Evening star., 1917-01-10
THINK THIRD PERSON
SAW MODEL KILLED
Detectives Now Working on
New Theory in PhiIadeI-
phia Murder Case.

By the Associated Press.
PHILADELPHIA, January 10.-De
tectives working to clear up the mys-
terry surrounding the murder in her
apartments here of Maize Colbert, the
advertising art model, advanced the
theory today that one person and pos
sibly two, besides the girl and her
slayer, were in the room when the
crime was committed.
While they still adhered to their be-
lief that Bernard w. Lewis of Pitts
burgh. who committed suicide in At
lantic City last Thursday night, beat
Miss Colbert and afterward strangled
her to death with silk stocking, the
police say that discrepancies as to the
time the model was last known to be
alive and the time Lewis was seen in
a Market street haberdashery has led
to the suppoSition that there was at
least one eyewitness to the murder. No
explanation, however, as to how these
discrepancies in time figure in the
theory that others were present was
forthcoming.
Believe Murder Committed Earlier.
1t also was stated that the latest evil
dence obtained by the detectives leads
them to believe that the crime was
! committed several hours earlier than
heretofore supposed. The girls body
was discovered late on the night of
December 80. and the supposition was
that she had been killed the night be-
fore. The detectives now believe she
met her death around noon or possibly
earlier on December 29.
Another theory that again is engag-
ing the attention Of the detectives is
q
crime. Capt. Tate declared that he
had learned the details of a blacknail-
ing plot carried out in this city a year
ago by men acquainted with Miss Col
bert. He and District Attorney Rotan
Capt. Tate said, We're investigating
the alleged plot to see if it had any
connection with the Colbert mystery.
The victim of the plot, he added, lives
! in town upstate and has been sum
moned to city hall.
1t Is the theory of some, the au-
thorities say, that Lewis and Miss Col
| bert were alone in her apartment when
another person entered and attempted
to eXtort money from the Pittsburgher
under the threat of exposure or arrest
Lewis, becoming enraged, according to
this theory, and believing that he was
the victim of a plot, attacked the girl
Expects Startling Developments.
John Colbert, a brother of the model
said he expected startling developments
in the case today. "At least four
wealthy and prominent business men,
he said. will be questioned at the dis
trict attorneys office and we expect to
learn something important"
Colbert has been empowered to make
a private investigation and to take to
the detective bureau any one he sus-
poets Of having knowledge of the crime
Oscar Brown, a detective sent to
Rome, N. Y, to trace the former pos
SCISSOR of a key found in the apartment
or Maize Colbert, reported to detective
headquarters today that it was one used
at the Rome Custodial Asylum. and that
one or the employees of the institution
is missing. Efforts to find this employe
are being made to learn whether he had
possession of the key which was one of
a bunch of eight found in the apart
ment.
A re-enactment of the murder SO far
as the details of the crime are known
was planned today by detectives to learn
whether any one outside the Colbert
rooms could have heard quarrelins.
Another key found in the apartment of
Maize Colbert has been traced to hotel
in New York. where Bernard W. Lewis
was a guest from December to IS. ac-
cording to William Bennett, attached to
the detective bureau in Newark, n. J.
The Philadelphia authorities it was said,
supplied the Newark police with the
number ard description of the key.
Bennett traced it, through Newark
manufacturer, to the hotel in New York
Bennett then went to New York and
learned. he said, that Lewis had been a
guest at the hotel on the dates mem
toned.