The Washington times., 1919-07-16
$40 BILLMAY
NASSAULTS
TO SUSPECT
Police Place Great Importance
In Story Told by Street Car
! Conductor.

me ponce say lnSg nave
against Lewis Randall. the young
negro who Inspector Clifford L. Grant,
chief OF detectives, said will be
charged this afternoon with felinous
assault against two OF he four
women recently attacked in stretches
Of woodland in the suburbs Of Wash
ington, when Ernest l. Dowell, a con-
ductor on the Chevy Chase line of the
Washington Railway and Electric
Company, reported to the police that
a man who resembled Randall in many
respects gave him a $50 bill from
which to pay his car fare on July 5.
The man, Conductor Dowell stated,
boarded his car at Connecticut ave-
nue. and Mckinley street near Chevy
Chase. He said the negro proffered
the bill and when told ii could not
be changed became boisterous.
At the Tenth precinct Police sta
ton, where Randall is being held,
Dowell declared:
HE looks like the man that offer
ed me the bill, but 1 would rather
wait before saying positively. Yes,
he looks like the negro, all right"
The police place considerable i'm
portance in the statement Of Dowell,
as on June 80. Mrs. Bessie Gleason, of
II NACnOA8On GLEGGAp " az aALdChCos as
saulted and robbed of her purse con-
tanning a $50 bill. The police say the
negro might have kept the bill until
July 5. the day that Miss Mary Saun-
ders. the War Department employe,
was attacked, near Chevy Chase
circle
The police are virtually certain tehy
have fastened the guilt on Randall in
two cases. Inspector Clifford L. Grant,
Chief Of Detectives. said this morning
that today he would formally charge
Randall with feIoniously assaulting
Mrs. Gleason and Miss Louise Sim
mons, q colored school teacher in the
Reno School, who lives at 2S5S Sixth
street northwest
Both Mrs. Gleason and the school
teacher are positive in their identifi
cation Of the negro as their assailant.
Together with the Identification by
the two women, the police have
woven, they say, a chain Of circum
stantial evidence against Randall
which stands out as strongly incrimi-
mating. Randall has protested his in
nocence Of any connection with the
crimes.
Couldn't Identify Him
Because Miss Mary Saunders, a War
Department employe, who lives at
Somerset Heights, Prince Georges
county, who was attacked July 8, |
dragged into q clump of bushes, and
assaulted, and Miss Mabel Stiles, who |
fed when approached by a negro on |
June % near Fourteenth and Allison |
streets, failed to identify Randall, he |
has not been charged with attacking |
them.
I'VE have incriminating evidence |
against Randall" declared Inspector /
Clifford L Grant, chief Of detectives, 1
this morning. He will be formally |
charged today with the assaults on |
Mrs Gleason and Miss Simmons. Later /
he will be photographed and his I'm |
ger prints will be taken. Tomorrow |
Randall will be given a preliminary |
hearing In Police Court
"Of all the suspects we have taken |
into custody, Randall is the only one !
who has been positively Identified by
any Of the victims of the brutal as
saults. He has consistently lied, maze |
conflicting statements, and if I had
found one circumstance in his favor l
would have given him the benefit Of
1T"
It developed yesterday when John |
3. Blackstone. an uncle Of the negro /
who lives at Berwyn, Nd, went to
Police Headquarters to attempt TO
prove an alibi against the charge OF
the police that his nephew was in the I
vicinity Of the scene Of the attack on /
Miss Gleason on June 80.
Statement Doubted.
That day he was at my home"
Blackstone told the detectives. His /
statement was doubted, and when he
was put throuhg a severe cross-ex-
animation by the detectives he ad-
rnitted Randalrs mother had sent him
20 headquarters to make the state
- - 4 . H..TU
the detectives Lewis was at your home
on June 80 they will LEI him go"
and other relatives OF the negro
have made similar false statements
for the negro in an effort to show 1
that he was nowhere near the scene
Of the crimes" said Inspector Grant
'They. too. have lated admitted lying
about Randall's whereabouts when the
women were attacked" 1t
While waiting at the assembly room
At Police Headquarters yesterday ,
Yesterday afternoon, Randall bolted
from the detectives and leaped from a
window into an sreaway. about six
feet. Detective Sergeant A. B. Scriv-
ener leaped after the negro and,
nouncinE on him. beat him into sub
mission. This was the third attempt
made by Randall to escape from the f,
detectives.
Tells Conflicting Stories.
DESPITE the fact that Randall will
be charged with the assaults. accord
ing to Inspector Grant, on Mrs. Glea-
son and the school teacher. neither
the inspector nor Detective Sergeants
Kelly. Scriyener, nor Sweeney will
make the positive statement that they
are certain Randall is guilty Of the
~ /
SAYING "we believe he is the man
. nd he looks coed. The women identi
fed him. He has lied. Measurements
are conflicting. They have been run {
down and found TO be not true" Z
Detectives Kelly and Scrivener this /
corning held q lengthy conference 1
With United States District Attorney /
john z. LGGkey regarding the evil {
dance they have against Randall lr