Evening star., 1933-10-23
LIMERICK MURDER
| CONFESSION FAILS
| TO BRING REWARD
Isadore Matin Had Hoped to
Secure $500 Owed
Step-Brother.
SKEPTIC POLICE LEAVE
TO CHECK EVERY ANGLE
; Admission Second One Given in
Staying Of Theater Usher
in December, 1890.

The confession of Isadore Matin, %,
thai he killed 2eulah Limerick. 1o-yea--
Old theater usher. Will not bring him
the $500 reward that prompted him to
surrender to Philadelphia police, Capt.
Bernard W Thompson, acting chief OF
detectives, said today.
Informed of Mathis statement that
he had given himself up in the hope
his stepbrother, to whom he owes $500.
would be paid reward. Capt. Thomp-
Soll said
Our records show there never was a
reward in the Limerick case"
Surrendered Yesterday.
Matin. also known as Ted Martin.
surrendered to a Philadelphia traffic
policeman yesterday, explaining he
wished to confess murder" 1t was
the second time he had given himself
up for the same purpose since the Sec
Ietary OF the SKY High Wnoopee Ciuo
was shot to deatn IN December, 1880.
Mathis latest confession, Capt. Thomp-
son sent Detective Sergts. George E.
Darnall and John c. DalgllSh to Phila-
delphia with instructions to check
every angie of Mathis story"
IL il looks like there is the slightest
possibility that Matin Is telling the
truth said Thompson, "DarnaA and
DalgllSh will bring him back here as
soon as the necessary arrangements can
pe maze
Matin was accompanied by his STEP
brother, Joe Sherman. when he APP
preached the traffic ofncer in Pn.ladei-
phia. Under questioning at headquar-
tiers he declared his Ilrst confession,
made shortly after the Staying, was "a
carefully thought-out scheme" to clear
himself of suspicion.
At that time, Matin notified Wash
ington police they should look for a
Ted Martin" He also sent a similar
tip" to a local newspaper.
A short time later, he was picked up
in Philadelphia, and, after confessing
the crime, asserted he had been
prompted only by desire to obtain
publicity. He had hoped he added.
that the publicity would help him land
JOU dS plUleSolOlldl SOIiCA'
Troubled by Conscience.
Associated Press dispatches from
Philadelphia quoted Lieut.. Frank Chop
Iinski OF the homicide squad there as
saving Matin told him his second CON-
fession was inducted by a bothersome
conscience.
The Philadelphia police said Matln
had been absent from his home there
for a week Yesterday. they said. ne
telephoned Sherman and arranged
meeting downtown. What transpirad
at the meeting was not clear, but a rev
minutes later Matin and his step
brother walked up to the trathc police
man.
Matin told the police, the dispatches
stated, that he had intended to see MS
mother before Surrendering but those
brothers of mine beat me to it. -,
Il had intended to turn myself In II
they hadn't" he was quoted as saying.
II know I am going to the chair for
this. but | don't care"
Sherman was quoted as telling the
police:
Regardless Of how get it, / want
my money. He CMatin) borrowed $500
from me when he wasn't working. he
but there wasn't any legacy. He sald
if I'd come with him he'd surrender
and I could get the reward money"
Pressed to name a motive for the
killing. Matin said:
Just put it down to jealousy"
Later, however, he gave double mo-
tive, according to Choplinksi. who re-
fused to reveal the nature of the Sec
ond statement.
He told us the whole story" said
the detective, land I am inclined to
think he told the truth. The confession
will be turned over to Washington de-
tectives when they get here"
Story Believed True.
Choplinski, 'ontinuing his outline of
Mathis confession, said:
1.-The murder was committed on the
last day of December, 1880. He said
he had been living in Philadelphia, at a
boarding house. and had gone to Wash
ington ON December 26, q, %, 29. 80
and 81 Each day he came back the
same night and slipped into his board
ing house and into bed.
He said the people with whom he
boarded did not know he was out Of
town and were prepared to swear he
was in bed and asleep every night
around the time of the murder.
He said he knew this when he noti-
fled the Washington police, anony-
mously, to look for him.
"He said it haunted him wherever he
went, though he had Travelled all over
the United States
He told us how he shot the girl,
how he put gauze over the wound,
powdered her face and rouged her
cheeks. And, after he averted suspi-
cion, he said, he made trip to Puerto
Rico and there disposed of the pistol"
The Limerick girl was found dead
the morning of December 81. 1880, ly-
ing IN bed in her home on Nineteenth
street southeast, near the District Jail.
Her death at first was ascribed to
hemmorrhage, but an undertaken dis
covered a bullet wound in her head.
During the subsequent investigation,
four men were arrested, but detectives
were unable to unearth any evidence
against any of them. They were Rob-
ert F. Langdon, then policeman; the
girls brother, Vernon Limerick; Will
liam Paddy, who escorted her to a
dance the night of December 80. and