The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1920-08-07
l'C1IANk'' ADMITS
'WJblANHAS Child
viii Sqaea| if She Doesn't Give
BIatG'y 'OughIIO Up.
Willis UNDER THIRD DECREE
Says Younester is Well and Has En-
deared Himself to His Preseason.
Being MerciIessIy GriIIed.

Philadelphia. Aug. Little Blake
1y CoughIin, kidnapped from his home
in NorriStown on June >. has 50 en-
deared himself to the woman who mas
him in her custody that she does not
want to give him up.
Such is the startling statement made
by August Pascal, alias ''The Crank"
to Captain of Detectives Souder in
city hall.
THE Crank wilted under the ter
rife barrage of questions shot at him
by state police and city detectives
and issued an ultimatum.
Unless the baby is returned safe
and sound within twenty-four hours
he promises to. squeaI II the person
or persons who have the child do not
gel in communication with the author
tiles either by letter or telephone. Pas
cal agreed to make a clean breast of
the affair and divulge their where
abOutS.
Out of the maze of theories and
conflicting evidence certain clCar-cut
and indiSputable facts have come to
the front On the word of The
Crank" himself Rlakely Coughlin is
alive and somewhere in Philadelphia
or vicinity, is being held by the wo-
man. who has learned to love him
tenderly. Her identity is known She
is a friend of a former pal of The
Crank a jailbird and a criminal, Il
man without principle, heartless and
cruel. but as clever as Il fox and dead
ly as a snake.
SO much the police have learned
from Pascal Subjected to every form
of the third degree" he has main
tanned an air of stGlidity that Major
Lynn G. Adams, head of the stale
police, characterizes as remarkable,
"The Crank" however, knows he
is in a tight hole. and to get out of
it as best he can has decided no long
er to shield the woman.
Not once has Pascal admitted any
thing that the police have not prov
ed. He cannot be caught by clever
rOSS-questiOning. When confronted
with indiSputable facts he smiles and
with facts not quite so well backed
up by evidence he merely looks blank.
Major Adams says there is moth
ing of the thug or gunman about Pas,
cal. He is sauve and courteous and
imperturbable. "The cIevereSt crook
l ever met" says Major Adams.
Pascal was brought here from Har-
riSburg. Since his capture on Monday
afternoon at Egg HarbOr, n. J.. he has
had but little sleep, been hustled from
pillar to post, from one town to an
other and always he has been grilled
and questioned and cross-eXamined.
In the inquisitiOn chamber besides
Captain Souder were Major Adams
and other Investigators who have been
interested in the kidnapping case since
the very day on which the. baby dis
appeared.
After the long conference had come
to an end, Major Adams announced
Pascal's ultimatum and told just what
the authorities have been able to
prove up to date.
81 am convinced Pascal is the kid
naper," he said. "In the first place,
we have all the letters sent by THE
Crank to Mr.. CoughIin. Pascal has
acknowledged that he wrote them. In
the second place, we have witnesses
who saw him hang the signal between
two trees at Egg Harbor to mark the
spot where Mr. Coughlin was to throw
off the $4,000 demanded in one of the
letters.
in the third place, we have his
long prison record to establish what
kind of a man he is and just how
much he would be willing to do or
dare for $4,000. He cannot show US
a place where he honestly earned
any money since he got out of Jail
on March 26 last, and yet we have
established that he had at least $4,000
before he was arrested.
Furthermore, we have his admis
sion that he was one of the parties
who took the money from the Swede
land trolley station after it was plac
ed there by Mr.. Coughlin, in com
pliance with The Cfank'S' directions"
Whether or not Pascal kidnapped
the Coughlin baby alone has not been
established.