Read Online The Mad Sculptor by Harold Schechter - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Harold Schechter
Tags: United States, General, History, Psychology, True Crime, State & Local, Murder, Psychopathology, Middle Atlantic (DC; DE; MD; NJ; NY; PA)
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taking a personal interest in the solution of the mystery and the capture of the killer.”
After summarizing the case, Peterson concluded by presenting what he described as “the most unusual cash reward ever offered in my years of observing real-life detective dramas”:
The publishers of Inside Detective have offered a one thousand dollar reward to be given to the detective or private citizen who does most toward obtaining the detection, apprehension, and conviction of the killer or killers.…
If Robert Irwin is not captured at the time of publication of the current issue, Inside Detective readers are urged to watch for the young artist who is admittedly affected with a social disease, and whose alleged mania to kill springs from a religio-sexual complex which, in the past, caused him to be committed to institutions for the insane.…
Anyone turning in Robert Irwin will automatically be considered a leading candidate for the Inside Detective reward money.
STUDY IRWIN ’ S PHOTOGRAPH !
NOTE IRWIN ’ S CHARACTERISTICS !
REMEMBER THAT IRWIN MAY BE ANYWHERE — AND THAT HE MAY BE MASQUERADING IN FEMALE ATTIRE !
Watch for Robert Irwin, if, at the time this magazine is on sale, you have not already read of his capture, dead or alive. Notification of his apprehension should be wired or telephoned to The Editor, Inside Detective Magazine, 140 Madison Avenue, New York. 3
The article was illustrated with more than a dozen photographs, some of Ronnie’s titillating poses for the magazine, a few of Joseph Gedeon, one of Ronnie’s Pekingese, Touchi (“The Only Murder Witness”), and, very prominently, the widely circulated portrait of Robert Irwin, the “Hunted Maniac.”
Henrietta stared for a long time at Irwin’s photograph. To her eyes, the fugitive looked strikingly like Bob Murray. She showed the picture to Dorothy, who laughingly agreed that the mad killer bore a resemblance to “our Bob.” Henrietta thought it would be fun to tease Bob about it the next time she saw him. Then she turned off the light and went to sleep. 4
It wasn’t until Friday evening, June 25, that she saw Bob again,when he showed up in the kitchen to fetch some ice for the bar and came over to chat. After a few minutes of small talk, Henrietta, a playful lilt in her voice, asked, “Say, Bob, what’s your last name again?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “Murray,” he answered. “Why?”
“Ever hear of Robert Irwin?” she asked.
His reaction startled her. Spinning on his heel, he muttered a barely audible “no” and strode from the kitchen.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Henrietta later recalled. Could it possibly be that her friend Bob Murray really was the infamous Mad Sculptor? “Looking back now, I think I didn’t want to believe it.”
Her suspicions fully aroused, Henrietta hurried to her room for the detective magazine, which she showed to a half dozen of her fellow employees—her boss Alice Barnes, stewards Larry Guardini and John Konya, desk clerk Manuel Meridas, waiter captain William Peters, and the night manager, Louis de Clairmont. All saw the resemblance at once. At approximately 12:25 a.m., Clairmont called the police. A squad of detectives arrived within minutes. Inside the grillroom, they learned that the bar boy calling himself Bob Murray hadn’t been seen since he had been sent to the kitchen for ice. A search of the building turned up no sign of him.
From his employment application, they learned that he was living at the Lake Hotel, a cheap hostelry on Ninth Street where rooms could be had for $1.50 a week. Racing to his room, they found signs that it had been vacated in a hurry. Among the scattered items left behind was a batch of tabloid clippings on the hunt for the Mad Sculptor.
The next morning, early editions of newspapers throughout the country plastered the story on their front pages: “ IRWIN FOUND IN OHIO, ESCAPES ,” “ IRWIN SPOTTED IN CLEVELAND, ESCAPES POLICE NET, ” “ GIRL SPOTS IRWIN
After summarizing the case, Peterson concluded by presenting what he described as “the most unusual cash reward ever offered in my years of observing real-life detective dramas”:
The publishers of Inside Detective have offered a one thousand dollar reward to be given to the detective or private citizen who does most toward obtaining the detection, apprehension, and conviction of the killer or killers.…
If Robert Irwin is not captured at the time of publication of the current issue, Inside Detective readers are urged to watch for the young artist who is admittedly affected with a social disease, and whose alleged mania to kill springs from a religio-sexual complex which, in the past, caused him to be committed to institutions for the insane.…
Anyone turning in Robert Irwin will automatically be considered a leading candidate for the Inside Detective reward money.
STUDY IRWIN ’ S PHOTOGRAPH !
NOTE IRWIN ’ S CHARACTERISTICS !
REMEMBER THAT IRWIN MAY BE ANYWHERE — AND THAT HE MAY BE MASQUERADING IN FEMALE ATTIRE !
Watch for Robert Irwin, if, at the time this magazine is on sale, you have not already read of his capture, dead or alive. Notification of his apprehension should be wired or telephoned to The Editor, Inside Detective Magazine, 140 Madison Avenue, New York. 3
The article was illustrated with more than a dozen photographs, some of Ronnie’s titillating poses for the magazine, a few of Joseph Gedeon, one of Ronnie’s Pekingese, Touchi (“The Only Murder Witness”), and, very prominently, the widely circulated portrait of Robert Irwin, the “Hunted Maniac.”
Henrietta stared for a long time at Irwin’s photograph. To her eyes, the fugitive looked strikingly like Bob Murray. She showed the picture to Dorothy, who laughingly agreed that the mad killer bore a resemblance to “our Bob.” Henrietta thought it would be fun to tease Bob about it the next time she saw him. Then she turned off the light and went to sleep. 4
It wasn’t until Friday evening, June 25, that she saw Bob again,when he showed up in the kitchen to fetch some ice for the bar and came over to chat. After a few minutes of small talk, Henrietta, a playful lilt in her voice, asked, “Say, Bob, what’s your last name again?”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “Murray,” he answered. “Why?”
“Ever hear of Robert Irwin?” she asked.
His reaction startled her. Spinning on his heel, he muttered a barely audible “no” and strode from the kitchen.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Henrietta later recalled. Could it possibly be that her friend Bob Murray really was the infamous Mad Sculptor? “Looking back now, I think I didn’t want to believe it.”
Her suspicions fully aroused, Henrietta hurried to her room for the detective magazine, which she showed to a half dozen of her fellow employees—her boss Alice Barnes, stewards Larry Guardini and John Konya, desk clerk Manuel Meridas, waiter captain William Peters, and the night manager, Louis de Clairmont. All saw the resemblance at once. At approximately 12:25 a.m., Clairmont called the police. A squad of detectives arrived within minutes. Inside the grillroom, they learned that the bar boy calling himself Bob Murray hadn’t been seen since he had been sent to the kitchen for ice. A search of the building turned up no sign of him.
From his employment application, they learned that he was living at the Lake Hotel, a cheap hostelry on Ninth Street where rooms could be had for $1.50 a week. Racing to his room, they found signs that it had been vacated in a hurry. Among the scattered items left behind was a batch of tabloid clippings on the hunt for the Mad Sculptor.
The next morning, early editions of newspapers throughout the country plastered the story on their front pages: “ IRWIN FOUND IN OHIO, ESCAPES ,” “ IRWIN SPOTTED IN CLEVELAND, ESCAPES POLICE NET, ” “ GIRL SPOTS IRWIN
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