Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-10
SEARCH FOR SLAYER
Of HOWARD LACEY
IN MARCUS HOOK
New Circumstantial Evidence Re
veals Possible Clue in
That Direction
CONDITION OF THE CAR

ASIt i possible that stranger i'll Vii
mington murdered Howard Lacey, dc
tcctIvcs working on the ease, it is under
stood. arc following lead which takes
them to Marcus Hook Pc Though the
theory that woman was III tho tonncau
when the Wilmington Taxi Company
chauffeur was vIciously beaten 10 death
within short distance of the spot opposite
the -hcllp0t quarry. where the body was
found. is still perhaps the most logical, the
belief that two mon were Iaccys fares
and SlaVcrs grows stronger and stronger
every day
They declare that { 4 woman was one
81 the two passengers that night ,hat either
she was In Il dead fant while the driver
was heing brutally done 20 death or She
sat ia terror with hcr head cnyclopcd in
thc lap robe Had she watched Tho decd
Il all. thcy declare, her Wild screams
would have been heard 2 hall mile away.
They also believe she would have struggled
desperately with the would be murderer
and the signs of that scutllc would likely
have been evident.
Careful .titcrthought hv Mrs Thomas
= ~ indW ard. the wife of the farmer near
,,hoSc gatc The abandoned car wa found
'hc next morning and Who was the hrSt
lf'IAll NtItiAlitN ~ CAAAlik4iC JIG fflat A4ikt
has tiNcd the following facts That the two
rcac doors and the rigbtsidc front door
were open; that Lacevs virtually new
fedora hat was on the back seat unsoiled
and his woolen gloves were on the floor
OF the touncau. that the curtain rod which
belonged in tn, right roar door which was
of is hinges Was living IN tho bottom Of
the csr iii front that the lapTohc was
Waddcd on the front seat directly behind
tho wheel and that there MAS no blood
upon il
~EAT MOOD SOAKED.
she sand that the front se4r was soaked
with blood on the right hand side. that
he back 81 the seat vas sIncarcd with
he same dark stains and hat a TUT OF
hair and skiu still chung on the top ut
tht back She declared emphatIcally
that here Was no sign Of footprints in
he soft clay at either side OF the machine,
though The running boards were both
covered with yellow clay much tranplcd.
Withou, beng able 10 give any definite
reason Tor i' Nr~ Windwards i con
vlnccd. througl, her woman : intuition.
hat two persons took part in killing
Lacey She SAID She was struck almost
~ first sight Of the machine hy the belief
thai two persons had made a hurried
exit from II, one from the front and the
other from The rear.
The conclusion that two men. then.
had hand III tn" crime grows more
plausible as probabilities become olfted
out Il is known that had Lacey been
ordered 10 drive his fares to Marcus
Hook, say, or even to Phliadelphia il
Is not hkcly that he would have called
up the taxi Office 10 tell them be was going.
quarry On some such definite direction
and for some reason refused to continue
on the trip
~IA1ERA 4 BIG Man
Whatever the dispute was uh,ch arose
y ended III Le"cv fares one or 10th,
beating hH 20 death In an nluman man
nCr Grca1 strength Wa~ IN the orfn which
hrst Welded the curtain rod and then.
perhaps, ralned ekull-rlishIng blows on
the Young man ; head with brass or steel
'knuckles Il IS from these numerous
deep wounds that most Of those who
examined them tho closest visualized the
SLAYER as man oi unusual stature and
strength
That this big fellow may have been
watching for and entered the car on Ship
lev street while his companion stood guard
stlOl2 l-lEtltBt GtttiiiS III NJt'll itF dI ter
ward is possible. or the man described
by several witnesses and who is believed
to have telephoned for the taxi might
have picked up his supposedly big com
panioIi somewhere in the neighborhuod
III Fourth and Market streets where
.acev and his machine were seen III 1925
. clock the night Of the murder
That q valuable clue was furnished the
police regarding the suspicious move
mcnts of two strangers III Wilmington be-
tween the houls Of midnight New Year
Day and up 10 ; o clock the next morning,
i now admitted It. is suspected where one
OF this pair the big fellow, obtained use
Of bathroom shortly after midnight after
the murder though the results Of this in
ycstIgatlon cannot be learned The APP
pcarancc Of those two men at ) . clock
that morning, however led the observer
70 the belief that they had not been to
bed that NIGHT
Efforts TO have the Police Commissioners
or the Legislature offer reward Of 81 900
for the slayer Of Lacey are being made by
q number of prominent citizens No def
rito action has been taken IN the matter,
however