Evening star., 1953-07-15
BY Miriom Gutenberg

- "SAAANAA W VAAAJ SAA~ ~ r04AAJ
come to the shoulder of the av-
erage man left the roof Of Scots
Hotel for Women and returned
to her second floor room. Even
with her dark hair twisted in
pin curls and a net over it, she
looked acknowledgements thar
her IS years.
At the door of her bedroom
she stopped.
"Why don't we both leave our
doors open?" she called to the
girl directly across the hall
THAT way, we'll get cross-ven-
tilation."
That, police believe, was the
suggestion that led directly to
the murder of Alyce o. Taggart
the woman who came to work
in postwar Washington and met
death in a narrow bedroom OF
a women's hotel.
The open door -.
It was closed, locked, at GAS
a m. on Monday, July 6. when
a hotel maid, Maude Thomas,
colored, so. came to do up the
room.
What she saw brought the
highest officials of the Police
Department in a hurry.
Tenant Dead.
They found Miss Taggart
sprawled on the floor. She had
been brutally beaten. Her night
gown, lace trimmed but no Ion
ger white, was doubled up over
her chest. A stocking was looped
but not tied around her neck.
Near her on the floor lay a
duckpin with a green ribbon
tied around it. Streaks on the
duckpin indicated this was the
weapon-one pound,
1912 ounces of wood swung with
lethal force.
Also on the floor was a bloody
towel and the second stocking
Clothes spilled out of the bot
tom drawer of the bureau
Purses in the bureau had been
ransacked. A purse lay on top
of the bureau-obviously the
one she had used that day be-
cause it had her door key in
it. Beside the purse lay a wallet
with 20 pennies and a dime in
the change purse. No bills were
left in the wallet.
A top sheet lay crumpled al
the bottom of the bed. The wal
beside the bed was spotted with
red. Those spots gave police a
fact: She was attacked as she
lay in bed.
Snapshot Collection.
The room, simple though il
was, told police something about
the victim. Tucked in every
crevice of the bureau mirror
were snapshots. Most of them
it developed later, were pictures
of her sister, her niece and
nephew. One Of them showed 8
small girl in ballet costume with
arms arching above her head
Looped from the side of the
bureau was a colorful paper lei
Miss Taggart played golf. A
well-worn bag of clubs behind
the easy chair testified to that
She was bowler. Investiga-
tion developed that the duckpin
used to murder her was her owr
- a. trophy awarded by mem
bers of her intra -office bowling
league because, as captain o1
her team, "Taggart's Laggarts,
she had attended the largest
consecutive number of league
games.
She was a reader. A gooseneck
lamp on the shelf behind hel
bed was twisted downward tt
make it comfortable to read ir
bed. On the shelf were half q
dozen books-among them, "The
Unfair Sex," a collection of Adlai
Stevenson's speeches and Pau
Wellman's 1.-THE Iron Mistress
She was a churchgoer. A re-
ligious calendar hung on the wall
above the shelf. Police learned
that she had attended services
regularly at the Luther Place
Memorial Church. Her church
habits later became a point OF
investigation.
Devoted to Sister.
She was devoted to her sister
her only living relative. Police
found many letters from Mrs
A. H. Huth in Lafayette, Ind.
indicating a frequent CORE.
spondence.
Other papers in the room be-
came a matter of immediate con-
Germ to police-a note for $500
with a promise to pay May Is
1858; an uncaShed check for $500
bearing that date, a typewriter
transfer of title to a car as Sc
curity on the note and a letter
written by Miss Taggart which
it developed, was a copy of one
she had mailed to a man who
owed her this money.
In the letter dated Tuesday
evening" but mailed in mid
June, she had written to John
that she had tried repeatedly tt
get in touch with him and hac
left messages but he had not re.
turned her calls.
"You see, John,' she wrote, I'll
is just as simple as this: I loaned
you the money in good faith anc
expected to hear from you. A
you know, have been out o1
work for five weeks. plus have 9
hospital bill of $500 and I am ir
desperate need Of the money
loaned you and which I was tt
be repaid on the 25th of May.
"Of course. you realize I have
so-called title to the car. Lees
check for $500 and the note fol
$500. John, ! would regret
o,,d hncitotn To fakn fllrthar cfar,s