New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-10-26
Three Held in New Haven.
Two in Chicago Accused
of Killing Benny Binko-
witz, Bond Messenger
$50, OOOSecurities Found
Detectives Promise Other
- Arrests in a Week and
Recovery of Rest of Loot


: piicity in the murder of Benjamin
+ Binkowitz, brokers' messenger. whose
body was found near Milford, Conn.,, Au-
z s.ss ~, e.snc Gays aILer ne had lett
his employers office with $l7S,O00
e worth of Liberty bonds. Second Deputy
4 Police Commissioner Lahey, who an
nounced the arrests last night, said
] that $4,000 worth of the bonds had
been recovered and that it would not
be long before all of them were in the
shands Of the police.
August Mayer and Grover Brown, de-
{ tectives, who have made record in the
arrest of thieving Wall Street runners,
i are credited by Commissioner Lahey
q with the solution Of the Binkowitz
mystery. Three of the men are locked
up in New Haven. The other two are
i on their way east from Chicago, where
they were arrested. Brown and Mayer
! declared that more arrests would be
3made within a week.
Binkowitz, husky young puglist,
Rwho lived with his mother at 1s9 Ed
& ridge Street, was runner for Richard
#Whitney & Co., Ia Wall Street He
sleft that firms office on August, ~, car
sying $178,000 in Liberty bonds. which
Che was to deliver to Kidder, Peabody &
GO, at II Wall Street. He had only to
Scross the street, but he never got there.
Body Found Eight Days Later
Eight days later motorist who
stopped for lunch on the Milford Turn
Spike, about 200 yards from the town
line, discovered the youths body lying
Eunder a fence at the roadside with
fstrand of the barbed wire olutched in
his hand. The coroner decided. after
san examination, that the murder had
+ taken place two days previously, and
that the body had been lying there
Ksince. Only 81 was found in his
kpockets.
The body was covered with bruises,
Rthere were several stab wounds and a
fragment Of knife blade was stick
Sing in the throat. The police, mind
yful of Rinkowitz's reputation as a
Fighter and of the severe beating he
WINGED that several men we're con-
iscerned in the crime.
According to Mayer and Brown, the
murder Of Binkowitz was attributable
to the fact that when he got his job
IN Wall Street he tried to keep his old
pals" Some of these. the detectives
said, were ex-convicts, many of them
were potential crooks, and almost all
Of them we're reckless of law and
ethics.
Double-Crossed by Pals
Some of his East Side friends were
working in Bridgeport, Conn, the de-
tectives said, and Binkowitz frequently
would spend his week-ends with them
visiting dance halls and saloons. 1t was
generally known among the gang" that
Benny Binkowitz had a job in Wall
Street and tucked hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars under his arm every
day.
Just how much direct influence was
used to persuade Benny to try the easy
{A ole
aren't sure. But they are sure that
Benny's theft was undertaken with
the connivance of several of his "pals"
and that Benny's pals" double-crossed
him and killed him for the bonds he
stole
On the Sunday before the theft, the
detectives said, Benny went to Myrtle
Beach. Conn, where he met six of his
friends Their advice to the Wall
Street runner, the detectives declared,
was to turn the trick at the first OPP
portunity and skip to Bridgeport, where
they would keep him in hiding until
the hue and cry was over.
After stealing the bonds. the de-
tectives went on, Benny went straight
to his friends in Bridgeport. who hid
him in a hotel room, from which he
never stirred in the day time. Scarcely
an evening passed during his term of
hiding, however. it was said, that Benny
was not dancing blithely in some
Bridgeport resort.
Gunner Telephoned For
1t was on August II that Benny
emerged from his sanctuary for the last
time. On that day, the detectives said
his solicitous friends telephoned tc
four gunner acquaintance to joir
them that evening, as there was a JOB
on. When this engagement had been
made, Benny's friends joyfully in.
formed him that a buyer for the en-
tire lot of bonds had been found, and
that night they would drive to Milford
and sell out for cash.
When the automobile left Bridge
port, however, it contained, the detec-
tives said, not only Benny, the $178,.
GOO and Benny's friends, but also the
friends Of Benny's friends-the four
gunner, armed for sience's sake with
biackjacks and stlettos.
The detectives are not sure thai
benny's pals plotted downright muir
der IN the first place, but they have nc
douot as to their intentions concern
ing the sl7S,o00. 1t is thought likely
= that the original plan was to slug
Benny, d-on him out Of the car and nro.
coed with the piunder.
But bennys reputation as a fiehte,
mad won him the nickname. "Jack
Johnson" and when the four GUNNER
Jumped him, Benny fought ferociouslv
Apparently he lodged or beat off the
blackjack blows and punished his as
sailants so severely that they took te
the stilettos.
Stab Wounds in Chest,
There were seven stab wounds i,
Benny's chest, one Of which pierced hi
heart. From the hacking cuts abou
his neck and from the broken knit
blade imbedded in his throat the dc
teetives are led TO believe that Their
was frenzied effort to decapi tn
victim. probably with the intention O
burying his head to defy Identification
But the knife blade broke and motto
car whizzed past at about the sam.
time.
The murder party hastily climbed
back into their car and drove off
Later some Of the bonds were Offered
for sale in Cleveland. Twenty-fv,
thousand dollars worth have been 10
Gated in the possession of broker ir
this city, and bonds Of an equal amount
are In the custody Of the police lrop
erty clerk.
One man was arrested in this cit,
last week and taken to New Haven
where two more were locked up. The
other two are on their way from Chi
~ IN oh ~ Mt n