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Subject: [Bklyn] Brooklyn Standard Union June 1,1931 Death News,Cont'd
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 19:19:13 EDT
B.S.U. June 1,1931
Death News
KNAPP in Mineola Jail Awaits Trail As ''Thrill Slayer''
Philip Knox KNAPP, alleged ''thrill killer'', who deserted the Army Air
Corps because there wasn't enough excitement in flying, was arraigned before
Nassau County Judge SMITH to-day and pleaded not guilty to having murdered
Louis PANELLA,a Hempstead taxi driver,in 1925.
KNAPP, for whom a six-year search extending over several countries was
made, was returned to Mineola to-day from West Orange,N.J., where he was
captured last night.He hd been living quietly there as an humble,married
mechanic.
District Attorney Elvin N.EDWARDS told Judge SMITH that KNAPP had asked
for sufficient time before trail to get in touch with his parents, said to be
proinent in Syracuse, and to arrange for lawyer to defend him.
Judge SMITH said he had no objection to reasonable delay so that KNAPP
might retain counsel.In the meantime,he remanded him to Nassau County jail
without bail.KNAPP appeared tired and slightly nervous as he was brought to
the court handcuffed to a deputy sheriff.
KNAPP, living under the name of Allen Kingsburg KNAPP, is an army
deserter, former Cornell University student and said to be the son of a
prominent Syracuse family.
PANELLA was killed shortly after the Loeb-Leopold trail and authorities at
that time attributed the murder to a search for a thrill, although robbery
also was given as a motive when it was discovered that nearly $100 had been
taken from the dead cab driver. PANELLA was killed by a 45 calibre bullet
through the head. Two wounds were found in his body when it was discovered
under some debris on the site of old Camp Mills.
Several days elapsed before Major William N.HENSLEY, at that time
commandant at Mitchel Field, was able to determine the name of the slayer.
The taxi driver was killed shortly after pay day at the arm post and Major
HENSLEY was hampered by the fact that a number of the soldiers were absent
without leave.
BEDPOST USED IN MURDER OF DR. G. E. DEELY
Police Batter Down Door To Find Body Stabbed And Garrotted
Dr.George Edward DEELY, widely known Brooklyn nose and throat specialist,
was found brutally murdered to-day in the locked bed chambers of his
brownstone office residence at 167 Joralemon street and within two hours
police had taken into custody at Garden City a Filipino houseman, named
Genecae SIMPLICIO, discharged with another Filipino by the doctor on
Thursday.
But the Filipino's apparently frank grief at the doctor's death, and his
insistence that he quit, seeking higher wages, only added further mystery to
a murder which has shocked medical and charitable circles here.
One of the first to arrive at the doctor's house was Police Coissioner
MULROONEY, who took personal charge of the investigation, assisted by
Assistant Chief Inspector SULLIVAN and fifty police and dectectives.
Taken to the DEELY residence the Filipino told Police Commissioner
MULROONEY and District Attorney GEOGHAN he had given the doctor a weeks
notice and obtained an other job immediatel as cook in the Garden City home
of George POWERS, broker. After serving dinner he slept there last night, he
said.
Police who broke down the door when a houseman was unable to arouse the
doctor at his accustomed time, found his body, clad in pajamas and a lounging
robe sprawled on the floor.His head had been battered in with a post torn
from a corner of his antique bed and there were six stab wounds in the
doctors abdomen.The bedpost lay near the body.
Disorder in the room gave evidence of a violent struggle. Chairs were
overturned,Curtains had been pulled down from one of the windows, a small
telphone table had been knocked over and the smashed phone lay on the floor.
None of the windows was open and the door was locked and police were further
mystified when the houseman, Arthur LINDARS and his wife Nora, declared they
had heard no commotion in the house after Dr.DEELY had retired in seemingly
good spirits last midnight.
Dr.DEELY was born at Lee,Mass., and was graduated from Williams College
and the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons.He established his office in
Brooklyn twenty years ago, and had maintained his Joralemon street
headquarters for the last nine years. Previously his office was at 132
Montague street.He was active in Catholic lay organizations and well known
among politicians.
As word of the murder spread 1,500 curious persons gathered in the street
outside, and police were compelled to order out reserves to enforce traffic
rules and keep the front ranks off the doorstep.
Transcribed for the BKLYN info pages by, Patty82856
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