Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 August 1944 — Page 13

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oosier ; y 'agabond * By Ernie Pyle

IN PARIS (By Wireless) —As we drove toward a sort of socal center. ‘Kids were all over the tanks

Paris from the south, hundreds

"©! 5 of us Nervous Nellies look ridicuJous. There should be a nonchalant Frenchman in every war \movie. He would be a sort of ench Charlie Chaplin. You would have tense soldiers crouch ing in ditches and firing from behind low walls. And in the middle : of it you would have this Frenchman, in faded blue overalls and beret and with a nearly burned-up cigaret in his mouth, come striding down the middle of the road LiL past the soldiers. I've seen that very thing happen about four times since D-day, and you never can see it without laughing, * i Well, the crowds were out in Paris like that while the shooting was still going on.. People on bicycles would stop with one foot on the pavement to watch the firing that was going on right in that block. As the French second armored division rolled into the city at dangerous speed, I noticed one tank com-

. mander, with goggles, smoking a cigar, and another

soldier in a truck playing a flute for his own amusement, There also were a good many pet dogs riding into the battle on top of tanks and trucks. Amidst this fantastic Parisward battle traffic were people pushing baby carriages full of- belongings, walking with suitcases, and riding bicycles so heavily loaded with gear that if they were to lay them down they had to have help to lift them upright. And in the midst of it was a tandem bicycle ridden by a man and a beautiful woman, both in bright blue shorts, just as though they were holidaying—which undoubtedly they were,

Tanks Parked All Over

YOU NEVER SAW so many bicycles in vour life as in Paris. And they rig up the funniest contraptions on them, such as little two-wheeled carts which they tow behind. And we saw a wagon rigged up so it could be pulled by two bicyclists riding side by side, like a team of horses. For 24 hours tanks were parked on the sidewalks all over downtown Paris. They were all manned by French soldiers, and each tank immediately became

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

LT. TED NICHOLAS of the state selective service force is talking in whispers these days. It's laryngitis. + « « Loren A. Ronk of the Dun & Bradstreet service department has received from a friend overseas a clipping from a London newspaper devoting quite a bit of space to a glowing account of our recent Hoosier meteor. With robot buzzbombs bursting all about them, destroying London buildings and taking many lives, it's a surprise to learn that the Londoners could get interested in a harmless meteor so far away. . . . We were interested to learn that city officials, without announcement, have been declining to penalize service men who receive parking stickers. It's estimated about 500 service men receiving stickers In a year have been let off without the regular $2 fine. We can’t imagine anyone squawking about that. In fact it's a darned fine idea. , , . Patsy, the 6-months-old-wire haired pup of the Harley H. Motes. 2237 N. LaSalle, has developed a strong affection for three kittens born a week ago Saturday. As soon as Blackie, the mother cat, gets out of the basket in which the kittens were born, Patsy jumps in the basket and gives the kittens their bath. It's getting so that the mother cat doesn't even bother to bathe the any more. In fact, Patsy seems to resent the mother cat's interest in the Kittens,

A Message for Harry

THE FOLKS out around 5800 N. Delaware and thereabouts miss Harry Westcott, their old postman, and some of them thought we ought to put a note in this column telling Harry they haven't forgotten him. Harry was transferred recently to a downtown route after having had the north side territory since 1937. Harry, we're told, “is the most accommodating post-

Congress Survey

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30.—Contending that congress must modernize its legislative machinery, sponsors of a survey of the present operating methods will meet with the hcuse leadership this week to press for early action. A resolution authorizing such a study, sponsored by Senator Maloney (D. Conn.) and Rep. Monroney (D. Okla.), passed the senale last week and brought the long-sought reform move the closest it has ever been to realization. _The measure is now before the house rules committee, This survey would be made by a bi-parti-san committee composed of six members of each house, who would “recommend improvements in such organization with a view toward simplifying them and improving relations with other branches of the government.” If the study is authorized, it probably would explore many of the specific ideas for reform proposed in separate bills, among them one by Rep. Kefauver (D. Tenn.), providing for the regular appearance before congress of cabinet members for questioning, as

" is done under the British parliamentary system.

