Evening star., 1941-05-05
Prisoner Confesses
Staying Ad Executive
In New York HoIdup
Victim Shot to Deoth
As He Sat in Parked
Auto With Model
4y the Associated Press.

BY the hSSOCldteu Press.
NEW YORK, May 5.-Twenty-
three-year-old Morris MardavlCh, a
disheveled, dark-haired man nerv-
ously clasping a soiled gray hat,
appeared in the police lineup today
charged with the Staying yesterday
of Harry V. Maxwell, advertising
executive, yesterday as Mr.. Maxwell
sat in a parked car with pretty
model
The prisoner acknowledged hav-
ing made a statement to the district
attorneys office, and was not queS-
toned further. AS he was led from
the platform, Capt. Edward Dillon
said. This is very good arrest"
Detectives said Mardavich's pitted
face led to his arrest. The model,
they said was able to tell police
that one of the two intruders upon
the car had severely pitted face.
Detectives then examined morgue
pictures. discovered Mardavich's
photograph in police files and ar
rested him at his apartment.
Confession Announced.
District Attorney Thomas E.
Dewey announced Mardavich had
confessed the killing after nine
hours questioning.
Police, meanwhile, started search
for a man allegedly named by Mar
davich as having aided him in a
series of "tail-light" holdups in New
York's East Side.
Their practice was described by
police as strolling through the sec
ton in early morning hours. watch
ing for a lighted automobile tall
light, indicating persons might be in
the car, and then robbing them.
Detectives Thomas Murphy and
William Jones had Mardavich in
custody for several hours before he
formally was charged with homicide.
The Staying occurred just before
dawn yesterday outside the upper
East Side home of Mary Jane
Cassidy, "a where she and Mr.. Max
well, 41-year-oId son of r. c. Max
well, head of the outdoor advertising
agency of that name, had parked
after visiting a fashionable night
club.
Man Enters Auto.
The couple had been sitting there
for several minutes, the model said.
when suddenly the door on her side
was flung open and a man slid in
beside her. Another man, she said,
opened the door on Mr.. Maxwells
side.
The model said she then heard
Click, or something sounding like
a pop-gun," and that her escort
cursed and slumped against her.
The bandits fed without a word,
speeding away in car parked down
the block, she added neglecting TO
take her purse or Mr.. Maxwell's wal
let, which contained Sl06.
Miss Cassidy, who said she did
not know the slight pop" was
shot, thought at first that Mr. Max
we'll had suffered a heart attack and
drove him to his apartment eight
blocks away without realizing he
was dead. When she learned he
was dead, she telephoned police.
Mr., Maxwell was taken to a police
station and later to Bellevue Hos
pital for an autopsy, but it was not
until almost 10 hours after the
actual shooting that an autopsy dis
closed .32-caliber bullet lodged in
his heart.
Police theorized that the two men
trailed the couple from the night
club after seeing Mr.. Maxwell, who
headed the New York office of his
fathers billboard advertising firm,
with a large roll of bills.
Mr.. Maxwell, who served in the
Red Cross Ambulance Corps in
France during the World War, had
been twice married and twice di-
vorced. His first wife was the for
mer Miss Gail Morrison of Pitts
burgh. widely-known golfer.
That marriage was dissolved in
1882 in Reno, New. The following
year Mr.. Maxwell married Mrs.
Caroline F. Sellers, from whom he
was divorced in 1898.