetl PD, fad fae
; ers f , 7 vs aad 2
Ear Ak ye er aeasent ase
bpd r Ay 7 t pf 7

# 2, PG
4; 4

at tale

we $4) We

r Witte A

iM abst Ve ee T
so] BLAQK CARAGUL | .(as-rlsetra
Sap Bllver Fox, nlaeet ot eae
Tf RACCOON ae
37 MINK—DYED

Bid | Lovely copies of genuine Mink,

MUSRRAT <* cratural! oF iter).
Swaggere pe Princes moda’

LEOPARD OAT co... ccc es eee
Swagger models. ’

models,

at_Least: $145.Next Week!”

RUSSIAN PORY cn S Kaw), cesccsbeise: 3

i Roranctes or tog-heisa vanbss ae,
. @RAY DROADTAIL: PaoeRsseD LAMB ic croce® 20.2
. PP eunem Yex or, Sguirret:tremmed..). ti ;

ED COURT. ccc eees

Oe et Setar
td) | BBQ...

ba pine eee oe

2% my hae
Coeeceestere

é ‘ « " 2
MARMOT sUsuSoonccceeeued od 89 hs,
q ‘ ’

Poe ate
seeeerseseed 29.

sererereeree BO ee
2

SILVERTORE BEAVER—DYED COREY. .....6. 8D: pee
Swaguer teal

sey od

; e Davis {twas #
“ibute

f

i
g

a
A

ge
8

Site Ps


feiy, who wag 53, was stricken the daughter ’ a Mre Moward
meetin eS UAT rer Biarrite, Prance, fhe was! Shinn, of Vurmingdere, Noo and

eductied at Miss Masters’ School, | Mrs. Lecnora Kuellsted, of New Yor

rider 1 following an operation’

few Haven heapital.
2% M. Gaskill, superintenden

>. RT.‘ investigating div!-
ft dleposal of his $8000 estate|

discretion of brother, Al-
M. Gaskill, and o stater, Mre.
. Terres. He died August 2!
on, Ariz.

e Odenheimer, of Bustleton
i Selma st., who died Beplem-
oft .n estete of $15,800 to
. Mra, Josephine L. Brown,

ree woe oa ewe eee eee

Dobby: Ferry. amd abroad.

t
Feorvary 4, !901, in St. Joseph.

fin the Garden Club and tn the af-
‘tafra of the Home for Destitute
‘Blind.

Surviving her are her husband
and three daughters, Mrs. Leonard
“. Cushing and Mrs. Richerd T,
Tucker, both of Mill Neck. Long Is-
land, and Mr’. Jamea Y. P. Bishop,
lof Mt. Kisco, N. Y., and elx grand-
children.

f ©. Cumberland st. be- —
ee estate HOMAS F. SWEENEY
smy to faventories fied, John | Thomas F. Sweeney, Newtown

sea of & printing firm, left
in) catete of $32,795, and Kila
ks-Iaft $35,979.

. 5. A. of State
its ‘Alien Isms’

ng k national drive against
aus," the &tete executive

Square farmer, dled ai hie home on
Wea, Chester pike ‘Chursday after a
stroke, .

Mr. Sweeney, who was 70, was ac-
tive to civte and chureh affairs in
his cammunity, He was a member of
Newtown Square YVoiunteer Fire

(Company ¢nd active in Bt. Anasta-

sia‘s Catholic Church, where he was
a member of the Holy Name Bo-
clety.

Surviving him are his widow,
Ellen W. Sweeney, two sons, John
and Thomas, Jr., and six daughters,

ee, Paistotle Order Sona of
yesterday urged a cam-
»“Aniericanize’ foreign-born
and “tukewarm Patt¥e born.”
sroup, carrying Out instruc-

the last State convention, |

€ thls proposal in a resolu-
ich tt presented to the na-
weculive committee of the or-

aeaslon at

» the nationa! convention of
43. A. in North Carolina
rin

viect of the resolution, ac-
‘o cfarry J. Leary, State
it ds “to bring together the
e various ractal groupa fo:
Interests Of America.”

mited Htates, Leary sald. is
fon “to ineke (he decision
it aball exist as @ hatton of
‘oreigh lames, races and
and iiiperii ile existence by
4 'f onathe and
| wheather there shall be
@ Nation-wide luvalty that
tus cebeiion and surife

thea

in Bundic’
Without Bail

Aspirin bandit.” James C |
dt
ei aspirin yesterday as he}
atinout bell for a further
Septeniber 20 by Mag strate
!
ing to police, Gibson hues
‘ty eight hald-ups and the.
three automobiles,
‘ingle-handed “reign of ter-
wt 16 when he held up |
Hiwistler, oo druggist, of
vt and Frankford ave.
Me Beife!l commended Act-

i Rovert Btrange and ere |

frye Overholt, of Motor
fur capturing Gibson at
Yoabd erie aves, Wednes-

| MET

2k. JONES

ty s
at ae.

Dr

yt

tyyca. ASaoClAOL, wd

ay; vard University, disd
‘Mg m tong ithness.
Kibiancan nati, Aeixe

4

the Benjamin |
1 ‘The proposal will be of- Haddon Metyits, N. J. dled Friday yeshurun Cemetery fouowinw ser-

He be- |

| Margaretla, Auna, Hessie, Mrs.
|Jatmes Loughrey, Mra. Andrew Sul-
‘ivan end Mrs James Paul.

Sotenin Hegquiem Mass will be
celebrated at 10 A. M. tomorrow tn
(3?) Anastasia’s Church aid Iinter-
ment will bs merde in St. Denix
' Cemetery.

| —

iMRS. LOWISE SWAN
Birs Loutse Swan, of 310 Crest ave,

‘tn Cooper Hospital, Camcen. &he
‘is survived by her husband, George,

later ana three daughters, Mrs. Olga Sal-,™M

‘mon, of Gloucester, N. Jo, and Helea
and Mary dan

Funeral services will be held at 318
Monmouth ave, Gloucester, at 2
Ohf. Monday. Hurlal will be in Lake-

view Memorlai Cemetery.

MRS. CHARLES RILEY

Mrs. Cerrle Zollinger Hiley, for-

tu Karistad, Sweden, on Atgust 26,

here yesterday
' Per husband, Charles Riley,
pPeouuinent caterer) was wilh ier al

the Cine They lad been making a

She was merried to Brokaw on

Like her husband she was an ar-
dent skater. She was also active here

Pia

) ot Uran=

*| City.

———

LADY EDITH MACNEATL

EAST HAMIPTON, i. 1. Sept. 11
(U, P..--Following a Jong !lness,
Lady Edith Gould MacNeal, es-
tranged wife of Sir Hector MacNeal}
and daughter of the late George
Gould and Fdith Kingdon Gould, }
died here today at her home, Guu
Crest. She was 38,

Her first husvand waa Carroll Ltv-
ington Wainwright, from who. she
waa divorced tn October, 1951, mur-
rying Sir Hector MacNea! the fol-
lywing January, -

‘TNsee ehlldsen by her “est mar-
Tlage survive, Stuyvesant \Watn-
wright, 17; Carotine, 14, and Carroil,
Jr, i

ow

MRS. C. HEFLEBOWER

} ftw A Yamdon 89 of 2:31 N Seth
et ow Be Oilie seistce atation ope]er-
ater, Was tic iiteuded victim of what
j probably will be Parsons last plop-
livat hold-up attempt,

hut it was tot from London that
police obtained their most graphic
rye-witness account of what hap-
pened,

TELLS OF HOLD-UP

te came from Parsons himself,
who, according (0 Captain of Detec-
tives James hKyan, satd:

“ft ran Jato Hook O'Hare over near
80th and Market sts, He saya ‘I need
some dough,’ end 1 says ‘So do 1;
how about a couple of stick-ups?!”

Nke that win't tnomy line!’ So 1 nas)
over VW the bridve nivself and stick
(is guy up. When the guy I was
SUCUNY Up sees Gone harness dicks
(Haadloff and Rosevoroe im uniform)
conung up laa ted car he yells ‘Help!
Hold-upr’

“Chea he grabs me when I try lo
shut him up, we fleht.

CINCINNATI, O., Sept. 11 (A. PL).
—Mrs. Clara Keck Heflebower,
former national president of | the
League of American Penwotmen, was:
buried today following rites ta whien ,
& “last wish,” expreased in verse seve |
eral years ago, Way cerried out. i
«Mrs. Heflebgwer tit a poeta, |
“Requlem,” had requested that tvory-
tinted candles be placed cluse by her
Nead “when it Hes low.” |

t services last night Nira. mn. ¥.|
7iams, also a writer of verse, read |
j the poen. Miss George Ellison, Cin- |
cinnatt poet, Hyhted two tapers at the |
' head of the casket. |

'
, rs '
MRS. FANNIE RB. LESSER |

Mrs, Fannie B. Lesser, widow of!
ithe late Ghustav Lesser, 4542 No i0th
st, will be burled today In Adath

j

Views at 2008 N. Broad st. at 2 e'clock,
| Mrs. Lesser, who was 69, died
vursday at her home afte: a lone |
Winess. She was honorary piesident
of the Daughtera of Temple ieth
Isvael, 32d st. nnd Montgomery ave. |

She leaves thice sons, s#feurice, |
,Chartes end bavid Lesser, and a |
; daughter, Mrs. Hortense Licker, |

‘EDWARD BARCLAY |
| WILMINGTON, Sept. 11.—Fd- |

}
print Tirm of Garetay bios, $10 Vor- |

heif 2ccordiig to word cecetved by friends ; bert st., hare, dled wt his home, 1312

| Jefferson st, yesterday, i
| Mr Barclay, who was 72, founded |
the business 30 years ago witn a,
/brother, John, who survives. A son |

“When gone of the dicks starts to-
Ward the car L get my hand on my

and tet him have tt,

whea T pull the trigger the damn wun
douw't go of, Then the other copper
clips me and Im our like a light.”
EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT

Picking vp the story from. thts
Pout, youny Antipin described in
thin fashion wirat
Roscbore chibbed Parsons Into Sub-
miston:

“t had Just seen a pollre red car
gO by me und speed part way over
the orldge, whece " had a! oper sud-
dey aad two pocemes nad leaped
oul Twas about hal’ a biock RWhY,
t heard some shots and ran back

“ft got there just as

they were

putting the wounded pellee nen da an!
‘wutomodile, There was blood all over
) the street. he had been shot in the

Mosubeh, Near one thigh. While this
Whe going on F saw the ober poltee-
town, Mr. toechore, holdfu: Parsons
despite Dts efforts to fgne lbs way
Tree,

IOUNTIFIES SLAYPFR

“a minute or so later more police
Came upand they took Parsons away.
Later Caplaln Kyan asked meg to yo
lo (Pe 32u st. and Woodland ave.
pole station, where I postlivelv

Ineriy of 374 Baird rd, Merton, died ward ‘f. Barclay, founder of che blue | \Wdeaiitled Parsons o4 the san who

hat shot Policeman Handloff and
fougit with Pdlicernan Roseboro.”
Orly the tatlure of one of the pul-
lets in Parsons’ yun to explode saved
weboro from seriois injury or pos-
aivie déath at the thog’s hands,

|
} | % {sy 8: , “stars
ee of_ube Scancinavian countries Of Mr. and Mrs. William Barclay, hoseboro told his superiors yeste:

ldrs

Riley, who was 65, was a/ life-long residents of Wilmington, he | day

brother of the ‘ate Luther Rees Zul, , Wes unmarried. He belonged to the a — —
linger, One-time engneering execu-, Masonic Order and the Odd Fellows. | CAPTAIN'S REPORT

| tive of the Pennsylvania Railroad

She recently suld her home tn

of Jameson, Pa, reatiy : Merlon and purc.iused pharbtress at
adeinhia

401i Parkslde ave.
Mra Riley waa a director of the Over-

‘vrook Needlework Guild of America |

In addition to ner Nusband. she ts
survived by several nephewa and
nieces In Unis city, Pittsburgh and
Dundalk, Md,

MRS. GEORGE H. WENTZ

Mrs. Clare Mann Wentz, 79. widow
of George Heller Wenls, died today
at her home, 618 Dekalb at.. Norris-
(town, after an itiness of several
weeks. Death was Gue to a genera!
| breakdown.

} Mrs. Wentz was born tn Lower
'Mecicu tuwhabip. She moved to
Noiiittowa a half century exo Her

busbend was cagayed in reu! estale

Business In Mitlaceiplita.

Bunecal + be held Tues-
‘Cay afer t Check "iala her
‘home. Hervices will be in charge of

Yount, pastor of Trinity

Lutheran Church of which she was

iheo WHY

a eo &

iiev. Paul L.

“MRS. ANNIE McCANN |
Mrs. Annie Eo MeCann, sister of |
j the Rev John W. Keogh, chapiain |
‘of the Newman Club af the Univer- ,
sity of Pennsylvania, died ‘Thursday
night In Jewlsh Haapital several |
(hours after undergoing an opera. |
;Uon. She was 62.

Mrs. McCann, who lived at 3378 |
Amber st, was « member of St. !
Anna's T A.B Society and St. Yede's |
/ Auxillary of the University of Penn-
' Sylvania, i
| Solemn requiem mass will be cele- |
| brated at 10 A. M. Mondny, in the>
_Churen of the Nativity. Father Ke- H
logh will be the celebrant. 3urial!

Free—Call B Delivery, Phone £04. 6505 |

Captain Ryan's report of the fatal
shooting and the events leauung up to
it follows:

Young Antipin telephoned to po-

seen three sen acting suspiciously
mm the vicinity of the ratlhoed bridge.
Handloff end Kosebore picked up a
rediv order and proceeded to the des-
lgnated spot.

They reached the scene simul-

BP 70 50% Pi

oe Mise 9p) BRI Maen ns

Lonion, the intended hold-up!

|

Hee et about 1115 PM. tat he had |

jof other policernen when he forght

“Mat Hook says ‘No: guns and sturt |

j kun, which is in my coat pocket, ; Heeman in October, 1020.
He goes down | Heeman in October, 1930. Roseboro
and I swing oa the other one. Bust | Mes three daughters, Betty, 19; Jean,

\
|
|

“upon the thug wnoe had wounded nis}

|

happened after |

colleague and tried to kill him. Par-
sons collapsed beside the fallen po-
liceman, ;

DIES AT HOSPITAL

Handloff died on an operating table
fn Misericordia Hosptta! shortly after
midnight. Physicians indicated loss
of blood caused by interna, hemor-
rheages had been responsible, | |

Parsons was treated at Presbyterian
Hospital for the blackjack wounds
inflicted upon him by Roseboro and
injurles sustained at the hands

wiWs them in a patrol wagon on the
way thers. Then he was taken te 22d
st. and Woodland ave. for question-
ing.

Handloff was unmarried. We had
been commended severed Limes tor
conspicuous courage tn the perform~
ance of his duties. ‘The martyred pa-
trolman jotned the force in 1925. He
lived at 5252 Spruce st. with a broth-
er, David, a salesman,

Roseboro, 34, married, lives at 5415
Catherine st. He was appointed a po-

Iz, and Barbara, six, His wife, Edith,
is 30.

Substantlating Judge McDevitt’s
contention that Parsons “bas been
& gunbtan all his lie” ts this police

in Which to

Sar "] 4 “

} , ~
Oe FS, '
u ‘iy. :
», OF

“gt Advance &

MORE 2

breaking at Portsmouth, The case
did not get to the Giand Jury.

Sept. 8, 1931--Charged with carry-:

Ing cuncealed deadly, weapons, Par-
sons pleaded nola contendre (the
equivalent of “no defense”) and sen-

tence was suspended by Judge How- |

ard A. Davis here.
ADMITS BURGLARY  .

June 17, 1932—Discharged by Mag-
{strate Fitzgerald when erraigned as
& corner lounger and zuspicious char-
acter, we Jgeerth a

Oct. 12, 1933—Artewted for bur-
glary in cigar store at 6.00 Locust
at. ‘Two weeks later pleaded guilty

1 eho. neuen tt
| _ HERMAS A. SEGKER,
4 “ Seqehe
Why Suainess and Labor
Should Vote for

AUSTIN -

MEAN

For Oity .Treasurer

Se

t

BDrawteg

Art

Lim

1719 Chestuut St.

WEAES WATSAIR0GY DRAWING Lb

nr eer remgne anreenenaee

wy Perv be”
[TED Time
DRAWING
RATERSALS OF
KIGH G@UALITY
At Reduced Prices

Bsaris, Yoo Syuaree, Trimegite, Protree- &

late’ Maisriahe—Dreming aterials

hod

iy

at Least

BLACK CARACUL

hiiver Fox collars,

RMACBOCON ... 4a & sis'e s daisies

- Fine, dark, fullefurret skins. ‘ 38
MINK—DYED MARMOT ..... tettseeeresere BO
Javely copiea of genuine Mink.

: MUSKRAT Natural or Silver)... ceeeceeeee B9

i dwaugers or Princess models.
LEOPARD OAT oo... eodoee
dSwayeer indadtela, * &O
SILVERTON® SEAVER—DYED CONEY.

Swagger models.

Hielnuin Fox of jutred tuned,

i MENDOZA BEAVEN—DYEO GaKe

NOLES CH Uteesa livadets,

$2145 Next Week!

“(At Mustratea)

GRAY BRGADYAIL PROCESSED LAND

Buy on Budget—Pay While Woarlay ee

evecare

BD

Ot eh

y
they

I |

ae ne cacy atin

fers, Reales. Curved, Drawing Setw—Coopitte suy- Gi -
plies at worllwhiie taviags Se the student, &

be fvir pon &

Begin @ with |
commencement day
graduated and hu
ents are turned 6
because of the ech.
pacity,

The school fe my
trustees: Sf>. Clothi
Varvey Byers, Albe
Wilron Smith, Ar
Henry C. Townsen
aod Al xander D. J
Pf) clumnus and tru
itent cf the sche
Sheerin is sceretar
woasurer of tne boa:
TEACHERS ADD®!

Ture> new additte
footy were annen
John.on, formeriy ¢
Furntiure Compaay,
hes been nppointed
C-parimens of patnt
Ceecraing: Harry
so. c.el vears an the
Echool vocationat

the depa-tment of
Prect.cs, and Herbe
imttruct in the sed
Cares ot athletio ty

Ten of the newly ¢
cere from Phuade

from Mon'rcomery, 2
Dolnware Cou ies, ¥
neous ether counties
State.

Seventy’ With
Election Reco:
The Committee t

withdrew frota. Ju:
Davis’ court the pe
(arect (Re county

Trqwre election offic!
sid, of voters requir
Tu day's primarie
Where the regtstrent
Gcated they de not:

Withdrawal of the
Alor Wiiham T, Gen
the en nmussioner:, 3
Mas sit was impanad.
QM. bute euch onder
fcoa's in the Bee
le.* date,

C-Mun Veters.
Heads New Yi

MEW YORK, Bept
A Asyear-old att-fox
TPVis desetive shark
of New York's O-Mer:

To Reed Vettertt, &
to head the largest Me
Feceral Durese of In
U5. Che more mite in
Cheer, He hag. ty
AZ-nis tn 39 cobttes 5
the voungest Pu Jy f. 4


A Utlusccruives we
aor ood wood répid transit nlety
-4 perects aare used chie
+3 {22 the fast lines, a
2 a maflagement has gohe
z out this codrdination | is
7 +7 tha fact that two-thirds
at and bus lines have
“sty dscminals at a rapid
os At soma stations
mary 7 surface lines have my

"a

= ty the city use tho rapid
“3 for all or part of their
' S.ten has only 523 rapld
“-; enerating ever 53 railes
\ Vot it carries more ees
| urcngers a& year than.
jgcrated system which | has
a cars end 231 miles

i: [*
Po |

ap 19 Cent Fare.
‘’:9 arrangement here is
aS

‘of

» A rider using the
fora pays a 10 cent fare wh
5 fer over practically th
: ete: » The fare for a
2 ony surface lines, bus d
-, {9 5 cents without)
a “retrDleges.
v3 part of the transferri g iis
<S-~-fo9," A passenger

3 Keres one cf the by

-'5 a gutlying section, | but
ag vanelt station, H
: “, ‘si4e a station In- dst
mvitg his 10 cent faro at, the
4 ||
mais'y Deviess Throughout. | 1}
2°73 en excellent safety rec:
“9 operation of Its rap!d

¥ ony fate until he reaches

worrying about te 4 Just the cata at
a young life being wrecked by ~
social conditions,” He raid in expilar

tion of his son’ culcide.!

iy it i
Toy: H

1 @¢

Policeman Stein by. Bandit

When Officer Halts Azxto

Philddelphia, Fx, Seét. 11.—[Spe
‘cial. J—A policeman; sore 2 Handlodi
who caught a, benalt: in tha’ act of

holding up a m¢torist Jnl a part ted
automobile here: lait nicht, wes’ shot
to death while | ctrugglth with the
man, an ex-convict: uN a was paroled
from the Eastern 5 st td, penitentlary
only. azo

!

“

3 — Se

‘

Fawr ree
te

eat
*
Se ca corsa

———

—

been studying tao Hard o ond had been {! |

SOAR:
Pooaneny

naa Sane

q By em teeny °.
Pogebentas bs emai

Pra easier f

Rerge

fare Bee de edeecee:

»e elaedordoee

er y a
ares

bese leadedet. $7. 39

7.€9
+ 949

a ch ‘iv £9 ton lezttteclug Seles’ Tex,

a

Our Phcahontas! é
c cago by boat,
Ntoh iit, teteht rates,

ne: sth!) bank © off}
PF metty refunded.

‘ Withia Giy Limits
pal al is ope to

| }

Savi ing 7Qc, per

Ta se

ed

“CENT.

¢ your

leon 1 visit our décks} 3 blocks east
off Mishigan Ave, bridge oni the

. Money
seatisfied,

«Dock Corp.

iL }4200

THla {a Aua jn Iarae

Authentically styled

of solid maple, inctus
; ' |

a :

méjorits of Pemmrylvenes We me, Fe

, #: !
_ = oe ! HER POLICEMAN Pees Weifare Drives | sip Baa oe ast
“3 i 1B) BARRIESURG. Bept, 12.—TRe: Bes BS 6
me : ‘ ‘

. ore federstions and comunity chest ose | &

Group Escorts Stain \sasiatous prepared today for ane) ©

£_ pttdecotd ( . bust fal) campaign drives expected -

srt / Patrolman to Hist bring 921.60.000 tn voluntary | Be

—_ ~ ‘contributions for chariteble ingtitu | B
Se le a at Ss tions.
| Last Rest i At leart 45 commenti

P thelr erives for continuance of im-

t Policeman ifeurice Hanclo®, slain proved socie, welfare A8 Dart med

at : rok _i Nstion-wide progTam in affiite:

sy ; fa the line of duty by # ps ~— Coa" Sth the Community Chests and t

- 4 | viet he svxght to arrest in 8 UP Council, Inc, New York city. |

| |

?

* was buried yesterday in Mount @yar- } - 7 o s ‘
“on Cemetery, Bpringtt.4, Deleware Celebretion Plonned eh

y jeounty. | NORRISTOWN, Pa, Sepey We,
“< { A simple service conducted briefly, Governor Earle will lay the cornet-
* Hit was held in the presence of aevera} Stone of Nermrtows # new $1,600,000
3 | hundred urners, and with six of high school on Thursdsy as the highe
BS 1 mourners, Bnew hent of a week's program eclebrating

-™ 4 | Handiod's fetlow patroimen from the the borouch’s 12th anniversary
%@ | lst and Thompson sts #ation serv The celebration wu) be climaxed |
| ing Re pellbearers. on Saturday by a miilary and ba
: which vill be be! |

te } APIs ehars singe

At cheis fread Philo Roseboro cv by Mejor Ge }
‘ly paced the wey to the grave It wes
imoszora eho clubbed the hoice

ral Etward C, Shan- | &
mander |
' oan, Frederick Farsons, into sub- |, \ n: iit
| miasion after the bandit had fataily | To Erect Cancer Clinic
j wounded Handio® et the seh et tae
i bridge orer the Pennesivania Rail- neces reek ge
lend tracks, north of Lencester eve. “Amie h
viete Fricxy nlgnt, a bequ st ot ie mae beg fully
fyecue ame ereax Bet pci
Roseboro’s ane the owers’ feces Genera! Boep.tal
were stern with compassion for Lheit | Natura. Gouet. GiUONS, JwOR
sisin feliow and in the enticipsted oe ye re Leta rg train
evengement of his death. were given as coasce {or erecting the
They knew, ({ Parsons didn't, that clinic here.
the surest way to death in this city
fs to kill a policeman. ‘Insurance Men Meet
A check of the record of such! BEDFORD, Fa., Sept. 12.—Penn-

~ yivania insurance men will discuss

cna aug tn past 12 are ei of een me 8]
; Nl thetr business ard eompany-egency | hors

: : pina Sait core grt and a death ts the in- reistions et their anual convention

‘ ¢ anrwet. this © rtain resart.

ne Ven Deventer, granéniece of Willis Van De- | Most of the siayers of policemen aie = biome aeutaneen,
rt justice, wha recently retired, has postponed ber | have died tn the electric chair. Of the | vice president of the Pennsylvania
Hywood for 2 ecreen test. She is shown ebove with | others who were never apprehended, |g esociztion of Insurance Agents, will

= Nee

or

MARTLY

created througa

Ula. €

=

fer

i

2

wr

ich of ihe family chenged the spelling of the name. |the greater number were EHOruy | gedrees his colleagues during the ‘Mise ane Greer, du ao and Mra, H. C. Greer, of
a rp +> eal Althree-day convention beginning| tewn, Wea, bas been pone Queen Syivia VIII to reign at the fortis
ew committed suicide, Wednesday. coming Mountain State Porest Festival scheduled to be heid October

e
In Wrong House TRIAL SCHEDULED Toll Road’ 7, 8 and 9, in Elkins, W. Va. .
Persons will be brought to tris:
next month before aude Harry &.| SCRANTON, Pa. Sept. 12.—Mo- Reading Peir Opens
¥O Georges $25 McDevitt, the same jurist who oa torists who find a ahort cut over Al-| READING, Pa., Sept. 12.—The only
" i Geturday ssaailed the “Christmas ; linend Fatsettis vacant lot in Moo-ieight-dey fair in Pennsylvania
pitt” pardon which set the bandit, sic better than the detour on the| oo oned here today. .
{up ‘the revs, They might have slept on until) free, .. Moosic-Daleville highway me put- A five-d6 f horee
wut a cei nep GCe¥n oF leter, had not Marthe Bou- In Hendlofi's case the pathetic! ting money ip Prisetti's pocket. JAS plaghaiet ¢
coet Georre bin, who's brave for her 15 ysars, side of & cop-Killing will be spared., The érivers hand over 10 cents. 1s planned in addition to the usual
. Ee ome home from @ party to fing twe It fa the future of the Gead officer's | “toll” or they go back on the road. contests of {arin groups and house-
‘wives,

rrison f°! 3es- erensers asieepin.the living room wife,and children, almost invariably). oo
of ber home lett ee ener a, eine tor, Cites Borough Efficiency H
te-etert Gut b. wet 5 et . tw themse-ves sa best tiey Can. . “GE. : ~Q $
Ber Bs. Go home," she said, weakening Pe sion wus io ly -| STATE COLLEGE "Ps. Sept-12-Sen, Davis to Speak —— —7

O@-Georce bad Coste. : '__a four-point program for more; pen
, i ewe ere home,” inumbied Costs, ; At the funeral yesterday, Rose- | pesient weministration of borough) READING, Fa., Sept.'i2—U. 8.

‘op @ rick: of) 1» sa a boro was ai m id

or tay retore | one, Hib ered Be gin, lew ofiic aided ele ned : — Asccl affairs was advocated today
ey ore! Martha's mother and sister were|iOW Ofticers B8 pas revs; Frenk sy Chores J. Rowland, professor of
aoovert'. ‘exiled, but to no gyail. And then the Drummond, Wille Ssusman, David °o at ennsyivan :
e fact tia! ir. police were summoned, Wagner, Charies Brenrel  &nS) ao

. = Ferric 4 +Charie : , Couege. _
Coste and Harrison—the latter 21 2. For the 0 or mnore boroughs

Janes J. Davis and Supreme |

cuuce George W. Maxey will)

a'a hors - ; Raby . - oe - '

fh st, nek and living oa &. Beachwood i. pear | set caicen aie rich — ranging in pepulation from a few of i cipning of the Constitution of ber a legal bank holiday. ©

vine o caudeee ot tcer an Gn ledge? tn ie) OD) A ed en, | hundred to 36.070, Prof, Rowland re-| the United Bintes. 4 Impetus was given the pisos wes

binto & wuscet charges of belng drunk acd éler-, DETAIL PAYS HONOR cam wengs the felection of trainesi ‘Governor Hoffrnan Geclared mext Fri-

Meena st ee : : ; : | Ae rile bstidew get ‘ 5
oie : ia Ynne] on @ merit basis; imstel- Merk iversary Gay a bark hoidsy when the Btate

ae soft ings yesterday befere Maristrete + ccenmand of Acting equate and ‘enuorm7 2° Leas cane 4 will celebrate the 160th snuirersry

pity fabs nciern. siiton, eech was fined $12.50. cunting syetem; edoption of a“ CASTER, Pa. Sep. 12.—This of the signing of the Conststuston.

¥ waren { stem and a prevision for!
} Fh ( } f bv By ds whers Handloff aio competent and trained |
' Fandieff, who lived at 5252 Spruce | ~

‘ F | | at., poined Poltee Department in, W be C ted

4 : BAN a ned Tard 08 heros ew Jobs Create

345 4 i = : o . apeeomaathe ist had been: nome READING. Fa. 5ert 13-—So many: Hits Co-Ed Schools —---~—-—-
met he mended on nevera! oocasions for cone ; business firms and industries em-) pyc BURGH, <

i ” : .. | pioying women in this district have ; real
—_ {0 eee ae perform” | Saorked the 44-hour wees shat ©. 9 Ph ee es borneery tt
wing household! Business men of éei . ciclo iroomanne comparatively slight number wil) or men abd wormen, the WUE °
Philadeiphis yee have their working tite shartened i Herbert Spencer, presidewt of Penn-
the we of nai- terday were urged by the Chamber iJ { Ba Ld j by the new State inw, sylvarta Cotlege for Women, said to-
a @ higher neal- of Commerce to co-operate with the) 33 G nyo New jobs for about 6 girls and | AY .
wornen wil reeult from the new) For one thing,” Mra Spencer

st mow suppiied Dent Oonunittee, appointed by tne | id. * ’
dd be toch LY \pegistature to investignte the effects Threatens Illness law, Blate Department of Labor and rg gen arse hess

@ny Wilboul ex-! j ; ni ported i

ser. week" of industrial taxation Ia Penneyle | a a after & bo youth is not comtinuslly taking their

9g trsteled upon, Yanda, t® order to provide the eam. | Prato young minstel, member | . : frninds off the dull grind of chemistry

fees of Muraci- | enftte st Re he Trilby String “Rand, was’ tea? \far the stacy of the molecular 6on-
of bt _enitiee with facts snd figures which (ened with an oid illness lest | PJan Constitution Fete | pirigetion ‘ot The atom.”

Wetily pobice- 3 |
— oS Mg ~ ion be placed before the next s¢cs- night from worry ever tbe loss of his | BETHLEHEM, Ps., Sept. 12.--:
ston most prised posececion—-a banjo Elv- j Pians have teen completed by a gen- i Governors to Meet

Meare det . . ‘b hen lust Chris ‘al committee for the local ecleb:
} Th t wha en al ‘ |
nis step waa taken after omficinis, €2 t Christmas. er aa : Te’) ATLANTIC OFTY, N. 5. Gept. 12.

intoxication, ur
missioner of Notor
yoked 1146 Neenses for this
since Janusry 1. -

During the past week Mages iifted
104 Meenses, bringing the total of rev-
ocations to 3680 eo far this year,

bo fon

THE PINLADRLPIUA api sabanay: MORNING: seerssera i oe Ca gs ~ =
OO , ey /s rasan NS a
vise for Screen Test “QGMBIIES BURT In the Four-State, Area __

‘W. Magee, Ooms~
Vehicles,

t on

Bi pe s
© ppt yh!

at

aeteind

Banks Seek Holiday
TRENTON, No J, Sept. WS—Ut s
exywial

plan of New Jersey bankers

economics at the Pennsylvania Stete the ee izes, the 1838 Legisipture may be mek
4 be the speakers here Friday at thes or te enact lepisiation declaring every

totmerverce of the 16h anniveresry! Raturday betweeti June edd Bepiers-

mace
Only koal

| Solve Plumbing Problema
FREDERICK, Md, Sept. it—Az-
ter many mectings etd4 much ceilro-
versy, this town hes et last solved
the problems of plumbing r é
necessary br completion of th?

city's new PWA sewer syeem. '

masier
be allowed to practice their trade on
wear weer pipes, he ety rulers aT, ,
misetings,

4

cided afver atl ow
which vartous plane were checusted. | prac
vide foe S
Faces Murder Charge >» ping
WILMINGTON, Del, Dept, 12.--WH- | FA
liezn B Bosweil, 66, was ted. to- the
geese Rat Bs
peop, George A aj*e
quarrel in the kitehen ey Bo ty
died early today ta Wiime | Cc
ington General Hospi Boaveil,

be arraigned i cours marrow,

RRP Canirart thu |
: - | tien of the 159% ene
of the| The instrument end tts case, val |. 1 of 180th aunty Ty of 8 | _ Relies aod crirne prevaution, Sood
: 2 t


’ od
EAS eM I denM of
one

ite a Prayer, {
ES OWE GOL POUri'heeveniy, I
besecehi fDhea! fo; Jupk boi
OU DUC Sth

COON AMARA APD SN

4 S |
ks z et an .
: Ly ie

Bai

Fae RE isn

eT ee
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j
a7
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4
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;
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: |
f ye ,. eh * i
SSIS ant 2 a
aetna rere onde ob as, adie ati Bas i,

%
at
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*. 4 3 —~
a i Sola
PM ca: Gree 1 ais meee "4
i Wy ae Si
4 “ ~ as sal *
oie bow %
o as
ie “ *
i “ =
i :
ath 4


Dit: BREE BMG BH ele’ YP RR is» 2 a ee a

Taae : :
* ‘She yefused 10) Save

and threw! (len
ry. yi a ae

started sto wari fand
the coffer pot ptm ik

hard bibteteinid Ae re


¥ “REAM ee tyne i i
aM i Nc. ge
# Ea

cae os

AHA arr
pats jer

PY BYCI 2


alse ES} AV TREN CM MT es) :
oe US eae Pan

4s) visiting s is
b rts, Hagerstow

merly: of! this? plac #1:

is! in raivisit: tole ae Be ‘ ii

: ansed,

bo | PAOHATO tes
a enh er AS
ina agp
sumtin A enrseais tog ths aa othe,
cat. Leaner stoliff TRlLewhonel ther: ihe) law, has
mothersli Oi; ‘arked== tte Ma red wthetmurderer

; 4 i
pas 7 t

fort ange
Palieuat ies shi:
Nittialitrerosed ‘aide


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people, she is exacting from the merciless
invader a terrible price in blood!

Her story, “Guerrilla Vengeance,” with
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60

institution where he’d gone to cure a
“nervous condition.”

“Who else,” demanded Oxland, “could
have v.utered the house and found his
way about in the darkness without
leaving any trace of his presence? Who
else would have known that the coast
would be clear during the brief time that
the alert was in effect? Who else could
have made his getaway without leaving
a single clue?”

G. B. McClure, prosecuting the case
for the Crown, verbally re-enacted the
crime as he had reconstructed it from the
evidence gathered by Inspector Oxland.
He pictured Miss Owen nearing her
home when the alarm came...

A cool, brave woman, she must have

-glanced but momentarily toward the

safety of the underground—then decided
to continue on to see that everything was
all right at home. She probably thought,
too, of her brave son flying up there in
the fog shrouded skies with his eyes
Straining to spot the Jerry formations
coming in over Southend. | |

Then, even as hell was breaking loose
over Hempstead, she would have taken
her latchkey to enter the house. She
would have known that the servants
would be out in the shelter in the rear.
The house was in darkness—there’d been
nothing to indicate that she foresaw
her danger—and this must have struck
her as strange. She would have been ex-
pecting the small “black-out” lights to be
on,

Miss Owen reached for her tiny pocket
flash. As she did so there came the sound
of a heavy step from a corner of the
chamber. The woman stepped suddenly
backward, aware tiow that she was not

alone.
The next instant a claw-like hand

Yeached out of tie blackness and [Elsie

Owen felt the cords of her throat con-
tract beneath an iron-like clutch. She
tried vainly to scream.

Something sharp and agonizingly pain-
ful entered the soft flesh below her raised
right arm. The fingers later released their
grip about her throat and Miss Owen
struggled to regain her breath. Then, be-
fore she could utter a cry for help a heavy
object crashed down across her upturned
face. A dull numbness overcame her en-
tire body as she felt herself sinking
slowly through an encompassing dark-
ness. Again and again the poker came
crashing down on her face and body but
Elsie Owen no longer felt the blows.

Arguing against the contention that
the linguist could have had the physical
strength to commit the crime, the prose-
cution pointed to the man’s sprained
wrist. That injury, Mr. McClure claimed,
had been: suffered while James brought
the heavy poker crashing down on his
wife’s inert body.

Although there seemed to be a total
absence of motive for the strange crime,
Professor James was found guilty on
Feb. 11-by a jury, and Justice Wrottesley
remanded the man to prison pending
sentence “at His Majesty’s pleasure.”

The attorneys for the defendant mean-
time took action to prove their client
legally insane after a further hearing at
which the court ruled that although
James knew what he was doing at the
time of the air raid murder, he was in-
capable of knowing that he was doing
wrong because of shock caused by
previous violent raids.

Professor Arthur Lloyd James was
sentenced to serve out the remainder of
his life in a hospital for the criminally
insane,

Trapping Pennsylvania's Jailbreak Killers

[Continued from page 39]

druggist in the Greenridge section of

Scranton had been robbed two days be- -

fore, at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
That evening there had been a complaint
from a woman in a disreputable part of
town. Two men, one of whom wielded a
gun, had held her up. There were other
stickups in the same section.

Donaldson leaned forward excitedly.

“That reminds me, Captain. I met the
Wilkes-Barre chief of police in the square
this noon. He told me a Mutt-and-Jeff
combination had crashed into a woman’s
place over on South Pennsylvania
avenue. The small guy slugged one of
the girls, and the tall one beat her boy
friend over the head with his gat. The
chief said they’d made a complaint and
would go through with the charge.”

Supt. Rodway nodded. “We'll have
Dave Phillips make a drawing of the pair
as best he can from the-description,” he
said. “If Roberts regains consciousness
he may be able to suggest changes or im-
provements. Then you take the sketches
around and show them to these stickup
victims.”

Just then Phillips burst into the room.
“Say,” he exclaimed, “I showed the tan
coat to a tailor. I found him playing pool
in the recreation parlor next door here.
He said the style was at least two years
old. The coat was made of shoddy
material and it would have been in rags
if it had been worn a couple of winters.
He said it looked like it had been in hock
for a long time and then sold cheap. It

had a label in it from a store in Cleveland,
Ohio, But if the coat was hocked—”

“Say,” cut in Donaldson, “what were
you doing with it in the pool parlor? It
should have gone straight to the lab.”

“I know,” said Phillips, “But it took
only a minute, and this tailor always
plays pool Saturday night around this
time. Once the lab has the coat, it’s
evidence and we wouldn’t get. it out
again, The city seriologist has it now.”

“Were there any other tags on it? A
cleaner’s maybe?”

“No. Only the label. And some Cleve-
land man could have hocked it here.”

Phillips’ listeners, used to clues that
blew up in their faces, showed no emo-
tion. But the C.I.D. man had more to add.

“While I was in the pool hall every-
body was talking about the stickup. A
fellow came over when the tailor was
examining the coat. He told me that yves-
terday afternoon a tall, hard-looking
customer and a shabby little runt came
in looking for a game. They had just
started playing when a big burly fellow
said a couple of words to them in a low
voice. They looked scared and went
scooting out on the street. This fellow
looked after them. He saw the two
players and the burly guy climb inio a
coupe.”

“Who was the third man?”

“Nobody seemed to know, but ‘ie’s
been seen around before. He looked {ike
an average respectable business man but
acted tough with these two. The pool-

room gang thou
boos.” .
_When Phillips |
hind him there w.
Donaldson broke
« “That might b.
A local man casi:
Capt. Phillips a;
all the places th,
cased. The disord:
were ones which
A & P on Olive
and women in tha
shopping before ;
Stragglers. Same
other jobs. Folloy,
Donaldson left
building. He soug
tectives’ room ar
the yellow sheets
Jt was now a fe:
night. Until he h:
David Phillips’ re.
the bandits it wa
stickup victims.
Donaldson, how
Private list of tips
confidential sourc
through the yellow
with his own peculi:
Then he found a gc
, “A drug store c’
came in this mort:
rom a mysterious «
came to his house
March 31, saying
1ggs, was lammir
State cops and wa
Drug clerk said he +
underclothing to R;
give them to a man
to him. The man d:
He said he would a
instructed the drug
of the location of
afraid Riggs and p:
stick up his employ
word from drug cler

Meetin
DOXALDsON i:

clock whose har
12:10. Time enough t
the drug store a sho:
en minutes later |
young man who was ;
him an electric shaver
heb: Under the
customers’ voices, Do:
“Why didn’t you re
Riggs?” ,

“It was like this,” th
tensely, “The fellow t.
said to go to the Elm!
midnight, the other sic

_ and he would have Rigg
around five minutes ¢
nine o’clock, I went bac
booth to tip you off.
shutting the door I «:
pry outside watc!
up without dialing, Wh
the booth the 04 wr
said, ‘You can’t meet hj:
Why not?’ He said,
reason, rat, that I thir

What did the ma

hoodlum ?”

“No. He looked all r
ness man, Tall, burly—"
Donaldson’s heart st;

Case going to break 3
Was this youth’s black $
of the bandits? “I WwW:

James Riggs,” the dete.
The clerk shook his h
“TI haven't got one,

Jimmy for years, The

Astoria, Long Island m

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62

Donaldson returned to his car, stomped .

hard on the gas and raced back to head-
quarters. It was true that James Riggs
had not been “mugged” in Scranton but
the New York police would have his pic-
ture on file.

Back at his desk, Donaldson put in a
long distance call to the police depart-
ment in Astoria, L. I., in the hope that
Riggs might have a record in his home
neighborhood.

To the officer who answered, Donald-
son said, “We're looking for a man named
James Joseph Riggs. He’s—”

“You, too?” asked an astonished
voice. “So are we. So’s the whole country.
What have you got on him?”

“Murder. He and his pal were in a
stickup here tonight. One of our de-
tectives is dying.”

Instantly the Astoria officer was all
concern. “Say, didn’t you get a flier from
Wallkill prison? Riggs and two other
cons crashed out of there three days ago.
Their photos were sent all over the
country.”

“No, we didn’t get it,” Donaldson said
quietly. “Who did he escape with?”

“One was a mean little punk by the
name of Wallace Skawinski, alias
William Wallace, alias ‘Shorty.’ Crinkled
chestnut hair, dark blue eyes, five feet,
four, weighing a hundred and twenty.
The third con was nabbed in Wilkes-
Barre.”

Compare Mug Shots

ONALDSON thanked him, laid his in-
strument on the cradle for a minute,
then asked headquarters’ switchboard op-
erator to call the superintendent of
Wallkill prison,

“T’ll send down photos right away,”
Supt. Leo J. Palmer promised. “My
assistant, Captain Charles J. Doyle, will
bring them down on the next train. This
fellow, Riggs, is an educated chap and
his folks are well off. We're watching
their house. The other man, Skawinski,
is nothing but a bum. He’s probably
riding the rods or hitch-hiking.”

At exactly 7:30 a. m., a young man of .

soldierly bearing strode up to Donald-
son’s desk and introduced himself as
Capt. Doyle of Wallkill prison.

“We've been using a sketch Roberts’
assistant, David Phillips, made,” Donald-
son told him. “Roberts never regained
consciousness to okay it. However, the
men in the sketch have been partially
identified by the A & P clerks. Of
course it’s just an artist’s conception.”

“Well, here are our two babies,” Doyle
said, and brought out mug shots of the
escaped convicts.

Donaldson gave a gasp of relief.
Phillips’ rough sketch would have been
recognized by any expert as a drawing
of the men pictured on the prison flier!

Just then the phone rang. It was De-
tective David Phillips reporting from the
hospital. “Lew is dead,”jhe said hoarsely,
and hung up. é

So it was “Wanted For Murder” that
went out with the next five-state alarm.
James Riggs and Wallace Skawinski
were now fugitives from the electric
chair.

In a quick visit the prison photographs
were shown to the A & P store man-
ager and clerk who had witnessed the
murder. There was an immediate identi-
fication from each,

Donaldson then drove over to Wilkes-
Barre and talked to the owner of the
shady resort that had been robbed by
a Mutt-and-Jeff pair of gunmen, Luckily
we girl who had been slugged also was
there.

Both women promptly picked the mug
shots of the jailbreak killers from among
a dozen other photographs. .

The bandits had been spotted beyond
possibility of doubt. But what about the
burly “business man” who had threatened
Riggs’ relative? Who was this man who
obviously had contacts with the killers?

Throughout Sunday night the furious
hunt for the fugitives continued. All
through the coal regions there were
ghost settlements and abandoned mines
that had to be searched. And the tips
continued to pour in.

Then, shortly after dawn on Monday
an officer of the Lackawanna railroad
police began checking over a train that
had pulled into a siding in Port Morris,
N. J. In a box car he discovered a dirty
little man who looked hardly human and
seemed barely alive. In answer to the
officer’s questions he woke up enough to
say he was Bill Wallace of New York
City. Then he dropped in a slump on the
platform.

The officer grabbed his collar and
dragged him, heels scuffing the ground,
over to his car. He was lifting the human
derelict into the tonneau when he saw
two other men loitering along: the tracks,
One was a tall, well-built fellow, the
other a runt who just reached his com-
panion’s shoulders. In the early morning
light they looked just like the pair
wanted’ for Lieut. Roberts’ murder.
Seeing that they were observed, the pair
took to their heels, heading down the
tracks. Instantly the railroad detective
drew his gun and started in pursuit.

He had not gone a dozen yards when
he heard the roar of a car engine. Look-
ing back, he was just in time to see his
car disappearing in the distance. The
human derelict had made an amazing
recovery.

Abandoning the two hobos, the
officer darted into his office, called up the
state police sub-station at nearby Net-
cong. State Trooper J. G. Russell took
the call,

“Did you have a chance to notice any
distinguishing marks on him at all?”
Russell asked. .

“There’s an odd scar on his wrist,” re-
plied the railroad officer. “It looks like
a small horse-shoe upside down.”

“Yeah? Well, you. had Skawinski.
Where was he headed?”

“Your way,” the railroad officer replied.
“Make it snappy. You may get him.”

Russell slammed his receiver on its
cradle, rushed from the barracks and
jumped behind the wheel, The next in-
stant he was roaring down Netcong’s
main street. As he turned the corner he
almost collided with the railroad officer’s
car. He pulled his gun, and that was that.

Twenty minutes ‘later, Skawinski was
lodged in Morristown jail, and in less
than six minutes Capt. Phillips was on
his way there.

Meantime the search for the phantom
“business man” and Riggs continued.

After exhausting the criminal list in
-his file, David Phillips and his volunteer

assistants inspected the cards on file in
the automobile. license bureau, They were
looking for owners of Plymouth and
Hupmobile coupes, for the bandit get-
away car had been of one of these makes,
according to witnesses. And at last they
struck the name of Paul A. Bader.