Staff Is Inadequate

REP. MONRONEY said that the 1800-man legisiation dog “just doesn't have the potency” to wag the 3,000,000-man executive tail. The congressman contends that congressional committees are inadequately staffed to handle the complex problems of modern government, pointing out that the house banking and

currency committee, of which he is a member, handles

My Day

WASHINGTON, Tuesday—Here is the third and last installment of Ensign Swain's letter describing the Normandy invasion: Te “Had not more than gotten them (the wounded) squared away, when we took up the hook and got into port the morning of June 9. We unloaded our wounded at the yard, and thought we would catch a little sleep before going out . again, But we soon saw an end to that when we had a load all signed, sealed and checked by 4 in the afternoon, I am not kidding when I say I was dragging

myself behind me about that .

time, There was no question of sleep, for something was. bound i to come up and keep you going. “By 4 the next morning-we were under way again

‘and heading back to the front. This time we bad

faster convoy and better protection, and by the after

© hoon, at least, some of us had caught a little sleep,

Thus fortified, we were ready for anything,

which had been the hardest to take on D-day. In been operating long before we got the night under awful and terrify

Frenchmen have the facility for making all

; : This “and the best thing I can say “ y time we pulled into a new beachhead and the one yery g I can say is that we are try

rritying America what it is.

like flies. Women in white dresses climbed up to kiss men with grimy faces. And early the second morna we saw a girl climbing sleepily out of a tank urret, : French soldiers of the armored division were all In American uniforms and they had American equipment.” Consequently ‘most people at first thought we few Americans were French. Then, puzzled, they would say, “English?” and we would say, “No, Amerjcan.” And then we would get a little scream and a couple more kisses, Every place you stopped somebody in the crowd could speak English. They apologized for not inviting us to their homes for a drink, saying they didn’t have any. Time and again they would say, “We've waited 50 long for you!” It almost got to be a refrain.

Not Many Americans

ONE ELDERLY GENTLEMAN said that although we were long in reaching France we had come swiftly since then. - He said the people hadn't expected us to be in Paris for six months after invasion day. There are not many American soldiers in Paris, And it's unlikely there will be, at least for some time, because they are out over France going on with the war. Paris was not a military objective: its liberation 80 soon was more of a symbol. That's the reason the French armored division was assigned to the job. The armies still fighting in the field were practically deserted for a few days by the correspondents, as we all wanted to get in on the liberation of Paris. There were so many correspondents it got to be a joke, even among us. I think at least 200 must have entered the city that first day, both before and after the surrender. The army had picked out a hotel for us ahead of time, and it was taken over as soon as the city surrendered. But though it was a big hotel it was full before dark the first day, so they have taken over another huge one across the street. Hotel life seems strange after so long in the fleld. My own room is a big corner one, with easy chairs, a soft bed, a bathroom and maid and hall-porter service. There is no electricity in the daytime, no hot water anytime, and no restaurant or bar, but outside of that the hotel is just about like peacetime. Sitting here writing within safe walls, and looking out the window occasionally at the street thronged with happy people, it is already hard to believe there was a war; even harder to realize there still is a war.

man there ever was.” The kids in the neighborhood liked him—especially the little ones he'd tote around in his mail sack. And he had a special way of rattling the mailbox when he was delivering a letter from a boy in the service. And so, his old patrons say: “Good luck, Harry.” ... A reader, just back from | a trip to Chicago, called to tell us about a conductor on the Monon (he didn't get the conductor's name) who drops off a little present daily for a child in the town of Cyclone. “I saw him wrap a candy bar in a newspaper and then toss it in" a certain yard as we went through town,” said the caller. “I asked him what he was doing and he said he never failed to toss off a present for a little girl. He said she always was there waiting for him. I askéd him who she was, and he said he didn't know—just a cute little girl.”

