Evening star., 1934-05-13
STRANGLED MANS.
WIDOW JAILED BY
cORONERyERD|CT|
Mrs. LytIe, in Highly Nerv.
GUS State, Denies CauS-
ing Necktie Death.
BASEMENT TRAGEDY
FOLLOWED STRUGGLE
Policeman Who Found Woman
Sitting Beside Body and 9th
ers Heard by Probers.

Still in a highly nervous condition.
Mrs. Elizabeth Byrd Lytle, 38, was a
prisoner in the District Jail last night.
strange death of her husband. Samuel
L. Lytle, jr.. 40, a plumber Lytle,
who also operated a dance hall, was
found strangled with his own necktie
early Friday in the cellar of his home
at 1907 Pennsylvania avenue south
east
Mrs. Lytle was held responsible for
the death after an inquest yesterday
at which witnesses described how she
had been found sitting beside her
husbands body, with the middle fin
ger of her left hand entangled in his
cravat. The necktie was pulled so
tightly, 1t was testified. that it had
to be cut loose by police.
Throughout the inquest. which was
presided over by Coroner A. Magruder
Macdonald, the attractive, brown
haired widow sat with a handkerchief
pressed against her cheek, shuddering
and mumbling over and over again,
Il didn't do it." When the verdict
was read by Deputy Coroner Christo-
pher j. Murphy, she sobbed convul-
Sively Relatives and friends at
tempted to comfort her while she was
waiting to be taken to the Jail.
Hysterical in Court.
During the testimony of the first
wit NJ
fifth precinct, Mrs. Lytle became so
hysterical she had to be given several
glasses of water by Mrs. Caroline
Alexander. police woman.
Edwards testified he went to the
Lytle home in response to telephone
call from Harry Odell. 1905 Pennsyl-
vania avenue southeast, who reported
a woman was screaming for help in
the adjoining house.
He was met on the sidewalk by
Odell, he said. and he heard a wo-
man shouting" He knocked on the
basement door, he said, and the
woman called to him to "break it
down and come in"
Instead, however, he tried the first
floor door and found it unlocked. Ac-
Ny A<OCl1y LAC 'WS1lI lllIO lllC
house and down into the cellar. where
he found Lytle lying face downward
on the concrete floor, with his wife
sitting beside him, crying:
Make him turn me loose. He's
holding my hand"
Lytles arms we're at his sides, Ed
wards went on, and his wife's left
hand was beneath his chin. He
turned the body over, he said, and
found Mrs. Lytle's finger tightly
hooked in her husbands necktie.
The cravat was cut loose by an
other officer, he said.
Exhibiting the necktie to the jury
Edwards demonstrated how it had
been looped around Mrs Lytle's fin
ger.
II didn't do that" the widow NUT
tered, shaking her head and sobbing
convulsively.
Written Statement Read
Detective Sergt. John c. Dalglish,
who investigated the case for the
homicide squad, testified he could
smell the odor of an intoxicant" when
he questioned Mrs. Lytle about half
an hour after the case was brought
to police attention. He read a writ
ten statement in which Mrs. Lytle
was quoted as saying:
She spent most of Thursday after
noon and evening in a restaurant
across the street from her home,
drinking beer. When she returned
home, her husband asked her to ac-
company him to his office in the
front part of the basement.
Then he took her hand and led her
to the furnace and, lying on the
floor, between the heater and the
coal bin, pulled her down beside him.
After trying unsuccessfully to free
her hand, she began screaming and
beating on the coal bin with the
furnace shaker. The next thing she
knew, the police arrived.
Mrs Lytle, whose finger still was
swollen and discolored, wept as the
statement was read.
In the cellar, DalgliSh said, he
found unmistakable signs of strug-
gle. Fragments of two broken whisky
bottles were scattered about on the
floor, he said, and he also found a
broken ink bottle with the cork still
in it. Mrs. LytleS hands were stained
with ink, he added.
This was borne out by the autopsy
report OF DR.. Murphy, who told the
Jury ink also had been found on
Lytle's hands.
The toes of Lytle's shoes were
scuffed, the deputy coroner testified,
and there were numerous cuts. bruises
and brush burns on his head. face
and body. Dirt had been ground into
some of the wounds, he said. and two
of the dead mans teeth had been
knocked loose. He gave "asphyxia,
induced by strangulation," as the
cause of death
At the request of Mrs. Lytle's at
torney, Charles E. Ford. the inquest
was recessed for 10 minutes. while DR..
Murphy examined the widow. He
found, he reported when the hearing
was resumed, that she, too, had num-
ero,ls cuts, bruises and brush burns
on her body.
Lena Odell, had told of hearing Mrs
Lytle screaming. Mrs. Odell testified
she heard her next-door neighbor cry,
Il cant Stand IL. Let me go. Her
husband, on the other hand, said he
heard Mrs. Lytle shrek. "Oh, God,
somebody come help mel"
Ford's apparent efforts to build up
a strong self-defense plea for his
client were strengthened by the testi-
mony of surprise witness, Charles E.
Buete, Berwyn, Md, proprietor of the
lunch room visited by Mrs. Lytle.
Buete told of receiving a mysteri
GUS telephone call, presumably from
Lytle, about 1890 am. Friday. The
man asked him, he testified, to come
across the street "to my basement
refusing to reveal either his identity
or his reason for wanting the restaur-
ant proprietor. While he was talking
to the man. Buete. said. he heard a
woman's voice call several times,
Don't come over, mister; don't come
over"