The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-17
VARIOUS THEORIES ARE ADVANCED AS ID bROOK|NS MURDER Traces of Occupancy in
 Shack Near Scene of
 Shooting
BELIEVE ASSASSIN
 WAITED WITHIN
Umbrella Is Found in a We'll Nearby and These Discoveries Have Given Rise to Speculati0n-Two Negro
 Suspects Held by Police

I If the walls of an abandoned negro
 shack could speak and tell who paced up and down its living room between and s
 o'clock Monday night; if 1t could be told
 who sat on bucket near window and watched and waited; if 1t could tell who dropped lady S silk umbrella in the shaft of a well nearby, it is thought quite prob able that the mystery surrounding the murder of Joseph w. Brooklns, street car motorman, would be solved 1 The negro shack in question is within 10 yards of the scene of the murder. It is located on Fourteenth avenue near Fifty | first street north and has been empty for sometime.
 Yesterday detectives after they had vis- ited all the negro houses in the vicinity finally went to this empty shack and looked around They found traces of many footsteps on the floor as if person great ly excited had paced up and down the room They also found an overturned bucket near window facing the spot where Brookins was shot. Later in well nearby they found a lady's new silk um- brella, which neighbors are positive was not in the well few days ago.
 Waited in Shack It Is the theory of private investigators that the assassin of Joe Brookins lay in wait in the negro shack for his victim whom he had sent for by negro. As Brookins wended his way through the marshy field, as the rain poured down in torrents as the lightning played back and forth and thunder pealed the watch ful murderer, with his rifle poised on the window sill, waited until bright flash of lightning revealed his victim, and pulled the trigger.
 This theory is borne out by the fact that there gre no powder burns on the clothes or skin of the dead man, and also by the fact that although Brooklns ana his companion were within dozen yards of the house of Alexander Gardner no words were heard passed between them, and they only saw a man running away following the shot and the death cry Of Brookins.
 The police do not give much credence to the theory that white man shot Brook ins. but are bending all their efforts to fix the blame on some negro's shoulders They scout the theory that some one de- liberately lay in wait for Brookins and then shot him. They aver that Brookins had a quarrel with a negro over pistol and was promptly Silol. incS dic iooNiiiS for that negro
 In the early hours of yesterday morn ing the uniform police arrested two ne- groes named Alexander Gardner and Lou Milice and placed them in the city jail on the charge of murder. They are merely being held on suspicion and will likely be released before mornng-that Is, un- less one of them talks.
 Suspects Are Held Alex Garder is the husband of Estelle Gardner, and he was about 20 yards away from the shooting. He states that by flash of lightning he saw the murderer of Brookins run in the darkness. The negro is positive that the shooting happened just before o'clock
 Lou Milice was arrested on suspicion of being the negro who was seeking to sell a pistol to Broolxins, and incidentally the negro who called for Brookins at his home about o'clock Monday night. It is now assured that he is not that negro, but he is being held as a material wit ness, as he also heard the shot and claims he saw some one run away.
 Last night Coroner Charles l.. Spain, who spent the entire day working on the Brookins case. stated that he would hold his inquest just as soon as Detectives Jones and Propst announced that they were ready. He said;
 HIS IS d fHlSHty Ddo CdSt. u Hds all the earmarks of other mysterious muf ders in the past few months such as the killing of Leon Fl. Thomas. the street car conductor at West End; the killing of Albert Davidson at North Birmingham, and several others which have gone un- solved. However, l trust that we will have better luck with this case.
 ''I will hold my inquest just as soon as the detectives have announced themselves ready for it. They are working on the case, but so am I, and think that have fair line of evidence already on hand. l certainly do not believe that negro shot Joe Brookins-no matter what the police believe
 Funeral services over the remains of Joseph w. Brookins, who resided with his parents at BIOS Tenth avenue, north, East Birmingham, have not as yet been def- nitely announced The young man is sur vived by his father and mother, MT. and Mrs Charles T. Broolzins, two brothers, Arthur l.. Brookins. a policeman. and Frank Brookins of Milledgeville, Ga. A sister, Mrs. R. c. Galloway. also survives.