A Magician's Hobby LOTS OF FOLKS have magic for a hobby; but not Blackstone, the magician, Magic i§ his business. But his hobby is photography. He has a new Speed Graphic camera, the kind newspaper photographers use, and all the equipment that goes with it. He carries the camera everywhere he goes and snaps pictures of his numerous friends and service men, He develops and prints a lot of his own pictures, too. « « « The state budget committee recently made a tour of the various state institutions in preparation for acting on budget requests, After being on the

The Indianapolis

SECOND SECTION

LABOR THREAT MADE IN VOTE REGISTRATION

Despite Warning of Work Stoppages.

Work stoppages in war plants and disrupted train service were pre=dicted by labor leaders here today following County Clerk A. Jack Tilson's refusal today to meet their demands for additional voting registration facilities. A delegation of about 25 labor leaders representing both the C. I. O, the A. F, of L. and the railrond brotherhoods, decended upon Clerk Tilson yesterday and demanded that he increase his registration machinery so that all industrial employees will get a chance to vote. The delegation urged Mr. Tilson to permit branch registration offices to be set up in war plants, with labor unions furnishing all the personnel. They also asked that enough registration deputies be appointed to make a house-to-house canvas for registrations, the same plea made by the Democratic committee officials several weeks ago, But Clerk Tilson remained adamant. “I'll not be high-pressured by any group into haphazard methods of registering voters,” declared Mr. Tilson.

Given Labor Warning

“Under my system everybody is going to get an opportunity to register and vote. The registration office in the courthouse will be kept open 24 hours a day starting next week, and I'm going to have seven branch offices operating throughout the county next week until the registration deadline Oct. 7. “That ought to give everybody who is interested in registering plenty of chance to do it. I'm not going to be stampeded into improper registrations because it'll be my headache, not yours, if the voting files are all messed up with duplications on election day.” The labor delegation walked out, one of them saying: “It's your baby, we thought we ought to tell you in plenty of time.”

Vote Handicap Seen

The delegation included Powers Hapgood, regional director of the C.1.0.; Ray Gilbert, state representative of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen; Carl Vestal, secretary of the state council of the A.F.of L, and John Rusak, C.I1.0O.

trip about a week, the committee members were guests of the state conservation commission at Brown | county. The commission members served them a! fancy chicken dinner. After dinner, Hugh Barnhart, conservation director, asked Andy Ketcham, state budget director: “Wasn't that chicken good?” Replied Andy: “Well, yes, it was good, but it's a wonder I'm not crowing. We've been on this tour a week, and we've had chicken dinners twice a day ‘since we started. We figure every one of those dinners cost | the state a half million dollars in increased budget |

allowances.” 4

official. Walter Frisbie, secretary of the Indiana C. I. O. Political Action Committee, declared that war workers employed from eight to 12 hours daily aren't going to be able to register unless it is made as easy as possible for them. “It looks as though the attitude of Mr. Tilson is what was expressed by District Republican Chairman James L. Bradford a few months ago when he said: ‘That C. I. O. . « they're a bunch of Demo-

By Charles T. Lucey |

legislation concerning world monetary problems and! yet has no one on its staff who knows anything about | the subject. . “The most vital need, as I see it," he said, “is for legislation to be written by congress itself, yet because we fail to furnish ourself with a legal staff, both in the drafting service and in the committees, we must rely on bills written and prepared by the! agencies.”

2

Structure Qut-Dated )

SENATORS LAFOLLETTE (Prog. Wis.) and Maloney have pointed out that the number of senate committees is so great that senators cannot possibly attend to all the business of committees on which they hold memberships, and that the functions of these committees often overlap. Some of the same overlapping is present in the

crats, we don't care whether they are registered or not."

