The Washington times., 1922-07-13
STRUGGLES
FUR|0USLY
To ESCAPE
MARAUDER
Mrs. n. Campbell Graef Victor
in 15-Minute Battle.
Intruder Escapes.

Viciously attacked by q hurley
intruder in her home at Thirty
fifth and Volta place northwest,
Mrs. Emily Graef. forty-six years
old, prominent socially here and
the wife Of H. Campbell Graef,
wealthy retired importer. early
today was the victor in a desper-
ate fifteen-minute battle.
The intruder cut short his at
tempts to overpower Mrs. Graef
after the woman made q lunge
for the telephone, succeeding In
getting the receiver off and
yelled, "Helpl Police. helpl' 81
Struck With sandbag. ".
Mrs. Graef today fssaisdsr the
care Of a physician. suffering from
bruises over the head, left eye and
mouth. The blow over the head
was said to have been done with
sandbag, the bruise over the eye
by the mans fist, and the bruise
In the mouth the result Of the
mans attempt to gag her.
Police of every precinct and a
half dozen headquarters detectives
for the robber. An arrest is ex-
pected momentarily.
II was awakened because l was
unable to get my breath" said
Mrs. Graef describing the attack,
When opened my eyes I could
see nothing. Then suddenly
realized that something had been
thrown over my face.
Il felt a weight on my chest,
and then something struck me. I,
fought desperately and managed to
get the cloth off my fact so I
could see. saw a man over me
and I fought until was nearly
exhausted. He tried to choke me
several times
Florence Corpening and Viola
Clark. servants, attracted by the
woman's cries, rushed to her aid.
Police, were called and In a few
minutes nearly a dozen police and
detectives were at the home.
Investigation showed the man en-.
tered the house through a rear
window. This window had iron
bars over 1t, but the man managed
to separate two of them. using q lead
pipe several feet long.
Mrs. Graef was unable to say
whether the man was white or
black. Police are convinced the
man has been in the house before,
and believe that he knew Mrs. Graef
was alone, except for the two wom-
en- servants.
Robbery is said by the police 10 be
the motive for the intrusion, and
the police are inclined to believe the
man also attempted to assault Mrs.
Graf, but was frustrated by the
woman's heroic battle.
Severely Beaten.
The man was attempting 20 tie
Mrs. Graefs hands with a cord
when she awakened. He then at
tempted to gag her by putting a rag
in her mouth. Failing In both OF
these moves, he rained several
blows on her head And face.
Mrs. Graef. however. continued
her fight despite the blows she re-
ceived., Police consider the woman's 3
| fighting remarkable. for not since,
during or after the fight, did she
| collapse or faint. When police
| reached the house she coolly related
to them how she was attacked.
Mrs. Graef Tells Story.
IT certainly was frightened, but
not too frightened to put~up fight,
declared Mrs. Graef today, When I
awoke and felt someone striking me
realized my life probably was at
stake.
1T fought with the man more than
| fifteen minutes. At first could see
nothing for he had put out light
in the room and placed a sheet over
my head. 1t was pitch dark and was
a case of fighting an unseen force.
| ."I struggled the best I could, but
each minute he seemed to get the
better OF me. thought sure he
would overpower me. After had
fought a few minutes / managed 70
get one arm free and reach the tele'
phone.
Then / took the receiver off and
called out help police; as loud as
could. This scared the man and he
released his hold on me and fed.
was very weak, but managed to
reach the phone again"
A bruise over Mrs. Graefs fore,
head shows signs Of her having been
struck by n sand bag or something
CONTINUED on Page 4 Column ~