The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-10-13
Jack (Legs) Diamond on
Edge of Death; Trapped
by Foes in Hotel.
VICTIMS LIPS TIGHT
49, Year Old Chorus
Woman WhimperS I'm
Good Girl to ProberS.
BY HARRY FERGUSON
United Press Staff Correspondent


ity that carried Jack Gegs) Dia-
mond through the hazardous life
of the underworld came to his aid
today as he lay on the edge of death
in Polytechnic hospital with four
gangSter bullets in his body.
His condition was reported slight
ly improved, but he still was unable
or unwilling to answer questions.
So, just before noon, police led
Marion Roberts, titian-haired Zieg-
field showgirl. into a private room at
police headquarters and sought to
learn from her how and why Dia-
mond was shot Sunday as he sat in
his red pajamaS on bed at the Ho-
tel Monticello, slipping orange juice.
The girl, beautiful as all ziegfeld
girls must be, whimpered just as she
did Sunday when police hauled her
out Of a clothes closet in the apart
ment of Agnes OLaughlin,
chorus girl friend, who recently
threatened to sue Rudy Vallee for
100000 on a breach of promise
charge.
"All my life I've been a good girl"
Miss Roberts sobbed. Jack was
my first sweetheart"
Gangster Pleaded for Mercy
She sketched her life briefly for
police; told them she was 10, ard
described how she came from up
state New York and climbed into
ziegfeld chorus in "Whoopee" at an
age when most girls still are in high
school.
Miss Roberts admitted she had
been living in an adjacent room to
the one Diamond occupied at the
Hotel Monticello, and once more she
blurted out the story of how she
was drawing a bath when two men
called to see Diamond.
Jack took them to the next room
his own-and she dressed hastily
and fled to Miss OLaughlin's apart
ment.
Police hammered at her story.
Why, they wanted to know, had she
made a telephone call to New Jersey
Saturday night.
They were seeking to develop their
theory that New Jersey gangsters
invaded Diamonds hotel and shot
him because of a beer gang quarrel.
She refused to answer.
$1,000 for Medicinal Case
Meanwhile, police lines we're
drawn around the Polytechnic hos
pital.
Detectives were alert to see no
one penetrated to Diamonds room,
and finish the job the two men
who shot him Sunday may have
bungled.
Sunday, some one thrust hand
full of bills into a nurses hand at
the hospital. Inside the $1,000 was
note asking that "Jack be given
the best possible medical care"
Reports persisted that Miss
Roberts had identified two faces in
the rogue's gallery as Diamonds
assailants, but the rumor confiicted
with her statement that she was
taking bath when the man called,
and hence could not possibly have
seen them.
Refuses to Talk
From Diamond, detectives got the
same meager information that they
have acquired every time they ar
rested him. On his cot he twisted
his mouth into its familiar half
grin and muttered:
"They we're too fast for me.
There we're four of them and I
never saw them before"
All other persons have said only
two men halted their autorDbile
outside the hotel and enter.d to
snoot Diamond.
The assault on Diamond aroused
an interest here which was exceeded
only by the murder two years ago
Of Arnold Rothstein, for whom Jack
worked in the days before he, too.
found ways to make money out OF
needle beer and slot machines.
The two shootings, it was pointed
out, were remarkably similar. Roth
stein also was shot while in a hotel,
and he, too, lay in Polytechnic hos
pital refusing to identify his assail-
ants.
Bulked Large in News
Diamond had bulked large in the
news of late. His spectacular trip
to Europe, where he was barred
from Belgium and deported from
Germany made him known interna-
tionally.
He came up to underworld noto-
rietv along the familiar route that
stretches from Hell's Kitchen to
Broadway.
Slender, nervous-quick alike with
his feet and his trigger flnger-he
was dubbed Legs on the lower east
side when, as boy Of IA, he be-
came proficient in "truck-tipping.
Bundles would be bounced of de-
livery trucks by bands Of boys who
would flee with their loot.
The most agile Of them all was
Johnny Nolan who later was to be-
come Jack Diamond, body guard TO
Little Augie.
Near Death Before
Today was not the first time
Diamond has been near death from
bullets. He and Little Augie round
ed a corner several years ago and
were met by storm of bullets.
Little Augie died, but Diamond
still carries five scars from that en-
counter
Diamonds other notorious erl-
counter with the law wac the re-
suit of brawl in the Hotsy- Tolsy
Club one night.