Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-04
Police Unable to Discover the
Mickle Murderer.
BOYS STORY DISPROvED
Declared He Saw Suspect Smith in
Store Night of Tragedy.
FUTURE COURSE UNDECIDED
Regarded as Possible That Prisoner
Will Be Surrendered to Chi
cago Authorities.

The police seem as far as ever from
solving the Mickle murder mystery.
Lawrence Britt the man Walter Co.'S
tello of 6oa G street northwest says HI
saw in his saloon early the morning
after Mickle was killed. was In the
Office or Inspector Boardman several
hours yesterday and several hours to-
day, but he was not subjected to fur
States Attorney Harvey Given Britt
offered to prove by many people in
the neighborhood of Capitol Heights.
Nd, his home, that he was in that
neighborhood all OF the night that
| Mickle was murdered. and was there
also the next morning.
The testimony OF William Mckay, IN.
newsboy. who volunteered yesterday that
he had seen another man in the MickIe
store shortly before Mick!e was killed,
was discarded by the police today alon,
! with several other recent voluntary
statements Ii was proved that the hov
had been in the store while il Vas set
broad daylight, and the police know thai
some time before tire unfortunate propri-
| etor was killed in the back room
| Capt. Daley is looking into the state
! ments made In letter received hy him
yesterday. The letter sets forth that
Charles Davis, who says he saw jaime
Smith in the store just before Aickls
was killed. could not have been AT tie
store at all The man who wrote the
letter says that he and Davis were to
gether all that evening. and he could
| not nave been near Mickles store.
Unable to Decide.
Asked today If James Smith. alias ka-
busta, will he turned over To the CHICAGO
authorities. Inspector Boardman said il
| was Impossible to tell at this time just
what course will be pursued
1T may depend largely what kind
of case the Chicago authorities have
against him. the inspector suggested 1t
| is possible to give the Prisoner THIRTY
years IN the Bennett affair, as the matter
| now stands.
While the physicians think Bennett viii
| recover" the inspector continued. there
| may come change for the worse at any
time and he may die. Then the charge
against the prisoner would be changed TO
murder.
| Inspector Boardman still thinks the
| prisoner is the man who killed Micklc.
although he admits the essential proof
! is lacking. He is still hopeful that
the detectives will succeed in -fasten-
ing the murder upon James Smith.
Alleges Complete Identification.
Detective Burlingame arrived from
Chicago this morning with what he
| says is a complete Identification OF
James Smith as John Kapustke. known
to the police there as kabusta, and a
| simple message from the kapustke
family to the man the police have
charged with the Bennett assault, and
who is suspected Of the Mickle muir
der. The message, formulated after
several minutes of Polish conversation
between father. mother and five broth
ers and sisters, Is:
Tell him we are all Well
Capt. Evans of the Identification bu-
reau, Chicago police department.. iden-
| titled Smiths picture as the man they
knew as "Kabusta," alias Cabbage"
| and "Krigel." and Detective Burling-
| anne learned why these various names
| had been used by the man the police
| here call James Smith.
John Kapustke, the father. is a brass
| polisher and buffer, and when he moved
| to Chicago some time ago the whole fam
| lily dropped that name for '.krugel.
which was the mothers maiden name.
Kapustke Is Polish word for cabbage
which explains that nickname satisfac-
torily, and 'Kabus a simply tho
| phonetic form given by the Chicago gang
| to the correct spelling of the fathers
| name. 'iirigel" is a misspelled form OF
"krugeL"
Other Crimes Charged to "Kabusta."
| In the report of his trip made TO In
spector Boardman today Detective Bur-
lingame said that the Chicago police
charge the many-aliased KaIustke with
| numerous other offenses of more or less
consequence. For one job. they say, he
was sent to the refGrmatory at Pontiac,
ILL.,, in March, 1875. He was paroled
from there November 5. 1907, and dis
charged in July, 1905.
The record shows that August 2S, 1908,
Louis Fallerdeau, a Frenchman, sixty
five years of age, was shot to death in
his store by three young men, and the
Iolce again blamed ''kabusta-" The
second murder occurred September l.
1905 when John Grigel was round dead
in his room, badly beaten. A coroner's
inquest laid the blame On John "Ka-
busta" and indicated a base ball bat as
the weapon.