The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-02-09
C. O.P.LEADER
I. IS MURDERED
IN cleveland
Karin Bill Potter Was to
Have Faced Court Today
on Perjury Charge.
GRAFT EXPOSE L00MED
Blonde Woman and DudiSh-
ly Alfred Man Hunted
in Mystery.
Bu United pyess

By Ortte6 Press
CLEVELAND, o., Feb. ga
blonde woman and a dudishly at
tired man, both CARRIED appopri-
ately in black, were sought today
as possible principals in Cleveland's
greatest murder mystery in many
years-the blotting out of Karin
Bill" Potter, Republican leader,
who was to have appeared in court
on a perjury charge this morning.
Shortly before noon, police arrest
ed man and woman who generally
fitted the description of the sus-
poets and planned to question them
later today.
A general police alarm was sent
out for Karin Bill, or William E.
as the former councilman less gen.
orally was known, late Sunday.
He had not been seen since Tues
day, when he appeared to bask in
the public gaze in the famous
"statesmen's window at city hall.
Potter had been reported missing,
when prosecuting authorities tried
unavailingly to find who would rep
resent him at his perjury trial.
Rose From Newsboy Start
An hour after the police alarm,
the superintendent of an apartment
house in the Parkwood drive sec
tion-described as a good residen-
tial neighborhood, telephoned police
that lights had been burning day
and night for four days in one Of
his newly-rented apartments.
A police squad battered down the
door. On a davenport that faced
the entrance to the living room was
Karin Bills body. The head had
been battered.
To make sure of death, a pistol
bullet had been fired from behind
the right ear, to emerge from the
forehead. The body was decom-
posing. II
It was some time before anyone
suspected that the body was that
of Potter, IS, red-haired, a fighter,
who had boosted as a bricklayer
that he rose from 11ewsboy, and as
politician that he rose from brick
layer.
Acquitted in Scandals
Then came clews-initials on
watch, belt buckle and collar band
and similar indications that caused
police to send for political friends
Of Karin Bill. Finally identification
was made positively.
AS if the murder itself was not
enough of a sensation, the circun-
stances surrounding Potter's recent
life were leading to a climax:
He had been tried three times,
and acquitted, on charges growing
out of land fraud scandals that dis
rupted the local Republican ma
chine.
Two men went to prison over the
charges. One Of them, Liston G.
Schooley Jr., is'to be paroled Tues
day despite his refusal to talk
even after twenty-five months be-
hind bars. Shooley's father is the
other who went to Jail. He is Serv-
ing a flve-to-ten-year sentence.
There had been suspicion that the
Schooleys took the rap" for large
number of politicians charged with
frauds-graft of various sorts, par
ticularly of holding out large sums
paid by the city for condemned
property.
Ready to Tell ALP
There also was suspicion that
Karin Bill Potter, due to appear
today for the fourth time on charges
growing out of the land frauds, had
threatened to tell all in the Daisy
De Voc manner.
On Jan. %, man, dark, whereas
Potter was rudy, extensively
dressed in tight black suit, and ap-
parently some ten years younger
than Karin Bill, rented the Park
wood drive apartment-lavishly
furnished with overstuffed chairs
and sofa, and dotted with orna-
mental lamps.
On Tuesday blonde woman, %
or SO, dressed in black and described
by police as very attractive" visited
the lessee of the apartment, known
to the superintendent as IN. j.
Markus, chain store district man
ager."
No one knows when or how Karin
Bill got to the apartment, but they
believe he was killed there probably
Wednesday, and most probably be-
cause someone in high local politi-
cal circles feared Potter would tell
what he knew, which was about all