The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-10-12
LINK KILLING
IN Fl. wayne
WITH CAR ring
Left Handed Man Is Sought
as Marion Durbin'S
Murderer.
SQUEALING WAS FEARED
Robbery Not Motive; Gems
and Money Ignored at
Death Scene.
BY BEN STERN

The bludgeon blows which beat
Marion Durbin to death in her
deliberately furnished TT. Wayne
apartment Sunday morning, may
send one Indianapolis underworld
character to the chair and beat
home Federal cases against mem
berS of the interstate auto theft
ring, whom Government agents
will arrest when they are located.
Circumstantial details which
Charles Bridges, State police lieu
tenant, and Ft. Wayne police are
attempting to dovetail will, if
proved, throw new light upon the
operations Of the auto ring and may
reveal the identity of members of a
holdup gang who operate in the
State.
Marion Durbin, also known as
Ruth Freeland, a figure in Indian
apoliS ten years ago was not muir
dered for her jewelry, because when
her body was found by maid Mon
day morning valuable rings re-
manned on her fingers, police records
show.
Search Not for Money
The drawers of her dressers and
tables and trunk had been ran
sacked, but it was not for money.
Bloody fingerprints were found in
two pocketbooks in the apartment.
Both pocketbooks, one identified by
Negro maid as belonging to the
slain woman, were empty.
Information in possession of in
vestigatorS reveal that when in
Indianapolis Marion Durbin was the
friend of characters in police annals.
While living in FIT. Wayne, police
have information that she was Wis
tied often by both Chicago and
indianapolis men with police rec
ordS.
She was deep in the condolences
of these men, police know.
She was particularly intimate and
had been seen in FIT Wayne in the
company of an indianapolis man
sought by police, whose record is
known to be bad.
Killer Was Left Handed
The man who killed Marion Dur
bin struck her first on her right
cheek, breaking the cheek bone.
Wi, re IF Nn Ill Oh
blow to have been struck by left
hand.
That first blow sent Marion Dur
bin to the wall telephone to call for
aid.
The telephone was struck off the
wall by IL e slayer, who then hit
her on the head, probably with the
butt of a pistol.
Police are attempting to learn
who her companions we're at a road
house where she was reported to
have been Saturday night.
Her body was found Monday. She
was believed to have been dead
about twenty-four hours when
found, and the murder could have
been committed late on Sunday
morning.
At 10 o'clock Sunday night, while
pedestrians were on their way home
from the theater district, two ban
dts held up the Thomas Cohen dry
goods store, 928 Massachusetts Ave,
took more than $1,000 in cash and
escaped in an automobile.
Rob Filling Station
Sunday night in Fl. Wayne two
bandits answering the description
of the perpetrators of the Indian
apolis robbery held up a Silver Flash
filling station in Ft. Wayne and es-
capped in exactly the same type car
used in the robbery here.
Portrait of an Indianapolis man
wanted by police here was identi-
fled partially by the filling station
attendant as one of the two holdup
men. Bridges says.
This same man is known to have
been an intimate friend of Marion
Durbin. He was connected with
high powered underworld characters
here.
He is left-handed.
Marion Durbin was deep in the
confidence of underworld characters
believed to have been connected
with the interstate auto theft ring
Feared She Would "Squear
She may have had in her pos
session information which would
have thrown light upon Indiana
bank robberies and other crimes.
Such information, Bridges says,
may have been written
Possible motive for the murder:
Marion Durbin in a moment of
anger may have threatened to have
turned her information over to
State and Federal officials investi-
eating Indiana's crime rings.
Dead women tell no tales" says
Bridges.