Evening Star Newspaper, June 28, 1937, Page 4

IRWIN SURRENDER BRINGS MAID§1,000 Scullery Girl to Get Reward Offered for “Solving” Gedeon Murders. B the Associated Press. CLEVELAND, Ohio, June 28.—The ecullery girl came out of the kitchen today and followed a bewildering rainbow to its New York pot of gold. Murder painted the rainbow that srched Henrietta Koscianski's journey. The blood of Ronnie Gedeon, of her mother, and of the luckless Frank Byme, painted it. But it was the scullery girl's sharp eyes that saw it there. Thou- sands of others had looked but had not seen. To them the bar boy who called himself Robert Murray was Just that. Bright newspaper men from New York, where every one is very smart and clever, had leaned against that hotel bar and looked upon the bar boy. They were the reporters who had come to Cleveland to write of the steel strike. Credited With Surrender. They could not see that the bar boy, lugging in the clean glasses and toting away the “empties.” was Robert Irwin, wanted for shocking murder; Robert Irwin the “madman.” Henrietta Koscianski saw; and to- night she will be in New York, richer because of it. There was a reservation for her today on a New York-bound plane. There was another one for West F. Peterson, editor of the detective magazine which had offered $14000 reward to the person who supplied the information that would turn Robert Irwin over to the law to answer for the triple murder of last Easter Sun- , Irwin surrendered of his own Peterson said. “But we feel that if Miss Koscianski hadn't rec- ognized his picture in the magazine and reported it, through the hotel manager, to Cleveland police, Irwin would never had been forced into flight and into surrender, She gets the dough.” He Was Cute.” Ironically, the $1,000 check which the magazine has for Henrietta Koscianski will be—except in amount —exactly like those Veronica used to get when she was posing for photo- graphs used to illustrate the maga- mine's articles. But Veronica Gedeon, posing for a living. never got a check for as much money as the 18-year-old Kkitchen girl receives today. Miss Kosclanski’'s plane was to carry her to New York hardly more than 16 hours after another plane, from Chicago, had taken Robert Irwin there. Perhaps she would see him again, this fellow she knew as Bob, the bar boy. She didn't know., First she would get the check. Then she would talk over two offers for her life story. After that- “He was cute,” she said. “He used to talk a mile a minute. He kept Jumping from one subject to another. “But I never let him ‘date’ me. Bometimes when he looked at me shivers went up my back time. when I posed for him to sketch, and he took my neck in his strong fingers to get my head in just the right position—— “I can’t help shuddering now when I know it must have been like that— with those same, wiry fingers—that he held the poor Gedeon girl's throat.” Irwin (Continued From First Page.) hunted far and wide for the three slayings. “Irwin Is Breaking.” Dr. A, H. O'Connor of the Rock- land State Hospital for the Insane, where Irwin was once a patient, ap- peared in Magistrate's Court today and talked with Leibowitz. Afterward the doctor said: “Irwin is going down fast mentally. He is breaking under the strain.” But to outward appearances the sculptor gave no indication of this. In police line-up he wore again the Wwhite suit in which he was attired When returned here from Chicago yes- terday. He ran jauntily up the line-up kteps and stood there while Acting Police Capt. John Leahy read a state- ment for the information of detec- tives that Irwin was being held for the slayings. Then Leahy said: “Robert, you made a statement to the assistant district attorney, didn't you?” “Yes, sir,” Irwin replied calmly. “Were you ever arrested before?" “I was arrested once before. I think t was in 1931." “The record,” said Leahy, “shows 1931—third-degree assault. Is that right?” “Yes, sir.” And that was all Indictment Tomorrow. Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valen- tine and District Attorney William C. Dodge said the grand jury would be asked tomorrow for an indictment, Dodge said he expected one immedi- ately and that “there will be an early trial.” The district attorney said he would prosecute the case himself, contend- ing that Irwin is and was legally sane. He said he anticipated an insanity de- fense from Leibowitz. Valentine and Dodge said the grand Jury would be given detailed state- wents which Irwin dictated to the Hearld and Examiner confessing the three slayings, as well as additional statements made to Chicago and New York police. Irwin was arrested in Chicago yes- terday more than 12 hours after he had surrendered in the newspaper offices. He waived extradition and o ESTABLISHED 1365 o Ventilator Doors Keep You Cool!! \\ Apartment and home owners should toke advantage of pres- ent low prices to install these needed doors for keeping rooms and corridors comfortably cool in Summer. Barker quality doors are made 138" thick with 4 panels of stationary slats. GEO. M. BARKER o COMPANY o UMBER and MILLWORK €49-651 N. Y. Ave. N.W. 1523 7th St. N.W. Nat. 1348, “The Lumber Number” AN [t NN AN AW » And that | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY, JUNE 28 1937. Irwin