The Washington times., 1931-05-12
PUT ON SPOT,
OP|NIONOF
POLICE
Roy Herbert Sloane Found
Dead After He Left Mad
Dot Speakeasy Near Dawn

OVA SPVoNSoOJ "So' NO"'
CONTINUED From First PGse)
been rubbed out" by the under
world.
In SIOane'S pockets were found
q false mOustache and q shiny
badge stamped special officer" ("
He was at liberty under heavy
bail in connection with an $4,000
Jewel Stick-up in the store of
KarOs and Stein last February.
His mother said that of late he
had been doing detective work.
Getting Witnesses"
He was getting witnesses in
Q case, she said:
"He was working on a case,
an appeal for a man he met in
Sing Sing named McDermOtt.
I was afraid something might
have happened to him when
he didn't come home last
night and 1 was praying for
him"
The owner of the Mad Dot
Club, Jimmy Delucia; his wife,
Mary; and his sister, Mrs. Dolly
DruSso, were located at the De-
lucia apartment in Riverside
Drive and were taken to police
station for questioning.
Delucia said Sloane was in the
Mad Dot Club when he left there
about o'clock this morning.
Sloane was known in the place
rs "McDermOtt." Three un-
identified youths were with him
ut the time. Sloane cautioned
thc bartender, identified only as
"Frank," not to sell the youths
he was with anything stronger
than beer.
Chauffeur Tells Story
The police were inclined to the
theory that either underworld
enemies had followed Sloane to
the place or that the three youths
with him were in his company for
the purpose of putting him on
the spot"
A .taxicab chauffeur told au-
thoritieS that when the shooting
occurred he was in a parked ma
chine near the Mad Dot, and that
q few seconds after the shooting
began the gunmen's sedan sped
away.
A moment or two later, the
chauffeur said, short, swarthy
man who had been standing in the
vicinity of the Mad Dot hurried
across the street, took a cab, and
was driven away.
Mrs. Sloane arrived at the
hospital but was not Immediately
told of her sons tragic end.
Two detectives met her at the
hospital and asked her to accom-
pany them to a police station.
There the news was gently
broken to her. She slumped in
q, chair, weeping violently.
Excellent Background
She had tried so hard to raise
her son to be a man of whom she
could be proud. His bOyhOOd en-
virOnment had been so different
from that of Francis ("TwO- Gun'O
Crowley, for example-the youth
who a few days ago figured so
prominently in the crime news
Of the hour.
Roy Sloane had a fine back
ground. His mother, an expert
on child education, raised him
according to the best accepted
theories and nrinciDleS
She was proud of his ability
In college, where his instructors
characterized him as a mechan1-
cal genius who might some day
become famous.
His sister, Norma, climaxed
brilliant school career by becom-
ing an opera singer. She is now
living somewhere in the West.
Bug On Mechanics"
Sloane's downfall began five
years ago when he was caught
at the wheel of a stolen auto
mobile.
He was a "bug on mechanics"
and when he was in prison he
fashioned tools intended to aid
him and other cOnvicts to escape.
The plot, however, was fOiled.
When the one-time boy prodigy
finally negotiated his liberty he
was "going to go straight" And,
up to today, his mother had
thought that he had made good
his high resolve.
The son Of a minister, his
mother an authoress, brilliant
record at college, Sloane deliber-
ately chose the Sordid and
crooked path which finishes 10
times out of 10 in the cemetery.
Mechanical Genius
They used to call him the boy
prodigy, mechanical genius.
Even when he was a kid student
in a middle western high school
they predicted he would rise to
great heights.
He devised an airplane stab
aIizer which won the attention Of
experts. At Carnegie Tech and
later at Columbia University.
they kept saying he would make
his mark. When he began to
study law they said he had a
brilliant future.
But there must have been a
kink somewhere.
When he was 81 and galloping
toward success 10 years ahead
Of his age, Sloane was sent up
for 10 years for stealing an auto