With the habitue of the poolroom,
Phillips sat in a car opposite Bader’s
home, and when the tall, mttscular Bader
sauntered out of his house on Tuesday
nicht the loafer positively identified him
as the man who had been in the poolroom
with Riggs and Skawinski the day of the
fatal stickup.

Bs

Phillips’ com;
obtrusively and
strode over ai
Bader’s shoulde:

“We want
Bader.”

Phillips conv.
quarters, and ;
office where the «
the much want
were seated.

Skawinski wa:
of wretchedness
moment David |
entered Skawins)

“It was him
screamed, “He
hundred bucks t.
didn’t go on job:
us “in.”

“You’re crazy.
getting his poise.
life.”

Capt. Phillips
sat back and let
were in the mi
when Detective
After the situatio
Donaldson broke

“You say, Sk:
A & P stickup \
turn over his ca:
him you had sho:
along the Drink:

away. That wh:
Dunmore and Nei
to throw ‘his gun
was driving said,
on the track. Giv:
threw the gun uy
that right?”
Skawinski was >
head to each stat:
“That's right. J
Bader snorted |
beginning to end.
of this bum—”
“We won't,”
there’s some trut!
was too mad to m
We'll scout the we
If you threw it, it
on it.”

Manhun:

ADER gasped,
gained control
Was any other :
at any time when
Bader?” the detecti

Skawinski nodde:

Happy. Happy gavc
coat.”

Bader insisted on
the assistant district
summoned, declared
simply being held
was out of the qu
knew who “Happy”
aptly fitted a cer:
young prizefighter,

he search for R:
_ Donaldson’s hunc!
in Cleveland had be
was not disappoint:
have entirely missed

Then on Wedne:
miner came in to s.

“That Riggs fellc

Monday night,” he +
saw him in the lun
bus station.”

“What! Why did:

tell us? You knew °
him.” Donaldson spc

‘annoyance.

“Wait a minute! ]
Riggs till T saw his p}
tonight. I was seein;


na Se

OS a

Orne Paes

left, and
:pearance
lity. The
diately in

sunched-up,

with dark

neers were
wide stone
| City Hall,
ton’s police

detectives’
the coat to

mn a_ table.
over to the
-y should be
cation from

‘T’ll take it
r’s outside.”
ito the wait-
if the super-
d it packed
ight’s-drag-
Rodway and
Paul Maxey
ning.

odlums and
oberts’ un-
nds of faces
doubt. But
re strangers

Capt. George Donaldson, left, now
Scranton detective chief, shows
Lieut. David Phillips, C.I.D. head,
where he found the killer's blood-
stained coat. Above, Capt. Don-
aldson stands with bandit Riggs,
coatless; Assistant District Attorney
Paul Maxey (deceased) and Homer
Croop, alert witness from the A & P.

in Scranton the underworld has its own
gossip column, and it was this source of
information that Capt. Phillips proposed
to tap.

Donaldson entered to find Phillips in
conference with the superintendent. The
two officials looked at him sharply.

“How’s Lew?” Donaldson asked.
dreading the answer.

“Still alive. They’ve taken X-ray pic-
tures, The bullet punctured the intestines
in three places and is lodged in the spine.
Not much hope. Got any ideas on who
did it?”

Capt. Phillips picked up a list of recent
robberies and pointed out several staged
by a pair who resembled the fugitives. A
[Continued on page 60]


d Elsie
at con-
ch, She

ly pain-
or raise
sed their
s Owen
hen, be-
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upturned
her en-
sinking
ig dark-
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body but
Ws.
tion that
physical
he prose-
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e claimed,
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be a total
nge crime,
guilty on
Wrottesley
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asure.”

dant mean-
their client
hearing at
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caused by

James was
-emainder of
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rs

— nl

> in Cleveland,
scked—” -

, “what were
sol parlor? It
9 the lab.”

“But it took
tailor always
t around this
the coat, it’s
‘t get, it out
i has it now.
tags on it? A

d some Cleve-
ced it here.”
to clues that
owed no emo-
id more to add.
vol hall every-
the stickup. A
the tailor was
id me that yes-
hard-looking
ittle runt came
They had just
ig burly fellow
» them in a low
cred and went
et. This fellow
saw the two
iy climb into a

an?

know, but he’s
. He looked like
susiness man but
two, The pool-

room gang thought he might be their

boss.”

When Phillips had closed the door be-
hind him there was a momentary silence.
Donaldson broke it.

“That might be the answer,” he said.
“A local man casing the joints.”

Capt. Phillips agreed. “It’s evident that
all the places this pair stuck up were
cased. The disorderly resorts they robbed
were ones which had no bouncer. The
A & P on Olive street has. no telephone
and women in that neighborhood do their
shopping before nine o’clock except for
stragglers. Same sort of thing in the
other jobs. Follow it up, George.”

Donaldson left the room but not the
building. He sought his desk in the de-
tectives’ room and rummaged through
the yellow sheets in his top drawer.

It was now a few minutes before mid-
night. Until he had obtained a copy of
David Phillips’ reconstructed sketch of
the bandits it was useless to visit the
stickup victims.

Donaldson, however, had his own
private list of tips turned in to him by
confidential sources. He thumbed
through the yellow sheets scrawled over
with his own peculiar, original shorthand.
Then he found a good one.

“A drug store clerk,” this one read,
“came in this morning to report a visit
from a mysterious caller, He said a man
came to his house late on the night of
March 31, saying his relative, James
Riggs, was lamming from New York
state cops and wanted some clothes.
Drug clerk said he would take a suit and
underclothing to Riggs, but would not
give them to a man who was a stranger
to him, The man didn’t give his name.
He said he would arrange a meeting. I
instructed the drug clerk to inform me
of the location of the meeting. He is
afraid Riggs and pals may attempt to
stick up his employer’s store. No further

word from drug clerk.”

Meeting Off

SB edt ae glanced at the wall
clock whose hands were parted at
12:10. Time enough to catch the clerk at
the drug store a short drive away.

Ten minutes later he faced a nervous
young man who was pretending to show
him an electric shaver over the drug store
counter. Under the buzz of other
customers’ voices, Donaldson demanded,
“Why didn’t you report back about
Riggs?”

“Tt was like this,” the youth explained
tensely. “The fellow telephoned me and
said to go to the Elmhurst boulevard at
midnight, the other side of the toll gate,
and he would have Riggs there. That was

‘ around five minutes to seven. Around

nine o’clock, I went back to our telephone
booth to tip you off, Just as I was
shutting the door I saw this stranger
standing outside watching me. I hung
up without dialing. When I came out of
the booth the man came up to me and
said, ‘You can’t meet him tonight.’ I said,
‘Why not?’ Ile said, ‘For the simple
reason, rat, that I think you'll squeal.’ "y

“What did the man look like? A
hoodlum?”

“No. He looked all right. Like a busi-
ness man, ‘all, burly—”

Donaldson’s heart stood still. Was the
case going to break as easily as that?
Was this youth’s black sheep relative one
of the bandits? “I want a picture of
James Riggs,” the detective said,

The clerk shook his head.

“T haven't got one, I haven’t seen
Jimmy for years. The family lives in
‘Astoria, Long Island now”.

Listen,
Mister,
Soldiers

can get
WAR NERVES’

too!”

(A sergeant speaks his mind)

“Pm going to give it to you straight.

“We read a lot of stuff about how
civilians are fighting ‘war nerves.’
Going to shows...dancing...reading...
having fun to relax from all the grim-
ness today and keeping up their morale.

“Sure, it’s a good idea, but don’t for-
get this. Soldiers and sailors can have
‘war nerves,’ too.Idon’tmeananything
to do with courage and stuff like that.
Believe me, they got plenty of nerve
to take it—and dish it out—whatever
the orders are.

“What I mean is that soldiers, may-
be even more so, need shows and
dancing and decent places to go when
they’re on leave. Boredom and monot-
ony during their time off are as bad
enemies as any goose-stepping Ger-
man or Jap. We got to fight them, too.

“That’s why everybody in this man’s
army gives thumbs up to this USO.
They’re doing a job, Mister. Fighting
a fight.

“They’re putting on swell shows...
running club-houses...providing read-

ing matter...taking care of troops in
transit...following the flag wherever
the army orders with their mobile
units. They’re spelling morale in our
language with a capital M

“So listen, all you folks. Next time
you see ashow or do a little rug-cut-
ting or read a book or light a smoke
or just sit down to play a game of gin-
rummy or listen to the radio in your
nice comfortable living room, just re-
member that there’s lots of guys in
O. D. and blue that can also use some
of same.

“Tt all adds up to this...we like the
job the USO is doing for us...and we
hope you on the home front keep it
rolling !”

The war chest against “war nerves”
needs replenishing. Soon you’ll be
asked to help. Well, you heard what
the sergeant said!

x ko *
Send your contribution to your
local USO Committee or to National

Headquarters, USO, Empire State
Building, New York City.

Give to the USO

accanm
G-B-8 4
1

Lanapes
sb.co

weaseneece

this was
asmuch

con-
4s to be
\1 among

McClure
overdue
National
, had set

for thm.

and swore

- the body

4

athe ~ Fo  N ee  t RR eC NyO r

tough job on their hands trailing the crafty murderer of Miner’s Run

This group, led by one Michael Rizzolo—
a colorful local character popularly
known as Rum-Blossom Mike because of
a very pronounced red nose—had come
upon the bodies of both men fifteen min-
utes later. Each had been shot to death;
even the sleek black mare that had
drawn the payroll buggy had been
pumped full of lead. Two stout leather
straps that had bound a wooden money
box to the footrest of the buggy had been
cut, and the box removed. The killers
had vanished by the time the posse
arrived.

These facts the Pinkerton men already
knew when they arrived at Wilkes-
Barre. They knew also that many of
the laborers who had been employed by
Contractor McFadden had been a tough,
clannish lot, and that this was going to
be a difficult case to crack. It was not
likely that those in the vicinity would
voluntarily give information to the de-
tectives, for fear of vengeance in this
land of bad men, where the law was un-
popular and stool pigeons were doomed.
However, the very fact that word
traveled swiftly among evil men in the
bleak hills outside of town was one of
the things the Pinkerton men intended
taking advantage of, and was the reason
for their purposely open investigation.

The local police informed the agency
investigators that there was just one man
in the entire vicinity who wouldn’t be
afraid to tell the Pinkertons whatever he
knew — and that was Rum-Blossom
Mike, the posse leader who had come
upon the bodies. Mike, a fierce-looking

by

ALAN HYND

ILLUSTRATION BY RICHARD PRIEST

man in his late thirties, with a huge
handlebar mustache, and black slits for
eyes, and who wasn’t afraid of anything
or anybody, had been a close friend of
the slain McClure. When he had seen
the murdered young paymaster lying
face upward on the deserted road, Mike
had knelt down alongside of the body
and vowed vengeance.

The detectives first went out to the
scene, They had little difficulty ascer-
taining the spot where the attack had
been made because they found shotgun
charges in the bark of some pine trees
that skirted one side of the road, and
.44 caliber bullets in trees on the other
side. McClure had been slain by buck-
shot charges from a shotgun, while
Flanagan had met his end by slugs.

It was clear to the agency operatives,
then, that there had been at least two
men at the point of attack, one standing
on each side of the road, and each con-
centrating on one of the victims; the man
on the left of the buggy aiming at Mc-
Clure with a weapon that discharged
buckshot, the other killer, on the right,
leveling his .44 at Flanagan, who would
have been nearest him, inasmuch as Mc-
Clure had been driving the horse and
sitting on the left-hand side.

There was another deduction to be
made from the charges of the murder
weapons that had gone wide of their
human targets and hit the trees. This
was that the killers had been standing
pretty close to the buggy, perhaps right
alongside of it, for the wild charges had
taken a decidedly upward course, and

the closer to the vehicle the killers had
been, the greater the upward angle of
their weapons as they aimed them at the
men above them on the buggy seat. Since
both McClure and Flanagan had been
armed for their own protection during
the lonely weekly journey with the pay-
roll, it seemed to the Pinkerton inve
gators that they had known both of the
killers, and had perhaps stopped to pass
a friendly word with the modern Judases.

Another element that tended to con-
firm this belief was that a surprise attack
would not have been possible at that
particular point, because there was vir-
tually no underbrush alongside of the
road there, and the trunks of the pine
trees were too slender, and the trees
themselves not great enough in number
to have afforded a spot for an ambuscade.
By the same token, it would not have
been possible for the killer who had
carried the shotgun to have concealed
his weapon; but the hunting season was
on, and the sight of a man carrying a
shotgun would not have aroused suspi-
cion in the minds of either McClure
Flanagan—if they regarded that man
a friend.

Wilkes-Barre detectives who accom-
panied the Pinkerton men on the probe
of the murder scene advised them that
Flanagan and McClure had been found
almost a mile apart. Flanagan had ap-
parently toppled from the buggy at the
point of the original attack, but McClure
had been discovered almost half a mile
up the road, which was of dirt. near a
bend that was (Continued on page 66)

or
a

Ss

—-

LPR Cree Lt

ee Soe

66

(Continwed from page 51)

shrouded on each side by heavy bushes. It
was the Wilkes-Barre sleuths’ thought that
the horse, a high-spirited animal, had
been badly frightened at the sound of the
shots, and badly wounded also, and that it
had then bolted and gone half a mile before
dropping. dragging the fatally wounded
McClure, tangled in the reins, part of the
way.

The Pinkerton men walked to that part
of the road where the horse had finally
dropped. They saw in the bushes that
lined either side of the thoroughfare an
excellent vantage point from which a per-
son could have observed the attack farther
down the road. This gave them ideas that
they were to develop later.

Now the sleuths went back to the point
of attack once again, and began to study
the shoe marks of horses, many of which
were still visible, because the ground had
been soft and wet at the time the crime had
been committed; however, freezing weather
had set in shortly afterward and preserved
markings in the dirt. The Pinkerton men
had little difficulty in picking out what they
were certain were the shoe marks of the
mare that had drawn the vehicle. For, in
a near-by dirt lane that intersected the
murder road, there were also shoe marks
—those of only one horse. The paymaster
was known to have traversed this lane, so
the marks there must have been that of the
animal later brought down by shots.

There was a peculiarity about the left
front shoe of the animal—a defect made by
wear. and in the distinct impressions now
preserved by the freezing temperature, this
imperfection stuck out like a sore thumb.
Tracing the prints of the mare between the
point of attack and where the animal was
eventually found was, therefore, simple.

By studying the depth of the hoofprints,
and their distance from one another, it
seemed obvious that the mare had traveled
at top speed over the half-mile course be-
tween the point where the pine trees were
marked by shots, and the place where it—
and Paymaster McClure—had been found.
Was it possible. wondered the detectives,
that the horse had dropped at the turn in
the road from shots administered at the
first point of attack—or had it been brought
down at the bend by fire from that point?

This was important—for if a separate
attack had been made on the fleeing horse,
that would have brought a third person into
the murder picture. Because, assuming
that the first two killers had been traveling
on foot—and they apparently had been, for
there were no indications pointing other-
wise—they would never have been able to
match the speed of a running mare. There-

fore. one of two things had happened.
Either the animal had eventually dropped
in its tracks after its wounds had sapped its
strength, or it had been shot at by a third
person. This latter view was soon held to
by the Pinkerton men because near the
spot where the mare was found, its tracks
showed that it had stopped its flight sud-
denly, not gradually.

In the meantime, autopsies were per-
formed on the two murder victims. This
was back in the days before the science of
ballistics could definitely establish whether
a bullet had come from a certain gun. and

all that was learned was that Flanagan had
been killed by .44 caliber bullets and that
McClure had met his end at the hands of
someone firing a shotgun. The autopsies,
incidentally, bore out the Pinkerton de-
ductions about the shooting.

And now something most unusual was
done. A veterinary—Dr. J. H. Timber-
man—performed an autopsy on the horse.
Several bullet holes went clear through the
bony structure of the animal’s head, but
one bullet—a .44—was found lodged deep
in its body, having entered the neck, and
taken a course straight toward the mare’s
hind quarters. The fact that this pellet
had traveled such considerable distance,
and the evidence that other bullets had
passed completely through the head of the
horse led Dr. Timberman and the Pinker-
tons to the conclusion that the .44 bullets
had been fired not from a revolver, but from
a rifle. A revolver wouldn’t have put such
terrific power behind its discharges. This,
too, was a clue of vital importance, because
a .44 rifle would be a much easier weapon
to trace than a revolver of the same caliber.
The facts disclosed by the autopsy on the
horse were to be of vital significance in the
eventual solution of the twin outrage.

And now the Pinkertons were ready to
interview Rum-Blossom Mike. It was wear-
ing on toward ten o’clock at night. and the
fierce-looking man was in a Wilkes-Barre
saloon, engaged in the very activity that
had brought on the physical characteristic
that earned him his sobriquet. Mike was
a sociable individual, despite his bulbous
proboscis, and talkative, too. When the
detectives approached him at the bar and
introduced themselves loudly enough for
several hangers-on to overhear, Mike
smiled, disclosing a set of badly discolored
teeth.

“Have a drink,” he said. “I’m the only
man around here with guts enough to tell
what I know about this thing that happened
today—and I ain’t afraid to talk because
Barney McClure was like a brother to me.”

Arsenic and Old >
Scapegoats

Criminals who give themselves to science
nowadays often get considerable newspaper
notoriety and no small amount of praise for
their spirit of self-sacrifice, but time was
when they endured—or succumbed—to sci-
entific ordeals without glory and without
hope.

Even the ancients knew the worth of
their cures could be proven only by actual
experiments. Physicians of the Middle
Ages used not only animals but human
beings for this purpose, and they were gen-
erally able to get criminals who had been
condemned to death.

Thus, in the 15th century we find Cosimo
de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, order-
ing the magistrates of Pisa to hand over
two criminals to Fallopius, a physician of
the day, “in order that he may put them to
death in whatever way he pleases and then
anatomize them.”

Fallopius chose a rather humane method
of death: he gave the two men opium. One
died and the other recovered. Fallopius
considered how hard it was to get cadavers
for his research work in anatomy, and on
the second attempt gave the man eight
grains more of opium. This time he died.
Extensive research was conducted on the
effects of poison, a substance as widely used
in that day as the sub-machinegun was

The sleuths took some beer, then one of
them asked the red-nosed one what he did
know. “That's just the trouble,” said Mike.
who was a capable foreman for the Mc-
Fadden Contracting Company. “I don't
know the one what did it—but it’s one of
them Irishmen what got laid off couple of
weeks ago.”

The operatives suggested that it was
unwise to continue the conversation at the
bar, so they went with Mike into a rear
room. There the latter revealed that, two
paydays previously, after McClure had
handed notices to about a dozen Irish work-
ers, he (Mike) had come upon a little knot
of discharged men engaged in low-voiced
conversation at the edge of the construc-
tion camp.

“They didn’t see me,” said Mike, “until I
was right on ‘em. One of ‘em—I don't
know who it was, and I wouldn't want to
guess ’til I could be dead sure—was saying
somethin’ about gettin’ even with a him.
I don’t know who the him was, but I guessed
it was Barney McClure.”

Mike was getting drunker, and the sleuths
tried to work fast. They succeeded in get-
ting another admission from him that they
regarded as significant—and that was that
Hugh Flanagan, the guard—a strapping
big man with flaming red hair and whis-
kers—had told Mike that very morning,
on the occasion of leaving for the bank to
get the payroll money: “Mike, if any
Irishman tries to get that box from me to-
day, they’ll get a good load 0’ this.”
Thereupon, Flanagan had patted the re-
volver he carried in a shoulder holster.

Mike was not yet too drunk to ask a few
questions. He wanted to know if the sleuths
had found any evidence at the scene. The
detectives were depending on the man’s
talkative trait for the dissemination of
spurious information that would lull the
killers into a false sense of security. So
they told him they had picked up not a
single clue.

“You fellows are stupid.” said Rum-

used in Chicago during the early 1930’s—
and with much less noise and disorder.
The experiments were taken to such a fine
point that at Bologna, Mantua and Florence
doses of arsenic were habitually adminis-
tered to criminals without their knowledge
—so that the effects could be observed
without the disturbing influence of fear.
Going back even further, to the second
century before Christ, we learn of Mithri-
dates Eupator, King of Pontus, who was
probably the world’s first student of toxi-
cology. His burning zeal to know all about
the subject, however, had a rather selfish
motive. He lived in constant dread of being
himself poisoned, and he wanted to know
what to do when it happened. He experi-
mented upon scores of criminals, and even
took poisons and their antidotes himself
Mithridates trusted no one. He mur-
dered his mother, a brother, the sister
whom he had married, his sons, and to pre-
vent his harem from falling to his enemies,
he murdered his concubines. A rather un-
pleasant fellow, or, as one historian mildly
remarked: “His followers were never safe.”
On the day of his defeat by Pompey,
Mithridates attempted to commit suicide
by poison, but his experiments had de-
veloped in him such a high degree of
immunity or tolerance that the poison
failed to work. Mithridates then called
upon one of his attendants to slay him,
which the man did, no doubt with relish.
——R. G. Harris.

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Blossom, suddenly sobering somewhat.
“Even I figured out there must’ve been at
least three men mixed up in that.”

“How do you figure that, Mike?”

“Easy. McClure and Flanagan both car-
ried guns. It would’ve taken two men to
take care of ’em. Two at least. Right?
Then that horse run away—a blind man
could see by the tracks he’d been running.
How did them two men get that payroll
box unfastened if the horse started to run?
You know how? Because at least one
other murderer was standin’ as lookout at
the bend in the road, and he brought down
the horse, and then they could’ve got that
payroll box—but. not before.”

The sleuths looked at each other. This
would never do—having the talkative and
shrewd fellow circulating such deductions.
So they set out to dissuade Mike from the
view which they knew to be all too true.
But it was too late—that night, anyway.
He took another drink of rum and dropped
his head, consciousness gone. But, early
next morning, the detectives were with
him again—before he could go abroad and
tell his story. They told him their theory:
Flanagan had killed McClure, then a third
man had killed Flanagan. Mike looked at
the sleuths quizzically.

“You must think I’m dumb,” he said, “to
believe a thing like that. But I catch on.
You don’t want me to spout off my mouth so
that the men who did this job will get sus-
picious and go away. All right.”

Mike grinned, and shook hands with the
Pinkerton men. “I won’t,” he said, “say a
word.”

“You’re sure we can depend on that,
Mike?”

“Always trust Mike to be smart.”

The day following the murder was de-
voted for the most part to a minute search
of the crime vicinity by local authorities.
A quarter of a mile from the bend in the
road where the third killer had lain in
wait—at a spot back off the thoroughfare
where the underbrush was heavy—a shot-
gun was found. This was in the days be-
fore the science of fingerprints, and there
was no way of being certain that this
weapon had been used by the slayers. but
the indications were that it had—for it
was a gun in good working order, not the
kind that would have been discarded. It
bore no distinguishing characteristics, being
quite old.

Meantime, the Pinkerton operatives were
making certain deductions from the stout
leather straps that had held the vanished
payroll money box to the footrest of the
buggy. These had been cut by a knife
of some sort, and, judging from a certain
marking on each of the two straps, the
blade had been severely nicked in at least
one place, as there seemed to be a tear
rather than a cut on the edge of each
strap, which condition might have been
caused by a nicked blade.

The detectives continued their deliber-
ately open method of investigating, and as
they walked along the streets of Wilkes-
Barre they were the cynosure of many a
pair of eyes. They stopped Mike on the
street at noon, and asked him if he had
gathered any information that might indi-
cate the perpetrators of the murder of
his good friend, Bernard McClure. He said
he had obtained nothing as yet. As a mat-
ter of fact, he surprised the sleuths by
adding: “I think maybe I’ll lay off this;
some bad fellows have told me I’d get
the same dose Barney and Hugh got if I
stuck my nose too far into what ain’t my
business.”

The sleuths chided Mike for what they
hinted was a yellow streak. This got the
red-nosed one. “So you think I’m a coward,
huh? Well, I’ll show you!”

He turned on his heel and walked away.
The sleuths didn’t quite know what to

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make of his last remark.

The Pinkerton men visited various eés-
tablishments in Wilkes-Barre and vicinity
that sold guns. One proprietor of a sport-
ing goods establishment recalled having
disposed of a second-hand Winchester rifle,
of forty-four caliber, to two Italians some
weeks previously. He had no idea who
the men had been, but it had been his
impression that they were McFadden work-
men, which could have meant that they had
hailed from any number of towns in Penn-
sylvania or New York, for the McFadden
laborers were brought from such large
population centers as Philadelphia and
New York City. Many of them were
itinerants, and would vanish when they
had worked for a few weeks and laid
aside sufficient money to wander else-
where.

The stolen payroll had comprised, among
other things, two thousand dollars in $50
bills. It was seldom that $50 notes weren't
put immediately into circulation, or banked;
thus, all financial institutions in the gen-
eral area of the murder territory were ad-
vised to be on the lookout for notes of
this denomination. It happened, too, that
the teller at the Wyoming National Bank
who had put up the payroll, had, while
not marking the bills, unconsciously kept
track of them. That is, a new shipment
of fifties had come into the bank the very
morning of the murders, and the serial
numbers had run consecutively. The only
fifties given out by the bank up to the time
of the twin crime had been the forty notes
put into the payroll. It was, therefore,
a simple matter to count back, and thus
establish the serial numbers of the stolen
money. Just another instance of the fates
stacking the cards against the criminals!

On the Monday morning, word came from:

the Merchants National Bank in Pough-
keepsie, New York, not far from Wilkes-
Barre, that two of the $50 notes from the
missing payroll had appeared from differ-
ent sources. One had been mailed in a
deposit posted the previous Saturday by
the Sanfordville Inn, where many of the

McFadden workmen were wont to con-
gregate on Friday and Saturday nights; the
other had come from a woman living on
Clinton Street, Poughkeepsie, who had
made her deposit on the Monday morning.

When the Pinkerton men went to the
Clinton Street address, they discovered a
house of ill fame. The proprietress was
questioned. Yes, she said, she recalled the
man who had tendered the $50 bill in
payment for a night of revelry, and would
recognize him again. He had been, she
said, a tall, pale man with a huge red
mustache, and she was under the impres-
sion that he was an Irishman, but she had
no idea where he had come from. Sat-
urday night had marked his first visit to
her establishment, she said.

At the Sanfordville Inn, the agency op-
eratives questioned employees who handled
cash. The bartender quickly recalled get-
ting a $50 bill on the Friday night of the
murder. It had been given to him, he
said, by a stranger whom he described pre-
cisely as the woman in Poughkeepsie had
described her client!

Rum-Blossom Mike took his seat at the
bar of his favorite Wilkes-Barre saloon on
the Monday night, and the Pinkertons eased
up alongside of him. They told him that
two of the bills had shown up.

“Know who spent ’em?” Mike asked.

“No,” came the answer, and then one of
the sleuths told him where the notes had
been dropped, and gave the description of
the man who had passed them. Mike stared
hard at his reflection in the mirror behind
the bar, and his brow furrowed in thought.
“I think I know your man,” he said. “You
say he was very pale in the face?”

“Yes.”

“I think I can turn him up for you.”

The sleuths pressed Mike for details—
but he only narrowed his eyes and became
very mysterious. “Mike told you he would
always do the smart thing. Well, I’m
goin’ to do the smart thing now. I'll come
back with good information.”

The sleuths hung around Mike’s board-

ing house that night, and far into the next:

£4 HiADOLA ~

morning. They wanted to know where he
was going. But he gave them the slip, and
succeeded in leaving town before they real-
ized it.

While the two agency operatives decided
that their strategy would be to make known
the fact that they were searching for a
tall, pale Irishman with a red mustache,
another interesting figure—one Guiseppi
DeLucca—began to haunt bar rooms from
Wilkes-Barre to Poughkeepsie. DeLucca,
who was short and dark, made no secret
of the fact that he was a bad man. He
was loud in his denunciation of law and
order and one night, in a Wilkes-Barre
saloon, he became involved in an argument
with one of the Pinkerton detectives that
stopped short of blows only when the bar-
tender intervened.

A week passed. Mike returned to Wilkes-
Barre and sought out the Pinkerton men.
He had news for them; but not about the
pale man. Mike could find no trace of
him. He said he had been in Philadelphia,
on a clue of his own, and had there learned
that two former McFadden workmen—
Tony Villella and Guiseppi Bevevino—had
sailed for Italy.

The Pinkerton men asked Mike how he
had found this out. He smiled sagely.
shrugged and said: “I ain’t been workin’
around here years for nothin’. I know what’s
goin’ on, Why don’t you look into my in-
formation if you don't believe it.”

Sure enough, investigation of steamship
records disclosed that Villella and Beve-
vino—a couple of young trouble-makers
who had been discharged from their em-
ployment by Bernard McClure two weeks
before the murders—had sailed for Itaiy
three days previously. Their steamship
tickets had been purchased for them
through an Italian financial institution—the
Banca di Napoli at Seventh and Fitzwater
Streets, Philadelphia. Local agents of the
Pinkerton organization questioned em-
ployees at the bank and learned that the
two men had been brought in by one
Francesio Giriaco, a ladies’ cloak maker,
who also did his banking at the institution.

Giriaco was sought out. He said he had
known Villella and Bevevino for several
years and that, on the day following the
murder, they had come to his home with
several thousand dollars, which they wanted
him to put in a safety-deposit vault at his
bank until they decided what to do with
it. He said the sum aggregated more than
$11,000. He had not suspected that it was
murder loot, for he had not heard of the
crime at Miner’s Run.

Questioning developed that the two
Italians had been accompanied by a third
man—tall, pale, with a red mustache and
obviously an Irishman. This man, Giriaco
said, had been an interested but silent
third party to the departure of the two
Italians for their native country, but had
not sailed himself.

“Do you know Rum-Blossom Mike?” the
cloak maker was asked.

“Yes: as a matter of fact, Mike was here
a couple of days ago, asking me about these
men. He was the first who put it in my
head that they had something to do with
the murder.”

“Did Mike say who the third man—the
Irishman—was?”

“He didn’t know; he wanted to find out
if I knew. He said this Irishman had spent
some of the $50 bills from the payroll in
Wilkes-Barre and Poughkeepsie, and he
wanted to find him. I think Mike wants
a reward for helping out.”

Meantime, in Wilkes-Barre, Mike and the
tough newcomer—DeLucca—had become
fast friends. The Pinkerton men operating
in that vicinity asked Mike what he thought
of DeLucca. “Oh, he’s all right,” said
Mike. “I don’t think he’s so tough as he
makes out to be.”


Mrs. Corinna Fravato, shown here
with court attendants: Her aston-
ishing change of mind jeopardized
her son and caused a turning-

point in the investigation

"We Thought ‘There Was Somewhere Between 30 and 70 Deaths... Now—
Who Knows? If Someone Were to Say 10,000, | Would Almost Believe ‘Em"

Paul Petrillo: Included in his stock
in trade were charms, spells, black
magic and insurance advice

op—5

Pigs aa ihe date | Souk! Bice ICE leo eT ho me ENC ape esol ee ‘

me that he had some sort of stomach
trouble, although he had eaten no un-
usual food and taken no medicine. .His
tongue was coated and he had a tem-
perature of a hundred and one. de-
grees. His abdomen was extended and
he had a high pulse. I called the next
day and found that his fever had gone
down and he appeared to be on the
road to recovery. But on my fourth
visit I found that the previous condi-
tion had recurred. It was then that I
insisted he be taken to the hospital
over Mrs. Alfonsi’s protests.”

!tIIN YOUR visits to the Alfonsi home,
did you ever encounter a man
named Herman Petrillo?”

“No,” the Doctor replied, “not in the
Alfonsi home, but I met the man once
in my office. He asked me if I could
get him some typhoid germs.”

“What?”

“That’s right. I could hardly be-
lieve my ears at the time and asked
him why he was interested in typhoid
germs, but he only laughed and said
he knew a man in New York who
could use them—could make a couple
of hundred dollars with them.”

“What did you say?”

“TI told him that it was against the
law for any physician to let anything
so dangerous out of his possession and

_ that, besides, I had no laboratory and

rio germs, and even if I did I wouldn’t
put them into private hands. I was
angry about the whole affair and
showed the man the door and told him
never to come back again with a re-
quest like that.”

“And you’re sure the man was
Petrillo?”

“Certainly.” -

“What possible use could a private
individual have for typhoid germs?”

“That I can’t understand—unless it
was to innoculate someone with the
disease.”

Franchetti’s face became grim as he
realized ‘the sinister purposes that
might. have been motivating Petrillo’s
mind—purposes that were more than
shocking if suspicions concerning Al-
fonsi’s strange sickness, linked as it
was with Petrillo’s name, proved to
be well-founded.

And daily Alfonsi grew worse. At
last, on_the morning of October 27,
1938, Doctor Strawbridge, now in full
charge of the patient, told Detective
Franchetti that nothing more could be
done to save Alfonsi’s life. He was a
doomed man. A few hours later, in
great agony with the convulsive trem-
ors which attend severe toxemia, Fer-
dinand Alfonsi drew his last breath—
just two weeks after the suspicions of

.Doctor di Alonzo had been responsible

for removing the man from his home
to the hospital.

Before rigor mortis placed its stiff
hand on the body, Detective Franchetti
said to Doctor Strawbridge: “I’m get-
ting a coroner here. This man’s death
will have to be investigated in every
detail. We'll want a full autopsy.”

The physician agreed and according-
ly Doctor Martin P. Crane, coroner’s
physician, was called. He had the re-
mains removed to the city morgue,
donned white cap and gown and

wielded his scalpel. A quick examina-
tion showed inflamed organs that
might have meant anything. Crane
removed them and turned them over
to City Chemist Doctor Edward J.
Burke.

“Give these a test for arsenic,” he
requested. “‘The police suspect poison
of some nature and that is what seems
to be indicated. We’ll try for others
if that fails.”

Franchetti was waiting anxiously
with Doctor Crane for the results of
Burke’s tests. Meanwhile, his fellow
detectives were watching the house
from which the sick man had been
removed. Everything depended upon
the autopsy—until then the detectives’
hands were tied.

“What do you find?” Franchetti
popped the question at Burke as he
stepped out of the laboratory with a
report in his hand.

“Arsenic! The viscera was practically
— with poison,” Doctor Burke
said.

RANCHETTI didn’t wait for more.

He dashed to a telephone, called
McDevitt and poured the story into the
D. A.’s ears.

“Arrest Mrs. Alfonsi at once!’ were
the words that snapped back over the
wire.

Alfonsi was dead—murdered. But
why? The detectives yet had to un-
cover the motive in the case.

Petrillo already was being held in
$10,000 bail in connection with the
counterfeiting charge, and now, with
Mrs. Alfonsi behind bars, Detective

13

coe fe

&

Sergeants Riccardi and Franchetti
could devote full time to the insur-
ance. Where and for how much was
Ferdinand Alfonsi insured? What had
Herman Petrillo to do with the insur-
ance angle? How could he profit by
Alfonsi’s death? Was there an insur-
ance motive in the sudden deaths that
had taken Phillip Ingrao and Charles
Fravato?

EFORE he died, Alfonsi told the de-

tectives of several applications he
made for insurance, all of which were
unacceptable. Franchetti suspected,
however, that the applications were
resting safely in the files of an insur-
ance company. Franchetti and Ric-
cardi jumped into the job with both
feet. They uncovered plenty them-
selves, but were aided to some extent
by the publicity given to Petrillo’s and
Mrs. Alfonsi’s arrest. Several insur-
ance agents recognized Petrillo’s pic-
ture and came in voluntarily with in-
formation in a series of puzzling cases.

What the detectives learned was
more, perhaps, than any two investi-
gators ever have found in insurance
office files—not only was Ferdinand
Alfonsi insured for $5,500 in numerous
small policies, but so were many other
Philadelphia men who had died mys-
teriously, including the two dead rela-
tives of Mrs. Corinna Fravato, as well

Herman Petrillo: He worked an old gag once too often

Thousands upon thousands of dollars
worth of insurance policies were piled
up—many paid off—not on millionaires
or well-to-do citizens with large in-
comes but on humble laboring folk.
Many of them were out of work, some
of them were on relief, some of them
living on the pittance of WPA jobs.
The thing that was immediately ap-
parent to the investigators was the fact
that all of these people were worth
more, far more, dead than alive.

McDevitt ordered a complete check-
up with insurance agency officials.

“Investigate every one of those sus-
picious-looking cases,” he told the
Homicide Squad detectives.

And the insurance men readily ad-
mitted that some of the questioned
cases on their books had given them
plenty of headaches. The Ingrao case,
for example, was one. Benjamin
Koren, superintendent of the Home
Life Insurance Company, told about
that. Said he:

“We had plenty of trouble on that
case. Our first check-up showed some
suspicious circumstances surrounding
the boy’s death and we wanted to be
sure that his death certificate had been
legally filed. He died suddenly and
the attending physician had not signed

14

\

the certificate. Before we got the
matter washed up, this Herman Pet-
rillo you’re asking about came into the
office wanting to know why we hadn’t

paid Mrs. Fravato—that’s Phillip In- -

grao’s stepmother—the seven hundred
dollars that was coming to her. We
asked him why he was so interested
and he said he was just trying to find
out where Mrs. Fravato stood. When
we told him that we were investigating
the case before paying, Petrillo backed
out the door. That’s the last we ever
saw of him.”

Bs you paid off?” asked Riccardi,

his ears burning with the story
the insurance man had told.

“Certainly. The boy’s death certifi-

cate was okay. Then there was an-
other case in which Mrs. Fravato was
involved—for that matter, so was this
Mrs. Alfonsi you’ve arrested.”

“Which case was that?” Riccardi was
eager.

“It was the Guiseppi di Martino
death. He was a day laborer—couldn’t
have been earning more than twenty
dollars a week—and we learned ‘he had
a great number of other policies with
companies in addition to ours. He died
in February, 1937, rather suddenly,

Was it only personal revenge when John Cacopardo, center, on the witness
stand, charged his uncle, Paul Petrillo, in foreground, with murder conspiracy?

and. we were suspicious. We held up
payment on two policies. It was then
that three women—Mrs. Fravato, Mrs.
Alfonsi and Mrs. di Martino—came
into the office to ask why we had not
paid off. I told them we were sus-
picious and were investigating and if
they wanted, we’d pay the premiums
back, but not the death benefit. They
had a conference between themselves
and finally agreed to accept our offer.
We paid them $125 on one policy and
$496 on the other.”

“You don’t know if Herman Petril-
lo’s name figured in that case, do you?”
asked Riccardi.

“No,” Koren gaid, “but you might
run into a contact with some of the
other insurance men. There’s another

,man in our company who can tell you

more about di Martino. His name’s
Dominick Corigliano. You might look
him up.”

Detectives
said: his mind was “master”

Caesar Valenti:

Vi Ee ARAB aes Mae

The Homicide Squad _ detectives
jotted down the name of Phillip In-
grao and followed up the clew offered
by another policy—that paid on Phil-
lip’s father’s death. Charles Fravato,
who was 41 at the time of his death,
died on August 8, 1935. George H.
McCann, representing another insur-
ance company, told the detectives that
he had paid $7,801 to Mrs. Fravato.

“And,” he added, “‘at the time I paid
over the money, Herman Petrillo, who
was at the Fravato home, told me that
Phillip, the dead man’s son, would be
a good insurance risk. I told Petrillo
to have Ingrao put through his appli-
cations in the regular way.”

“He certainly acted on your advice,”
said Riccardi. “At least someone did.
We’ve found that Ingrao, or someone
acting for him, made applications for
eighteen policies, totaling $14,031.
Some of the policies were small and
some of them were refused, but when
he died he had $5,393 in insurance,
$1,993 by three companies.”

i hee detectives thanked McCann and
added his information to their notes.
Tedious investigation and questioning
brought out the fact that Fravato had
a total of $9,030 in insurance in six
policies at the time of his death. The
largest policy was for $5,000, in which
Mrs. Fravato was named beneficiary.
Four other policies totaled $3,500, but
no beneficiary was named. Mrs. Frava-
to claimed these, too. A sixth pol'cy,
for $530, named Theresa de Luca, said
to be Mrs. Fravato’s mother, as the
beneficiary.

The most sensational bit of infor-
mation was provided by Dominick
Corigliano of the Home Life Insurance
Company. He told the detectives that
he had been offered a “big job” by
Herman Petrillo.

“At that time,’ said Corigliano,
‘Petrillo was in Mrs. Fravato’s home.
He sneered at me and said that I was
just a ‘little guy collecting nickels.’ He
said if I wanted to play ball with a
real outfit, I could make myself some
big money. I asked him what he meant
and he said that it had something to
do with insurance. He said that he
represented the Germantown branch
and that his cousin, Paul, controlled a
branch in South Philadelphia. He told
me the outfit had other branches in

oD—5


FS ae

Wilmington, New Jersey, and in New
York. At that time I thought he was
just talking. I forgot all about it.”

Back to Headquarters rushed the
excited detectives and dumped their
story into the D. A.’s lap. McDevitt’s
face set into a mask as he slumped in
his chair. His fingers tapped a tattoo
on his desk to keep pace with his fly-
ing thoughts. Besides the names of
Charles Fravato, Phillip Ingrao and
di Martino, the detectives had un-
covered scores of policies about which
the insurance companies had ex-
pressed doubt.

The new and unexpected turn of
affairs almost dwarfed the significance
of the Alfonsi case, which now be-

Detectives knew the arsenic ring
was far from broken when they
saw this threatening note ad-
dressed to George Meyers, the man
who was the State’s star witness

came only a part of a great pattern.
Mrs. Stella Alfonsi was due to coHect
$5,500 when her husband’s death cer-
tificate was filed. This for a woman
who repeatedly had assured her hus-
band that all his numerous insurance
applications had come back null and
void. And her poisoned husband had
gone into the dissecting-rooms of the
city morgue uneasily dead in the be-
lief that he had left nothing behind
him for his wife and children.

\

Ftd to stick the keystone into the

towering maze of intrigue was the
name of Herman Petrillo, who had
popped up time and again in connec-
tion with mysterious deaths—deaths
upon which insurance money was due
to be paid or had been paid.

“Go out and tear into Phillip In-
grao’s affairs. Find out how he died
and just what the hitch was in getting
a death certificate for the lad.” Dis-
trict Attorney McDevitt barked his
commands. “I’m beginning to think
that we have opened up not one mur-
der case but a dozen. We’ve had two
witnesses who connect Paul Petrillo’s
name with the outfit—Cacopardo and
Corigliano. Now we'll have to see what
Kelly reports from Sing Sing. This
thing looks like an organized effort to
collect money for dead men. An or-
ganization—if one exists—which has
a man at the top, a master mind, who
does the long-time plotting. He’s a
man of uncanny ability—one who can
sway dozens of people, either through
fear or threats. That would fit this
witch-doctor description of Paul Pet-
rillo. We have no real evidence against
him; nothing to arrest him on. But
we're going to find the right evidence;
we're going to find out how this outfit
works—if there is such a thing. This

. OD—5

case is beginning to smell to the
planets.” :

So Franchetti and Riccardi, with the
help of others of the Homicide Squad,
dug into Phillip Ingrao’s death. At the
Fravato home, No. 4546 North Bouvier
Street, the dead boy’s brother, Michael,
told the detectives that Phillip had
= for three weeks before his

eath.

tI HETRILLO,” Michael said, “came

here once or twice while Phil.was

sick. He used to board at our house.”

“Petrillo, eh? Who was your doc-

tor?” Riccardi asked, anxious to get
down to tangibles immediately.

“Doctor Frank S. Massanzio, Greene

Michael Ingrao: He told in-

vestigators of his brother’s
sudden sickness and death

and Coulter Streets, Germantown,”
Michael answered.

The Doctor’s office was the next stop.
Queried about Ingrao’s death, Doctor
Massanzio said:

“Sure, I remember the case very
well. I was called in by Mrs. Fravato
on June 3.” The Doctor consulted his
file. “The boy was already desperately
ill with what appeared to be severe
gastritis and inflammation of the
bowels. What had caused such a con-
dition was impossible to discover. I

-began treatment but the patient im-

proved and I stopped calling after a
few days. That was the last I heard of
it until June 25, when Mrs. Fravato,
the boy’s stepmother, called me in
and said Phillip had died. I went im-
mediately to examine the body and
was not at all pleased with what I
found. Mrs. Fravato urged, me to sign
a death certificate.

“‘Say it was pneumonia,’ she sug-
gested. I became very angry and told
her that since I had not been called
until after death and last had seen the
boy a week prior when he was prac-
tically well, I was not willing to sign
without proper investigation or an
autopsy. She wouldn’t give her con-
sent to an autopsy, so I left without
signing. What they did about it I can’t
tell you. Later the undertakers called
me and again tried to get me to sign,
because the boy was my patient and
they had to get on with the embalm-
ing—but I still refused.”

“Who were the
queried Riccardi.

“A woman—Mrs. Josephine Erre-
chetti—and her son-in-law, Dominic
J. Potaccio.”

The undertaking firm was the next
stop on the detectives’ route.

(Continued on Page 51)

undertakers?”

Mrs. Agnes Mandiuk, left, and Mrs. Josephine Romaldo, right,
had new reasons for mourning their husbands’ untimely deaths

15


And the information of Mrs. Rose
Starace, Molly’s mother, was sensa-
tional. She said:

“Paul Petrillo came to my house to
warn me that Johnny Cacopardo in-
tended to kill us. I had never seen
him before. At dinner he brought out
a little box containing white powder.
He asked my husband if he used snuff,
but my husband said ‘No,’ so Petrillo
put the box back in his pocket without
taking any himself. I asked him if he
was a great magician, as Johnny had
told us. He said it was true. He
showed us a little packet of powder
which he said was made from dead
men’s bones. He said if ‘we want to
get rid of someone all we do is take
the powder, put in alcohol and with a
snap of the fingers the person we want
to get rid of dies.’ I told him that in
New York we had autopsies performed
on persons where death was sudden
and asked if they did not have them

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in Pennsylvania. He said he had im-
portant connections.”

Mrs. Starace produced a letter which
she said was from Petrillo to her
daughter, in which Petrillo offered to
send Dominic Starace “to California.”
Mrs. Starace interpreted this to mean
death. A further excerpt from the
letter read as follows:

“Johnny understands what I mean,
and I could do it in 24 hours or a
week, whichever you want, but it will
cost your mother $500 . . . Let me
know if he has any insurance. If not,
take all you can get and when the
time comes I will take care of it. This
is the only way to cure him, so that
you and your mother will be quiet and
enjoy life and peace.” ;

Cacopardo had told detectives be-
fore this that Starace was insured for
$25,000, and that Petrillo offered to
split a $10,000 fee if the man was
killed. Cacopardo said he refused to
go through with the deal. The detec-
tives had noted the Starace case for
future investigation when the pend-
ing matters had been cleared up. Be-
sides that, the Starace case came under
the jurisdiction of Brooklyn, New
York, police.

With the gigantic case far from
completed because of the number of
deaths yet to be investigated, trial of
Herman Petrillo was scheduled for
early March. Indictments charging
murder and conspiracy were returned
by the grand jury against Herman,
Mrs. Alfonsi and Mrs. Fravato. Paul
Petrillo was indicted for conspiracy to
murder. It was felt if convictions could
be obtained against these people, the
backbone of one phase of ‘the ring
would be broken and leads would be
found to others. Detectives had hints
of other angles and believed the whole
thing finally would be interlocked in
one complete picture.

The whole case against Paul was
founded on circumstantial evidence
and the detectives, with McDevitt,
were among the few who realized the
tremendous task it would be to get a
conviction. Pressure—that was what
was needed to break the hydra-headed
arsenic murder ring.

