Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-11
Deputy MarShaIS Go Out
With Warrants to Round Up
Persons Already Quizzed.
ALLEN AND MANAGER
OF APARTMENT FIRST
Grand Jury to Hear Story of Tele-
phone Girl Who Received
Night Call.

A squad of deputy marshals with
pocketfuls of subpoenas was rowing the
city today in an effort to line up for
REORGANIZATION by another grand jury
all witnesses who testified before the
jury which handed down a faulty MUIR
der indictment against Robert A. Nc
Pherson, jr.
The first group of witnesses will ap-
pear tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock,
when the grand jury begins a new
investigation into the mysterious
strangling of Virginia Mcpherson, wife
of the jailed bank bookkeeper
The first witnesses will be asked to
reconstruct picture of the tragic
scene which confronted persons who
visited the bedroom at the Park Lane
Apartments where the lifelesS body of
the pretty nurse was found, with a
pajama belt tied tightly around the
ncck.
Allen Called Again.
Wilmer C.. Ruff, manager of the
apartment house. and Robert j. Allen,
suspended policeman, who inspected the
death scene and whose testimony PLAYED
a part in the decision OF the first grand
jury to indict the husband for murder,
have been instructed to testify to-
morrow.
Miss Sue Thompson, desk clerk at
the Park Lane, and Mrs. Lillian Con-
way, telephone operator have been no.
tined to appear Wednesday. Miss
Thompson was the first person to whom
Mcpherson broke the news of his wife's
death on the occasion of his visit to the
apartment on the afternoon of Septem-
9nIlnu1Yror
Mrs. Conway overheard Mrs. McPher-
son sobbing on the telephone about s
O'Clock on the night of September IL,
when the nurse is supposed to have met
her death.
Trouble With Door.
Ruff is understood to have told the
original grand jury of difficulty he had
in opening the door of the bedroom
word that he had found Mrs. McPher-
sons partly nude body and had covered
1t with q dress.
Ruff has declared he was forced to
push the door with both hands because
the body lay against it, feet first, on
tl1s inside. He opened the door only
enough to look in and view the body
within.
Miss Thompson at one time said she
that he had been inside the room to
cover the body and feel that it was
cold She Is said TO have told this to
the first grand jury.
These discrepancies may be a sub
ject of particular inquiry during the
first sessions of the new grand jury.
There is q well founded belief in some
quarters that the discrepancies may
have resulted from MISUNDERSTANDING
and that the matter viii be cleared up
by the jurors.
Important Point.
The point is considered very impor-
tant, in view of the fact that the APP
parent discrepancies in the statements
of the husband and of the apartment
employees were regarded as highly sig
nificant by the grand jury which m
dicted Mcpherson.
Allen. who was suspended for max
ing an independent investigation OF the
tragedy and who later was restored
only TO be suspended again and rec
commended for dismissal, will be qulzzeo
closely tomorrow regarding his declara-
ton that he saw man On q low rool
outside the Mcpherson apartment or
the night of the womans death. Allen
did not report this fact officially unit!
he went before the grand jury. He told
newspaper men about it shortly before
the grand jury began its probe OF the
case. explaining he had been withhold
ing the information as "a surprise"
other Early witnesses.
Headquarters detectives and police
men of the third precinct will be among
the early witnesses In the forthcoming
inouirv. They will be questioned re-
garding conditions in the apartment
when the body was found.
A group Of additional witnesses o.
undetermined number will supplement
testimony given by the men and women
who are being recalled before the granc
Jury. The new witnesses include agent;
of the Department Of Justice and GER
g tain persons they have interviewed or
the case. Included among the, lattel
are Joseph H. Lewark, street car con
ductor of the Georgia avenue line, anc
j T. Green, motorman, who were or
an owl street car on the fatal night.
Allen Resumes Quiz.
Although he has transferred hi
activities to a gasoline filling station
since his suspension from the pollc'
force. Allen finds time to continue hi
investigation of the Mcpherson case
Learning today that plumbers wer'
working on a clogged drainpipe at TIT
Park Lane, Allen went there ant
secured a number of rags and othe
pieces of cloth that had been removed
from the pipe. He carried some of thes'
'1rnos' to the Department Of justice
III the belief they might have some con
nection with the Mcpherson death.
Run, the apartment manager, scoute'
the importance of the rags, declaring
the pipe serves many apartments ant
was not clogged up until last night.