Ex-Big Leaguer McGill Is Dea

William McGill. 835 W. 20th st. | vestigation and autopsy established |lice that he had received a call for

one-time baseball coach and athletic trainer at Northwestern university, and big league pitcher before the turn of the century, died last night at his home. He was 70. Born at Atlan- S dius ta, Ga., Mr. McGill came to Indiana 20 years ago. Before re-¢ tiring from baseball he was with

house, where there are 47 standing committees and five special committees. Most of these committees, |

Rep. Mounroney said, were set up prior to 1890, and

the structure is badly suited to today’s needs. Mr. Monroney pointed out that congress’ chief knowledge of affairs of the executive departments to which it votes money comes from one-sided presentations by executive officials at the time appropriations hearings are held. He said it would be & good thing for congress to have a “house dick” who could knock on the doors of the agencies to demand “Who are you, what have you got in there, and what are you doing?” i The congressman said the house bill drafting service has only five attorneys on its staff and the senate has three, at a total cost of $83,000. Yet in the solicitor's office of a single department, agriculture, there were last year 600 employees whose salaries totaled $1,679,000.

By Eleanor Roosevelt

although the -shrapnel fell like rain on the deck. We had moved our anchorage about a half hour before

teams in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. For a time after coming to Indiana he was associated

with the athletic Mr- McGill

istaff at Butler‘university.

Later he was with the athletic department of the Indianapolis Power & Light Co. and more recently was an employee of the American Compressed Steel Corp. Survivors .are his wife, the former Mary Shaw; a son, Pfc. James L., with the army on the East coast;

{two step-sons, William C, and How-

ard A. Taylor; a nephew, George McGill, of Eugene, Ore, and four grandchildren. A brother-in-law, William - E. Shaw, is with The Times, Funeral arrangements will be completed after word is received from Pfc. McGill,

one dive run let go a string where we would have’ been, a “The beach was such that we had to run in at high tide and dry out, so we spent the day wandering along the beach. Many picked up some souvenirs, in spite of its being frowned upon. It was sure good to see that tide start to come in so we could pull off and he mobile at least. We could see the first airfield on French soil swing into operation. For the first time in four years, planes took off in France which were allied planes, : “We heard so many tales of what happened on the beach, and I wish that I could tell you all of them— of the snipers, the French attitude and the tremendous assaults taking place. Stories of the prisoners who are delighted to have been captured by Americans and who claim that Hitler is crazy, his visit to the front last Sunday a fake, and the conviction that Germany is already beaten; of the paratroopers and their surprise raids, and all the rest. The biggest

ing to get this thing over as soon as we can, so that we will get back to the ones we are fighting for apd the freedom of thought and action that mites

HOSPITAL REQUESTS: $1,393,000 FUNDS

Appropriations exceeding $1,999,000 for new buildings, additions and improvements at Central State hospital were requested by Dr. Max Bahr at a meeting of hospital trustees with the state budget committee yesterday. " + ‘Included in the appropriations were $680,000 for a receiving -unit to isolate new patients for a wait-

ing period, $200,000 for a refrigera-{

tion and storage unit for supplies;

$403,000 for an isolation building

for tubercular patients, $680,000 to build cottages to complete replace ment of the men's building and $36,600 for improvements and additions tothe

Tilson Remains Adamant

tons to the, colony owned by the

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1944

Why Hitler Has Manpower Trouble:

chow line,

10,000 Captives in Allied Camp

One reason why Adolf Hitler is scraping the bottom of his manp ower barrel is seen in this remarkable photo, It shows part of a stockade holding 10,000 German prisoners, captured in the allied drive in France. They are standing by for lunch—probably the war's longest

by a culprit with remarkable disdain for the bustling life and activity going on about the scene of the slaying. People not only were asking, “Who killed Cpl. Ridings?” but were asking “Why was she killed?” and “Why have not the police captured the killer?” But the asking of those questions was far simpler than the answering. In the previous article, we left Detectives Noel Jones, James Partain and Fred Swego in Room 729 where they had collected a number of valuable clues. Co-directing-the investigation with Jones was the able detective sergeant, Fae Davis.

