Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-29
Conflicting Testimony.


The parade of witnesses before the
grand jury, which halted yesterday.
was participated in by more than half
a hundred men and women. The reams
of testimony they gave were replete with
apparently conflicting statements, bear
ing on both sides of the mystery.
The record of testimony must read
like a detective novel. Its pages tell of
piercing screams in the dead of night,
of mans threatening voice, of Sob
bing voices on the telephone, of auto
mobiles starting up in darkened alleys,
of a lone taxicab passenger alighting
anG disappearing behind an apartment
building of a figure emerging from
second-story window, of detectives and
newspaper men examining blood stains
on the floor. of a multitude of other
strange happenings and reports con-
nected with the remarkable case.
The opening chapter in the testimony
came from the lips of Policeman Robert
j. Allen. prime mover behind the re-
opening of the case. For three hours
last Tuesday Policeman Allen told his
dramatic story and answered questions
propounded by the jurors.
So enthusiastically did he detail his
murder theories. it is said, that he was
interrupted and asked If he were max
ing speech" He was allowed to con-
tinue, however.
Saw Man On Roof.
Allen told reporters and, it is under
stood, told the jury he saw the figure
of a man on a low roof outside the
window of the Mcpherson apartment
on the night of the tragedy. September
- He was patrolling his beat at tne
time in company with his partner. 70
liceman Lawrence Bolts, OF the mira
precinct. ~ j..
Allen said that he told Bolts, to
watch the front of the nulidlng WnnS
he ran to the rear. When he reached
the alley. he declared, the only trace
of the man was taXicab fast disap-
nearing around the corner hali oiock
avav.. No report Of such an lncloenI
was made by either officer to the thru
precinct at the time.
Before appearing before the gran9
Jury Tuesday, september "a. Aiien : t,..o
newspaper men he could produce Two
witnesses who would testify to having
seen a man at the window OF the NC
Pherson apartment. Later ne pIouste
out that the two witnesses were hlmsel
and Bolts Bolts was called to testuJ
in the inquiry.
To the press. Policeman Bolts made
statements to the effect that, person
alIy. he had not seen the man described
nv his partner and that the latter had
said nothing to him about the incident.
when Allen was informed of this ne
appeared disheartened and SAID ne
knew his contention that the girl mao
been murdered would not be established
by the grand jury probe, ana that ne
was ready to give up
Aliens Theories.
Presumably Allen told the grand jury
a great many other things. Undouot,
edly he called attention to the oiooo
stains on the bathroom floor and on tne
floor of the bedroom. to his pene1 tnaS
a woman could not strange herSeH ~
death by knotting pajama cord
around her neck, to the screams ana
voices heard by persons in the viclnlty,
to the position of the body against tne
bedroom door and to other factors leao-
ing him to the conviction that the
young nurse was murdered.
Allen has held from the nrsC tIiaU
there would have been no blood on the
bathroom floor had Mrs. Mcpherson
committed suicide. He has demanded
again and again to know why the
manager of the apartment house NAG
to force the bedroom door open Win
both hands. because OF the oooys posi,
tion against the door, If some one mao
previously been in the room ana Gov
cred the body with dress. Manager
Ruff had said that the husband OF the
dead woman. Robert Mcpherson, told
him he had entered the bedroom ana
covered the body before notifying MN
of the tragedy. Allen has also expressed
doubt that a would-be suicide Wouio
turn out the light before commlt.mg
the fatal act or that strangling
woman would be able to turn 1t OUT
herself. Finally, he holds, woman
suicides usually leave notes.
Aliens theory is that man-the one
he savs he saw outside the Mcpherson
window on the night of September II,
but did not report until SEPTEMBER a
entered the apartment probably through
the door, slipped up behind Mrs NC
Pherson as she stood in the bathroom,
threw the pajama cord around her neck
and strangled her, dragged or carried
her diving or lifeless body into the near
nv bedroom, placed the body with the
feet against the closed door, turned OUT
the lights. left the bedroom through a
window opening onto gravel-coated
porch and either slid down ralnspout
to the ground or re-entered the apart
ment through the living room WINDOW
and departed through the apartment
door.
Thinks He Saw Slayer.
The blood on the bathroom floor. &C
cording to Aliens theory, came from
the mouth and nose OF the strangnns
woman. The agoniZing screams, the
means and the low, threatening voice
of man came from the Mcpherson
apartment he contends, and the inquire
he saws he saw on the roof was that OF
the murderer making his getaway.
Wilmer c. Ruff manager OF the Park
Lane Apartment House, was the second
witness. $500.
iYlr nf the discovery
of the body. with particular reference
to his difficulty in opening the door.
Ruff told newspaper men that McPner-
snn came to him on Saturday follow.
ing the fatal night and said he had
fn1Ind his wife dead in their apartment.
ruff said the husband told him ne mad
found the body in the bedroom and lalo
address over the lower half OF the form.
Ms1ff declared he went at once with NC.
Fherson to the apartment and found
+he bedroom door closed. He pushed
sEainst it and found he had to use both
MINDS to force the door open VIDE
aTouph for him to thrust his shoulder
Mro,Igh and view the body. He de-
dared he moved tire body back when ne
showed the door open. The manager
SAid the lights of the apartment were
dlit and the bedroom windows were IN
licked. A black garment was over tne
EIwer portion of the woman's BODY.
RIf said he called police of the third
Wecinct who in turn summoned the
hbmicidto squad, led by Lieut. Edward
11Iieut' Kelly, dapper gray-haired vet
eEan Of the Detective Bureau, was the
third witness to enter the grand jury
room. Kelly's matter-of-fact account
of what he found during the course OF
his investigation already had been de-
tailed to newspaper men. Ndf he gave
A. ca.,aa nnnniitat a the grand illrQrS II