The sun., 1919-06-11
GOBBLER GIVES CLUE
IN BOMB PLOT HUNT.
Important DevelopmentMakes
New York Centre of
Investigation.
REPAIR WORK IDENTIFIED
Chief Flynn Tightens Net in
Nationwide Search
Police Silent.

The hunt for the perpetrators Of the
bomb outrages in eight Eastern cities
last week centred last night in New
York city. As a result of evidence that
has been gathered here in the last few
days, and of which William ]. Flynn,
chief OF the bureau of investigation of
the Department of Justice, gave q hint
last night, official attention has been
directed here.
An obscure shoe repairing shop, pre-
sumably located on the lower East Side
Of Manhattan. whose proprietor is
blessed with fairly retentive memory.
furnished what Chief Flynn regards as
the most important bit of evidence so
far obtained.
The proprietor of this place, the ex-
act location of which Is being withheld
for the time being by the authorities,
is said to have positively identified the
footgear worn by the bomb planter who
was blown to pieces in the attempt to
wreck the home of Attorney General A.
Mitchell Palmer In Washington.
The man who carried the bomb to
Attorney-General Palmer's home wore q
cheap sowskin sort Of sandal with a COM
position sole and newly attached red
rubber heels. One of these sandals,
picked up on the Palmer lawn following
the explosion. was sent to Chief Flynn
here few days ago, and since that time
his agents have been at work in an
effort to run down the clue and identify
the wearer.
Sandal Positively Identified.
To this end a whole army OF Depart
ment of Justice agents has been combing
the shoe repairing places of the city in
an effort to find a workman or shophand
who could remember adjusting red rub
Der heels to such an unusual set of foot
gear. This has been done, according to
Chief Flynn, and the positive identifica-
ton and the establishment of the VIC
TINS connection with anarchist groups
here and throughout the country may
be only a matter Of hours.
Chief Flynn regarded yesterdays de-
velopments as disposlng of the stories
that have been originating from Besse-
mer and Pittsburg to the effect that the
bomb plot was Matched in either of these
places. He intimated last night II was
his belief that when all the evidence Is
checked up It will be found that the plot
WIS engineered and most OF the details
worked out in New York city.
However this theory may work out
II Is a fact that for the time being the
chief interest of the Department of JUS
tice agents is directed along the lines
opened here yesterday. In addition to
what he has discovered in regard to the
shoe repair work of the man who han
died the Washington end OF the Red
bomb plot Chief Flynn said last night
that he had five or six additional clues,
all Of which tended to substantiate the
theory he has built
This. in brief. Is that the dead man
was not an Italian, but possibly Rus
sian or a Pole imbued with radical ten
denotes. and that he had at least two or
three well established. connections in
New York city
Find Important Clue.
The cobbler who made the identifica-
ton OF the sandal sent on from wash
ington Is positive that the man for
whom he did the work of attaching the
rubber heels was not an Italian. This
was as much as Chief Flynn would say
on the suspects nationality. The cob
bler's story, which has been checked up
without the discovery of any flaw, Is
that the man came to him about three
weeks ago and asked to have a pair Of
rubber heels put on his shoes. The foot
wear was finished with a composition
sole frequently used in such wear and
to which the cobbler found II difficult
10 attach the rubber heels He found 1t
necessary TO tack on a piece of leather
because his cement would not hold to
The composition under the heel. and 1t
was this piece of handiwork that en-
abled him to say positively that the
work was his.
When Chief Flynn visited this mans
place yesterday the cobbler was bit
cautious before he would say that the
work was his. The locating of the shop
was done by a process OF elimination
based on other clues in Chief Flynn's
possession, and the detective felt fairly
sure OF his ground when he began to
narrow these down. 1t was not until
the shoeman fingered the sandal several
times and regarded the composition sole
that Chief Flynn, ripping of the rubber
heel, disclosed the leather piece under
meath. That supplied the lack and as
sisted in making the Identification COM
plete.
The shoeman told Chief Flynn that he
remembered distinctly the man who
brought the sandals to his shop. He has
given fairly complete description of
him and declares that he was not an
Italian. He gave a check for the shoes
20 his customer and consequently took
no address The check was surrendered.
he said. when the man called for the
shoes the following day.
Laundry Mark Search On.
The shoeman's positive assertion that
the man whose heels he fixed was not an
Italian has lent interest TO the initials
* B." found on the inside OF the collar
Of the dead man. The detectives have
been working on the theory that the mi
tails may have been those OF the bomb
handler and general search has been
instituted along these lines despite the
fact that there Is no letter "K' in the
Italian alphabet. The effort to Identity
the wearer of the collar will be directed
from now on in an effort to find a laun-
dry that recently has used such a mark.
This may or may not be in New York. 1t
was pointed out last night by men work.
Ing on the case
William NJ. Ofiey, head OF the local
bureau of the Department of Justice.
exploded the story published that the de-
partments agents were concentrating on
finding a man Of known radical tenden-
cies whose initials were ~. M" These
Initials, one report had 1t. were In the