The Washington times., 1935-12-18
DROVE RAPIDLY
T0THWART
ATTACK
ChauffeurWarnedNot
To Make Stops on
Trip From Cafe

tip from I'd Z
HOLLYWOOD, Cal, Dec. 10
ONS0 Mysterious new angles
developed in the death of Thelma
Todd as witnesses prepared to ap-
pear at the coroner's inquest to-
day.
The body of the film star was
found in her automobile in a
garage near her sidewalk cafe
Monday morning. Apparently she
was the victim of carbon monox-
ide poisoning.
One of the new developments
was a statement by Ernest Peters,
operator of a Hollywood auto
livery concern, who drove Miss
Todd to her strange rendezvous
with death. He said she hurried
from the party at the Trocadero
night club to her beach apart
ment in the belief that she had
been marked for gangland venge-
Rnce.
$4,000 ExtOrtiOn Seen
She had received numerous ex-
tortion notes within recent
months demanding $4,000 under
threat Of death.
Peters said Miss Todd had or
dered him to "drive at high speed"
to her beach cafe over which she
occupied an apartment. He told
police:
Miss Todd was afraid that
because she had been the vic
tim Of extOrtiOn threats which
had caused the arrests Of two
men, she might be slain or kid.
naped by gangSterS. She told
me to drive rapidly and not
make any boulevard stops, so
drove from so to 10 miles an
hour all the way from TrOca-
derO to her Sidewalk Cafe near
Santa Monica"
The possibility that Miss Todd
was the victim of a fanatic muir
der by monoxide plot" was under
investigation by police.
Police Ask Questions
Police conferred with Roland
West, movie producer, director
and owner of the building that
housed Miss Todd's cafe, who said
that he had locked out" Miss
Todd from her apartment over
her cafe because she ignored his
warning to return from the Tro-
cadero party by / o'clock Sunday
morning.
Capt. Bert Wallis Of the homi-
eide Squade said:
I'VE want to know exactly
what time she left the night
club, what time she arrived
home and why she went to the
garage.
I'VE expect the inquest to-
day to disclose why she was
locked out of her apartment
and why there should have
been necessary any arrange
ments whereby Roland West
was to let her in"
Witnesses under subpoena to APP
pear at the coroner's inquest in
cluded: Ida Lupino, young blonde
film star; her father, Stanley
Lupino, who gave the party in
Miss Todd's honor; Sid Grammar,
Hollywood theatrical impresario,
whom Miss Todd asked to tele-
phone west she was en- route
home; West, and Mrs. Alice Todd,
the dead actress mother.
Man or Woman?
Detectives were making a des-
perate effort to learn the sex and
Identity of the person whom. &C.
cording to Mrs. Ford, Miss Todd
in a Sunday afternoon telephone
conversation, asked permission to
take to a Ford cocktail party,
adding:
You'll drop dead when you
see who it is"
The police also wanted to
know the identity of the blonde
woman who apparently had been
ION patrol" in swift automobile
near Miss Todd's cafe for several
weeks.
Another aspect of the case was
the disclosure by Arthur Prince,
movie actor, and last person to
dance with Miss Todd at the
Trocadero, that Miss Todd at the
start of the party had been lively
and gay, but later changed to
mood of haunted depression and
left the party suddenly.
Mother Gets Estate
Mrs. Alice Todd, mother of
Thelma Todd, will get the stars
0uarter-million-d estate.