Those clues indicated that Cpl Ridings had been struck on the

been severed by a fragment of that bottle, : Her body lay in an areaway between the bed and a clothes closet on the north side of the room. She was clad only in a dark slip, blouse and brassiere. Her underclothing was piled neatly on the bed, 4

Dead for Two Hours

NEAR .THE corporal’s head was a twenty-five cent piece. The room | was orderly, indicating no fight be{tween the WAC and her assailant. {On the dresser were four unopened { bottles of coca-cola, Beside them was a glass containing whisky and coke, On the floor were two empty |coke bottles. A matchbook bear{ing the room number 723 was on ithe table, In subsequent questioning, detec{tives picked up much valuable information, although it should be pointed out here that during Sunday the investigation was officially in the hands of the military, It | was not until Monday that the case was turned over to local police. The result of the military's in-

three important basic facts: (1) Cpl. Ridings had been dead approximately two hours when her body was found at 8:22 p. m. (2) Preliminary examination indicated she had been raped. (3) Her pocketbook contained only 21 cents. Although deferring to the military, Detectives Jones, Davis, Partain and Swego spent a busy Saturday night and Sunday, a period largely taken up by the examination of the hotel records and interviews with executives, clerks, bellboys, por ters, general employees and guests,

Checked in at 4:45

. CARDS AT the main lobby desk indicated that Cpl. Ridings had checked in Saturday evening at approximately 4:45 p. m. along with a cluster of other guests whose |cards bore the same clocking time, Cpl. Ridings’ card number was | F548780. The two preceding cards, {stamped at the same time as Cpl Ridings’, had been issued to an army lieutenant from Brownswood; Texas, (No. F548779) and an In|dianapolis man, & civilian, (Ne. | F548778). The card directly behind [that of Cpl. Ridings’ and numbered {F548781 had been issued to a lieutenant from Ft, Harrison. The meaning of the cards and their serial numbers was that Cpl. Ridings, and the three other men had registered at the desk at the same time, The records showed also that 41 rooms had been occupied on the seventh floor on the night of the murder, 2¢ of them by soldiers, sailors, WACs or WAVES, A soldier from Ft. Harrison was registered in the room directly across the haliway from 729. A soldier from Ft. Harrison was checked into the first

'BARNABY

This is the third of a series of | articles on the killing of WAC Cpl. Maoma L. Ridings and other unsolved murders in Indianapolis.

ings. Yet for some reason, there

Why?

friend who had invited Cpl. Rid-| ings to try her luck? Had it been dropped there by the woman in black? { Investigate Background |

WHILE POLICE felt that the

Mystery Woman in Black Traced in Murder of WAC; Why Was a Quarter Found Near Victim's Head?

By JOHN L. BOWEN WHO KILLED WAC Cpl, Ridings? i By Monday morning, Aug. 30, 1943, that question was on the tongues Was a matchbook with the poker ings’ previous visits to Indianapolis. of thousands of Indianapolis citizens who had been shocked by the game room number at the scene incredulously brash murder of Cpl. Maoma Little Ridings in Room 729 of the murder.

at the Claypool hotel on the preceding Saturday night. The murder had all the earmarks of an impossible crime committed! Had it been left there by some, to the Claypool preceding her death

|seeing or hearing about Cpl. Rid-|leads and among the first things

they did was to check on Cpl. Rid~

Start Re-examination ONLY ONCE during five visits

had Cpl. Ridings checked in alone. On the other occasions, she had been accompanied by a WAC friend. The time had come for a re-ex-amination of all facts and evidence in hand and a requestioning of all

room to the west of 729. A soldier poker game angle needed further those who had previously been

from Ft. Harrison was checked into the corridor room cater-corner from 729,

It was the questioning of the]

i

exploration, other pressing matters cried for attention. Smart detectives in any murder

questioned. They went about their work with a vengeance. Within a short time they were

hotel’s bellboys which shed the first investigation will suspend their in- | confronted by a literal mountain of light on Cpl. Ridings’ movements terest in extraneous matters tem- new clues and a “confession” to the immediately after she reached the porarily to thoroughly examine the murder.

