The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-10-11
HOLD EPSTEIN
FOR LYNCHING
WILLIAM BELL
TwO Men Identity Him
as Slayer


Otto Epstein, 1911 18th ST.,
was held to the grand Jury for
killing of William Bell, the
Negro who was brutaIIy muir
dered with a baseball bat on the
corner of Maxwell and 18th ST.,
Wednesday night, and Irving
Rockowitz, 1o45 Newberry Ave-,
was held as an accessory to the
murder, by the coroner's jury,
sitting in the county morgue
yesterday.
Both men will go before the
grand jury in the criminal court
building.
Two men, Albert Harper, 1045 18th
ST., and Thomas Clark, 104S 18th St.,
positively identified Epstein as the
man who struck down Bell with
baseball bat Wednesday night. Harry
Crawford, owner Of pool hall at
1889 Miller St., repeated to coroner
Samuel Davis the testimony printed
exclusively in yesterdays DAILY
WORKER that it was two white men
in Ford car who accosted Betty
Goldblatt and Bertha Deutsch, who
gave the alarm that led to the lynch
ing of Bell, and not Negro.
Bertha Deutsch, in her testimony,
withheld the incident of the Ford car
stopping to chat with her until George
G. Adams, attorney for George Bell,
brother Of the murdered man, brot
out the facts in his cross examination.
II forgot to mention that" said
Bertha Deutsch, who was the first
witness. "a man in an auto was
driving by and he called out, Going
our way girls?' But we paid no at
tention." Miss Deutsch, who is de-
cidedly the "flapper" type, with cheap
artificial flowers decorating her hat,
and paint on her face, admitted to
Mr.. Adams that her mother had open
ed the door for her and asked her
what had happened, after she and
Betty Goldblatt ran upstairs, but said
she didn't remember" whether or not
she told her mother what had &C.
Cured. og
Bell Never Before In'TroubIe.
Ernest Bell, brother Of the Negro
who was lynched, testified that his
brother never spent his time in pool
rooms Of the neighborhood, that he
was laborer in a starch factory, that
he roomed with his brother, and that
he last saw him alive at eight thirty
that night. He declared that his
brother had never before been in any
trouble, and never had cross word
in him." that he never drank and was
perfectly sober when he left the
house.
Betty Goldblatt declared she could
not identify Bell as the man who had
accosted her. I'VE couldn't imagine
that anyone had been killed over that"
she declared. Miss Goldblatt said she
did not visit the %pe shop until after
Bell had been killed. She testified
that "Jack, 30 and Epstein and a
whole bunch came back from Bells
body while we were there, and that
Epstein went to call the police.
Albert Harper declared, II was with
William Bell when he was killed. Ep-
stein came up to us as we were walk.
ing south on Miller st., near 14th,
followed by two men, Epstein had a
baseball bat in his left hand. He ask
ed us, What are you looking for and
before we had time to answer he hit
me on the nose, making it bleed. Ep-
stein then transferred the bat to his
right hand and hit Bell a death blow
on the head. 1 turned and fed" All
efforts Of Epstein's lawyer to shake
Harper's Identification failed. "Ep-
stein is the man." Harper repeated,
Il am positive of it.
Bell Killed by First Blow.
Thomas Clark declared while he
was standing on the corner of Miller
and 14th SITS, he saw the two girls
talking to white man. Then the
man walked away from them and they
ran direcly across the street to the
wine shop. l saw white man strike
Bell with a bat. / think the first
blow killed Bell. AS he started to
run he was struck down.
II came back and walked over and
found him dead, and then went and
summoned his brother. l believe Ep-
stein was the man who killed him"