Evening star., 1960-03-25
jim BISHOP:
REPORTER
The Case of the Lost 'Roq DoIF

y
Sutton place on up to San
Juan Hill and Harlem. When
a murder is committed, all
he has to do Is to eliminate
999,999 people and he has
his man.
MATHEMATICS. Last
week, for instance. He was
lying in bed thinking Of a
little Negro girl. The name:
Robin Joyner. She was 4,
product of q broken home
at Seventh avenue and One
Hundred and Forty sixth
street.
She went out to play at
AIS pm. Like q good child,
she told her mother where
she was going. She wanted
to play in the Police Athletic
League shelter around the
corner. She walked down
Seventh avenue. turned the
corner at One Hundred and
Forty-sixth street. grabbed
the hand of a cousin, and
edged between two parked
cars to cross the street.
Her cousin saw the taxi
coming. 1t was knitting along
the edge of the parked cars.
He dropped Robins hand
and stood still. Robin went
out. The cab hit her.
Some people stopped. The
cab driver got out. He was
a big Negro. His face was
drained. Don't worry" he
said. "She amt hurt bad.
I'll take her to a hospital"
He placed Robin on the
front seat. Then he got in,
as the people watched, and
drove of. The cousin ran
back to tell Mrs. Joyner that
Robin had been hurt, but
the big man was taking her
to the hospital.
Mrs. Joyner left her three
other children with her
parents. Tears made shiny
satin burrows in her dark
skin. She took a taxi to the
nearest hospital. The starched
nurses checked the records.
No little colored girl: no taxi
driver; no record.
She tried another. And
another.
Two hours later, her Robin
was found, q half mile away,
by a man who thought he
saw a doll under a parked
car.
The medical examiner un-
buttoned her little garments
and examined the body. She
would have died within a
half hour Of internal in
Juries, even If the cab driver
had taken her to a hospital.
1t wouldn't have been his
fault; she had run out from
between parked cars.
Now 1t was homicide. Hit
and-run. Inspector Feely
called 1t. Dan Mahoney of
the 18th precinct. They and
detectives Of Manhattan East
began the game Of mathe-
matics.
They had seven witnesses.
Each one had seen the acci-
dent. The witnesses told
their stories separately. Each
was certain Of his story. The
taxi was a 1860 Chevrolet, it
was a 1858 Fairlane, it was
a 1859 Plymouth, the license
plate had an 029 in It, It had
q 2ll in 1t because that's a
number one witness had been
playing. 1t was a yellow cab.
1t was an orange taxi.
The drive was 6 feet and
very dark. He was 6 feet 4
and light-skinned. He was
nervous. He was self-con-
tanned. He wore a sweater.
He had a tan topcoat. He
had thick kinky hair. He was
bald.
The detectives tried an
other tack. They eliminated
the 975,000 people who were
not cab drivers. This left
$4,000 suspects. Then they
eliminated the 1900 white
drivers. This brought them
down to 5000. From this
number. they checked OF
those who were not working
between 4 and 5 pm. and
they further discarded those
with old taxis and those in
the far reaches OF New York.
THEY NOW HAD l40
suspects. They questioned
these and got down to 26
Negro cabbies who were in
the Harlem area at the time.
At last, one hacker was
charged. Police said he made
q full confession.
Syndicate, Incl
(Copyright, 1860, King Features