Evening star., 1934-05-11
MAN FOUND DEAD,
HELD STRANGLED
Wife Discovered Sitting BY
in Cellar CIutChing
NeCktie.

With his wife sitting beside his
PROSTATE body and clutching his
necktie so tightly that one Of hel
fingers was swollen nearly twice its
normal size. Samuel L. Lytle. j-.. AZ
year-old plumber and dance hall pro-
prietor, was found dead early today
in the cellar of their home at 1907
Pennsylvania avenue southeast.
Although police declared there was
every indication Lytle had been
strangled in brief but furious strug-
gle, Coroner A. Magruder Macdonald
ordered his body removed to the
morgue for an autopsy by Deputy
Coroner Christopher j. Murphy. The
dead mans wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Byrd
Lytle. 38, who, police said, was in
toxicated when the body was found
was arrested and held for investiga-
ton.
The post-mortem revealed, DR.
Murphy reported. that Lytle had died
of asphyxia, induced by strangulation
There also were indications he had
been drinking. it was said, and the
contents of his stomach. together
with a specimen of his blood, were
turned over to the District chemist
for analysis.
Both Heard Screams.
The strange case was brought to
police attention about am, when
Harry Odell, 1905 Pennsylvania ave-
nue. southeast, reported he and his
wife, Mrs. Lena Odell, had been hear
ing screams and humping noises
in the adjoining house for the last
hour or more.
My wife woke up first" said Odell
who is a motion picture operator
She listened for a while and then
called me. We couldn't make out
what Mrs. Lytle was yelling, but we
could hear her shrieking and pound
ing on something, and we knew there
must be trouble of some kind"
Police found Lytle lying face-down-
| ward on the cellar floor. between the
furnace and the coal bin. His wife
was sitting beside him, with her left
| hand under his body and the middle
finger entangled in his necktie, which
was pulled so tightly around the
throat that it was buried in the flesh
The necktie was cut from Lytle's
| throat by Dr. William H. Beard, who
accompanied an Emergency Hospital
| ambulance to the home. After pro-
! nouncing Lytle dead, the physician
treated the widow for severe bruise
on the finger around which the neck.
tie had been looped.
| Questioned by Detective Sergt. Johr
| c. Dalglish, Mrs. Lytle was unable tt
give a coherent account of what hac
happened. From her rambling re.
: marks, however, Dalglish constructed
the following story:
! Engaged in Conversation.
She and her husband had been en-
gagged in IAN ordinary conversation
for some time when he suggested they
60 down into the cellar together
When they reached the cellar he lay
on the floor and, taking her hand II
, his, urged her to lie down beside him
/ Still holding his hand she seated her
self beside him and he rolled over, 81
that their clasped hands were beneath
his body. When she realized he wa
! uIlCOllSClOuS Slle Illtu ullSuCCeSSlull.
| to free her hand, then lecame alarmed
and began screaming and banging OF
the coal-bin with the furnace shaker
which she had found lying on th'
floor nearby. She did not realize he
hand was entangled in his neckti'
until his body was turned over b.
police.
From other sources, however, Dalglisl
learned, he said, that Mrs. Lytle hat