The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-12-23
PRETTY STORE
CLERK IS SLAIN
BY K|DNAPERS
Ransom Note to Parents of
Girl Received After
She Dies.
TOSS BODY INTO RIVER
Feeling Against Murderers
High in Moline, Ill.,,
Tri-City Area.
BIZ United Press


ROCK ISLAND, Ill, Dec. 23.-The
Christmas holiday was haunted with
tragedy today as angered citizens
exhorted police to redouble efforts
to find the brutal kidnap-slayers Of
pretty Rose Gender, %.
Feeling ran high in the tri-city
community of Rock Island, Moline
and Davenport, Ia, where the at
tractive young woman was well
known. She was slain early Thurs
day morning and her body tossed
from a bridge to the ice-covered
Rock river.
Holding to their theory that Mrs.
Gender was slain in a vengeance
plot, police freed three suspects to-
day, and sought the owner of a
black roadster in which they be-
lieve the Staying was committed.
Three Suspects Freed
A Rock Island woman told police
that long, low black roadster was
at the curb when she got off
Bridge line street car Wednesday
night.
She said young man leaped out
of the car and stared at her. After
a few moments, the narrator said,
he grunted and drove away. The
woman said she wore clothing
worn by Miss Gender, as told in
newspaper accounts.
Police believe that the driver of
the roadster was waiting for Miss
Gender, and that he waylaid her
when she got off car on the same
line later that night.
The suspects freed we're David
and Sam Mark, % and %, step
brothers, who were reported to have
quarreled with their step-sister, and
a Davenport man whose name was
announced.
Although demand for $4,000 ran
and stepfather in note left at the
home, apparently after Miss Gend-
Ter had been killed, officers doubted
ransom was the motive,
Quiz Friends and Relatives
The girls family was in very
moderate circumstances.
Friends and relatives were ques-
toned in an effort to discover some
possible motive.
Mrs. Jacob Mark, the girls
mother, was Frustrated with grief
today, unaware that her daughters
body had been found.
She collapsed when the kidnap
note was pushed under the door of
their home. Her condition was so
critical she was not told of the STAY
ing
Miss Gendlers movements were
traced on the night she met death
to point about block from her
home.
She was clerk in a Davenport
department store, and left the place
at $50 p. m. She boarded a street
car there, ana rode to Rock Island,
an acquaintance on the car re-
ported.
seen Near her home
A little later, neighbor said he
saw her walking about a block from
her home.
Worried when the girl did not
come home, her family reported the
disappearance to police at 3 a. m
At a. m. the kidnap note was
found. The Marks, fearful of harm
to the girl, did not report the note
until a. m.
Hours later the body was dis
covered on the ice after the small
boys found blood on the bridge rail.
Apparently, the girl was slain on
the bridge. The body was incased
in a sack. There were indications
she may have been alive when
tossed over the railing.
An inquest was scheduled for to-
day.
The note left by the slayers fur
nished certain slight clews, police
said. 1t was printed with pencil on
torn piece of newspaper proof.
Each letter was about an inch high.
The letter IS" was made in re-
verse.
The note read:
I'VE have your Rosie. She is safe,
but we want $4,000. Will let you
know later. but don't tell the COPS"