Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-10

come to pass where an understand
ing" should be arrived at.
Still dressed in her evening clothes,
Miss ODonnell lay upon the unrumpled
bed. Bending over her was Dayton, in
a semi-stupor from mental strain or
whisky, perhaps combination of them
both.
The insurance salesman, the officers
learned, had remained with the body
for more than IL hours and less than
"a. AS best they could learn, the crime
occurred some time Tuesday morning. In
the interval, Dayton at first said, he
went into q stupor from drink, awaken
ing later to see it was daylight and to
realize what he had done.
Had Planned Suicide.
He said he then took another drink.
hoping to nerve himself to commit
suicide with a heavy-caliber revolver
he had brought to the room with him.
Failing In this, he said. because the
hammer snapped several times but did
not explode cartridge, he again lapsed
into a coma and only came out of 1t
shortly before he called police.
This morning, however, Dayton gave a
different version to Capt. Doyle, possibly
because his return to Sobriety cleared
the hazy memory he had of the night.
He said realization came almost i'm
mediately after he strangled Marjorie
ODonnell, and that he tried frantically
to revive her.
Dayton said he massaged the girls
wrists and arms, pressed towel soaked
In cold water to her face and called to
her. II was during this effort to fan q
spark Of life in the still form of the
girl, he sale. 7that his dress shirt became
spattered with blood. He had removed
the shirt, but still had on the trousers
OF dinner suit when police entered the
room. So ec ~, ,ya-?es4 .ss;
Part Of the time he, spent in the
small room with the dead girl he love I.
Dayton occupied with writing note
He hastily scrawled, sometimes inco-
herently, of his love for the dead girl,
his sorrow over what ne had done and
his intent TO shoot himself.
Clears Up Details.
In statement today to police of No.
3 precinct. Dayton sought to clear
up certain details Of his story regarding
the action OF himself and the dead girl
previous to the crime
He said he registered for two-"J.
H. and r. c. Barton Of Baltimore
at the Roosevelt Hotel, about IL o'clock
Monday morning, without the knowledge
of Marjorie O'Donnell.
1t was his intention, he said to eff
feet an understanding" To further
this purpose, Dayton declared he placed
a photograph of himself in the suit case
he took to the Roosevelt, along with
a book on Sex in Civilization" hoping
to persuade the girl to accept them
both. Dayton said he previously had
given the girl the book and portrait,
but that she returned then to him
after a quarrel
Dayton hoped, he said, to patch up
the quarrel. He had made an engage
ment with the girl Saturday night, say
ing he wished her to help entertain some
friends from out-of-town by attending
dinner he planned at local hotel.
Called ut Girls Home.
Dayton said he started drinking after
registering at the Roosevelt. and called
for Miss O'Donnell sometime aftei.
dark" Monday night, at 1921 Sixteenth
street, where she resided with her sister,
Katherine.
Whether they went directly to the
hotel room or went out for dinner, Day.
ton says he cannot remember.
He is sure, however, that they went
Someplace," had dinner and bought tive
additional pints of purported bonded
rye whisky, going to Dayton's room be-
tween IL and IL O'Clock Monday night
Immediately thereafter, Dayton said,
they began to quarrel, he to insist that
they become engaged and she to refuse
on the grounds that he was unable u;
support her. When she mentioned AN
other man" as a further reason for not
promising to marry him, Dayton says,
things went red"
He told Capt. Doyle this other man
was of the naval service" but de-
clared he had never learned his name.
Dayton came here about eight months
ago from Kansas City, where he had
served as guard at Leavenworth Peni-
Tertiary. At the time of the tragedy
he was rooning at 1918 H street and
selling life insurance for local frm>
The girl, q newspaper woman and a
writer, had been employed since coming
to Washington from Pittsburgh several
years ago by the National Geographic
Society. where she wrote bulletins for
the daily press.
Her father the former managing edi-
tor of Pittsburgh newspaper, was we'll
known in the Pennsylvania city. The
O'Donnells lived in the exclusive Squir-
rel Hill residential section of Pittsburgh
and were neighbors of the Mellon and
Thaw families.
In addition to her writing. Miss
Oponnell was an artist of considerable
talent. Pictures from her own brush
adorned the walls of the Sixteenth street
apartment she shared with her sister.
A third sister Of Marjorie O'Don-
nell, Peggy, Is student at local col