The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-01-05
POLICE CALL MODEL
MURDER SOLVED
Declare Suicide of Rich Pitts.
burgher's Son Clears Up
Mystery.
(Contiuued from First Page.)

CONTINUED from First Page.)
dGphia detectives to Atlantic City
last night, after the news%of Lewis
suicide arrived.
Up to the last Lewis had main
tanned his innocence to his friends.
He had telephoned to the Misses
Kyle, of Germantown, the young
school teachers. in whose company he
had been before he visited Maize Col
bert, saying:
"Did Not Know Woman
81 am absolutely innocent of the
crime. I did not even know the
woman. .I went to a downtown hotel
for the night"
The Atlantic City detectives had
received instructions from this city
to detain Lewis on a charge OF hav-
ing defrauded the taxi driver who
drove him to Mazie eolbert's rooms.
This was a technical charge. What
they wanted him for really was muir
der.
Something was worrying Lewis the
night he drove to the Wilton apart
ments, according to the story Powell,
Powell says that after the Kyle girls
were left at their home, Lewis jump
ed on the front seat of the taxi be-
side him, saying he needed a little
air.
Had Tale Of Woe.
AS the car sped downtown, Lewis
said to Powell:
81 have. a tale of woe that you
might want to hear"
go ahead" Powell says he told
him II am used to hearing those
tales"
But Lewis didn't continue his "tale
Of woe" Instead he asked Powell
where the Metropolitan Opera House
was. Powell told him at Poplar
street. Then Lewis asked on what
street the cars ran down to Broaa
Street Station, and Powell said that
was Fifteenth street
rs there an apartment house at
the corner of Fifteenth and Poplar
streetsT Lewis then asked.
Remembered Apartment.
Powell remembered that the Wilton
was there. And Lewis told him to
take him there.
As they came down Broad street,
Lewis told Powell to turn west on
the first street above Poplar. "the
broad street" He said he could get
his bearings better If Powell drove
that way.
Powell turned west from Broad
street on 'Girard avenue and went
down Fifteenth street to Cambridge,
where Lewis told him to stop. Lewis
got out and looked around. Then he
returned to the car muttering that
1t wasn't the place. Powell told him
that the small street was not Poplar,
and Lewis directed him to drive on a
little further. About seventy feet from
the corner of Poplar street, Lewis
got out of the car telling Powell to
wait.
Went Around Corner. f
Powells car was standing then near
the Fifteenth street entrance to the
Wilton apartment. The apartment oc-
cupied by the Colbert woman is en-
tered from another driveway on the
Poplar street side of the building.
Powell says that Lewis went around
the corner of the apartment house
toward that entrance. That was the
last he saw of him. 1t was probably
Powell's machine. Powell does no.
know that he went into the building.
About 8 o'clock Richard Benjamin.
the negro janitor of the Wilton. got
up to attend to the fires. Powell
heard him and began to inquire about
his missing fare. He wanted Benja-
min to try to find Lewis. Benjamin
saying that he couldn't
arouse the whole apartment to find a
man.
Waited Until 10.
Powell waited until nearly 10
o'clock in the morning, but his fare
had not returned. Then he left. Lewis
then owed him $I9 His bill when he
left the taxi was not more than SIS.
When the body OF Maize Colbert
was discovered Saturday night. ben
jamin, remembered the taxicab driver
whose pasenged did not return and
told the police.
No effort was made to locate Powell
until Monday. He was brought to the
detective bureau while the police were
quizzing one of Maize Colbert's init
mates. At that time he did not tell
much OF his story, but said that the
man being questioned was not the
one who owed him SO.
Led To Discovery.
1t was Powell's description of the
in Germantown where |
he had taken Lewis and the two girls |
before the ride to the Wilton that led |
TO the discovery of Lewis companions
and his identity.
The news of the suicide of Lewis |
was a great shock to the three Kyle |
sisters, who, though gri;f-stricken,
still refused to believe Lewis had |
killed Maize Colbert. The youngest |
sister, Mabel, was nearly Frustrated. |
Their father, an invalid, has not |
yet heard of the girls connection |