The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-04-27
RELATIVE WILL
FACE QUIZ IN
FARO MURDER
Father -in-LaW of SWindIer
Slain in South Bend Is
Afraid to Talk
BIZ United Press

By United Press
SOUTH BEND, Ind, April 81
Mrs. Myrtle Tanner BlackIdge, who
resigned rs collector of internal rev.
enue at Chicago after the famous
Springfield faro game in which she
lost $4,000 of Edward r. Litsinger's
money, declared today she felt win
dicated," after proving to her own
satisfaction that a man killed here
was one Of the trio who swindled
her.
Leaving the home where she had
been confined by influenza, Mrs.
Blacklidge came here Sunday,
looked once at the body Of George
Perry in an undertaking parlor, and
declared positively he was the
George Parker" who last Jan. %
lured her into the card game which
resulted in such notoriety that she
was forced out Of one Of the most
responsible political positions ever
held by q woman in America.
Seek Other Plotters
"I feel like 7 now have a new lease
on life" said Mrs. Blacklidge in dis
cussing Perrys death and charges
made by Litsinger in January that
he believed she had conspired with
the gamblers to rob" him of $780,
900 by making it appear she had
lost" to them the money he lent to
her.
Convinced that Perry was the
leader in the plot to fleece Mrs.
Blacklidge, and strong in their belief
that Perry was killed because he
beat his companion sWindlers out of
their share of the faro loot, police
directed their efforts toward search
for the other two conspirators and
to questioning Of Perry's father-in-
law, who himself has a record as a
gambler.
The father-in-law, John Caniff,
at whose garage door Perry was shot
down in the dark last Friday night,
was quoted as saying he hated Perry
and that there were others, perhaps
a dozen, who also hated him.
Others Thought Involved
Corner B. j. Bolka said Caniff
expressed an opinion that perhaps
six or more persons might have de-
sired Perry's death and that pos
sibly he was not shot because OF
the faro game, but because OF some
other illegal transaction.
The other two men who police be-
lieved were involved in the faro
sWindle were known as Roy Brow
der, alias Burgess, and Roscoe Rey-
nolds, alias Gilmore.
Police felt certain that if they
found these men some light could
be shed upon the Perry Staying, as
we'll as upon the fleeing of Mrs.
Blacklidge.
Mrs. Blacklidge personally ques-
toned Caniff at length Sunday.
She knew him years ago in Chicago
when her husband ran drug store
there and Canif was one of the
customers.
that Caniff had told Perry things
about her and her late husband
which Perry used in influencing her
to play in the game at Springfield,
win 100000 on paper, and then
borrow $4,000 in cash from Lit
singer, only to lose it all.
Afraid to Talk
Police said Caniff denied he had
any part in the faro plot. He adj
mitted, they said, that he could
tell more" but was afraid to-"
Suspicion that Perry was Parker"
first was aroused by his widow, who
told police he travelled extensively
and had much money, but no job.
She had accused him, she said,
of being in on the Springfield job,
and he had replied by telling her
to mind her own business"
Expressing confidence that the
death of Perry would open the way
for clearing up OF the Springfield
faro plot, and prove her positively
a dupe and not conspirator, Mrs.
Blacklidge limited she probably
would sue Litsinger for telling
newspapers and officials in January
that he believed she had plotted
with the gamblers to rob" him.
A belief that some of the Lit
singer Blacklidge loot might be re-
covered was expressed by police
after Mrs. Perry gave them the key
to a safety deposit box her husband
kept in New York.
She told them that whenever her
husband needed money, he went to
the box.