New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-19
COUPE BACK TO TESTIFY
Valuable Witness in Certain
Lines, Says Whitman.
PLACE OF ABODE SECRET
Expenses Observation-Disclosures
Only London Concern WILL
ing to Insure Life.

District Attorney Whitman said yes
terday that Thomas Coupe, who came
from England yesterday on the Maure-
taDia with William A. De Ford, an AS
slstant District Attorney, would be
valuable 'for the purposes for which he
was brought over" Coupe will be called
as a witness in rebuttal in the Becker
trial and will be a witness against most
OF the gunner accused Of shooting
RosenthaI He also may aid in the In
curry into police affairs which Justice
Golf. sitting as a magistrate, intends to
hold after the murder trials.
It was thought by some that it was in
the police inquiry that Coupe would be
most valuable" and that that was the
chief purpose" in bringing him back
from England. In the trial Of Becker and
the others Coupe will be used mainly TO
identify the gunner. That has already
been done. and by more than one wit
ness. It is not thought likely that the
llSlTlct
and trouble Of bringing him back from
England solely for that testimony.
Coupe was employed at the Elks' CLUB
at the time Rosenthal was shot, and an
nounced afterward that he saw the auto
mobile used by the gunner leaving the
scene Of the shooting. Shortly after It
became known that he might be a Wit
. ness in the trial Of Becker Coupe left Tor
England, where his parents lived. DIS
patches from London stated he had SAID
he feared the police would get him II
he remained in New York. Three or four
weeks ago Mr. De Ford was sent TO Eng
land after him.
In London Mr.. De Ford got In COM
munlcation with Scotland Yard and with
the American Embassy, and found that
Coupe was with his parents in Preston
Lancashire. He went there and learned
that Coupe's father was reluctant to have
him return. His mission was further him
dered by the fact that on the day he
arrived news Of the shooting OF big
Jack" Zelig was printed in the London
rapers. with the intimation that any OF
the witnesses against Becker who we're
going their ways carelessly might meet
a similar fate.
At last. after his expenses while here
and his fare back had been guaranteed
Coupe consented TO come. Neither Dis
trlct Attorney Whitman nor Mr.. De Ford
would say yesterday whether Coupe also
insisted on having his life insured during
his stay. There was some talk Of 1t. how
ever. and the project was carried FAR
enough to discover that with the eXcep-
ton Of Lloyds no company In London
would take the risk Lloyds asked 10 per
cent for six months.
Mr.. De Ford and Coupe were met at the
pier yesterday by Detectives Leigh and
Flood, Of the District Attorneys Office,
who escorted them to Mr.. Whitman's Of
fee Ii was after he had had a talk with
Coupe that Mr.. Whitman said he con-
sidered him valuable for the purposes
for which he was brought over"
After he had seen the District Attor-
ney Coupe was taken by the detectives
TO his lodgings. The District Attorney
has promised to give Coupe every possible
safeguard during his stay, and would not
say where his witness was boarding.
Coupe is thirty-two years old and one
Of six children. He has been in New York
about seven years. During the Boer War
he served in the Yorkshire Yeomanry.
He is said to have been decorated for his
services in the war
The trials of Whitley" Lewis and
Lefty" Louie, in both Of which Coupe is
expected to testify, will probably follow
Immediately on the close Of the Becker
trial.