The Indianapolis times., 1930-06-07
CHEMICAL BUY
new CLEW IN
FIRE MURDER
Mobile Man Bought Seven
Pounds of Phosphorus,
Says Druggist.
PRESS IDENTITY CHECK
Burned Body Believed That
of Schroeder'S Friend;
Description TaIIieS.
PRESS IDENTITY CHECK

Phosphorus. material from which
matches are made. was used to de-
stroy the body of the Speedway race
day torch murder victim, found in
the blazing automobile owned by
Harold Herbert Schroeder, 35, Mo-
bile, Ala, business man, on the High
School road.
This was belief of authorities to-
Gay when a signed statement of a
New Orleans chemist that Schroeder
had purchased seven pounds of
phosphorus from him May 2, was
brought to the city by Thomas Riley,
insurance company investigator.
Riley, returning from an inveSti-
CATION in the south, has started a
search for G. G. Ridenhour, believed
to be the torch murder victim.
Answers Description
Ridenhour is believed one of two
men who held a heated argument
with Schroeder at Mobile the day
before. Schroeder left the southern
city. He answers description of one
of two men seen in Schroeder's car
at Fuitland, Ala, forty-five miles
northwest of Mobile, May 81, and
also OF one of two men in the car
when, at Jackson, Miss, Schroeder
is alleged to have driven away from
filling station without paying for
gasoline.
Riley declared his investigation
shows Schroeder went to New Or
leans after leaving Mobile and bor-
rowed $50 from the proprietor of a
rooming house there to make the
trip north.
Pressed for Money
He also claims he had photo
static copy of a forged check for
$1,000 which Ridenhour was hold
ing and which he was pressing
Schroeder to make good, it is
alleged.
Schroeder. Riley declares, had
been told he. must pay the money
within week at the time he left
Mobile. Schroeder had made no
bank deposits in the account carried
by his radiator firm at Mobile for
more than two months prior to his
disappearance, the investigator says
he learned.
Ridenhour was Catholic and
had red hair. The charred body
showed traces of red hair. Two
rosaries were found in the charred
automobile and Schroeder'S rela-
tives said he did not own them.
Ridenhour formerly had lived in
Pittsburgh, Riley also says. Black
ened Pittsburgh street railway
tokens we're found in the burned
car.
At the time the body was found,
employees of the Royster & Askin
Undertaking establishment reported
handling of the body created Sc
we're burning sensation. officials Of
the coroner's Office had believed the
body was soaked in gasoline oe?c~,
being fired, but admitted the ex-
planation would not account for the
severity of the fire and the almost
complete destruction of the body.
Phosphorus Sure
Use of the phosphorus would
have created the intense heat and
would have insured almost COM
plete burning of the body, it was
pointed out today.
Phosphorus is so highly inflam-
able it must be stored submerged
in water, burning when exposed to
the air due to chemical reaction of
oxygen in the air.
1t is used in making of matches
and, if touched in its natural state,
creates severe burns. Workers in
plants where it is manufactured
have short lives and suffer from
burning of lungs and throat from
fumes of the substance.
Ernest Schroeder, Evanston, H.,
brother of the Mobile man, returned
here to push the investigation late
Friday. He maintains the body that
of his brother, although all officials
here say the supposition is impos-
sible in light of evidence.
Efforts to trace Schroeder's move
ments here have been futile to date.
Authorities have been unable to
learn where he roomed in the city
while it was crowded with race
visitors.