Newspapers / The Daily Advance (Elizabeth … / June 2, 1924, edition 1 / Page 3
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Circumstantial Evidence Wins In Murder Case Prosecution Groups* Most Kemarkalile Coincidences Stu-; deuts of Criminal History Have Ever Encountered hut Unable to Prove Premeditation in Atrocious Crime ny HOIIKUT T. SMAI.Ij (C?pyri8fit. Itt*. B? Tht A?<an??? :\?w York. June 2. ? Circumstan tial evidence has won another vie-, tory in a noted murder trial, st nd-, in- Harry L. Hoil man. moving pic-, lure operator to the penitentiary tor from 20 years to life imprison-' hunt, for the murder of Mrs. A., llauer on Stalcn Island some two months ago. The Jury found Hoffman guilty of | murder in the second degree. The people of the city today were stunned , liy the mildness of the verdict, for' the murder itself was one of the; most atrocious crimes the Metropol-J itau district has known. Dut strong' as was the chain of circumstances; linked about Hoffman, the prosecu-j tion was unable to prove the pre-| meditation which might have sent! the young man to the electric chair. Medical experts who have observed. HofTman during his trial are of the opinion that Hoffman really has on-| ly himself to blame for much of the testimony used against him. In a. panicky condition after the crime' Hoffman so conducted himself that guilty circumstances rose up as if by ma.iic to accuse hlM. If Hoffman i* 1?m6cor as he still claims, the circumstances which con victed him art? the most remarkable coincidences students of criminal history ever have encountered. It was nearly a month before the mov ing picture operator was Mi&pcctcd,' but now it seems that his every act sine*? the crime has proved to be a guilty one. The murder itself was au atro cious affair, being particularly de plorable in the fact that the fate which overtook Mrs. liauer might; Just as easily have claimed any other j of Staten Island with her mother as victim. This Jady was out motoring.; Something went wrong with the car and Mts. Bauer started to walk to the nearest village to get assistance.! leaving her mother with the car. She! had gone but a few hundred yards wjien a young man in a Ford sedan I stopped and offered to give her a| lift. She told him her plight and i gladly accepted the offer. The wait ing mother saw her daughter enter the car. When she emerged but a Bank Robber Gets Hints From Magazine Fiction Missing Bank Cashier Goes One Step Too Far in Imitating "Cray Personality" in Novel and Authorities Believe They IT'iH Ultimately Apprehend Him. By U C. OWEN (Coyrltfit 1*24. By Tha Ad?fi?> oau rrancisco, June 2.?Truth may be stranger than fiction, but sometimes It borrows from fiction, as Dale Rowan, missing bank ca shier, has just demonstrated. Three years ago a popular maga zine published a fiction story in which a clever crook assumed a "gray personality." secured a posi tion of trust in a bank and looted it of many thousands. When the hue and cry got under way, it was discov ered that nobody knew nothing about the thief. His "gray personality" role had been applied to his appear ance and the only description avail able was one that would fit almost any of a thouimd persons met on a crowded cjty street. Its just that situation that the au thorities are up against in trying to find 24 year-old Dale Rowan, who a day or two ago walked out of the Hank of Italy here with $47,200. here are many evidences that Rowan patterned his crime after the "gray personality"story. The worn handbag in which he carried off the his loot was the same one in which, day after day, month after month, he had brought his noonday lunch to the bank. That was the way the fictional "gray per sonality" worked it. Rowan sought employment at the Bank of Italy shortly after the "Gray Personality" story appeared. Emu lating the fictional crook, he gave a false address both In his application for employment and to the bonding company which signed his bond. In the two years and eight months that he was with the bank, working up from a humble clerkship to the post of chief teller, everything shows that he played his "gray personality" role contlnously and scrupulously. He had no Intimate friends within the bank and outside he kept entirely to himself. The bank officials thought he was a married man and the father of two small children. His disappearance discloses his fami ly to be purely fictitious. The bonding company has a photo graph of Rowan submitted with his application for a surety bond. Hut It Is a photograph that tells little and might be that of almost any av erage man of 24 years. In the same category Is the description given by bank officials. Rowan had no out standing characteristics. He was Just an average looking young man. The very fact of the absconding tellers close adherence to the "gray personality" story however, leads the authorities to believe they will ulti mately apprehend him. In his ef forts to carry out a "perfect crime" they think he will make the slip of carrying emulation of the "gray per sonality" Just a step too far. There are, they insist, no "perfect" crimes." Hey, Babies, Need a Nursemaid? "Snooky," known a? the most Intelligent cVlmpaniee In theworll like* nothing better than playing nursemaid to Joan Henrietta, and th( baby doesn't mind a bit a* long aa she geta her bottle. few minutes later she was dead? brutally