The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-11-15
SLEUTHS FIND new !.
GEWS IN MURDER
Of CHICAGO GIRLS
Police Find Man Believed to
Have Phoned Police Where
Actresses Bodies Could Be
Found


CHICAGO, Nov, Is. (By Interna-
tional News Service. .)--Chicago is
being combed today by police and
scores Of detectives for the slayers
of two young actresses whose bodies
were found on the shore of Lake
Michigan, in Grant park, only a few
blocks from the city's most famous
thoroughfare. Five men are being
held by the police an material wit
nesses and vigorous search is on
for others who may be sble to shed
light on the tragedy
Two new clews that may aid in the
solution of the mystery were un-
earthed by the police today in their
investigation of the murder.
The first was the finding of man
who is believed to have telephoned
the police the first news Of the mhr-
der. He is George Dixon, a special
agent for Conkling, Price e. Webb,
insurance agents.
1t was to the office of this firm
that the police traced the call.
Dixon, however, denied he had in
formed the police of the murder. He
is said to have admitted making two
calls from the office yesterday, but
asserted neither had to do with the
finding of the bodies
A second clew came from an un-
identified informant who told the
undertaking rooms where the bodies
lie that he had seen two young
women answering the description Of
the slain actresses quarreling with
two young men at Michigan avenue
and South Water street. The men,
he said, apparently were trying to
drag the women into an automobile
which was waiting at the curb.
The dead girls are Miss Marie
Alma Ramey vaudeville performer
and we'll known member of several
stock companies. and Miss Lillian
Thompson, whose stage activities
have been confined chiefly to carni-
val companies.
The five men detained by the poe
lice are James G. Meeks, Salt Lake
City, assistant electrician of the
Jane Cowl company playing here in
"Smilin' Through" Robert McCar-
thy, Boston, electrician for the same
company; Silvio and Peter Citti,
proprietors of a grocery store, and
James Comas, cook, said to have
been associated with the victims
Another clew on which the police
are at work is the tracks Of dia-
mond-tread tired automobile, clearly
defined, leading into Grant park TO
the spot where the bodies were
found The tread identatiepA indir
Gates that the car had been stopped
near the bodies. One of the girls
appeared to have been thrown from
the rear of the car and the other
from the side.
Mccarthy and Meeks identified the
bodies of the girls. The four had
been Lying in an apartment at 500
North Dearborn street
Silvio and Peter Citti were taken
! into custody after it had been re-
vealed the girls had obtained wine
at their store Saturday evening, a
few hours before their death. Comas
it is declared, had tolo the victims
they might obtain wine at Citti's. He
is a chef.
The theory police are working on
is that the girls were not slain where
their bodies were found but were
killed elsewhere and their bodies
transported in an automobile and
thrown out at this lonely spot, which
is shielded by an embankment.
Pools of blood nearby however,
and cuts and bruises on their bodies
indicated the girls had struggled for
their lives.
Mccarthy and Meeks admitted
they were not married to the girls
but both declared that they had
planned weddings. Miss Thompson
had been seeking divorce from
James McArdle carnival show per-
former