Evening star., 1937-12-10

PARIS, Dec. 10 (P.-Roger
"Scarface" Million and Jean The
Little One" LIE Blanc, sought by
police as accomplices in staying
kidnapping gang which numbered
among its victims Jean De Koven,
Brooklyn dancer, surrendered to
police today.
BY the Associated Press.
PARIS, Dec. 1O.-The asserted scar
faced chief of an abduction death syn
dicate, whose expert in murder" slew
Jean de Koven, Brooklyn dancer,
escaped a police net and was sought
today by rowing patrols along the high
ways of Southeastern France.
With him, police said, were his
blond mistress and third suspect,
said by police to be one Jean LIE Blanc.
Judiciary police first had announced
their capture. but later changed this
to say the three had fled their hotel
at Nantua last night.
The trio fled. police said, after a
mysterious telephone call to their
apartment. Leaving all their baggage
behind, the three left Nantua in q
blue automobile
Authorities identified the alleged
leader of the band that sought to build
an efficient, profitable business on kid
naping and death as Roger Million,
Frenchman.
His mistress, police said, was a
Frenchwoman
Authorities believed Million to be the
man who employed Eugene Weidmann,
29-year-old German ex-convict, as
killer for the gang. Weidmann has
confessed killing Miss de Koven and
four men, one of them a member of
the supposed syndicate in crime
| All three had been staying at
Nantua, some $50 miles southeast of
| Paris, for the past month.
Hotel Surrounded.
| Their hotel was surrounded by police
in the early morning, and their ar
rests were announced. When inspec-
tors entered the building, however, the
| trio mad escaped.
While detectives in Paris continued
| cross questioning Weidmann, husky
confeSsor Of the five slayings, others
began systematic excavation around
the St Cloud villa outside Paris where
yesterday were found the bodies of
Miss De Koven and Fritz Frommer,
who has been linked with the gang
1t was Weidmann's confession to the
| five slayings which put police on the
trail of the gang, allegedly headed by
! Million.
Investigators believed that Million
could be identified as a man with
whom Weidmann talked in the lobby
of a Paris hotel last July, before he
| lured the Brooklyn dancing girl to the
bands villa of death" in St. Cloud.
Tells of Try for Ransom.
| During this mornings questioning,
police said, the slayer declared Mil
| lion made an attempt to collect the
ransom of $500 from Ida Sackheim,
Miss De Koven's aunt. several days
after the dancer was killed.
|
lion and his woman companion were
the two who passed several of the
$500 in travellers checks which Weld
mann took after Staying Miss De
Koven.
There also was the possibility. po-
lice said, of linking Million and the
woman with two of Weidmann's
| nthpr victims to Hriuor @
broker.
Million and his blond companion
vanished from their apartment near
the Central Markets of Paris after
the body of the broker, Roger Ie-
blond, was found in Weidmanns villa
The woman was known to police as
Renee" or "Colette" Tricot and is
27 years old Million, rs, was said to
be an accountants assistant. Both
are French.
Adding new details to yesterdays
confession, Weidmann related today
that he struck up an acquaintance
with Miss De Koven because he liked
to speak English
Il knew English since my visits iE
America and Canada" the German:
confession said. The memory of hel
killing is more horrible than all the
Others" he added.
The 22-year-old American girl was
the first of his victims, according tt
his confession. He was placed in 6
Versailles Jail cell with two other