beaten and shot. The the ory of the crime from the first has been that the young man in the se-j dan attacked the woman and because! of her resistance she was slain. Ifj only the police could have proved the attack came first and the wo THE SALMON CREEK LINE Bcbe<lule: Leave Willis Landing and Avocjl at 7:00 A. M., 10:30 A. M. an 1 4:30 P. M. Leave Edenton at 9:00 A. M., 2:30 ; P. M. and 1.30 P. M. Extra Trip* Will lie Made Day or Night If Necessary. man was killed afterward to cover the crime, this would have constitut ed premediation and a first degree A ?eV puffs ^ J * "'"illHIIIIIHIIl'illi *F L I E 5 MOSQUITOES FLEAS OLOSE doors and win ^ dows, then place a small quantity of Bee Brand Insect Powder on a piece of paper. Blow upward? the tiny particles of powder f.oat about the room and kill these annoying household pests. Some prefer to burn the powder. It is also effect ive. The cost of using Bee Brand Insect Powder is rmazingly low. Insect Powder is one of the most effective insecticides. Bee Brand is the most ef fective Powder. Bee Brand Insect Powder kills Flies. Fleas, Mosqui toes, Ants, Roaches, Water Bugs, Bed Bugs, Moths. Lice on Fowl, Weevil?and many other house and gar den insects. Non-poisonous ? harmless to mankind, domestic ani mals and plants. Does not spot or atain-100% pars-no adulteration. McCormick & Co., Baltimore, Md. In red sifting-top cans? *t your grocer or druggist. Household sizes, 15c and 35c. Other sizes, 70c and $1.25. Largs Pomp Oun?75a If your duler can't np. pty you, ?nd 35c for large household flizn. Give dealer's nam*. Oat our fraa booklet, "It kills them", a guide for killing bouse or garden Intacta. INSECT j verdict might have resulted. In attacking the case the police had but two tangible bits of evid ence to go on. One was that a Ford sedan was used. The second was that I a little girl noticed the man lu the | car wore a brown felt hat. The.v al Ho knew that the murder was com-1 mitted with a 115 calibre automatic! pistol and that evidently the man had committed assaults on other wo men by inviting them into his car. , There are so many brown hats In the world and perhaps even more Ford sedans that the task of check ing up seemed all but insurmnunta i?Ie. Vet the police tacklcd it. They announced that the owner of every Ford sedan oil Stat' n IsK.nd would be quizzed. Just, here the hand <?f fate began to work against Harry Hoffman. lie Knew he owned a Ford St d .n. lie knn\v that he had worn a brown f-? 11 hat on the day of the murder, lie knew that he ?i\vn?'d a 25 calibre au tomatic. whirli he hail bouyht jt??t last February. He also knew ili.it he resembled the description the I it tle girl had given of the man sli-3 had seen in the murder car. lie knew also that he possesed certain desires which he could not always master and which had led him to at-' tack at least three women in his car.' Then, according to his own testl-l inony. Hoffman began to act like, a "damn fool." This was the only explanation he could give of the va rious moves which tangled hint In extricably with the heinous crime. Hoffman says there was a hue and a cry for a victim?some otio must suffer for the death of Mrs. Itauer. Hoffman mailed his pistol to his (brother in Manhattan and told him I to guard it at nil hazards from the j prying police. Hoffman burned the special holster he had bought for the pistol. Hoffman met a brother [ motion picture operator and with him "framed up" a perfect alibi for the hour of crime. He told the op erator he knew he would bo ?us pertod and that It would be difficult to prove Just where he had been; therefore the connected alibi was ne er-ssarv. The brown hat quickly was disposed of. Ilut the Ford sedan remained and the Ford proved the solution of the otlme. For when it came time to check up on Hoffman's car things b??u.tti in happen. Th- re was more 1:f'i* tilty in getting a Jury than there u.i-i in obtaining ? li?* ultimate con viction. Scores of prospective Jury men said they would not adjudge a man guilty on circumstances alone. The state had no eye-witnesses. It's case was entirely one of nccusing circumstances. A unique phase of the case was the testimony of a pistol expert that no two pistol firing pins are alike ttruL that under microscopic exami nation it is possible to identify the revolver which fired certain shells. Two shells were found with Mrs. Hauer's body. The expert said the Impressions on these shells were made by Hoffman's gun. Al'TOMOIULR SALES SLOW ."New Orleans, Juno 2.?Sales of automobiles here are slow and bu siness is running much under that of last year. Stocks of both new and used cars In dealers' hands are large. EIGHT HOUR BATTERY SERVICE I HAVE HAD IN OPERATION FOR TWO MONTHS A Marshal Constant Potential Battery. Charging System WHICH ENABLES ME TO GIVE YOU 8-HOUR BATTERY SERVICE A RENTAL BATTERY FREE (IF RETURNED IN 21 HOURS) Rait erics Charged by this System are More Efficient, Saving GAS, TIME, WORRY, AND MONEY ONE BATTERY CHARGED BY IT AND YOU ARE CONVINCED J. B. VENTERS Phone 566 "Service" Is Our Policy Only Two More Days 10% TO 40% Reduction on our Bed Room and Dining Room Suites M. G. Morristtte & Co. ? The Main Street Furniture Store
The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.)
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June 2, 1924, edition 1
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