The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1908-11-27
LAPE1ELLO IS IN
The Tolls AGAIN
CHECKS or MURDERED
ITALIAN.
VOUCHERS ARE FOUND
Northern Pacific Make Discovery
cashed at Billings store-Three
Held 40 MISUNDERSTANDING Man
Trembies When Questioned.

Dominick Lapetello, an, Italian, sus.
pected OF being the murderer of Fran.
cisco Cea, q fellow c~ountryman, on
a lonely road, near Billings on the
night Of October 2sth, is again in the
; clutches of the law.
He was arrested yesterday while at
work in the coal chutes of the North.
ern Pacific railway at Livingston, and
was brought to the city by Chief OF
Police Talgo Of the Billings police de.
pertinent.
Frank Turkes and Joe Barbera, pals
of the suspected murderer and Fay
Robinson, a woman of the half world,
are also being held by the OFFICERS.
1t is believed that the mystery can
be cleared up If the clues now in the
hands Of the local officers can be fol
lowed.
The most damaging evidence
against Lapetello, is that he cashed
checks which the dead man had in
his possession when last seen, at a
local clothing store. The cashier and
two clerks Of the store yesterday posi-.
lively identified Lapetello as the man
who cashed the checks. A suit Of
clothing which Lapetello had bought
at the time the checks were cashed,
is still in his possession and during
the time he was being held by the
police after the murder, Barbera had
the suit in his possession and was
trying to pawn it to get money to hire
a lawyer to defend Lapetello.
Had the police been able to locate
the missing checks at the time that
Lapetello was first arrested, he would
have been held, but the merchant did
not notice his checks and they went
back to the Northern Pacific railway,
before it was discovered that Cea's
checks had been turned into money
here in Billings. Paymaster A. q.
Clark of the Northern Pacific Rail-
way, notified the police by wire of
the checks turning up, and wired the
endorsements IN them. This was two
days ago and the police 'got busy"
Lapetello, who had been ordered to
leave the town when released was To-
Gated at the coal chutes at Livingston,
by means Of a letter written to a
Billings man.
At the time that Lapetello was first
arrested and question about the killing
of Cea, he trembled and grew ashen
white and protested his innocence and
an entire ignorance of the movements
of Cea and the whole matter. His ac-
lions were such that the police were
certain that he knew more Of the
case, and they e In fact certain
of his connection with the crime, but
there were no clews to work on.
When the checks showed up in the
offices Of the Northern Pacific, and It
was found that Lapetello was the man
who had cashed them, 1t was a strong
circumstantial point for his convic-
ton.
At the time Of the murder, a secret
service man from the United States
government was In the city and gave
it as his opinion that the case sayored
of the Black Hand, and the officers
are of the belief that If the entire
mystery is cleared, it will be shown
that that society had a hand in the
coldblooded murder OF, Cea.
Lapetello and the other witnesses
in the case are being held in sepa-
rate cells at the county jail and they
will be subjected to a severe sweat
ing in the hope that someone will
break down and tell what they know.