Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-10
GUNNER CONFESS
'900THERCR|MES
POLICE DECLARE
-
Aver Robbers of D. c. Store
Have Criminal Records
in Two Cities.

Following a grueling examination al
police headquarters yesterday after
noon, the two men held for robbing
William Gilderhorn. 1928 Pennsylvania
avenue, and for shooting Detective
Frank Alligood and Edwin Il. Monk
Friday night. last evening confessed
their true identity. The men had
stated at the time of their arrest that
they were Joseph Homer and Walter
Randall of Toledo, Ohio. They SAID
last evening, however, they were
Thomas Maggie and James Hughes OF
Cam bridge, Mass.
The men were questioned at head
quarters by Inspector Grant, chief OF
detectives; members of his squad and
by Detectives Roche and kahler OF
Baltimore.
I'm married and have wife and
child in Cambridge" said Hughes,
land would like the privilege of writ
ing my wife a letter.
His request was granted and let
ter was started on its way to his wife
to let her know of his trouble and
whereabouts.
Having revealed their identity, the
prisoners told much of their travels
about the country. They had been
chums in Cambridge years ago, they
stated. Hughes being an automobile
mechanic and Maggie waiter in lunch
rooms. Their boyhood acquaintance
was renewed in Philadelphia a short
time ago, Hughes parents. he stated,
residing at 227 sgd street, West Phil
adelphia.
Each looked upon the other as being
crooked, they stated. and each felt
the other out until they placed them
selves on the same level. Then they
started out on the career which ended
in hoS IN oil y
A bottle containing chloroform,
enough to kill a number of persons.
was found in their grip the police
recovered from a hotel room in this
city where the pair registered as w.
J. Randolph and F. Shaw, Detroit,
Mich. In one of the grips the de-
tectiveS also found part Of roll OF
adhesive plaster. remnants Of which
they used to seal the lips of man
they robbed in a room in hotel in
Philadelphia, they stated.
e, Confess Other "Jobs.''
The prisoners said they had travelled
in the west. Their admissions OF
having pulled off, jobs in Philadel-
phia will prove particularly pleasing
they were referred to as the hand
cuff thieves" having used handouts
on some of their victims. They told
of the loss of a pair of handouts on
a street car in Baltimore, Friday.
after they had held up merchant.
and said its recovery was advertised
in Baltimore paper that afternoon.
Frederick w. He'll, 1921 North
Charles street. Baltimore. appeared at
police headquarters and fully identl-
fed the prisoners as the individuals
who had handcuffed and robbed him
several hours before they appeared
at the store in this city.
fpo h0 =
ance and travels about the country.
the prisoners said they met in Phila-
c<lelphia, September 26, and the fol-
lowing day held up man in haber-
dasftery, and robbed him of $35 or
$40. and the hat Maggie wore at the
of the proceeds of that crime.
Rob Cigar Store.
Two days later, they stated. they
bound and gagged the clerk and OBJ
tanned a small sum of money. The
next day, according to their confess
sions, they appeared at a haber-
dashery in Germantown, suburb OF
Philadelphia, and made a small haul.
From there. they said. they went
to Wilmington, Del, and Chester. Pa.
tering at a hotel. BY a clever ruse.
they stated, they succeeded in gain
ing entrance to the room of a guest.
They said they chloroformed the
guest and used adhesive plaster over
his mouth to prevent him from max
ing an outcry.
Leaving Philadelphia after robbing
the hotel guest. they told the police,
they went to Baltimore. Friday morn
ing they went to the store on North
Charles street. where they said they
robbed He'll and left him handcuffed
in a room in the rear of the store
Making a success of that undertake
ing, they came to- this city on an
interurban car and selected the
Pennsylvania avenue merchant as
the one. to rob. Had it not been that
they made a bad job of their efforts
to tie him to one of the heating
pipes, they said, no shooting would
probably would have remained a
mystery.
Quizzed ON Murder.
Detectives Kahler and Roche re-
MANNED in this city all day and part
off last night, anxious to learn all
they could of the work of the two
prisoners in the Monumental city.
They were particularly anxious to
learn If the prisoners were implicat-
Walter F. Pattengail, on the Annap-
oils road, near Westport. and the
robbery and chloroforming of a wom-
an at 928 Madison street. Baltimore.
Nagle and Hughes denied implica-
tioR In either crime. Inspector Grant
said that nothing to connect them
with either crime had been obtained
by his men or the Baltimore detec-
tivea The bullet taken from Patten-
gakl's body and that taken from De-
teokfve, Alligood. he said. were iden-
tical. They were steel-nose bullets
of the same calibef.
Inspector Grant will communicate
with the police of Philadelphia and
Cambridge. Mass, in an effort to OBJ
tain additional information about the
prisoners and to enable the Philadel-
phia police to send members of their
force here to get information as to
what the prisoners did in that city.
Attending physicians reported last
night that Detective Alligood was
m{re than holding his own. His con-
dition was as good as attending
surgeons could reasonably expect. it
was stated. and hope for his recov-
cry was held out to police officials.
Monk, who was wounded in the thigh,
is mot dangerously hurt. it was re-