The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-11-20
Phone CALL IS
SOLE CLEW To
BRUTAL DEATH
Theater Chief Wantonly
Shot Down at N . in
His Auto.
WIFE GETS MESSAGE
Mysterious Voice Asks
Where Husband Could
Be Located.
WIFE GETS MESSAGE

A telephone call and meager de-
scriptions we're the only clews po-
lice had today to the gunmen who
ruthlessly shot down Paul T. Pull
liam, 35, of 1880 East Sixteenth
street, general manager Of the chain
of six motion picture theaters oper-
ated by r. r. Bair, in holdup at
tempt Monday night
Detectives termed the murder the
most wanton killing here in years,
as they sought the three bandits,
who obtained no loot
Pulliam was driving his Chevro-
let coach down Ft. Wayne avenue
about 11:15 p. m, taking receipts
from the ST. Clair theater, st. Clair
street and Ft. Wayne avenue, to a
downtown vault. With him rode
Carl williams, is, of 821 North New
Jersey, usher at the theater.
One Shot Kills Victim
About 200 feet from the theater a
Buick roadster headed in the same
direction, was parked. AS Pulliam's
car passed the roadster there was
shot. Pulliam slumped over in his
seat, dead. The bullet had passed
through the right rear glass of the
Chevrolet and entered the back Of
his head
The bandit had shouted no COM
mand to Pulliam to halt, Williams
said. The bullet either was fired
in an insane madness to kill or by
a nervous amateur gunman, police
believed.
Bair, owner of the theater chain,
supported the belief that the bandits
we're amateurs. Anyone slightly
acquainted with the theater busi-
ness or an expert bandit would
know that a rainy Monday night
would be a poor night to attempt to
seize theater receipts, Bair pointed
out.
Another HOldup Fooled
Detectives, although they sought
other possible motives, believed on
first investigation that robbery was
the only aim.
Belief that the bandits earlier in
the evening had planned a holdup
Of the Uptown theater, Forty-sec-
ond street and College avenue, was
advanced by Robert HeSseldeng,
manager of that theater.
When he walked to a drug store
across the street from the theater
about $50, he saw two men stand
ing III the rain and snow, watch
ing the theater, Hesseldeng said.
When the men saw him watching
them, they hurried away.
A telephone call received by Mrs.
Pulliam, wife of the slain man, at
8 p. m. is one mysterious angle Of
the case.
A man who gave his name as
"Dr. Hurley" called and asked for
her husband, Mrs. Pulliam said.
When she told him she did not
know at which of the theaters her
husband was, he asked several ques-
tionS in an effort to find means Of
locating Pulliam, she said.
Gives Name Of DIR. Hurley
When she asked him his name and
inquired his identity he gave the
name DR.. Hurley and hung up
hurriedly, she said. There is no "Dr.
Hurley" listed in the city directory.
The death car shot around Pull
liam's coach and blocked the street,
forcing the coach to a stop, q mo-
ment after the shooting, the Will
liams boy told police. Two of the
bandits got out of their car. One
covered him with a revolver and
the other pushed Pulliam's body
from under the wheel to the other
side of the front seat. The ban
dit then crawled in and drove, he
said. The third bandit followed in
the roadster.
Williams was forced to lie in the
back seat as the bandits drove by an
indirect route to the alley in the
rear Of 1921 Central avenue. They
searched Pulliam's body, failing to
find SAT in an inside pocket and
drove away leaving William behind.
Boy Calls Help
The boys cries and means at
tracted persons from the Phi Kappa
Epsilon fraternity house, 1921 Cen
tral avenue, and they called police.
Police later found a Buick road
ster, which williams identified by q
torn curtain as the one used by the
bandits at Central avenue and
Eleventh street. They arrested its
owner, Asa F. Howe, 1101 Central
avenue, on a vagrancy charge for
questioning, although Howe said he
just had driven the car home from
the poolroom at which he works.
Williams was held temporarily at
the detention home and released to-
day after telling his story to Cor
oner G. H. Keever.
Pulliam had been employed By
Bair for fifteen years and had lived
in Indianapolis for twenty years
He served one year in France dur
ing the World war with Battery F,
136th Field Artillery. He is sur
vived by the widow and a daughter.
Betty, 8.