On March 13, Herman Petrillo went
on trial before Judge Harry S. Mc-
Devitt, no relation to the Prosecutor.
Star witnesses included Meyers, Phil-
lips, who in November resigned from
the Secret Service; the detectives; John
Cacopardo, who was permitted an ex-
tended vacation from Sing Sing, and
Mrs. Starace. On the ninth day of the
trial, Herman was found guilty by a
jury which was out four hours and

Father Flanagan Tells— (Continued from

eighteen, he was facing the electric
chair—a murderer. The state had fed
and clothed him at intermittent periods,
but it had not reached his head or his
heart. The reformatory never does.
Public opinion, once aroused, can
change all that. It can demand that
all: we know of mental health and
character training be placed at the dis-
posal of institutions for the first-
offender; that a competent and ade-
quately trained personnel be assured,
and that such personnel be taken from
the insecurity of the political arena and
transferred to the category of depend-
able and independent public servants.
What would be the results of such a
move? We should be able to turn our
first-offenders, in large numbers, from
the avenues of crime to the paths of
right and social living.

HE ancient and inadequate ma-

chinery of justice which deals with
juvenile offenders needs mightily to be
changed, and public opinion can
change it. The present general sys-
tem of measuring the offense by the
standard of the law and passing sen-
tence in accord with the findings is out
of date, costly and of little benefit to
the young offender, or to Society. We
need a system which will bring not
the offense but the offender into sharp
focus. We need magistrates who will
be equipped academically to determine

fifteen minutes, part of the time being
taken to eat dinner. The verdict was
guilty with a recommendation he be
electrocuted.

With Herman Petrillo’s conviction,
Assistant District Attorney McDevitt
believed he could bring harsher charges
against Paul. He did and Paul Petrillo,
the sleek, yell-tailored witch doctor,
was brought before the judge on
charges of outright murder. With him
was Mrs. Susie di Martino, the mild-
mannered wife of the dead laborer who
never knew he had an additional
policy on his life. The murder charge
forestalled bail and both were held ‘in
jail until trial.

Assistant District Attorney McDevitt
realized that each of the persons ar-
rested was under tremendous pres-
sure. With the detectives, he believed
the suspects’ fears that the others
would talk finally would cause one or
more of them to break. The detectives
were quick to plant this idea in the
arrested persons’ minds, depending on
the psychological factors finally to re-
act in the law’s favor. And it worked.
Mrs. di Martino was the first to crack
under the strain.*She promised to turn
state’s evidence and McDevitt finally
realized that he had his prisoners on
the run.

Mrs. di Martino’s story put Mrs.
Fravato on the spot and McDevitt,
hoping that the heavy-set widow
would break, decided to put the “pres-
sure” on her by bringing her to trial
next. Again McDevitt was successful—
this time beyond his wildest dreams.
Aiter three days of the open court
battle, the poison widow gave up the
struggle.

She wanted to plead guilty to three
murders!

And promptly she proceeded to do
so. Not only to her common-law hus-
band’s death and that of her stepson,
Phillip Ingrao’s, but also to that of the
martyred di Martino. The obese
woman now said that she had been
responsible for di Martino’s death;
that she had poisoned him and col-
lected part of his insurance; that she
had forged his name on one policy
with a double indemnity clause and
collected the insurance by trickery
when the company was about to pay
the widow. The trickery, she con-
fessed, consisted of having the widow
sign receipts for the insurance after
telling her they were papers concern-
ing her husband’s funeral.

Mrs. Fravato’s story, the detectives
believed, would be the opening wedge
to crack the whole case open. Hastily
she was taken from the courtroom and

whether reform of the offender is pos-
sible, and the logical means to ac-
complish it. Such a court should have
the services of social-welfare experts
and capable mental hygienists. So-
ciety must be protected against the
ravages of the hopelessly anti-social
repeater. At the same time, it needs
equal protection against the possibility
that it is subversively educating, by
contamination, entirely reformable
characters. The juvenile court should
be more of a clinic than a court, and
the juvenile code should consider so-
cial assets as well as social liabilities
if Society is to receive a fair return on
its investment.

Against the forces of crime and law-
lessness, Society arrays the forces of
law and order. We need to realize that
the police exist for the protection and
safety of all and we must impart a
spirit of interest and respect for them
to our children. They represent the
law, and our youngsters must learn to
respect it and its servants.

Police systems of many cities are
making valiant efforts to merit that in-
terest and respect by sponsoring com-
munity centers, boys’ clubs and other
social-welfare activities. It is no more
than fair that the public meet them
half-way. If their sole function were
to protect Society against the depreda-
tions of the criminal army, they would
merit our interest, respect and co-

ry

quizzed in private. What she told gave
the detectives added weapons to use
against the hitherto silent Herman
Petrillo and Mrs. Alfonsi, who had
been termed a “sphinx.” But the story
of the badly frightened Mrs. Fravato
resulted in more specific methods of
approach.

Three additional women were
breught in to Police Headquarters, two
of them charged with murder, and one
man, who was charged with being an
accessory. These women were Mrs.
Marie Wolosyn, who was questioned
but not charged with any crime in
connection with her husband’s death;
Mrs. Josephine Rorgaldo, whose hus-
band, Antonio, had died under sus-
picious circumstances in 1936, and Mrs.
Agnes Mandiuk, whose husband, Ro-
maine, had died of “heart disease” in
1935. The man arrested was Emilio
Micelli, said to have been a close
friend of Mrs. di Martino. He was
charged with being an accessory in di
Martino’s death. Mrs. Mandiuk and
Mrs. Romaldo were charged with
murder.

Much work remained in connection
with the investigation of each of these
persons, including exhumations of men
long dead. Besides this, the detectives
now asked that warrants be obtained
for others, including one for a man
named Caesar Valenti, who, they said,
was one of the “master minds” in the
ring.

At last the investigators believed
they had broken into the inner sanc-
tum of the huge plot. They announced
that Herman Petrillo was ready to talk.

ITH publication of this new infor-

mation, one investigator, who had
gone hours without much-needed sleep,
remarked:

“Before Mrs. Fravato began talking,
we thought there were somewhere be-
tween 30 and 70 deaths directly trace-
able to the prisoners. Now—who
knows? If someone were to say 10,000,
I would almost believe ’em!”

What new truths lie behind the
latest facts uncovered in the case that
has become known as the greatest
murder conspiracy in American his-
tory? Who are the real ringleaders in
the amazing arsenic ring? What is their
background? What new truths will
Herman Petrillo reveal? How many
new murders will be uncovered; how
many additional bodies will have to be
exhumed for poison tests? For further
revelations in this sensational case see
the next instalment in the August issue
of OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES.

page facing Page 1)

operation. The expansion of police ef-
forts along social-welfare lines is a
very healthy social trend. We can help
to prevent crime by working in close
harmony with them.

The few thoughts I have expressed
on the subject of how we can prevent
crime are by no means exhaustive.
They are meant merely to suggest how
the general public may cooperate in
positive efforts.

I have reserved the most highly im-
portant consideration for the last. “Of
all the dispositions and habits,” said
George Washington, “which tend to-
ward political prosperity, religion and
morality are indispensable supports.”
The social code is grounded in religion,
on the law of God. We can best serve
our country in the war on crime, and
aid most in its prevention, by realizing
and acting in accordance with that
simple fact. We need a grand and gen-
eral revival of religious faith and
Christian principles. The lack of them
has broken many a home and many a
heart. If the spirit of the Christian
philosophy were to permeate our civic
life, our courts, our schools and insti-
tutions, our task of crime prevention
would be simple indeed. But any suc-
cess we may have will depend and
must depend upon the practical appli-
cation of those principles. Here, as in
all departments of human endeavor,
our hope is in God.

OD—5


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hind him had produced. Into them the
chemist flung handful after handful
of pills, powders and lotions which
he turned out of drawers and shelves.
While the chemist and his aides were
literally cleaning house in Doctor
Perlman’s inner sanctum, another
contingent of men was calmly sort-
ing the effects of his file cabinets.
When they got through, the file cab-
inets as well as the desk drawers were
stark and bare.

The phone jangled uneasily, Doctor
Perlman, white and inert as he
watched the detectives raid his per-
sonal effects, looked anxiously at the
instrument. A detective sprang to-
ward it. Lifting the receiver he said
quietly: “Doctor Perlman’s office—”
a standardized phrase he was to re-
peat into that telephone for many
successive days. His orders from
Headquarters had been: “Get every

| incoming call into that office. We’ll do

the rest of the checking.”

Rushed to City Hall while the con-
tents of his office were taken to the
laboratories of Doctor Burke for anal-
ysis, Doctor Perlman was arraigned
without counsel before Judge Mc-
Devitt. It was just one hour after the
Captain had stopped him at the curb
in front of his home. Although a law-
yer, Maurice Mordell, who announced
himself as “a friend of the Perlman
family,” was hovering around the ante-
chambers of City Hall, the physician
denied that he had retained counsel.
On the testimony of a single witness,
Acting Captain Kelly of the Homicide
Squad, Doctor Perlman was held
without bail.

The charge?

Selling poison!

HAT one-sentence charge put the

practising physician in the itchy
spot occupied by an accessory before
and after the fact of murder.

There were more than 100 known
or suspected cases of homicide now
piled up before the door of the
gigantic arsenic syndicate. Whence
had come the immense supplies for
the long-time poisoning of these pre-
marked victims? Who had_ supplied
the'ring-leaders with not only arsenic
but also. another poison, a sub-
stance so subtle that scarcely a trace
of its depredations remain to tell the
horrible tale? A killing mineral which
only a physician or chemist would
know how to use. A poison named
by Bolber in that hour-by-hour saga
of horror which he had related to de-
tectives in an all-night seance. Could
this mineral have been the mysterious
“other poison” discovered, but not
analyzed, by city chemists earlier in
‘the poison-ring . autopsies? Doctor
Perlman, respected obstetrician, 53-
year-old graduate of the Medico-Chi-
rurgical Medical School (no longer in
existence), police suspected, was the
pagnissing piece in the jig-saw which

date had lacked the original poison
source. And it was possible, also, that
Doctor Perlman might be the source
of information used by the ring in
spotting ~victims—men who already
were weakened from illness, poverty-
stricken and penniless.

It seemed incredible that a reputa-
ble physician who had built up a siz-
able practise in a large city, who had
the respect of all who knew him, could
have slipped into league with the type
of people in the cast of the murder
drama. Yet—

Bolber’s epic, like a dramatic leg-
end of old, had rolled steadily onward.

Herman Petrillo—oh, yes—Bolber
knew all about Herman. His name
was injected into practically every
case Bolber' was spouting about.
The pseudo-psychiatrist explained just
how the spaghetti-dealer had stage-
managed the show. He told how in-
surance was obtained, what the ruses
to avoid detection had been, what the
cuts and slices were that other mem-
bers had received for each victim suc-
cessfully planted in cemeteries—or
dump: unceremoniously into local
rivers, run. down in Philadelphia
streets or pushed under waves in the
Atlantic Ocean off the Jersey coast.

-| And he told just what. part insurance

dealers, doctors and undertakers had

played ‘in cooperating with the pup-
pet-string pullers,

. “Herman had a lot of rackets,” Bol-
ber explained. “There was the arson
stuff—’

Police already knew about the arson
charges against the Langhorne spa-
ghetti-dealer, but such minor phases
of the case had been lost in the shuffle
when Federal Government counterfeit-
ing charges and Philadelphia County
poison and murder charges had brok-
en simultaneously on the same man.

“Go down to the Detective Division
and have a look at those arson
charges,” Kelley directed one of his
men, “We may as well check as we
go along.”

Said Detective Edward Doughtery
of the Labor Department when que-
ried by the Homicide Squad officer:

“Petrillo has three charges standing
against him as a repetitive firebug. If
there’s anything left of him when you
get through, we’ll take him over. Not
only that, but I was on the detail that
investigated those fires and I recall
that we found supplies of high ex-

plosives concealed in Petrillo’s garage.” °

The Homicide Squad member re-
layed Doughtery’s information.

“That,” said Kelley, “is enough to
check with what Bolber is giving us.
It may help fix the blame for that
bomb-throwing last September.”

The D. A. referred to the mysterious
affair of September 20, 1938, when
the home of Doctor Richard F. Ger-
lach, physician to the German Con-
sulate of Philadelphia, was rocked by
a bomb which was tossed from a
passing car and landed in front of his
door. Doctor Gerlach’s home was _ lo-
cated at No. 1526 North Fifteenth—
right next door to Doctor Perlman,
the physician now under arrest for
poison-ring activities! ‘

At the time of the bombing, the
world at large was agog over a spy

scare. The bombing was classed as an °

attempt to intimidate the German
Consul, although Doctor Gerlach de-
nied that he had any connections
whatsoever with political organiza-
tions either in this country or abroad,
“I’m inclined to thinkenow that the
bomb was intended for Doctor Perl-
man,” remarked Kelley. “His home
was adjacent to Doctor Gerlach’s and
now that Petrillo has been linked
definitely to fire, arson and explosives,
I think he’ll supply the missing mo-
tive in the bombing—probably a
threat to Doctor Perlman to comply
with poison-ring activities or else.”
Meanwhile, exhumations were go-
ing grimly forward as the D. A. and
his man piled up the Bolber informa-
tion for checking and re-checking. A
flurry of renewed activity was filling
the offices and corridors behind the
sealed doors of No. 582. And in city
laboratories the gruesome business of
scalpel and retort was going madly on.

Doctor Charles A. Moriarty was
wielding the knives over the exhumed
body of John Wolosyn, formerly of
No. 3029 North: 26th Street. He had
been buried in January of 1936 as the
victim of a hit-skip driver.

Doctor Martin P. Crane was per-
forming autopsies on the remains of
Romaine Mandiuk, former resident. at
No. 3042 North 26th Street—a few doors
from the Wolosyn house—who had died
December 22, 1935, and on the body
of Antonio Romaldo who died Novem-
ber 13, 1936, at No. 4256 North Reese
Street.

The two men in white made pre-
liminary medical tests and examina-
tions, which went down on record, and
then proceeded to remove the viscera
of the three dead men after under-
takers legally had identified the
bodies, Hermetically sealed, the in-
ternal organs were delivered next to
Doctor Burke, city chemist, for the
remaining chemical analysis. Await-
ing outcome of those tests were the
widows of the three men—in Moya-
mensing prison.

Kelley, directing the rush of inter-

weaving leads which were piling up:
on both sides of his overcrowded .

desk, began to sort the stuff in an
attempt to weed out the things which
could wait. He glanced down the list
of names of people marked for ques-

oD—t

452.3
82oe

Pa


PFETRILLOS

Jprcovering

NV Urade = A S

pXvES 'GATION of a minor counter citi); case against Herman Petrillo, a
spaghetti salesman, unearths a death plot against a young workman named
Ferdinand Alfonsi. A love affair between Petrillo and Stella, Alfonsi’s wife,
is at first believed the motive. When Alfonsi dies of arsenic poisoning, officers
realize there must be a deeper motive. Then the investigators learn of other
mysterious deaths among Petrillo’s acquaintances. Questioning of Mrs. Corinna
Fravato, fat witch-woman, and John Cacopardo, a Sing Sing convict and
nephew of Paul Petrillo, Herman’s cousin, discloses a broad plot to merchan-
dise death for insurance benefits. Mysterious deaths for the past ten years in
Philadelphia come under the close scrutiny of the District Attorney’s office.
There are scores of them. Paul Petrillo is arrested and, as the plot unfolds,
investigators learn more incredible facts. The ring, playing on the ignorance
and suspicions of its victims, not only arranged deaths but also chose candidates
for death and saw to it that each was insured. Beneficiaries split the take with
the ring’s ghoulish leaders. The District Attorney realizes a master mind is
behind the plotting and plays off one suspect against another. Herman Petrillo,
convicted in Alfonsi’s murder, starts to “sing” to save himself from the chair.

)

He is followed by Mrs. Fravato, who pleads guilty to three slayings, and Mrs.'

Susie di Martino. Confessions and testimony fast link Morris Bolber, fake faith
healer, with the plot. Others named include Caesar Valenti, strong-arm giant,
and Mrs. Rose Carina, known as “The Rose of Death.” Bolber surrenders and
Valenti is found. Investigators, seeking to learn the origin of the poison used,
search the offices of Doctor Horace Perlman after arresting him. New names
and new killings are disclosed. Each has to be investigated. Bolber starts to
talk, an incredible tale slipping from his oily tongue. And still the search for
Rose Carina continues. Now go on with the story:

Vociferous in her claims of innocence concerning her hus-
band’s death, Mrs. Anna Arena embraces her son while
Detective Anthony Franchetti waits to take her to a cell

1 Cae

Philadelphias Arsenic Ring:

You Want |}

ae
=a

By Fenton Mallory

Special Investigator for
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES |

JJ] OOKS like the murder score is
going up to two hundred,”
breathed District . Attorney

Charles F, Kelley as he surveyed the
mountainous piles of notes, letters,
confessions and evidence — stacked
around his office and looked at the
worn faces of .his staff of detectives
and “those of the Homicide Squad, who
had been working tirelessly since the
multiple murder case first broke.

“It would be impossible,” continued
the D. A., “for any one person to keep
the details of this case in his mind.
Therefore I’m going to divide you boys
into teams of two and pass out the

assignments ‘accordingly. That will
give each of you a chance to concen-
trate on individual culprits. Remem- ,
ber, we’ve got to collect enough evi-
dence on each one of these suspects to
convict—it isn’t -enough merely to
make an arrest.”

The D. A. reached for a long list of
names. ~

“Every time we make an arrest and
get: even a partial confession, a new
set of murders is opened up—and
new evidence’ is landed against the
suspects we already have in jail or on
ice.” :

Like his men, the D. A., in whose

Pranksters revealed sardonic hu-
mor in erecting signs in the Pass-
yunk Avenue neighborhood, cen-,
ter of much of the investigation

capable hands the tangled reins of the
entire case were entwined, had been
given not a moment’s relaxation nor
rest since being called home from a
Florida vacation to take over the
investigation.

The Chief looked over the list in his
hand—names ‘of men and women im-
plicated by Bolber’s slick tongue,
which to date, however, had elimi-
nated himself neatly from the mur-
derous roster,

“What ‘about Bolber?” queried one
of the detectives. “Think he’ll con-
fess?”

“Perhaps. But what difference does
it make? We've got that chap tied in
a knot,” remarked Kelley. “These
people he’s been putting the finger on
—perhaps they’ll have something to
say, too. So let’s go. I think this fellow
here—” the D. A, pointed to a name

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we were sure-of an identification by
the victims. : :

We found where Arine worked. It
was: after hours, but. we located the

_ Manager and got his home address.

Arine. was pretty. nervous when we
walked in. :

“We got Thompson,” I told him.
There was a squib in the Portland

apers about his arrest and I showed
t to him.

But Arine dummied up and said he
didn’t know what we were talking
about.

We were anxious to have him talk,
for we weren’t so suré of an identi-
fication by Austin, who was the only
one who had seen him. If Thompson
did not; implicate him our case
wouldn’t be any too strong. A smart

.criminal lawyer can beat this kind of

a case,
“We're going to take you along, so
you may as well throw in the sponge,”

Kuehl told him. eas

Mrs. Arine came into the room. Sh
was a nice-looking young girl. It is too
darn bad that thugs get mixed up with
good women, but there is hardly any-
thing we can do about it.

“Where are you going to take him?”
she cried. :

We explained that we were detec-

ar
Murder As You Want It (Continued from Page 15). orgie

divested himself of a_ well-tailored
Chesterfield, folded it carefully and,
laying his pearl-gray fedora atop it,
smoothed his hair and whispered a
few words to his counsel, Bernard R.

‘Cohn. Formally, he turned to face the

judges while his attorney spoke for
him in answer to the charges brought
by McDevitt on behalf of the People.
Cohn, reminding the magistrates that
Bolber had surrendered willingly to
police and had not been arrested, said
his client would be willing to aid
police in any way possible with the
Investigation.. The fact that he was a
man who had practiced faith-healing
among hundreds of New York and
Philadelphia people was the reason he
knew so much about the present ar-
senic-ring combine. ‘‘Family troubles,”
as Cohn termed it, had brought many
humble folk to Bolber’s door for ad-
vice. Receiving it in confidence had
heretofore sealed his lips. But now he
would be willing to talk...

The listening magistrates decided
that Brandt, Valenti and Bolber mer-
ited further hearings—after detectives
and Homicide Squad men had listened
to what they had to say in answer to
some of those burning questions in the
files up in the D. A.’s offices.

Bolber was rushed from court to
closet—with a mob of detectives on his
heels. In the little room behind the
big outside doors of No. 582, from
which all reporters and photographers
were barred, the men went into their
quiz. Hours and hours passed as
Bolber faced Kelley and McDevitt and
the squadron of investigators. Around
the door of Room No. 3 were packed
the aides who waited instructions—
ready to hop out on assignments, fol-
low leads and check tips.

And into that stuffy room poured
Morris Bolber’s story.

pt COURT Cohn, the attorney, had
stated that Bolber was not now and
never had been a rabbi. Nor, claimed
Cohn, had he ever posed as one, He
became known as “The Rabbi” among
people who sought his spiritual advice.
Cohn termed him a “psychiatrist” al-
though, according to law, a medical
degree as well as graduate work in the
upper realms of psychology are re-

» quired before any individual may affix

such an appendage to his name.
Bolber admitted that although he
had been a resident in New York for

~. over. a year he formerly had lived in

Philadelphia at: a Moyamensing: Ave-
nue address near Ninth Avenue where

“clients” visited him in great numbers.

Yes; he told the investigators; he knew

~ Herman Petrillo, the Langhorne. spa-
te ee . Tbe

admit anything. We: weren’t particu-_
‘larly worried about him, though, for -

tives -and were taking him in: on-a‘
robbery rap. sath WON
“But there .is some mistake,” ‘she
bm Weide wouldn’t do anything like
at.” :

“How long have you known him?”

“Two years. I just know he couldn’t
be mixed up in that kind of thing.”

“Two years,” I mused. “Arine, I.
wonder if you made the same mistake
your pal Thompson did.”

I looked at Mrs. Arine. She was
wearing a beautiful ladies’ wrist-
watch.

“Is that part of the loot?” I asked
him, indicating the watch.

He didn’t say anything.

“You don’t have to talk, of course,”
I reminded him. “‘We’ve got a complete
list of the numbers on the stuff that
was taken at Austin’s. We can check it
if you’d rather. It will come out sooner :
or later.”

“Don’t bother,” he said. “It’s from’
there. I’ll give you all the dope.
Thompson and I robbed the place, all
right.”

There was a Hell of a scene when
he had to admit to his wife that he was
a bandit. It was plenty tough and it is
too-darn bad a lot of young punks
couldn’t have seen it before they pull
their first job. They forget that one of |
these days they, are going’ to: fall in|
love and get married ....and that love |

ghetti dealer, and his cousin, Paul Pe- °
trillo, the tailor and witch-doctor, very |
well. He explained that in the poison- '
ring set-up, Paul, the voodoo man,
was the “manager” of the South Philly
branch of the syndicate, Valenti had
charge of the North Philly area,-while |
Herman. was what might be termed '
the walking delegate, covering the en-
tire city and many outside suburbs and
a in his: insurance-murder activi-
ies.

“And you, Bolber—weren’t you the
general manager for this whole _poi- '
sonous rabble?” the D. A. interrupted
to ask.

“Certainly not!” The dapper faith- ;
healer denied the charge hotly. “I
have no connection with the ring. I
merely have very valuable advice for
you which you may use in clearing up
this case—”

“Go on,” ordered the District Attor-
ney.

And as the story progressed, it not
only duplicated but also far surpassed
the saga of avaricious murder and
bloodshed with which Mrs. Fravato’s
torrent of tales had flooded that very
room. It chilled the spines of all who
listened as the man of magic and mys-
tery, of crystal-gazing and glowering
ritual calmly hissed it across the table
into the waiting ears of the D. A.

Bolber’s gruesome story sent detec-
tive-secretaries’ pencils and_ typing
machines scurrying across reams of
Paper,’ sent a herd of the waiting
plainclothes men in the antechamber
corridors skipping out of City Hall to
the four corners of the sprawling city.
It sent some of them to the coroner’s
office with orders for three exhuma-
tions and requests for autopsies.

Bolber’s story flowed on and on—

Finally, the wearied D. . in-
structed his men to go on with the
examination while he slipped home
to freshen up. His final advice to call
him if Bolber spilled anything really
significant in his absence - brought
him back to. the office in a pell-mell
rush. Names ... names... names...
were .slipping from the end of Bol-
ber’s: slick: tongue. But one name stood
out like a search-light ray on a foggy
night. It was a key name investiga-
tors had been trying to find which
would open up the vast ramifications
of this spreading, sprawling’ investi-
gation which already had clambered
over the borders. of Pennsylvania and
into foreign territory.

* That name was Doctor Horace D.
Perlman! . ;

In a split second, the whole chain
of -offices behind No. 582 as well as
the offices. of. the. .adjacent ‘County

. shoulder.

doesn’t autdmatically wipe out a crime
and its debt.to Society. 2." 23° .c:

Arine’ was as good:as his word. He
made a full confession... He not only

‘implicated. Thompson but also named

the Seattle jeweler, Sol Bender, as the
man who cased the job for them.

“which was exactly as we had it doped

‘at the start. ‘

‘Bender smelted down’ the gold out
of the watches and fenced the dia-
monds. They took all of the works out

of the watches and threw them in Lake >

Union. ,

We confronted Thompson with Ar-
ine’s statement and he came through
with one substantiating it.

“IT should’a known better’n to give
that ring to Rose,” he said.’ “Dames
and diamonds are dynamite.”

The only hold-out was Bender. He

‘denied it. and kept denying it even

when he went to court. He got ten
years and went to prison. denying it.
He was pardoned two. years ago be-
peng of failing health and died a year
ater.

Thompson and Arine each drew 20

years for their part and are still doing |

their time in the State Penitentiary.
Oh yes, and by the way, Rose had to

, give up her diamond. It burned her

no end, because it evened the score by
making her’ as big a chump as
Thompson. : ;

pee r

Read It First in. . -
AL DETECTIVE STORIES

Detectives. and the Detective Bureau,
downstairs, were electrified. Tension
mounted :.as all the important figures
in the cavalcade of investigators were
summoned from their various. posts.
Those not already present at the Bol-
ber hearing were notified: to appear.
Among them “were Acting Captain
James “A. ‘Kelly; Superintendent of
Police Edward Hubbs; ‘Assistant Dis-
trict Attorney McDevitt; . Captains

| George ‘Richardson and James Ryan,

of the Detective Bureau; City Chem-
ist Doctor‘ Edward Burke and a cor-
don of. detectives from the Homicide

: Squad... ° +. 5 2

It was May 3, the day following
Bolber’s arraignment. A swift parade
of plain, unmarked police ‘cars was
converging on an address in North
Philadelphia, not far from the Na-
tional Stomach Hospital, the institu-
tion.in which Ferdinand Alfonsi, poi-
soned husband of Stella, had died. In
the first car, directing the maneuvers,
sat Acting Captain Kelly. He signaled
the car to stop just before it swung
past No. 1524 North Fifteenth Street.

As the car came to a swift halt, the
officer and his men leaped to_the

‘sidewalk. Kelly dashed up to a car

which was just pulling away from
the curb. At the wheel was.an immac-
ulately attired gentleman—trim, be-
spectacled and dashing. A neatly
waxed mustache: seemed to, make a
longitudinal exclamation mark .above
his pepper-and-salt tweed coat.

“Are you Doctor Horace Perlman?”
martes , welly of: the driver.

‘I am.” -

“And you?” queried the Captain of
the man beside him. .
~ “Doctor I. G. Becker,” the other
returned promptly.

Kelly twisted the handle of the car
he had stopped. “We'd like to talk
with you—in your office, Doctor Perl-
man,” the police officer said. bs

Doctor Perlman‘ glanced over his
A line of other cars was
parking along North Fifteenth Street.
Alert-looking men were jumping from
them to the’ sidewalk. ‘

“Certainly—” said Doctor Perlman,
unhesitantly.. He threw his gear into
neutral, ‘twisted the ignition keys. and
pocketed them and led the way into
his offices, : ;

Before he could turn to inquire the
nature of the Captain’s visit the: men
who. had. been > collecting outside
brushed past into the inner consulta-
tion rooms, City .Chemist Doctor
Burke swung open cabinet and closet
doors—sweeping bottles, -: vials. and
flasks into boxes which detectives be-

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pe. tioning: Among them .were: . Mrs.
*< Anna Arena; Mrs. Rose Davis; Mrs.
*- Christina Cerrone; - Gaetano Ciccanti;

a Millie Giacobbe—and Sam Sor-
0. ;

.“Go! get these people,” ordered
Kelley, passing out the names among
his detectives. “And follow the usual
procedure—take them by surprise.

* "Phere have been numerous attempts

at suicide even in prison and I’m not
willing that one of these people,
either suspect or confessed killer,
shall be given the opportunity to take
the easiest way out.”

ONSEQUENTLY, the plainclothes
men slipped out of City Hall, dodg-
‘ing reporters -and photographers. -

Before police could arrive at the
apparel shop of Mrs. Millie Giacobbe
on Passyunk Avenue near Thirteenth
Street—an address only several doors
from the former tailor shop of Paul
Petrillo—the D. A.’s office received a
telephone call from a lawyer who said
he was willing to bring his client,
Mrs. Giacobbe, to City Hall volun-
tarily. It was an old story now. The
suspects had found that it read better
in police records “willingly surren-
dered for questioning” instead of “ar-
rested in connection with.” .

“Okay with us,” agreed Kelley in
answer to Mrs. Giacobbe’s lawyer.
“Tell him to bring her in immedi-
ately.” .

A short time later, Mrs. Giacobbe
fat, complacent-looking, 50-year-old
dress-shop keeper, stood inside the
D. A.’s. offices.. Her husband, Antonio,
had died of “diabetes” on April 2,
1933. The middle-aged woman repre-
sented No. 10 in the roster of widows
now imprisoned or slated for arrest.

Mrs. Giacobbe was given into the
custody of Detective Aldo Candelore
of the Homicide Squad. She imme-
diately confided to the officer that
since police were intending to detain
her indefinitely she should be allowed
to return to her home for an im-
portant paper, which she_ had left
concealed in a_ safe. Candelore re-
ported Mrs. Giacobbe’s request and
was told to escort the woman to her
home—taking all germ gy, precau-
tion. Part of the slick Candelore’s
precaution was in the form of petite
Miss Janet McDaniel, a police sten-
ographer whom the detective took
along on the visit to the South Philly
address.

As Candelore had foreseen, Mrs.
Giacobbe requested that she be allowed
to go upstairs and make a change of
wardrobe. He nodded. “Go with her,
Miss McDaniel,” he told the police
stenographer.

The little girl, not weighing more
than 100 pounds, went upstairs with
the heavy-set Millie, who tipped the
scales at not less than 180.

Quietly Mrs. Giacobbe began to
disrobe. After most of her clothing
had been removed she turned sud-
denly to Janet and cried: ‘Oh, I for-
got my new. underwear. Will you run
down to the shop and get it for‘:me—
I can’t go down like this.”

Desiring to facilitate Mrs. Gia-
cobbe’s preparations as much as pos-
sible, the little stenographer darted
toward the stairs. She barely had
reached the head of the staircase when
a quick sound behind her made her
turn her head.

Ts huge woman she had just left
in the bedroom was running down
the hall with a gun in her hand!
Quick as a flash, without screaming
for help, little “Miss McDaniel spun
around and made a pass at the woman
who towered over her. Cramped by
the close quarters, Mrs. Giacobbe
backed into the bathroom—the deter-
mined little stenographer right after

her.

Mrs. Giacobbe aimed the gun at her
own temple—and pulled the trigger.
A bullet crashed into the’ ceiling.
Janet, quick as light, had seized the
woman's hand as the gun exploded.
Now she knocked it to the floor. Mrs.
Giacobbe shoved the little girl aside
-and snatched for the weapon, but
again Janet was too fast for her.:She

...pquatted on the gun. A struggle for

op—?

the tool of death began in deadly
earnest,

The noise of. the shot, however,
brought Candelore two steps at a time
up the stairs. Sounds of the scuffle
took him directly to the bathroom,
where the little miss was clinched
with the beefy Mrs. Giacobbe. The
detective separated the two mis-
matched opponents and picked up the

But Mrs. Giacobbe wasn’t

through. She whisked a vial from a

near-by cabinet and lifted it to her
puffing lips. Janet, however, sent the
bottle crashing to the floor with one
swift upward dart of her small hand.
The desperate widow still had an-
other card up her sleeve. From her

palm shé attempted to throw some

white powder into her mouth. Again
Janet knocked aside the woman’s hand.

Once back in the District Attorney’s
office, Mrs. Giacobbe began to retch.
She was rushed out of City Hall up
North Broad Street to Hahnemann
Hospital, where her stomach was
quickly pumped out. The contents were
analyzed and proved. to contain a
deadly poison usually present in a
common antiseptic. :

Powder from the bathroom floor
where brave little Miss McDaniel had
spilled it from the attempted suicide’s
pudgy palm was scooped up and
turned over to chemists for analysis,
while the petite police stenographer
smilingly denied that she had_ acted
the part of a heroine. “I didn’t have
time to get scared,” she said modestly.
“I work for the Police Bureau and it
was just part of the job.” .. .

News of the disturbance in which
Miss McDaniel so capably had _ foiled
the attempts of a suspect to destroy
herself was phoned to Headquarters
and to the near-by 25th Division
Police Station. Acting Detective Lieu-
tenant Samuel Riccardi and Anthony
Franchetti with Detectives Andrew
McTague, George Goldstein and
Frank Lynch were rushed to the scene,

The house now cleared of battle-

_ scars, Mrs, Giacobbe was returned to

obtain the promised paper. She pro-
duced it from the safe. It read: “This
is my last will and testament”—good
evidence that the widow was prepar-
ing to take her life before surrender-
ing to quizzing in the D. A.’s office.
Thanks to Miss McDaniel, she was
placed safely behind bars.

EPORTS had come in from the city

laboratories concerning those three
bodies and their autopsies. Two of
them—Mandiuk’s and Romaldo’s—con-
tained poison. The third body bore un-
mistakable signs of. violence. It was
that of John Wolosyn, buried as a
hit-skip driver’s victim.

The names on the list of suspects
slated for arrest were slowly being
checked off as each of the men and
women were stowed away on ice for
future reference.

One important name remained to be

checked. The D. A. pointed to it. “Get
Sam Sortino—there’s a story there I’d
like to hear next.”

What will be the outcome of the
frantic search for Mrs. Rose Carina,
known as the Kiss of Death woman,
who lost three of her five husbands
through death? Had she skipped the
country or was she still lurking in
Philadelphia, attempting to intimidate
principals in the case who were

singing their heads off in desperate.

attempts to evade just. punishment?
What would autopsies on the bodies of
the three new suspected murder vic-
tims prove? How many more murders
and their perpetrators would Bolber’s
tongue invalve? And what would Sam
Sortino have to tell police? These and

‘other questions on the ever-expanding,

seemingly endless saga of the reign
of terror imposed on Philadelphia and
other cities by the arsenic-murder
ring will be answered in the next in-
stalment of this story, in the.October

issue of OFFICIAL .DETECTIVE ‘STORIES..

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a

Murder As You Want

(Continued from Page 18)

“No! I didn’t collect the money.
Paul Petrillo got it all. He gypped me
out of every nickel of it. He killed
Luigi... I didn’t have nothing to do
with it.” She sobbed hysterically.

“How could that be? This policy for
$$70 was paid to you—-” :

“Yes, but Paul Petrillo. made me:

give him the money... He made me

sign it and then he said he’d take it to”

pay the undertaker—-” ;

“After you killed your husband?” .-

“No! Paul-—” ‘ if

“Suppose you tell me just why Paul
Petrillo killed your husband, then,”
advised the D. A. changing his tactics.

-“Well, Luigi was sick, so I went to
get advice frorn his famous healer,
Morris Bolber. He told me:to see Paul
Petrillo. So I called..him in ;and ‘he
treated my husband aund:-one'day just.
as I came into: the room where. Luigi
was in bed I saw/ Paul. Petrillo put a
pill ir my husband’s mouth and foree
it down with water.:.Before-he went
away Petrillo asked me to take out
insurance’ on Luigi and asked me how
much I had. ‘I told him I didn’t have
any because I didn’t think it was any
of his business. I just had that—” she
pointed to the policy in the D. A.’s
hand—“‘which I had got a long time
before. But Paul said to get some
more. I asked him if he thought my
husband was going to die and he said
he was a very sick man. So I asked
him how I could possibly get insur-
ance then. He said not to worry, he
had a friend in the insurance business
who could fix it up... Mr. Ciccanti,
his name was.”

“So you took out these two policies,
then, at Petrillo’s request?” The D. A
held up two more papers written by a
different insurance company.

“No, I don’t know anything about
them. Paul must have gotten them
himself,” Mrs. Davis said hotly.

“Go on—what happened next?”

“Right after Paul left the house that
time Luigi got terrfbly sick. He was
sick at his stomach and he got worse
and worse. That night he—he died.”
The woman gulped down a hysterical

sob.

“But look, Mrs. Davis,” the D. A.
said, picking up a canceled check from
still a third company, “you cashed this
for $599.30.” i

Mrs. Davis examined it. ‘“That’s
Paul’s fault. He fixed it up and made
me give him the cash. He told me it
was for burial charges to the Phila-
delphia Burial Company. But later I
got a bill for over $700 from them and

had to pay it besides!”
~= Th

e D. A. was'silent for a moment.
It seemed impossible that Paul Petrillo
could have murdered a man right un-
der the nose of his wife, taken out
policies and cashed them without her
knowledge—or at least her consent.

ee ee

“Why didn’t you inform authorities
of what had happened?” the D
asked.

“J didn’t suspect Paul until it was
too late,” Mrs. Davis said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well—I. got married again and not
long afterwards Paul came around to
me himself without being sent for. He
said he wanted me to apply for $10,-
000 worth of insurance on my new
husband. Then I knew something was
wrong. I got angry and told him to
go away—he had made me lose my
first husband and I didn’t want to lose
the second. Right after that he was
arrested. He told me if police asked
me anything about my husband’s death
to say Morris Bolber did it.”

It was a plausible, a possible story.
Yet somehow incredible. Despite the
known influence of the two witch-
doctors over their feminine clients,
Mrs. Davis seemed too intelligent to
be befuddled completely by their
chicanery. There seemed to be only
one ‘recourse—Ciccanti, the insurance
agent of the murder-ring. The man
who for fifteen years had been a legal
agent for a New Jersey insurance firm.

op—10

“ff. :

Read It First ‘in ;
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

Kelley decided to let up temporarily
on Mrs. Davis. As soon as she had
gone, he asked to see Gaetano Cic-
canti. The man had as many spellings
of his name as he had murder charges
against him. Cincinnatus, Cincinnati,
Cincanti and Cignati were a few vari-
ations. ; :

The beetling-browed and glowering
insurance agent was brought up and
confronted with the policies which
bore his countersigns. ‘‘What about
them, Ciccanti? Recognize them?”

The swarthy insurance agent who
had admitted accepting numerous in-
surance policies payable to Paul Pe-
trillo. on the lives of poison victims
examined the policies. “I sold these
two to Mrs. LeVecchio, yes,’ he ad-
mitted.

They were small industrial policies.
But with the others they totaled $1,-
781.46, which. three insurance com-
panies had paid off on the poisoned
man’s life.

“Did LeVecchio know what was go-
ing on? He was a sick man,” the D. A.
reminded the insurance agent.

“He couldn’t read. He made his
mark—here.’ He placed a _ pudgy
forefinger on an “X” beside the vic-
tim’s name.

“Then you, as agent, knowing that
you were insuring a dying man, swore
to lies when you turned in _ those
policies!” The D. A. struck home.
Ciccanti had not been an easy man to
deal with up to now. But now he was
on the run, :

He began to hedge. ‘Well, some-
times it is not necessary to put down
so many details,” said the wily agent
with a shrug of his shoulders.

Bur in the eyes of the D. A. Ciccanti
had admitted compliance in the
death of Luigi LeVecchio.

Somewhere between him and Paul
Petrillo, between him and Mrs. Davis,
or between Petrillo and the widow lay
the answer to these insurance policies
on his desk—and a dissected cadaver
in the city morgue. Out of this set-up
Kelley must get the indelible facts that
would spell convictions in court. The
D. A. knew one good way to accom-
plish that: Turn the three most in-
volved people over to keen-witted As-
sistant District Attorney Vince Mc-
Devitt. That chap had drilled more
holes in the thin stories of arsenic-
ring suspects than any man connected
with the investigation. In the very
beginning he had_ broken down the
wild tales of voodoo, mal’occhio and
hexcraft into legal terms of murder.
He had fired unanswerable questions
at Herman Petrillo when the murderer
first appeared on the stand to defend
himself against the accusation of mur-
dering Ferdinand Alfonsi.

Vince McDevitt, young, strapping
and vigorous, with brains to match his
physique and a knowledge of law at
his finger tips which he could reel off
at a moment’s notice, took over the
LeVecchio case with a determination
resembling the blue-white fire of a
blow-torch.

Calling in Mike Schwartz and Frank
Lynch, two detectives who had been
doing plenty of good, quiet and effi-
cient work on the case, McDevitt: put
them to’ work on checking details of
Paul Petrillo’s and Morris Bolber’s
connections with Mrs. Rose Davis.

Down to South Philly to “arsenic
lane” went Schwartz and Lynch. Cir-
culating around the neighborhood of
the little candy store where Mrs. Davis
had lived, the two detectives began: to
pick up threads of gossip and shreds of
stories. Put together they made a pic-
ture somewhat like this:

Faith-Healer Morris Bolber, who was
a very prominent man among the hum-
ble folk of the section, often had been
seen dropping in at the little confec-
tionary shop where the not unattrac-
tive Rose Davis, then Mrs. LeVecchio,
stood’ behind the counter. His visits
were frequent and sometimes pro-
longed. Another of Mrs. LeVecchio’s

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“customers” was Paul Petrillo, who:
came frequently while Rose’s. husband:

given’ exp

%40° the murder cult
ited’ as yet.

echad been: lots
lay dying. And after the funeral both” *"“Paul: needed a lot of help in his

Bolber and Petrillo ‘still: continued to
call. Not long afterward a third gen-
tleman appeared with the two “doc-
tors” and shortly there was a wedding.
Mrs. LeVecchio became Mrs. Davis.

Schwartz and Lynch reported to
Vince McDevitt and the Assistant D. A.
whistled. “Just the stuff we want,
boys. This smells like another one of
those murder-marriage-murder cases.
Either Bolber or Petrillo, possibly
both, bumped off Luigi LeVecchio—
and then got Rose another husband
who was to be Victim Number Two. I
think I’m ready to talk to Bolber now,”
he said, jumping up from his desk
and reaching for a gray slouch hat.

Taking Captain James Kelly with
him, McDevitt drove down to 28th
and Oxford Streets, the station quar-
ters of the 40th Detective Division.
The two entered an ante-chamber and
called for Morris Bolber to be brought
from his cell.

A few moments later the droopy-eyed
faith-healer marched in. Cocky and
sure of himself, Bolber slid his swivel
eye over the officials.

“How much cash did you get for
killing LeVecchio, Bolber?” McDevitt
asked.

“Me? Nothing. Nothing at all, be-
cause I didn’t kill him,” asserted Bol-
ber vociferously. 2

“Come on! You received a big slab
of dough for that death from Paul
Petrillo...”

Ee WAS pure guess-work, psycho-
logically applied. Intuition and the
smart piecing together of a lot of loose
ends made McDevitt bold enough to
spring it on Bolber.

“Sure, I got some money,” admitted
the faith-healer. “But it was to keep
my mouth shut, not to murder Luigi.”

“You'd better begin at the beginning
and tell me just how you came
to take hush money for this slaying,”
advised McDevitt.

“The first I knew about it was when
Mrs. LeVecchio came to me herself
and told me she wanted to get rid of
her husband—”

“What did you understand that to
mean?”

“Oh, just divorce or something like
that. But I saw she meant more when
she told me Paul Petrillo had sent her.
She gave me his card—”

“His card?” snapped Vince Mc-
Devitt. “You mean a business card?”

“Sure. That’s the way Paul adver-
tised his business. Wait a minute...
maybe I got it.” Bolber thrust his
pudgy paws through innumerable
pockets and at last handed McDevitt a
soiled white card. It said, in flowery
type: “Professor P. Petril, Spiritual
Advisor and Healer.”

Vince McDevitt read it with grim
amusement. He pocketed it for evi-
dence. “Go on,” he said.

“I told her I never killed people.
I only did them good. I said, ‘Go back
to Paul and tell him that,’” Bolber
spouted righteously, pausing to get the
ase of his words on the Assistant

Vince was unimpressed, waiting ex-
pectantly.

“So later Luigi died and then Paul
came around to me and said, ‘Here’s
$800. Take it and keep your mouth
shut,’ ”

“Wait a minute,” said McDevitt, not
wanting Bolber to get too far afield
from the real point in question. “You
knew Petrillo poisoned LeVecchio!
He told you so, didn’t he, when he gave
you the money to keep your mouth
shut!”

“Paul told me he had poisoned Luigi
LeVecchio, yes. He said he was going
to keep $800 for himself out of $2,000
he got in insurance and give the rest
to the doctor who signed the death
certificate—”

“Who was that?” broke in McDevitt,
his alert nose picking up a new scent.

Bolber mentioned a name and ad-
dress. It was a new name—a new
suspect for arsenic-ring investigators.
Not all doctors and druggists and
insurance agents surmised to have

business, didn’t he, Bolber?” McDevitt
began with a new line of psychology,
baiting the faith-healer along into
mazes with dead ends.

“Sure. Paul wasn’t so hot. He
thought he’d steal my. stuff—healing
people by faith. Only he didn’t have
what I got. He couldn’t do it, so he
killed ’em instead and got plenty of
money that way.” :

“But Petrillo couldn’t kill people
alone, either. He had to have help

from doctors and druggists and under- *

takers ...”.

“Sure. But Paul had his own men
for that. He didn’t need me to help
him out.”

“But where did the other doctors
come in?” McDevitt tried to steer the
spirit-chaser back to the real issue.

“Oh, that was Doctor Perlman and

Chief of Police John Butler:
had to countenance a wait of 23
years to avenge the death of one

He

of his traffic officers. Read the
story on Page 28 of this issue

David Brandt, Paul’s two best helpers.
He was having trouble getting rid of
Mrs. Jennie Peno—”

McDevitt was electrified. The Peno
case was still a mystery to police. The
invalid’s body had been loaded with
poison. Her husband, suspected of
having administered the lethal dose,
died later while detectives still were
searching for him. Did this amazing
squealer have the answer to that one,
too?

“Mrs. Peno refused to die, in other
words,” McDevitt urged diplomatically.

“Something like that. Anyway, Paul
asked me to go with him to see Dave
Brandt. Paul asked him what the stop
was in Mrs. Peno’s case and the guy
told us he had given her plenty of
poison but nothing happened. Then
he said he was going to get a doctor to
‘take care of Jennie.’ It was Doctor
Perlman he meant. Shortly afterwards
Jennie died. Doctor Perlman was go-
ing to take care of Paul’s wife, too, by
giving her a powder which he said
would cause cancer.”

Vince McDevitt bit his lips. What
new horrors would this blabbering
monstrosity with the gliding eye reveal
next?

Vince McDevitt and Captain Kelly
were through for the time being with
Morris Bolber. They had learned the
answers to at least three deaths.

Meanwhile another and most impor-
tant part of the mammoth murder
drama was drawing to sharp conclu-
sion. The curtain was ringing down on
one of the most exciting and fastest
yet the most concealed part of the
whole investigation.

Deep mystery had veiled the G-

Men’s entry into the Philadelphia case
which had spread out into four other
States, but. when Dominic Rodio was
brought back from Cleveland on the
wrong end of handcuffs, the public
was certain that the Rose of Death
would not be far behind. Consequently
a huge knot of people continued to
wait in front of the local FBI Head-
quarters.