Unruffled as He Tells of Triple New York Slaying “I feel like a nickel,” says Henrietta Koscianski, 19, kitchen girl in a Cleveland hotel, who let Robert Irwin get away. Mrs. Ethel Kudner, sister of the slain Veronica Gedeon, hears of Irwin’s confession in which he said he had intended to kill her. Joseph Gedeon, eccentric father of Veronica and Mrs. Kudner, as he heard of Irwin’s arrest. Note mourning band. was brought here by plane last night. Dr. Russell E. Blaisdell, psychiatrist of international reputation and super- intendent of Rockland State Hospital, where Irwin once was an inmate, said Irwin is legally sane, beyond all ques- tion, if the published statements of | the artist were accurate. Irwin Legally Sane. Thoroughly familiar with Irwin's case, Dr. Blaisdell pointed out that the legal definition of insanity, which is & man's capacity to recognize right and wrong, is considered meaningly by psychiatrists. Irwin is suffering from a peychosis, he said, but added that at least 2,000 of his 5000 Rockland Hospital pa- tients are suffering from psychosis, but are legally sane. Irwin, it was revealed, on Monday after the crime had come to Wash- ington. “I bought & paper and saw my pic- ture on the first page. I said to my- self that the next guy I meet will rec- ognize me.” When the frightened Irwin left Washington he took a freight train out and “bummed” his way to Cleve- land. Police in the latter city said Irwin registered at the small hotel where he lived on April 8, eleven days after the slaying in New York. All three slayings were “accidental,” Wis 816 how I\I ANHATTAN'S Economy Service does 8o much—costs so little. Every- thing washed in soft Net Bags which get the wear—your clothes get only the gentle cleansing action of the foamy Palmolive suds. And remember everything is ready to wear—ready to use. Men’s shirts are hand finished, mended, buttons sewed on—at no extra cost. All other outer garments hand finished too—flat pieces mended—many other extras at no extra cost. Try Economy Service this week, big 9-pound bundle only $1.59. It’s guaranteed. Irwin is quoted as saying in the Chi- cago statement, since he went to the Gedeon apartment intending to mur- der the beautiful “Ronnie’s” sister, Mrs. Ethel Kudner, and no one else. The young sculptor said he would | be saved from the electric chair be- cause he had spent several years in what he called “the nut house.' Despite a wide distribution of circu- lars for his apprehension, Irwin had worked unnoticed in a Cleveland hotel from April 8, a few days after the | murders on March 27, until last| Thursday. A kitchen maid then recog- nized his picture in a detective maga- | sine, asked him about his identity, | and he fled He arrived in Chicago at 7:30 am Saturday, roamed the streets, attended & movie, and then, late in the day, leisurely walked into the newspaper office. Full details of what happened | between then and his arrest Sunday | afternoon were not made public. Was Minister’s Son. With the arrest, Irwin, turning from nonchalance to gloominess, | from blitheness to surliness, was hur- | ried through routine moves in Chi- cago and brought here by New York detectives. His face almost expressionless, Irwin, nattily attired in & white linen | dreamed of modeling her as if be-| suit, s rushed from Floyd Bennett 2 pillow 2 kitchen 3 hand towels 6 napkins 2 luncheon cloths 2 wash cloths 2 bath towels 1 sheet 4 shirts 15 handkerchiefs 3 drawers 3 undershirts Send for the Manhattan Routeman today. BAGFUL loundored only J 59 Airport to police headquarters in a motor caravan of screaming sirens. Valentine, Dodge and leading investi- gators of the three-month-old mur- ders were waiting for him. 1 They questioned him on the amag- | ingly frank story he gave the Chicago newspaper, of how the murders were committed singly through a period of | many hours, of how “Ronnie,” the 20- year-old model, might have lived if she had not recognized her assailant, and of how the mother, Mary, 54, struggled turiously against death. Irwin, a minister’s son and one-time student of divinity, as related in the newspaper atatement, went to the Gedeon apartment to murder Mrs. Kudner, Loved and Hated Her. “I wanted to kill Ethel because she | was the dearest object in the world to | me. I loved her and hated her. I headed, with her head far back and the mouth open. ¢ * *” | ‘The motive, intertwined with Irwin's | peculiar philosophy of life, was re- corded by the newspaper in this way: | “The one driving impulse of a man’s life was sex. I figured that if I could remove sexual impulse and put myself | under pressure, that I could solve that problem. “All the time I knew there was cases towels Striking camera studies of Irwin, taken just after his arrest at Chicago, heading for the airport on his way to New York, and arriving at New York police headquarters. having his picture taken. He seemed to enjoy —Copyright, A. P. Wirephote. only one way out of it, by murdering somebody. If I were to do something like that I would put myself on a spiritual plane and make everything even. have nothing against any- body . . . Irwin was welcomed by Mrs. Gedeon, products Phows Ducation 120 - Now! MANHATTAN COMPANY A Complete Cleansing Institution 1330-1346 FLORIDA AVENUE Siud