Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-23
Her Version of Where He Was
on Niqht Mary Baker Was
Slain Is Held Essential, as
His Stories Conflict.
BALLISTlcS EXPERT
TO EXAMINE PISTOL
Opinion of Maj. Goddard Is
Sought = Defendant Clings to
Statement Gun Never Was Out
Of His Possession, Despite Earlier
Declaration.

In an effort to untangle the dis
torted "alibi" of Herbert M.
Campbell, Arlington County real
estate agent accused of the muir
der on April II of Mary Baker.
investigators today were to cues
ton the suspects Frustrated wife.
Mrs. Ruth Callahan Campbell of
Oakcrest, Va.
Mrs. Campbell's version of how
her husband spent the evening
that the Navy Department clerk
was being murdered is deemed
vitality essential, in view Of her
husbands conflicting accounts of
his movements at that time.
Persistent questioning of the
realty operator has resulted in a
succession of admissions from
him that he falsified at least parts
OF his previous alibis and has
established facts that he parked
with woman near the culvert
where Mary Bakers battered body
was found less than "a hours later
ana that ne was In the vicinity of
Seventeenth and B streets about
the time the Baker girl was being
attacked in her parked car by "a
neavy-set man in a gray cap"
Retracting earlier statements de-
signed to cover up these and other
points which Campbell hin1seIf
cnaraeterizes as enough to indict. coI,.
w; VIZ anu nang-the prisoner accord
was away from his home for long
period on the fatal night.
Didn't Get Home Until s:se pm.
Instead Of having been with his fam
ny cary tnat day, as he first had
claimed. Campbell Is alleged to have
corrected" his story, so that he now
says ne did not return to his home
from washington until some time afteJ
$3.50 o'clock on the night of April IL.
He has given the authorities tfg
names OF Mr.. and Mrs. Roy SmitH
then residing in the 600 block of Ham
ilton street, but now understood to be
IN Arkansas, as persons who can verify
that he was at the Hamilton street
house just before $3.50 O'Clock that
night.
The authorities are trying to locate
the Smiths In the Southern State.
In the meantime, Commonwealth
Attorney William c. Cloth and Lieut..
Edward J. Kelly of the Washington
homicide squad have agreed, in justice
70 Campbell, to obtain the opinion of
another outstanding expert on ballistics
as to whether the bullets removed from
the Baker girls body were fired from
Campbell's .32-caliber revolver.
Souder Identifies Gun.
DR.. Wilmer Souder of the Bureau OF
Standards, the Governments recognized
authority on gun Identification, has ex-
amined the weapon and the bullets and
reported that the gun turned over to
police by the county real estate man
now charged with murder was the one
used In Staying the young Navy clerk.
TheisNin and the bullets win be sent
to NAL Calvin Goddard. retired Army
gun expert, and an internationally
known authority on ballistics. Goddard
Is understood to be now in Chicago.
Campbell, confined in the Arlington
County jail, still clings to his story
that his gun never was out of his pos
session, contradicting the fantastic
stories he confessed making about IL
carrier III the investigation, and claims
that some mistake was made by Dr.
SoudeT in identifying the weapon as
the one which fired the fatal shot. He
processes to have been amazed when he
learned that the Government scientist
had reported that CampbelI's gun killed
Mary Baker.
1T is mystery cannot explain"
Campbell has said again and again.
Campbell claims that his act in vol
UNFAIRLY turning the weapon over to
Sheriff Howard Fields was a prank
prompted by q foolish desire to get
thrill out Of the publicity which would
ensue and to give the investigators
some excitement"
Barrere Is Prosecution Aide.
Transformed within q space Of a
hours from the role of principal siis-
pect to that Of assistant to the prosecu-
ton, Hermann H. Barrere, dapper
World War veteran, itinerant painter,
cook and self-confessed "good-time
guy" was In conference today for half
IN hour with Prosecutor Cloth In the
alters ONCE at the county court house.
Barrere was in his usual high good
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