Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-21
MYSTERY SHROUDS
TWO MEMS DEATHS
Burned and Beaten Victims
Were in Fight, Neigh
b0rs Think.
Special Dispatch TO The Star.

Specldt DlspdCCH u Aue SldT.
BALTIMORE, August 20.-With the
release of Michael (kiD Julian. local
boxer, tonight police admit they are
without clues in the case of the two
men who were found burned to death
after having been beaten in hold-up
at a Back River resort early today.
The dead men are John c. Harrahy.
35 years old, of Hishlandtown. and
Chester Pugh, 33 years old, proprietor
of saloon at Eastern avenue and
Eighth street.
Both men were found lying on the
Back River road shortly after mid
night, bruises all over their bodies and
their clothes almost burned from
them.
The combination of injuries result
ing from both the burns and beatings
they had received from blackjacks and
revolvers in the hands of the men who
attacked them caused their death. ac-
cording to physicians at the city hos
ital where they were taken.
Five Held on Suspicion.
The police released Julian tonight
four hours and making an investiga-
tion which corroborated his alibi that
he was at his home at the time the
crime was committed. Five other men
are being held on suspicion, but the
police admit that they have little evi
dence connecting them with the crime.
which is one of the most brutal in the
annals of police history.
Harrahy and Pugh told a. story of
having been dragged from their auto
| mobile by three men and beaten into
unconsciousness. They said they re-
gained consciousness in the shack in
which they were imprisoned and their
clothing was afire. They managed
to eXtinguish the flames and drag
themselves to the road where they
were found.
Harrahy's wife visited him shortly
before his death, and, according to the
police, he told her:
IF anything happens to me make
Chester Pughl tell who did it. He
knows"
He is said to have told the police
he could identify one of the three
men, but he died before it was pos.
| sib1e to bring any of the suspects be-
| fore him. That the two men knew
their assailants is verified by a story
| told by Milton Wolf, Daniel Ennis
and Edgar Wolf, who live a short
distance from the shack.
Story of Neighbors.
Milton Wolf declared he believed
! the victims of the attack deliberate
| withheld the names of the murderers
! and that they may have gone to the
! cottage where they received their in
! Jurles by arrangement with the men
who later beat them to death. The
VOLTS said they heard what sounded
like an explosion from the neighbor.
hood of the cottage and also the
! sounds of struggle. After a time the
> men armed themselves and drove to
the cottage. AS they approached they
said they heard calls for help. When
they reached the injured men, they
asked what had happened. They say
Pugh answered that they had been
held up and beated. shut up. Don't
talk so much" the Wolfs say Har-
rahy said to Pugh. Edgar Wolf
said he thought he heard the sound
| of motor such as is used on small
! boat, just before they found the men,
indicating that the men who are re.
sponsible for the death left the spot,
not in an automobile, as was first
supposed, but in a boat.
| Hc pOlltS say tHSre are SeNoTdI
angles to the case which they are
now trying to clear up. Both of the
dead men were known, according to
the police, as being engaged in boot
Logging, and the place where the
assault occurred is said to be honey
combed with stills.
Money Found on Victim.
One of the theories advanced is that
the two men were injured in an ex-
plosion of still and brought to the
shack where they were found after.
ward. 1t is believed by the police
that the quarreling which the VOLTS
claim to have heard was done by the
men who were with the two dead men,
and that they started quarreling over
the best way to get out Of the diff.
Guilty without giving away the fact
that they had been operating still.
The police do not believe that the
men were taken to the shack un-
conscious. saturated with oil and set
afire, as the shack showed no signs
of the fire outside of the burnt
clothing.
That robbery was not the motive of
the crime is proven. according TO the
police. by the fact that a roll of bills
amounting to 5000, partly burned, was
found in Harrahy's pockets.