Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-04-09
TIME CLOCK USED
TO SECURE AL|B|
Slayer OF Night Watchman
Bragdon Returned to
Scene of Murder.
KEYS REFUSED TO AID HIM
Detectives Believe They Have
Uncovered Clues Which Will
Get Assassin.

The bullet fired into the back OF
NlshtWatchman j. Charles Bragdon,
at the plant Of the Usage Cotton oil
company Saturday night. and which
caused instant death. was from the
! hand of an assassin who had planned
the deed many hours beforehand and
who relied in the punch-clock which
the dead man carried ~ establish for
the murderer an albi in the event the
law ever unraveled the mystery which
surrounds the death and the guilty
man is brought to the bar.
This is the opinion of the detectives
who have been assigned to the case
by Captain Dan Herring, and so sure
are they that their clues are to bear
results that the one man arrested for
the crime is being held with but little
attempt at third-degree measures to
secure the valuable information
which 1t is known he has thus far re-
Trained from giving the officers.
Killed Early.
| When the detectives were assigned
To the case Saturday night on the
finding Of the lifeless body of Brag
don in pool of his own blood by two
young sons who came to bring their
fathers midnight lunch they found
that the punch-clock which the dead
man carried had not been punched
| by the stationary keys on his round
since s o'clock
The body was found at 10 o'clock.
Between o'cbck and the time the
first punch was registered, or two
hours, no punch was registered, and
| then beginning at s o'clock and for
one round of three keys, the clock
had registered rapidly, and in the OPP
posite manner from which Bragdon
was accustomed to make his round.
| 1t was pointed out that Bragdon
walked his rounds OF inspection of the
plant and punched the clocks at keys
/, 2 and 3 in order. When later eX-
amined by the officers, the clock in
dicated that it had been punched on
keys 3, 2 and l, in reverse to the way
Rragdon walked his round The clock
after the dead body of Bragdon was
discovered, was taken from him, and
placed in the machine room.
Slayer Knew Works.
The officers claim that anyone ia
miliar with the premises would have
had little difficulty in taking the clocE
from the engine room, or from the
body before II was discovered by the
two Bragdon boys. and have regis
tered the keys on the route. The
clock then being returned to the body
by the assassin after he had made his
rounds
The attempt at an alibi by the as
sassin in this way, the police declare
would probably have been effected
/ had II not been that the punching o'
the clock was done with the keys II
their reverse order
BY registering on the clock that the
rounds OF the mill had been made
regularly from 8 o'clock until S:4I
the person responsible for the deed
would have attempted to show thG
the man was killed after the latter
hour. BY leaving the scene of the
murder and hurrying to some othei
part of the city to meet friends after
that time, all suspicion would b'
thrown off and an alibi established.
Clock Was IL Foe.
Failure, however, to register tn,
keys on the clock from 6 o'clock, tn,
time Bragdon went to work, and
o'clock leads the officers to believ,
that the nightwatchman was slair
soon after he went to work, and tha
the first fears caused the slayer tC
leave the promises, but at O'Clock
he returned for the purpose of at
tempting to register an alibi on the
clock.
While the negro being held is con
fined in a cell at the police station
detectives are working on the clue.
which the keys and clock furnished
and these will be used in breakin|
down the silence which he has main
tanned since his arrest