The Washington times., 1929-12-18
Died
BY OWN HAND,
VERDICT
"HV
lcontinued From Paes %

(Contfnued From Page ~
morning Of October Is, 1926. from
q bullet wound inflicted by him.
self.
''Belng cognizant Of the strong
and varied opinions, the Grand
Jury conducted an exhaustive in
yestigation into al phases Of the
case. In keeping with this pro
cedure, all leads including even
the vaguest Of rlInors were run
down before the above conclusion
was reached"
Charged Murder
More than three years after the
death oE Scriyener the case was
taken up BY D Grand Jury. fol-
lowing agitation on the floor of
the Senate and In the news-
papers John L. Gibson. former
policeman. charged publicly that
a certain member Of the police
department, whom he named,
either killed Scrivener cor knew
who did"
One Of the witnesses subpoe-
naed IN the case was Senator
Cole 4. Blease Of South Carolina,
who defied the Court and refused
to appear. he pointed TO the
finding reported BY the Grand
Jury IN the Mcpherson strangiing
and practically charged the jury
with insincerity. He said it was
useless to so before this Grand
jury. but he would 60 before any
other Grand Jury and lay what
information he had before 1t.
Scrivener was to have been
married to Miss Helen Barnes
Parker, Of Berlin. Nd. and Nc.
Lean, Va, on the night az
October IS. 1926. Early that
morning he was found dead IN
an alley Just of Of N Street near
Wisconsin Avenue. a bullet had
been sent through his heart from
. pistol which lay nearby.
His own service revolver was
IN Its holster untouched. In his
right hand he cIutched q neck
tie which he had torn from the
neck Of his assailant. Mrs. Annie
Stauff, inmate Of the Home for
the Aged. whose room overlooked
the alley, testified aGi Q coroner's
inquest on November 16, 1925,
that she saw and heard two men
Iying in wait for the detective.
She says she heard d shot and
then heard the men running
away.
Miss Catherine Doehring, whose
home adjoins the alley, testified
to hearing 4 shot and the sound
Of footsteps.
Call It Suicide
For II days the police appeared
to be making every effort to ap-
prehend the murderer. Then
suddenly, on October so, 1926,
Chief Hesse and Chief Of Detec-
tives Pratt called Is newspaper
men into q conference and told
them that Scrivener had COM
mitted suicide.
A number Of detectives, chief
among whom was Edward j.
Kelly, now 3 lieutenant and
former chief Of the headquarters
homicide squad, were used BY
Hesse and Pratt to support their
contention. Scrivener'S character
was assassinated BY the minions
Of the Law.
The press was told that
Hcrivener was Iii financial diff
cllIties and had q foul disease.
These canaros have been proven
entirely false by witnesses who
appeared before the Grand Jury
during the past two weeks.
The police also accused Mat
thew walsh, Scrivener's landlord,
Of saying that the necktie found
IN the dead mans hand was one
Scrivener had given Walsh some
time before and TO which Scriv-
ener had access. Walsh denied
this TO newspaper men before go
iag before the Grand jury.
Numerous other props TO the
police SUICIDE tuS01y MSEO kWuCAy
kicked from under It.
Kept II Secret
ii addition, 1t was learned that
the poiice took d legihle finger
print from the side Of the death
weapon and kept IL n secret Tor
three years. A statement was
issued at the press conference
that the police had no clue.
Yet when this fact was brought
ont before the Grand Jury Pratt.
nov chief of police. admitted find
ine the print three years ago and
.repudiated the press conference
of October so, 1925, IN which ne
took 8 prominent part.
Department Of Justice finger
print experts compared the print
furnished them BY the police with
over 400 others. including some
sc the witnesses who went before
the grand jury and some mem
bers 81 the police department..
Their report to the Grand Jury,
IL was indicated by Rover, was
negative as far as establishing
the identity of the man who MADE
tsha nrint on the death gun.