New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-07-25
Expressman Gives Letters
Indicating Slayer Nego-
tiated With Him to Get
Body From Warehouse
Victims Clothes
Sent to Detroit
Names STatum,' Leroy
and Woods, in Same
Hand, Figure i'm Mystery

Letters and other information given
to the police by New York express
man yesterday are expected to lead to
the discovery of the slayer of the
young woman whose nude body was
found in a trunk in the warehouse Of
the American Railway Express Com
pany, at 22S East Forty-fourth Street,
Friday.
Andrew J. Branie, who operates
the New York and Brooklyn Express
at 2l2 West Thrty-6fth Street, told
the authorities that he had received a
letter on June IL from a man in De-
troit, signing himself A. A, Tatum, or
derlng him to pick up a trunk sent from
that city on June 10. He said that in
January he received letter in the
same handwriting from man named
U. j.: Woods directing him to send a
cfunK to =. Leroy, care Of the Y. NJ. CA.
IN Detroit. This letter, he declared,
was accompanied by a check for S25
to cover loan of $40 and storage
charges. He said he sent the trunk as
directed and got n receipt.
Tins information is regarded as of
the highest value by the police, in view
OF the fact that the directions on the
trunk containing the BODY indicated
that 1T was sent by A. A. Tatum, OF
100 Harper Street, Detroit. The ,wney
or the apartment house at that address
mas SAID that a Mr.. and Mrs E. Lerov
had come to the place on June 7. and
that the man hurriedly left the place
with two trunks on June 10 without
his wife,
The Tatum Letter
The letter signed A. A. Tatum reads ::
y our express was recommended to
me by former patron. | am sending
my trunk to you, prepaid Will YOU
please get the trunk and hold it until
come, and l will pay cartage and
storage when l arrive"
Inc express company receipt, which
accompanied the letter, Indicated tina t
the trunk was addressed to James
Douglas, New York City. A tag with
his name on it was attached to the
trunk containing the body.
That the murdered girl NAV be from,
New York was suggested by a tele-
phone call made to the Offices of the
American Railway Express Company
yesterday. person who said she was
Miss Sullivan, of the Jayburg- Miller
Company, Incorporated, baking equip
ment company, OF 1877 Hudson Street,
told officials of the express company
that the description of the body fitted
That OF sister who had run away to
Detroit about year ago. She was
| referred to the Police Department.
Branic said the appearance of the
IatuW name in the papers in connec-
ton with the case recalled to him some
letters he had in his desk with the
same name. The latest of these letters
was the one asking him to get the
trunk shipped from Detroit on June
10 to James Douglas.
He said he took the receipts accom-
panying the letter to the express com
pany yard at Thirty-third Street and
Tenth Avenue and then to the ware
house at 228 West Forty-fourth Street
The trunk could be found at neither
place, he said, the company officials
declaring no such trunk was listed on
their books. Branic pigeon-holed the
letter until he came across the refer
ences in the paper to A. A. Tatum.
The expressman tells story of
meeting two men from South America,
named A. j. Fernandez and Joseph
Yanez, in October, 1918 At that time
they appeared at his place and
Fernandez asked him to get trunk
WHICH was then at the Pennsylvania
Station. They represented themselves
as expert chauffeurs and auto me-
chanics, who had been employed at the
Antonio, Tex. He kept the trunk a
month and the men then went to
Philadelphia, where he was told they
obtained employment in an airplane
| factory
Shortly afterward Yanez came back
and took a room in the Spanish colony
on Sixtythird or Sixty-fourth Street
Fernandez came to the city in July for
trip. A little later man giving his
name as 0. ]. Woods was arrested in
connection with an automobile acct
dent in Brooklyn involving the death
of a man. Fernandez, according to
arrested under the name of o. j.
Woods. He was in Jail until August
when he was released on bail In Oc-
tober of the same year he skipped to
Toledo, Ohio, said Branic, and then
went to Detroit, from which city he
wrote to him in December 1919.
Trunk Sent to Detroit
In July. 1919, shortly before his
trip to Toledo, Branic says, O. j
Woods asked him to get a trunk at
an address at West Sixty-thrd Street
and keep it for him until he wanted it.
On January 7, 1920, Woods, says Bran
ic, paid the charges and ordered the
trunk shipped to "E. Leroy, care of the
Y. M. C. A, Detroit" 1t was then
said Branic, that he learned of the
automobile accident. He said he had
RENTED a check for $6.7S to "E. Lee
roy" in Detroit, after deduct:ng the
charges from q check for s25 which
Leroy had sent him for his services
and that this check had been received
by Leroy and cashed by him.
Fernandez and Yanez, said Branic
were dark comDlexioned and fairly
Continued page I9)