Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-12
Raymond M. Morrow, 20,
Wounded in Head-Body
Discovered Near Home.
HAD FAILED TO REPORT
FOR DUTY LAST NIGHT
Autopsy Ordered to Determine
Cause of Death-Wife Collapses
as Crowd Gathers.

Brutally beaten and with evidences
Of bullet wound in the face, the body
of Raymond NJ Morrow. a 28-year-old
policeman attached to No. 3 precinct
was found beneath the Sixteenth street
bridge over Piney Branch just north OF
Spring road, shortly after o'clock this
morning
Coatless and hatless. Morrow was
dressed in civilian clothing. He lay
on his back with his arms and legs
crossed, his face bruised and the left
eye discolored A slight wound near
the nose appeared to have been made
by bullet. There was a definite print
of a mans heel in the center of his
back. indicating that he had been
stomped. Coroner hewitt. after a pre-
liminary examination, announced that
an autopsy would be required to deter
mine the cause Of death. but that the
body had not been thrown from the
bridge, because no long bones were
broken
Morrow's watch was still running
when police summoned by l0-year-old
boy whose mother, resident Of an
apartment house nearby had noticed
the form in the valley for several hours.
but believed The man to be sleeping,
sent her son out n investigate. Two
pocketbooks were in his pockets, both
empty.
Home Was Nearby.
The body Law in a depression. but the
detectives were unable to determine
whether the depression was caused by
a drop from the bridge above or due
to the body lying in the damp earth
for six or eight hours. The coroner
said Morrow had been dead since about
midnight.
The dead policeman lived at 1445
Spring road just around the corner
from the bridge. and his wife. Mrs.
Harriet L. Morrow. who said she last
heard from him at 1880 last night when
he telephoned her, attracted by the
excitement in the neighborhood, was
one of the first of the throng which
collected on the bridge when the body
was found.
She collapsed when she learned that
the body was that of her husband and
is under the care of physician. she
said that her husband told her that he
was on leave, but at the third precinct
it was said that Morrow was due 10
60 on duty at midnight last night, but
failed to report.
Both police authorities and Federal
agents investigating the recent charges
of brutality in the Police Department
and the Staples case said that Nor
row had had no connection with the
investigation.
Removed Footprints.
While early investigators said they
found no signs of footprints around
the spot where the body was found,
it was learned that in the soft earth
under the bridge proper they located
and removed footprints In the damp
earth.
Two hours after the investigation
started the police found two little girls
who told them they saw a man under
the bridge yesterday tinkering with an
old automobile. An unimproved dirt
road. rarely used. runs through the
valley. Other residents OF the apart
ment house nearby also said they
thought they had heard an automobile
down in the valley early today, but
police failed to find any tire tracks.
Mai Henry G.. Pratt, superintendent
of police, apprised Of the finding OF the
body. Immediately assigned Inspector
ThaddeuS A. Bean to the case. Maj
Pratt said that Morrow had never been
in any serious trouble in the depart
ment since his appointment in July.
1925. Policemen in the third precinct
said they did not believe that Morrow
ever drank, but that several months
ago he had limited that he was consid-
ering resigning from the Police Depart
ment. His beat was from Fifteenth
street to Connecticut avenue and K TO
M streets.
Had Good Record.
News of the discovery of the body
spread rapidly and within an hour the
bridge was SO choked with traffic that
the police we're forced to keep motorists
moving.
Capt. James G. Beckett, commander
of the third precinct. on the scene OF
the crime. declared that so far as he
Continued on Page 2. Column g.