As soon as J. Bernard Leckie, in
charge of.Federal cases in the Phila
delphia area, had the warrant for Rose
Carina’s arrest in his pocket, he de-
tailed seven ‘agents. to track her down.
Captain Kelly of the Homicide Squad
had given him the tip that Rose last
was traced by his men to a res-,
taurant in Lakewood, New Jersey.’

The Federal agents took up the trail ,
from there. From the restaurant, they
discovered, Rose had. taken refuge in
employment in an;.underwear factory
in-that vicinity.,;Contacting local po-
lice in Lakewood, the.G-Men were told.
by. Chief of, Police. Walter Curtis, that:.
Rose Carina had skipped.once more-—
this time.to:New.York.. Hampered, by
no state lines in their pursuit of a
fugitive wanted..for: murder, the. FBI
boys: were: hot::on: the .trail. . They
skipped over to New, York and ‘began
combing the Italian..sections.: Green-
wich Village;.noted art center , for
Bohemians, was one of! them. .-)) vu

‘Only..a: day .élapsed before G+Men'
were ready to :swoop down on a. little
rooming-house «and collect—not . one
prisoner; but: two.. When G+Men, sur-
prised ‘the ‘Rose of:.Death”: in, the
upper room. ‘ofia Greenwich Village.
house, they found ‘her ;with. her! latest:
male conquest--Antonio; Mastra,: a:
Bronx barber. Rose, .it seemed, even,
when fleeing from:G-Men was. not to.
be stopped in her ways. of. romance,
Mastro was arrested: as a_ material,
witness and the two, with Mrs. Cari-,
na’s eleven-year-old daughter, Rita,
were rushed back to Philadelphia. The
party, with the seven G-Men, filled two
large black sedans.

After the necessary legal prelimi-
naries, Captain Kelly and Detective
Schwartz rushed Rose Carina the few
blocks to City Hall.

She was summarily held for the
death of Pietro Stea, a former grocer
of Philadelphia, whose exhumed body
showed the dread and unmistakable ,
ravages of poison when examined by
City Chemist Burke. Of five hus-
bands, only two were alive.

HE famed Rose of Death was turned
over to Vince McDevitt for ques-

tioning, aided by Captain Kelly and
Mike Schwartz, who had escorted her
to City Hall.

McDevitt observed the woman keen-
ly. While the middle-aged, fat widow
was not exactly unattractive, it
was difficult to imagine how so many
men had been tempted into her net.
Here was no great beauty, no infallible
charm, no mystic lure, no facile wit.
He saw only a rather common-looking
woman, too fat for her height, be-
spectacled and self-satisfied. Her dark
eyes, however, had something in them
other than sex appeal. They were the
hard, shiny eyes of a money-crazed
woman. How many men had they seen
writhe in agony? How many thou-
sands of dollars had her hands shuffled
from coffin to coffer? How many mar-
riages had she contracted with the help
of Paul Petrillo and Morris Bolber, the
man who had boasted that his way
with women was immense and terrific
and irresistible?

Will the full truth be known at last?
Will the arrest of Mrs. Rose Carina at
last bring an end to the arsenic ring?
What will be the reaction of Bolber
and Petrillo when faced with this. wo--
man who police delieve was the most
clever of all of the syndicate mem-
bers? Will the authorities be able to
gain enough new evidence to bring at
least a score of suspects to trial and
win convictions? For the most dra-
matic wind-up of this amazing and
complex case, which is unparalleled in
American crime annals, see the forth-
coming January issue of OFFICIAL DE-
TECTIVE STORIES.

op—10

-

o


93 ATLANTIC (2nd) 455 (See)

PHILLIPS, Joseph Stevenson, black, 23, electrocuted Pa, State Prison (Westmoreland County)
on 3#30=1953,

",,-Joseph S, Phillips, 23, convicted last year for the fatal shooting (on April h, 1952
with capture on April 11, 1952) of a payroll clerk in an attempted robbery of the McFeely
Brick Co, near Latrobe....appeared 'extwemely calm' as,,,led into the execution,,,(Did not)
s peak before he died,,,Phillips, a Negro, of Derry Township, Westmoreland County. ..appeared
‘extremely alert! and displayed keen interest in the execution procedure, watching care-
fully as guards strapped him into the apparatug, Executioner Wilson threw the switch,.,
AEXXAGIFTAXHY at 12:39 asmeese(He did not make) special requests for food, and received the
regular prison fare as..,last meal, (His) body was claimed by fanilyss..The Rev, Ted
Voorhees (accompanied) Phillips (to the execution chamber)..." DAILY TRIBUNE, Greensburg,

Pas, March 30, 1953 (1/8.)

The following from appeal: "Defendant was a man of unusual intelligence,,,The defendant's
criminal career started when he was 15 years of ages; at the age of 18 he shot and robbed a
man and then chloroformed him,,,"


PHILLIPS, Henry, hanged at Chester, Pennsylvania, Dec. 26, 1772.

"Extract from a letter from Chester County, May 21, 1772 (Datelined Philadelpha, May 28):
On Saturday last, as Henry Phillips and Richard Kelly, two labouréng men, were at work to-
gether on the plantation of Mr. David Invis, of Tredwesson Township, in this county, a
cuarrel happened between them, on which the latter struck the former, who thereupon went
home and told Mr, Davis, his employer, that Kelly had struck him, and that he was deter-
mined to go to a justice and get a warrant for him, Mr, Davis advised him to stay until
morning and in the meantime consider of it, expecting by that time his passion would sub-
side; on which Phillips took a gun, charged it, went to the woods where Kelly was, and shot
him dead on the spot, He then returned, and desired Mr, Davis to bind him, for that he had
killed Kelly. At firs his information was discredited, as he had always bore the character
of a harmless fellows; but on finding it to be true, he was secured and committed to Chester
Jail, The coroner's inauest brought in their verdict of wilful murder." VIRGINIA GAZETTE,
Williamsburg, Vaey 6-18-1772.

Bis tebe: Ss

pi RRR Ras o> BH

116

defense time to prepare its case. This
was granted and on Wednesday, April
25th, Probst went on trial.

He seemed utterly unconcerned over
the fact that his life was at stake.

And then the Commonwealth proceeded
to weave about the stolid figure of the
prisoner, link by link, a damaging web of
evidence—the fact that he was feared by
Mrs. Dearing, that he had once been dis-
charged from the family’s employ, that
after the murders he was known to have
been lavish with money in public drink-
ing places in which only a few short weeks
before he had been known to be penni-
less. The District Attorney shouted out
the damaging truth that Dearing’s own
purse and clothing had been found upon
Probst’s body, that he had tried to sell
the revolvers that belonged to his em-
ployer, had endeavored to pawn his
watch, that Miss Dolan’s jewelry was dis-
covered in his pockets.

But Probst sat there as if some other
person were referred to. His head was
sunk on his breast, his hands hung loosely
between his knees. He said nothing.

His attorneys, much as they disliked
the job, did a thorough piece of defense
for him on the meager material at their
disposal. They stressed the fact that
Probst had not run away after the mur-
der—at least, not away from Philadelphia
-~and declared that action was the atti-
tude of an innocent man.

4 bn told the jury that the articles
stolen from the Dearing house were
stolen before the murders and that the
deed was nothing more than larceny. They
insisted that the Commonwealth had not
even established when the murders were
committed; that the Dearing farm stood
by the side of a well-traveled road; that
any passerby might have committed the
crime. ‘ :

Those statements were the sole defense.
The case went to the jury at twenty-four
minutes past twelve in the afternoon and
twenty-three minutes later they returned
with a verdict of first degree murder with
the penalty fixed at death. é

On May ist, with Judge Pierce and
Judge James R. Ludlow and Associate
Justice Thompson, of the Supreme Court,
on the bench, Judge Allison sentenced
Probst.

“It only remains.for me to pass on you
the judgment of the law which is—”

The entire court then rose, a solemn,
black-clad group, and Judge Allison con-
tinued, .

“That Anton Probst, the prisoner at the
bar, be taken from hence to the jail of the
County of Philadelphia from whence he
came, and from thence to the place of
execution and that he there be hanged
by the neck until he is dead; and may
God have mercy on his soul!”

Probst stood with his head sunk upon
his breast. He uttered no word. And,
still silent, he was led away through a
crowd of jeering people, to the prison.

But in his ears were the stern ringing
words of the court “To His mercy I com-
mend you”... “that which you have to
do, do speedily, for the night of death
casts its shadows already around you”...

That night, he did not sleep.

As the long hours dragged by, he sat
on the edge of his cot, his chained feet
close together, his manacled wrists joined
to each other, staring into the darkness.

On Monday morning, May 7th, the Rev.
Pp. A. M. Grundtner, pastor of St. Al-

honsus’ Catholic Church at Fourth and

eed Streets, called on Mayor McMichael
to say that Anton Probst wanted to make
an important statement.

Later in the day, the Mayor, accom-

True Detective Mysteries

(Continued from page 114)

panied by Chief Franklin, and other pub-
lic officials, went to the prison. Probst
was sitting on his bed, and as the Mayor
entered a faint smile passed across his
face. He raised one hand and softly
tapped himself on the chest.

“Tt was I,” he said, quietly, “only I—
who killed them all!”

And then from his own lips came the
truth at last, and it here follows, some of
it to be interpreted between the lines of
his story:

Anton Probst came to America from
his home in Baden, Germany, because he
thought this was a better country of fuller
opportunities.

ne day, after tramping along the
countryside, he came to a prosperous farm
on the Point House road and applied
there for work. And thus he met thé
Dearings.

It was Mrs. Dearing whom he saw at
first, for the farmer was not at home.
She told Probst to come back later in
the day, but she begged her husband not
to hire the man. There ‘was ‘something
about him which repelled her? And she
cautioned Christopher Dearing to have
nothing to do with him if he returned.
But Probst’s very appearance made him
acceptable to Dearing. He was strong,
able and apparently willing to work.
And so, over the protest of his wife, the
farmer hired the fellow. But though she
took him into her house, Julia Dearing
never lost her dread of Probst. It was a
nameless fear that she could not explain
even to herself. The very silence of the
man gave her cold chills. The sullen ex-
pression in his eyes frightened her. And
Christopher Dearing, in his soul, re-
spected his wife’s opinion. He likewise
felt repugnance toward Probst. The fel-
low was so surly. He received orders with
such grudging obedience. But he was
never openly defiant until one rainy
morning when Dearing ordered him to go
out and cut logs.

“Tt is wet-and raining,” Probst pro-
tested. “I will not go.”

It was his tone which angered Dearing.

“You'll do as I say or lose your work,”
he retorted sharply.

A twisted smile touched the man’s face.
He B poco up his jacket.

“Very well,” he answered, “pay me my
wages and I will go away.”

And Dearing gave him the money due
him and drove him off the place. And
Julia Dearing sighed with relief as she
saw the stocky figure disappear slowly up
the road.

Bo hla npe was upon the fields, and a
touch of frost in the air. The harvest
was in and the farms looked desolate.
And though he inquired, Probst could
find no work. So he turned his face to
the city and found some friends in a dis-
reputable tavern and arranged to do odd
bits of work in return for grog and lodg-
ing. Winter found him destitute and he
was finally forced to seek admittance at
the Almshouse.

“How prosperous he is!” mused Probst
bitterly. “While I sit here in this alms-
house without a penny.”

And quite suddenly the thought came
to him—Dearing was rich! He must have
plenty of money. Now he recalled the
fat cattle that came and went upon the
farm, the gold that he had often seen the
farmer count out on the kitchen table.
Riches had been at his (Probst’s) finger-
tips—and he had allowed the opportunity
to pass him by!

After that, the picture of Christopher
Dearing’s money was seldom out of. his
mind. It filled his waking hours, it
haunted his dreams.

“When the spring comes,” he said, “I
will go back and rob him.”

And so the long winter wore away and
on February Ist, Probst gathered his few
belongings together and left the alms-
house. he following day he appeared
at the Dearing farm and asked for his
job again. But Christopher Dearing had
counted himself well rid of Probst and
told the man he would not hire him.
Probst stood, the image of dejection, star-
ing down at the ground.

“Ah, I might have known,” he said,
“that I would find little aid. I have just
reyarned from Germany on a visit with
my family. Life is so hard there. But
in this country there is peace and plenty.
I thought to find sympathetic and under-
standing friends. I walked all the way
from New York just in the. hope of get-
ong work with you.”

earing was a kindly man and Probst’s
words moved him. The man went on:

“T will work for my lodging and board,
if you will take me back.”

And the farmer, who was a good busi-
ness man and knew how to make a bar-

‘gain, answered,

‘ ELL, then, I will give you another
chance.”

That night Probst climbed the stairs to
his room under the eaves and sat smiling
to himself as he slowly unlaced his boots.
It was amazing how easily he had re-
established himself in the farmer’s good
graces. He had only to watch his chance
now and seize the money which he knew
was hidden in the house. He chuckled
to himself as he moved softly about the
room, his great figure, bulky in the candle-
light, throwing shadows, black and gro-
tesque, upon the wall. And, still smiling,
ee lew out the candle and crawled into

ed.

Downstairs, Christopher Dearing slept
the untroubled sleep of a just man. In
nearby rooms his children slumbered, deep
in dreams; and the boy, Cornelius Carey,
lay with tousled young head in the pil-
lows. ;

But Julia Dearing lay wide-awake in
the darkness, her mind filled with troubled
thoughts. It was hours before she finally
drifted off to sleep.

* * * *

_ But though he watched Dearing closely
in the days that followed, Probst found
no opportunity to commit the robbery.
On several occasions, he accompanied the
farmer: to the cattle yard, but Cornelius
was always along, too. On those visits, he
saw the farmer receive neat sums of
money in return for cattle, but he was
afraid to attack him on the road home
because of the boy.

One day when he was working in the
fields, the thought came to him, “I must
kill him.” It startled him for a moment.
Kill Dearing? But how, with all the fam-
ily around? He turned the idea over in
his mind. Certainly it would be an easy
way to get the money. He might even
slay them all, one at a time, some morn-
ing as they came down to breakfast. But
then there would be blood on the floor
and that would alarm the others. And
how could he explain to Cornelius? No,
he would have to find some other way.
And so the days passed by.

On Saturday morning, April 7th, Probst
and Cornelius were, as usual, the first to
be up and around. Probst went out in
the woodshed outside the kitchen and
chopped some kindling wood for the fire.
It was dark and raining and a thin mist
was over woods and fields. He was sit-

(Continued on page 118)

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Philadelphia’s
Amazing Dearing
Case

(Continued from page 63)

come to the men who entered that barn.
For, as they went frantically tearing down
the hay rack, a row of small bodies was
revealed. There, side by side on the
floor, so close that had their childish
hands not been stiff in death they might
have touched their parents, were the three
other Dearing children. Each had met
death in the same manner as their father
and mother. Each had sustained a crush-
ing blow on the back of the head. Then
their throats had been cut from ear to ear.

And still the search was not ended. For,
as the last bit of hay was tossed aside, it
disclosed the Dearings’ niece, Elizabeth
Dolan, who had shared the fate of the
rest. Upon her head was a gay little bon-
net. On her hands were the neat gray
gloves she had bought herself as a present.
But in her face was the awful pallor of
death and her wide eyes were staring into
Eternity.

Among the police, few words were
spoken. The officers were too stunned
for conversation. There had been other
murders to disturb the tranquillity of the
city, but none, in all their memory, had
ever equalled this.

Who. could have wished Christopher
Dearing harm? And even if he had
enemies, what fiend could thus have slain
his whole family?

“What about the boy, Cornelius Carey?”
asked Gould in a trembling voice. “And
what of Anton Probst, the hired man? I
saw them together last Saturday morn-
ing. They were alive when Christopher
Dearing left for the city. I saw them
walking down the meadow. They, too,
may have been murdered!”

T was not until the following day that

Cornelius was located. They found him
in the corn crib, a few yards away from
the barn. Like the others, his head had
been crushed and his throat slashed. And
in the stream nearby they found the axe
which had brought death to all.

No trace of the hired man was found.

East and west, north and south, the
word traveled of that awful deed. It was
the one topic of conversation.

But it was Elizabeth Dolan’s mother
who, summoned from the city, supplied
the first clue.

“Anton Probst!” she screamed. “You
need not look for him. He isn’t dead!
He’s the one who’s done this!”

Sitting in the tumbled parlor of the
farmhouse, Mrs. Dolan rocked herself
back and forth weeping.

“Oh, why didn’t Christopher heed his
wife!” she moaned. “That terrible Probst!
Julia always feared him!”

But the cause of that fear she wes
unable to explain. ;

The police seized upon that suggestion.
From her and the neighbors they ob-
tained a good description of the man. He
was about twenty-six years old, five feet
eleven inches tall, and weighing 175 to
180 pounds, with light hair cut short and
a thin mustache with long ends. The
thumb of his right hand was missing.

Now that suspicion had attached itself
to him, the neighboring farmers recalled
his sullen, unsociable manner, his down-
cast look and shuffling gait, and the surly
way in which he spoke.

The description was sent from the Sec-
ond District by telegraph to Police, Head-
quarters at Sixth and Chestnut Streets,

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Ceviche ts 5G

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114

and before night, the town was aflame

with excitement. In great indignation,

Mayor Morton McMichael offered a re-
ward of $1,000 for the murderer.

“I’m going to find that man!” he cried.

So, while messages were sent to New
York to search outgoing ships bound for
Germany in the hope of locating Prost
aboard, Officer Dorsey went about the
business of systematically hunting right
in Philadelphia. In his pocket, Ie car-
ried a slip of paper with the physical
measurements of Probst jotted down on
it. He also had a list of articles which
Mrs. Dolan claimed were missing from
the house. This included a gold ring
with the inscription “Forget-me-not” and
another ring set in purple stones, and a
gold chain, all the property of her
daughter.

Two compound interest notes also were
missing from the girl’s pockets; and some
pieces of wearing apparel which belonged
to Dearing, his gold watch and two re-
volvers had been stolen.

On the afternoon of April 12th, five
days after the tragedy, Dorsey with Offi-
cers Atkinson and Weldon was on patrol
duty on Market Street Bridge when they
saw a short, stocky, heavy-set man ap-
proaching. Atkinson nudged Weldon. |

“There’s your man, Dorsey,” he whis-
pered. “I bet that’s Probst!”

The rookie cop realized they were try-
ing to kid him, but he was reluctant to
pass up the man. He stepped forward.

“Where are you from?” he asked.

SULLEN glare was his only answer
for a moment. Then— :

“I am a Frenchman,” the pedestrian
said in broken English.

Weldon smiled behind his hand and
winked at Atkinson; but Dorsey had for-
gotten them.

“Put out your hands,” he ordered.

The man obeyed. He held up his hands
and Dorsey uttered a cry of exultation.
The thumb on the man’s right hand was
missing!

“Probst!” Dorsey cried, and _ the
“Frenchman” nodded his head.

The news of the capture preceded the
little group and by the time Dorsey
proudly marched his captive into the Fil-
bert Street stationhouse, a big crowd had
gathered. Probst walked stolidly beside
Dorsey, apparently unmoved by the cry
of “Lynch him!” that came from the peo-
ple. He was immediately turned over to
Chief Franklin. Mrs. Dolan was sent for.
While they waited for her, Probst, under
questioning, admitted he had slain the
boy, Cornelius Carey. Beyond that he
had nothing to say. But the moment
Mrs. Dolan’ saw him, she cried out in
anger and terror:

“Oh, you murderer!”

Probst hung his head and said nothing.

“Why, that tie he wears around his
neck,” she cried, “is one that I made for
him to please Dearing. That coat that
he now wears belonged to Christopher
Dearing!”

At nine o’clock that night the prisoner
was taken in a carriage to Central Station
and there in the presence of Mayor Mc-
Michael, while a crowd of several hun-
dred angry people clamored outside,
Probst told his story of the murders. Not
that he admitted it himself! He repeated
that he had killed the boy only. But it
was a man named Jacob Gautier, he said,
who had murdered the others.

Gautier, who had come from Switzer-
land five years before, was his friend, he
said, but had fallen on hard times. He
showed up at the Dearing farm on Friday
afternoon, April 6th, and came down in
the meadow where Probst and the boy,
Cornelius, were working.

True Detective Mysteries

“He had been my friend,” the prisoner
said, “and I could not refuse him the
favor of a night’s rest. I spoke about it
to Mr. Dearing and he said my friend
was welcome to stay all night and he
could sleep with me.

“It was not until we were in bed that
night that Gautier suggested killing the
whole family.

“T bet Dearing’s got a lot of money,’
he whispered as we lay there in the little
room beneath the eaves in the darkness.

“We could get rid of them all and
take the money and leave the country.’”

Hours passed, however, before Probst
agreed to take part in the dreadful plot.
And even then he refused to touch any
but the boy, Cornelius. :

“And my heart sank at thought of him,”
he told the police, “for I worked with the
boy every day and I liked him.

“But I kept thinking of the money we
would get and that gave me courage.”

On Saturday, according to Probst,’ he
and his friend arose and ate breakfast.
At first, they thought they would kill the
family one by one as they came down to
the morning meal. But they realized it
would be a bloody business and would at-
tract the attention of the prospective vic-
tims. So they returned to the original
scheme to dispose of all the family out-
side the house.

Dearing announced at the breakfast
table that he was going to town. Probst
and his friend waited around and ee
the farmer hitch up the carriage and they
saw him start down the road toward the

ity.

Then Probst summoned Cornelius
Carey; and, shouldering an axe, he
started with the voy to chop away some
underbrush at the bottom of the garden.

“The boy sat down on a tree stump in
the meadow,” Probst told the police, “and
I sneaked up behind him. I raised the
axe to strike him in the head, but some-
how I could not do it. He looked so in-
nocent as he sat there. I kept remem-
bering the pleasant days we had spent to-
gether. It was very difficult to do this
to him; but I realized that I had to do
my part in the scheme. So again I raised
the axe and this time I brought it down
quickly on his head. He dropped to the
ground without making a single outcry.
Then I cut his throat with the sharp
blade of the axe and I’ lifted his body and
dragged it over to the corn crib and
shoved it under some hay.

“TINHEN I crossed the meadow and I saw
Gautier 7 ag inside the door
of the barn, waiting. We did not speak, but

he nodded his head to me to signify that

he was ready. So I went up to the house.

““There’s a man at the barn asking for
work,’ I told Mrs. Dearing. ‘He wants to
talk with the master, but I said he had
gone to the city, eo he wishes to speak
with you.’

“She immediately left the kitchen
where she had been doing the morning
chores and she went out to the barn and,
as she entered it and started to look
around for the man who was seeking
work, Gautier hit her in the back of the
head with a small sledge hammer and, as
she collapsed on the floor he hacked her
throat with a small axe and hid her body
under the hay.

“One by one I sent the three children
out to look for their mother and as each
entered the barn they were struck by
Gautier and killed.

“When all .but the baby had been dis-
posed of, my friend came up to the house
to me. We looked at the baby and we
both felt sorry for it, it looked so lonely
there in its crib. So Gautier said, ‘Well,
let’s get rid of it; there is no one to take

care of itnow. We will have to kill it, too.”

“So he carried it out to the barn, killed
it and laid it on its mother’s breast.

“After that we went up to the house to
wait for Dearing to come home. I did
not know that Miss Dolan was coming
with him, but while she went in the house
to look for the family, Gautier told Dear-
ing that one of the steers was sick. ‘You’d
better come see it,’ he said.

“So Dearing went with him and as soon
as they entered the barn Dearing stepped
toward the steer’s pen and, as he turned
his back, Gautier killed him.

“I was still standing outside with the
team when Miss Dolan came to the porch.
#Where is the family?’ she asked.

“‘They’re all down at the barn,’ I re-
plied; so she went down to look for them
and I never saw her alive again.

“When Gautier had finished with all of
them, he'came up to join me and we
ransacked the house looking for the
money and we found about $300. Gau-
tier gave me $10 and he said to meet him
in Front Street the next day and he
would give me more.”

ROBST stuck to his story, although

none of the officials believed him. They
questioned him for a long time, but while
he would say no more about the murders,
he gave a detailed account of his move-
ments after the crime. The police checked
that information and found it fairly ac-
curate. And, during the investigation,
they uncovered other things. They found
Dearing’s watch which had been pawned,
and the dealer identified Probst as the
man from whom he bought it. The offi-
cers also found the two pistols which had
been stolen from the house and Probst
was identified as the man who disposed
of the weapons.

The German, Gautier, receded more
and more into the shadowy land of
imagination; and to the law Anton Probst
loomed as the real and sole slayer of all
eight victims. Yet he refused to make
any more statements and stolidly asserted
that he had done nothing to harm the
Dearings. “Only the boy, Cornelius,” he
repeated.

“The funeral of the family was one of
the events of the city. The whole town
flocked to the undertaking establishment
to view the bodies, and hundreds attended
the funeral.

On Wednesday, April 18th, before the
Honorable Joseph Allison, President
Judge, and the Honorable William S.
Pierce, Associate Judge, the Grand Jury
came into court and brought in eight bills
of indictment and found true bills against
Anton Probst for the murder of Chris-
topher Dearing and his whole family, and
Elizabeth Dolan.

Then William B. Mann, District Attor-
ney of Philadelphia, asked for the forma]
arraignment of the prisoner.

Judge Allison instructed the court in-
terpreter to ask the prisoner if he had
counsel. But Probst understood English,
although he Spoke it with an accent. And
before the court had finished its order, he
shook his head.

“He does not wish the court to assign
him counsel,” the interpreter said. “He
does not wish to have any defense at all.”

But Judge Allison brushed that aside.

“Tt is not right,” he said, “that the
prisoner should go on trial without coun-
sel and I therefore assign him John P.
O’Neill and John A. Wolbert as his
counsel.”

Both attorneys indicated that the ap-
pointment was distasteful to them. Never-
theless, they rose to the occasion and
O’Neill at once asked that the trial be
postponed one week in order to give the

"(Continued on page 116)

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Enright, St.


ng
JEL,
1 to D.

his day as

Was in a
arest neigh-
‘of a mile
surrounded
ite in spring
ke sentinels
id the house.
fifty vards
{ the storms
YVithin those
sleek horses
There was
ut the place,
y of work to

oy, Cornelius

who had
to Dearing,
‘e around the

1am Everett,
iearest farm,

that there
cht when he
day evening,

it was the
the Dearings
ouse for the
times the eld-
Occasionally
as six, accom-
1e two young-
ttle cart their

ind the paper
iver from the

w in his horse
v silence.

e back to hin
were at work
ant to be dis-

no one about
grew curious.
around. The
he sky. The
is. The cocl
pregnant with
h the orchard,
forward eag-
ound his feet

d he whistled
im at once, fit
off under the
‘ered over the

vere Were some
it. Softly, his
ng around the
one.

him. He con-
>» eattled cried
neighed inces-
kets were dry

{ aloud. And

DEARING CASE

Philadelphia Detective Headquarters

A. HARRISON

being a good neighbor, he got a bucket and brought water
from the creek and gave it to them. They dxank like wild
things. Everett made a dozen trips before he had satisfied
their thirst. Then he stuffed grain and fragrant hay into the
mangers and looked on with pleasure as the starved beasts ate
their fill. When he turned again to the barn door and stood
looking out across the meadow, night was falling.

On the distant horizon the trees stood stark and black against
the faint pink sky. High above, the first stars had come out.
And in the stillness a long, low wail came from the hound on
the porch steps. With the head lifted, he sat there in the grow-
ing darkness, crying, alone. A chill erept up Abraham Everett’s
spine as he went slowly down the lane. He turned once to
look back as he reached the road. But the farm was already
lost in the dusk and only the wailing of the dog stole ghost-
like upon the night wind.

But Everett could not dismiss that visit from his mind.
Even after he went to bed the image remained before him—
the starving cattle, the house starkly silent in the spring twi-
light.

He finally fell into troubled dreams. But all night long, he
wakened at intervals with the faint far-off sound of a dog
howling mournfully across the fields.

Ts next morning Everett decided to make a thorough
search of the Dearing farm. He said nothing to his family,
but he stopped at the home of John Gould near-by and asked
him to accompany him to the
house. He explained his previous
visits to Gould.

“T don’t understand it,’ he con-
cluded. “It’s not like Christopher
Dearing to abuse his animals.
‘And it seems strange he’d go away
and leave no one to mind the
place.”

“Well, let us make an investi-
gation,” said Gould. And_ they
started out together.

A shower had swept across the
country just before dawn, but the
sun came up, clear and shining,
on newly washed _ fields and
meadows. Yet, upon the Dearing
farm lay the same stillness of the
previous night.

“Tt gives me the creeps already,”
said Gould, as they went up the
lane.

Once more, Everett, leading
the way, lifted himself up to look
in the windows. Now, in the day-
light, he could see the interior in
great disarray. A table drawer
was pulled out, and there were

papers scattered on the floor. But ~ Anton Probst, the hired man on the
Dearing farm, who was strangely dis-
liked by the family.
of the gruesome tragedy in the barn?

no one was in sight.

Once again, Everett turned to
the barn with Gould at his heels.
And for the first time they saw
the hound lying over the door
sill, and he growled, low and deep, as they entered. Everett
had stopped to speak to the animal, when suddenly a muffled
cry broke from his companion.

“Now then, what’s this?” shouted Gould. “A tramp,
sneaking into the property of honest folk!”’

He had stumbled over a man’s stocking-clad feet protruding
from a pile of hay.

“Here! Wake up and begone!”’ he cried, and nudged at
the foot with his own stout boot. But there was no response.

Both farmers at once attacked the hay and tossed it aside,
and, as they uncovered the man beneath it, they shrank back.

It was Christopher Dearing who lay there—eyes wide open
and glazed in death, face streaked with blood, hands out-
flung grotesquely beside him.

“Good God!” gasped Everett in a terrified whisper. But
Gould had fled shrieking from the place.

He raced across the fields, stumbled through the door of his
own barn and, with hands that were trembling so he could
scarcely use them, he saddled his horse and climbed into the
stirrups. But even by going at top speed, it was almost a half
hour later that he reached the headquarters of the Second Po-
lice District in the city and there, white-faced and trembling,
gasped out the story of the gruesome discovery.

‘A detail of officers was sent back to the farm with him; but
at least an hour had elapsed after discovery of the body
before Everett and Gould led the police to the barn. There,
with shaking fingers, they pointed out the rigid form of the
farmer.

There was silence as the officers regarded that dreadful .
sight. But where were the others? What about the rest of
the family?

Ashen-faced, Everett told of his previous visits, how he had
found the grounds deserted, how he had even peeked into the
windows in the hope of seeing someone about.

“Let's look again,” suggested Chief of Detectives Benjamin
Franklin, namesake no doubt of the famous author of Poor
Richard’s Almanac. ‘The others must be somewhere.”

They went up to the house and
forced one of the windows up and
an officer crawled through it and
opened the front door to admit the
others. The parlor had been ran-
sacked. Papers, books were scat-
tered on the floor. In the dining
room there was complete con-
fusion. Cupboards had been
searched and torn out. But up-
stairs things were in even a worse
state. The beds had been ripped
apart, feathers were scattered over
the floor, pieces of clothing had
been tossed out of the drawers. It
was as though a whirlwind had
swept through the rooms. But in
all that disorder there was not a
sign of a living thing. It was as
though the earth had swallowed up
the Dearings.

HILE the men were going
through the house, there was
a shout from the barn. Chief
Franklin ran to the window and
saw one of his men signalling fran-
tically to him. He hurried down
the stairs with Everett at his heels
and raced across the meadow to the
What could he tell barn. There on the floor, only a
few feet from where her husband
lay, was the body of Julia Dearing,
the mother of the little family. She
was fully clothed, her gingham apron tied around her waist as
though death had struck while she was about the homely
chores of the farm. The back of her head had been crushed
in, and, like her husband, her throat had been slashed open.
But dreadful as was that sight, it was not the murdered
woman alone which froze the officers in horror. For upon her
breast, cold and still, lay her baby, Emily. The little face
was pillowed against the mother who had borne her. Tiny
fingers uncurled, the soft fair hair tangled with blood; for the
baby, too, had shared the dreadful death of her mother.
But an even greater shock was to (Continued on page 113)

63


_ eaee’

268 THE PINKERTON Stop;

“At first he just sat there and scowled. Then after a few visits },
began to loosen up. About the third or fourth he was asking for }...
wife and baby. Then one day he cracked.”

With his wonderful gift for acting out a part, Dimaio recreat.
the scene in the warden’s office forty-three years later, and he ma‘ |
you see Condido pacing up and down the warden’s office, saying -
Italian, “My poor wife and baby need me so if youll help tr
Dimaio, I'll help you.”

Dimaio told Condido he could make no promises but pointed «
that District Attorney Young could recommend leniency in his
to the parole board if he testified as a state’s witness against Hor,
murderer.

Condido told Dimaio, “I will think it over and get in touch w::
you.
A week passed. In May, 1908, Dimaio received a letter fro:
Condido.

“Come to prison to see me. I have the facts. The murder was»
committed by Rocco Racco and Jim Murdocca. There was another
person there when they killed him. In order to secure this informs-
tion I had to take three oaths. I am so afraid I cannot eat. Pleax
come at once.”

As Dimaio says, he hurried to the prison “as fast as the bugs
would take me” and saw Condido in the warden’s office. The
gangster, white faced and trembling, gave Dimaio a note writt!
on a scrap of a sugar bag. It was from Surace, second in comma:
of the Society, warning him “the Raven was here and he wants '
know about that affair. Don’t tell him.”

The letter was signed with a secret Camorra symbol.

As Dimaio recollects, Condido fell to his knees and begged he:
to destroy the note, saying over and over that he would be murder’
if it became known he was working with the police. The Pinke:’
man tore the scrap of paper in two but the frightened prise!”
insisted it be torn in smaller pieces, which Dimaio did, and
threw them into a wastepaper basket.

Condido then told his story. Rocco Racco had confessed to he
that he had killed Houk one day in the woods with the help ©
Murdocca, his brother-in-law, because the game warden had ki
his dog. They had weighted the corpse with stones and then thr? |

it into the Mahoning River. Condido also gave the Pinkerton *

be eon seree

”

slr Eta ght tin ig eet he

4 ers

a ee ieee tars ee oe

the names of other Camorra men who had heard Racco boast of |

See neg oS nee se

et ee, A a all A A a~*

4{\T WONDERFUL DETECTIVE 269

wing and a young Italian who had been forced to help the mur-
iepers dispose of the body. He said that Racco’s wife still had the
s,otgun that her husband had used to kill the game warden.

After Condido left, Dimaio emptied the wastebasket on the floor
ond gathered together the torn scraps of the letter. He remembers
pending the night carefully pasting it together. The next day he
..y3med to the prison to see Surace, who had written the note.

The meeting was a dramatic one. Surace, scowling and sullen,
would only growl, “I am not a spy, I will never betray a brother.”
Then Dimaio produced the sugar bag note and Surace jumped to his
‘eet screaming that he had been betrayed. To protect Condido
1ymaio told Surace a guard had seen the note and had taken it away
‘om Condido as he was trying to swallow it.

The authors read Dimaio the report he had written that day in
xhich he said Surace had talked after he had given him “the sign of
the Society.” Dimaio remembered the incident.

“I told Surace this note implicated him and he kept wetting his
Eps and saying he was afraid. I knew the secret password of the
Camorra and bent over to him and whispered, ‘Monte Albano,
which meant, “You can speak with safety.’

“He looked up at me and then said, ‘You know of the Society?’ I
sid I did and he looked down at the floor for a moment, fhen said,
Tam going to tell you all about it.” He then told me that Racco had
confessed to him that he had murdered Houk with his brother-in-
aw. He also gave me the name of another prisoner who had heard ,
Hacco confess the murder and this man was brought in. He denied
te had heard anything about the murder but Surace gave him the
gn. Upon receiving the sign he repeated the same story Condido
‘sd Surace had told me. I took statements from all of them.”

!}imaio now had three statements but they were secondhand and
‘ald be denied. He needed corroboration. He had to get the shot-
chp from Racco’s wife and find the young Italian who had helped the
*o murderers dispose of Houk’s body. Also to be located was the”

n who had borrowed Racco’s dog the day Houk killed it and
oe had heard Racco swear he would kill the warden for revenge.
as Surace, who had heard the confession of Racco, was another
tential state’s witness. Surace told Dimaio she was “somewhere

; ‘anal and the Agency sent operatives to canvass that city to
“1 her,


ee ene

on a

- * a —

i

{ “ £
| 266 Lf THE PINKERTON sto}, ! aT \WONDERFUL DETECTIVE 967
: i P . . . ° . a . 4 j ° “
he was attending secret meetings of the society himself, posing a, | 1 whoever offered defiance or resistance would “be marked by
capo from New York City or Pennsylvania. inife.” _
~ . Q) La ; . ; . . . . . . . co
In 1907, Dimaio and his agents moved into Pennsylvania to bre. rhere was something very gallant in the voice of this old man of a
OQ

the grip the Camorra had on ‘the stone quarries in Lawrence Count,
In Hillsville, fifteen miles from New Castle, the headquarters :. .
the “honorable society,” honest workmen were beaten and. blac;
mailed, and murder and violence were commonplace. Threats sea’
lips of complainants and witnesses, and the local police, distr -
attorney, and grand jury were helpless.

It is recorded that in 17 murder cases there was not one convict) i
and it was “common knowledge that if an Italian wished to pri.
an alibi he had merely to express a desire and could have a dov.-

!

chty-seven, as he told of fics tense nights and then added, “You ¢
cow. it was a very dangerous situation.”
Once a local storekeeper confided to a Pinkerton man, as the
- tective reported to Dimaio, “they ought to have some detectives
t here. I could give them some information on cases out here. I
wa lot about it myself.” He then proceeded to list the names* |
» some Camorra gangsters who were extorting money from the 4 |
arry workers. That night the list of names was on the w ay tO fe
tsburgh where Dimaio had organized a clearinghouse for all F
_tormation coming in to him on the Camorra and Mafia activities.»
_ During the investigation, Game Warden Seeley Houk of Hills- a |
ie disappeared and “although there were rumors that he had been 5
(2 ~otdered by the Camorra the local police could find no probative?
evidence or even a corpus delicti. Q
Jn the summer of 1907 nineteen Camorra gangsters including =
deir capo, a man with the wonderful implausible name of Rocco 2
Facco, were sentenced to long terms in Western Penitentiary on _
targes of assault, robbery, extortion, and blackmail. The ev idence
was prepared by the Pinkertons and the cases prosecuted by District 4
‘ttorney Charles H. Young.
The following spring wher the Mahoning River thawed thee
rk ‘dled body of ‘Game Warden Houk was found. Indignation meet-ry
ts were held throughout the state and there was talk of forming a
<iante committee to take action against the Camorra. The Game*

mmission of Pennsylvania did not have funds to investigate thers

ae

me

men swear to that effect.”

Dimaio and his secret operatives—their names cannot be disclos.
even to this day—spent several months in the wild quarry region.

There are more than a hundred secret reports in the Agence: |
; files written by Dimaio and his operatives who joined the Camons |
in Hillsville. There is high drama in the yellowing pages and situa F
{ tions far more gripping than any that have been imagined by Holly. 4
| wood for its private eyes. 4

ti

| There was Operative 89 who reported on Tuesday, April 23, 197°
i that he had “met the head man of the Society, the most expx*'
member in the use of the knife and sought after by other brane ;
of the Society for murder and cuttings and for training with th
knife.”

The report goes on to tell how the operative sat with the “kni) 4
man” and the local capo who said he was “worried because he hi’
| heard that detectives would come in and make a number of arrest:

POL Sie PORT. ty: te pn. ee Oe ttl

_ At this point the “knifeman” drew out his stilleto and swore ©

oath that he would “carve out the heart of any man who wou:
betray the Society to the police.”
There were also touches of grim comedy. One operative ©

‘ng, but a number of wealthy sportsmen made contributions and? j
" Pinkertons were called in. in

Dimaio was assigned to the murder. Sure that one of the convicted !

‘teen committed the murder or knew who did, he went to theo

accounting for a long period of silence, explained to Dimaio in!
report: “I went to Youngstown to make a purchase of some cloth
as I was to bea godfather to one of their children and the whole «
was given to merriment.’

Dimaio and his men ate and slept with the Camorra gangsters *! ‘
worked with them in the quarries. Nights were spent drinking “" . ! didn’t hurry him,” Dimaio remembers. “I talked about every-
and listening to the leaders tell how they Le the commu” 4 in the world except Houk’s murder or any other crime.

)
The Packie sSfrey by Popes Be Fras
| fhal (G Vile Q- - Le

LL. : - | eeeran

stern Penitentiary as he says, “to talk to Sal Condido, the weakest
‘he nineteen.”
The first meeting was casual. Dimaio brought fruit and gave the
“H0Ira gangster a cigar, which the w arden permitted | him to
; “ke during the interview.

ene merermermmmetn. Yemen eet

Pe eee

rex ue!


parts of the state, of a number. of our
citizens, one a Deputy Game Protector
who was compelled to shoot this man
to save his own life. In an effort to
discourage the unnaturalized foreign-
bom residents from hunting, the Act
of 1903 required them to purchase
nonresident hunting licenses. This law,
like all other laws, was totally disre-
garded; they continued to hunt with-
out licenses. It is believed that less
than five licenses were sold to aliens
in the years following the Passage of
this Act.

Another deplorable shooting inci-
dent was soon to follow. This was the
killing of Game Protector Seely Houk.
He worked the western part of the
state and was scorned and constantly
threatened by the foreign-born popu-
lation. On March 2, 1906, Seely Houk
disappeared while working in Law-
rence County. Silence followed his
disappearance and then the report
spread that he had “skipped-out” be-
cause of his own wrongdoings. This
report was not acceptable to Commis-
sioner John M. Phillips, for he knew
Officer Houk well and had been told
by Houk of some of the law enforce-
ment difficulties he had in the New

ee

; pe SAE noi el 2 ray 3
THE FARM GAME and Safety Zone Pro.
grams were established in the mid-’30s,
and that’s when this Photo was taken near
Oxford in Chester County. These pro-

grams have greatly aided hunter-land-
owner relationships,

JULY, 1970

Castle area. Phillips warned Houk not
to work this area alone, but the Com-
missioner had been reassured by Houk
that he had a revolver and could
handle any situation.

Slain Game Protector Found

On April 26, almost two months
later, Houk’s body was found in the
Mahoning River. The body was riddled
with shot and the back of the head
was blown off. The raincoat he was
Wearing was pulled over his head,
filled with stones and tightly belted.

State and local police worked on
the case, but Commissioner Phillips
went to Governor Samuel W. Penny-
packer and received permission to hire
a Pinkerton detective with private
funds. The Pinkerton man moved right
into the community just outside of
New Castle and found work in the
limestone quarry. Within a few
months, he had enough evidence to
arrest a man named Rocco Racca. In
September, 1907, at New Castle, Racca
was formally tried for the murder of
Seely Houk. Records were introduced
showing that the defendant had been
arrested and convicted 13 times in his
native country,

The trial brought out the details of
the case. Houk had killed one of Rac-
ca’s unlicensed dogs for running game.
Rocco swore that “just as my dog died
in the woods, so shall this man die.”
Soon afterwards, Rocco Racca and
another man saw Houk walkin the
railroad grade. With guns in hand,
they moved to a position near which
he would pass and drew his attention
by firing a shot into the air. The as-
sailants hid behind a fallen tree and
when the officer came within range
he was shot with a load of buckshot.
Rocco Racca ran to the fallen officer,
placed the muzzle of his gun almost
in Houk’s mouth and shot off the back
of the head. The body lay where it fell
until after dark, when it was carried
over the embankment, loaded with
Stones and dropped into the Mahon-
ing River. Racca was convicted and
hanged. The other man fled the coun-

“snes


THE PENNSYLVANIA GAME LAW was
codified first in 1923, recodified in 1937,
when it was signed by Governor George
H. Earle, above.

try and all efforts to extradite him
failed.

In Dr. Kalbfus’ report to the Gover-
nor in 1906, he wrote the following:

“I am exceedingly sorry to be com-
pelled to report that the slaughter of
game of all kinds and the killing of
our wild birds, other than game birds,
by unnaturalized foreign-born resi-
dents is still carried on to a very great
extent, notwithstanding the fact that
we have had notices . . . posted in very
many parts of the state. These notices
call attention of all people . . . to the
law and to their liability under it. We
have arrested and punished numbers
of these people with apparently no
effect whatever . . . excepting in the
immediate camp where the arrest was
made. We have had fourteen officers
shot at during the present year. We
have had seven shot, three of whom
were killed, and three very seriously
wounded; and one other, a gentleman
of Lawrence County, while not serv-
ing under a commission of this Board,
was killed for doing our work. This
gentleman was shot and mortally
wounded within a few yards of the
place where L. S. Houk, one of our
regular protectors, was killed early in
the spring. All of this outrageous
work, so far as we are able to deter-

30

mine, has been done by unnaturalized
foreigners. . . . We have up to this
time been unable to arrest one indi-
vidual accused of these wrongs. And
I again reiterate what I said in my
report of last year, that it seems to
me the only hope of correcting this
condition will be to secure the passage
of a law forbidding this class of people
to even have in possession firearms,
or weapons of any description, within
the limits of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.

“The question of the right of these
people to carry arms is not one of
game bird protection only. It is not
one of safety to our officers alone, but
is one of protection and justice to all
our people. During the past year we
have been compelled to defend our-
selves upon numerous occasions, in
one instance a foreigner, who was the
aggressor, being killed. Two of our
officers were shot in the same melee.
... Taking all things into considera-
tion, one would hardly consider the
position of a Game Protector in this
state the most enviable one to be
secured.”

Alien Law *

On May 8, 1909, Governor Edwin S.
Stewart signed into law an important
amendment to the Game Law which
prohibited any unnaturalized foreign-
born resident to hunt for or capture or
kill, in Pennsylvania, any wild bird or
animal of any description; and it be-
came unlawful for any unnaturalized
foreign-born resident within this Com-
monwealth to own or possess a shot-
gun or rifle of any make. The law
directed that all duly appointed and
swom officers of the Board of Game
Commissioners and all constables, po-
lice officers, members of the State Con-
stabulary, forest wardens and all peace
officers of the Commonwealth arrest
without warrant any person of this
class when such person was in posses-
sion of guns or believed to be in pos-
session of guns. The new law brought
about a marked decrease in the num-
ber of aliens hunting and violating the

GAME NEWS

Taare

¥ be

Gripp

TORTURE KIDNAP! «+24 Sait a rel By John Shirley ©
d minister in an

West Virginia—Torture and death await a retire i
abandoned mine until G-men bring the kidnapers to justice.

PASSION PLOT OF VIRGINIA’S ILLICIT LOVERS... ---
_ By Sheriff Frank D. Mays and Walden Snell

der but a keen-

10

Virginia—¥ outhful passion leads to a crimson mur
witted sheriff solves the mystery.

TRAILING THE FIEND OF RAT RIVER - By Harry F. Mullett
Canada—A mysterious stranger defies Canadian Mounted Police
until, true to tradition, they get their man.

CALIFORNIA’S RIDDLE OF THE MISSING NURSE ...:-:
pecsenn bes : By Kate O’Connor
San Francisco—A beautiful girl disappears, leading police on the
trail of a heartless murderer. ‘

‘KILLERS AND THE CRIMSON

By ‘George Hymer 22

der crew turn to

14

18

a a hed g COMBED out” Oe Se A

Chicago—The last members of a notorious mur
bank robbery but are wiped out by police.

AVENGING CAROLINA’S SLAIN POLICE HERO & coaeyee ce
By Capt. L. R. Fisher and Herbert Rudlin

North Carolina—A fearless state trooper is murdered but his
comrades avenge his death.

TRAPPING NEW JERSEY’S DEATH MOLLS
25 _ By Roland E. Lindbloom 32
Newark—The wanton killing of a bus driver baffles police until a
probationer makes a startling admission.

