Evening star., 1954-09-19
tcontinued From First page.)

money came from two men. We'll
call them Gambler No. and
Gambler No. 2. The detective
gave him several addresses, told
him they were gambling places.
The detective told the l:euten-
ant that the gamblers who had
!. paid up wanted him to look out
for those places. He asked If 1t.
Thoman had. any complaints on
:, them at the moment.
Spends Miserable Sunday.
IT don't know" 1t. Thoman
responded. "I'll check"
Detective Prather explained
the gamblers didn't expect much
of him. The addresses he had
given 1t. Thoman we're places
where the money was brought
; and counted. The gamblers. he
said, didn't care about numbers
runners on the street getting
picked up by police. They just
wanted to be sure they would be
safe in their counting houses.
The pay-off money was their
insurance.
1t. Thoman spent a miserable
Sunday. He knew he was going
to turn in the $400. What tor
tured him was explaining where
he had gotten it.
Knew Something Was Wrong.
At $3.50 am, Monday. 1t.
Thoman walked into Inspector
Lutz' office and closed the door.
Even before 1t. Thoman opened
his mouth, Inspector Lutz knew
something was wrong. 1t. Tho
man looked sick.
1t. Thoman threw the $400
on the desk,
Here's the evidence that gam
blers are paying of policemen, I"
he said.
Then, he told his story. In
.spector Lutz picked up his tele-
phone and asked for Police Chief
Robert v. Murray. A few minutes
later, 1t. Thoman was telling
his story to the chief.
Now it was Chief Murray's
turn to pick up the telephone.
He called Mr.. Rover. Chief Muir
ray, Inspector Lutz and 1t. Tho
man arrived separately at Mr..
Rover's Office in the courthouse.
With Mr.. Rover were his princi-
pal assistant, Oliver Gasch, and
John c. Conliff. in charge of
the criminal division. Before
noon, all the possibilities had
been hashed over and the deci-
sion had been made.
Awaited Developments.
Police and prosecutor decided
to play it close to the vest and
see what developed. Here was
their reasoning:
No contact had been made be-
tween gamblers and 1t. Tho
man. It was just hearsay that
the money had come from gam
blers. AS for Capt. Monroe,
there was only the word of q
lieutenant about captain. And
the money had been passed in
Maryland-out of the District
jurisdiction.
The men in the conference
that day had no idea that more
than $4,000 would fall into 1t.
Thoman's hands, nor did. they
dream that 13 gamblers would
finally be implicated.
That day, they simply decided
to await developments. And what
OF 1t. Thoman? From the begin
ming, he made no secret of the
fact that he hated the job. It
wasn't just the risk. 1t was the
realization that he had been
put in the position of gathering
evidence against fellow police
men. But he was the one that
had been approached. He was
, the only man for the job and he
agreed to do it.
The next morning, the seventh
man was let in on the secret.
Chief Murray and Inspector
Lutz called in Capt. Layton and
assigned him to the case.
Given a Book of Matches.
Then began the waiting
period. Weeks went by and
nothing happened. The seven
men in on the secret knew they
were dealing with experienced
policemen. They could reason
that the principals would make
sure that 1t. Thoman didn't talk
before they made another move
but reasoning didn't relieve
the strain of waiting.
On November II, Capt. Mon
roe walked into the Morals Divi-
sion Office and handed 1t.
Thoman a book Of paper
matches.
Capt. Monroe said Detective
Prather had asked him to bring
the matches to 1t. Thoman.
Cautiously, 1t. Thoman opened
the pad of matches. Folded in
side was a slip of paper with a
list OF names, addresses, car tag
numbers. Some of the addresses
had marks beside them.
When 1t. Thoman reported to
Inspector Lutz and Captain Lay
ton-as he did every step of the
way-they recognized some of
the names and addresses. These
were the names of gamblers and
the addresses were gambling es-
tablishments. -
On November "a. 1t. Thoman
happened to meet Detective
Prather in front of Police Head
quarters This was another acci-
dental meetjng-at least as far
as 1t. Thonar was concerned.
They talked about the list.
Detective Prather explained the
marks beside some of the adj.
dresses. These, he said. were
turn-ln spots-the points to
which pickup men brought the
u