New-York tribune., 1922-08-03
Bakers Helper Found and
Questioned, Then Freed;
Chemists Analyze Every
Bit of Restaurant Food
Ant ExlerminatOrs
VIII Be Examined
ManyWho Say Other Food
Poisoned Them May BE
Victims of Imagination

Despite the fact that every resource
Of investigation has been brought %
bear. officials were obliged to admi,
last night that no tangible clew had
been obtained which might lead 70 the
detection Of the person responsible for
the placing Of arsenic In the food Of
the Shelburn Restaurant. 1927 Broad
way. and the consequent death Of six
persons.
Frank J. Monaghan. Acting Health
Commissioner, said his department
would complete this afternoon the
chemical analyses Of samples Of all
the foods in the restaurant on Monday
and that he would then make his re-
port to District Attorney Banton. Il
is believed this report will definitely
establish whether the arsenic was con-
fined TO the pic crusts or was present
also in any Of the other dishes.
Health Department officials are in
charge Of the restaurant and have
placed everything under lock and key.
Samples Of every article OF food, as
wall as scrspings from the pans in
which it was prepared, have been taken
70 the laboratory for examination.
Imagination Suspected
Evidence that poison may have been
in other food besides the pies was given
yesterday by nearly dozen persons
/ who had eaten no pie. but who were
/ quite i'll. The list Of dishes given by
/ them included almost every item on
/ the menu. This phase Of the matter
/ is being looked into by the District At
! torney, but Commissioner Monaghan
said he believed a great deal Of that
! evidence could be attributed 10 imagi-
nation. He based this assertion on the
/ fact that no trace OF poison has yet
I been found in anything except the pic
/ orusts.
! Mr.. Banton has summoned every one
who has even been remotely connected
with the restaurant TO appear before
| him to-day and these will be ques-
toned at length.
| Considerable time was spent yester-
day by Assistant District Attorneys
Joyce and Jones in questioning Louis
/ Freedman, twenty-five years old. Of
! 175 Delaney Street. Freedman was
/ the bakers helper who assisted Charles
Abramson in his work in the restau-
rant. Late in the afternoon Freed
man was released and permitted 20
go to his home. Neither Mr.. Banton
nor his assistants, all Of whom took
a hand in the quizzing, would divulre
what the man has told them. but il
! IL known that he denied all knowledge
Of the poison or how IL came 10 be in
the pie dough and said he did not mix
the dough.
Exterminators at Cafe
In his efforts to discover il il were
not possible that some rat or vermin
poison had been put into the ingrcdi-
ents of the pastry by mistake, Mr..
Banton discovered that the Bliss TX
terminator Company. Of 900 Eighth
4 Avenue, had been employed by the
restaurant TO rid the place Of ants.
Members Of this company will also be
summoned to appear before the Dis
trict Attorney.
Samuel Drexler, head OF the firm
which operates the Shclburn Rcstau-
rant, said that about a month ago the
restaurant was invaded By ants and
I the Bliss company was Cdlltu IU TO
exterminate them. They finished their
( job, he said. taking all Of their equip
ment way with them. He also declared
that il would have been impossible for
any ono TO put poison in the dough by
mistake for baking powder, for the
reason that baking powder was not
used at all, il being their custom %
use yeast in its place.
Mr.. Drexler was questioned by Cap
tain Carey Of the Homicide Bureau.
He placed in the window an offer 20
pay reward Of 81 1000 10 any one fur
nshing information which would lead
TO the arrest and conviction Of the
person or persons responsible for the
/ offense.
Mr. Banton said that three Of the
persons who died are definitely known
/ TO have eaten in the restaurant on
/ Monday. These are Joseph Laubheimer,
! IL West Sixty-ffth Street, who ate some
peach cake; Charles II. Roman. ll43
Lexington Avenue, who ate pie; and
! Lillian Goetz, 1862 Brook Avenue,
Bronx. who had some huckleberry pie.
Jacob Pfeffer, forty-eight years old,
an advertising man, who died on Tues
day, was buried yesterday in Mount
Zion Cemetery, Maspeth, l.. l.