Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-08
Nassau Grand Jury Acts
Against Slayer of Policeman
in rs Minutes.
DURtNGER IS CHARGED
WITH BRONX MURDER
Capture in Upper New York Apart
ment With Girl Effected
After Battle.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, May 8.-The law
shooting back with both hands just as
Francis Crowley boosted of shooting
with two guns. returned fast indict-
ments for murder against him and his
pal, Rudolph Duringer, today.
A Nassau County grand jury at
Mineola fired the first shot, indictins
Crowley for the first degree murder
charge of shooting Patrolman Frederick
Hirsch last Monday. The proceedings
required exactly 26 minutes, . record
for speed in q murder indictment.
Three hours later, in the Bronx, Dur
niger was indicted for the Staying OF
young Virginia Brannen, q girl from
Maine who became . New York dance
hall hostess"
Moved From Hospital
While Duringer was awaiting arraign-
ment on the murder charge, scheduled
for later in the day, Crowley, who was
wounded in the sensational stand that
he, Duringer and their girl companion,
Helen Walsh. made against 400 police
men late yesterday, was moved from
Bellevue Hospital to Mineola.
Witnesses who testified before the
grand jury In the Duringer indictment
Included Mrs. Mildred Armstrong
(Moore) and Robert lie Claire, who.
with Crowley, we're companions of
Duringer in the automobile in which
the Brannen girl was killed.
Mrs. Armstrong tainted when shown
the clothing of the murdered girl from
Maine
In the battle Crowley was wounded
in one wrist and the legs by police bull
lets, which had poured through walls
and windows Hundreds Of bullets were
fired. Tear gas bombs also were used.
The battle lasted three hours or more.
Pistols In Trousers Legs.
Crowley was taken prisoner with =
pistol hidden under each trouser leg.
with him we're his sweetheart, Helen
Walsh, Is, and Rudolph Duringer. They
were in q three-room apartment on the
top floor Of a four-story house on West
Ninetieth street. Thinking they would
die in the siege they wrote farewell
letters.
Crowley and the girl had been sought
since Monday, tor the killing of PATROL
man Frederick Hirsch OF the Nassau
County Police In Merrick, Long Island.
The policeman went TO q parked car
and asked Crowley for his license. The
answer was . shot.
Sayings Are Confessed.
Police said Crowley had confessed he
Killed both Hirsch and Virginia Bran
men, q dance hall hostess from Bangor,
Me-, whose body was thrown out OF
an automobile in Yonkers two weeks
ago. Duringer also confessed he killed
nirl Tyir 10Ql0RlE
Police were inclined to believe Durniger
did It.
Crowley also confessed he shot and
wounded a New York detective and had
participated In several robberieS.
In the siege of the apartment ma
chine gun bullets ricocheted from gram
lite walls and pistol fire penetrated win
dows and doors as 200 policemen, under
Commissioner Mulrooney, fired. Five
pistols used by the besieged trio were
found after their capture. None OF the
police was hit.
Firennen were called and holes we're
cut In the roof When police threw
tear bombs into the room Crowley tossed
them out into the street. He yielded, he
said, because his ammunition was gone.
Near Riverside Drive.
The well-to-do neighborhood at Nine
tieth street between Riverside Drive and
Broadway was the battle sector. As the
firing stopped, dozen detectives walked
into the building and came out with
Dlrniger and the girl. An ambulance
surgeon and two policemen brought
Crowley out on a stretcher. The prison.
ers and their captors were suffering
from the tear gas. The girl was sent
TO the Nassau County Jail.
True to his name, "Two-gun' Crowley
his real name Is Francis-had two
guns on his person when captured, al
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