Evening star., 1934-09-15
Police Hold Four in Mystery
Said to Involve Gam
bIers' Row.
SHOOTING AT HOUSTON
OPENS AT EARLY HOUR
Taxi Driver, Elevator Boy and
Woman Give Evidence, and Two
Pistols Are Recovered.


Police think the shooting, which
occurred on the third floor of the
Houston Hotel, street between
personal quarrel and had no connec-
ton with the gambling racket here.
Less than Is minutes after the
affray four men were under arrest
the two guns thought TO have been
used in the shooting in police custody
and a lookout was broadcast for a
fifth man.
The man slain was Sam Melincov,
80, who lived at a downtown hotel
One bullet pierced his chest and an
other his abdomen. He was dead
when medical assistance arrived.
Second in Hospital.
Bryant Big Mcmahon. 80, who
gave an address in the 1900 block Of
M street, is fighting for his life in
Emergency Hospital with wounds in
his abdomen, both arms and leg.
An operation was performed, but at
noon it was not known whether it
would be successful.
All persons thought to have been
connected in any way with the shoot
ing maintained tight silence. Even
Mcmahon, lying at the point of death
on an operating table, refused to say
who shot him.
Those being held are Alfred S. Pin
sonault, 80, of the Houston Hotel;
John r. Mitchell, %, of the 1900 block
of Massachusetts, avenue; Thomas F.
Tobin, 80, of the 1000 block of Four
teenth street, and Isaac B. Jones, 40,
1900 block of Thirty-seventh street. a
well-known professional bondsman.
Fingerprints Searched.
Police are hopeful fingerprint and
ballistics tests on the two guns will
disclose the indentity of those who
"shot it out"
The prints on the gun handles will
be examined by experts and compari-
son made with the fingerprints of all
suspects now in custody as well as of
Melincov and Mcmahon.
Then the guns will be turned over
to Lieut.. John Fowler, department
ballistics expert, and test made to
determine whether bullets taken from
the bodies of Melincov and Mcmahon
were fired from them.
The dispute which eliminated in
the Staying, is thought to have started
in a restaurant at 1410 I street, con-
Quoted, police say, by Harry Maynard.
Driver Tells Of Argument.
Leaving the restaurant, the group,
including Melincov and Mcmahon,
hired a taxicab and ordered the driver
to take them to the Houston Hotel
The driver, whose identity police kept
secret in fear that he might be mo-
Tested, said he gathered from the con-
versation of his fares that they were
going to the hotel to settle an argu-
ment.
Richard White, colored elevator
boy of the 1900 block Of Swami street,
furnished the information that the
group went to Room 311, all ascend
ing together on the elevator about 2
am. The room was listed in the
name of Sam Berlin, police stated.
He now is being sought.
Tobin and Berlin, who is also known
as N1lll6l, CdltlC W w 0DOoS
two weeks ago from Norfolk, Va,
police learned. Little was known here
of their past and inquiries concerning
them were dispatched to the Virginia
city.
Less than a half hour later, Miss
Madeline Coin, an actress, who occu-
pied the room adjoining Berlin's was
awakened by loud voices. She said
she could tell several men were ar
guing, but could not make out what
they were saying. A few minutes
later five shots were fired, one of the
reports seeming to come from the
hotel corridor, Miss Coin told police.
The pistol reports rang through. the
hotel and Night Clerk Cecil Hobson
sent White, the elevator operator, for
police. He met half a dozen officers
running toward the hotel. They had
been on Ninth street nearby and had
heard the shots.
Mcmahon Falls in Lobby.
Summoning more police help, the
officers threw Gordon about the
hotel. Sergt John Ronayne, first
precinct. found Mcmahon staggering
down the hotel stairs, blood streaming
from his wounds. He helped him to
the lobby where Mcmahon collapsed
on a couch.
Tobin fed from the hotel west on
z street and is said TO have run into
the womans rest room at the gaso-
line station at Tenth and E streets.
A. L. Finnegan, night watchmau.
and Policemen Sam Davis and Frank
Morette found him hiding there. A
.38 caliber revolver was found hidden
in a flower pot in front of a house
near the filling station.
Mitchell was arrested by Precinct
Detective H D. johnson in the hotel
lobby, and Jones on the street outside
by Sergt. Clarence Musselman and
Pvt. Davis Johnson took PinSonault
into custody.
Information Refused.
johnson and Morette took McMa-
hon to the hospital after rounding up
their prisoners. They tried TO ques-
ton him at that time, but he refused
to talk.
Most Of those arrested were said
by officers TO have been drinking, but
none was drunk.
A second gun, of the same make
and caliber as that located in the
flower pot, was found in the hallway
outside the room where the shooting
occurred
Seven hundred dollars in cash was
found in Melincov's pockets.
Mcmahon is well known to police
He was one of the principal suspects in
the notorious hi-jacking of the El
Salvadorean legation several years
ago. At that time he was identified
ss an employe Of "Jimmys" gambling
establishment just across the District
line on Bladensburg road.
He also was questioned in the
killing Of Talley Day, local gam
bier, and in the death of Tack
Grady, who fell through skylighi
in Fourteenth street gambling es-
tablishment four years ago.
Wounded in 1882.
In March. 1882, Mcmahon was shor
In the back while asleep. police re.
called. and walked into Casualty Hos.
pital, clad only in pajamas. At tha'