PENNSYLVANIA’S BANK RAIDERS AND THE DEADLY

26

5 cee wee ee He”

ease Oe Oe OOS

ger ee ERE Se ES

AMBUSH - By Lawrence Flick, Jr., and Mackenzie Griffin 38
Philadelphia—A perfect bank robbery fails when clever bandits
are trapped by a detective’s hunch.

46

MURDER MADNESS «0-0 seer a By Martin Cotter

Iilinois—Patient detectives catch up with a pair of brutal killers
in the concluding chapter of a gripping tale.

SHORT FEATURES

GRIME FILE ccc site ea epee ow age wine © 0S OE
PHOTO FLASHES ep rid oa’ set Sis vl aeest eset LD biiergye eo eens es et
$90,000 GEM THEFT... - Ee alee 8h, |v gine seit ee UT .
CURB THE SEX CRIMINAL...--+°°" sg nna cue Os John E. Lind
STRAIGHT FROM HEADQUARTERS . pea ee eke Ror A, ve

DARING DETECTIVE is published monthly by Country Press, Inc., at 1100 W. Broadway,
Louisville, Ky. Entered af second-class matter at the post office at Louisville, Ky., under the act
3, 1879, with additional entry at Greenwich, Conn. Editorial offices, 1501 Broadway,
City, N.Y. ALL MANU CRIPTS AND PICTURES MUST BE S TE,

AT THE AUTHOR'S RISK, ACCOMPANIED BY RETURN POSTAGE ADDRESSED TO
Price 15 cents a COPY, aise a year in the United States and

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Simpson-Reilly, 1014 Russ Bldg.; Los Angeles, Simpson-

MEMBER AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS

; a ay
gaa DP ok Weta ih A ae ies eh Nad
i ER a a a at yaaa

: Through


- Tf

Fred, white,

elec,

) panied by Rev. Fi P. McCreesh,

i: i
e ba

Pa. (Phila.) 3/28/1938,

t

illers

4

T hree
In'15

Special to The Pittaburgn Press
BELLEFONTE, Pai March 28—
Three killdrs—one who burned two:

women to death to escape marriage,.
another who shot ra Philadelphia |
policeman and a gan cond who mur-:

Fenitentiary
night =:
It kequired tess thn 15 minites’
Ng "setae the slayers, strangers
until hours befor@ they walked,
oné-by4oné, to their; deaths, ‘The:
executions brought 272 the num-
ber of: persons ele¢troductéd | for.
their crimes in the state.
Those who died were:
Ralph E. Hawk, 31, of Marion,
Pa., who‘ burned two women to
death in an attempt; to avold lence

riage.
ot Philadelphia,

wei) after . mid-

Pred Relbaldl, 27,
who killed: a policempn.

Albert W. Gregg. 331, a Chicago
ganster, who robbed; a department
store and killed , Philadelphia
banker while shooting his way to
freedom. : "

Hawk was first to dle. He stepped

fizmly,the:few paces from the death
house to the executfon chamber, a
smile upon his lips. j He 'was silent
and-stared upward tintil the black
death mask was slipped over. his
head. }
Two ministers ‘acegmpanied Hawk
on, his walk to the chair. Rev,
Clyde Meadows, of {Chambersburg,
hear Marlon, 2 friend of Hawk's in
earlier days,
doomed man who pad turned tq
him for religious consolation.

Rev. C.F. Lauer, prison chaplain,
walked along with Hawk, intoning a
psalm. He pronounged benediction.

The charge stryck Hawk at
12:3115 aj m. He vas es
dead at 12:34 a. m.

Reibald! walked ihto the execu
tion chamber as n as oe
body wasiremoved, [He was accom-

Catholic chaplain, o murmured a
special prayer for the dead. Pale-
faced, R¢ibadli wet his Nps with
the tip of his tonghe nervously as
his gaze rested enebace Warden
Frank Craver of Holmesburg ‘County
Prison, Philadelph where | the
doomed man had’ been’ a for
weeks. /|

“So long, Warder}, good Juck to
you. That's all,” hegsa ee

“So long,” whispefed Mr. ‘Craver.

Executioner Robeyt Elliot threw

e\switch at 12:36% a. m. Reibaldl

ey pronounced dead at 12:39%4. ~

Gregg :was pale; and his: ‘lips
quivered ‘as he walkéd, hesitantly,
into the death chamber. He said
nothing, but stared, fascinated, at
the chair until: le stumbled
against it.

Gregg was the: anly one of the
trio who died without turning to
religion. ‘Rev. Rpt = attempted to
convert him, but until the last it
was doubted that Gregg asked for-
giveness. .

Gregg’s identity ans uncertain. ‘

Some belleved Albext W. Gregg was:
an allag. If so, he dled without re-|
vealing his real name, for the
charge ‘struck him at 12:42 a. m.
and he was. pronounced dead three
minutes Jater. |

Gregg was_the 1

| in the prison cemetery: today, Mrs.

‘fatal shooting of a ::Philadelphia

svcd gteadily at the |:

Die in | Chair |

linutes at Rockview:

oan aeasprenasamaamed

die acme He. " smoked in-
: ssantly, and the dimilight in the |
death hotise was traced: by the glow
of a cigaret as he resflessly paced
back and forth. i:

His the only:
body. ota was planned for him

unclaimed

Bertha Reibaldi of :Philadelphia
claimed the body of. her husband,
‘the father of two children. Hawk’s
father, John E, Hawk, claimed the
body of his son.

Young Hawk had been a farm |
hand at Marton until he sought to
burn.the family of Catherine Gel-
wix, his flancee and fn expectant
mother, in an effort to,avoid marry-
ing the girl, | Mrs. Hazel Gelwix
and a daughter, Helen, | 15, burned
to death in bed but rieighbors res-
cued Catherine althoagh she hdd
:|been , hit across the head with a
flashlight. 5 ty

Reibaldi, a paroled : ‘convict, was
given the supreme pelialty for the

policeman, Maurice Handloff, who |
;| Surprised Reibaldi when he held up
a motorist atta traffic signal. |
Gregg was anotheri parolee. He'
was convicted ‘of shodting C. Mor-!
gan Knight, socially prominent in-
vestment banker of ; (Philadelphia, |
when Mr. Knight - interfered as:
Gregg escaped Wangmaker's cee
partment store.in Philgdelphia with |
$1200 he obtained in @ holdup. |
Police at Philadelphia said Gregg |_

hee cOiiltised* robbing

the Boule-!
vid bank of Chicugo-nf £5909 tn a!
‘dup several montt); ore the |

Wanamaker robbery. : |

showed much ~agitafion ‘as the time

nly man. who j: 33

’ ; '
(Left) Howard Long,
biting into a sandwich
after a fifteen-hour
grilling, confessed that
he murdered a ten-year-
old New Hampshire
boy, by beating him to
death. He had formerly
Been convicted of a sex
crime and Paroled ,

(Right) Fred Parsons,
; alias Reibaldi, shortly be-
4 fore he was arraigned in
Philadelphia, Pa., accused
of having killed a patrol-
» man, shooting from his
pocket, when arrested for
a minor offense. (Below)
Anthony Chebatoris, ban-
dit, being questioned by
Sheriff Ira Smith. As he
fled from the scene of a .
Midland, Michigan, bank
holdup he was wounded
by a dentist who shot the
fleeing gunman from the
front window of his office

rE

Alfred Power,
alias Lewis,
seems to realize
that crime does
not pay as he
sits, dejected and
unkempt,
charged with
first degree mur-
der in the fatal
wounding of a
G-man in Tope-
ka, Kansas

ayeroft, attractive
irday she saw the

il.

aid, “and Jeanette
near them at that
1tke-believe game

, there are no hid-
ubbery or isolated
iin of the park is
where ‘each young- {
s. Hundreds of un-7
ieir mothers secure |
‘vised. 7
heing warned, not
id park employees,
e. We could only”
ldren and Jeanette
ig by the fact that
ie they were lured.
n approached indi-
But evidently the?
von the confidence
id not hesitated to%

nabated. At nigh
heir homes, grimly?
ak. At my request
had arranged with
~- to have twenty’
londay morning
might be madeg
my disposal his
nued on page 7

(Extreme left) Thomas Woodward, hand-"
cuffed and hatless, in custody of Warden W.
Jones of the Baton Rouge, La., State Peni-
tentiary, is one of six captured in a surprise

A ta li itl RN AEB a RB sit elem

Bet

fererenins

Sih ‘¢ Ae _ jtaet oore be word Rare seo
make waked Out of the courtruon Yield AERA LaaA "Matin Geaiakee teocet

Mm Jacce Howard A. Davis, after con. | Geluhis member of the comumingion, | Cimister for @ patient he tunes
sending a Cecision on ihe motion to Contlnwed From Firet Pare whith is beaded by Benatar Jotin i |ta an incomprtand — hwy
oon po oni — _— eeneg, | SOUN of revenue that would be) Dent, Westmoreland Demnoerat, an-| heart and restore his feet te the
me petinans SERS wae EO coduced by the present real yalu- | bounced that eny firms which deely- . Orc
made po later than yeaterdey, | ation. ef. the city for 1233 —$2,sa5,-| ed te be heard should eppty to him. Osrtain jaeues redand by Dr. €
coker | 041.733, plus an estimated approp-is.; He alto ald thet mismbers of corn. wei — see
Dougherty Assails | 223 fet, citcct tem te com-| mistion, who have been working ia cal srofmcian ,
| ing

ua {| Hh waters, was aboard.

a

4% reinbly
verti Chinese |
af Gen. Mao Tre ae

- jong trains of am-!} f
airy ang wer euppites) PS
Yellow River and were
to Geferad Shensi and:
rovinecs tn Northwest |

i
&
|

monwealtn of $2,859,000, Hacrisburg and Pittsburgh, have been
Normel achool needs, leas the | recetving an vnosualty bigh Gegree of | : e:
Hadley as Bolter snout to te stred‘theicy tens: | cropeation frag werent ta a of realty is profeuna
y mies recommended by the Works, dustrial concerns
| coratmittes, and not including retire-| Bearings will ba eenducted until BRYNKILD
Appealiris for support to his bic | ment of the present eash deficit, will | October, when the full committee is ies
re-tlection on the Republican | ree aire a budget of tot more than/ to mevt and draw up its report, Bic. of Things” eran
Wart, Register of Wilis Harry V. $23,000.0C0, the survey staff azserted | fel said. : | hed -m oe ~ 3 -ie tae
Daugheriy, former cld-Lire Demo- in its findings. Givertion ot ae
eet, last night contendad that the The Board of Education now ls e ’ peers, with Be of
QO. P. siste must be mace up of considering two tmmediate etepa, Appraiser Post na a
GMddates “thersughly opposad to preliminary to study of the surrey ’ ereat period. If & revels a
&e New Deal, not onty for the fu- recommendations, to ease its finen-! wy ° h ii Gd eek, wh ee Eaee Ue
te usefulness of the pariy, but also chal situation, k or MeGtine ey eraletal. c
— welfare of eur country.” Both are made geatinbie be .

& broadcast Dougherty, who \s/ telation passed by the last session © - Cit ltaan John B. ; nes, der. %
Sposing City Trracurer WILDS Had-{the Legisiatnre. ‘ Pog — grec thet pred eR oy Penny pore “ a
ky for the Republican nomination, The fitet: An act permitting « Herbert McGlinchey, 024 ward iead- | & . whek, Bie, und
talied attention ts the fact Hadicy | school district to fund ite cash éefielt er, wit] be ppetnted te the vecener poromgend ee Row
Ripported Democraite City Chatr- over & 20-rear period. on tue Phil iphia of Mer- elist, aa ae 8 gor aera
man John B. Kelly for Mayor in 1685,/ The second: A three-year moraior- cantsle Philade i phone 20 ty the | ave the abled,

‘hen the New Deal was an issue, fum on sinking fund peymesta en deaths at Tonya i“ sth prinetpeal ,

“lt Mr, Hadley receives this nom-) bond tatucs, , Jeacer later, NARCIASUS
tation,” Dougherty said, “It will be| If advantage is taken of the lat- gS hey, whe was ty| Mr. Palece was a men ef +
Mulralent to serving notice upon fu-; ter act, it is expected that a saving Outed tas scene bs Pig eco: senalblities and thesmant anx..
burt Candidates thet they may knife: of approximately $250,000 may be when Judge Gerald P. Plood Boras Ets conception of iisneeif, ots.

Fe ee renee Comme back and | made. the cid Republican-contralied board | Mr. Wella, “was of « reserved. :
~— & nomination for Golug it.” | 1 | Telnstated, wil be eworn in today by | deren figure. Grticete bat or

“© promise epport Hadies | ete, . ' . . . bet «
ind the remainder of the ie pinee, | Pew Family Gave Auditor General Warren R. Rob- | Observant, amused, xindy

singhsien to Tients'n, more, fi

es, much of the country- | :
under water, cities tke | PIE Pony
tanding out like iciends. ie

¢ chong the Pleping-But- | HARBURGER’S-

i

oad © the Northwest ssid | pare: aur: oak pe
° | = * E 5 - % ays
ince Wes continuing, | pggemtrag Rly 3a {£52 yee

Shee Se be

SCHOOL DIRECTORY

ols Tied here will pindly send you detatied Infarmation regatiing the f

a which you @re interes Upon request.

ACADEMIC AND PREPARATORY | -.,
& Marshall Acad, Box 520, Lancaster. Le, © M. Martman, Lan. 25228

ACADEBUC & FREPARATORY SCHOOLS (Co Bifucationn’)
“Teparatory School George J. Brown, 15th & Race fis Rit. aaee8
Prep. Scho... .Dr, MoE. Lapayowker, T17 Spruce Bt, .,...Lom. 77S

RORATICS, BOXING, FENCING, WRESTLING, SELF-DEFENSE
J. Herrmann... . Mercantile Lisrary Eatg., 20h at, Chestost. Wel

ACROBATICN, TAP AND STAGE DANCING ” }
3. Herrmami. . Mercantile Linerry itg., 10th ab Chestnut...Wat 9984

‘ his s+

. er f , | ; erts, who will mske the eppotnt. | tatical His bearing. tke h :

un Atreratt Stereo oy pet OF be ay (LO i736 s Mt the City Treasurer is nom- 1 $20,000 to G,. 0. P, _ | Bent, in Bethiehen. ba Leer ge gE, any =

BALLET, TAP, CHARACTER AND BALLROOM DANCING. * ‘ Pour members of the Pew family At the same iime it was learned tos familar with his phases of

ace Stud-o," form.'with het. Opera, N.¥., R. W. Cor, Dn & Wal. Rit. 2300 Hi Earle May Forfeit | Contributed $90.000 of the cy ee George SP agin-/ or were tation and neurasthenta, fhe

it . jraised by the Republican Nation j Democratic Tt, will TROON | 80 rether weary of the ro.

BIRLE TRAINING POR CHRISTIAN RERVICE . Pret vote In Primerv , Committee from June i to August 21,! mended for the msgisterial post on
Covlege of Cheguan Eéucatiom 1272 1024 2138 Spruce bt. «Pee sii it wes teveaked yesterdey in a re 1 made vecent by the death of Magi-

BOARDING SCHOOL— nora ‘

fanor Bciwel, Boys 616, Mod. Fre. Hesdmaster, Poronc Manor P.O. Pa.

Governor Derle may be deprived of port filed with the clerk of the Houne , ttrate Johh J, Eberhardt, Republi. Th Se H f

Wing at Tuesdav's primery ‘tiection! of Representatives at Washingicn. j can, =. @ Sou e
Wwe of @ broken propeller on the! Contributions of $5000 each ecre Ieanwhile, Fletcher W.. Amos,
a on which he is returning | made by N. Howard and J. N. Pew, Negro, who was a candidste for |

f t Ad ‘ $
nurope. Jr, of Ardmore. end Mist Mary) megistrete on the Democratie ticket, The White Ant
Originally scheduled to Goce 'n! Ethel Pew ond Mra, Mabel Pew By. ehDownced kis withécswal ke favor 5 _
York Monday, the shin may not! rin, of Eryn Maw>, of Joseph T. Rainey, Megro member | “The Socl of the White Ln
ie ne UBtY Tuesday, toc nie for) During the June-August PercQiog the Giate Boxing Commissisa,| Bugene Marais, Dodd, Mead &
a bie’ reecr tls homme in Havertord/the Nations! Conumittse expenced Amos will be tewarded with a job EK,
BE cast, Pouis_clone, st wee wn- | $154,175.27. Since January 1 the com- ns tipstaff im etther Comman Pleas } f
B pvt’ tt the Governor's office in| mittee received $304,623.08 and ez-! Gort Ro, & or 7,
na Rersbusg esterday, - pended 383,190.71.

hana W. Thompson, 87 & 4th St ...Los 480
tora i peters Fess ie Genin Se Fee ex? f
vorthke usitess Sehowt. Or, Ben: Orestes, 4iN.

: vetaenn, LT Chosinut St. Ret

chook, bir, Cyril ve. Taylor... C¥See¥e sans -
% School for Secretaries. 220)” Park’ @ Sesquensnre 2ves. Bes. 167

CONTRACT BRIDGE

264 Grebs, Barter Teacner.,.9t Sunes litel...Pen, 640; Way. 390%

DRAMATIC SCHOOLS - “" 96 : Li
~ Ar Dept of Marnilton of Music... 274 et
rider Norri: 2. Schoo! of cea, i734 Chest. 6... cu i. Pts

_—

:
#4
g
§

FASHION MODELING ‘
udie of Fashion Modeling... ..,,

: 7a . : unity of the parts of ther
__XINDERGARTEN & ELEMENTARY SGmOLS ORE Ly an Shot to eat 1 i “ Tt was acoepled at am original
Ne Pe ee DL Drive on ‘Tsmig? © | Bis sere eau me bee

; a ‘ e * 4, ® as % jf nu the ery chal. geod
wy ~ ry - > Twe' t Fw Kr y E Co .. iv i } ‘. Pretor: "a, @ ta by
we tons wine ade coe toe ey EX-COnVICt in Heldup cA.national drive again Maxie,
: SCHOOLS hh Sree hee Uued From First Pare mounds were crenord. 2.16 thence to | can <tsme” was opened last right by
hago of kes Mee eee a te eps oe | eee hoid-up; elambered ; *# Sad st. ext Woodiand ave. sla-i the Patriotic Order Bons of Ameri:
sat Acedecy, Iné.. Chartered by Sinte of Pas.. - area his 4, And aided Roac- | ton for questioning. Seana eeraiention) aationst wa-
Saas Le oe caer Brae Bt ios on: | Permn egoding to detesiven| ite comin tnt Fee
Thal OF Basie... .ecee cece oes os LBZ apetig Gasieo me Re d z - ie : : is belleved to be the marauder known phis yo gra

= ~at oat, 2 = Soe ee zo Tue sound of the shots had attract- as the “red-light” bandit, an armed; Temtion deny ws from ees os
man, Engh, French te, Toe Canticy 20 bile Sprosy Bt Py i tention of severe! motorists | desperady who has preyed upon cers}. Congress sabed

és-
s Aes ee &F ave. who halted their | on little traveled highways of the city | haustive probe of Nasi actrvities,

re ae “dT ons Pchings. ‘They hen they halted tor red treftic! lured Hugh G. Mitehatl of North
West Pulinseipnis Sched. hig 1® Od Bee Loncayior B50, ag BPR aid aw ‘or oan oe fights. °

ay SESS SEPP OT a
-—>—— - 87, a = ats +4
PT ag Sik tt wed By Rae AS
7 oy ys me aie mp 4
TSS SSS a, Sa PEE |

tating Aiea ie aataaaieniy

titss were marked on his record as
i heving been made by Inspectors! promiscs

sceooLag tS | the McParland aisle ge ee a
BUMNLIS § SECRETARIAL aba ge ya are) ae r , Dresen ms «.
Rewe Nenahee G. Wasik, Dit jis. SUD Cecup th... oxt fl the West Phileds'phia Division.
Posed: maton pees f Per: ioe, : ¥ Resebore, who fa 34 and omrried, f
.

Presiden af SIS Catherine ot. He was
epptinted to ibe police bureay fn
October, 1559.


t

iber automatic. His confederate: 5 feet
10 inches tall, 140 pounds, straight chest-
nut hair, hairline mustache, gray-blue
eyes, wore gray hat at tilted angle, ex-
pensive camel’s hair overcoat.

Pencil still resting on the notebook,
Donaldson asked: “Can you tell me how
it happened, Lew ?” ;

Roberts nodded feebly.

“As I was leaving the store, two men
came in,” he said slowly. “The taller one
Went up to the manager. The runt pulled
a gun on me and yelled, ‘Stick ’em up,
bo.’ His voice was a sort of falsetto. I
had left my gun home, so I grabbed the
punk’s wrist and twisted it. I could feel
his muscle relax. In another second he’d
have dropped the gun. But that second

36

was enough for the other guy. He
whacked me on the skull, twice.”
Roberts paused. The doctor wiped

great beads of sweat from his blood- -

masked face.

“I managed to lunge against the little
guy,” Roberts resumed his halting nar-
rative. “He fell backward with me on
top of him. In the same instant I heard
the roar of his gun. I saw the flash. I
heard a click as the second bullet jammed
in the cylinder. He squirmed from under
me. T had to let him go. The blood from
my head was dripping on his overcoat.”

“You're sure it was the little fellow
who shot you ?” Mes

A ghost of a wry grin fluttered for a
split second on Roberts’ face, only to be

Lieut. Roberts had been one of the
best liked officers on the Scranton
force. Friends and fellow officers
thronged his funeral, and vengeance
was quick against the killers.

wiped out by a convulsive shudder.
“Sure,” he muttered. “The tall guy broke
his gun on my ‘skull. It rained bullets,
You'll find them scattered all over, Good
hunting, George.” He sighed. “Okay,
Doc, let’s have, the shot now. There’s
nothing more to tell.”

Donaldson rose stiffly to give place to
the doctor with his merciful charge of
pain-killing drug. His eves asked a ques-
tion, The doctor shook his head. His lips
formed the answer : “No hope.”

|
;
'

.

RTS

The “runt,” hatless at
far left, became a cop-
killer when his tall pal.
left,’ grappled with a
brave officer and had
to ‘be saved with. bul-
lets. |. The victim, was
Lieut.. ‘Lewis.’ Roberts
of the. Scranton, Pa..
force, who fell wounded
at spot indicated in the
store below.’ Papers
blazoned the ‘crime
which aroused the city.

DIAL 7222
yoo wont ofa to
20 Bepetinns oF

THE WEATHER
Meentle fale todar and bower
fee: womoebet coir lager

eine
dent bag °CRarge LP

he Scranton Republican

EIGHTEEN PAGES hd PRICE TWO CENTS

ESTABLISHED HOT __ vou. 163, NO. 2 (SARE 08? atts) SCRANTON, PA.. MONDAY. APRIL 3, 1933

BANDIT’S FIRE KILLS LOCAL DETECTIVE

= ay ‘Lewis Roberts Victim|
, iii. ..| ()f Wound He Received
gy Vighting A. &P.Robber jy ‘

4? it+>-
e Bk es i
are y% 4 ane

Companion Intensified
As Fingerprint Expert
Of Local Police Bureau
Expires Less Theo 24
Hours After Struggle
With Unmasked Gua-
man in Store

—

Shot in the abdomen by &
bandit during an attempted
robbery at an A. d& P. store at
Prescott avenue and Ol.ve
atreet at 9 45 o'clock on Sat-
urday night, Lieutenant ot
Detectives Lewis Robe" 4),
head of the crim. na, [tie
fication buseau
quarters, died at 6 ‘
last night at the Halos 1

Hunt for “Slayer and His * |

is protest-
something

v his side.

vain-glazed
ever had,
‘n’t in our:

A from his
and time:

cony, Rob-
amazingly
ndits. Only
ce in pho-
king their
have taken
noments of

vut 22 years
10 had shot
nches tall,
had wavy
ex, wore a
‘da .38 cal-

Scranton

y officers
mngeance
killers,

shuddex ‘
nov Broke
‘d bullets.
ver. Good
d, “Okay,
There’s

ve place to
charge of
sed a ques-
d. His lips

jae LM AN Wer:
‘ a ola p ¥
Ro stEO —

But Roberts did riot see this panto-
mime. “Camera Eye” had completed his
last task for the community he had served
for 22 years. Even as the stretcher-
bearers placed him in the ambulance for
the short run to the Hahnemann hospital
his life was almost spent.

Donaldson phoned in a quick report
and then questioned the ashen-faced
clerks, Frank Markwith, manager. and
Homer Croop, salesman.

“Lieutenant Roberts came in about
twenty-five minutes ago,” the manager
said. “He bought cigarets and stood kid-
ding a while. Then he glanced at the
clock and said, ‘A quarter to ten. I
better be going.’ I laughed and said,
‘And I better get back to work. I’ve

ie

ptr, ~

A ee »- PN gh labia ici,
rie ae

ibe

got to figure up the day’s receipts.’ ”

Donaldson nodded. “And then things
broke ?”

“Yes, When the small guy told the
lieutenant to ‘stick ’em_ up’ Roberts
jumped him without stopping to breathe.
The fellow who was covering me whirled,
leaped, and brought his gun down on
Roberts’ head all in one movement.
was hurrying to hide the money when I
heard the shot.”

- He shrugged hopelessly.

“Tt was all over in a minute. The noise
of the shot hadn’t died when they beat it.
Roberts said, ‘They got me bad. Did you
get a good look at them? Don’t forget
what they looked like.’

“Before I answered him I sent two kids
who were in the back room, to telephone
the cops. While they were gone Roberts
kept muttering over and over the de-
scription of the bandits. Seems as though
he was keeping himself conscious that
way. Any other man would have passed
out.’

“Would you know the robbers if you
saw them again?” Donaldson asked,

“T’m sure I would,” the manager said.
“Especially the big one.”

“And you?” Donaldson turned to the
clerk.

“I’m positive I’d know them,” the clerk
said. “The boss had his hands full, first
with the thug who had him covered, and
then hiding the money. But I had plenty
of chance to watch everything.”

While the witnesses were being ques-
tioned, Detective David Phillips.
Roberts’ assistant in the criminal iden-
tification bureau, arrived and_ set
up his camera for pictures of the
scene.

“There aren’t any fingerprints,” Don-

“Brains” of the bandit combination

was this man, who made the trigger-

duo do the work. The bandits fled

from the crime scene by route indi-

cated below. But witnesses on Olive
street saw too much.

cS aS MURR os 1 $e ,
; , $ Bn 3 ‘ %3 ne ‘ fs

shiihbar ae

1 rahi

3 SB ni ea Sa

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+ Bs 7

aldson told -him, and gave him a brief
resume of the case. “They entered by the
Prescott street door and left the same
way. It was open. What’s doing at head-
quarters ?”’

As Phillips photographed the interior
of the store from various angles, he ex-
plained that the whole force was gather-
ing for war against the cop-killers.
Scranton was being covered thoroughly
in the manhunt. ,

“Also I put the descriptions you tele-
phoned on the local teletype,” he told
Donaldson.

“Better make it a five-state alarm,”
Donaldson advised. “I’d say that. be-
cause of the difference in their heights,
the bandits have probably separated al-
ready. Add that the men are probably
hot. Roberts’ shield fell out in his tussle
with the little guy so they knew he-was a
cop. They wouldn’t have risked a cop
shooting unless they were wanted badly
somewhere else.”

“T'll do it right away,” Phillips said
and left, tripod aslant over his shoulder.

Donaldson at once started to pick up
the bullets scattered in Roberts’ life blood.
“Thirty-two caliber,” he wrote on the
outside of an exhibit envelope, and shoved
these first clues into his wallet.

He had completed his search without
iurther discoveries when his partner, De-
tective Stumm, walked in.

Stumm had managed to corral some
Witnesses. A 13-year-old boy had seen
two men get out of a coupe and walk

38

toward the store. A woman had been
bowled over by the two bandits as they
fled the store. As she glared indignantly
after them, unaware of the stickup, she
saw them climb into a coupe at the cor-
ner. Then there was a.neighbor who had
seen a green roadster moving slowly
along Prescott street. He thought there
were five passengers.

“That last one doesn’t strike me as so
hot,” Donaldson commented. “If there
were five men, they’d have had a lookout.
I’d put my money on the stories told by
the woman and the kid.”

Search Alleys

A’ THAT moment a uniformed officer
came in to guard the store. Stumm
and Donaldson left in their car.

“Let’s have a look around for the over-
coat,” Donaldson suggested.’ “The guy
who shot Lew has ditched it by now if it
was covered with blood, They went down
Olive and there are plenty of alleyways
and weed patches down the hill.”

As Stumm drove slowly, Donaldson
scanned areaways and alleys where a coat
could be dumped. Suddenly he cried,

“Stop !”

Stumm braked the cruiser and Donald-

‘son jumped out and darted into a dark

alley. Only sharp eyes like the young de-
tective’s would have observed the heap
that looked like a pile of rags.

Pulling a- flashlight from his pocket,

Donaldson. stooped and gingerly turned

The mob’s “brains” stands between

Detectives George Green, left, and

William James. Note his appearance

of businessman-respectability. The ~

getaway car stands immediately in
the background.

over the bundle. It was a bunched-up,
light tan overcoat, splashed with dark
liquid that might be blood.

“ Two minutes later the officers were
climbing the long flight of wide stone
steps that led to the entrance of City Hall,
in the rear of which is Scranton’s police
headquarters and city jail.

Stumm stopped off at the detectives’
room and Donaldson carried the coat to
the identification bureau,

He tossed the overcoat on a table.
“Dave, will you shoot this over to the
laboratory for analysis? They should be
able to get the blood classification from
the spots. They’re still wet.”

Phillips put on his hat. “I’ll take it
over myself,” he said. “My car’s outside.”

When Donaldson walked into the wait-
ing room outside the office of the super-
intendent of police he found it packed
with the sullen prey of the night’s-drag-
net. Inside, Supt, Alfred J. Rodway and
Assistant District Attorney Paul Maxey
were presiding at the questioning. -

For once local thugs, hoodlums and
robbers were in the clear. Roberts’ un-
canny ability to recall thousands of faces
established this fact beyond a doubt, But
even though his assailants were strangers

aa es a

a ;
. J
lO a Prarie te vate ee

*

«
a i Sate

remo

eet ance soars

dn ALAA

+ The Pinkertons had a

WoO young, conservatively attired

men got off an afternoon train at the

coal mining town of Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania, on the gray, drizzly day
of Friday, October 19th, and deliber-
ately went about the business of letting
an excited community know that they
were detectives from the Philadelphia
branch of Pinkerton’s National Detective
Agency. As will be seen, there was a
sound reason for this unusual behavior
on the part of the Pinkerton men, who
usually operate in unobtrusive fashion.

Two particularly brutal murders had
been committed that morning. Bernard
McClure, young paymaster, and Hugh
Flanagan, fifty-year-old guard, had been
slain on a desolate road in Miner’s Run,
in the mountains outside of Wilkes-
Barre, as they were on their way with a
$12,000 payroll to a construction camp.
The workmen whose wages never reached
them were in the employ of Charles Mc-
Fadden, prominent New York and Penn-
sylvania contractor, who was just com-
pleting a new branch of the Lehigh
Valley Railroad between Fairview and
Pleasant Valley. Several hundred men
had been given their notice that this was
to be their last pay-day, and, inasmuch
as Paymaster McClure had had con-
siderable to say about who was to be
laid off, he had incurred ill will among
certain of the laborers.

When, at noon, the punctual McClure
and Flanagan had been an hour overdue
from their trip to the Wyoming National
Bank in Wilkes-Barre, a posse had set
out from the camp to hunt for them.

& Mike knelt and swore
vengeance over the body

TENT OM TM

if

the new and, they said, more humane

electric chair for murderers.

This sudden departure from old and
established custom was a distinct shock
to Philadelphians, and many of them, not
taking kindly to change, fought against
the new and sinister instrument of death.
Somehow, a criminal seemed to pay more
fully for his misdeeds when he dangled
from the end of a rope. And for years
the public had gathered on “Black
Thursday,” the official day of execution,
to see justice done.

M IN THE old days there had been a

gallows on Bush Hill, near the site of
the present Eastern State Penitentiary
at Twenty-first and Fairmount Avenue,
and another on Windmill Island, a short
distance from the Philadelphia Navy
Yard.

On these gaunt wooden structures
many infamous crooks had paid with
their lives for violation of the law. At
Bush Hill, in 1832, James Porter, who
held up and robbed the
mail stagecoach at Ridge
Avenue and = Turners
Lane, was hanged. And
so great was the morbid
interest of the citizenry
in this man, who had had
the temerity to touch the
United States mail, that
a record crowd was on
hand to see him die.

The following week,
Paul Moran was ex-
ecuted on Windmill
Island on a charge of
piracy.

But seven years later,
in 1839, these sites were
abandoned and _ there-
after the hangings took
place in the Philadelphia
County Prison whose
ancient walls still stand

at Tenth and. Reed
Streets. :
There, as the years

passed, the gallows con-
tinued to take its toll. In
1866, Anton Probst, who
killed six members of
the Deering family, was
put to death upon it. In
1888 Sarah Jane White-
ling died there for the
brutal slaying of her
husband and two chil-
dren, and the following
year the largest crowd
on record stormed the
prison to see H. H.
Holmes, the notorious
poisoner who had murdered between
forty and fifty people, plunge through
the trap-door to Eternity.

Now, with the passage of the new law
on June 19th, 1913, all executions for the
state were decreed to be carried out at
the Western State Penitentiary at Rock-
view, Pennsylvania.

: * *  *

One rainy night in March, 1915, almost
two and one half years after the murder
of Elizabeth Reilly, Tim Cassidy, pro-
prietor of a saloon on New York’s Bow-
ery, peered across the counter at his bar-
tender and said, shortly, ““You’re drunk!”

26

The bleary-eyed man who was polish-
ing glasses gave him a twisted grin.

“That’s right,” he agreed. “I'll get
drunk if I want to.”

“Not here you won’t,” Cassidy replied.
“You'll leave the stuff alone when you’re
on duty. The next time I catch you, out
you go!”

The bartender removed his apron,
hung it on a peg and groped under the
counter for his hat.

“Make it now,” he said. “I’m sick of
this joint. You owe me two days’ pay.
Let’s have it.”

An hour later he was leaning against
a building staring stupidly out into the
rain-swept street when a police officer
put him under arrest,

“What for?” the one-time barkeep
asked.

“Loitering. Come on! Nobody with
any honest intention is out on corners
a night like this.”

But at the police station his dejected
attitude attracted the sympathy of Cap-

“This is what comes of electing a woman mayor!”

tain Joseph Dewey. ‘“What’s wrong?”
he asked, and, seeing the troubled, blood-
shot eyes, he added quickly, ‘“‘There’s
something on your mind. Want to tell
me. about it?”

The man caught his breath and the
blood rushed to his face.

“Yes, for God’s sake, help me; I do,”
he whispered.

And then the story he had bottled up
inside him all through the torturing
months, tumbled from his lips. And he
admitted he was James Reilly and was
wanted for the murder of his wife.

“IT ran away to Mexico and South

America,” he said, “but everywhere I
went my conscience tortured me.

“T knew the police were after me and
at first I was careful because I knew if
I was caught I’d hang and the thought
nearly drove mé crazy. I used to wake
up nights sweating at the feel of the rope
around my neck.

“Then I read where they did away
with hangings in my town and I wasn’t
so afraid of being caught.”

“But, see here,” Captain Dewey in-
terrupted, “you’ll stand trial.” }

“Oh, I know that.”

‘‘And they still have a death penalty
where you come from.”

Reilly shrugged.

“T was out of my head when I did it,”
he replied. ‘I’ve got a chance.” .

Reilly was locked up in the Tombs an
next morning, March 30th, at a hearing
before Magistrate William Ten Eyck he
waived extradition and agreed to ac- _
company Philadelphia detectives back to
the scene of his crime. By that time his
frightened attitude was
replaced with confidence.

He was sure he could
“beat the charge.” After
all, there was a World
War in progress and
newspapers would not
be too interested in a
shooting more than two

story they would forget
him.

The thing for him to do
was to get a good lawyer
and stall for time. The
longer he could postpone
his trial the better his
chances of acquittal
would be. For, he told

have forgotten details of
his crime long ago.

™@ THE ELECTRIC chair
held scant terror for
him. He could persuade
a jury he had been tem-
porarily insane.

Part of Reilly’s scheme
materialized. He _ suc-
ceeded in delaying his
trial for nearly a year.
As the months passed his
feeling of security grew.
So that when he finally,
was arraigned in court
he regarded himself as
practically a free man.

When the time came
for him to take the
stand in his own de-
fense he made an excellent witness. Ina
hushed courtroom he told in broken tones
of the goodness of the wife he had mur-
dered. He blamed himself bitterly for his
“madness” and, after withstanding a
barrage of cross-examination, he re-
turned to his counsel’s table filled with

It was a terrible shock to him therefore
when the jury, after a short deliberation,
agreed that he must pay with his life
for his crime.

But it was not until he was sentenced
that the full horror of his position dawned
upon him.

TRUE DETECTIVE

years old. After the first © fe

himself, the public must =

;
‘
f
hope. £

ae
é
&

(Continued on page 85) ,

HERE’S
form the
making
eyes of a maic
than Colonel C
York City, wh:
designer” of 1
been able to:
zations in the
Colonel Cha
State Trooper:
known as the
nation, and \
notable, succes
as a high-ran}
called upon in
York State F
subsequently
years. Retirec
practicing sur,
dent, he is fo:
days, and par:
the distinctive
“I wanted a
of a Trooper's
after awhile ::

meay, 1943


ler and TRUE

RLESQUE, as
‘ognize, is an
Gypsy Rose
ng whodunit,
‘rs. The Gip-
gal, doubling,
stripping and
stuff in print
t as the act
famous. Bald-
to watch her
parel; in this
f the life of a
ira Stanwyck

of an eye-
‘s involved in

N TIMES
umbia Pic-
t deals quite
1 the arts of
double-cross.
a playwright
pretty good
himself in a
pared by a
cian who just
but who does
ing lady. An
er is discov-
y have been
ikebite, but

looks like
rk,

‘RUE DETECTIVE

itn:

The Strange

(Continued from page 26) For Judge John
Ralston decreed that since he had been
indicted under a law that specified death
by hanging he must die at the end of a
rope!

The State Supreme Court, highest tri-
bunal in Pennsylvania, upheld the ruling.

The old scaffold that had stood in the
north corridor of the County prison had
long since been consigned to the scrap heap.
So it was necessary to build a new one.
Sheriff Joseph Ransley was ordered by the
court to make the necessary arrangements.
And eventually the grim platform of death
once more was raised in that stone hall
where so many others had died.

Meanwhile Reilly, after the first shock of
his predicament had passed, composed him-

Life of Reilly

self for death. He wrote to his aged mother
and his sisters and sent a long letter to his
son, John, exhorting him to “always be a
good boy and do not forget me in your
prayers.”

He had a bit of advice for the public, too.

“Leave liquor alone and don’t ever think
you can beat the law.”

At nine-thirty on the morning of April
25th, 1916, three years, five months and
four days after the crime, accompanied by
a priest, the Reverend Victor A. Struma, he
walked the corridor to the gallows.

In the presence of sixty witnesses he
mounted the wooden steps. Sheriff Ransley
placed the rope around his neck at 10:02,
the trap was sprung and twenty-five min-
utes later he was pronounced dead.

Streicher—Germany’'s Super-Gangster

(Continued from page 43) quarrels among
the editors and co-owners, Then he re-
signed—only to assemble a new staff and
found another paper. Creditors and co-
editors were left holding the bag.

In consequence the anti-Semitic and
slanderous sheet periodically disappeared
for several weeks at a time. Just when the
terrorized citizens began to breathe easier,
out popped Mr. Streicher with a new sheet
carrying anew name, even more scandalous
than the last one.

Occasionally the Bavarian Government
banned the obscene publications for a short
period. ‘Pornographic emanations,” Goeb-
bels called the newspapers of Streicher.

Nobody seemed to have sufficient resolu-
tion to offer any firm resistance; the radicals
were thriving. Their impudent aggression
intimidated everyone. Officials shrank from
the possibility of newspaper attacks. They
lacked the courage for rigorous measures.

@ EXCEPT FOR this deplorable weakness

on the part of those in authority, Ger-
many and, in fact, the entire world, might
present a different picture today.

Streicher made fast progress with his
“fighting program,” as he called it, after
the war. Having heard about Drexler and
Hitler, he wanted to see “how they ran
their joint” in Munich. ;

Adolf Hitler, son of a customs official
from Braunau, Austria, had served as an
informer for Captain Roehm, spying on
the German Workers’ Party. Now he was
himself a bona-fide member of the same
party. Streicher went to Munich to hear
him speak.

Hitler’s speech was the usual eulogy of
brute force. None the less it was more
effective than Streicher’s crude outpour-
ings. Streicher attacked the Jews according
to his convenience. Whoever annoyed him
became thereby a Jew. In later years,
President Roosevelt, our ministers and am-
bassadors, General Dawes and the French
statesman Loucheur, were all pronounced
Jews by Streicher; Wahrheit ist, was nuetzt
—is the Nazi slogan, “Truth is what is
useful!”

Hitler was more subtle. He alternated
the soft and loud pedal. He could hold an
audience spellbound for two, three, or
even more hours. He already had a reputa-
tion as a traveling anti-Semite, speaking
before the more important leagues. He had
a gift for captivating his audience. His
words carried conviction though he, too,
spoke deplorable German.

He was still a little sensitive to the
ridicule that his rhetoric occasionally
aroused.

So Adolf Hitler, ex-corporal and in-
former, took vocal training and recital
lessons with Munich “Hof” actor Basil, a

MAY, 1943

disciple of the famous Ernst Possart. Per-
haps the lessons did not improve his
rhetoric, but they at least gave him more
confidence.

Streicher watched the fanatic. Hitler’s
.eyes shone with an unholy ecstasy. A
nervous left hand fluttered constantly to the
sweat-covered brow, pushing aside the
stubborn wisp of hair from his eye. His
right hand whipped the air. He foamed
at the mouth: “Our ruin ... the Jews,
the Freemasons, the Marxists. They are not
fit to die by an honorable bullet. To
the rope with them. Heads will roll. Either
theirs or ours.”

The flood of words rolled on in a raging
fury. Streicher was delighted. “Will you
speak at my next meeting?” he asked
Hitler.

Thus in 1920 Hitler came for the first
time to speak in Nuremberg. Five hundred
marks, sealed in an envelope, changed
hands.

Later Streicher paid him a fee of one
thousand marks per speech, for he was
making easy money. He could afford high
prices.

Hitler’s fame did not grow overnight. He
climbed step by step, painstakingly. The
National Socialist German Workers’ Party
was not his idea. Others had done the
pioneer work. However, he considered
himself the father of the movement. His
conceit sometimes amounted to a mania.

Streicher was struck by Hitler’s rhetori-
cal power. He knew his own crude speeches
were a poor weapon. He hired Hitler as a
speaker in the hope of learning his tricks.
He envied the precious gift.

@ STREICHER RACKED his brains for a

way to get rid of Hitler. He wanted to
seize the power, be “Fuehrer” himself. He
tried his best to push Hitler out of the lime-
light. At the bottom of his scheming mind
was always the thought “I have the money.
I want the power.” But he had to bide his
time. He could not yet proceed against the
other influential party members.

Hitler, meanwhile, had set his mind on
Prussia. In July, 1921, he spoke for the
first time in Berlin to a carefully selected
audience. Landowners, high ranking army
officers, bankers, nobility, industrial barons,
had been invited to a meeting at the Na-
tional Club. The Club had originally been
founded in 1919 to restore without dis-
crimination of rank, race or party, a “new
Germany.” In fact, however, this club
became like the famous Herrenklub, (Gen-
tlemen’s Club) where von Papen plotted
his intrigues, a hotbed for the coming Nazi
revolution.

When Hitler left for Berlin, Streicher
and a few of his adherents thought that the
time had come to get rid of him. But even

BO

with

ROSEMARY LANE
JOHN HUBBARD
GUS SCHILLING
ANNE JEFFREYS |
GEORGE BYRON, -

go! : and
goN THE MILLS BROTHERS
quoi teaet” | and SPADE COOLEY and
st Sth 7 HIS BOYS
~ eat .

BUY WAR BONDS
AND STAMPS

oy ary

REPUBLIC PICTURE

85


ed sweeping the
ise silence.

sound she had
t fumbling at the
i had come home

- of the cursing,
de when he had

»bably would see
i enough for the
or, for he shouted
that John, enjoy-
ner youngsters of
; his father stag-
r John was eleven
chool about “your

eth Reilly to re-
-dthe man. And
fe that daily grew
iends advised her
carily:

e children?”

or a home of her
at she would put
2ep her brood to-
nen Reilly cursed
* the sake of her

genial man, even
passengers on the
ladelphia Transit
1 Manner.

in the fact that he

. week ends, when

ack the clock} to

TRUE DETECTIVE

ae ie

he went on sprees, had made life in the
little house at 2630 E. Harold Street a
nightmare.

In spite of his abuse, Elizabeth had not
been afraid of him—until one day in
September, 1912, when he struck her in
the face. The expression in his eyes had
suddenly terrified her and she ran out
of the house straight to the nearest

magistrate and swore out a warrant for ©

his arrest, charging him with assault and
battery.

He was sentenced to thirty days in the
Philadelphia County Prison.

It was the first time Reilly had been
in jail and he did not enjoy the experi-
ence. At the end of his term he came
home bitterly resentful, and would not
address his now fear-stricken wife, Eliz-
abeth, except to curse her. He began
drinking again, too, but soon new worries
beset the harassed wife. For she learned
that he was infatuated with another
woman.

Soon he began cutting down on her
household money, retaining more and
more of his pay.

And, in his drunken rages, he jeered
at her “faded” looks and told her “how
handsome some others are I know.”

As the weeks passed and winter set in
she faced the plain realization that she
could not go on living that way much
longer. And as she stood listening in the
kitchen this morning of November 21st,
1912, sheer panic seized her.

MAY. 1943

She was still rooted to the spot when
her husband, his face flushed and his eyes
glassy, reeled along the hall shouting
for her.

“I need money,” he _ said, thickly,
“right now.”

Elizabeth summoned all her courage.

“I can’t give it to you,” she replied.
“You know how little I have. And the
children need things Mt

He swore, but the slim woman stood
her ground. And finally Reilly turned
away.

“All right, I’ll get it myself. I know
where you hide it!”

She tried to stop him, but he gave her
a push that sent her reeling across the
kitchen, and staggered out to the front

_Stairs.

™@ NEIGHBORS SAID later that they
heard quarreling on the second floor,
and Elizabeth Reilly screamed:

“T can’t stand it any more! I can’t
stand it!”

And then the roar of a gun.

A crowd started to gather in the street
and one man remarked:

“Well, I’m glad she gave it to him at
last. He sufte asked for it.”

“We better go in,” another suggested.
As they opened the front door the two
babies were shrieking in terror in the
parlor. And upstairs in the middle bed-
room Elizabeth Reilly lay on the floor.
Her husband had fled.

At the hospital the wounded woman
related how Reilly, furious because she
had denied him money, snatched a re-
volver from the bureau drawer and shot
her. She pleaded with the doctors not to
let her die. All day long, as she lay
conscious and weeping, she begged to
live.

“Don’t let me die!’”’ she sobbed. ‘Don’t
let me die! Who will take care of my
babies?”

Police officers, inured to suffering, sat
with grim faces as they heard her pitiful
moans. Doctors and nurses worked fran-
tically to help her. But death had struck
for Elizabeth Reilly that night.

On the wave of popular indignation
that followed, a painstaking search was
instituted by the Philadelphia police for
Reilly, who had fled. His few cronies
were located and questioned for hours;
dives he was known to frequent were
searched. Since he had: once been a sea-
man, all ships leaving the port of the city
were given a thorough examination
before they cleared in the hope he might
be found aboard.