Gt} LL SERVICES GUARANTEED/ who was in the apartment alone. After they chatted for hours, and he drew sketches of her, she ordered him to leave. He refused, they fought, and eventually he strangled her, ac- cording to the statement. ‘Then a wait for Ethel, but “Ronnie” came instead, alone. She didn't see him. He crept up behind her, grabbed her throat. He didn't want to kill her, “I was very careful not to press too hard—just hard enough so she couldn't make a noise, but could breathe. I think I held her that way at least an hour ... I thought she didn’t know who I was. But she did. And what cost her life was that she said s0 . . . She knew me, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to murder the whole neighborhood. I wanted to let Ronaie live if I could. “She was beautiful. I hate to de: stroy besuty * * * I began to think that, with Ronnie knowing me as she did, I didn't have any alternative. I strangled her.” All this time the roomer, Frank Byrnes, a club waiter, was asleep in the next room. He had seen Irwin enter. The statement told of plung- ing an ice pick into the side of his skull. He mustn't tell police. “Won't Go to Chair.” Another wait, this time for Ethel. She failed to appear. Irwin walked out into the Easter dawn, calm with death behind him. ‘Thoughts of what society might do for such a crime were expressed in this way: “When I went there that night I thought that after killing Ethel, then they will kill me in the electric chair, but I didn’'t care. Then I said to myself that after being in the nut house all of your life, ;ou can't go to | the chair. You might, but the chances | are that you won’t. They'll put me in a nut house again, and then I'll | be there all the rest of my life and | catch up with myself, in a spiritual way."” to say nothing, pending examination of an official confession by Irwin. “We are happy that the crime has been solved,” said Sabbatino, “be- cause now suspicion is lifted from all others. We feel satisfied that the three killings now are cleared up, and it is a great load off the minds of the family. Every doubt and suspicion now has been swept " away.” Mrs. Kunder asked to be excused, and nervously left the room, when asked to comment on her apparent narrow escape from a fate like that [of her young sister's and on her friendship with Irwin. Irwin's Brother in Prison. SALEM, Oreg., June 28 () —Pem- ber Irwin, serving a 10-year term in Oregon Penitentiary, displayed ine terest in the fate of his brother Rob- ert, who officers in Chicago said had confessed to the slaying of Veronica Gedeon and two other persons in New York last Easter. “What do you suppose they will do with my brother?” Pember asked an interviewer. He said he had not seea Robert for many years. He was sent to prison three vears ago from Portland on a charge of armed theft. Hammers Open Dynamite Box. YORK, Nebr., June 28 (#)—Clare ence Miller, a produce company eme ploye, used a sledge to open a box. He didn’t know it contained dynamite until the cover was knocked off. An explosives expert said the dyna- mite was 20 years old and “probably wouldn't have exploded anyway,” but Miller handled with care a second Gedeons Are Relieved. NEW YORK, June 28 (#).—The sister and father of the slain Veronica Gedeon were pictured today as being | relieved by the surrender of Robert! Irwin and his reported confession of the Beekman Hill murders. Mrs. Ethel Kudner, the sister, had been living with her parents-in-law | since the murders for greater safety while Irwin was at large. In Irwin's statement to police it was said that Mrs. Kudner originally was the sole | intended victim of his murder lust.| ‘The father, Joseph Gedeon, wiry little upholsterer, at first had been under suspicion himself. | Both declined to comment on the arrest. Their attorney, Peter Sab- | | batino, explained he had advised them | Himn i i, of Washington HE successful distribution of food entails an study of the many problems arising daily in such a business; because foods are perishable or lose their value in taste and wholesomeness if kept on the shelf longer than a certain time, they MUST be moved quickly; because good food-storekeep- ing demands a complete turn-over in capital each week of the year, food products are not carried over. Overhead embracing rent, sales expense, delivery and advertising MUST be kept within the tiniest fraction of its estimated cost in order to sell foods at the lowest price levels with a legitimate profit. One LITTLE slip in any direction spells the BIG difference between profit and loss. To state that The Star carries MORE food and grocery store advertising in Washington inexhaustible really means nothing, even though it is true; ADVERTISING in he Star BRINGS RESULTS box he discovered. It was believed the boxes were left by a concern previously occupying the site. e — Construction of houses in Norway is greater than in many years. CONTRACTORS & ENGINEERS E. J. FEBREY & CO. Est. 1898 AIR CONDITION YOUR HOME Be modern! Be comfortablel It costs less than you think CALL NATIONAL 8680 There’s A Good Reason for EVERYTHING The FOOD & GROCERY STORES Buy MORE Lines of Star * Advertising Than Any Other this fact doesn’t.pay any grocer’s bills. 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