Evening star., 1936-09-26
GOODWIN MURDER .
EVIDENCE IS GIVEN
TO CORONER Jury
Detective FIaherty Shows
Weapon That Killed
U. S. Typist.
PHOTOS OF SCENE
ALSO INTRODUCED
Robinson, Janitor, Who Confessed
Crime, Formally Charged
With Murder.
BULLETIN.

BULLETIN.
A coroner's jury this afternoon
held 27-year-old Norman Wesley
Robinson, colored, for the grand
jury in the murder of Mrs. Flor
ence D. Goodwin, Treasury Depart
ment typist. -
Evidence against Norman w. Rob-
inson, ~, colored, confessed slayer
Of Mrs. Florence D. Goodwin, AZ
year-old Treasury Department eypist,
was presented to a coroner's jury to-
day by homicide squad detectives.
One Of the first witnesses was De-
tective Sergt. Jerry Flaherty, who
showed the jury the furnace shaker
with which Mrs. Goodwin was beaten
to death on the morning Of Seotem-
Der 10. The bludgeon-shaped weapon,
about two feet long, was stained with
blood.
Photographs Of the scene Of the
crime-Mrs. Goodwin's bed room on
the second floor oa her lodging house.
at 1102 Sixteenth street-also were
introduced in evidence
4Ac SOtC4IlI1lcuL WdS represented
by Assistant United States Attorney
Irving Goldstein, assigned to the case
by United States Attorney Leslie C.
Garnett at the request of Capt. Ira
Keck, assistant chief of detectives.
Robinson, also known as John Will
liams, was formally charged with the
murder yesterday afternoon as detec-
tives prepared to grill him in con-
nection with q somewhat similar kill
ing-that of Miss Mary E. Sheads,
retired school teacher, in her Six
teenth street apartment more than
two years ago.
Miscroscope Tests Succeed. I.
The colored man confessed the
Goodwin Staying. according to Keck,
after microscopic examinations by
DR.. Oscar B. Hunter, nationally known
pathologist, revealed that matter
found beneath his fingernails includ-
ed silk threads from the victims
dressing gown.
A detailed report of DR.. Hunters
findings. together with Robinsons
confession, was expected to be laid
before the jury, which was sworn in
by Coroner A. Magruder Macdonald
soon after Mrs. Goodwins body was
found
In his confession, Robinson, for.
merly employed as a janitor by Mrs.
Goodwin, is reported to have said he
sneaked into the house with the in.
tention Of robbing it.
He let himself in with a key re-
tanned when he was discharged, he
said, took the shaker from the base.
ment, crept up the stairs and into
his former employers room.
GAS I went into her room," detec.
tiveS quoted him as saying, "she
turned her head toward me. I don't
know whether she saw me, but hit
her once"
Struck Four More Times.
Robinson searched Mrs. Goodwin's
pocketbook, he said, but found no
money. As he hunted through dresser,
he told detectives, the injured woman
moaned, and he hit her four more
times. Then, he added, he took the
quilt, twisted it, and stuffed 1t into
her mouth
Frightened by footsteps on the floor
Frightened by footsteps on the
floor above, Robinson deposited the
shaker in the furnace and fed.
only to be arrested a short time
later. Bloodstains on his shirt linked
him with the crime, detectives de-
clared, even before the silk threads
were discovered in the matter taken
from beneath his nails.
Miss Sheads, GA, was strangled by
thief who crept into her apartment. =
about nine blocks north Of Mrs. Good
wins rooming house, and detectives
said there was evidence the crime was
perpetrated by a colored man. Rob-
inson, who has criminal record,
probably was in Washington at the
time. according to investigators.