But spring came without a trace of the
killer who seemed to have disappeared
completely. Soon the crime ceased to be
discussed, as other news made the head-
lines.

And in June, 1913, the administration
of criminal justice in Pennsylvania was
revolutionized by the abolishment of
hanging and in its place was substituted

give this criminal the one sentence he feared more than any other thing

25


\ . eel oe

Herman Petrillo: “! got a
job that’s worth five hun-
dred in real cash to me”

Somewhere throughout the city of
Philadelphia walked many men in the
constant shadow of stalking death.
For years, up until January 20, 1939,
they had done so. These doomed crea-
tures worked, played, laughed and
loved—always under the threat of a
falling axe and innocent of the fact
that one by one their death warrants
were being signed — paradoxically
enough, signed by themselves!

Couched in a maze of incredible,
long-time planning, fiendish plotting
and horrible execution, the perpetra-
tors of these multiple crimes had
slipped through all types of legal bar-
riers like beads of dropped mercury.
And the dupes whose short days were
numbered were unwittingly signing
away their very lives to put cash into
the hands of fiends who waited,
spider-like, in the unbreakable mesh
of cunning. '

One—two—three—four—five—

ESITANTLY, almost nervously,
the thin man with the sandy
hair and long nose tapped on the
door of the. Langhorne, Pennsylvania,
home. The trousers and coat of his
suit were brushed and pressed, but

y

SD eae

.
2 ae megane

threadbare. He looked like a man on
his “uppers.”

~-Would someone come? Would he get
what he wanted—the one thing he
needed? /Doubts assailed him and un-
consciously, to cover his uncertainty,
he adjusted the knot of his faded tie
as he stood waiting in the warm sun
of 1938’s Summer. His quest was
humiliating but urgent ...

Suddenly the door swung open and
the tall, thin man found himself look-
ing at a man whose clothes proclaimed
success and whose dark, piercing eyes
and thick lips betrayed arrogance,
cunning and sensuality.

“What do you want?” the swarthy
man asked in a strange, flat voice.

“Are you Mr. Petrillo, the spaghetti
salesman — Mr. Herman Petrillo?”
There was deference in the thin man’s
counter-question — it was almost a
whine. When the other nodded, the
thin man hastened to introduce him-
self, as if fearing Petrillo might slam
the door in his face.

“I’m George Meyers,” he said hur-
riedly. “I used to live in Philadelphia,
but now I live in Lakewood, New Jer-
sey. I’m in a jam, but Tony—Tony
Paulisino—sent me to see you. Tony

Murder As

By Fenton Mallory

Special Investigator for

OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

Evidence in the strange case most frequently lay buried

with the murder ring’s victims, who had to be disinterred

said you might be able to help me.
Can I come in?”

Petrillo hesitated, rubbed his smooth-
shaven chin, brushed wisps of his
thinning hair back from his forehead
and stared into the wavering gray eyes
of the man on his door-step. For sec-
onds the thin man met Petrillo’s steady
glance, then turned away. Meyers
was telling himself that Petrillo was
about to refuse and was setting himself
mentally for the expected disappoint-
ment. Instead, Petrillo turned sharply
on his heel and said: “Paulisino? Ail
right, come in.”

Meyers followed the spaghetti sales-
man inside. -

“Okay?” Petrillo asked. “Now what
can I do for you?”

“I need money—” Meyers began
apologetically, but blushed furiously
when Petrillo teetered back in his
chair and laughed.

“Why should I give you money?”
Petrillo demanded. “How do I know
I'll get it back?”

Meyers squirmed at the tone in the
other’s voice, but necessity made him
swallow his pride.

“Oh,” he said, “you’ll get it back
all right. I own an upholstery and

cleaning business in Lakewood. But
times have been bad and I need a
little to hang on. If I can do that I
know that I'll come out fine. And if
I don’t I’m willing to do anything you
want for the money. It’s just for a
little while I want it.”

A calculating look came into Petril-
lo’s face.

“How much do you want?”

“Twenty-five dollars—”

Petrillo’s thick lips twisted sardoni-
cally, his eyes narrowed in speculation.
“Ts that all?” he asked. “And you say
you're willing to do anything to get
just that much? Why stop at twenty-
five? If you really mean what you Say,
I can get you five hundred... easy.”

A tight little smile wavered ‘on
Meyers’ lips. This was better, he
thought. Here he had come for only
a small loan and this man was offering
him a chance for a fortune—five hun-
dred dollars.

“Okay,” Meyers said. “I’m willing
to listen.”

Petrillo leaned forward. “I got a
job,” he said in a low, confidential
voice, “that’s worth five hundred in
real cash to me. But can I trust you?
It’s not a job for a softy.”

op—4


opD—6

Joseph Pontorelli: How did his
mother know of threats against him?

It had been this same tongue of hers
that had opened a wide seam in: the
case and disclosed awesome depths ‘in
which the investigators felt they had
just begun to probe. Death had piled
on mysterious death—murderous death
—as the obese woman’s story had
poured from her quivering lips. Now
the detectives must know more; they
must get her story checked; they must
learn more of the arsenic ring’s inner
ramifications.

ICCARDI ushered Petrillo to a chair
facing Schwartz. “Sit down, Her-
man. We want to talk with you. You
may as well answer a few questions—
it can’t do you any harm,” advised
Kelly wryly.
From a near-by file case an acting

- These insurance policies, bottles of arsenic and coffin plates are clews detec-

tives have turned up in investigating the nation’s largest murder conspiracy

nocent victim with a silk-covered sand-
bag, who finally had plotted and ad-
ministered his poison death and had
been accused of other methods for the
disposal of men for money, actually
would tremble with fear because a
woman looked at him. The power of
superstition over these poison fiends
was incomprehensible — but Kelley
recognized its significance.

“Come on, Petrillo—have a look at
these pictures. I want to know who
they are...”

But Petrillo’s eyes were wide with
fright. His hands shook when he tried
to pick up a photograph. And then
abruptly he swung around again and
sought a face among the men who
were packed tightly into that small
room. One was dark and swarthy,

None of the watching detectives
could answer that—they only knew
that it was so. These people were
signaling each other. ‘Ta what pur-
pose? Petrillo already was condemned.
Mrs. Fravato, to spare herself the
ultimate in punishment, was “squeal-
ing.” A few days before some unseen
power behind the murder throne had,
despite police watchfulness, gotten in a
blow in the dark. Even as Mrs. Fravato
was preparing to give District Attor-
ney Kelley additional facts in her part
as informer, an unforeseen piece of
work on the part of the murder ring
clamped a hand over the witch wo-
man’s mouth.

“It’s my son, Joe—Joseph Pontorelli.
They’re going to do something to him,”
Mrs. Fravato warned police. The idea

Lives Even Now May Be at Stake As These Detectives
Race Against Time to Identify the Evil Genius Behind
the Sensational Arsenic Ring, Merchandiser of Murder

detective was drawing a packed folder
of rogues’-gallery pictures. He handed
it to the D. A. ;

Kelley opened the dossier deliber-
ately and selected a few numbered
photographic specimens. He _ tossed
several across the table to Petrillo.

“Know any of those fellows—any of
the women?”

Petrillo picked up a picture with
shaking fingers. Then he glanced over
his shoulder at Mrs. Fravato. He
leaped to his feet.

“Don’t you put the eye on me!” he
screamed menacingly. Riccardi gripped
the prisoner firmly by the shoulder
and planted him once more in the
chair. “She’s putting the eye on me,”
‘Petrillo maintained, wincing as though
to avoid the stare of the middle-aged
woman whose face had the sullen mo-
bility which had marked it from the
very beginning.

“She won’t hurt you, Herman,” as-
sured Kelley, amazed that this. man,
who had planned to strike down an in-

bushy-browed and beetling, the mouth
hard and straight beneath a straggling
mustache. .

“Caesar!” Petrillo breathed almost
inaudibly. He muttered a smothered
curse.

Caesar Valenti, “borrowed” from
New York Immigration officials who
were considering deportation for the
towering giant from Italy, sniffed at
his countryman,

“etal egg eyes began to pop. His
mouth twitched. “Stop it!” he
screamed. “Stop giving me the eye!”
He turned to Kelley. “They’re putting
the sign on me. They’re trying to make
me stop talking—” He spluttered.

Neither Mrs. Fravato nor Valenti
had made the slightest motion with
their hands. Neither of them had
stirred. Neither of them had uttered
a sound. How did Petrillo know the
language of the unspoken curse, the
language of voodoo and of ssid mal’oc-
chio?

was preposterous. How did a woman
who was kept behind bars when not
in actual conference with detectives
know what was going on in the outside
world? How did she know that threats
against Joseph Pontorelli, her son by
a former marriage, already had been
made?

The detectives, just to thwart any
attempt at intimidation of Mrs. Fra-
vato, had removed Joe from No. 4546
North Bouvier Street to an unknown
address and secret hideout in the
northeastern part of the city. But
even here he was not safe from the
intimidations and threats of the gang.
A feminine voice on the telephone
had advised him to make his mother
quit squealing—or else. And _ that
wasn’t all. A few days later a letter
arrived by mail—repeating the threats
against Joseph Pontorelli’s life unless
he could manage to keep his mother’s
mouth shut.

The D. A. was advised immediately
by the detectives on guard over Pon-

13


torelli of the latest move of the mur-
der ring.

Kelley raised an eyebrow that was
almost worn out with continued action
ever since the machinations of the ring
had been uncovered by a fluke in
Herman Petrillo’s methods.

“Take Pontorelli into ‘protective
custody,’” he ordered the detectives.
Evidently it was impossible even for
police to hide one of the ring mem-
bers, or their families, from the all-
seeing eye of the incredible ring mas-
ters.

But Kelley attached even greater
importance to the Pontorelli threats.

“Where are those threats coming
from?” he asked. “If Valenti, Paul
Petrillo and Mrs. Fravato are all under
guard, then who is still at large who
could be powerful enough to intimi-
date such died-in-the-grain mur-
derers?”

T WAS evident that her son, Joe, the
apple of her eye and the one for
whom she had laid away a nice nest-
egg out of murder-racket moneys, was
the one instrument through which Mrs.
Fravato could be touched. Who knew
that?

When Kelley called this City Hall
conference to which he had ordered
that Petrillo, Valenti and Mrs, Fravato
should be brought, he had one specific
thing in mind. It was this: Perhaps
these three, as recriminations flew
back and forth among them, would
drop a name he was waiting for.

But now as the three glowered at
each other and Herman Petrillo, al-
ready unnerved by the waiting death
sentence, screamed that his erstwhile
partners were trying to bewitch him,
Kelley realized that he would have to
deal separately with the trio if he ever
hoped to get from each one the neces-
sary information.

He whispered something to Detec-
tives Schwartz and Franchetti. The two
rose and seized Mrs. Fravato by the
arm and led her out. Next to go was
Caesar Valenti, man-mountain of the
murder ring.

Rafaele Polselli: “How did
| know it was arsenic?”

“Come on, Petrillo,” advised Kelley.
“They can’t put the eye on you now.”

“What do you want?” asked Herman
nervously.

“T’d like to bring up some of the
people we have just arrested and see if
you recognize them—”

“No!” shouted Petrillo, half rising
from his chair.

A hand of a near-by detective re-
seated him. “Easy ‘there,” he warned.

“But I’m not going to have them
come in here and work out on me,
give me the eye and curse me!” Pe-
trillo insisted. ‘“You won’t need to send
me to the chair if you let them work
out on me first.”

Kelley was amazed by the evident
terror which members of the ring were
capable of producing on each other.
Not one trusted the other. Each seemed
to be a law unto himself and coopera-
tion was evidently for one purpose
only—money. But it was more evident
than ever to the District Attorney that
he was getting nowhere by trying to
force them to identify each other per-
sonally. Subtly, he changed his tack.

“All right, Petrillo. I won’t bring
anyone else in—if you'll pick out the
people we want from those pictures,”
said Kelley.

Petrillo glanced at them. “Okay,
boss. I’ll take a chance.”

For hours Petrillo passed picture
after picture of the rogues’ gallery col-
lection through his swarthy hands. One
...two.:.three... four... he laid
aside. “I know them, all right,” he
muttered significantly.

When he finished a little pile had
grown beside him. “Yes, they’re all in
on it,” he agreed.

Kelley picked them up and examined
them closely. A grim smile of satisfac-
tion came over his stern features. He
flipped them over and let his eye slide
over the names and descriptions on the
back. “Mrs. Fravato was right, then.
These are the same people she named,”
Kelley told his detectives.

After Petrillo had been rushed back
to his cell, Kelley went into a huddle
with his men.

Mrs. Rose Carina: Why did men
know her as “The Rose of Death’?

“As I see it, we still haven’t caught
up to the brains of this outfit. These
people we have might*be termed the
henchmen—not one of them measures
up to the gigantic standard of kingpin.
And that:there is still a powerful man
—possibly a woman—possibly both—
at large is evidenced very strongly by
the actions of Mrs. Fravato and Her-
man Petrillo. What kind of a man
or a woman could it be that makes
these murderers shudder? What super-
natural power are these killers afraid
of? And what person haven’t they
named as their real master?”

“Didn’t both Mrs.. Fravato and Pe-
trillo drop something about this chap
Morris Bolber? And who is the Rose
they both hinted at?” asked Assistant
District Attorney McDevitt, the man
who first had conducted the investiga-
tion in the absence of Kelley.

Kelley picked up one of the pictures
from Herman Petrillo’s selections.

“This is Bolber,” he murmured. “I
noticed Petrillo’s extreme nervousness
when he laid it aside gingerly. And
this is Rose Carina, known as ‘The
Rose of Death’ in Italian circles. She’s
a mystery woman and you won’t find
a person who will breathe her name

aloud. Most of them will deny that
they ever heard of her.”

“Is she connected with Bolber in
any way?” queried McDevitt.

“Intimately. That is, she was once
his secretary in the old days, I am told
by Mrs. Fravato.”

“Then how about picking up these
two? What about Bolber? Is he a
Philadelphia man?”

“He is at present.” Kelley turned to
one of the hovering detective assistants
and said, “Bring out the Bolber file.”

Another folder came out of the
packed files. Kelley opened it.

A tumbled mass of typewritten
sheets taken down hastily by im-
promptu detective-secretaries, who in
their haste had no time to make per-
fect copy, greeted Kelley. He sorted it
out and began to read snatches aloud:
“Morris Bolber. Known as a ‘faith
healer.’ Has hundreds of clients who
go to him for spiritual and medical
advice—is quite a power among the
older members of his community.”

“Any police record?” queried Mc-
Devitt.

Kelley smiled. “Plenty. We can
make out a warrant for Bolber and
Mrs. Carina immediately.”

The D. A. pushed the papers back
into the folder and reached for another
stack of collected material. He shuffled
through it quickly and drew out a list
of names.

“Right now,” he told his men, “we
are faced with problems so immedi-
ate that we haven’t time to worry over
nonessentials or phases of the case that
can wait. What we want most of all
is to find out where the supplies of
arsenic used by the ring were ob-
tained—and whether these people we
have on ice are really poisoners or only
suspects.”

“That means more exhumations,”
commented McDevitt.

“Exactly. We can’t hold these people
much longer without being faced with
habeas corpus procedures from their
lawyers—and we can’t accuse them of
murder unless we establish the corpus
delicti in each case. Schwartz—” he
addressed the detective— “go down to

oD—6


‘Murder As

Mrs. Errechetti told the officials of
being called to the Fravato home at
3 p.m. on June 25.

“We were amazed to find that the
boy had died at 11:30 am. Yet, Mrs.
Fravato said, no doctor had been called.
We told the family that we couldn’t
go ahead until the death certificate was
signed. I called Doctor Charles E.
Schwartz to fill it out, but after he had
looked at the body he refused, telling
us to get the doctor who had treated
the boy. We learned, then, that Doc-
tor Massanzio had been the attending
physician, but he, too, refused to sign
the certificate.”

“What did you do then?” Fran-
chetti asked.
“That: settled it,” said Mrs. Erre-

chetti, a neat, attractive and efficient
businesswoman. “I called the coroner’s
office immediately. They performed an
autopsy, I believe, and finally per-
mitted us to bury the boy.”

Back to Headquarters rushed Fran-
chetti and Riccardi. When they had
related the Doctor’s and undertaker’s
stories to McDevitt, he said: ‘Go to
the coroner’s office and have a look at
the autopsy report of the Ingrao boy.”

Doctor Crane, the coroner’s physi-
cian, remembered the case very well.

“Yes,” he said, “I made a cursory
autopsy on the youth’s body on June
26, a day after death. But I was com-
pletely unaware of the possibility of
poison and had nothing to go on. All
I could find was a few symptoms that
seemed to indicate rheumatic fever,
which I certified as the cause of
death.”

“Doctor Crane,’ Riccardi asked,
“would. chemical tests on that body
still show up a poison—if one had been
employed to cause death?”

“Certainly,” the physician replied.
“Poison remains in the system and
therefore in a dead body almost as
long as it lasts—even in some cases in
the earth which surrounds a com-
pletely disintegrated body.”

An exhumation order was procured,
and a day after Alfonsi had died in the
hospital—four months after the body
of young Phillip Ingrao had been con-
signed to its last resting-place in the
New Cathedral Cemetery at Second
and Butler Streets—a grim proces-
sion filed into the burial-place.

The still new-looking grave was
opened and the body brought to light.
Even the earth that had covered the
casket was saved. In the city morgue
the viscera were removed and sub-
jected to tests by Doctor Edward
Burke, chemist.

The chemist’s report was turned in
to McDevitt when completed. Doctor
Burke had found 46.21 milligrams of
arsenic in the remains. ‘Sufficient in
amount to cause death.”

The sizzling air in the D. A.’s office,
supercharged as a thunderous, brood-
ing Summer sky, began to crack and
sputter. McDevitt looked down the
list of names turned in by the two de-
tectives and pointed to the names of
Charles Fravato and Guiseppe di
Martino.

“Go get these two. Have the bodies
exhumed and examined,” ordered Mc-
Devitt.

Results: Doctor Burke found 45 mil-
igrams of arsenic in Fravato’s disin-
tegrating remains, and 72.98 milli-
grams in di Martino’s. The same type
of poison had been used to kill Ferdi-
nand Alfonsi, whose death had started
this amazing, seemingly endless expose
of butchery. The evidence was strong
enough to put the sullen-faced, obese
widow and stepmother of the Fravato
household behind bars. But. what
about the di Martino case?

Detectives questioned Mrs. di Mar-
tino and insurance agents. They
learned that the dead man had earned
twenty dollars a week while alive and
had policies aggregating $2,187 when
he died, in addition to $2,000 on an-
other policy which neither he nor his
wife knew anything about. The victim
had not even made his “mark” on the
$2,000 policy, which had been taken
out. a year before he died. Mrs. di

op—5

You Want It (Continued from Page 15) ogric

Martino said that she was completely
unaware he held the policy and had
been tricked into signing a receipt for
its payment when she was told that the
insurance papers concerned another
matter. Who got the money?

The investigation gave the detec-
tives the names of two more insurance
agents who linked Herman Petrillo’s
name with the cases. The new names
were Sidney B. Herron and Mrs. Jen-
nie De Rosa. Herron told detectives
that he had known Petrillo in past
years as “Herman Caruso,” the bene-
ficiary of a policy taken out in the
name of Raphael Caruso, whose body
had been found in the Schuylkill River
where he was presumed to- have
drowned. Mrs. De Rosa, of No. 4628
Greene Street, Germantown, told
Franchetti that Petrillo had given her
some of the insurance business cover-
ing Alfonsi, Fravato and Phillip Ingrao.

The case was rounding out, but
weary detectives and the busy District
Attorney had no idea when new leads,
new cases, necessitating more ex-
humations and concentrated investi-
gations would break. Assistant Prose-
cutor McDevitt concentrated on the
lines of investigation running to. Paul
Petrillo, the witch-doctor tailor.

Acting Lieutenant Kelly of the
Homicide Squad wired that Caco-
pardo’s testimony would be sensational
and would connect Paul Petrillo di-
rectly with an insurance murder ring.
In addition, Riccardi and Franchetti
had the sandbag, given to Meyers by
Herman Petrillo, examined. It was
their opinion that the stitches used in
making the weapon were those of a
professional—a tailor. But these things
were purely circumstantial evidence
and McDevitt felt he could not order
Paul Petrillo’s arrest until Cacopardo
was returned.

An inquest was scheduled for early
February, and during the period of in-
vestigation and waiting, the detectives
received warning that the suspected
ring was far from broken, that it con-
sisted of far more members than origi-
nally was suspected.

The new information came in the
form of a threatening note to George
Meyers, one of the state’s most im-
portant witnesses upon whom much of
the case against Herman Petrillo de-
pended. The note was addressed to
Meyers, in care of the Customs House,
and was a paste-up of individual let-
ters taken from newspaper headlines.
It read:

Advise Husband to Stay Out of
Court or Death 4 Two We Dare
You to see Detective.

The note was not signed and the ad-
dress had been stamped crudely with
rubber type such as can be purchased
at toy counters in ten cent stores.

Detectives warned Meyers to be on
his guard, but apparently he relaxed
his vigilance, for in mid-January he
was found lying in a snowdrift with
his arms and legs bound by thongs. He
had been left to freeze to death.

EYERS could not identify his as-
sailants, but he believed they had
meant to kill him and lost their nerve.
After that the valuable witness was
closely guarded.

Sneering Herman Petrillo, sullen-
faced Mrs. Stella Alfonsi, and obese
and brooding Mrs. Fravato at last
faced a coroner’s jury on February 2
while the investigation was going full
blast. On February 4, after seven and
one-half minutes’ deliberation, the
jury recommended that all three be
held for the grand jury.

As the inquiry continued, Franchetti,
Riccardi and Schwartz became more
and more convinced that the ring’s
magnitude was greater than their work
so far had disclosed. They knew, for
example, that someone other than
either of the Petrillos had threatened
Meyers, that they had many names on
their list of suspicious deaths that
might not be connected with either of
these two men and that the murder

business gave indication of spreading
into at least three other states—Con-
necticut, New Jersey and New York.
If that was the case, it was more than
both men could take care of.

Here is what the detectives deduced:

There was evidence to support the
belief that more than one ring existed,
or that the original conspiracy might
have started with one ring and formed
another branch or another group of
operators. It was possible, of course,
that the destinies of the ring’s opera-
tions were directed from above and
that the Philadelphia angles were
merely one phase of a greater group.
It was learned that the agents for the
ring asked a rock-bottom price of $300
for death and that in cases where the
insurance was above $1,000, another ten
percent of all monies collected above
that amount was charged.

The conspirators worked through
agents who located men with discon-
tented wives or sweethearts. First con-
tacts were made and the women were
encouraged “to get rid of” their men.
Arrangements were made to buy addi-
tional insurance policies on the tenta-
tive .victims and ‘dummies’ or
“proxies” were sent to take the insur-
ance examinations without knowledge
of the victim. The ring’s agents then
instructed the women how to use the
poison which it provided. When -the
women refused to do the poisoning, the
ring undertook the work itself.

In many cases it was found that
Herman Petrillo had tipped off insur-
ance company agents to possible in-
surance customers, and thus the com-
panies innocently became the unknow-
ing victims of the death merchandisers,
“, each policy became a death war-
rant.

Coupled with these deductions and
findings, the detectives became wearily
aware how little they really knew of
the conspiracy’s extent. Investigation
over months merely had uncovered an
appalling state of affairs, but it would
take months more to get to the real
bottom of the terrible secret, while

Read It First in
AL DETECTIVE STORIES

each day opened up new channels of
inquiry.

On February 10, 1939, the New York
prisoner from Sing Sing, John Caco-
pardo, was returned to Philadelphia to
face Paul Petrillo, the witch doctor
whom police had arrested quietly and
held incommunicado for two days.

“That’s him!” yelled the near-
sighted, bespectacled prisoner, as Paul
Petrillo was brought into the D. A.’s
office. “That’s my uncle. He offered
me the job of: official executioner for
this ring of killers. He said he’d give
me so much a head for every one I
bumped off, and because I refused, he
pint a aa my sweetheart’s father with

ea Tad .

CAGRPABDO was screaming while
bleary-eyed Petrillo, sleepy and
unshaven and taut from two days of
questioning, gazed owlishly about the
room.

“When I went to Dominic Starace’s
home,” Cacopardo continued, “to warn
him that Petrillo was going to kill him
for his insurance, I found my uncle
was there already. He pulled a gun
and in the struggle, Molly, my girl,
was killed. Then my uncle, to save
himself, turned state’s evidence and
had me put behind bars. He wanted
to have me sent to the electric chair.
That’s the rat! That’s Paul Petrillo,
my uncle. He’s the man who started
this murder gang!”

Petrillo screamed back a denial of
the charges. But it was to no avail.
The information was convincing
enough to add Paul to the coterie
of suspects being held for the grand
jury. He was placed under arrest, was
arraigned in Central Police Station on
February 11 before Magistrate Beifel.

“Now,” said McDevitt, “I’d like to
get some confirmation of Cacopardo’s
story. The defense will claim immedi-
ately that his testimony is only revenge
and, because he’s a convict, they may
be able to break it down. The thing
to do is to see Mrs. Starace and get her
story.”

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Uncovering Philadelphia's Arsenic Ring:

Murder As You Want lt

By Fenton Mallory

Special Investigator for
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES ,

United States Secret Service Agent Stanley Phillips and his helper, George
Meyers, stumble onto a death plot in the course of a counterfeit investigation.
The plot was directed by Herman Petrillo against Ferdinand Alfonsi. Meyers
and Phillips take their information to the Philadelphia police, who learn that
Alfonsi is dying of a mysterious sickness. The investigation broadens out when
the victim is taken to the hospital and dies of arsenic poison. Herman Petrillo
and Mrs. Stella Alfonsi are arrested and charged with murder. The further in-
vestigation which follows leads to Paul Petrillo, an alleged witch-doctor, whose
influence is great among the superstitious people he contacts. Detectives become
keyed up when they learn of other suspicious facts, among them the mysterious
deaths of Mrs. Corinna Fravato’s common-law husband, Charles Fravato, and
her stepson, Phillip Ingrao. Puzzled by the case, the detectives wonder what the
motive behind these deaths can be and finally hit upon an explanation when
John Cacopardo, a Sing Sing convict and a nephew of Paul Petrillo, is ques-
tioned. He says that he once refused a job of official executioner for his uncle’s
ring of insurance killers. The secret is out at last. Arrests, exhumation orders
and a widespread investigation follow. Sensation piles on sensation. Mrs.
Fravato and Mrs. Susie di Martino, whose husband also died suddenly, are
arrested. Every mysterious death for the past ten years comes under the
scrutiny of the District Attorney’s office and there are scores of them. It is
learned that the ring worked on a commission basis—$300 as a flat price for
murder and a percentage of all insurance money above $1,000. The ring ar-
ranged insurance matters and instructed the impatient widows how to kill their
husbands; sometimes offered to do the job itself. Who was the: master mind
behind the plot? Herman Petrillo was convicted of murder and Mrs. di Martino
was the next to break under questioning. When Mrs. Fravato came to trial
she confessed to three slayings and mentioned many more names. Among them
the name of Caesar Valenti, now a prisoner on Riker’s Island in New York.
Herman Petrillo, hitherto silent, announced that at last he was ready to talk.
Here is presented Part Three of this sensational story:

Room No. 582, City Hall, which is

marked with a swinging electric
sign reading “County Detectives,” a
veritable mob of officers had gathered.
Nothing in the history of Philadelphia
ever had equaled the size of the in-
vestigation which District Attorney
Charles F. Kelley was leading as he and
his men sought to learn the mechanism
of the gigantic arsenic ring which had
been selling murder in the streets.

The Homicide Squad down-stairs had
been emptied of its investigators and
many hitherto obscure officers had
been added to the weary band of de-
tectives who were doing a 24-hour-a-
day stretch on the case.

On April 28, Herman Petrillo was
rushed through the fifth-floor corridor
and into Room No. 582. Inside he was
shoved quickly into the room marked
No. 3, between Detective Riccardi and
Chief of County Detectives Connelly.

The former dapper and partially bald
spaghetti dealer was jittery with fear.
Condemned to death and already feel-
ing the terror of approaching doom,
the convicted murderer glanced quick-
ly around the crowded little room. A
long table, several desks and a sea of
faces greeted him.’ At the table be-
fore a typewriter sat Detective
Schwartz, two fingers poised expec-
tantly over the keys.

Petrillo’s quick, beady eyes swept
those faces inquiringly. And then with
a nervous little jerk he swung around
and glanced over his shoulder. There
in a corner by the door in an arm-
chair sat Mrs. Fravato—his erstwhile

Bice the row of closed doors at

“What do you want?” sputtered Pe-
trillo, edging away from Mrs. Fravato,
— Saceing tongue—going faster
and faster and hoping to talk its owner :
out of the electric chair—was striking investigators disturbed his final
friend and foe alike in its marathon rest in a grim hunt for clews
of murder tales. ‘ /

ts

Romaine Mandiuk: Arsenic ring

Mrs. Josephine Romaldo, seated, tried to explain to this policewoman
the circumstances surrounding her husband’s sudden death in 1936

= ee

OFFICIAL DETECTIVE MAGAZINE,
August, 1939


Like a Cancerous. Growth,

Each Arrest Mushrooms into

a Series. of

New. Murder

Cases as Authorities Face

a Situation Unparalleled in

America's Criminal History

“Sam ‘Sorting, below, wept after
telling’ Detective Franchetti how
he -.picked ‘up. an” “easy’’. $100

as he passed it across the table to one

of the waiting detectives—‘“is one we’

can use nicely right now. Go get him.”

Meanwhile Kelley decided to have
another go at Herman Petrillo. Al-
though already convicted of the mur-
der of Ferdinand Alfonsi, with no
recommendation of mercy, the Lang-
horne spaghetti-dealer still had ob-
vious hopes of mitigating the severity
of his inevitable punishment by in-
volving as many other people as pos-
sible. Kelley had taken advantage of
Petrillo’s fear of the chair by induc-
ing him to “sing” whenever he needed
more testimony against a recalcitrant
suspect. Another of Kelley’s adroit
methods was the playi off of the
principals against each other at crucial
moments. Another of those moments
had arrived.

As Detectives Kelleher, McHugh

OD—8

and Lynch left the office, Kelley asked
to see Petrillo.

’ Herman came up from his City Hall
cell and walked in between two de-
tectives. He glanced quickly around
the rooms, his questing eyes search-
ing for other members of the ring.

™ JOBODY else here, Herman,” Kel-
ley told him. “You can talk. How

about the fellow you pushed off a boat
at Sea Isle City in 1934? Didn’t you
forget to tell us about that one?”

“Me? Oh, sure, I was along on that
job. But I didn’t shove Joe over-
board—”

“Who did?” barked Kelley.

“I wasn’t looking—I couldn’t tell
you,” snapped Petrillo.

“But you were looking when an in-
surance company put three thousand
dollars in your hands for Joseph

aera enpesttienretenmemineemrnecneeenn onan ere

Arena’s death!” The D. A. had pushed
home a fast shot.

“Three grand? Naw, I only got nine
hundred bucks outta that one,” Petrillo
admitted.

“Three thousand was paid off,” per-
sisted Kelley. “Who got the rest?”

“Paul and Bolber. They each got
nine hundred, same. as me—’’

“And the rest? That only adds up
to twenty-seven hundred—”

“We had to pay back premiums to
Cignati—”

“Who? You mean Gaetano Ciccan-
ti?” The D. A. perked his ears. That
was a name on Bolber’s blacklist.

“Yeh, he’s the one. Some people call
him Cincinatus, too,” Petrillo ex-
plained.

“Just what part did Ciccanti play in
the murder ring?” Kelley asked, his

eagle eye meanwhile scanniig notes
on Bolber’s squeal. It woud be an
easy matter to confront these two with
the other’s “testimony.”

Petrillo drew in a quick nervous
breath. “Well—Ciccanti wa th: in-

surance agent—”
“You mean he actually s ur-
ance in a legitimate compa:

“Sure—been doing it { een
years over in Jersey,” su; : ’e@-
trillo.

Steve Crispino, above, tells Detective Anthony Franchetti his
version of a fatal fishing-trip to Sea Isle City, New Jersey

“Where was the Arena drownit
plot concocted? In New Jersey, too

“No—right here in Philly. But th
took the guy to Sea Isle City to sho.
him off the boat. It was a fishi:
party. We was going down the Del:
ware Bay first and then someboc
thought the Sea Isle inlet would |
better.”

'! JUST who was in that fishing-part
Herman, besides yourself?”

“Dominic Rodio and Steve Crisping
Petrillo murmured.

“What did these fellows get out
it?” Kelley pursued.

“T couldn’t tell you, boss. Bolber
Paul, my cousin, and Ciccanti
ire job and I just went along,
all.

“Then it looks like this Rodio
Crispino pair are involved in so
way,” commented the D. A. thous
fully Bolber in) his statement
mentioned the same set-up—climi
ing himself from the drowning epi
entirely. “But you three collected

real jackpot on this drowning,
you?”

“Like I told you—yes.

“Just how many other drov
jobs do you know about, Petrili

tieeman Petrillo leaned back


"

- Mrs... Christina: Cerrone

‘committed ~suidi

thought--he.
totd.

just ‘like the.pali

sifted over ‘his, features.’

tickled vanity’of; the. perverted mind |
being. titillated’ by the barb of: flattery.

Herman expanded ‘and. overflowed.

“Why, there» was’ the -slugging’. job
on the Girard Avenue bridge—”

“Who took care of that?” the D. A.
edged in.

“Sam Sortino—he got a flat hun-
dred bucks for that one.”

“Oh—strong-arm stuff, eh?”

“Yeh, it was an easy one. Just
sneaked up behind him and gave him
a sock over the bean.” Petrillo dis-
missed the murder like a man brush-
ing a crumb from his vest.

“Who was the unlucky guy?” Kel-
ley softly asked, a little chill running
along his spine at the careless recital
of “just another one of those” killings
by the chief murderer in this incredi-
ble slaughter of innocents.

“That was Raphael Caruso—”

“And who collected the insurance?”

“A girl friend of the guy—Christina
Cerrone, her name is—”

The squad of scribbling detectives
surrounding Kelley were getting every
detail of the most recent Petrillo story
—a drawn-out serial which turned up
in instalments of unpredictable length
and double-barreled action, which for
sheer incredulity had old-time dime
novels pushed into the primer class.

As Petrillo’s tongue rattled on, in-
spired by the District Attorney’s neat-
ly barbed and baited questions, the
men Kelley had assigned to tracking
down the latest suspect were even at
that moment meeting with success.

MEANWHILE Kelley stepped to the
door of Room Three, outside which
a little knot of waiting detectives were
hovering.

“Go get the facts on the Raphael
Caruso death—and insurance pay-off.
Also bring in Christina Cerrone—but
don’t arrest her. I just want to ask
the lady some questions.”

Turning to another team of two
men, Kelley said: “Notify New Jersey
authorities immediately of the Sea
Isle City murder of Joseph: Arena.
Ask them to look up the records of
this drowning and let us have full
details.”

“And you two fellows—” he said,
beckoning to the third pair of inves-
tigators—‘‘can get on the trail of
Gaetano Ciccanti—known also as
Cignati, Cincinatus and Cincinati.”

To a fourth team of detectives Kel-
ley said: “Go get Mrs, Arena—wife of
Joseph, the fellow who was drowned
at Sea Isle City on the fishing party.”

18

a

_A. fifth ‘team ‘of: detectives :stepped -
‘ up-to. receive: ‘instructions. I
‘Dominic Rodio and Stephen. Crispino,”
--came Kelley’s crisp order.’ « .-. :

Ten detectives! And -all-of them on
the trail of murder suspects. How
many of these tips, drained from the
obstinate drippings of Morris Bolber’s
thick lips and -the bubbling dribble
which fell from’ the braggart slickster,
Herman Petrillo, would put:more men
and women behind’ bars? How many
of those arrested;'in retaliation, would

. finger Bolber.and. Petrillo in return?
And how many ‘of this assemblage...
‘would put the’ bloodhounds of the’

Homicide Squad*’onto new scents in

“this horribly smelly and nee Se :
ust, *:
avarice and cruelty which made up the”

cacophony of murder, blood,
reign of terror conducted by a set of
fantastic and fiendish killers whose
capacity for slaughter was seemingly
insatiable? . ; j

After assigning the many interlop-

ing leads to his men, Kelley consulted - i

“Arrest.

thas involved at
sons—” .. ’

-himself- definitely ‘to one murder:and:
least. four other.per-"

“Great Heavens!”- cried Kelley, who |

had thought himself now entirely im-
munized against surprise and shock in
this case of constant reverberations,
Blast after blast. had rocked these
offices ever since Ferdinand Alfonsi’s
poison death had: put the microscope
of -police surveillance on body after
body and murder after murder. © ©
“Did you tie down Doctor Perlman’s
statement with tetalred eg strings?”
queried ,the court-minded Kelley..

NY ES—but I hardly think he will

retract. Doctor Perlman’s family. .scenes of the arsenic murders.

retained Lemuel B. Schofield, the for-
mer assistant district attorney and
director of public safety, to defend the
Doctor, but he refused his advice. He
seems like a broken man. He said: ‘I
‘won’t need. a lawyer—I’m just going
‘to tell the truth.’ ” *

Sixty-two-year-old Dominick Ruggerio, grieving father: of Mrs. Rose
Carina, told detectives his daughter always had been a “bad girl”

Chief Connelly. “How did you make
out with Doctor Perlman?”

The D. A. referred to the Philadel-
phia obstetrician whose offices at No.
1524 North Fifteenth Street police had
raided on May 3. The physician had
been charged summarily as an acces-
a, before and after the fact of mur-

er.

Chief Connelly’s expression . was
grave as he answered. “Doctor. Perl-
man has admitted his part in connec-
tion with the insurance deaths.”

“You mean he has confessed to mur=
der?” Kelley gasped. It was incredible
that a respected physician of Doctor
Perlman’s professional standing pos-
sibly could be involved in this messy
business.

“More than that,” said Connelly.
“He admits that he was the ‘procurer’
of patients for the ring. He has linked

Connelly. And what’s happening to
our other poison-source suspect—David
Brandt?”

“That guy’s still being cagey. But
we've got him hooked to the Mandiuk
murder and pretty well tied to numer-

Kelley whistled softly. “Good. work,’

‘unearthed, And glance ‘at. this one—
Conium maculatum—? o's

. “What’s that?”

to ask, , : ,
“It’s a vegetable poison derived from
a botanical member of the carrot
family—a deadly drug known as hem-
lock—the poison. that killed Socrates!”
“Gee, they reached a long way back
‘for that: one, didn’t they?” :

“All the way back to classic Greece °
—and you can’t tell ‘me that the il- °
gang thought

¢

literate members of this
of that one!’’, Kelley snorted. j
It was he who had suspected from

‘the very first that a “master mind”:

was lurking somewhere behind ae
is
constant insistence that his men look

Connelly-interrupted

a¥G

for a bigger and better educated man. i

or woman than the run-of-the-mill

voodoo doctor and witch woman, who -

from the first had fallen into police. ~~ ’

dragnets, had been responsible in the ~

main for bagging such people as Bol-).

ber, Brandt and. Doctor Horace Perl-

. Man. Would it reveal still others who

ue

ous others as the arsenic-supply man,

We're still working on him—”

“Go to it. From what Bolber tells
us, I conclude that Brandt and Doctor
Perlman are the technical experts in
both the poison supply and its ad-
ministration. Who else but a physician
or medical student could know. about
the reactions of poisons that simulate
the symptoms of well-known dis-
eases?”

Kelley reached for a laboratory re-
port—one of the most recent to come
from the hands of. City Chemist
Burke. “Look at this—evidence of the
use of other mineral poisons has been

\

*-woman—”

fou A LOT of rumors have been com-
“Ae

Connelly, and ‘keep up the g

had become enmeshed in the web of

*. the arsenic ring which offered huge

sums for technical. advice and expert
brainwork? ©". ' ;
“When we bag the ‘Rose of Death’ I

2

fully believe that the backbone of the ©.

case’ will. be -broken—although
much too early to make any predic-
tions. The case seems to be endless—
‘every new arrest mushrooms into a
‘flock of. new murder cases. But just
the same, ‘I::want: Rose Carina,” Kel-
ley said vociferously. “Lives aren’t
safe as long as that woman is loose.
I’m convinced that she’d stop at noth-
ing. And she had power enough to tie
the tongues of our suspects. Tell your
boys to bear down. on. tracing that

4

its? GS3%"

,

in from. various: places—all: .

distant,” said Connelly.” “That’s the~
.difficulty—we have no authority to fol-

low leads out of Philadelphia. There’s
the New Jersey rumor that Rose Ca-

tina has been liv: in Hammonton—”

“Track it down: ‘That’s close enough

-'to home to make it possibility number
If your men find evidence that |) ~

one.
she has been residing in New Jersey

, we'll ask for legal aid’ in ‘searching

that State for her. Now hop to it,

When the Chief had left the office,
Kelley had another look at the reports
from the city laboratory. Doctors had
put down every mark and evidence. of
violence found on the brutally mangled~
si. (Continued on Page; 36) -

Dominic Rodio: The District
Attorney wanted to hear his
‘version of a strange fishing-
trip off ‘the New Jersey coast

oD—s .

work.” -

ms Rk a pe

rs


Murder As

remains of John Wolosyn, whose
widow was being held in connection
with his death. No poison was evi-
denced in the remains, but the marks
of a furiously driven automobile
pointed a grim forefinger of guilt to-
ward a hit-skip driver. Wolosyn had
been buried as the victim of a street
fiend who had left him for dead. But
had it been an accident? Was it only
a strange coincidence that Herman
Petrillo had been the driver of the
death car and that the victim’s wife
had shared insurance benefits with the
man who killed her husband? Kelley
smiled sourly.

tf GUESS that takes care of Wolo-
syn,’’ he muttered to himself.

And. the reports on the other two
victims, Romaldo and Mandiuk, whose
bodies had been placed under the
Coroner’s scalpel and forced through
the city chemist’s bell jars and retorts,
duplicated the sinister answers which
the laboratory had discovered when it
summed up analyses of former poison
suspects—“loaded with arsenic.”

Now that numerous dangling cases
had been cleared momentarily from
the contingency class, the District
Attorney turned to more immediate
phases of the case.

In the course of his lengthy ‘‘sing,”
which he and his counsel had main-
tained was for the sole purpose of “aid-
ing’ the police in their investigation,
Morris Bolber had let go with a bar-
rage of names. The fake faith-healer
was figuring somewhat in the manner
of Herman Petrillo, thought Kelley. If
he could finger enough people, perhaps
the law would forget his own depreda-
tions among the poor, the ignorant, the
crippled and the mentally incompe-
tent—the type of “client” which Bolber
had treated.~ Children from orphan-
ages, a maimed lamp-lighter, a bed-
ridden wife, a humble and _ trusting
shoemaker — these were the people
Morris Bolber had turned over to the
murder factory to be disposed of for
insurance.

Among Bolber’s accounts were rec-
ords of huge sums paid to him by one
Mrs. Dora Sherman. For what pur-
pose were amounts of $800, $400, $500
turned over to Bolber by Mrs. Sher-
man? Why was she being bled? Per-
haps the lady could explain.

“Anyway,” Kelley decided, “she can
shed some light on Bolber’s methods.”

He called a detective and asked him
to bring Mrs. Dora Sherman to the
City Hall for a consultation.

Closeted with the District Attorney,
Mrs. Sherman told a sad story. It was
about the sorrow of her life—a crip-
pled grandchild. Mrs. Sherman had
taken the lad from doctor to doctor.
The verdict was always the same:
“Hopeless.” Even the famous Mayo
brothers could give the grandmother
no ray of hope that her beloved grand-
son ever could escape the life of-a
helpless paralytic.

“I spent thousands,” said Mrs. Sher-
man, “but it was worth it—if only
there had been some hope.”

Utterly discouraged but still un-

, willing to give up, the grandmother
decided to try something else. If all
physical aid had proved unavailing
there still was the spiritual world to
try. The reputation of a mysterious
faith-healer was floating around the
neighborhood at the time. Numerous
people told her of his miraculous
power. So Mrs. Sherman obtained his
address and visited the famed faith-
cure “psychiatrist.” There was not the
slightest doubt in the good woman’s
mind that the healer was all that he
was represented to be by neighbor-
hood testimonials. The magic man
spoke ten languages and impressed all
who visited him with his superior
knowledge of things both spiritual and
temporal.

“Just what price did Bolber quote

You Want It > ‘(Continued from Page 18) ‘orneutt

you for ministering: to your’ ‘ovata
son?” Kelley asked Mrs.-Sherman. .
“At: first he ‘said -he’d do it for
twenty-five dollars. Later he said _it
would cost me eight thousand.”
“Did yoa pay it?”

“Not all.. I paid as I went. I paid
four hundred fifty dollars for a
-potion—”

“Just a minute,” Kelley Interrupted:
“Bolber says he received fifty dollars
from you for that potion—the remain-

der went to David Brandt. Why was.

that?”
“T can’t tell you what he did with

the money. I know I paid him four .

hundred fifty for that stuff—and lots
more besides. But it didn’t help my
grandson .:. .”. The woman’s words
trailed off sadly and her eyes filled.
with tears.

After Mrs. Sherman had been taken
from the room, Kelley pondered over
the pitiful story. Why had this beast
Bolber, who had sponged on the sick

and trusting clients who visited him,*

given such a heavy split of the: ill~

gotten take to David Brandt, the office- -

appliance salesman and former. veteri-
nary student? Just what was in the
potion which the charlatan had sold

to Mrs. Sherman which was of such ~

value to the fake healer and the un-
suspecting client?

While - Kelley: and his men. were:

working like beavers, checking and
rechecking statements, confessions and
accusations flying thick and _ fast
among the arsenic-case suspects, their
offices
telephone calls, telegrams and letters.
The burden of the messages, couched
in everything from English to illiterate

Italian, was identical. Each was a “tip”.

to new angles of the case which was
spreading like oil on the surface of
water. Some were from people who
had grave suspicions that they them-
selves had been poisoned.” Among
them was a certain Jerome Iannuzzi.
This unfortunate man, married and
the father of several children, some

time during last November—the date

on which poison-ring members began
flying for cover—had boarded for
several weeks at No. 1222 East Chelten
Avenue, the home of Mrs. Susie‘ Di
Martino, accused of the poison death
of her husband, Guiseppe. |

“I been sick ever since,” Jerome
complained to police. “I got sick every
time I ate a meal in that house and
then later my arms and legs swelled
up ‘and I ain’t been able to work since.

.I’ve been on relief. They poisoned me,

that’s what, just like the others fer
killed.”

‘Did you carry ae did
anyone take out insurance on. you?”
detectives asked the disturbed boarder
who had eaten in the Di Martino home.

“No—I ain’t got none. But how
do I know they didn’t take some out
on me like they did the others?”

HERE was no answer to that. It

was highly possible.

“It may be that they were using you
as a guinea-pig, Iannuzzi, even if
there was no immediate profit in poi-
soning you,” Kelley told the suspicious
fellow. “I suggest that you go to a
hospital and remain under observa-
tion for a while. It will be a long time
before arseni¢ can possibly show its
teeth.”

And so another potential victim of
the ring was hurried off to a hospital
to be watched for the dread symptoms
of arsenic poison which mask them-
selves in numerous manifestations of
well-known diseases.

It was May 5, just two days after
Doctor Perlman’s sensational arrest
had stirred the city. Since early morn-
ing two plain-clothes men had been
watching a certain house on Ellsworth
Street near Fifth. It was an innocent
little dwelling of the type rented by

literally were deluged . with.

