Evening star., 1944-10-01
Man Accused in Lagoon Staying
Keeps StoIid Silence in Jail
Elderly Cote Worker
Denied Boil; Cose
Continued to Oct. IL

Continuing the StOl1d silence he
has maintained since the FBI
started questioning him, Gardner
Tyler Pop" Holmes 60-year -old
restaurant handyman charged with
first-dcgree murder in the Staying
of Mrs. Margaret Fitzwater last
Saturday night. was confined In the
District Jail awaiting action of the
United States commissioner and
the grand jury.
Holmes was arraigned yesterday
before United States Commissioner
Needham G. Turnage and formally
charged with numbering Mrs. Fitz-
water, 63-year-old rooming house
housekeeper OF the 300 block of H
street NV. The case was continued
until October II at the request of
the FBI, and Holmes, denied bail,
was turned over to United States
marshals and taken to the District
Jail.
The elderly eccentric was arrested
after week of questioning by the
FBI, which took jurisdiction be-
cause the crime was committed on
Federal property. Holmes had
voluntarily" remained in the
custody of the FBI all last week and
submitted to questioning because he
wanted to see this awful crime
solved"
Suspicion first pointed toward
him, the FBI said, when he dis
covered" the body Of Mrs. Ftzwater
floating in the Pentagon lagoon.
While agents questioned Holmes
at FBI headquarters, other agents
searched for clues.
Footprints Traced.
FBI agents said footprints in the
soft earth, into which the dead
woman's shoes fitted perfectly,
pointed in the direction of Holmes
"houseboat" home-an old con-
struction gang shanty fitted on a
makeshift raft and moored to the
bank of the lagoon. Here the elderly
restaurant worker lived alone. He
went there nightly after finishing
his work at the Tom Thumb Res
taurant, lilo F street S.W.
Further investigation by FBI
agents revealed bloodstains on one
of the planks of the raft. Scrap
ings of this dried blood were taken
to the FBI laboratories where analy-
sis proved it to be the blood of the
murdered woman, FBI agents said
Said He Had Drunk Beer.
Holmes at first denied knowing
Mrs. FitZwater. Later, however,
when told he had frequently been
seen with her in Washington water
front restaurants, he admitted he
had been acquainted with her for
some time, the FBI said.
Meanwhile, investigators con-
Quoted a thorough search for the
weapon with which Mrs. Fitzwater's
throat had been slashed, but it never
has been found. Navy men found
the one article of clothing Mrs.
FitZwater was known to have been
wearing that was not found on the
banks of the lagoon-a small felt
hat which was found floating in the
water.
DR.. Richard Rosenberg, deputy
coroner, meanwhile had performed
an autopsy. He said Mrs. Fitzwater
was dead before being thrown into
the water.
Patient at State Hospital.
A check of Holmes background
disclosed he had been patient .at
the Eastern State Hospital for the
Criminally Insane at Williamsburg,
Va, for about 10 years. He was
undergoing treatment for paranoia,
a mental disorder characterized by
delusions of persecution. He escaped
from the institution several times
during his confinement, it was
learned.
His last escape was about 10 years
ago. Under an administrative prac-
tice in the Virginia institution, ac-
cording to the FBI, persons in
Holmes mental classification who
remain away from the hospital for