Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-26
CRIME KNOWLEDGE
OF NURM| CHECKED
Washington Police Given Re-
port Clerk Threatened to
DivuIge Information.

Washington police are investigating
today the report that Aarvi Nurmi,
slain Census Bureau clerk, knew Of the
existence Of . crime and threatened
to disclose his knowledge to authorities.
The first inkling that this may have
been the motive which led to his shoot
ing in the yard Of his Takoma Park,
Nd, home last Wednesday night was
received yesterday with q telephone call
from . man connected with the Vet-
Grams Bureau.
Headquarters Detective James Collins
interviewed the man, whose name he
refused to make public, and afterward
said that nothing definite was known
concerning the truth Of the rumor as
yet, but he expected to have in his pos
session certain facts throwing light on
the killing by tomorrow Collins could
not say whether the information prob
ably will implicate further the two
men now charged With manSlaughter.
Taxi Drivers interviewed.
Two Of the witnesses sought by Sergt.
Earl H. Burdine of Montgomery County
Police, who is directing the investiga-
ton into the case, were located and
questioned yesterday, but could give
little information Of value. They were
the two taxicab drivers who took Nurmi
and his friends to his home Wednesday,
once IN the afternoon and again In the
evening.
They are Raymond Post, 1400 block
OF w street, and William Russell, New
Jersey avenue and H street. Post vol
unfairly came to Washington police
headquarters and told his story,
He Is quoted as saying that he picked
up Nurmi and his two companions,
Henry w. MCGUIRE and John j.
O'Brien, who are now charged with
granddaughter, at Delaware avenue and
3 street southwest, and took them to
Nurmis home at 102 Grant avenue.
Post said MCGUIRE and O'Brien told
Nurmi that he had better sober up or
he would lose his job" Post was not
held by police.
Russell was interviewed by Seret.
Burdine and told Of having taken MUIR
mi, OBrien and Arthur Murphy of the
900 block Of N street to Nurmi's home.
He said they arrived about 3 O'Clock in
the afternoon and that while in his
cab NurTni quarreled continually with
the two other men because they were
N~ AAAAAAAB 'AAAo A4quOns
Search for Bullet Marks.
While police were interviewing wit
neSseS yesterday, Mcguire and his at
torney, Kenneth Lyddane, were con-
Quoting a search for evidence to sup
port the story Mcguire told authorities
OF Nurmi firing three shots from his
gun In the house Wednesday night. What
appeared to be q bullet hole in the floor
under the kitchen table was located.
In the hole Is thought to be o as
caliber bullet, which Sergt. Burdine ex-
pected to extract today and compare
with the two other bullets found. one on
the basement floor and the other i'm
bedded in the dead mans skull.
MCGUIRE asserts that Nurmi fired two
shots into the kitchen floor q few min
utes after reaching home Wednesday
night and then fired another shot in
the basement. Two empty shells were
found In the kitchen while another was
located in the basement. The shells
on the kitchen floor were of different
makes and were marked differently by
the firing pin, leading police to believe
that they were not exploded by the
same gun.
The defense stated yesterday the de-
termination to conduct tests to show
that both the bullet Undecided in the
floor and the slug taken from Nurmi's
skull were fired from Nurmi's gun,
which was found lying beside his body.
Sergt Burdine also intends to have
an examination made Of the gun and
bullets, but holds that it probably will
indicate that Nurni's gun did not fire
the fatal bullet.