Evening star., 1950-04-21
Police Seekinq
Butler Type in
Nassau Staying
All Men Rounded Up
In Deoth of Women
From D. c. Freed

From D. {. Freed
A roundup of possible suspects
in the brutal murder of Miss Bette
Renner was underway at Nassau
in the Bahama Islands today but
so far all the men taken into Gus.
tody have been released, Mai. q.
H. Rance, Nassau police chief.
told The Star today.
The 81 year old attractive
Washington attorney, stripped Of
all her clothing except brsssiere.
was found dead Wednesday IN \
shallow we'll miles from the
resort city. She had been in the
water "a hours.
AS the island-wide manhunt
went on, Mai. Rance explained
that the colored man sought by
the police as the killer was more
the butler-type than the waiter
type He said the descriptions
of the man furnished by a trio
of witnesses simply indicated he
was not day laborer.
Examiner Making Tests.
The witnesses--a man and two
women-have told police they saw
Miss Renner bicycling on the
back road" OF the 20-mile- long
island accompanied by a colored
man. Police assumed that Miss
Renner, who was looking for
convent. had lost her way and
asked the stranger to guide her
to the right road.
Maj. Rance said a violent strue-
gle took place about s feet from
the well into which Miss Renner
had been thrust. unconscious but
still alive. Her death was due to
drowning. Miss Renner. the po-
lice chief said. apparently was
trying to run away when she was
dragged down and beaten into un-
consciousness with the branch OF
tree.
The medical examiner. the po-
lice said. is still making tests to
determining whether Miss Renner
was seXually moleSted. In addi-
tion to the bruises on her head
and face. Mai. Rance said, there
was one mark on her body.
Brothers Fly to Nassau.
Miss Renner's bicycle was found
neatly parked in quarry near the
well, indicating she had gotten of
to see the place. The we'll is about
so feet from the main highway.
Today, Miss Renner's two grief
stricken brothers talked with DO.
lice fSout the circumstances sur
rounding the murder of their
younger sister.
Frederick P. Renner, 40. a NASH
vile tTennD attorney, and Charles
H. Renner. jr., 80. proprietor Of
the Trading Post" in Georgetown,
arrived yesterday by plane from
Miami. Fla. and went immedi-
ately to a hotel to rest.
They told a member OF the
United States Consulate staff and
a Catholic priest who met them
at the airport that they had been
unable to sleep since they were
informed Of their sisters Staying.
Father Told of Death.
They said they planned to visit
the Consulate AS we'll as talk with
police before viewing Miss Rem
ner's body. 1t was assumed the
body will be returned here for
burial.
Miss Renner's father, Charles
H. Renner. with whom she lived
at 1920 Twenty first street NV.
was repeatedly broken with grief.
The news of his only daughters
death was at first withheld from
him.
In New York, Miss Alice Mac
Donald, who had been vacationjng
In Nassau with Miss Renner, was
under a doctors care at her
apartment.
Miss Macdonald, a Garden City
dong Island school teacher.
stayed with Miss Renner in a
Nassau guest house until last Sat-
urday when she returned to New
York. Miss Renner had planned
to stay in Nassau until this week
end.
Crowds Visit Scene.
Meanwhile. in Nassau. excited
crowds milled around the death
scene yesterday. They looked par
ticularly at the blood stains spread
over the coral rock across which
Miss Renner was dragged to the
well.
The whole town is upset" re-
ported Etienne Dupuch. editor OF
the Nassau Daily Tribune. Every ,
section OF the community. rich
and poor. black and white, Is urg-
ing a quick solution and quick
justice"
Miss Renner, a Justice Depart
ment attorney until she entered
private practice last year. was a
senior member In the Washington
Office of Riegelman. Strasser,
Schwarz and Spiegelberger, New
York law firm.
Miss Renners closest profess
sional colleague Miss Alice Ehren-
field. said of her dead friend:
Bette was the most intensely
religious and idealistic person I
have ever known. She was hon.
est and direct but she was never
forward. She was modest. al
though not retiring. She had the
great power OF bringing out the
best in the people with whom she
associated.
She set herself the highest
moral and ethical standards in
her personal life and her career,
yet never set herself up as
m odal f0r ofhorc Che haA AZ