Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-06
DEATH MENACE
OF ASSASSIN
FORMER MAYOR WORKMAN
ATTEMPTS CAPTURE
WARREN WILSON MISSES NOTE
BY BEING IN EUROPE
E. w. Barrett, Third Man Placed
Under Ban, Admits Receiving
Strange Letter Written
in German
fcnntinned from Page one,


around me any more and tries any
blackmailing games they will get cold
lead instead of iron-and the lead won
be in a sack, either" he remarked. Il
shall be on my guard against cranks
and from now on will be carefully
watched for fear that some fools may
think that they can force me to give
up money to save having the lives of
the members of my family put in jeop-
ardy.'
After this outburst, no further admis-
sions could be obtained from Uncle
Billy" and he contented himself by
saying that the facts had been kept
from the newspapers in order to give
the police an opportunity to locate the
writer of the threatening letters.
Won't Be Blackmailed
Il won't be blackmailed, but | would
give $500 right this minute to know the
man who sent me the letter" was his
closing statement.
When seen al his hamc, r. w. Bar
rett at first refused to acknowledge
that he knew of any threatening let
tells which had been sent but, in the
face of facts, he finally admitted that
he had received a strange letter in
German which he had turned over to
police detectives and was drawn into
a statement that he did not like to
let the matter become public as there
was a possible chance that If the
sender of it was a desperate or fren-
zied person, he might be bold enough
to call for a decoy package on Aug
ust 9. This is the final day allowed
Barrett i'm which to place his money
at the hiding place.
"If he came then he might get cap
tured. for from now on all of the sur
rounding country will be scanned in
an attempt TO locate the man." said
Barrett.
Although it was pointed out that no
one but an idiot would again attempt
to get any money from the hiding
place. knowing that it was watched
and after having been duped with a bag
of iron washers, and if it was an idiot
he would forget to return, nevertheless
Mr. Barrett became guarded in his
utterances and said that he had placed
himself entirely in the hands of the
police who held all the information
necessary and would take steps to
guard the safety of himself and family.
Wilson Now in Europe
Warren Wilson, is at present in
Europe and-sthe sender of the letter
to his home seemed not to be aware
of this fact. However, the mysterious
communication pushed under his door
was found by a servant who mt de in
quiries about it and the police were
informed.
The. whole letter is boodthirsty in
it's contents and threatens the intend
ed victims in a way which is most
calculated to strike terror to a mans
heart-namely, the assassination Of
members of his family. To this is added
the menace of dynamite.
The detectives employed in tracing
the sender of the demands for money
believe that It is another "black hand"
plot of the kind recently attempted in
New York and Chicago and the con-
struction and language in which the
letter is couched are identical with
that used by the murderers of the
wealthy Armenian rug merchant who
was assasinated in New York in 1907.
One BIackmaler a Linguist
One of the most desperate of no.
torious blackmailers who has ever
been found since he left Chicago IN
1908. is Allessandro Siemenaro, a well
known linguist, who employed several
languages in the sending of his threat
ening letters and thus baffled the po-
lice. Writing in Danish or German was
his forte and the detectives naturally
sought for a person Of Teutonic cast
of countenance instead of the real
offender who was short, swarthy and
a well defined Latin.
1t may be possible that the black
mailing "black hand" gangs which
have been operating recently in the
cities of Chicago and New York have
sought new fields in Los Angeles and
the skulking fiends who prowl at night
and use assassination, poison, dyna
mite and kidnapping a their means
of obtaining money from the timid
may have essayed operations recent
~ on the Pacific coast, where they are
no LIN