The Washington times., 1922-07-02
direct clue from . wholly unex-
nsrta<l sof,roa

Cambridge. arrested . man last
Saturday night rs . suspicious
character. There was no thought
In the officers mind Of the
Brewster murder. nor was there
anything convicting about the
prisoners appearance. McLAugh-
lin acted merely on suspicion--Or.
to phrase It better. on q hunch-
that the stranger would look
better behind bars. At the sta
ton house the prisoner said he
was Charles Tindall. Of Quincy.
and denied that he had commit
ted or was planning any breach
Of the peace.
The police, for formality's sake.
questioned him closely and by
chance mentioned the Brewster
murder. Tindall amazed them by
declaring that he knew something
Of that affair. though he insisted
that LIE had not been concerned
in It He said that Private John
hawthorn, Of tho marine corps,
stationed at Charleston navy
yard. outside Boston. had killed
the station agent. He quoted the
marine as having said to him. two
months ago:
Winchester looks soft for Q
knock-off and there's 5000 in the
safe there. usually"
After the crime. Tindan said.
Lawhorn told him he had tried to
put It over, but that after killing
the agent tho door Of the oftico
had shut and locked itself by an
inside snap. The arrival Of pros.
pective passenger seeking q ticket
had frightened the slayer away.
according to Tindall's story, ana
30 the money was untouched.
CONFLICTING QUESTIONS.
Search at the navy yard showed
that hawthorn had been transferr ed
about ten days after tho murder
to ouantico, Va An order for his
return to Charleston under guard
was requested and this was
ordered by the military authorities.
Private hawthorn at ouantico do
MED the informer's story In fun.
Inquiry at Charleston revealed
strange circumstances concerning
Lawthorn's activities. For one
thing, he was q sharpshooter Of
note with rife and pistol. Would
such q marksman use four bullets
at short range to itll . man. and
miss twice at 20 largo . tarsetf
Would such q man, schooled In the
necessity for silence. allow four
reports to resound, even when q
train was passingf It did not ap-
pear reasonable. Yet there was the
detailed. dovetaiiins statement Of
Ttndall. standing up under cross
and criss-cross examination.
But the pistol with which Brew
ster was shot was an old-fashioned
weapon, Of q type that has been
long since discarded as uncertain
and cumbersome in military use.
Would marine use such a gun7
Or would It not be possible that he
would use It to throw off the sus-
picion that steel-jacketed auto
matte pistol bullets might draw to
him7
The detectives turned to the
records to ascertain Lawthorn's
whereabouts on tho night Of the
killing. To their amazement, the
records showed that the suspected
man had been on duty from . a. m.
on April 20 to a. m. on April 21
and the murder was done almost
exactly in the middle Of that Pc
riod, that is. at sA5 p. m. on
April 20.
Further, messmates and petty
officers of the yard stated that
they had seen the accused mar on
duty through that time and the
guards at the gate asserted that
he had not passed them, while
officers stated that no official pass
had been issued to him.
Following this. hawthorn broke
his consistent silence to explain
that he could not have committed
the murder because he was on duty
in the yard at the time and that
he could provide an alright alibi
for every hour.
ANOTHER WOMAN ENTERS.
But Tindall, the man who had
squealed. mentioned a girl. Ruth
Claire MCGOWAN. OF Winchester,
an eighteen-year old telephone
operator, rs q "flame" Of the ma.
rine who might know something
Of the case, Detectives sped to
her homo to question her. for by
some strange chance. Ruth was
one Of the few inhabitants who had
contributed nothing to the local
scsstp OF the case and had not been
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