Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-10-09
CLUE TO MURDERER
People Found Who Saw Him Take Board
with Which (rime is Committed,
POSITIVE PARTY WAS A coloRtD MAN
Dragnst Brought Into RsquisitiOn in Hopes
Of Landing Tim.
POLICE FORCE ALL BUSY ON THE CASE
Several Suspects Arrested During the
Course OF the Lay,
,Llcr FORCE ALL BUSY ON THE CASE
ALL OF THEM sUos oJtNrlY RELEASED
InnumerabIe Tips Hun Down, but PIa,
Out Before being Trailed Far
with Exception OF One Now
Being Followed.

At late hour last night the police had
no information which they could even hope
would lead to the discovery OF the Identity
of Josephine Rummehart'S slayer. They
were completely in the dark.
One important tnIng Is now established
in the minds Of the officers. and 1t is that
the murderer black man. Chet
Donahuc says he has two reliable witnesses.
man and his wife. who will testify 10
that.
These two were walking along Farnam
street the sidewalk by the vacant lot
where the brute got his club. They
the man rise up from STOPPING posture
with club In his hand and walk away.
They were absolutely positive he
negro because he was not more than ten
or fifteen feet away from them and they
could see his face by the light which came
| from the arc lamp az Twenty-hfth and
Farnam This was about 10 O'Clock, they
! said.
/ The description these people gave OF the
face. build and clothing of the negro. Cap
tain Dunn said, could only be classed as
! fair He said they could hardly hope to
make any arrests from the description.
| The police know the man who gave this
! information to be responsible citizen. and
| they place the utmost trust in the relia-
bllity Of his statements and those of his
wife. Neither Chief Donahue nor his de-
/ tectives will at present divulge the names
os these witnesses.
| Running Down Many stories.
The whole force of detectives, the night
patromcn and in addition six patrolmen
in citizens clothes worked on one clue or
another the greater part of the night
Most of their time was spent in runninE
[ to earth and exploding stories which have
| oeen told by excited people. one about n
negro being chased by a bull dog, another
about a man being seen washing in Saddle
creek early Sunday morning. and many
similar tales.
| Chief Donahuo was gone from O'Clock
I in the afternoon until o'clock at night
on a trip to the grading camp on the Lane
cutoff nine miles southwest of Omaha
where many negroes are at work. The
foremen of the grading camp accounted
for the whereabouts of all OF their men
Saturday night.
As soon. the chief came back to the
city he held a ffteen-fninute conference
with Captain Dunn. Shortly after he made
the statement that he had clue. shortly
after Capain Dunn said the mystery was
still the most baffiing one that had ever
come into his experience.
Several men were arrested yesterday aft
as suspicious characters. Some of them
were white and some were black.
Frank l.. Delaware of Ill South Twenty
, seventh street, said he negro Sat
urday night defending himself from one
of j. II. Hanks bull terriers In the rear
of Hanks house at 119 South Twenty
seventh street He was hghting the dog
with club Chief Of Detectives SavaGr
Investigated this story and, he says. Del
aware did not get very close to the man
and is not sure whether he was black or
| white.
street Car Mans story.
Among the clues of the more reliable
ture which have been furnished the police
regarding the Identity OF the murderer IL
one given by a street car conductor on the
South Omaha line, and which. in the alb
Uence of any information to prove Il alb
solutely false will be treated valuable
and an attempt made to run It down.
The car which. on its southbound trip,
reaches downtown at 1920 q. M, took
aboard a very dark complexioned white
man at that time. His hands and cloth
ing were covered with blood to such
extent that he tried to remove some OF II
from his hands with a handkerchief. and
the conductor was impelled TO remark
about his condition. The man explained he
had been engaged in a fight with. man
who hit him with brick. but the con-
ductor noticed particularly that he could
see no marks or cuts.
At Twenty-sixth and q streets. I'm South
Omaha. the strange passenger acted Pc
culiarly and talked about how he had often
been arrested. and seemed to he under the
influence Of some dope The car remained
stationary for sveral moments and I'm
! short time a police officer in uniform
boarded the car, whereupon the fellow
jumped hastily to the street and ran swiftly
toward the viaduct. BY the time the con-
ductor had called the policeman's atteu-
tion TO him he had disappeared over the
structure.
While this man was described as being
white. he was 80 dark that he might be
taken for negro II seen in the dark. and
II is therefore possible he may be the per-
son seen breaking OF stick at Twenty
nth and Farnam streets. described as a
negro
First Arrests FruitIess.
The first arrests in connection with the
case were made Monday afternoon, when
two negroes. giving the names OF Brad Ro-
land Tracy, Tenn, and Sam Myers Poplar
Bluffs No. were taken into custody on the
streets The fact that they were southern
negroes gave the police the Idea that they
might have come from the grading camp
and this led to the visit of Chief Donahus
20 the camp later In the afternoon.
= John Kinzer. employe OF RuSselFs
, saloon. Thirteenth and Dodge streets. was
arrested also. but he was eSonerate4
from all suspicion and released Kizer
was a rejected suitor for the hand ot
Miss Rummelhart The facts were de
. veloped that the woman had had nothing
TO do with him for long time. His
whereabouts Saturday night were also Ae-
| counted for.
Monday morning Chief Dopahue Was
present at the roll can OF the officers hi
the city Jail and gave explicit INSTRUCTIONS
that any clue OF any description wh;eh he
q officers might obtain should b. telephonsl
i 10 him at onoe and full investieaiion
D would he made This order was productive
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