hotel. Two of these boys, Alfred background of the victim and this | A telephone call from New Castle

Bayne Jr. and Robert Dillard Wolfington, gave particularly vital information. Bayne told detectives that he had |

received an order from the bell

The Woman in Black WHEN HE entered the room, he said, Cpl. Ridings, whom he recognized from previous visits, was/ standing before the dresser, ‘A sec- | ond. woman was reclining on the bed with her elbows in the pillow nearest the areaway fronting the clothes closet. | The woman on the bed, Bayne said, wore a black dress, or a two-| piece black suit, and a black hat! with a fluffed out veil, She had; dark hair curled up at the neck-| line and appeared to be 35 to 40 years old. She was about five feet three or four inches and Bayne judged her weight at around 135 pounds. She was attractive but not extraordinarily so, her face being round and smooth complexioned. She was smoking. “I placed the ice and cokes on

{the dresser,” Bayne told detectives,

|“and the WAC gave me a doliar plus a twenty-cent tip. I left the | room.” | Bellboy Wolfington informed po-

{ice from Room 729 at between 6:15 {and 6:20 p. m. He said he took the pail of ice to the room, found the door open about three inches and: pushed inside. No one was in the room but a voice from the bath called out, “who’s“there?” Wolfington said he answered, “Bellboy.” The voice said, “Leave the ice on the] dresser and there's a quarter for you.” “I picked up the quarter and left,” Wolfington said.

|

person in the room and he could not be sure the voice was that of

her from her previous visits to the the Claypool.

Was It Voice of WAC?

POLICE HAD good reason .to wonder if the voice in the bathroom actually was Cpl, Ridings,. Where to and when had the woman in black seen by Baynes vanished? Why had she vanished? Was she the killer or was she merely a friend who had dropped in for a drink and departed sometime after Bayne had brought the ice and cokes? Presumably, if she were a friend, she ‘would turn up quickly to explain her presence in the murder TOO. ’ The detectives momentarily gave their attention to the clue of the matchbook bearing the room number 723. Originally this room hac been reserved gfor a Corning,” O, couple and their daughter. The reservation had not been taken up

poker game .had been staged there

eight men. Jet The poker party participants were

questioned but none recalled ever

i learned, Cpl. Ridings had spent sev- |

is exactly what the WAC case in-| vestigators did. They took a trip to Camp Atter-! bury. There they discovered that Cpl

head by a quart-size whisky bottle | captain at 4:48 to deliver half a Ridings was one of the most popu- | and that her jugular vein hadlgoen coca-colas and a pail of ice

Tt it-her tragic death, discussed hcr

lar members of the WAT ‘corps. Her ids, both saddened and angered

life unreservedly in their efforts to aid the detectives, Detectives learned that Cpl. Ridings was the daughter of Mrs. Maie Little, of Warm Springs, Ga. a descendant of a prominent family in that region. At one time, Miss Ridings had served as a physiotherapist on the staff of the Warm Springs Infantile Paralysis Foundation and thereby had become a friend of President Roosevelt. Mr. Roosevelt, it was said, referred to Miss Ridings as “Husky” becase of her powerful shoulders and arms. After leaving Warm Springs, Miss Ridings married but later was divorced. She took a position as an auditor with the federal housing administration in Washington. Subsequently she joined the WAC and took her indoctrination at Daytona Beach, Fla. She arrived at Camp Atterbury on March 6, 1943, as a member of the WAC 3561st Headquarters Detachment, and had since. been serving as a

physiotherapist. | Frequent Visitor Here ADDITIONALLY, THE detectives |

eral week-ends since her arrival at]

