The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-06-03
ROSARY found
IN DEATH CAR
IS new CLEW
Cops Scan Articles Taken
From Under Seat of
Flaming Auto.
MURDER IS ESTABLISHED
Post Mortem Shows Small
Wound: Dig Into Life of
Harold Schroeder.

into the southland this afternoon in
search Of information which may
solve the High School road torch
murder" mystery. city detectives
here scanned new clews from the
ashes of the automobile which was
the murder victims funeral pyre.
Beneath the front seat on which
a mans charred body was found III
the blazing automobile on High
School road near Rockville road last
Saturday morning, Detectives John
Stump and Robin Taylor To-Day
found these blackened clews:
A rosary, the blackened metal
crucifix being about an inch long.
The beads. evidently of clay or bone
composition. still bore the faint col
ors of pale pink and pearl. Inc
chain was short, not in the form Oh
a necklace. but such as women COM
monty carry in their purse.
A pocket knife. about three inches
long, the sides burned away, but the
two blades still intact between their
metal bindings.
A Pittsburgh Railway Company
street car token.
Bent by Heat
A long metal shoe spoon, bent by
the intense heat.
A burnt coin, about the size OF
a scent piece.
Small pieces of bone, evidently
from the murder victim, and splln-
tiers of glass.
Detectives disclosed that a ros-
sry corresponding almost exactly
with the one they found today IN
the ruins of the car in the Market
street garage, was found Saturday
under the car before it was moved
from the scene of the murder.
They were busy this afternoon
piecing together bits of paper that
Ernest w. Schroeder. Evanston. Ill,
brother of the missing man. say
we're were a letter written by his
brother.
The pieces of the letter were
found beneath a piece Of auto tire
near where the blazing car was dis
covered. He says handwriting on,
the pieces Of paper is that OF the
missing brother.
Reaching Mobile, Ala. this aft
ernoon after an all-night drive by
automobile from indianapolis,
Sheriff George Winkler, Coroner
Charles y. Keever and Indian
arolis newspapermen were to in
vestigate a quarrel in which Harold
Herbert Schroeder, IS. business man
of that city. engaged there with two
men and a woman, May 20, shortly
before his departure for this city.
It was believed the quarrel may
have a bearing on Scllroeders dis
appearance here and the finding of
the murder victims charred body in
Schroeder blazing Automobile.
Discredit Schroeder Theory
Authorities here discredit the the
Cry the body is that of Schroeder.
Meanwhile DR.. Lawrence Lewis,
deputy coroner, announced follow
irE a post mortem of the burned
body here today that the man
whose body was found in the car
died of violence, the victim of a
knife or bullet wound in his right
lung.
Dispatches from Mobile today in
dicated Schroeder engaged. in a
heated argument with two men and
a woman the day before he left
Mobile to drive to indianapolis,
where he attended the Speedway
races last Friday.
The post-mortem proved, DR..
Lewis declared, that the victim was
alive a few hours before being found
in the blazing car.
Murder, Is Verdict
He declared his report would show
murder.
The victim was a man Of about
i40 to 145 pounds, Deputy Coroner
Lewis said, and had red or sandy
hair.
The man was not old, Lewis said.
He could not determine whether the
man was white or Negro.
He said the body never had been
EDlDE4AIlEu dtld N1OAiAAHOC0 a NAACCA4
that the body found in the car had
been obtained from morgue or
cemetery.
THE man was alive a few hours
before his body was found in the
car" DR.. Lewis said.
He found large blood clot on the
right lung and evidence of wound
there. The body had been soaked
in some liquid. probably gasoline or
naphtha, before being set afire, DR..
Lewis declared.
Both arms and the left leg had
been burned away, he declared. He
said the right leg may have been
dismembered below the knee before
the body was burned.
Reported Seen Alive
Schroeder was alive after the fire,
the officials declare. having been
given ride into the city by Jack
Allen of Clayton and Miss Ruby
Blue of It's North Delaware street.
who discovered the blazing automo-
bile while driving early Saturday
morning. The nan alighted at 6. -
ate avenue and Washington street
and hurried north. the two say.
His description tallieS with that Of
Schroeder as given by five persons
who were in car parked next to
his machine at the Speedway races
Friday. A gasoline can seen by them
IN bis car corresponds with that
found - quarter Of mile from the
med Afonobile.