Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-09-10

dence Yet Found to Show That Har
rs Had Revolver On Him the
Night He Was Killed.
Washington, Sept $50 battling
have proven the incidents connected
with the death of Noryal T. Harris
that the Police Department ordered
Detective Burlingame, of the Central
Office, to assist Detective Weldon in
unraveling dhe problem of whether
Harris committed suicide or was kill
ed by midnight assassin.
The more these detectives :nvesti.
gate the strange death OF the street
inspector the more complicated be-
comes the entire affair and its ramifi.
cations. An increasing number of
clues indicates that it may require
several days yet to run down all of
them.
In addition 10 the Central Office de-
tectives named, officers of the Fourth
precinct, in which the tragedy occur
red a week ago are also working up
on the mystery under the personal SUI
pervision of Major Richard Sylvester,
chief of police, who ordered the in
vestigation reopened.
The possibility that pressure may
be brought by the police to cause the
holding of belated inquest is late
development. When Harris body was
first found, with a bullet hole in the
back of the head, q jury was sworn in
over the body, but it was never sub
sequently called together by the Cor
oner, who issued a certificate of sui
eide following a short invest cation
by the police.
In the belief that the empty holster
found upon the body OF Harris might
offer some hitherto undiscovered clue,
the Central Office men decided to re-
gain this holster from the relatives OF
Harris, who have had possession of it
since shortly after his death.
No direct evidence has yet been
found to show that Harris had his
gun upon the night of the shooting.
| The nearest approach to a confirma-
tion of this theory has been that a
gun, afterward said to be Harris, was
pawned the morning after the dead
body was found. The negro who pawn
ed this gun has not been located.
! 1t was learned yesterday from a
cousin of Harris that for some weeks
pr or to his death he had been re.
ceiving letters from Baltimore wo.
man. Some of these letters are said
to have contained demands for money.
The cousin, who is a married wo-
men, living in northeast Washington,
does not believe that Harris killed
himself She lays emphasis upon
Harris was engaged in saloon quar-
| rel the night OF his undo.ng. This
quarrel she believes, is the key to the
whole situation, and her husband,
! who also knew Harris intimately,
holds the same belief. She saw some
of the Baltimore letters received by
Harris.
"Norval asked me 10 accompany
him upon the steamboat excursion
that Saturday night" she said. Pre-
vious to this he had asked my young
er sis. er to accompany him, but we
were both unable to go. 1t is not rea-
sonable that if Norval intended to kill
himself he would have been insisting
Ithat some one of his relatives should
take the pleasure trip with him."
II is learned also from this cousin,
who was a favorite relative of Harris,
that two girls had quarreled with
Harris because of his unexplained
visits to Baltimore and the frequency
with which he broke engagements
with his respective Washington ad-
mirers.
Each of these girls, it is said ex-
pected soon to marry the young street
inspector. Until recently neither had
any knowledge of the existence of the
mysterious Baltimore woman who
seems to have played such part in
the latter days of Harris life.
AS the investigation of the death of
the young man progresses il IS daily
becoming apparent that he was in
volved in any number Of love affairs.