Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-15
VENGEANCE THOUGHT
TO BE MOTIVE FOR
MURDER OF CARLSON
STUDY OF CRIME WEAkENS
ROBBERY THEORY
Believed That Only One Man Was
involved in the Shooting and
That He Lay in Wait
for Victim
tContinued from Page one'

/
plainly. He seemed to me to be about
% years old, of medium build, weigh
ing possibly 1870 or 1875 pounds. He wore
a cap and a gray-b brown suit of
clothes He had around his neck a
white handkerchief but he wore no
mask. | doubt if | would be able 10
recognize the man if l CHANGED TO
meet him, unless it was under the
same circumstances as those surround
ing the shooting. The place where the
shooting took place was almost as light
as day from the are light at the cor
ner.
"Neither man seemed to know of our
/ presence If the man who did the
shooting did see us he cared nothing
about it. If the other man saw us
and was being held up he made no
outcry to us before or after he was
/ shot. | cannot, of course, say whether
it was straight out-and-out murder
or n holdup. II it was a holdup, l be-
/ lieve the man held up would have
/ called to us and the footpad would
/ have run when he heard US approach
| ing or saw us go by. We were within
| a few feet of him, and although we
were going pretty fast, we could be
| seen easily. 1t seems strange to me
| that a holdup would operate in the
rays of an arc light"
Robbery Theory Weakened
/ Deeper and deeper grows the mys-
! terry surrounding the shooting. The
police still incline to the belief that 1t
was a plain holdup, although some
members of the detective force and
some attaches of the University sub
station believe that robbery was not
| the motive for the shooting, but tnat
vengeance was. Some say the muir
derer hunted Carlson down and muir
dered him in cold blood.
When Carlson was found his pock-
| cts were not touched. He had a few
| dollars in his trousers, but his clothing
| gave no evidences of having been
ritied
pay, November ?. His sister declares
| he was fond of gambling. This ac-
counts for the small amount found in
| his clothing. He probably gambled
most of it away soon after being paid,
as that was his usual habit.
| 1t has been supposed that at least
/ three men were involved in the crime.
According to Mr.. Kupfer, the suppo-
| sition is absolutely erroneous. But
one man was seen near Carlson before,
during and after the shooting. Had
! there been more than one Kupfer or
! Davey certainly would have seen them.
| Some of those living in the vicinity
declare that one man ran east and
! two men ran west on Twenty third.
| Had this been the case Kupfer and
| DaVey would have seen them, for they
would have been compelled to run
/ alongside of the auto in which sat
Davey and Kupfer or in the light on
the other side of the street, thus ex-
! posing themselves to full view. But
one man ran east on Twenty-third.
Vengeance Motive for Crime
1t is more than probable that Davey,
who jumped from the auto to recover
/ the lost package and then ran back to
| it, was mistaken for one of those sup
posed to have been involved in the
crime. Kupfer's remarks, Look out,
there is another shot in that gun" "
may be what the neighbors heard and
misnterpreted.
Robbery evidently was not the mo-
| tive of the crime, according to some
members of the police force and others
/ who have been conducting a quiet in
vestigation of the mystery. Had Carl
sons assistant been a highwayman of
! any experience he would never have
/ shot more than twice, if at all. He
certainly would not have waited to see
his man fall to the ground and then,
nearly thirty seconds later, have
poured two more bullets into the pros
| trate body.
If, on the other hand, robbery were
the motive, the assailant would have
hurriedly rifled Carlson's pockets. This
| was not done. Policeman w. S. Clai-
bourne the first officer on the scene,
who arrived not more than thirty Sec
onds after the fourth shot, declares
/ that Carlson's pockets We're untouched.
! The policeman's explanation of the
| condition of the body seems to explode
| the robbery theory.
/ Footprints found in the soft, wet
earth between the Marlborough livery
stables and the little shoemaker shop
Immediately west of the stable tell
mutely where the murderer hid until
/ his prey came along. 1t is from these
/ footprints that the size of the shoes
worn by the assailant was learned.
Two Affairs Connected
! Did the man who shot and killed
/ Carlson mistake Walter b. Elms, man
! ager of the crockery department of the
| Broadway department store, for carl
| son and therefore fire several shots at
| him, or was Films held up? are ques-
| tions being asktd on all sides. Some
! advance the theory that Elms' tden-
( tity was mistaken, and because he was
/ in. that same general vicinity where
/ Carlson was shot was made the target
! for the assailants bullets. Elms was
| asked no questions. When he started
! to run shots rang out. The man who
| did the shooting wore no mask and IN
| a general way answers the description
/ of Carlsons murderer There may be
no connection between the two as
/ saults, but the police believe there is.
/ The hypothetical account Of the
movements of Carlson'S assassin is as
| follows:
| He had definite knowledge of the fact
| that Carlson was to visit the nome OF
| Rudolph Hammer, $40 West twenty
| second street The murderer probably
| knew approximately what time Carl
| son started home. AS soon as Carlson
! started. the assassin decided to inter-
! cept him at some point along the road.
| BY mistake the assassin fired at Elms,
! and when he learned of his mistake
| darted back and forth until he found
! a place where he knew Carlson would
pass. This happened to be between the
| shoe shop and the Marlborough stables
( on West TWenty-third
Assassin Lies in Wait
Here the assassin waited until he
heard Carlson approach. Then he
| stepped out, held d short conversation
with him, probably demanding that
! Carlson carry out some particular
pledge When the request was refused,
! the first two shots were fired. Then
! leaning over Carlsons body he put the
| last two shots in the PROSTATE body in
| a fit of insane anger and as a last mark
| OF vengeance.
The assassin did not run fast from
the scene of the shooting, according to
several persons. <upfer says this, and
his statement is borne out by that OF
Miss Barbara Beacher, 925 West Twen-
ty-third street. She was one of the