Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-14
POLICE ALL At SEA
Baltimore Acid ThroWer Com
pIeteIy Battles Them.
LITTLE GIRLS HIS VICTIMS
Miss Helen Smith Describes Supposed
Guilty Man in Detail.
TALL AND HAS BLACK HAIR
Had a Long, Thin Face and Was
Fairly Well Dressed When
She Saw Him.
LITTLE GIRLS HIS VICTIMS
TALL AND HAS BLACK HAIR

| BALTIMORE. January 14.-Never in the
| history Of Baltimore has the police de-
partment been so thoroughly outwitted
| as during the last few months, when
some perverted mind has found pleasure
| in throwing muriatic acid on the clothing
| of fully thirty young girls. To the police
| he Is known as Jack the Vitriol
Thrower.'
Jack the Nitriol Thrower" is just as
much I; person of mystery today as was
Jack the Ripper" to the 'gumshoe men
| Of Scotland Yard. AS a matter of fact, a
| woman may be doing the work Marshal
| Farnan admitted he thought at one time
| that some fresh youngster who worked
| in a chemical labora -ory was throwing
the acid. AS no other method can be adj
vanced, and as other Indications strength
| en- the belief. it is the general opinion
| that the acid thrower is a full -grown
man.
The police have nothing except theo-
| rieS. and few enough of those. for they
have had no help wocEh speaking of from
| the victims. In the majority of cases the
| victims knew nothing about the acid
! until their attention was called to it.
Little Girls Legs Burned.
| At times the acid mas touched the skin,
| for the acid thrower Eas always selected
young girls from ten TO sixteen years DID,
and some of the fluid struck their legs
after 1t had made Its way through the
stockings. Even in such cases the victim
probably did not feel the pain at once.
and the throWer had an opportunity to
get far enough away to avoid suspicion.
Many descriptions have been given of
the supposed vitriol thrower. because
children who were victims of his peculiar
opposite direction. No one has actually
seen the man, woman. child what
ever the Jack may be, in the act of
squirting acid on them. The only point
| in the descriptions given by a few vic
! tins is that two three tally with re-
| gard to the age of a man whom they sus-
| pect.
OF the victims. Miss Helen Smith, fourteen
years old, 403 North Wolfe street feels
more confident that she actually knows
| the vitriol-thrower than any. She is an in
| telligent young girl and declares she no
| ticed a man who followed her last Sunday
| afternoon, when acid was thrown heI
| skirt and shoes. From the marks of the
| acid all the clothing exhibited, It has
| been seen clearly that he uses syringe
| 1t is that point in the statement of Miss
| Smith which makes her story so much
| stronger than others.
Miss Smiths Story.
Miss Smith said she was walking along
broadway near street, ABOUT
| p M, when she noticed a man standing on
| the corner. He looked at her in way that
caused her to take a good look ct him. She
was walking with girl friend, and the pair
thought nothing Of the occurrence when the
! man passed them. They were surprised
| when they found him directly behind them
again a few minutes later
While the young girls were not alarmed
| they thought the actions Of the man were
| strange and determined to watch him
| Hardly had they learned of his presence
| when he passed them for the second time
within block. That caused Miss Smith to
scrutfnize the man more closely than be-
| fore. She feels she could identify him ii
| she met him again.
| He is tall. she said with heavy suit
| of very black hair The hair is well trim
| med and his face is clean-shaven His
| features are rather large the nose being
| long and thin. There is nothing unusual
| about his eyes, eyebrows or ears, and, so
| far as l can remember, he had no scars on
| his face which was long and thin.
While he was fairly well built. 1 would
not say he was heavy. 1 believe he weighed
somewhere in the neighborhood OF 1aN
pounds His clothes were dark, and while
| they were not fine, they were OF shabby.
| The coat was of dark material, the trousers
dark checked stuff. his shoes black and
| he wore black derby hat. His collar was
| of the rundown pattern and his tie was Of
dark color.
OlO"ly, " I'LL AOAS SIAAuSo
HE walked along, swaying in slow.
deliberate manner; but he covered ground
| rapidly, for he took long strides. Most OF
the time his head was bowed, and he
seemed to avoid my eyes When he passed
us the second time he walked more rapidly
than before, but he did not Straighten up.
When he disappeared l thought nothing
more of him, for l did not discover the
acid on my dress until 1 reached my home.
His suspicious actions attracted my at
tention, and as soon as found the acid his
face came into my mind. He seemed nerv-
Gus and continually rubbed his hands to-
gether. That caused me to ScrutlniZe his
hands closely, and there l found the UNI
usual thing His hands were extremely
dirty. They were almost black, and 1t
struck me as being strange, for his pale
face was extremely clean.
! Had Shiny Object in Hand.
"Then as l watched l saw he was hold
| ing something in one hand. 1t was a shiny
| object. which 1 took from the one oppor-
tunity had to see 1t to be a knife. At first
| l thought he might be trying to clean his
! fngernails, but later 1 saw he was not
| There is every reason to believe that
| the shiny object which Miss Smith saw in
| the hands of the man was the syringe.
! MARSHAL Farnan is inclined to believe the
| man does not carry the syringe in his hand
| when he uses it, but thinks he thrusts his
hands i'll his pockets and does the work
! through a slit in the lining. Not only
| would such a move be unobserved, but a
| man with his hands in his pockets would
| be the last suspected by victim ignorant
| of the ways of criminal.
! Marshal Farnan has given orders that
every man in the department keep his eyes
| OPEN for the man. He has assigned every
| member of the detective department to be
/ on the lookout Most all criminals are cap
tured by their mistakes or their boldness
Becoming Bolder.
| At first the vitriol-thrower worked only
| about dusk-probably when he was return
| ing from work. Then his operations were
confined almost entirely to the northeastern
section of the city. AS he met with Success
| he became holder and worked his way into
/ the eastern district There he managed to
elude the police. Finally he decided that the
| shopping district would prove a more fertile
| field and he found several victims on Lex
| ington street
I'D to that time Jack had attacked none
| but children. Only one or two boys suffered.
| but on Lexington street two young women
| tod victims