Evening star., 1935-01-22
S1,5DO REWARDS
POSTED AND FIVE
HELD IN KILLINGS
County offers $500 and
Transit Firm 900 in
Car Barn Murders.
FOUR MEN AND WOMAN
QUESTIONED IN CASE
Footprints. Bullets and Gun
Shells Only Clues Found to
Hold-up Slayers.

Reward totals were raised to $500
for information leading to the arrest
and conviction of the persons guilty
of the brutal killing early yesterday
Of two Capital Transit Co. employees
and robbery in the car barn Office at
Chevy Chase, Md. few miles north
OF the District line.
At the same time police revealed
they had four men and a woman un-
der arrest in connection with the
crime
The Montgomery County Commis-
sioners, meeting today, offered $500
reward, While the Capital Transit Co.
yesterday offered reward Of $1,000.
Meanwhile investigators were hop
ing that the few meager clues they
have may aid in a solution. These
include bullets, recovered from wood
work in the Office and from the heads
of the two dead men-JameS M
Mitchell, SO, 2216 Thirtieth street
southeast. depot clerk, and Emory
Smith, 40, of Bethesda, Md, barn me-
chanic and Watchman, who was kid
naped from the scene and thrown in
Rock Creek Also. police have several
empty shells, elected from the robbers
pistols when fired in the station. and
measurements of footprints which led
from an automobile which had been
parked in the snow near the scene OF
the robbery.
Former EmplOye Held.
One of the men under arrest is a
former employe of the street car
yTIon 1por
previously was arrested for question
ing in connection with Washington
hold-up. At that time Mitchell Is
said to have aided in the arrest
through identifying the man to Dis
trict detectives. The man gave HIM
self up at police headquarters when
he learned he was wanted.
Another of the men arrested is a
street car operative. said to be
close friend of the former employe
The woman is alleged to have been
with the former employe on the night
of the robbery and is understood to be
under questioning as to the mans
whereabouts at the time of the mur-
der and robbery.
All except the street car operative,
who was arrested in Maryland and
detained at the Bethesda sub station,
are being questioned in the District
by officers from Washington, Balti-
more and Montgomery County.
Prints Measured.
The footprints in the snow. leading
from the automobile, which tracks
showed had been parked nearby, we're
measured by police and reported to
have been made by a man wearing
about size seven shoe. The prints
leading from where the automobile
stood to the office were made by a
man walking, it was said. while those
going back toward the automobile
were made by man who was run
ming. There also were marks in the
snow near the car, made, apparently,
by a man who had fallen. Police
were uncertain, however, whether
some one went down in fight.
Footprints at the bridge over Rock
Greek where Smith was thrown in
were obliterated by a throng Of per-
sons who flocked to the scene before
police we're able to obtain measure
ments. From the marks in the snow
it was indicated Smith had been
pulled to the creek by two men who
preceded him.
The metal jacket bullets used by
the robbers were fired from automatic
pistols, according to Lieut.. John H.
Fowler, ballistics expert of the Wash
ington Police Department.
Conference Planned.
The Washington, Baltimore and
Montgomery County police working on
the case were planning to hold con-
ference today at the scene of the
tragedy. These include Detective
Sergt. Frank o. Brass of Washington,
SergtS. T. F. Vollten and Leroy Rogers
of the Montgomery Police, and Detec-
tive Sergt. S. w. Deal of Baltimore.
Capital Transit officials today said
the dependents of Mitchell and Smith
will get $780, to be paid out in
monthly installments under the pro-
visions of the District Workmen'S COM
pensation law. In addition. the FAM
ilieS will each receive $500 in cash
from the Capital Transit Relief Asso-
citation and another $500 each from
group insurance carried for employees
by the company.
Both Shot Four Times.
An autopsy performed in Rockville
late yesterday by Drs. C. E. Hawks
and William A. Linthicum revealed
that both Mitchell and Smith had
Eeen shot four times in the head.
There were no bullet wounds about
their bodies as had been indicated by
earlier reports. Three bullets were
recovered from the bodies.
single bullet recovered from
Mitchell was one which had entered
his cheek, taken a downward course
and lodged in his mouth. Of two
bullets taken from Smith. one was
from deep in the head and the other
was lodged just under the skin after
having gone through the skull
Smith, the physicians reported, had
powder burns where the bullets had
entered, showing definitely he was
shot at close range. This gave
strength to the police theory that
the robbers probably had decided to
shoot him when he began to put up
q fight after being kidnapped from the
scene. Broken glass along the road
side at the bridge over Rock Greek,
approximately mile north on Con-
necticut avenue from the robbery
scene where Smith was thrown into
the water furnished mute evidence of
q struggle.
Police thought it possible that
Smith might have put up fight at
that point upon regaining conscious
ness after having been hit over the
head. The body had drifted approx
mately 1OO yards downstream, in the