New-York tribune., 1921-04-25
Girl Sought to
Link Ligi With
Wall St. Bomb
Prisoners Friend, Known as
Betty, Believed To Be
Able to Tell Where He
Was at Time of Explosion
Missing Since His Arrest
Detectives Say u. S. Agents
Slammed Door i'm Faces
q, Scranton Examination
Special Dispatch to The Trbxne

| lives Wno aio SSShan& TO discover
shsther Tito Ligi, arrested here as )
i sraft dodger. was connected with New
york's Wall Street bomb exposion of
| ssptember 16 last, began to search to-
say for young woman known on.y as
pe;ty. She is said to be friend of the
sssoner and has not been seen in her
usual haunts since his arrest.
The police suspect that his arrest
nsy have prompted her disappearance
md that perhaps she is in possession
II information which might be dam
ssing to Ligi. She is regarded as the
ssrsor most likely to know where Liri
vas on September 16 and to be able to
.pnhrm or deny his statement that he
rss in this city on that date.
Ligi, according to other prisoners in
.hs county Jail, laughs at his identif-
,s.ion by Thomas J. Smith, of New
York, as man Smith saw near the
/ bomb wagon. Although the police are
not satistiedNof the truth of his state
ment that he was in Scranton at the
tme of the explosion, they do not take
Mr.. Smiths identification too seriously,
ether. They admit that he believes
Ligi was the man he saw, but they be-
lisYe that Mr.. Smith was influenced
pnconsciously in his identification by
bis recollection of a picture of Ligi
yhlch he saw before leaving New York.
The detectives, both local and New
York men, think that the agents of the
pepartment of Justice are trying to
,upplant them in the case.
Charles Scully, an agent of the De-
usrtment of Justice, who brought three
PERSONS here yesterday to see if they
could identify the suspect, is said to
have misled the police as to the time
.; his arrival and, with the assistance
If P. J. Ahearn, another agent of the
nesses into the Office of the United
States Attorney while detectives Thon.-
IS Martin, of New York, and John Car
tusciello of this city, we're waiting at
the station to meet them.
Say Door Was Slammed in Faces
Discovering that they had been
ignored the two detectives hastened to
the United States Attorneys Office.
only to have the door Of the room
where the Federal agents were con-
duc.ing their examination slammed in
their faces when they attempted to
enter. When they managed to force
their way in at last they were able to
obtain no information whatever, it is
said.
Meanwhile. the authorities have q
positive, in fact a double Identification
Of Ligi, both by feature and voice.
Their effort at present is to corroborate
this through other persons, but the at
tempt has thus far failed. Nevcrthe-
less, should attorneys interested in
Mgi's defense succeed in securing him
lie freedom, they are prepared to arrest
i'm at once on charge more serious
laan that Of evading the draft.
Walter Nelles, the attorney whom
the Italian workers defense committee
sent to Scranton to investigate the
arrest of Ligi, announced yesterday
thai he had written to Attorney Cen
eral Daugherty protesting against the
Methods used in the attempt to connect
the prisoner with the Wall Street ex-
plosion. The danger was, he said, that
Lgi would be convicted "by public
declaration" rather than by evidence.
Captain Arthur Carey. of the Police
Departments homicide bureau, said
Yesterday that nothing mad bee found
70 change his opinion that Adolph La
Sar, who committed Suicide oa.urday
at 2l7 Carlton Avenue, Brooklyn, after
he took the explosive to Wall Street,
inter.
Suicide Day Ligi Was Identified
Other members of the department
we're inclined to think it significant.
however, that La Sar had made his
confession" and taken his own life
On the very day that Thomas j. Smith,
former Fire Department lieutenant,
mad identified Ligi as a man he had
seen standing beside the bomb wagon.
!. The police still are investigating
me statement made in La Sar's note
nat a Chicago man financed the ex-
plosion. They regard his statement
mat Columbus Avenue restaurant
proprietor also vas concerned in the
outrage as pure fabrication, inspired
0y spite, according to Captain Carey.
.s.sptaln Carey said that the search for
.ne .,s Chicago man was beng prosecuted,
although without much hope that he
would Would prove valuable find even if
discovered.