Evening star., 1953-03-13
Police Pushinq
Hunt for Bandit
In Store ki||ino
30 Suspects Quized;
Special Detective
Squad Put on Case

holdup last night.
Slain as he filled the gunman's
order for a soft drink was Harry
Honikman, 65. owner of the
Stevens Food Market, 723 East
Capitol street.
The killer escaped.
The bandit ignored hysterical
pleas from the victims wife and
daughter to take the money and
not to shoot, and fired appar-
emily without reason, police said.
Police began a city-wide round
up of suspects and set up
special squad of detectives, head
ed by 1t. Lawrence Hartnett,
of the homicide squad, to work
on the Staying.
Were going to keep bringing
them (suspectS) in until one fits
the case" Inspector Edgar E.
Scott, chief of detectives, de-
clared. We're sick and tired of
this kind of thing happening"
BY noon, police had questioned
and released more than 80 sus-
poets. They were on the trail
of another man, who was spotted
walking three times around the
block in the murder vicinity.
A cab driver spotted the sus-
pect, who answered the descrip-
ton of the bandit, and followed
him as the man walked three
times around the block, then
crossed the street to peer into
the grocery. The hacker set
policeman on the suspects trail.
Top Investigators on Job.
Assigned to work with 1t. Hart
nett were top Investigators of
both the robbery and homicide
squads. Some of these were
withdrawn from the investiga-
tion of the mysterious Staying of
Sam Leo Hoyle, 40-year-old
milkman whose body was found
two weeks ago in a parking lot.
Police assigned special details
to watch all railroad, airline and
bus terminals. But although
detectives had a good descrip-
ton of the killer. they were with
out a definite suspect this
morning.
FingerprintS Checked.
BY afternoon the investiga-
ton had settled down to these
factors:
l. A ballistics test by the Fed
eral Bureau of Investigation on
the slug removed from Mr.. Ho-
nikman's body.
2. A check of f1ngerprints
which might be found on the
soft drink bottle or the cellulose
bag which contained the potato
chips the bandit ordered.
3. A check of files on previous
robberies.
4. A search through the police
"rogue'S gallery" for criminals
of the killers description.
S. Investigation of recent
weapons arrests. In this connec-
ton, a man picked up last night
and found to be carrying re-
volver was being questioned and
his weapon checked.
6. Questioning by members of
the special squad in the neigh
borhood of the Staying.
Police Chief Robert v. Murray
said that in addition to assign
ing all available robbery and
homicide detectives to work
with 1t. Hartnett, any precinct
detectives who can be spared
will be assigned to the case.
Police said the Staying hap
pened this way:
Mr.. Honikman, whose home
was at 812 A street Sc, was in
the store with his wife, Becky,
and one of their three daugh-
tiers, Miss Edith Honikman, %,
when the killer entered about
JPN.
The tall, slender colored gun
man ordered a bottle of orange
drink and a bag of potato chips.
He drank the pop and ate the
potato chips slowly, taking about
80 minutes to do so.
Orders Second Bottle.
Mr.. Honikman asked the man
to hurry, as the grocer wanted
to close the store for the night.
The gunman agreed. then or
dered another bottle of orange
drink to take out. Mr.. Honik-
man got up from a chair near a
meat cooler at the rear of the
store, stepped behind counter
and put q bottle of the drink
in the paper bag.
The grocer walked from be-
hind the counter and approached
the bandit. The man drew a
gun and pointed it at Mr.. Honik-
man, who had just reached out
to hand the package to the gun
man.
At this point, Miss Honikman
screamed:
Don't shoot! Go get the
money"
Mrs. Honikman also pleaded
with the bandit not to shoot.
The gunman fired once. Mr..
Honikman fell into his daugh-
ters arms, fatally wounded. The
bullet pierced his right breast.
The killer then hurried to the
cash register and Scooped slightly
less than $100 from the drawer,
police said. He dropped some of
the loot as he fled.
The killer was described as
colored, with medium brown
skin, between 81 and 35 years
old. 5 feet 10 inches tall and
weighing about 160 pounds.
He wore a blue-gray short
Zippered coat or jacket, of
shade slightly lighter than that
(see MURDER, Page A-17)