Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-03
NO MOTIVE FOUND
FOR BRUTAL MURDER
OF HOWARD LACEY
Outlaws Evidently Did Not Intend
Robbery, as the Car Was Aban-
doned on Eighteenth Street.
SLAYERS STILL AT LIBERTY


| Lacey. the chauffeur Tor the Wilmington
! Taxi Cou,pqny, who was br,Itally slam
! "Wednesday night at n lonely spot near
| Shellpot quarry, on the streets ot VIII
! mincton as late rs l0.45 that night,
were the two important developments
| todav in Wilmington's most sensational
| and battling homicide in years. But IN
| spite of every available resource OF the city
| and State for the detection of crime, which
| has been brought into the case, the motive,
! 10 say nothing of the perpetrators, Is stall
a matter Of profound mystery.
/ Robbery not hcing the cause, the theft
! of the touring car in which Lacey carried
! his mlrderers on his last trip pas believed
/ to he the object of the crime until the
auto was found i. front of the farm of
/ Thomas >. Windwassi. near Eighteenth
street and tho Is. 4 q railroad, by Charles
Brown a Farmland. about Z o'clock VS.
terday mired fast in the ditch at th
side of the road.
The rear wheels were deeply imbeddcd
in the soft clav 1T the foot of a high en-
hankmcnt. the rear door on the right side
az the car had hecu torn from its hinges,
and the drivers cushion was soaked with
blood Lacev's hat, dark horown Fedora
and his long wooden gloves were found
IN the bottom of the car Both had CvI-
IDENTIFY been taken off before the man was
slam, the hat having fine blood spots in
side the crown, as though spattcred there,
FEW SIGNS or STRUGGLE
While the running boards on both sides
of the machine were incrustcd with sticky
CLAW and the side curtains. all of which
were on that night, were partially torn away
on the right side. there was little or no
evidence OF a struggle The door which
was of readily lifts out Of place as found
and the latch was unbroken. rs it
would have been bad the door
been violently kicked or forced outward
The gas tank was three parts full, only
three gallons having been used since Lacey
left the garage NJ Eleventh and Tatnall
streets TO answer fake call from l0l
West Eighth street at 9l5 Wednesday
night. The gears of the machine bad
been stripped in the effort of the murdercrs
10 extrlcate the car. but otherwise the
machine was in good condition.
Both State Detective Frank W Mccoy
and City Detective Sergeant Frank Green,
who are personally working on the case.
declared that not r single clue 10 the
identity of the murderers has heen found
They agree, however, that there must
have been two persons who had hand IN
il, both from the number Of footprints
found near the abandoned car and from
the fact that l4acev's body was evidently
carried from the car and placed III the
ditch where found
No WEAPON FOUND.
No weapon which might have been used
in dealing Lacey the four terrific blows
on the head and face, any one OF which,
physicians say, would have killed him, has
been found, the detectives say. 50 far as t e
ctauaI intention of the murderers go, they
say there can be no doubt but that the
Slayers made entirely sure Of their work
such frenzied brutality was manifested in
the blows which crushed Lacevs skull,
cheek and jaw bones, that detectives are
OF the opinion that the slayers were
foreigners, pointing out similar crimes by
Aliens where like yiciousness was shown
With this idea IN mind they hope 10
find clues other than that given by Mike
hirlin of 2l8 last Fourth street, taxi
driver for James G. Carr OF ia East
Fourth street, who says he passed Lacey
ear AT Fourth and Walnut streets at 1925
"Wednesday night He said the latter car
was completely enclosed with curtains
and that he could only see that there were
two passengers on the back seat He could
| not tell whether or not one Of them was
woman. he said. Lacey was then driving
ives ton Fourth street. 1t was raining at
the time
Besides Brown, who works for Win
ward the car was seen by Chester Har-
Ian. who told Mr.. and Mrs. Winward
about IL Mrs. Ninward went out TO
the machine about clock and seeing
the blood spattered about the cushions,
reported the fact to her husband Win
ward went out and brought in Laccy's
hat and blanket from the machine. but
his wife later put them back, scenting a
crime They reported the matter to the
police.
TRACING PHONE CALL.
The telephone call which lured Lacey
TO his death is believed to have come
from the Bosi on lunch room, at the north
east corner Of Eighth and Orange streets.
SHORTLY after 9 o'clock Wednesday night
Philip Artos. the proprietor, said that a
tall man, weighing about l35 pounds
wearing a dark hat and uYercoat, came
into his place hastily about the time
mentioned, made hasty call on the telc-
phone without asking permission and
hurried out.
John J. Lacey, the father of the mur-
dercd man, can throw no light on the
crime. lie declares that his son did not
have an enemy in the world and this
testimony il borne out by all who knew
the Young man Chauffeurs who have
worked with or knew Lacey declare he
was rs straight "as a string" and was
unusually careful to avoid taking part in
any questionable taXi excursion.
Indeed this same trait Of high char
actcr Is believed by more than one Of
these men to have led to Laceys death.
They believe that one of his fares that
night was a woman and that when Lacey
was requested by them to leave the car at
lonely spot he refused and was struck
down bv the angered man who accom-
panied her.
Continued on T1are