“pine

ones eile ‘Certainly here

was nothing sinister about the hum-

ble domicile—nor about. the people °°

who came and went during the day.

One. was. an attractive little house- _.,

wife, dark-haired and pretty.. Another

“was a'sweet-looking young schoolgirl

who danced happily in when_ her,
studies were over for the day. :
But still-the detectives lingered or
passed idly by, mingling unnoticed -
with the passers-by. - ;
‘The third member ‘of the detective’
trio was stationed outside the E. G..
Budd Company, waiting — patiently
waiting. Dusk came and still the de-
tectives lingered, ‘
- And at last, as traffic drained out of
the street and: the two detectives were:.
almost alone in -their vigil, the two. :
men separated to avoid suspicion and

“waited at opposite corners where they

still could. view the house near Fifth. -
Outside the Budd factory a detective
was just another man. The machine
shop was swarming with activity and
the night shift was just coming off at:
midnight. . Jostled in the mass of hur-.,
rying ‘workmen, the: detective hada
difficult time in spotting a slight figure
in dark clothes which sifted out and
slipped down the street. : ‘
When -the pursurer and pursuéd ©

“reached Ellsworth Street, the detective

saw. his. two fellow investigators’ on
near-by. corners. None’ of them gave
the slightest evidence that the slight .
figure hurrying toward the humble |
brick Gy sing. was the aparry, of Sach

1 three Siicers ‘waited ‘Gnu the:
figure had: disappeared ‘inside and”
hen—

ee iecive Kelleher, backed’ by ‘Me-
Hugh and Lynch, stepped up and rang
the doorbell.

It was answered by the -attractive
little houséwife they had seen several
times during the day. She looked in-
quiringly at the three men: on her

doorstep, wondering what had brought.

visitors at that late hour..

“Mrs. Sortino?” asked Kelleher.

“Yes?” There was sharp question in
the little lady’s answer.

“Where’s Sam?”

- “Why, right here. He just got home
from work. Come in—”

The detectives waited “for nothing

else, A warrant was crackling in Kel-'”
leher’s inner pocket. -
. Sam Sortino was washing his hands
at the kitchen sink. He looked ques-
tioningly from face to face as the three
men barged into the little room, filling
it to capacity.

“We've got a warrant for you, Sam.
Better come along now,” Kelleher ad-
vised the machinist.

“A warrant?” gasped Mrs. Sortino,
clasping her hands, “But why are you
arresting Sam? He hasn't done any-
thing.”

Sam was drying his. hak quickly,
trying to conceal their trembling. His
face, pale under its swarthiness, was
a sickly yellow under the bare electric-
light bulb of the kitchen.

“Sure—I’ll_ go along with you,” he
mumbled, not looking at his wife.

A half-hour later Sam Sortino, be-
tween two of the detectives, waited
for the elevator in the northeast tower
of the City Hall. The corridor was,
clear of cameramen and_ flashlight”
fiends-who formed a nucleus of on-
lookers every moment of every day.
For it was 12:30 and bystanders and”
newshawks alike had gone. Overhead
came the sharp whine of a descending
car. ‘The brakes stopped its downward
flight and in another second the doors
slid open. For a moment there was
startled silence. And then a man on
the elevator, who was linked to two
men with him, stepped: off. It was
Herman Petrillo, and he edged a little

closer and took a good look at Sam’.

Sortino. A broad grin crossed Petrillo’s
tight features, which had been twisted

edd i First ta DAs
DETECTIVE STORIES. is

ak grimaces tf tear-born tension for
many a day. ¥
“Hello, Sam,” the’ prisoner shouted.
“Don’t you know me?”

Sortino hesitated. He glanced at the
detectives. Then: “Oh; hello, Herman.”
He returned the greeting sheepishly.
‘ “Well, what do’ you know about

* thatl’? exclaimed. Kelleher..to the ‘men

‘who: were taking Petrillo: out: for a’
midnight ‘snack. after. hours: of: quiz-
zing, which woul ntinued until.
‘morning. °
Petrillo was in high humor for the.
first: time since he had’ been: arrested.
“Just wait.until Bolber finds out you’re
here,” he told Sam.» Won't he laugh
his head off!’ The ‘spaghetti-dealer «.
‘ gloated. over -Sortino as° detectives
‘ pushed him into the elevator. * =
“But Sam Sortino’ was not laughing. -
Practically hanging between, the two |
detectives, he was sobbing aloud’ as:

they opened the door jot Kelley’ s office: 2

and ushered him in’

The next morning found ‘the office”
sizzling with excitement. Most of the
, ten detectives’ he had. assigned to jobs
‘early on the preceding morning had
returned with news—or ‘prisoners. It

was impossible to take care of the en- eA

tire influx of new cases ‘all at once.

When the. antechamber had been

packed to capacity -with'officers and’.
several sat at the long table ready with
their typewriters, a sudden flurry out-
side in the corridor announced the.
coming of a suspect. ‘The nearest door
Was. flung open suddenly and Detec-.
“. tives-Franchetti’ and: McHugh came in.)
- They were half carrying, half drag-
ging a limp. ‘young ‘man.
onto their.arms for support, his. knees
utterly incapable | of, holding _ up his
frail frame.

Once in the little. crowded ante-
-chamber facing that battery of eyes—
eyes which: scanned. his:.sallow face

diligently—-Sam Sortino collapsed into

an armchair -which. someone thrust
forward. He buried his face in his
hands." | ~ -:-
4 “Come on, Sam, tell us what hap-
pened,” said Kelley patiently.
“What do you want me to tell you?”
‘mumbled the shaken young man. .
“Why you pushed Raphael Caruso
off the Girard Avenus sae said
Reuey; :

He hung .

>.

ORLY silence: -answered hind “Come,

come, Sam. | You told” ‘Captain
Kelly last night—”

“That's right—I_ did it—” Sam
Sortino’s voice suddenly burst into
that stifling room. Every breath was
held. Sam’s voice rose higher’ and
higher in hysterical sobs.. His words
were utterly unintelligible. His shoul-
ders shook as he was: wracked with
uncontrollable sobbing. °°

The D. A. glanced at Franchetti: He
indicated the door with a sidelong nod
.of his head. Franchetti and McHugh
rose and lifted Sam to his feet. “Come
on out and get a drink of water, Sam,”
said Franchetti quietly. to the unstrung
prisoner, -

Between them the two detectives got
+ Sortino to the little corridor on which

the antechamber opened. While Fran-_ |:

chetti and McHugh .took their man to
the water-cooler and doused his head
with ice-water, walked him up and
down and otherwise attempted to calm
him, Kelley turned to some of the’
other detectives and said: “What did ~
you unearth about this Caruso insur-
ance?”

‘“Plenty,” his men told him.. “The’
Herman Caruso—supposed brother: of
the fellow who was found drowned
near the Girard Avenue. bridge—col-
lected fifteen hundred in insurance.”

“When did the drowning occur—ac-
cording to the police records?” Kelley
cut in sharply.

“July 21, 1634. The body was -re-
covered the same day. There was a
deep gash on. the skull which might

November OFFICIAL DETECTIVE . STORIES on ‘Sale Wednesday, - September 27

36

- OD—8

s

oe = =

have been caused by rocks when the
body struck the water. The death was
listed as suicide by drowning—”

“And this was Raphael Caruso, of
course?”

“Yes—a boarder at the home of Mrs.
Christina Cerrone. The poor fellow
was a cripple—”

“And you say his brother collected
the insurance?”

_ “The brother, named Herman Caruso
in the insurance policy, is Herman
Petrillo,” the detective announced.

The District Attorney glanced down
the list of names he had assigned his
men yesterday. Christina Cerrone
was among them. He glanced up at the
man to whom he had given her name.
“Did you find Christina?”

“She’s downstairs—”

“Fine. We'll have. a talk with her
when we get through with Sortino. Go
out and see how he’s getting along.”

Sortino, still clinging to: Franchetti
and McHugh for support but notice-
ably calmer, was led back into the
room.

“Sam,” asked Kelley quietly, “just
how much of the insurance did Her-
man Petrillo pay you?”

“None,” answered Sam, his face
still wet with tears. He sniffled. “He
just gave me a hundred dollars and
told me to do it.” His voice began to
get out of control again.

Kelley waited.

“So I hit him over the head and
shoved him off the bridge .. .” Sor-
tino’s voice went trailing off into the
upper registers of hysteria.

“And you knew nothing about the
insurance?” Kelley asked.

“No—” wailed Sortino brokenly, “I
—I—only got—a hundred dollars.” He
sobbed, breaking down completely
once more.

And this was the case at which
Herman Petrillo had hinted so glibly
to Kelley’s questioning — eliminating
himself as usual from any true con-
nection with the murder. Yet in this
case he had hired an assassin for the
crippled boarder and collected insur-
ance of $1,500.

Later, when Kelley questioned
Christina Cerrone, she admitted that
Raphael Caruso had been her boarder
and that Sam: Sortino and she had
been “friends,” but she denied all
knowledge ofthe circumstances of
Caruso’s death.

“TI thought he committed suicide, just
like the police told me,” said Mrs.
Cerrone. “I didn’t insure Raphael and
I didn’t get any money. I never even
suspected that he’d been killed.”

There was one great significant point
in the Sortino confession and its im-
plications: Not only had ringleaders
insured victims and slain them but also
they actually spotted them as fair
quarry, farmed them out in suitable
boarding-houses, paid premiums on in-
surance policies and then hired killers
to get rid of them at a set price when
the time was ripe. How many other
jobs of this sort had the ring members
accomplished? How many men had
been listed in police records as drown-
ing suicides who actually had been
sent to their deaths by the iron pipe
or a silk sandbag supplied by Herman
Petrillo?

HE Sortino confession sent a covey

of detectives scurrying through po-
lice records including the 1930’s. What
they found was an incredible number
of suicide drownings during those
years. In one close period there was a
veritable epidemic of suspicious cases
—each of the water-logged bodies
bearing head wounds and gashes which
might or might not have been caused
by the fall or leap into the stream. To
trace each of these was an impossible
task. Unidentified bodies consigned to
the morgue, Potter’s Field and finally
the crematorium forever would hold
their secrets in eternity. One thing

was certain—Herman Petrillo and his ..

murderous business partners undoubt-
edly were responsible for some of those
mysterious and unsolved cases. .

But before Kelley could get the Sam
Sortino case. legally disposed of, a
second team of detectives dumped
another. surprise on’ his desk.

Wet fo
“Ciccanti is under thumb,” his men .

told him.

op—8

“Where?” The D. A. fairly shouted.

“We just made a pinch at his home
—Hadfield Street near Fifteenth.”

“Bring him in immediately. _ The
Ciccanti angle, according to Bolber, is
going to be good,” intimated the D. A.

After Ciccanti’s arraignment in
Judge McDevitt’s court was over, he
was taken up to floor five, where the
inquisition began.

The District Attorney was all set for
the new suspect in the sudden switch
which the arsenic case had taken.
Named by both Bolber and Petrillo as
having been “in” on the drowning
deals, the man would have a lot of ex-
plaining to do. Ciccanti told police he
was an insurance agent for a promi-
nent national firm and had been em-
ployed in that capacity for fifteen
years.

“You wrote some insurance on a
fellow by the name of Joseph Arena,
a shoemaker—”

“Yes,” admitted Ciccanti.

for some of them and not too far
away,” Kelley told his men. He called
the Detective Division in the first-
floor offices and made arrangements.

David Brandt, the poison-supply
man who had been linked now to at
least one definite murder by the tes-
timony of other confessed killers and
was suspected of having a part in
many others, was transferred to the
Twelfth and: Pine Street Station, the
Second Detective Division; Mrs. Fra-
vato, the witch-woman whose re-
peated mumbles, incantations and
screaming in Moyamensing Prison had
ereated constant disturbance, was
shifted to the 32nd Street and Wood-
land Avenue station, and the rest of
the gang were shifted to the 28th and
Oxford Street Detective Division sta-
tion. All except Herman Petrillo. He
was locked securely into his City Hall
cell—as close to the scene of action
and to the D. A.’s office as possible.

Ciccanti’s arrest loomed significant-

STATS |

Police cars and searchers gather around the spot on the lonely
country road where the body of George Hall was found. The
story of the investigation into this murder may be found on Page 8

“And you were with the men who
murdered him?”

“No!” shouted Ciccanti, half rising
from his chair. “I didn’t know any-
thing about that.”

“Who did?”

“Well—they took him on a fishing-
party down at Sea Isle City. They
went crabbing in a boat. Then some-
body hit him over the head and

shoved him overboard. When he came

”

up they pushed him under again.

“Who was in that boat?”

“Bolber and Petrillo and Steve
Crispino—I don’t know if anybody
else was or not.”

This was. news to Kelley. Bolber
had fingered the rest, but left him-
self out of it. Now this man’s testi-
mony put Bolber in the fatal fishing-
party. :

“Where did you write the policy on
Joseph Arena’s life?” was Kelley’s
next thrust.

“Right in Paul Petrillo’s tailor shop
—Passyunk Avenue.”

“And you collected the profits along
with the others?”

“No—I just paid the premiums,
that’s all.”

“You got six hundred dollars from
the paid-off policy, too,” stated Kelley,
consulting .a statement made both by
Bolber and Petrillo.

Ciccanti. was silent. Glum and
brooding, he was led from the ante-
chambers after his first quizzing and
stowed away in a cell downstairs.

City Hall cells, by the way, were
at a premium. It was necessary to do
something drastic down there. New
arrests were being made almost daily
and the. principals. in. the case were
brought in . frequently from Moya-

--mensing Prison for consultation or to

confront a. recalitrant suspect.
“We'll have to find other quarters

ly in Kelley’s mind. “This is one of
the most important arrests we have
made,” he stated. “Ciccanti is the
first legitimate insurance agent to be
brought into the picture. That means
one thing—that it is highly possible
that the incredible mass of under-
writing performed for potential vic-
tims was the work of legalized agents.
What a horrible state of affairs.”

Kelley decided to put a stop to any
such possibility in the future. lle gave
orders that agents from the companies
involved in the arsenic-ring murder
cases were to be questioned thoroughly
as to their methods and their ability to
check suspicious cases before handing
out indiscriminate policies.

“Not that these men are guilty or in
any way suspected of collusion with
murderers. I merely want to find out
how a man can get into a system and
operate for fifteen years as an insur-
ance agent—meanwhile fingering vic-
tims and placing insurance on them
and paying premiums. If there are lax
laws which permit such conditions
they must be exposed and remedied
so that such a catastrophe as this
never can occur again.”

He turned the full blast of his in-
vestigation on the Arena case. From
what he could gather from the records
which his men brought back from
New Jersey, the District Attorney got
the following picture:

On June 20, 1932, the body of a man
was washed ashore at Sea Isle City—
a fishing-resort fifteen miles below
Ocean City on the south Jersey coast.
The body was turned over to an un-
dertaker, Foster, of Seaville, New Jer-
sey, after it had been identified as that
of Joseph Arena of No. 919 Walnut
Street, Philadelphia—a shoemaker. The
body, claimed by James McCefferty of
No. 6126 Torresdale Avenue, Phila-

delphia, Pennsylvania, was buried in
St. Dominic’s Cemetery, Holmesburg, a
Philadelphia suburb.

Insurance on the man was paid ol!
to his supposed brother, whom detec-
tives recently had proved to be none
other than Herman Petrillo under an-
other name. Bolber, in his attempt to
build up his own part as an ‘innocent
bystander in the numerous deaths
bearing his tag, had placed full blame
for the drowning of Arena on Herman
Petrillo, who in turn had bent the fin-
ger back to include Bolber.

“But what of Mrs. Arena?” the D. A.
asked. ‘“Bolber claims that she got
a five-thousand-dollar policy in full
when her husband was slugged and
pushed out of the boat. Didn’t she
know something of the arrangements
beforehand?”

H«* CALLED in the men who had
been tracking down the widow.
“Did you find Mrs. Arena?” he asked.

“We're closing in on her. She has
given us the slip so far but we know
where she is right now, and it will only
be a matter of minutes.”

And the detective was right. In a
half-hour Mrs. Anna Arena was led
into City Hall. An attractive woman in
a tricky tailored reefer arid a jaunty
little veiled hat, Mrs. Arena was now
vociferous in her claims of innocence
and ignorance concerning her hus-
band’s death. During her hearing in
court the widow collapsed—fainting
into the arms of court attendants.

When Kelley got back from lunch,
a little coterie of detectives was wait-
ing for him. “We investigated those
Jersey rumors concerning The Rose o!
Death. as

“Yes?” snapped the D. A.

“We saw her father, Dominick Rug-
gerio, and her stepmother in Jersey,
and they didn’t have any idea where
she is. But the old folks tell us she
was a ‘bad girl’ always, and they hope
we catch her. In Hammonton we
picked up a tip that a car resembling
one she had been seen riding in—a
big black Buick sedan—was parked
in the yard of a certain house. W<
went around there, but the car wis
gone. The landlady told us a womin
had left just a few minutes before.
We asked to see the room she had
just left—”

“What did you find?” asked Kelley
impatiently.

“This—”’

The detective held out a piece o!
rubber hose. “It was attached to the
gas-jet.”

“What do you make of that?”

“I think Rose Carina is trying
make us believe that she’s attempting
suicide to throw us off the trail. Per-
sonally, I think the woman is to
smart to destroy herself—it just isnt
her line. A woman who marries five
men must have a pretty good opinion
of herself and her prowess. The fact
that so far she’s gotten away wil!
what she knows she has gives a wo-
man of her type a lot of self-confi-
dence.”

“T agree with you. We've got to get
that woman. She’s on the lam and n<
mistake,” admitted Kelley.

“We can’t follow her, though,’ the
Philadelphia detective reminded Kel-

ey.

A look of sudden decision flittec
over the Chief’s face. ‘‘There’s alway:
the FBI,” he said significantly. Reach-
ing for a telephone in quick dete:
mination, he asked to be put throus!
fo the Department of Justice 1
Washington.

Will the fugitive from justice—Mrs
Rose Carina, known as The Rose o
Death—be tracked down by G-Men
Has she committed suicide after sev
eral attempts to cheat the law? Wil
police find Stephen Crispino, the mu
named as being in the fatal boat «
Sea Isle City by Bolber and Petrillo
Will they find Dominic Rodio, waite:
as a material witness in the slaying ©
Joseph Arena?

For further exciting revelations an
developments in one of the most hon
rible mass-murder stories of all timc
see the next instalment which will ap
pear in the November issue of OFF)
CIAL DETECTIVE STORIES.

April 24, 1924 (Tes)
p. ce

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2 wee “ ;
ERA REN OS

; Rt CATES

a


PLEWKA, Andreas, white, electrocuted, Penns}lvania, (Bucks County) on July 12, 1915,

"Philadelphia, Dec. 27, 1913-A man giving the name of Andreas Plewka walked into a police
station here tonight and said he had killed the captain and mate of a sand barge lying

in the Delaware river off Roebling, N. J., this afternoon, According to Plewka's story, he
had a dispute with the captain, Elmer V, Lyons, becaus e he did not report for work on the
barge Christmas day and in a fight that followed the captain struck him on the head with a
club, He reported to the owners of the vessel here and they told him the dispute was a
matter for the captain to settle. Plewka said he returned to the barge this afternoon and
when Lyons, armed with a club, came toward him, he drew a revolver and shot him, The cap-
tain rolled into the river and did not come to the surface, James McLaughlin, the mate
then came running forward, Plewka said, and he fired a bullet at him and McLaughlin dropped
dead, Other members of the crew fled, according to Plewka and he escaped in a row boat,
and came to Philadelphia, The police confirmed the shooting, An investigation will be
made to determine whether Pennsylvania or New Jersey authorities have jurisdiction,"
JOURNAL, Atlanta, Georgia, Dec, 28, 1913 (2=3.)


eee Ve

ee Aad. Copia Las Youn sha Te

SPePe OA J. (Parres pored oF hein


"4 3 C C

NAME

PLATT, Albert

PLACE — CITY OR COUNTY

Rockview State Pr&son Pa,.(Crawford)

DOE & MEANS

Ee April 78, 192h.

DOB OR AGE RACE OCCUPATION RESIDENCE GEN
56 White Farm laborer Harmonsburg Wore wooden leg
RECORD
CRIME DATE ) OTHER
Murder Feb. 7, 192h6
VICTIM AGE RACE METHOD
; School Teacher R. Ellis McGowan 19° wntte ane 'doupiespatved)

MOTIVE

Anger because McGowan had remonstrated with him over remarks to McGowan's mother,

SYNOPSIS

"Albert Platt, who killed Ellis McGowan, 19-year-old school teacher, at his home at Dennison's
Corner, a short distance from Meadville, on Thursday, February 7, when Ne attacked Metowan with —
a doubled bitted AXCy paid for his crime with his death at the Rockview Penitentiary Monday
morning, death being pronounced at? +27. According to-_tssociated Press dispatehes—from the
penitentiary the Crawford County murderer was calm to the last. He went to the chair with an une

aia
"It will be recalled that Platt, known as the one-legged axe murderer, went on trial for his
e 2 ursday February li, just one week after the crime had
been committed, The following day he was convicted after the jury had deliberated only a short
time and upon being returned to the jail he immediately engaged a fellow prisoner in a game of
checkers at which game Platt was adept.
ere was one Pie the nent oan ee sn of the large number in ne Crasiford County -dalmen

young men of the Baas: Ellis ia llceies ial hitnareli of evtenas. Ye was a . aeialaik youne nehoot
teacher at Gehlton and when he was attacked from the rear he was preparing to 20 to his teaching
duties, There was considerable feeling aroused over the attack on McGowan and there were demands
: made for quick justice, In this the Courts of the County did not falter, The Grand Jury was
AWM RR RING i Seals ates just finishing its work when word of the awful crime came over the phone to the officer of
rad Sheriff H, B, Cutshall, Judge Prather immediately made arrangements for the Grand Jury to re=-
- Main in session and knowing that McGowan'’s time to live was limited District Attorney August
f Delp made arrangements to hurry the ee tae of McGowan and place before the Grand Jury the neces=

a o e

attorney at the Court ~ heats Oc clare veh Esdey to defend nate With the as ole

was returned, Then Platt was placed on trial on the followitis thursday and as ekated ficient
——quick work was made of the case,
"Last Friday at midnight, Sheriff H. Be Cutshall and Dkputy John Hurley started for 3ellefonte
with their prisoner, They arrived at the death house about 2? o clock Saturday &fternoon, The
ey time between trains was short and the Crawford County officers had only a few minutes at the
ad ee prison, Platt seemed to enjoy the trip to the penitentiary and once made the remark that he
was sorry he had KXXXaA not killed Mrs, McGowan as well as her son. The relatives of Platt have
paid little attention to him since his trouble, He gave his watch to one of them some time ago,
Ww ew Sa a sa a ! °
The crime was one of the most brutal in the history of crawford County. Platt had been working

in Sharon engaged Platt to do chores on the farms With Mr. Mo“ owan n away _— rowed consisted

few tre ae Chater home, and a poate ny Mary, "aged 16 a tetas
"On the evening Avan 6th, the boy and girl he irs a party bi while bios were away,

“te ROBNS iy Ne pe eS

Pp
and on the aie of February 7, the son, Ellis, vent. to the barn 6 Platt was going the

APPE
house for his breakfas t and while sitting at the table eating, Platt suddenly rushed into the
room with a sharp, _douhbleebitted axe_and spbit onen the young man's head, The mother and

““"daushter were attracted by falling dishes and they drove the infurafated man from the youth
before Platt had opportunity to strike a third time, Platt was 56 years of age and had a
wooden leg,"

TRIBUNE-REPUBLICAN, Meadville, Pennsylvania, April 29, 192 (Tuesday) (10:1-3.)

EXECUTION

SOURCE

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18 SUPREME COURT

[Sands v. Fritz.]

R. Sands's property or its proceeds, he cannot recover it again from
the defendant in a suit on the replevin bond.

The point is not one which it is necessary now to decide; but
there is room for grave doubt whether this action can properly be
brought within the operation of any of thie statutes authorizing the
entry of judgment for want of an affidavit of defence. ‘The eleventh
section of the Act of the 21st of March 1772, directs that a
replevin bond shall be “ conditioned for prosecuting the suit with
effect and without delay, and for duly returning the goods and
chattels distrained in case a return shall be awarded.” In no nat-
ural sense can this condition be regarded as an agreement for the
payment of money under the Act of March 28th 1835; nor is it
embraced in the second section of the Act of 12th of March 1842,
requiring affidavits in actions on bonds and recognizances of bail in
error, on bonds of sureties for stay of execution, on bonds or recog-
nisances of special bail, and on bonds given by insolvent debtors
and their sureties, under the sixth section of the Act of the 16th
of June 1836. The record in many-instances would not furnish
means of liquidating the judgment that would be both just and safe.
‘“‘The defendant's remedy is on the replevin bond, where there can
be no recovery beyond the value of the goods, and where it may be
less than the value, for the rent may be inferior in value to the
goods, because by paying the rent the debt would be satisfied :”’
Weidel v. Roseberry, 13 8. & R. 178. The practice of requiring
affidavits of defence in such cases as this, if such a practice prevails,
would seem capable of producing mischief and injustice.

Judgment reversed and procedendo awarded.

[ Philadelphi

Quigley versus The Commonwealth.

1. The evidence in this case contains the ingredients of murder in the first

degree.
2. Where a juror is identified by name and residence, both of which are

correetly given in the panel, a misdescription of his occupation is not a suffi-
cient ground to sustain a challenge for cause.

February 15th 1877. Before Acnew, C. J., Suarswoop, MEr-
cur, GorDON, Paxson and WoopWARD, JJ. Wr.tams, J., absent.

Error to the Oyer and Terminer of Philadelphia county: Of
January Term 1877, No. 249.

Indictment of Patrick Quigley for the murder of his wife Cath-
arine Quigley.

The facts of the case are sufficiently stated in the opinion of the
court.

The only questions passed upon by this court were first, whether
the case presented a clear one of murder in the first degree, and

pis Re en or aE WAM cris Rely BBO Ry

ar ~

1S877.] OF PENNSYLVANIA. 19

[Quigley v. Commonwealth. |

second, whether a juror could be challenged for cause by the prisoner,
the cause assigned being that the Juror was named in the return to
the yenire as‘ William 8. Thompson, whittier, No. 1511 Thompson
street, ‘T'wenty-ninth Ward.”

The juror being examined on his voere dire, testified that he
resided and had resided for twenty years at 1511 Thompson street ;
that he was doing no business at the present time, but that he was
a ** victnaller.”’ and that he knew of no such business as * whittier.”’
The court overruled the challenge on the ground that the christian
and surname of the juror, with the number of his house, and the name
of the street and ward, being accurately given, there was a sufficient
description to enable the defendant to learn who was the person to
he summoned as a juror.

The jury found a verdict of murder in the first degree, and the
prisoner was sentenced to be hanged. He then took this writ,
assigning fur error, dter alia, the overruling of the foregoing

cha! lenge.

ALS. L. Shields, John O Byrne, C. M. Smith, and W. H.
Ruddiman, for plaintiff in error.—The Act of April 14th 1834,
§ 8%, directs that the name, surname and in addition‘ the occupation
and place of abode of the persons selected to be put in the wheel,
shall be placed upon strips of paper for that purpose. In this instance
the proper occupation of the juror called was not given correctly,
hut on the contrary, the return shows an occupation of which the

juror called knew nothing and in which he never was employed.

Henry S. Hagert, Assistant District Attorney, and Furman
Sheppard, District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.—We contend
that if the word ‘‘ whittier’’ is not intended to stand for. the trade
of *+victualler’’ it is not to be treated asa nullity ; for it does not
appear by the testimony that this word does not represent some
one of the numerous sub-divisions of old occupations or one of the
many new occupations which have grown up with the advance in
the arts, and with the introduction of machinery and the sub-division
of labor. If, however, it is to be so treated, then we submit that
this objection was properly a cause of challenge to the array, and
in the case of Clark v. Commonwealth, 5 Casey 129, a similar
objection was so regarded; for if the sheriff has failed to return the
names, residences and occupations of eighty persons, he has made
a defective return. A default in the sheriff in making his return,
as the omission to return a knight in asuit by a peer, and the failure
to return the statutory number of hundredors upon the panel, was
ground for challenge to the array; so if the bailiff of the liberty
return any one out of his franchise. These are all grounds of
principal challenge, and are in respect of the default of the officer
who made the return, and not in respect of the person returned :

(tepimm estM) LioTt S11 AeW uo SetueaTAsuue, SerydtepeTtyd pesuey ‘oqrum SyoTAQeg *TPIOTINO


e ¥

20 SUPREME COURT [Philadelphia

[Quigley v. Commonwealth.]

Co. Litt. 156-156 b, *470-3 ; Commonwealth v. Salliger, 3 Penna.
L. Jour. 520; and no challenge to the polls can be taken, which
might have been had to the array: Co. Litt. 158 a. Under the
English practice, challenges to the array must be spread in full
upon the record, and should be so here, so that the opposite party
may demur, plead or answer, and so that the correctness of the
decision of the court upon the challenge may be examined into:
King v. Edmonds, 4 B. & Ald. 471; Hesketh v. Braddock, 3 Burr.
1847.

The challenge made in the present case was a challenge to the
polls, and if the court below could inquire at all into the ground
alleged in this case, it could only be for the purpose of determining
whether the person who answered to the call, was the identical person
who had been selected, summoned and returned as a juror. Upon
that question the court were satisfied by the examination of the
juror; and their decision, if reviewable here, like the decision of
any other tribunal upon any other question of fact, is to be sustained
unless clearly repugnant to the evidence. As was held in Clark v.
Commonwealth, supra, there is sufficient to indicate the person as
the intended juror; the provision requiring the occupation or addi-
tion is directory merely.

Treating this objection as ground for a challenge to the array
and no such challenge having been taken in the court below, the
case 1s within the protection of the Act of 21st of February 1814:
Purd. Dig. 838, pl. 82.

The judgment of the Supreme Court was entered, March 5th
1877,

Per CuriaAM.—There is no merit whatever in the assignments
of error in this case. The court properly overruled the challenge
to William S. Thompson, a juror. He was identified by name and
residence, both of which were correctly given in the panel. The
want of accuracy as to his occupation was not sufficient to create a
doubt of his identity. The addition was insensible, and not a change
of his real occupation. There was nothing to mislead, and there-
fore no injury arose or could arise from an addition which designated
no known occupation or business. But the challenge was not to
the array. A challenge to the array always arises from a cause
which affects the whole panel. Such is not this case.

_ In regard to the ingredients of murder in the first degree there
is no doubt. The case presents a clear one of murder in the first
degree. Indeed the counsel did not themselves raise this question.
It came as a merciful suggestion of a member of the court to afford
an opportunity of investigating the facts. But this investigation
satisfies us the prisoner was properly convicted. ‘That Catharine
Quigley, the wife of the prisoner, did not commit suicide but was
killed by him is a fact beyond any reasonable doubt upon the evi-

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1S7t. OF PENNSYLVANIA. 21

[Quigley v. Commonwealth. ]

dence, and has been found by the jury. That he shot her twice,
once in the eve, the ball penetrating the brain, and once in the face,
half wav between the eye and the lower end of the nose, is not a
subiect of doubt, while all the circumstances surrounding the act
ant to a wilful, deliberate and premeditated intention. He came
trem the bar-room into the kitchen and told her to take his coat up
etuirs, she said, “Yes, if you wish it,”’ took the coat down from a
hook, and started up stairs, and he walked up close behind her.
‘The witness heard the door of the room above shut, and the latch
click. Nothing more was heard for some time, until the witness
heard two shots, one within fifteen seconds or thereabouts of the
other. The pistol is identified as his; two chambers were found
discharged, and an intermediate cartridge struck by the hammer
but not exploded. The prisoner remained a long time in the room
before he came out, and when he came down went to the hydrant
and washed himself. His shirt, from which the blood had been
washed, was found in the room with stains upon it. He had changed
it fur aclean one. After a long time he came down, went to a.
neighbor's to find a woman, who occupied the upper story of his
house, told her to come home, that his wife had met with an acci-
dent—had shot herself. When this woman and the man in whose
shop she was found came to the room the prisoner’s wife was found
Iving on the floor, her head resting on the*stove plate, and the
pistol placed on the floor about three feet from her. She was still
alive and sensible, and on inquiry, at once accused him of shooting
her, pointing to the place where the balls entered. She lived nine
days and never recalled her accusation. When in the room he sat
on the bed, and refused to help his wife to get up or to relieve her
from her uncomfortable position, giving as a reason that he did not
want to bloody his shirt. When accused by her of the shooting he
scarcely denied it, but after sitting on the bed for a time he approached
her and said, ‘* Did I shoot you, dear Kate?’ She said at once,
** Yes, you shot me twice; use no endearing words, for if I should
die to-morrow, you would lie. If I ever live to get over this, I will
not live another day with you.”

During the whole affair he exhibited no feeling, smoked his cigar
and behaved with the utmost coolness, as well as with entire want
of natural feeling. For about an hour and a half he was engaged
in the room, and coming down stairs and returning, making no dis-
closure of the fact, and evidently reflecting and preparing as well
as he could to ward off suspicion from himself. They had lived
unhappily together and had had difficulties about property belong-
ing to her. They had separated and then come together. Perhaps
the fauit may have been mutual, but this does not detract from the
influence of this unhappy life upon his motives and intentions.
The fact is still there that love had ceased, and unholy feelings
had taken its place. Under these telling circumstances attending

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118

ting there when Christopher Dearing
came down and told him to have the
horse and wagon ready for a trip to town.
_“T want you and the boy to finish cut-
ting the wood in the clearing,” he said.

And Probst knew that this was his

chance!
_ While they sat at breakfast, Mrs. Dear-
Ing gave final instructions to the oldest
boy, William, who was to visit his grand-
father in West Philadelphia for a few
days, this visit being the means of saving
his life.

Going to the city was such an event
that the whole family stood on the door-
step waving goodby to the father and
William as they drove away. And Probst,
too, followed them with his eyes as they
passed slowly out the lane. Then he
turned back, picked up the axe and, with
Cornelius at his side, he trudged off to
the woods.

Money! That spurred him on. He
lifted the axe high in the air and crashed
it down on the back of the boy’s head.
And, as he dropped ‘like a log, Probst
bent down and hacked his throat open.
And dragging him by the jacket across
the clearing, he shoved him into the corn
crib and pulled some hay down on the
body.

Julia Dearing looked up from her bak-
ing to see Probst standing in the door-
way. How strange his eyes shone, she
thought.

“ITXHE little horse,” he said, with a slow
smile, “has broken away. Will you
come and help me catch him?”

She made a gesture of impatience.

“I am very busy,” she answered. But
she left her work and walked ahead of
him to the barn.

Probst fell back a few paces and, as
she passed over the threshold, he seized
the hammer and struck her in the head.
She fell face forward and lay still. And
Probst bent down and dragged her over
on her back and cut her throat from ear
to ear with the axe. Then he pulled the
body into the hay and covered it up.

How simple it was to do all this!

He met the eight-year-old boy, John,
at the kitchen door.

“Where’s mother?” the child asked.

Anton smiled.

“Down at the barn,” he said. “She
wants you.”

The boy ran ahead and disappeared in-
side the building, but when Probst reached
the door, John was waiting.

“T don’t see my mother,” he cried.

“Right over there,” Probst pointed
toward the next room and, as the boy
turned his back, the hired man dealt
death to him as he had the others.

And then he sent the six-year-old
Thomas out to “find your mother,” and
killed and hid him in the hay. He took
the two youngest ones himself, carrying
the baby Emily in his arm and holding
four-year-old Anna by the hand.

He placed the baby in the grass out-
side the barn while he proceeded to mur-
der Anna. When he came back, Emily,
gurgling happily, reached up her tiny
hands to him. But if Probst had ever
had any affection in his soul it was com-
pletely hidden now. He was mad with
blood. And as he lifted the child, car-
ried it in and knocked out its brains on
the barn floor, a blood-stained mist was
before his eyes.

He would have killed anything then
that stood in his path. And, temporarily
satiated with the lust of murder, he wiped
off the axe and hammer and placed them
inside the door and hurried up to the
house. He was burning with eagerness
to search the place, but he was afraid

True Detective Mysteries

(Continued from page 116)

Dearing would come home and find him
at it. And so, while his hands twitched to
ransack the house, he had to hold his pa-
tience. He washed himself carefully to
remove the blood stains, he changed his
shirt; and then he sat down in the kitchen
to wait for Dearing to come home.

As the time passed slowly by, Probst
sat there planning how he would enjoy
the money. He could buy all the grog
he wanted now. He could have as many
women as he wished. He gloated over
the figure he would cut when he reached
the taverns of the town. Work was over
fer him. Ease and pleasure lay before

im.

He walked impatiently to the window—
and at that moment he saw Dearing com-
ing along. the road. And he cursed
roundly, for Elizabeth Dolan also was in
the carriage. This was something he had
not anticipated. He had thought Dear-
ing would be alone. What should he do?

The team turned in the lane and the
dog rushed down to meet it. And Probst
who had stolen from the kitchen, came
around the side of the house.

“The steer is pretty sick,” he said
abruptly. “You better go look at it.”

Dearing turned to his niece.

“Go in, Elizabeth, to your aunt,” he
said.

He tramped down to the barn with
Probst at his heels. The hired man groped
for the sledge hammer just inside the
door. Dearing went on inside. After a
few minutes he called out:

“Anton!”

“Yes,”

“The steer doesn’t look sick. He seems
all right.”

Behind him the bulky figure of the
hired man crept stealthily.

“He looks all right to me—”

The sentence was never finished, for
just as Dearing turned to leave the stall,
Probst struck him.

When _ he stepped out into the yard
again, Elizabeth Dolan was standing on
the porch.

“Anton,” she cried, “where is the fam-
ily? I can’t find them.”

A slow smile touched the man’s face.
He jerked his head toward the barn.

“They’re all in there,” he chuckled.
“They want you to join them!”

So the young woman started for the
barn and Probst, still laughing noiselessly
at his own clever remark, followed her.

OY one person now between him and
his ambition. Only a little while and
the pleasures of the town would be his. It
had been so much easier than he antici-
pated. He snatched the hammer gaily
and, without a word sent Elizabeth Dolan
into Eternity. He covered her up with
feverish haste. He could hardly wait to
start his search for the money. He reached
down in the hay and groped for Dearing’s
body. He took out his purse which con-
tained ten dollars. He tore off the
farmer’s stout boots. No use in leaving
these good shoes behind him.

He hurried up to the house, unhitched
the team and put the horses away. Then
he leaped up on the porch and entered
the dwelling. He did not even trouble to
wash his bloody hands. There would be
no one coming in to disturb him now.
How easy it had been!

He started to rummage through the
kitchen. He peered in bowls and in the
closets, hunting in the cupboards. He
went through the whole lower floor. And
found nothing!

The money must be hidden in the up-
stairs. He leaped up the stairway and
entered Dearing’s bedroom. He ripped
out the chest of drawers and his eyes

suddenly bulged with avarice. A fat purse
lay under some clothing in the top
drawer. Probst seized it in eager, blood-
stained hands. He poured the contents
on the table. His fingers trembled so he
could hardly count the coins. So eager
was he for gold that when he found only
$3.65 he began cursing like a madman.
He stuffed the money in his pocket and
went on ransacking the house. He tore
the beds apart, he jerked out cabinets, he
rummaged in closets. And finally, he had
to face the truth—he could find nothing
but $13.65. He could have wept for dis-
appointment. He had murdered eight
pedple for $13.65!

Suddenly he began laughing. He held
his sides, shaking with mirth. What a
joke on himself. Eight people dead for
$13.65!

He went downstairs and hunted food.
He made some sandwiches. While he
ate he cursed Dearing at the top of his
voice. He shook his fist at the barn. He
crammed food in his mouth and almost
choked himself with laughter. What a
joke he had played himself!

He found Elizabeth Dolan’s purse lying
on the parlor table. It was under a little
doll which she had brought for the baby.
A few dollars were tucked inside it and a
couple of compound interest notes. He
took it all.

Nee he,got ready to leave. He crammed
the jewelry, the two purses and two
revolvers which he found in the house in
his pocket. He put on Dearing’s boots
and a fine topcoat he found upstairs. He
put some shirts in a carpet bag and left
the house.. His one thought now was to
get away. He hurried down the lane and
turned his face toward the city. And as
he went he was aware that he was not
alone. The hound was trotting at his
heels. Its eyes stared up at him hope-
fully. It wagged its tail. It was the first
time the dog had ever followed him and
it terrified Probst.

For the dog’s presence meant only one
thing—it was aware that life had departed
from the Dearing house. And in its lone-
liness it clung to Probst for company. He
ordered the dog to get back but it would
not leave him. He threw stones at it, but
it followed at a distance all the way to
the edge of the town, and it was not un-
til Probst got a lift from a passing team-
ster that the hound turned back.

“T realize now,” Probst said as he fin-
ished his story, “that I have committed
a great crime. I am ready to die and I
hope God will forgive me.”

He .was hanged in the courtyard of
Moyamensing Prison early in the morning
of June 8th, 1866.

A strange echo of that famous case was
raised a short time ago when the trial of
Anton Probst was cited to the Supreme
Court in its consideration of another tral.

William Joseph Deni, alias Mollyooch,
a notorious Philadelphia gangster, con-
demned to die for the murder of Patrol-
man Harry Donahue appealed to the
higher court from the death sentence
which Judge Harry S. McDevitt imposed
upon him,

One of the Justices remarked that he
thought Deni had been tried too soon
after his arrest, that public opinion ran
high at the time and prejudiced his
chances for a fair and impartial trial.

Judge McDevitt cited to the court
the trial of Anton Probst nine days after
the Dearing family had been murdered.
He pointed out that a Justice of the Su-
reme Court was on the bench when
Probst was sentenced to death.

before I
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all. Further
good sport I’
While this
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show his pro
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that nice fat
Mr. Burch
money toget
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gether with ©
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and see that
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Inside first
Mr. Burch
necessity fo
This is to 1
responsible
He hasn’t «
Now the
and the Ins)
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Outside.

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Mr. Bur«
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wedged in
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whispers fi
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Courage
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pulled the
why the k
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The Ins!
more slow
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“Pull!” he
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Mr. Bu
and claws
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the blade
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Mr. Bure) *
Mr. Bi.

, ee


HB WER LEFT
;| MRS. LUCILE BROKAW

NEW YORK, Sept. 11 (A. P.)—

| Mrs, Lucile Nave Brokaw, wile of

~ {Irving Brokaw, father of figure skat-
The in America, died early today at

Weir, WES Was 53, was stricken

iccnemsan mite
oantain in the to Will Kogers’

i

M’Devitt, Denounces

Board for’ Freeing|

Handloff Slayer . ae

“He is Ignatius

‘| who gave an address on‘ Walaut st.
$8th,

jand that means we'll have

SAYS HE QUIT KILLER" |...
' O'Hara insisted he had broken

away from Parsons whem the latier| _

: ? eh 2
“We gotta get some more dough,

@ t pull
off a couple of stickups.* °° °°
Police said O'Hara was being held

for questioning, and that no formal

Meanwhile police were depending
on a young West Philadelphia boy,

»{ Bernard Antipin, to help clinch their

which dedicated this “Bhrine of the Sun”
nuiemory, 5 ves : ?

_ OBITUARY,

HOWARD H. LAWSON
Howard H. Lawson, former Jieu-
tenant of Philadelphia police, died
in Seaside Park, N. J., yesterday
from a heart allment.. He was 75
years old. - j
Before his retirement severa) years
ago he took an active part in the
fight against the old policy game,
forerunner of the numbers racket.
He is survived by his wife, by three

| S008, George and Albert, of Phila-
Clifton

delphia, and Howard, of
Springs, N. J..9Rt.w
moor Me

J <

| School student, is

|} case against Parsons and two men

believed to have been with him "just
before the shooting. wy
YOUTH GIVES TIP °""

Antipin, a former Qverbrook High
youth whose
telephone call to police Friday night,
after he had seen three men Jurking
in @ driveway near 57th and Arling-
ton ats., caused Handloff and his fel-
low-policeman, Philo Roseboro, to
be ordered to speed to that inter-
section in quest of the ‘trio.

Antipin definitely identified Par:
sons yesterday as one of the three.
He said he had seen Parsons loiter-
ing on the railroad bridge shortly

‘| before Handjoff was slain. ‘The two

others, the youth told police, were

| seeking fo conceal themselves beliind

shrubbery in the nearby driveway.

“And I'll be able .to identify those
two men, too, when they're cap-
tured.” the boy sald,
GUARD WITNESS

Young Antipin lived at 5639 Arling-
ton at., a half block from the spot
where Handlof{ met nia death, until
yesterday, when his family moved to
1101 N. 4ist st. Because of his im-
portance in tho police case a spe-
clal guard was established over the
ile A. Londun $0, of 2131 WN. bath.

¢ ge bad +
‘murdered his fellow-policeraan, j

Maurice “Happy” Handiof,

Setaeh Sheets

taneously with twd palicemen In an-|. a

other red car, Street:
Charlies Ward and Patrolman ‘Ralph

UnderkoMer, ‘The four found: no}

signs of the men, conferred briefl

Sergeant} oe

&nd decided to start crulaing about,

in opposite directions, .'-
Handioff and Roseboro proceeded
west and turned east again of Up
land Way. ‘Two boys ran excitedly
toward thelr car and’sald they ‘be

Meved a hold-up was in progrese on.

the nearby bridge, Ae

The policemen
speed and came to’a brake-«shrieking
atop beside London’s car, just as

Parsons was backing out of the’ ve-.

hicle, With $35 taken from Lendon
in-his free left hand. The bandit's
right hand was thrust into-bis coat
pocket. . ’ Wade

Roseboro, who had been driving,
‘waa nearest Parsons and seized hig
left arm. .He twisted it around bee

increased” thelr}:

‘hind the bendit’s back while Hand<}

loff darted around the*front of the

police car to grasp Parsoh’s right}

arm.
Without removing his right-hand
from the coat pocket Parsons twisted

NDON

the gun around and fired at Handloff] :

through the cloth. Handieff slump-
ed to the street, stil clasping the
bandit's right arm.

