Evening star., 1937-10-05
WOMAN ANGLE
|NDAV|DSONDEATH
BLASTED BY PROBE
Lead Is Dropped as Tire
Tracks of Mystery Car
Are Uncovered.
MURDER WEAPONS
SOUGHT IN WOODS
State Troopers Plan to Search
Personal Files of Victim
for New Clues.

The woman angle" in the murder
of Elmer j. Davidson, 52-year-old
United States Chamber of Commerce
legal research expert, collapsed to-
day, and tireprints which rain failed
to obliterate gave strength to a new
suppositiOn that another automobile
was on the lonely road near Stafford
Court House, Va, where the Wash
ington attorneys body was found
early yesterday.
Abandonment Of the theory by
State Trooper E. j. McDermott that
Davidson was slain because of jealousy
or revenge over woman he was
thought to have accompanied last
Spring in the section where the mur-
der occurred came when it was learned
the person who had identified the
couple obviously was mistaken.
Robbery Motive Studied.
A robbery motive, heretofore given
little consideration because of the fact
that Davidson's wallet was untouched.
came in for serious thought by the in
vestigators when it developed an ex-
pensive watch the lawyer usually car
ried was missing
A watch chain with broken catch
had been found in Davidson's pocket,
but the watch was gone. A check-up
was being made, however, to deter
mine whether the attorney had left
the timepiece at home or at his Office.
Police believe the pocketbook, which
contained only small amount of
money. might have been overlooked.
since Davidson carried it in one of
side pockets of his trousers. instead of
a hip pocket
Constable Not Convinced.
Despite McDermott's conviction
that a woman did not figure in the
case, Constable Lewis G. Stewart of
Stafford was still positive he had seen
Davidson near Stafford last Spring
with an unidentified woman.
Stewart said Davidson's car stalled
in ditch and that a mechanic had
charged him 81 for towing. The mo-
torist objected, Stewart recalled, and
the officer had been called to the
garage to settle the cost. Stewart
said Davidson showed him credentials
and insisted the constable vouch for
check he wished to present to the
garage man.
McDermott meanwhile concentrated
on the theory that the murderer. be-
Eeved at first to have been a hitch
hlker, also had a machine and drove
it into the lonely lane where the at
torney was stabbed and shot.
Mystery Cars Tires Checked.
Uncovered by minute examination
OF the grove into which Davidsons
car was driven the tire tracks proved
to have been made by machine other
than the lawyers. The second prints
were made by badly worn tires.
The path Of the mystery car showed
it had pulled into the dirt road, backed
and turned within a few feet from
where the lawyers body was found.
State Trooper Sam Sneed, in charge
OF the investigation at Stafford
planned to have a searching party
comb the woods near the murder scene
today for the knife and gun used in
the murder.
woman Angle Breaks Down.
The breakdown of the theory that
woman was involved in the Staying was
revealed here this afternoon by Nc
Dermott. who said he had further
questioned Triangle (Va.) garage
owner, who had identified Davidson
as man he had seen with q woman
about six months ago.
Under close questioning, McDermott
said the garage owner told him the
car which Davidson" was driving in
the Spring was of make the lawyer
had never been known to own or op-
crate.
"As far as I'm concerned" McDer-
mott said, the woman is out of it
entirely. Right now, I'm trying to
check on Davidsons personal files in
the hope of learning something about
his habits and getting something to
work on"
Davidson's relatives and friends,
however. have steadfastly main-
tained he was rarely in the COM
pany Of women, although he often
drove an automobile alone in the
vicinity of Washington, and sometimes
picked up hitch-hikers whose appeals
he refused to Ignore, partly because
Of good nature and largely because
of his faith in human nature.
No clear description could be OBJ
tained by police of the man who
crashed Davidson's expensive roadster
into telephone pole at Triangle, on
the FredericksburgW Washington high
way between 10 and II o'clock Sum-
day night. The fugitive. seeing the
car was ditched, and could not be
returned to the pavement without a
wrecking crow, rushed into the middle
Of the righway and tagged another
automobile going north.
Fail to Get Number.
Virginia State police we're told the
car which picked the man up bore
Pennsylvania tags Lookouts were
broadcast to Washington and cities
to the northeast, although police here
obtained only a neager description OF
the car from the youths who saw it
for moment on dark highway, and
could not obtain the license number.
Virginia investigators came to
Washington last night to talk to
friends and relatives Of Davidson and
to check on several addresses on cards
found in the dead mans billfold.
They expected to find, however, that
the addresses were of business ma
ture, they said. While there they also
planned to ask assistance from the
Justice Department in examining
Davidsons automobile for finger
prints.
Capt Ira keck, assistant chief Of