Evening star., 1946-09-02
I Youths Seized
|nFata| Stabbinq
Of Navy Veteran
Father of Z Found
Dying in Rood
Block From Home


both veterans, for investigation
in the fatal stabbing Saturday
night of James Anthony Kemp,
24-year-old Navy veteran and
father Of two children, who was
found dying in Southeast road
way less than a block from his
home at 335 Thirty-seventh place
Sc. early yesterday.
Detective Sergt. Richard Felber Of
the Homicide Squad. who is heading
the lnvestiga ton, said the two youths
earlier had been questioned and re-
leased, but later were arrested when
the police discovered discrepancies
in their stories.
Police are making blood tests on
knives owned by both the young
men-one an l8-year -old Navy vet
eran, the other a 21-year -old Army
Air Forces veteran, SeIgt. Felber
said. According to his account, one
OF the men carried a penknife. A
hunting knife with a 4-inch blade
was found in the home of the other
young man.
At the same time, however, police
are making an intensive search of
woods and sewers in the vicinity of
the crime to locate the death weap.
on, Sergt. Felber said.
Gang Rounded Up.
The two suspects first came to the
attention Of the police yesterday aft
erifoon, Sergt. Felber said, when
they complained they had been
jumped on by a gang of half
drunken hoodlums in the same
nelghborhood where Mr.. Kemp was
discovered dying from a knife wound
in his upper chest.
After the two were questioned
and released, Sergt. Felber said.
police rounded up between 10 and
Is members of the alleged gang.
found that the two actually had
been attacked. but also found that
their stories differed in important
details 1t was then the two were
arrested.
Although Sergt. Felber spent much
OF the morning investigating the two
young men, 1t. jeremiah F1aherty,
chief of the homicide squad, was re-
luctant to discuss the status of the
pair, pending the outcome of the
blood tests on their knives.
Both young men were booked for
investigation, one at the 1lth pre-
cinct, the other at the ninth precinct.
An autopsy performed yesterday
afternoon disclosed that Mr.. Kemp
died OF stab wound in the upper
chest. Pvt. Karlton Stein OF the
11th precinct, who was the first DO
llceman on the scene, said he
thought the wound was made with
a penknife.
Wound Is Deep.
Deputy Coroner Christopher Muir
ply, who performed the autopsy,
said the wound was made either by
very strong person or with very
sharp knife. The downward slanting
wound, he said, was 21a to 3 inches
deep, and more than an inch wide.
The knife cut bore and severed the
aorta. the great artery which carries
blood from the heart.
DR.. Murphy said he was sure Mr..
Kemp was stabbed only a very short
time before he was discovered. He
said the victim could not have gone
more than 100 yards with a wound
that carried so much internal bleed
ing.
In addition to face bruises. Mr..
Kemp had cut on his right hand
which might have been made while
he was trying to ward of the knife
thrust, DR.. Murphy said.
Body in Roadway.
It was approximately 1:l0 am.
yesterday when Charles Roesle, 372
Thirty place Sc, walking
home from the bus stop. found the
crumpled body of Mr.. Kemp in the
middle of a roadway so dark that
he was nearly on the body before
he heard low moan.
Mr.. Roesle told police he imme.
diately ran to the home of a neigh
Dor. George Evans, 303 Thirty-sev-
enth place Sc, who called police
and a Casualty Hospital ambulance.
The two men then returned to
the scene where they examined Mr..
Kemp more carefully. They noticed.
according to Mr.. Evans, that Mr..
Kemp was lying with his feet point
ing downhill on Thirty-seventh
place.
The bruised left side of his face
was on the ground He was sprawled
on his stomach. His left eye was
blackened. A rivulet of blood ran
downhill from the body. In his rear
pocket was an undisturbed wallet.
Mr.. Evans said Mr. Kemp-who
(See MURDER. Pare A-4D