Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-03
Cunningham Slain Because
He Knew of Hi-iacking
Salvador Legation.
TESTS SHOW BULLETS
IN EACH CASE SIMILAR
Weapon Found Near College Gets
Ballistics Examination Here
by Lieut.. Fowler.

Ar Army automatic pistol. found re-
College. has been linked definitely with
the killing of Jack Cunningham, police
informer, and the attack upon DR.. Don
Carlos Leiva, charge d'affaires of the
police headquarters today
Tests conducted by Lieut. John Fowler
OF the tenth precinct station, ballistics
expert of the Police Department, are
believed by police to have revealed that
Cunningham was put on the spot be-
cause he knew too much about the
liquor robbery staged by hijackers at
the legation of Ell Salvador on May -.
A bullet taken from the body of Cum
ningham. compared with a shot fired
Dy one Of the men who attacked DR.
Levia at the legation and several fred
In test on the gun turned over to
police by the colored laborer have prov
ed beyond shadow OF doubt the con-
nection between the two cases, police
declared.
Police Press Probe.
With the unexpected DEVELOPMENT
squirting on members OF the homicide
squad investigating the Staying of Cum
bingham, the search for several sus-
poets connected with the attack on DR..
Leiva is being pushed forward with re-
newed vigor.
The As caliber Army pistol was found
by Edward Grant, colored employe of
the District highway department. on
Lincoln road northeast, near Trinity
College. May 81, two days after the
fatal shooting of Cunningham, and was
turned over to Theodore Richard Rhan
supervisor of the road job on which
Grant was working at the time
Rham took the gun to Serst. Earl
Burdine Of the Montgomery County
police. who brought the gun to police
headquarters here and offered it to
Washington detectives as a possible
clue in the recent series Of shootings.
It was submitted to Lieut.. Fowler for
examination when it was found to be
of the same caliber Of the fatal slug
removed from the informer's body.
Clue 10 Gun Owner Found.
1t is believed the revolver. the identi-
flcation numbers of which had been
filed off, was tossed from a passing au-
tomobi1e. Despite the elimination of
the identification numbers, police hope
TO trace the ownership Of the weapon
through a secret number on one Of the
working parts overlooked by the per-
son who filed the other numbers.
With the connection between the
shooting of Cunningham and the at
tack upon DR.. Leiva definitely estsb-
lished. police recalled that during thu
questioning of Mrs Cunningham by
detectives after the death of her hus-
band it was learned that the informer
knew the identity of the men who in
vaded the home OF the diplomat.
Fatal Bullet Tested.
Cunningham was shot at the rear OF
his home May l9 by an occupant of
a roadster which swung into an alley
behind the Cunningham residence near
Fourteenth and I streets. He died
day later in Emergency Hospital with
a severed spinal cord.
The .45-caliber bullet used by Lieut..
Fowler in the tests was taken from his
stomach at an autopsy. This was COM
pared with slug fired at DR.. Leiva, but
which missed the FL Salvadorean off,
cial and lodged in the ceiling of the
first floor hallway at the legation.
Both bullets later were checked with
several missiles fired from the gun
found by Grant and the barrel mark
ings on each slug we're found to be
identical, police said.
Policeman Suspect.
Nearly a score of suspects were ar
rested by homicide squad detectives in
vestigating Cunningham's death, in
GLIDING Policeman Wallace J. Middleton
of the twelfth precinct station, but all
were eliminated after q check of the
alibis they offered
Middleton, police say. has been con-
nected with the hijacking Of a speak
easy on I street near Twelfth several
! weeks ago as the result of the investi-
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