OCR Text |
Show S5 Two Fads Point to Self Destruction De-struction ButNo Weapon Has Bee.n Found Ry JAMl'iS, IIJENLE, I X. 13. A. SUtffCorrcsjK)iulent J NEW YORIv'.tUne so. Was thej liand that, kilcd'joacph Bownc Elwell his own? ';. ' pid' the vain; jsfVf reentered butterfly butter-fly that . fitted between the underworld under-world and t,hcv upper suddenly find Itself enmeshed In. a. web of Intrigue? Wax he. afraid. .-fftat his upperworld friends would ho iVn'gcr receive him? Were "lady hutt'rilis" the cause of-a of-a suicide? , ' W These arc the .Questions with which the New Vork , authorities aro confronted, con-fronted, ahd they .aieheeomlng .more pertinent oyery dny-IIilstrict Attornoy Satm'Mlcclars'.Uiafellie police aro no nearer a solutlo'h of-tc ''murder" than they wore five " mlSilles after It had beearoportod. As r murder it Is at present an imp.encairabla mystery. But perhaps It way hut ,' murder at all. J 'ac ls I'ulnt 'to S"u lcld e Thero are tw. fi'fcts' which seem to point that Way: . Fact No. Li The "poeMon in which the ejected 'cartrldgeShell was found was such that it could noth avo lieen ejected from n C' automatic unless that weapon were "held upside down. If the pistol had ba'on held upright It would have been thrown ovtt to the other side. Now a rjiiyi shooting himself him-self is more llkelyy'to, hold a pistol down than one committing a murder. Fact No. 2. The holo which the bullet made in. the wall behind El-wcll's El-wcll's head shovs that the bullet was fired on a level 'course, thai Is, parallel to the floor. As Elwell was sitting at tho time-any one, -Co have shot him in that way, must have held the pistol at tho hip and, furthermore, hotvo been forced into a cramped spaco between Elwell and the mantel. As against this theory a number of irguments are advanced, one of the most Important being that no weapon ivas found In the, room. But suicidCH in New York sometimes some-times leave behind them no weapon chat can be discovered. Weapons Sontcllmcfl DLappcnr Preposterous a?j' this sounds, it is :rue, ltecontly an Italian killed himself him-self by plunging a khfro Into his heart, rhcro was no'tjuestJqiy-,'but that It was i suicide, The w'indowfl to tlje room vero barred, The QnbY door was locked lock-ed from the inside. But the knife was lever found, -(- A second -cas. .vag, that of a man tvho shot hinife'olf wth a revolver. A :areful senrchfaiIc,cljtoTOVeal the gun. But this mystery waolvU hit'er. A " 7& ' 'Continued- onPago3).. .' ' ' ' r.. ' ' I- Suicide Theory Made Stronger in Elwell Case (Continued from Pago 1) man had put the handsome pearl-handled pearl-handled weapon Into his pocltet. He later replaced it where it wus "found." Officials arc not convinced that Elwell El-well committed suicide. But the suicide sui-cide theory has by no means been abandoned. Elwell was commonly known as a man of wealth; his habits were thoso of a person who never has to think of money. But he was also a gambler. His estate 1b being uivestlgated to determine de-termine whether he had faced financial finan-cial adversity, "Elwell was usually careful to see that he was a better bridge player than his opponents. He was never anxious to .play for high stakes with other experts men who could play as ! well as ho. Ho lost h!s nerve under the strain," say3 a man who knew ! him.' |