New-York tribune., 1910-07-23
ARREST EX-CHAUFF[UR
IN RAWN MYSTERY
Said to Have Made Threats
Against Life of Monon
Railroad President.
WIDOW TELLS HER STORY
Husband Insisted Upon Going
Downstairs, Despite Her OBJ
jections-Police Stick to
Suicide Theory.

negro chauffeur, formerly employed by
Ira G. Rawn. was arrested here late to-
day in connection with the Monon Rail
road presidents death.
stevens was discharged last December.
and as late as last May is declared to
have threatened Mr.. Rawn's life
The arrest of stevens, also known as
HOFFMAN was made on information sup
piled by H P Cullen, president Of the
Commercial Mercantile Company of
Chicago. a friend of the former Monon
president Cullen swore to an afidavit
to the effect that he heard the negro.
referring to Mn Rawn. say:
'Tll get that white man damn him.
I'll get him."
Stevens was employed by Mr.. Rawn
/ from May. 1906, TO December. 1909.
when. it Is said. he was discharged for
/ dtsobeytng orders,
Assistant Chief of Police schuettler
! said lat aside from this, the detectives
I had obtained no evidence whatever
/ against Stevens
/ Although private detectives in the en-
ploy of the Rawn family caused the ar
rest of two other negroes on suspicion
/ to-day. Coroner Hoffman and Assistant
Chief of Police schuettler said they
could obtain no information of impor-
tance when they questioned the men.
Mrs. Rawn's Statement.
Although too i'll to attend her bns-
bands funeral, Mrs. Rawn, the widow
late to-day made a detailed statement to
a stenographer of the shooting Of Mr.
Rawn at his summer home, in Winnetka
| early last Wednesday morning.
In a general way this statement bears
out the stories OF the death of Mr.. RaWn
| as told by the dead mans son-fn-Iaw
r. G Coburn. Mrs. Rawn says she and
her husband were awakened BY a noise
on the first floor Of the house. that Mr
Rawn picked up his revolver and started
downstairs. Then. says Mrs. Rawn. she
heard a noise of some sort. apparently
on the stairway. and a shot or shots.
The police have seized upon three
points in Mrs. Rawns statement that
they consider Of Importance in connec-
ton with the investigation of the myste-
rious death.
The first is the declaration by Mrs
Rawn that she is certain Of having heard
only one shot; the second is her asser-
ton that Mr.. Coburn. her son-in-Iaw.
preceded her downstairs and that he had
turned on the lights before she reached
her husbands body and the third is her
statement that Mr. Rawn was found ~
ing squarely on his back
The police say these three points sup
port their Statement that Nj Rawn
killed himself Friends of the Rawn
family insist that Mrs. Rawn's descrip-
zion of what. occurre5 on Wednesday
morning is IErthe; evidence that Mr..
siawn was murdered,
The following question was put to Mrs.
Eiawn regarding the point of hearing a
snot or shots fred
YOU say you are not clear as to
0he,he- you heard one shot or two
snots -
Sure of One Shot
y could not tell you. I heard a shot
lad jhen screamed. and I don't know
whether If vas one or two. l couldn't
tell spu aoout that l know I heard one
,hut"
Mrs Rawn said that on the night pre-
vious to the shooting she and her hus-
band had heard noise similar to the
one which she says aroused them early
on Wednesday morning.
The noise on the first night was
something like the shutting of a door"
said Mrs. Rawn. "On the second night
there was a sort of a creeping sound.
Whether It was the sound of walking I
cannot tell you"
I told my husband not to go down.
lie didn't pay any attention to me- but
kept on walking through the dark. It
was very dark-you couldn't really see
but l could hear him walking and so
got up and sat on the edge of the bed
It didn't seem a second when l could
hear him creeping down, and he had
time to get to the first landing, when I
heard q terrible scuf1e SO then I
Jumped and screamed. and at the time
I screamed I heard shot. l was so
dazed that l couldn't move for a second.
and before I got down there my son
(Mr Coburn) got down in the dark and
turned on the lights"
Detectives In the employ of insurance
companies were present at Mr. Rawn's
funeral to-day, and several of them re-
NAMED in Winnetka over night
While the police were investigating the
clew found 10y Mr.. Hoffman the funeral
services Of Mr. Rawn were held, The
board of directors of the Monon Rail-
road. out of respect to the memory of
its president. ordered that every wheel
on the entire system cease turning for
five minutes this afternoon at the be
ginning of the funeral at $50 o'clock
In addition to stopping all trains wher-
ever they were at that hour, all work
on the railroad, in the shops. offices and
stations ceased for the same length of
time. For five minutes everything was
at a standstin on the entire Monon sys-
tenn
While the Rawn family has held con-
sistenty to the theory that Mr. RaWn
was murdered. Ralph C Coburn, a son
in-law Of the dead man. secuted the idea
that revenge was the motive behind the
murder
4 know of no negro with whom my
father in law ever had any difficulties.
eaid Mir Cohurn 7 cannot think of