camp in Indianapolis, staying first at one hotel and another, She kept steady company with no man ‘in particular, one WAC friend | declared, but occassionally dated | an Atterbury officer. The WAC! said she believed Cpl. Ridings had! a date with this officer on the] Saturday night of the murder. |

| Detectives made a special note of |

He added that there was no other his name, remembering the myste-

rious man who had telephoned for Cpl. Ridings while they were in the

told she wasn't there. Was the officer that man? At least he would bear question-

| Cpl Ridings got her week-end pass at 3:10 p. m. Saturday and {told a friend she was leaving by {bus for Indianapolis at 3:30. Her WAC friends had no knowledge of a “woman-in-black” whom Cpl. Ridings may have intended to meet at the Claypool, In fact they thought it odd that a civilian woman had been in her room. They | knew nothing about any male civil-

had in Indianapolis. Detectives considered as signifi-

“lcant the remark by one WAC who

said: “I think Maoma planned quite a shopping trip, . She had more than $40 with her when she left.” This information was the first {vague hint of a motive in the mur- | der. i If Cpl. Ridings had left the camp

Her pocketbook, examined after cents. The detectives hurried back to

Indianapolis to exploit their new

®

{ian friends Cpl. Ridings may have

police advised the detectives that an 18-year-old youth had told close friends there that he had murdered “that WAC at the Claypool.” He was detained under high bond for further questioning, the police doubting his story because there was no fire escape leading from Room 729. A letter, whose author the police refused to identify, hinted that the woman in black seen in 729 by Bayne was a female impersonator, A milk wagon driver making deliveries in the 1900 block of Tibbs avenue found a WAC skirt—size 16—in a patch of weeds. (Had it been thrown there by the killer in his flight?). Told of Seeing Woman

A GUEST at the Claypool informed police that he had seen a woman in black lingering around 729 shortly after the murder and had seen her go down the service elevator shortly before detectives arrived. An East Washington st. laundry reported that on Monday a bloodstained shirt had been left at the counter by a “pint-sized” man who had given no name or address. The description of this man tallied with that of a one-time bellboy who had been discharged from several hotels for drinking and making advances to women guests, A soldier registered in the room two doors west of 729 had not occupied his bed on the murder night but either he or someone else had used the shower bath, leaving a wet towel on the floor. More striking than any of these developments was the revelation that the Indianapolis man who had checked into the hotel at the same time as Cpl. Ridings, was actually an ex-convict who had served a sentence at the Indiana State prison for theft. In double-checking the bell cap{tains records, detectives found no {record of the call for ice which { Bellboy Wolfington said he received

Cpl. Ridings, although he knew murder room and hung up when|peiveon 6:15 and 6:20. So far as

the records showed, Cpl. Ridings had made only one, call for service —that at 4:48 which Bayne had answered and at which time he said he ‘saw the woman in black. In the midst of these rapid-fire { developments, this writer was inter viewing two Claypool bellboys who distinctly were not concerned in the | investigation. ' | A third bellboy, who had not yet |been questioned by police, crossed the lobby carrying a pail of ice toward the service elevator, = One of the bellboys to whom I was talking looked at the retreating back of the third : *That fellow's sure a screwball” he said.

“Dresses up like a woman Sow times on Saturday night id ars around downtown. Whatts screw ball. He was a great friend of Cpl. Ridings” ~~ 8 The name of the bellboy who {dressed like a woman was identi. cal with the name found on the

and investigation disclosed that a with $40 what had happened to it? | gy leaf of the telephone book in

Cpl. Ridings’ room on the murder:

by a party consisting of at least the murder, had yielded only 21 night,

TOMORROW: A summary of all clues and their meaning, Eis

WR

My! It's getting dark quickly. § The storm is getting worse. . .

Read us o story in THIS book—

. This will be a wild enough R night, Barnaby. | don’t want you seeing Ghosis. We'll do without a story. .. I's long » past bedtime for you kids. . .

— === | Sut | couldn't see Ghosts. Tiare aren't ony around—