Evening star., 1922-07-21
WOMAN SLAIN,
BABY At BREAST,
IN RIVER SHACK
Three Arrests Follow Find
Near Aqueduct Bridge on
Virqinia Side.

still clutching at her breast and her
almost nude body bearing the scars
of a brutal beating, Mrs. James Cop
perthite, wife of the keeper of a
general store at New Cut and Canal
roads. was found in the rear room OF
a shack on the west side of the Little
river. a few hundred feet east of the
Aoueduct bridge, early today.
Thomas Brennan, L. J. Vaughn OF
Washington and Mrs. Adelaide
Rhodes were arrested shortly after
the body was discovered by sherifi
A. c. Clements and Deputy Sherln
Kines of Arlington county and lodg-
ed in Arlington county jail for In"
vestigation in connection with the
crime. Joseph Reynolds, a fourtf
man said to have been seen Witf
those mentioned, is being sought b!
the police. An inquest Will be heit
later this afternoon.
Scene Of Alleged Orgies.
On a narrow cot in the rear room
of a three-roomed hut, said by those
living in the neighborhood to have
been frequently used for clandestint
meetings and drinking orgies, the
body of the dead woman was 1ouno
NV Virginia police officers, notihed ps
Vaughn. The body was devoid OF any
c,othine except shoes and stockings
and when the officers reached tne
Scene at 4:45 O'Clock this morning
Iosenh Copperthite, the little curly
haired child of the woman, was clasp
ing it's; mothers breast.
Hurried investigation by the ON
GERS disclosed that Brennan, Naushn
and the Rhodes woman had oeeh seer
at the shack earlier in the day yes
terday. and after careful search the
three were found in another nut
few hundred feet away. They Were
ALI arrested. Reynolds, VINO, the ponce
think, was also of the party, is lht
proprietor of timing shop on 70.
tomac street, Georgetown. A requesl
for his arrest has been sent by Sherif
Elements to the local police depart
ment.
NeiGhbors Tell OF Row.
From fragmentary evidence secured
from those living near the scene oi
the crime, a row, which ended in the
death of the woman, started earl!
Yesterday afternoon, and continued
Members of the party were said te
have been drinking.
Both Louise Jones and her sor
William, colored, who live near the
shack. told a representative of The
Star that they had seen a man hi
Mrs Copperthite two or three times
yesterday afternoon.
The description of the man giver
by them, the sheriff says, fits that ol
Brennan.
on the bench outside the house, said
ycune Jones "Then another man came
i'm and hit him. and then the first mar
hit him back and knocked him ma
on his back. They carried the woman
in the house then.
Mrs. Jones virtually corroboratet
her sons story, and added that the
lighting inside the hut continued fol
YES" She Said, "they had all beer
drinking, and sometimes the noiss
and fighting would stop, and then 4
would start up again:
When c. J. Ives of Clarendon ar
| rived to take the body, closer in
yestigation OF the premises wa!
| made.
Dinner Dishes Unattended.
That the party had just finished
dinner was shown by the condition
of the dining room, where soup
| watermelon rinds anu other edible'
| were strewn over the table. In thu
| room where the body lay man!
bIoodstained articles of woman's ap
parel were scattered aro md. A dolla
I bill lay on phonograph, while man
! yellow shirt was rolled up with othel
| stained articles. A bloody petticoat
wrapped in a yesterdays newspaper
Law on q table in a thi I'd room.
Closer examination of the mans
shirt revealed folded slip of paper
| in the pocket, on which was scribblec
| a telephone number.
Two bruises on the dead woman
| body. one across the left eye. and one
| in the middle of the spine. were sucl
that might have been made with a ifs
or some blunt instrument. Her moutf
and cheeks were sTollen. Bloodstains
dotted the pillow On which her heat
! .ested. and a few werc found on the
| covering.
Several Letters Found.
saveral letters addressed to Mrs
! Ade,a,de Rhodes were also picked vi
! In the hut. These were of persona
nature and hah no bearing on thu
| crime.
| Questioned in the presence of Sheriff
| Clements. Mrs. Jones said that thu
| meetings between the same parties
seen in the hut last night had beei
unite frequent. and on all such occa
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