Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-21

2
Thursday night. when the Mickle murder
was committed, and despite the fact that
three hundred odd thousand others were
In the same city at the time they seized
on that supposition as one Of the faint
connecting strands. Sergt Mccormack
last night said he saw Smith ana girl
on car from downtown about IL pm.
Thursday.
it. but this morning Smith racked his
brains and said II was Monday night ne
was on the car and that the girls name
~ Davis and she lives IN Alexandrfa sefet.
Mccormack said also today that he is not
sure whether or not It was THURSDAY
night he saw the two.
While the sleuths are running down the
faint clues which connect that assault
of the Benning road yesterday morning
~ week old. Capt. DAILY is measuring
every inch Of the land between the house
Of John Walker, in Cedar Heights. Nd.
down the road to the home Of the un-
fortunate grocer who now lies beaten.
smashed and unconscious in a white cot
at Casualty Hospital; from that house
along the lonesome Renning road TO
Gitchie spring, where Policeman TruInoo
and Sergt. Mccormack found the bloody
blade of Ratchet, and from there back
again across country to a possible pond
or brook where the man who chopped
Rennett'S skull washed his face and
hands
Though the countryside is broad and
the route which the little grocery wagon
with Bennett and his white terrier dog
took yesterday morning is a long one.
Capt. DAILY says today he will have his
men spot every inch Of 1t to find bloody
handkerchief which is believed to have
been used in cleaning the Ratchet blade,
or in washing hloodstains from HANDS
face or clothing of the man who used II.
Nov that the story OF the vicious assault
has been noised abroad In Prince Georges
county, scores of people have come Tor
ward, each with a tiny piece of evidence
of one form or another, all OF Wnlch
patched together in the manner that
picture puzzle shows up form and color
out of a mass of inconscouential frag-
ments.
Story Gradually Unfolding.
Tho whole story Of the ride and the
assault and the escape of the man VINO
welded the Ratchet is gradually unfold
ing \ witness dropped in TO see capt.
DAILY this morning, claiming he saw smith
within fifteen minutes of the time the
assault was committed, and also tnat
Smith was very near to Gitchle spring.
where the Ratchet blade was found yes
fcrday morning.
Detectiyes Spring1nan and Berman have
been detailed from headquarters to follow
the clues in both directions, but 6erihaii
said this morning his end OF the work Is
practically AT Close
u vouId as SOON take the case to court
tomorrow morning. he told Star re-
port er today because ! am confident the
evidence We now have IN the Bennett
case is sufficient TO incrin1inate James
Smith. About the Mickle murder END OF
the matter have nothing to do
The detective also said that the only
thing left for the police now Is to get the
minor bits of evidence concerning yester-
days affair together so that a complete
story can be prepared for court
One of these things will be the &C
counting for every minute of james
Smiths time yesterday morning up 10
the minute he was arrested he mas gwen
a good story for all of it up to O'Clock
in the morning, but from Z until ne
says he simply took walk into the
country We want to find out more
about that walk
Looking I'D Smiths past life the police
find nothing very interesting with the eA-
cepion of tce shooting OF the Miles ooy
two years ago, for which Smith was
ACQUITTED by Prince Georges county
jury He has been COW puncher ana
rowing mechanic. Just before ne came 10
washington a week ago Sunday night ne
worked in a shipyard at Newport news,
Va When ne arrived in Washington ne
lived for two or three days at 3l3 Penn
Sy@vania avenue, the Ioilce say, fenIihs d
room over a hardware store
Had Pawned Revolver.
Looking I'D this end of the trail, Serst.
Mccormack found a. pawn ticket for
revolver in Smiths clothes. The re-
yolyer. il was discovered. had been pur-
chased from a secondhand store by
man named Davis. and pawned within a
few DAYS. 1t was found that Smith
bought the revolver and then pawned 1t,
using the name of Davis
Bennett was still In a state Of half con-
seriousness this morning.
Smith held himself in splendid restraint
all during a rigid session In Capt. Days
office during the long third degree ex-
animation from IL o'cock yesterday
morning until the middle of the after
noon, when he was taken to the funeral
of William II. Mickle.
After the funeral he was again sub
iected to the rigors of a police examina-
ton, the bluecoats and detectives faiiing
back on the methods used by the famous
Lecoca of French detective fiction fame.
Although Smith was the least interesaed
say he broke down completely when they
took him to the Casualty Hospital to
look at Moses Bennett, when he had re-
covered from the ether useo IN tne opera
ton on his skull DIR. Yeager. head ply
stefan at Casualty Hospital led the way
into the room where Bennett lay. Sergt
Mccormack who had much TO DO with
the search for Smith yesterday, said to-
day that he had never seen man col
las.e completely as smith.
Shrank From the Ordeal.
When we started to take him into the
room he shrank back and actually
whined. Don't take me in there! he cried
and it took two of US to hold him up. He
was SO weak the doctors had to give him
stimulant, and as they mixed 1t In a
glass he begged them to make it a
poison
The white terrier dog which rode in
the wagon in which Bennett was at
tackled. and which is probably the only
witness to the murderous blows which
feI,ed the grocer. played an unusual part
in the third degree methods last night
While smith was locked in his cell Sergt
Mccormack led the dog back to him. ~
first the dog refused to enter the cell
The sergeant picked the animal up and
carried IL in. The dog shifted at Smith
for a few seconds and scurried from the
cell as fast as his legs would carry him
Mickle Murderer Still Free,
Police Follow Empty Clues