The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1920-08-26
TRUNK MURDERER"
IS UNDER ARREST.
MAN WHO is BELIEVED TO
HAVE KILLED HIS WIFE AND
SHIPPED BODY CAUGHT.

Leroy, wanted by the police of De-
troit, in connection with the murder
of woman supposed to be his wife
was arrested on board the British
frieghter Dryden, which arrived here
late yesterday.
Leroy was a member of the crew.
The ship will proceed to Buenos
Aires, and then to New York, where
Leroy will be turned over to the Of
ficers at New York
Story of the Brutal Crime
NEW YORK,-The ''trunk muir
der' mystery in connection with
which Eugene Leroy was being
sought by detectives all over the
country and in Canada and Mexico,
F.! has ramifications which extend from
New York to Michigan, Missippi and
| Alabama.
A few minutes after an employe of
| the American Railway Express Com
pany here had discovered the nude
and mutilated body of young wo-
man in trunk stored in the unclaim-
ed baggage warehouse, police of New
York and Detroit began following the
train of evidence which let to the
victims Identification as Mrs. Kath-
and the location of A. A. Tatum,
whose name and Detroit street ad-
dress were found marked on the
trunk which concealed the crime for
more than a month.
At 105 Harper street, Detroit, Ia
tum was unknown but some one there
told detectives that young couple
known as Mr.. and Mrs. E. Leroy had
disappeared from that address about
June 10, the date on which the trunk
was shipped to New York.
The publicity given these two
names, Leroy and Tatum, brought
forward Andrew J. Branic, New
York expressman who said he knew
Leroy under the name of Fernandez.
He told the police he had handled
trunk for Fernandez or Leroy, who,
he said, also used the name of 0. j.
Woods. He produced letter from
Leroy, enclosing check for the
trunk in which the body was later
found, asking that it be removed
from the express warehouse and
stored by Branic until Leroy should
call for it.
Detroit policeman, Leo Trumbull,
then came to the front, declaring that
he and his wife, knew the young wo-
man who lived with Leroy as his wife
at the Harped Avenue address. When
the body Of the murdered woman ar
rived in Detroit, Trumball and his
wife identified it as "Mrs. Leroy"
Then from the south came positive
word that "Mrs. Leroy" was really
Mrs. Jackson, wife of Kid Mccoy
Jackson of Sturgis, Mississippi.
"The town was too small for Kitty
Lou and she went away" Jackson
said, when asked to tell what he knew
of his wife's wanderings.
Next Tatum, the man whose name
appeared on the mysterious trunk,
walked into police headquarters at
Birmingham, Alabama and explained
his connection with the case.
He told the authorities that he had
known Mrs. Jackson in Birmingham,
where he works as a linotype oper-
ator. At her invitation, he said, he
visited her in Detroit, where she told
him she had married Leroy and that
he was terribly jealous" Shortly
Tatum said, he returned |
to Birmingham He declared that |
the next he heard of the woman was
when he read of the discovery of her /
body.
Reports have poured in from every
quarter of the continent indicating
that Leroy had been seen in this or
that place. A $4,000 reward offered |
by the police of Detroit stimulated |
the search and he was reported va
riously as escaping to Canada, hiding
in Mexico, sailing for Brazil and the I
Bahamas and under arrest in Chica-
go.