The Indianapolis times., 1931-03-03
GORDON DEATH
SPURS WAR ON
RACKET KINGS
600 N. Y. Policemen and
Detectives Working on
Murder Mystery.
~ Unitcs Press

did phases of vicious crininality,
today provoked new declaration of
var upon the twin citadels of under
world power and political corrup-
lion.
The dead hand of Vivian Co..
don, 40-year-old denimondaine with
the face Of a girl, whose criminality
was exploited by others for years,
and whose death came when she
sought TO turn upon her exploiters
With all the bitterness of cumulative
passion and revenge, has stirred a
crusade by outraged citizenry.
It's purpose will be fulfilled when
vice is divorced from politics and
the evil interlocking of the two
systems" has been shattered.
500 Cops Work On Case
Six hundred detectives and police
men, a majority of them honestly
determined to find the slayers of
Vivian Gordon-and some of them
trembling in fear of the disclosures
that may come from it-are en-
gagged in todays hunt.
Already they have clews which
carry the thread of Vivian Gordon's
life up to few blank hours before
her ifeless body was thrown from
limousine in which she had been
strangled, and rolled into a lone
some gully OF a Bronx park.
The police know, from maid in
her employ, that Vivian Gordon was
driven in a. big car, from Fortieth
street and Broadway to Mt YER
non, a suburb
Vivian sat between two men,
while the maid herself occupied one
Of the auxiliary seats.
Maid Tells of Last Ride
At five minutes before midnight,
the maid was dropped off at her
Mt. Vernon home, and the big car
rolled away-toward Vivian's death,
At dawn on the following morn
ing, ViVian's body, dressed in deli
cate silk underwear, an expensive
evening frock, and torn silk stock
ings, was discovered.
The strangler's rope was still
knotted around her neck.
Vivian Gordon had written a let
ter to the commission which has
been untangling the raveled skein
Of political corruption. She had
appeared once, in secret, before one
Of the chief investigators.
She had boasted, in letters to her
former husband, John Bischoff, and
to patrolnan Andrew j. McLaugh-
lin, a vice-squad detective, that she
would expose a "frameup" by which
she served a term in the Bedford
reformatory for prostitution.
Map Cleanup Program
A police guard today surrounded
the home of Lenora Halsey, Negro,
the maid-witness. The police have
been unfortunate" with many of
their witnesses.
Three of them, Bronx police
man and two taXicab drivers who
are said to have heard the screams
Of q they're killing mel
coming from a large automobile as
it sped through Van Cortlandt park,
we're said to be missing today.
Meanwhile, stirring uneasily under
the revelations of the paralyzing
grip that is held upon the forces
Of law and order by the princes and
queens of the underworld. New
York burghers hastily conceived of
far-reaching program for the
lnification of assault upon the
system.
First suggested by Rabbi Stephen
Wise, and then receiving the back
ing of the consumers guild, through
its president, E. G. Riegel, the plan
is for formation Of a vigilance COM
nlittee"-a grand inquisitorial body,
perpetual in nature, which will in
vestigate, investigate and investigate,
constantly and increasingly, the
activities of all public officials, of
courts, or police forces.
witnesses Seek Freedom
District Attorney Charles B.
Mclaughlin of the Bronx, in charge
Of the case, Monday made public
parts of Miss Gordon's diary in
which she foretold her death and
named John A. Radeloff and
Samuel Cohen as the men who
would kill her.
This was taken as an unofficial
reply to the habeas corpus pro-
ceedings by which the two men
hope to gain freedom today.
Of Radeloff. her companion in
various allegedly shady transactions
and her lawyer, Miss Gordon wrote
on Feb. 13, 1929: IF anything hap
pens to me, he is to blame"
Some of the connections Miss
Gordon had with the racketeering
fraternity of Broadway were told
to Referee Seabury of the appellate
division inquiry by Mrs. Cassie
Clayton Of Erie, Pa, friend of the
murdered woman.
Miss Gordon'S rise to fame and
fortune after her release from Bel
ford reformatory. where she was
sent on an allegedly framed vice
charge, was rapid
Fingers in Many Rackets
In association with Radeloff. she
progressed from lodgings on the
lower east side to apartments in
the Waldorf Astoria, the Roosevelt
and S7r.z Central hotels, to speak
ing terms with Arnold Rothstein
and other big Broadway gamblers.
and to ownership of several profit
able rackets.
Authorities have not vet un-
tangled her numerous affairs. but
entries in her diary and other
sources have produced references to
stock selling deals, jewel robberies.
and one racket in particular which
seemed to have proved profitable
blackmail system by which she sup
piled beautiful girls for rich mems
parties, instructing the girls to get
names and addresses of their hosts.
GASOLINE TAXES GAIN