Then Parsons swung around to-
werd Roseboro and pressed the trig-
ger again, But the hammer of the

pistol merely clicked sgainst the
aertritge witheut dianhargiiig i,

Thus raved, Kosebaro rained
whe

toon e th head? wourlert hb

4

Tecord of the slayer’s carver of crime:

mitempi.-

gi ¥ ie

Choral Societies Merge~ |

1907—Parsous une! 8

aware coumty.. &

cs poater thas RAS

sembly hall, A. Lo
perintendsns, pees

gent body. Wa

make the moat of
and pointed Gus.
tages the schol
* Jetters frowf” gigas
of last. June, Whi

sincete eppreciatic
years of educaliy
Williarason,

| PRAISES MODE

Modesty, Bar, Ge
fs a fine attriptte
cultivate in al ¢@
whether in the fei
tests or in the att
room or workabop
emphasize bis Oi
life of the hate
and told the boys 4
“one of the men b
the Treasury
ever had.” wer Gq
gn account of his
So much

erful influence for
Both gave. awny {
the American pe
away toeir Fiche
could prosper. ;
of thei oppertvasd

= a

wing poss VOL. 247, NO. ue a Lage coe Nasik Re PHILADELPHIA, SUNDAY. MORNING, SEPTEMBER 12, 1937 py rides").

al le (CHINESE (INNES France an
Tu TOON 5/ST0P PMESE Ttaly Thure
aft’ PAROLE WOME! POLY SHAGHN OME Roosevelt.

yrDevitt Denounces Committee of Federal Hand-to-Hand Clash th
a

Freeing. of Gunman} “Reserve Canvasses|° Hurls. Back Invader President

Sown importg
jored bes
“9 Who Shot Handloff - Pinch in Credit But} After Earlier Gains Py 3 ear
3 cents balog : Bea a oe ae” Gar pe ’ S. EF
poet nana During Hold-up: F, "|: Withholds Decision | In ‘Big Push : y :
* ’ rf " aa ‘ se ; ‘
ao ee (appease ‘Grips - World
oho ue A*Christmas gift pardon” grintes Special to The Inquirer. SHANOMAL, / 11 (A, PD eae rips or
O%e; welts precerick Parsons, 37-yeat-old: exs “WASHINGTON, Sept. 11.—The! smashing ‘drive in'and from, the
cy provisions 2 convict WhO shot and xilled Potlce- a | threat to the administration's easy| yangtze River today brought Jap-'
down. Ths man Maurice e “Happy” Handloff in money policy, embodied particularly! gnese and Chinese - hind to hand, Bpecial to rhe fageiver.-
& for Septet Jadelphia late Pridsy night, on a money “pinch” in New -York|jocked {n one of the most important| “ HYDE PARK, Sept, 11—President | Be
cember West Phi } phi *
m spent iteelt, was blamed yesterday by Judge Har-| © ;and other large cities, wan discufbed) battles of the Bino-Japanese unde-| Roosevelt is acutely aaxlous about) go
fit-taking ry S. McDevitt for the herole officer’s ‘- MAURICE’ ‘HANDLOFE 4° -) today by the open market committee! clered war. ‘ the world situation and promised;
ur, giving death. ~ Thirty-eight-year-old of the Federal Reserve Board. 4 Japanese legions ‘swept up from the | ts afternoon that his Adminitra- ee.
oo ed M parsons—picked up three times for eas — Friday mgh Reserye Board officials disclosed’ river to push China’s troops. back to tion will do everything that ft can to! Bem
‘eat fe civoe @ esrrying deadly weapons during bis} surprised a bandit In a neler no conclusions from the all-day dis-| yanghong, four miles inland’ from keep the United States out of war
‘ood Onited $8 ccreer of crime—killed Handlo® o® cussions on the nation’s credit. They | the strategie Woosung forts, where sie e Rega Rays rbpgesrroed Lata
to have @ , . RR. will meet again tomorrow, d the Whangpoo Riv-) ¥ grave fears.
soth st. bridge over the P. rs c the Yangtze and the sp00
eco no ao just north of Lancaster caster ave,| ft ij i yt STAN It was said that the fall credit out-/ erg join. ment he Implied, as he hag said be-
Appers tale @ s, cold blood. Jook was discussed at length by Mar-} Por 24 hours the Japanese steadily fore, that waritke nations ere lined
eee m8 if mRED FROM Ets POCKET riner 8, Becles, chairman of the Re-| nemmered the Chinese back until) UP Ices the peace-loving demo-
a the cet § lil serve Board, and his colleagues. Japan possessed one-third of Yang-
r al pea &
spring wheat Firing 0 pistol sonsestes Jem it i : Tl: HEAR While there was ho denial that! pong, but laler they were forced to In act informal talk to the Roose-| Fy
nere wus talk J eat pocket when Handloff > 1 is velt Home Club.this afternoon the
Sperrssl mae " rised him ia temporary relaxation of the govern give up the section” under terrific s
. : tellow-policeman surp 3 President said that “largely because | ©
a Cansdisg ment’s. gold sterilization. program] Oninese attack, ,
hold-up on the span, the slayer gave a of world conditions,” he hadn't had
t was discussed, reserve board officiais CHINESE SUPERIOR A
== =) his victim no chence to defend his t more than two or three hours to him-| Bs
declined to say whether any recom-| 4. garies and artiliery bombard-
imate Argets 4 ile with his own ee an mendations had been formulated. t es 5 on, 2 self since he returned to are Park | Ee
- \ McDevitt, who sentenced men projesed @ Japanese move- .
rao A ight bandit,” as Parsons had He eae CHANGES EXPECTED =. _| ment s‘owly afd bnezorably forwara Sonar ees
coarseness orces Though authorities ditfer, many] When the attackers reached the c! on ous Sy
2 ' fe believe that New York is headed for| however, they were forced to retire ; fons. gre nd) be
down as lov | gastern Penitentiary tn December,!’ Him to. Cancel Talk 3 than they see to be to thong of us! >

the specula a ; a change of Interest rates and for| after hand-to-hand fighting in which : rf . "3
1983, yesterday condemned the State who read the hewspa: he ssid. | *

k : mas = ¥ rep pers,” he said. |’
market. ve nits :4 tor § ine the thug ‘To I abor Front Sabie ate < government s¢ rete ge As geemed to have Lm og iy ate 1 am ve .
opt here ang pice two years ter, Decempet faites neal While discount rates of the reserve} A Chinese spokeahan ‘termed ( the pptare od Oe es wee to f.
corn prices, fa ' ed bh stall NURNBERG, Germany, Sept, 11) banks were lowered three weeks ago! battle a major enagement. ee erything we ean in, the ted |

sh

35 Btates—not only. the
on. 000 bnshels tence he wouldn't have Been Foaming (U; P.).—A void, drizzling rain mar- eee cenit wanex ejtnkc P Meare. stone cae United Btates but the Government of | ia
i corn re “eet wie Ss 7 ring the annual Nazi rally was seized | than to sell government securities! advance of twe miles. 73 ae age edhe hs Dae

5 upon by Puehter Adolf Hitler to-/ +9 obtain funds, there is no certainty Describing the drive as a major

op rok | day a & theme for hts apeéch to $0,-| that the banks will take advantege
3 1 speaks for itself,” A 000 boys of the Hitler“ Youth: who of the lower borrowing rates. In view

Japantse offensive, a Chinese mill- fas

bev ; of the administration's edsy money
ae Gone OPPOSED PAROLE. | policy, this nmkes for a mudgied stt- a
if tos bee repped Us Tan's parle rd bets wr ,| Nation: calling for. possible: ube. of x
no : rn a4! gnother monetary weapdn.': za
S10 2 “yghtforf&The opes market commited, a Ls
2% is! adt, has the authority to bly Gots]. Sa
ok Br, ay Bt:
- ; “te
% My » | Beserv
a ee; ae eppeal for si paase wast} ; 9p bens ent's} _**
is ‘S¥ ¥ nade by Bertha ‘ fay |2? 8 to eeping money rates Jow in the hope tessant, 2 Dee b>
, relative, who gave an address oo re de ; Biceirtp aig {
iS BY BF ff wan ot near Locuat, in Weat Phila | Ti pasindes of ectlig ab m busieas pope | BOt touch ws,” Mra, ODay added | HTH
pies Bemw: silos tn oftict to she fall sa, the te ; a iPat
5 yom 10g) don ee apparently was one <add ad Kote ws (oda ta doth mbrketet: sr,
3 30 308, Mf have proved a0 evap hdres sine nd Ot pound: procrtiogs wil | CONTACT TREASURY
, stand. centuries, before. coming | An open market operation, that ts
- ie Ee eacie satel ha Jybou leaders and confess ‘thelr faith.” | q purchese of Government tecuritios, | °
ES oy ban aeeel| Be meennon teagan
shops time. But when he made! ation somewhat comparable to that
vena) . a speaks Tor itaelh Pee ee Oe ee ~ Me “sia oatien: expected in the full, This remalns 5
ased on stectyS Tf) REFERS TC EX-BANKE? | ~’ possibility,”
=, Cone. _ (Alexander D. Robinson = wat 'Y
7% 12% Le ‘There fe no question thet pressure |.
re 23 He ; tettenced four years ago to serve D bey is being brought to bear on the fiscal p.).-Medame Chiang 3 “tnt;
“r ; ae priest for em: ‘authorities to relax the gold stertiizd~ identi
RTIFICATES z nearly $150,009 from s/o a thon amt, a move which the open | today, Je pyr
an 'yatiding and joan association and beth cocs comunitiee oot uid not ‘take, wan ray oe ang” ‘said! tie’
Bad, Asked yet ‘the defunct Northwestern Trust Oo5 . bul whieh 16 could reccenmend te the that if other nations condone ber
BEE (J xtich be wal ab ine, WER? ©, | Tressury. : “criminal destruétion, tien’ clvilés-
191-28 01. announcement -¢ | Reserva board: officials, were’ in we
F 229" cB By too. ne was released by the Pardons i tion had surely reached the end.
St toard July: 3 off this year—a fart
OR WOR t. i ete bo st
is} )
ey
mt
Bt
‘7 008 1
a :
eaipe | * ep be st week eas
Pay erie 47%
Oi 308) 908%


RABALDI, Fred

Slectrocut:d, Pennsylvania State Prison, 3-28-1938.

28 rears old. Sentenced from Philadelphia, Had killed
Patrolman Maurice HandLoff when the officer and another
policeman surprised him robiing a motorist at a traffic
light in Philadelphia, Last words: "So long, warden;
good luck to you all."

PUBLIC OPINION, Chambersburg, Pa., 3-28-1938


el ee ed

ae

—

sec wnt OL OLLIE 8 OOO TELE NT A I

976 THE PINKERTON STOpR,

Dirnaio returned to Hillsville and found Mrs. Racco, as he remem.

bers, “lying on a bed praying to St. Rocco.” After he had written s

letter for her to her husband in Italian and prevented a pawnbrok:;
from cheating her out of ten dollars, the wife of the Camorra lead:-
gave the Pinkerton man her husband’s shotgun.

In the county jail Racco identified the shotgun as his, telli:-
Dimaio, “This is my gun. I know it is by the left-hand trigger whic;
works loosely.”

Dimaio recalls he chatted for some time with Racco, who thoug:::
Dimaio was on a poaching case. He left after Racco begged t!-
detective to “call on my wife and cheer her up because she is a go
woman.”

Back in Hillsville, Dimaio visited the quarry town’s dingy bars a:
drinking places, seeking out honest workmen who had foug::
against the Camorra. Through them he spread word that the Soci:
was finished forever in Hillsville and those who knew anythi:.z
about the Houk murder could now speak without fear.

The Camorra’s “knife expert”—the man who had waved his stilet's

and sworn he would carve out the heart of anyone who would betray -

the Society—was the first to come to Dimaio. He voluntarily made 2
statement, declaring that he too had heard Racco boast of murdering
Houk. «+

Dimaio next located the man who had taken Racco’s dog out t
hunt the day Houk killed it. The new witness signed a stateme:t
that he had heard Racco swear to murder the game warden. |:
addition to this, he gave the Pinkerton man a list of names “
Camorrists who “attended meetings at Racco’s house when anyor
was to be robbed or cut for not complying with the wishes of t!:
Society.”

Dimaio now had enough evidence against Racco and turned *
over to District Attorney Young. Young ordered Racco arrested +
his cell that same day on the charge of murdering Game Warde
Houk.

The Pinkerton men in Buffalo located Mrs. Surace, but sent wet
to Dimaio that she “positively refused” to testify at the trial. Din
returned to Western Penitentiary where he had Surace write 4 Jette’
to his wife pleading with her to testify at the trial. The letter *~
sent to Buffalo but Mrs. Surace had disappeared. The search 1
her went on again.

ee tae |

‘ ren
Lge eee eet

eee ne ee

we gray re ernie es an nser ae ig ns iy nei AN ahaa ay Mantis tera =~

- me ee

wee eee ee

ee omen wrens

ca eng ne en eee oe rere >
*
«

ek a a a

Rte

ee eee set RR es ee

nIAT WONDERFUL DETECTIVE 271

Dimaio began to visit Racco in jail on the hope of persuading the
¢amorra leader to confess. The visits were twice a week and the
»nkerton man said he can still see Racco sitting across from him in
‘:0 cell, swarthy faced and black haired, smoking the cigar he had
sought him. He would admit nothing, only to say, “I guess I was

~ sways a little thief.”

The hot summer days dragged on. Dimaio continued to see Racco,
ways bringing a cigar or some fruit. The Camorra capo became

1 nore cordial and boasted to Dimaio how “the Society” controlled

the district, “never going to the law about anything but settling our
awn differences with the knife.” °

Although he told Dimaio, “You have treated me fair and square,”
acco refused to confess the Houk murder. The Pinkerton ce
emembers that his reply to all questions about the murder was, “I
will not speak. I will go to the gallows a brave man.”

Dimaio said that his hardest job that summer was bolstering up
the courage of his witnesses in the prison. Camorra knifemen from
New York, Akron, and Cleveland appeared in Hillsville and state’s

witnesses reported that they had received death threats. Others said

they had been offered bribes as high as a thousand dollars to dis-
zppear. Notes were smuggled into the penitentiary and Surace was
wamed he would die if he took the stand. But the second-in-com-
sand of the Camorra told Dimaio, “I have gone this far and I must
29 on. I will testify.”

The trial opened in New Castle on September 14. The courtroom
«as crowded with police and detectives on guard. Dimaio’s wit-

; ‘esses did not fail him. Trembling and white faced, they testified,

“wearing not on the Bible but the crucifix.” Just before the state
‘ded its case Mrs. Surace, who had been located by the Agency in
~-ffalo and given her husband’s letter, appeared and took the stand
» a State’s witness.

_faceo produced a weak defense, with some of his witnesses
: sing to swear on a Bible or to take an oath on a crucifix.”

“ September 19, the case went to the jury. Racco was found
vaity of murder in the first degree after a brief deliberation. In
: vember the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the conviction
“a Dimaio paid his last visit to the Camorra leader. “I will go to
. gallows a brave man,” was all that he would say. A few months
“cr he was hanged in the prison in New Castle. —


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An old register book of the Union Hotel, with V. Steckman as proprietor, contains
verification of these facts— under the date of August 8, 1848, one Heinley, a drover of Ohio

Harrison Curry of Madison County came in with 160 head of cattle and the next day
Soloman Walker of Knox County was taking 10 horses eastward.

The next entry was dated October 7. On this date Thomas Bowen from Green County
Pennsylvania stopped over night. He was driving a herd of 600 hogs and Asa Balchari from
Mahoning County was headed east with 145 cattle.

We found no other entry for drovers until December 6th, when George Wheeler of North
Sonining County stopped overnight. He had 60 horses and mules.

One entry shows a large quantity of oats was sold at .35 cents per bushel.

We also found reference from another source of a tavern owner near Somerset who kept
a diary of the number of livestock fed during one month’s period in 1843. According to his
record he fed 2,300 head. Sometimes he would have as high as 400 to 500 hogs. The highest
number was 1.323 by actual count.

One can readily see the damage the hooves of these large droves could do to the road-

certainly cut into the profits of the drovers.

Because of this fee per head, many drovers sought roads and detours around the toll
gates.

Great parties must have been held occasionally. We suspect that perhaps some of the
returning drovers with large sums of money set up drinks to all who would care to join
them. We found one reference that 100 drinks cost one man $4.00. Another for 73 drinks at
$2.51 and a third 70 drinks at $2.40, These drinks could have been paid for by stock brokers
from the east.

Entries show that drovers made purchases of whiskey for the road trip. One purchased
three pints at eighteen and three quarter cents, another three quarts for thirty seven and

night, but history about them has been lost or destroyed.

The average cost for a herd of 100 cattle and lodging for one horse and three men would
be about $30. Many times a herd would have as many as two hundred. In the summer when
the fields provided sufficient pasture the daily expense was less.

In taking these cattle over the roadways a leader was usually an oxen with a long rope
fastened around his horns. A driver was on the rear and the ‘boss’ usually rode the horse. It

was his job to
Flocks of s
lodging for th
being tied to:
traveling mo:
pasture or ot:
The eastern r
forges, furna
Quite often
would eat th«
separately. th
opportunity tc
his own winte:
The demanc
country to me
and perhaps r
‘speculators’.
available, the
Tavern or I:
and local ma
sactions were
famous for tl
provided man
These drive
their meals an
was the life of
large sums of
them of their |
took place in
It happened
on the highwa
tempted to pi
discovered the
They ran to the
tragic news. A
After some c
through the ar
Ohio and that F
herd of cattle f
James Rice. A
so they startec
carrying a clu!
road early the
Another trave
However, ther
so he would n
Word soon sr
Connellsville, |
possessions be
clothing and m:
Rice vigorou
wanted to wait
them.
The local par


RICE, James, white, hanged B dford, Pas, 9=2=18)2,.

e <? ae le ee * :
Pre ee arm ae Sees.
See, ay eat eee! Ne as et . 4 N >
aa eo WY : z
. ae es \- a
cee ne eS

ae

: i

Whisker

* 4
ee *
mi 9 . Ly ene
; 3 "

Pos 4

et

\

. . M ° a jo ~ -
4 me TO te = fat
a \ _ 3 ”
= \ Per —™ - ss 4 - pe - See
~ — - 7 i « -
~ _-- ~. + - sia a i
} ~ _ ee ree - e‘- = ren - ~‘, < i
ve - a ~ - a
| 7 ie _ Sey . 4 ~ . . ; hn a
— ae ae iene = _ ES ee “8 < be
. sme eA eee - — : - aN ee" ‘
woe ~ - - — ~~ <2 thine . = 4 ba fans ! ‘
. ’ a Ce oo -_— ~ ane . — 7 4 a cK = .
A - _ ¢ wie - - ~ te _— ta ey
- ~ ~ oe mies es “ = . . - _ —— 7 ~
. : a fry a - nai Fie ~ 7 ‘ , ~ 7 ~~ . motte ‘ t
s ~ —— ne oe a ea s a a m oa Rie a
. is ~ ~ . - & — ~
eo i: oa aces % rs > “<- r —, ‘ ~ ~ a - F go 3
Bo Ee ae oe én > . - nae -« ‘
~ ie a a : _

1eat the minister’s sermon
ested in making love than

| irch would walk. As tney

“every-day shoes’ to their
a. After the services had
stockings, which had been

+ can be seen today. Three
hus putting the members
2 bailt.

er boarded and painted to
ers only upon application

‘h. They were John Schell
‘ormed church were John
‘etstone, John Corley and
tian Miller, George Reck
county.

e choir who occupied one
hout an accompaniment.
g-~ *'e end to hold the
et vall. If a member
d __aken the member
were hung on a nail near
2 time this past winter a
‘Ss found this spring lying
) Shreads.

‘The Chestnut Ridge and
agregation joined in the

old Church, but they are
’ carved out of the native
ost of these stones were
ining Juniata Township.
ttering is beautifully in-
e. When a name or word
ining letters of the name

‘ Dutch. Immediately to
‘es of two small Indian
According to the stories
reservation from where
for their burial. A local
his family plot.

by some families which
is there were numerous
wooden fence around it.
iid pass. However, they
rs desiring to enter the
vn on the inside. This

t¢ as been enlarged

In 1843, the members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church built a large church in the
village of Schellsburg on lot number 20. The ground was given by Miss Catherine Danaker.
The deed is dated May 12, 1843.

In 1851, the St. John’s Reformed Church congregation decided to also build a church in
the village. The ground was broken March 1, 1851, After these congregations had their own
places of worship, the old Union Church for a few years was only used for funerals, par-
ticularly for those who were originally members of this old charge.

Note: The stories I have written have come to me through my father and aunts who as
children attended church services with their parents.

Cattle Drives

The flow of settlers through Bedford County increased yearly as the roads were im-
proved. We saw many improvements during the 1820’s to 1860’s and even later periods.
Cutting new and shorter distances and easier grades between certain points and using
broken and crushed stone as road beds, particularly in sections where the heavy wagon
wheels would sink to the axle in rainy weather.

The building of taverns along the roads all meant better means of providing a place to
rest and relaxation for the weary traveler. The tavern owners were the ones who would
profit most, thus they were the ones who would contribute most to the expenses of building
these roads.

During this period there began a different flow of traffic, now in a west to eastward
direction. This was the heavy flow of live stock to the eastern markets. There were
thousands of cattle, horses and mules, sheep, hogs and turkeys driven over this road. The
feeding of those animals and the boarding of the drovers meant money in the pockets of the
farmers along the road as well as the taverns. Because of this heavy traffic and the
damage to the roads, tollgates were erected at certain intervals along the road. A small
charge was levied on each animal.

These droves began mostly in Ohio, but there were others which began in other states
such as Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and there were reports of several droves from as far as
Texas. As the roads became stone based it caused injuries to the feet of the animals. Word
soon spread among the drovers that in many areas they could take detours over country
roads where the roads would be softer to the feet of the animals and also they could avoid
the tollgates. When these animals used such roads in dry weather large clouds of dust
would be raised thus forcing many farmer’s wives to quickly take her family wash indoors.
In the rainy weather or after a rain storm the road would become a sea of mud and
sometimes quite deep. This practice of driving droves of cattle continued in many areas of
the county sixty to sixty-five years ago. We still remember the times when many cattle
were driven through our little country village. For days the roads were so smeared by the
‘droppings’ that we could not run our iron tire rims or go barefoot. Many times the people
would gather wheelbarrow loads of dust or even sawdust to make paths so that they could
cross to the opposite side of the road.

The livestock was driven through the state to three main points— Philadelphia,
Baltimore and New York City. They could average about 10 miles per day. There were
many farmers along the road who offered their fields to hold the livestock over night. The
fields around the old farm, now owned by Carl Amick, west of Wolfsburg, provided feed for
hundreds of cattle. We have been told that the large area back of the Union Hotel in Bed-
ford also contained hundreds of livestock during the cattle drive period.


the mug
n among

{ beyond
about the
hreatened
man who
e killers?
.e furious
iued. All
ere were
ied mines

the tips

1 Monday
a railroad
train that
ort Morris,
red a dirty
human and
ver to the
enough to
New York
imp on the

collar and
he ground,
the human
ien he saw
the tracks.
fellow, the
d his com-
‘ly morning
> the pair
s’ murder.
ed, the pair
down the
d detective
ursuit.
yards when
gine, Look-
» to see his
tance, The
in amazing

obos, the
-alled up the
iearby Net-
tussell took

) notice any
‘m at all?”

s wrist,” re-
t looks like
wn.” E

Skawinski.

‘icer replied.
ret him.”
civer on its
arracks and
The next in-
n Netcong’s
ne corner he
road officer’s
hat was that.
awinski was
and in less
lips was on

the phantom
continued. |
minal list in
his volunteer
-ds on file in
u, They were
iymouth and
“bandit get-
these makes,
i at last they
\. Bader.
1e poolroom,
osite Bader’s
tuscular Bader
e on Tuesday
identified him
1 the poolroom
the day of the

Phillips’ companion melted away un-
obtrusively and the head of the C, I, D.
strode over and placed his hand on
Bader’s shoulder.

“We want you at headquarters,
Bader.”

Phillips convoyed Bader to head-
quarters, and straight to the private
office where the captain of detectives and
the much wanted Wallace Skawinski
were seated.

Skawinski was slumped, a surly mass
of wretchedness in a hard oak chair, The
moment David Phillips and his prisoner
entered Skawinski leaped to his feet.

“It was him who did it all,” he
screamed. “He said he needed three
hundred bucks to pay on his ear. If we
didn’t go on jobs for him he would turn
us in.”

“You’re crazy,” snarled Bader, for-
getting his poise, “I never saw you in my
life.”

Capt. Phillips and Detective Phillips
sat back and let them fight it out. They
were in the midst of their cat-calling
when Detective Donaldson walked in.
After the situation was explained to him,
Donaldson broke up the quarrel.

“You say, Skawinski, that after the
A & P stickup you drove to Bader’s to
turn over his car. That when you told
him you had shot the cop he drove you
along the Drinker Turnpike for a get-
away. That when you were between
Dunmore and Ney Aug, Riggs was going
to throw his gun away. That Bader who
was driving said, ‘Don’t throw it there
on the track, Give it to me.’ That Bader
threw the gun up toward the woods. Is
that right?” .

Skawinski was nodding his weasel-like
head to each statement.

“That’s right. He did, he did, he did.”

Bader snorted loudly. “It’s a lie from
beginning to end. If you take the word
of this bum—”

“We won't,” said Donaldson. “But
there’s some truth in what he said. He
was too mad to make up a complete lie.
We'll scout the woods there for the gun.
If you threw it, it will have your prints
on it.”

Manhunt Quickens

ADER gasped, then immediately re-
gained control of himself.

“Was any other man along, Skawinski,
at any time when you were talking to
Bader?” the detective pursued.

Skawinski nodded. “An ex-pug called
Happy. Happy gave Dude Riggs his over-
coat.”

Bader insisted on calling a lawyer. But
the assistant district-attorney, upon being
summoned, declared that while Bader was
simply being held for questioning this
was out of the question. And they all
knew who “Happy” was. The nickname
aptly fitted a certain happy-go-lucky
young prizefighter.

The search for Riggs continued.

Donaldson's hunch that Riggs might be
in Cleveland had been a slight one, so he
was not disappointed when it seemed to
have entirely missed fire.

Then on Wednesday night a young
miner came in to see Donaldson.

“That Riegs fellow was in Scranton
Monday night,” he told the detective. “I
saw him in the lunchroom next to the
bus station.”

“What! Why did you wait until now to
tell us? You knew we were looking for
him.” Donaldson spoke raspingly in his
annoyance.

“Wait a minute! I didn’t know it was
Riggs till I saw his photo in the postoffice
tonight. I was seeing a pal who was on

the New York-Cleveland bus Monday
night. This fellow Riggs sat at the next
table. Then, when my chum boarded the
bus I stood there waiting for them to pull
out. They were late. This fellow—quite
a dude he was—was in the seat behind
him. He didn’t act suspicious or nervous.”

As soon as his visitor left, Donaldson
wrote another letter to a friend in the
Cleveland police department.

Then there was a dead lull. Bader,
finding that he was caught dead to rights,
admitted he had lent his car for the stick-
ups. He was introduced to Riggs by a
mutual friend who suspected nothing.
Then, when Bader learned they were
escaped convicts the idea came to him
that he might capitalize their fear of
arrest. Detective George Green drove
him out the turnpike and he showed him
where he had ditched the revolver.

Then, Friday night word came that
James “Dude” Riggs was hiding out on
a farm in Moscow, 20 miles out of
Scranton.

A few minutes later, Capt. Phillips,
Donaldson and other detectives left head-
quarters in a car that bristled with sawed-
off shot guns, gas bombs and grenades.
They headed out of town toward the
small farming community perched on
East Mountain. The distance was not
great, but the roads on the steep incline

were mere wagon tracks, frozen hard in

deep ruts.

An hour later they were on the out-
skirts of Moscow when a car shot out of
a side lane, headlights blinding.

Donaldson pulled up sharply, leaped
out, gun in hand.

A man leaped from the other car at the
same time, a man wearing a trooper
uniform.

“We got a telephone call from Scranton
headquarters,” the trooper told Donald-
son. “Evidently our tip was wet. Shortly
after you fellows left, the chief of police
of Cleveland called you on long distance.
He says James Joseph Riggs, under the
name of James Scanlon, is stopping at
the Y. M. C. A. in his city. He has two
detectives keeping Riggs under sur-
veillance, and wants to know if you want
Riggs placed under arrest immediately.”

Capt. Phillips had put his head out of
the Scranton car and listened in on the
conversation. “Thanks,” he said. “If we
can use the phone in your sub-station,
I'll call the chief back. I have a plan in
mind.”

Phillips congratulated the Cleveland

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“Better not arrest Riggs yet,” lie
advised. ‘“He’d have a story all prepared
before our men got to him. But keep him
under close surveillance.”

At 3a. m.,, Assistant District Attorney
Paul Maxey, Detective Donaldson, and
the A & P clerk, Homer Croop climbed
into a plane. They arrived in Cleveland
shortly after 7 o’clock. They went
immediately to headquarters.

At 9:15 a call came from the detective
who was planted in the Y. M. C. A.
“Riggs has just gone into the cafeteria,”
he reported.

Donaldson, Maxey and Croop drove
over immediately. A slim, red-haired man
came out to meet them as they parked in
front of the hotel.

“Riggs will have to come out through
the lobby,” he said. “Do you want to wait
there or make a pinch in the cafeteria?”

“We'll wait in the lobby,” the assistant
district attorney said. He glanced at the
alert Croop, his star witness. “We'll know
him, all right.”

Maxey and Croop took chairs together.
They were conversing casually, but
watching as men strolled out singly and
in pairs. When a tall slender man, fedora
cocked at a jaunty angle, hairline
mustache etched on a rather long upper
lip, walked up to the newspaper stand
Donaldson recognized him instantly. He
looked across at Croop. }

But the clerk was careful. He waited
calmly until the man turned so the full
glare of morning sunshine lit up his face.
Then Croop touched his hat.

Donaldson crossed the office. “Let’s go
to your room, Riggs,” he said quietly.

“You're mistaken,” Riggs said unruffled.
“My name is Scanlon, What do you want
with me?”

Donaldson flashed a detective badge,
cupped in his palm. “Let's go. Your
room is on the second floor. We’ll walk
up.” He added the last on an impulse. It
was possible Riggs had a confederate
there in the Y. M. C. A. If there was a
shooting, the detective did not want to
risk the lives of other elevator passengers.
This man was headed. for the electric
chair. He would be ready to take a
desperate chance.

And Riggs was just that. As Donaldson
followed him up the long flight to the
upper floor, Riggs suddenly whirled. He
seized the detective around the waist and
tried to heave him over the low bannister
to the stone floor below. But Donaldson
was ready. He grabbed the man’s throat,
digging his thumbs into the protruding
Adam’s: apple. In a moment it was all
over.

“Don’t be a fool,” Donaldson advised
as he led the panting man to his room.
“We have Skawinski and Bader under
arrest. They’ve come clean, You're up
for murder.”

Riggs paled but tried to keep up his
front. “Murder! What do you mean?
Sure, you’ve got it on me for crashing
Wallkill. But that’s all.”

“Oh, no, We’ve got it on you for
murdering a cop—Lieutenant Roberts—
in the A & P. You shot him!”

“T did not! That was Skawinski—” He
broke off suddenly and refused to say
another word. ‘

That Saturday afternoon, exactly one
week after the shooting, the case was
closed.

On March 5, 1934, Skawinski and Riggs
were electrocuted in Rockview peni-
tentiary. Bader was sentenced to 20 to
40 years in the state prison.

Bludgeon Slayer and the Secret Tomb

[Continued from page 19]

Mountain Club, where he had been man-
ager in the summer of 1931. He had served
75 days in the Riverside county jail and
had been released just before Thanksgiv-
ing Day. While at the club he had become
acquainted with Mrs, Terrell who was
employed there as a hostess. The Ban-
ning police said she had moved to South
Gate, a Los Angeles suburb, but knew
nothing more of her than that.

The detectives now had fingerprints
and a photograph of Reid. They thanked
the Banning officers and returned to Los
Angeles. Davidson issued a new state-
wide teletype asking for the arrest of
Reid and supplemented this with printed
bulletins giving his fingerprint classifica-
tion and photograph.

The photograph and prints were
checked through the Los ‘Angeles record
bureau but without results. Davidson
called in the police reporters of the met-
ropolitan papers and had them copy the
photograph for publication the morning
of Feb. 25. “Maybe somebody who knows
where Reid or Reagan is will see the
picture and get in touch with us,” David-
son told the reporters.

Giese learned that the woman real es-
tate agent would return the following
day. Sanderson was absent all day on his
hunt for the murder weapon.

Next morning Giese was camped on
the office doorstep when the agent ap-
peared. She explained that she had been
in San Francisco but had read of the
tragedy which, “didn’t surprise me.”

“Why didn’t it?” Giese asked eagerly.
“Do you know something that may help
us on the case? If you have, let’s hear it!
The murderer has had too long a start
on us as it is.” i

“T know I can help you,” the woman
answered. For several minutes she rum-
maged through her desk. Then she sat
for a moment, pursing her lips, lost in
thought. Suddenly she arose and went
to the office safe. She opened the strong-
box and selected a small envelope. “Here
it is,’ she said, “It’s the license number
of the machine I saw Reagan or Reid
driving a number of times; also the num-
ber and description of another car I saw
around the Flores avenue place.”

“How’d you happen to keep them?”
Giese asked.

“Just a hunch,” she replied. “I didn’t
like the man’s looks but he had money,
so I rented him the place. I just took
down the license number of his car and
the other car as well in case they might
be. needed.”

Reid’s car was a Chevrolet coupe; the
other a Buick roadster. Giese quickly
telephoned the information to headquar-
ters and Davidson said he would have
them checked through the motor vehicle
registration. By the time Giese had driven
back to the office Davidson was waiting
for him at the curb. “Jump in with me
and I'll tell you the dope on the way,”
the captain said.

“The coupe is registered to Reid at an
old South Gate address but the other one

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Six Match Folders Take
Scranton, Pa., Police
To the Gunmen Who
Murdered This Heroic

Detective Lieutenant?

By Neil Whitn

Special Investigator for

. OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

OTH of the men had guns in their
hands and they looked as if they
; would not hesitate to use them.

“Up with your hands!” one of the-
men said tightly. “This is a holdup!”

Frank Markwith, manager of the
chain grocery store, turned helplessly
to his assistant, Homer Croop; and
then he raised his hands. Croop put
his arms up, also.

The gunman smiled, without humor.
“That’s being a couple of good boys.
Just keep holding the air and you won't
get hurt—maybe.”

Markwith didn’t like the way the

. Man said “maybe;” didn’t like the way .
both of the. thugs were holding their
fingers tightly on the triggers. For a
second he didn’t breathe. Any moment
he expected.a slug to rip into him.

Everything had happened swiftly,

Would dhe leed of

B!

unexpectedly. The two men—dapper-
looking strangers—had walked into the
store, bought a pack of cigarettes and

Stepped back from the counter as if

they meant to leave the place. And
then, suddenly, both of them were
holding revolvers. :

“Stretch higher!” one of. the
thugs commanded. “Don’t let me see

you bend your elbow or it’ll be too bad .

for both of you!” ;

his partner covered the store
employes the other gunman
walked to the cash register,.containing
the receipts of a heavy Saturday night

business. He stopped when he was a few .

feet away from the till and wheeled
‘around toward the front door. Some-
one was coming in. :

The door swung open and a talJ, hat-

Detective Lieutenant Lewis Roberts: Although he was unarmed and
off duty, he didn't hesitate to tackle the gunmen who murdered him

haw LNoaL 3

oe

~
i
a

we


Detective David Phillips: The
fact that the killers weren't
amateurs was-established when
he couldn't find fingerprints

less man stepped in. Markwith recog-
nized him at once. The man was De-
tective Lieutenant Lewis Roberts, head
of the Scranton, Pennsylvania, Bureau
of Criminal Identification, whose home
was across the street from the store.
Markwith wanted to cry out to him,
to tell him what was happening—to
varn him. But Roberts didn’t need any-
mne to inform him that he had butted
into the heist. He had taken one step
‘oward the counter, then stopped sud-
jenly as if he had walked into a wall.
The sight of Markwith and Croop, with
heir arms upstretched, the one gun-
nan with his gun pointed directly at
‘he store employes and the other: gun-
nan frozen into immobility only a few

‘eet from the cash ‘register, told the —

letective all he needed to know.

[B= silence was so thick and heavy
that Markwith thought that the
wip-hammer pounding of his heart
sould be heard by everyone in the store.
Nhat would the detective do?

The answer was not long in coming.

Roberts lunged forward. Off duty and
herefore unarmed, he lowered his mas-
ive shoulders, threw himself into a
live against the nearest heister. Both
nen went down in a struggling, kicking
‘eap. The detective raised his fist to
mash it down on the gunman, but
t that moment the other thug had run
ver to him,

The second heister slammed the butt
f his revolver down on the detective’s
‘ead. Blood poured across Robert’s
ace, flowed into his eyes. Half-blind,
he detective coiled his arms around
at second thug’s-legs and pulled him
> the floor.

Markwith and Croop then joined in
he melee. ;

And then came a single shot.

The two gunmen scrambled to their
2et and Markwith and Croop raised
xemselves slowly. Only Roberts re-
rained on the floor. A blotch of blood
1owed on the detective’s shirt-front,
wreading by the seconds,

Backing out of the store, the thugs
2pt Markwith and Croop covered with
1eir guns. Then they spun around and
ished through the door.

Croop ran to the front of the store
ist as an automobile shot away from
1e building. Before the clerk could
»tain the license number the car dis-
ypeared around the corner.

Markwith ran to the phone:and call-
{ Police Headquarters while Croop
ied to comfort the wounded detective.
‘ithin minutes the wail of sirens her-

8

alded the arrival of the Hahnemann
Hospital ambulance and a squad car
bearing City Detectives George Don-
aldson and William Stumm.

“Who did it, Lew?” Donaldson ask-
ed softly, kneeling beside Roberts.

Roberts’ eyes fluttered and he made
an effort to A gurgling sound
came from his lips as half-formed
words were lost in his struggle for
breath. .Thé ambulance doctor exam-
ined him quickly, arose and whispered
to the detectives.

“A heavy slug in the abdomen. Only
one chance in a thousand. Better not
‘try to talk with him now.”

The two detectives watched silently
while Roberts was being transferred
to the ambulance. ;

After the ambulance had gone, Don-
aldson turned to Markwith and Croop.
“Tell us what happened. Quick now!”

“They came in about quarter to ten,
two of them. One bought cigarettes
and then they pulled guns. Just then
Roberts walked in. He must have
known he didn’t have a chance without
his gun but he tackled them without
hesitation.” ; ‘

pb sahara you tell which one fired the
shot?” ’
“Sure. It was the thin guy with the
wavy hair. He was wearing a tan cam-
el-hair topcoat. He looked about
twenty-four. I had a good look at him.
He poked his gun into Roberts’ stomach
and blazed away. Then it was all over.
The last thing Roberts did was to ask
me to try to remember the faces of

Detective George Donaldson
(left}: He was one of the first
officials to reach the death-store

Paul Bader: He owned a green
coupe, with nickel accessories,
that interested the investigators

those men so I could help the police.”

“What about the other guy?”

“He was taller and better looking
than the one who did the shooting.
Had on a tan trench coat. Both were
about the same age. They had no hats
when they came in the store. Maybe
they left them in their car.”

“I saw the car,” Croop said. “They
had it parked in front of the store. A
green coupe, sport model, with nickel-
plated horns and lots of extras.”

4 AIT a minute,” Donaldson told
them. “I want to give this much
to Headquarters.” ‘

He put a call through to Captain of
Detectives Jack Phillips who sent out
a five-State teletype alarm covering
the description of the bandits and their
getaway car. Phillips assigned every
available detective to the investigation
and ordered all exits from the city
covered by officers.

All the machinery of a major in-
vestigation was set. in motion by Cap-
tain Phillips. From one precinct to an-
other word was fiashed that Lieuten-

*

The chain grocery gens where the
police officer was fatally wounded
while frustrating two heist-men

ant Roberts, a veteran member of the
department, had been wounded seri-
ously while frustrating a holdup.

Roberts’ assistant in the Identifica-
tion Bureau, Detective David Phillips,
sped to the scene of the shooting.

When he got to the store, Donaldson
hurried over to him.

“Just picked these up, Dave. They
were probably dropped by the man wh;
shot Roberts.”

Donaldson handed Phillips five
caliber bullets which he had found.

Phillips placed the bullets in an en-
velope. Then he walked over to the
cash register and inspected it closely.
After he “dusted” it, he said, ‘Phe
punks didn’t leave any prints here.”

sd D) IDN’T think you would find any,”
Markwith told him. “The fellow
was just about to open the register
when Roberts walked in. They ran out
coe the shooting and didn’t get a
cent.”

Detectives George Green and Thomas
Williams. who were scouring the neigh-
borhood for possible witnesses, brought


swollen, reahinas heumatic
pints. There is: nothing #0 quickly:
Fae feet, ee:

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ad co supply. you, But be sure ou

New | Protesion te 3 ded to!
“| Faculty—Alumni to Meet;

= Clarion.’ Pa! en | eet F
boxes: of. 460 each hace béen’ roads |
upto be sent ovts free. to rural
achools: “Fifteen libtaries are now |
pbeing used’ in the. ‘circulating. aes
‘partmerit “ot the Clarion Normal.
p Pnese achoolg are now -on.
i tet for. Hbrariea: © “Hawthorne, :
Maple: Grore. “MU ‘Creek. Pike. ;
‘Plchory | Ridge,:. Frazier. Blairs
Corners, ‘Preecottville; -Yern: Lime+
= Waller ‘Wateon,- “Basi
Sprang ‘Muefner.
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White, Conife (ie fereon county).
~ Preots x tend talent from
WwW, a.” en:
Wheeling. -W. | He will be fom of
men and will do sor..: clase roc.a |
work. Mr; Caldwelf-ia:1 A agony
of: Muakingum Card -Obto, and]
hes: had ferabdie

.} Robe

: accused: at: the (nal,
-} brought: herefroni an Indjana city.

had threatened © the. He: af Law-|

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a escape: from. the local jaile one of
them. invelving the nanufacture of

school work. >.

ze hours. A. scat faye afterwards the

i Jim Tawtences you. have Pwr
Fred. me for the fast time, Robert
‘Feried. and with that outery, he sped

Drought > : out tha

ees
along with his’ wife, and that she]
had returned here to the home of.
er parents. He followed her hérer:

»Wabash, Ind and while ont
+ the: ‘porch, held-a revolver close to

the person cf James ‘Lawrence—so
‘Cloge that when the shot was fired
$- Lichter the clothes of: Lawrence.

Sip tt dec prdy ed: almost im Soietes
is  ¢ ; Was

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the
but Targets
through the testimony. afr Theses

away nto; the: Oarkness:-of
S anapdy 5

Bele. jefense: wag, ‘urged hy.

Where he had beey and had talked. |
twas. ‘conclusively: shown: that he

rence, had come. to: Franktin in’

poseenaion of a loaded ‘revolver and |.

‘ua armed, sote to the: house: ut-
‘tereing threats {to neighbors that
he wes gaing” there: fo. start: trouble.
Hig vatory: cne the witness stand
thar he had ‘been’ a. member of the
AMmetrican: ‘Expeditionary: “forces in
France was investigated hy local
individuals wid were usable to find
Any corroboration’ of: Jt tu the. Wae
denartment. records...
Two attempts of: ihe. prisoner” to.

‘a crude impelement intended. ‘as
Roberts efterwards confessed, gta
weapon with. which’ fo. assault
Sheriff. Yoorhice, took. place before
the trial: After a dramatic day in
‘court; the defendant. was found
xullty of murder in the first degree,

the jury. coming in tate in: ths “eres '

after having: been out a. few

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morrow as planned but: might not : th mepaee for the:

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tore the house naval com mittee and eee
explain: his part in connection: {with é
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remove: all: other’ officials’-and time: at Hockview. Resotiatonn (: Ao es
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| crime and ‘subsequent ‘events. ihat artificial: and: ‘unwarranted

y declined, to started with the. killing of James} not based onthe aw of wapply:

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URSA ea Sa

“Keep your eye on the Infantry—the dough-
boy does it!” He’s in there lugging, plugying,
slugging every minute.

Iv’s A MATTER OF SIMPLE ARITHMETIC, this
“Eveready” flashlight battery shortage! The
demands of the Services and war industries

“Save your powder until you see the whites of their eyes!”
your p Yy

FRESH BATTERIES LAST
LONGER ... Look for

the date line ——_—_»

The word “Eveready” is a registered trade-mark
of National Carbon Company, Inc.

subtracted from what we
make leave an awlully
small supply for civil-
ians. These important
users are served first —
and take nearly al] we
can make.

TRADE-MARK

prog gree  Pe

PS SRE AL

The sleuths had to admit to themselves
that Mike wasn't a bad judge of character,
for they held the same opinion about
DeLucca.

The two “naive” Pinkertons went again
to the sporting goods store where the Win-
chester rifle that might have figured in the
murders had been sold some time previ-
ousiy. The proprietor of the place now
recalled that the two Italians who had pur-
chased the weapon had been accompanied
by a third man. And once again the in-
vestigators heard the description of the
elusive pale Irishman!

Rum-Blossom went to the detectives one
day and said he was leaving for Pough-
keepsie “to have a good time, and maybe
come back with a clue.” He added that he
was being accompanied by his good friend,
the newcomer, DeLucca.

Ten days later, he and DeLucca got off
a train from Poughkeepsie at Broad Street
Station in Philadelphia. They were on their
way to Wilmington, Delaware, where De-
Lucca said his father was a “big man”
and would give Mike a fine job. But as
the two men walked along the platform, to-
ward the station proper, there to wait for
the Wilmington train, E. J. Dougherty,
assistant superintendent of the Philadel-
phia Pinkerton office, placed Rum-Blossom
Mike under arrest for the murders of Mc-
Clure and Flanagan.

Mike wanted to know how all this had
come about. He was told that his good
friend—Guiseppi DeLucca—was in reality
F. P. Dimaio, one of the shrewdest of Pink-
erton operatives, for whom the “open” in-
vestigators had served as a cover.

The suspect was taken to the office of
Pinkerton Superintendent R. J. Linden, a
kindly man with a knack of getting con-
fessions from prisoners. “Mike,” said Lin-
den, “before you talk, I'll tell you a few
things, and let you know just why you are

under arrest.”

Linden thereupon painted the following
picture of deduction:

Mike had been clever—but not clever
enough—in trying to throw suspicion away
from himself in leading the posse that had
discovered the crime. ‘“We know,” said
Linden, ‘‘that it would have been possible
for you to have absented yourself from a
big construction job, without being noticed,
long enough to have participated in the
murders and then to have returned to work.
You were friendly with the slain men; and
therefore you or anyone with you would
not have aroused their suspicions.”

Then, when Mike had made his remark-
able deductions. about how the crime had
been committed by three men, he had
immediately incriminated: himself in the
eyes of the investigators. A man of Mike's
mentality could have come by such knowl-
edge only through participation.

When Mike had taken DeLucca, his
newly found friend, to Poughkeepsie, he
had gone to the house on Clinton Street
where one of the murder bills had shown
up previously. And that had clinched the
case against the ‘‘clever” murderer. While
Mike had been in another room, Detective
Dimaio had questioned the proprietress
of the place, and she had disclosed what had
been suspected all along—that the char-
acter of the tall, pale Irishman with the
red mustache had been fictitious, and a
product of Mike’s imagination. She now
admitted to Detective Dimaio that she had
given this description upon instructions
from Mike.

“No, Mike,” said Linden, “that story of
the pale man was too pat to be true. The
bartender in Wilkes-Barre who got an-
other $50 bill and who told the same false
tale, and the proprietor of the sporting
goods store, where you, and the missing
Villella and Bevevino purchased the Win-

chester rifle—now admit to our men that
they gave fake descriptions because you
threatened to kill them if they didn’t. We
might have believed that story of the pale
man, Mike—only you overdid it. You had
too many people tell it.”

Linden looked at the notes that were
guiding his talk. “The cloak maker here
in Philadelphia has informed us that you
threatened him, too—you and the two men
who helped you in this murder. We know
also why you went to our investigators
and turned in the names of your accom-
plices. You got sore at them because they
double-crossed you by going to Italy with
the bulk of the money.”

That was all Linden had to say—but it
was plenty. Mike was sweating. He stared
at the floor for several minutes, then looked
up at Linden and said: “You got it all
right, mister; that’s just how it happened.
I killed McClure, and Villella killed Flan-
agan with that shotgun that was found,
and Bevevino killed the horse with the rifle.
then we got the money. I was goin’ to go
to Italy with ’em—but they run out on me.
I only got a few hundred dollars.”

Mike promised to take the investigators
back to Wilkes-Barre and show them the
hiding place of the knife with the nick in
it, the Winchester rifle that had felled the
horse, and the revolver he himself had
used—evidence of the most clinching sort.

Rum-Blossom was convicted of the mur-
ders, and executed on the scaffold in June
of the year following the crime. Because
of Italian law, subjects of that country could
not be extradited. However, both Bevevino
and Villella were located in Italy and ap-
prehended. Evidence of the Wilkes-Barre
murders was taken by the Italian Consul
in Philadelphia, and forwarded to the home
country. There Villella was sentenced to
twenty years imprisonment, and Bevevino
to life.

neg ety ee

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