The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-03-07
Recent Arrests Made by
Slain PatroIman Are
Checked by WorIey.
KILLERS CAR is SOUGHT
Theory Is Advanced That
BoOtIeggerS Are Guilty
of Crime.

| offered today for information lead
ing to the arrest and conviction Of
the murderer or murderers who shot
Patrolman Norman Schoen, 29-year-
old World War veteran, in the back
almost in front of his home at 88
N. Irvington Ave, Monday night.
Harry F. Gompf, official Of the
Lindeman Wood Finish Company,
a personal friend of the murdered
officer, offered $100 reward.
Police Chief Claude M. Worley
personally offered the other 500
and directed the slayer hunt.
Schoen was returning from duty
in his downtown 'beat" when he
was shot down shortly after II p. m.
His body was found face down.
ward, between the curb and the
grass plot in front of the first house
south of his home.
An automobile, believed a ChrySler
coupe, was parked in front of the
same house and two persons told
detectives they heard a whistle and
saw the car start up about the
time of the shot which killed Schoen.
Flashlight in Hand
Schoen's f1aShlight was clutched
in his right hand, indicating he had
stepped forward to investigate the.
machine parked on the wrong side
of the street. His revolver was in
his pocket.
The bullet entered the left side
of his back and ranged upward to
the lower part of the heart, indi-
eating he was shot from below or
that he was STOPPING.
The possibility that the machine
belonged to burglars about to rob a
house in that neighborhood, when
Schoen interrupted, was suggested
by Capt. Jesse McMurtry.
Other officers and members Of his
family suggested he was ambuShed
by bootleggers or other law violators
whose enmtiy he had aroused.
McMurtry ordered Sergt. Michael
Morrissey to bring in for question
ing man Schoen had arrested sew
eral weeks ago on a drunken driv-
ing charge.
No definite description Of the au-
tomobile seen speeding away from
the scene was obtained. Burton B.
Smith 2l10 College Ave, visiting at
5526 Lowell Ave, and William H.
Frosch rs N. Irvington Ave, heard
the shot, the whistle, and saw the
car race away. The machine turned
east on Lowell Ave. and circled
back to E. Washington ST., it is be-
lieved.
Student Finds Body
A dozen motorists reported see
ing the car headed cast on the Ma
tional Road
Several other neighbors heard the
shot, but believed the auto was back
firing. Ohio Bell, Butler student,
visiting at rs N. Irvington Ave-, saw
the body as he left a few minutes
later.
He called DR.. j. x. Kingsbury. ~
N. Irvington Ave. Schoen died be-
fore he could be moved into his
home.
Neighbors called out his wife,
Ruth, at home with their two chill
dren, Betty, 5, and Henrietta, 2.
Mrs. Schoen said she knew Of no
enemies who might have wished re-
venge on her husband. He never
told her Of his police activities, she
said.
Sensing that some trouble was
about to befall the family, she was
melancholy and cried several times
Monday afternoon, members of the
family said.
Heard PrOwler Night Before
Possibility that the murdererS had
planned the ambush for the night
before was suggested by Miss Fran
ces Ieyne, a rooner at the Schoen
home, who said she heard a prowler
in the rear Of the house Monday
night. She ran onto the back porch
and the prowler ran.
Schoen enlisted in the Rainbow
Division with two of his brothers
the day the United States entered
the World War. Two months later
he was discharged because Of de-
fective eyesight.
In the fall of that year he en-
listed in the 148th Aero Squadron,
motor transport service, and for
fourteen months drove an am
munition truck in France.
He was a cousin of Lieut. Karl
Schoen, Indianapolis World War
ace, for whom Schoen Flying Field
at TT. Benjamin Harrison was
named.
Schoen was born at 5901 Lowell
Ave, five blocks away from the
scene Of his death, where his
mother Mrs. Mary j. Schoen, now
lives. Besides the widow and their
two children, sister, Miss Cora T.
Schoen, indianapolis; and three
brothers, Waldo, San Francisco, and
Roy M. and Harold l., Indianapolis,
also survive him.
Schoen attended Technical High
School and had been associated with
his family in the Schoen Brothers,
cleaners, Gil N. Pennsylvania St,
before he joined the police force in
February, 1927. He was a motor
cycle officer assigned to the park
department. until he was transferred
to patrolman's duty two months
ago. He was a member Of the
Irvington M. e. Church.