Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-08-12

; admits to detectives that
of heroin belongs to hin
with an ounce of heroin, a cello
, plane cigarette package wrapper
filled with milk sugar and $50
empty capsules loose in the bag.
They found something else,
something that prompted Mrs.
Ward to make a quick grab. 1t
was a REQ leatherette key case
with two door keys and two
smaller keys in it.
The woman insisted they were
the keys to her house. But they
had been on the lookout for that
particular key case. Their ace
informer had told them she al
ways carried it with her when
she went to her slash.
Arrest Ward, Find Pistol
And now the time had come
to pick up the iimping man. The
detectives figured they would
find nothing in the house, that
Ward had been tipped, but they
decided to go ahead.
He opened to their knock.
Then he started yelling with
,, rage. He became almost inco-
herent as they stated their bust
ness. They found a fully LOADED
seml-automatic pistol in the
drawer of an end table. They
saw bullet holes in the walls and
window panes.
They found set Of keys that
looked exactly like the set they
had taken from his wife. AS
they had expected they found no
narcotics-just a cigaret wrapped
with traces of white powder on
the back porch.
1t was obvious Ward had been
tipped off. Had he had time to
tip of whoever was keeping the
cache on M street? 1t was 1880
pm, too late to start the ball
rolling for a search warrant. If
they waited, they were sure, the
slash would disappear and an
unknown quantity of heron
would be back IN circulation.
See Name on Mail Box
They decided not to wait. They
had no idea at that time which
apartment MIS-. Ward had en-
tered in the NJ street building,
but they saw a name on a mail
boX-Mrs. Mamie Ward, , r.
1t was good enough to take a
, chance on.
The lobby door was locked.
Detective Panetta pulled out the
red leatherette key case and
started trying the door keys.
The locked turned.
They knocked on pr.
!, A neatly dressed, middle-aged
colored woman opened it.
Are you the mother of Mel
vim Ward?"
She nodded and they told her
who they were.
Has jeanette been here?"
"Yes, she was here earlier this
evening"
She showed no alarm, no de-
, sire to be anything but helpful.
: No, she said, her son and
| daughter-in-law didn't live there
but they did keep something in
the bedroom. No, indeed, she
wouldn't mind showing them.
Vanity Case Yields Surprise
She took the detectives to a
bedroom in the middle of the
apartment and opened the closet
. door. on top of some other lug
gage was a red imitation leather
vanity case.
That's Jeanette's case, "she
said.
Mind if we open it?"
Help yourself"
Detective Holcomb tried one
, Of the suitcase keys from Jeanet-
, ties key case. 1t opened the case,
He raised the lid. and stared.
ITS loaded" he shouted to
his partner.
Detective Panetta looked and
saw a stack of powder-filled
! glassine bags, three bags full Of
prepared capsules, some small
brown paper bags filled with
marihuana.
Mrs. Ward shook her head
wonderingly and said:
II didn't know what was in
that case jeanette comes by
nearly every day and goes in
here. She just stays few min
utes. never has much to say
to me
Thousands of Capsules
"Are there any other bags?"
asked Detective Panetta, think
ing of the second suitcase key.
She opened a metal locker and
pointd to a suitcase on the shelf
The other key fitted this one. The
suitcase had two pound cans OF
milk sugar and two boxes con-
tanning thousands Of empty
capsules.
At $3.50 pm, they were back at
Observation-Disclosures take spread
out on the table. They started
counting. There were about %
ounces Of heroin, lis capsules in
one Of the bags. 263 in another
and 479 in a third.
They figured out what the
limping man could have received
in cash had he sold his whole