 |
|
|
|
LANCASTER LYNCHING
In 1981 in Lancaster, PA, a horrendous crime occurred. It has never
been solved. This site is under construction. Please also click here to go
LIPNews1.com which publishes daily.
IF ONLY WE
KNEW THEIR NAMES!
The attempted murder of Daniel Rhoads, a retired Armstrong executive, on September 11, 1981, was front page news for days in Lancaster unlike the attempted lynching of Robert Henderson four months earlier.
Janet Kelley wrote the front-page New Era story on September 12, 1981 titled, “Ex-Armstrong Official Is Abducted, Stabbed” with the header, “Beaten By 3 Very Drunk Men.” The article is accompanied by a picture of Rhoads and a picture with this caption, “City police detective James Walsh and West Hempfield Township police Officer Walter Burnett search the wooded area near Chickies Hill Road and Airy View Drive, where Daniel Rhoads was abandoned by his abductors Friday afternoon.”
Her article begins:
Police are looking for three men who abducted an 81-year-old former Armstrong executive in a downtown parking garage Friday afternoon, stabbed him, beat him and then threw him down a 50-foot embankment.
Daniel Rhoads, 81, of 645 Oakwood Lane, a former assistant to the president of Armstrong World Industries, was listed in serious condition in the Intensive care unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
He had been found, beaten and bleeding by a passerby along a West Hempfield Township roadside around 6:00 p.m. Friday.
Kelly then lists the suspects’ descriptions (they are the same as the written ones that appear below on this site) and then continues with this:
Capt. Luther Henry, chief of the city detectives, issued a public appeal today for any information about the men. He believes they were seen by “a lot of people…downtown between 2:30 and 3 p.m.”
Police described the men as “very drunk” and “very obnoxious” when they were seen in the vicinity of the Price Street parking garage minutes before the incident.
The suspects, who were also believed to have been smoking marijuana, are possibly local residents, according to police, and might still be in the county. One of the men, police said, is armed with a knife.
In September 15th’s New Era we learn more in a story without a byline titled, “Many Saw Rhoads’ Abductors” and the header “Aiding Police”:
Police are continuing their search today for the three men who abducted 81-year-old Daniel Rhoads from a downtown parking garage on Friday.
While police reported no new developments in the case this morning, they did say they have received an “overwhelming” response from persons who might have seen the trio before the mid-afternoon incident.
“We’re getting so many tips and just a lot of response,” Capt. Luther Henry, chief of detectives, said today. He added that police are grateful for the response and want “all the information we can get.”
…According to police, the three men were seen walking on the 200 block of South Queen prior to the incident, yelling obscenities and threats to pedestrians and motorists.
As they walked through the area of Conestoga and Queen Streets, as well as Conestoga and Prince Streets, police said they have reports of them “punching cars and constantly harassing motorists.”
Police said the three were reportedly seen in Reifsnyder’s Pianos & Organs on South Queen Street, the Army & Navy Store at West King and Prince Streets, Central Market on Market Street and the One Hour Martinizing store on West Orange Street.
The article then goes on to list the written descriptions of the men and ends with:
Police are also still searching for Rhoads’ yellow-brown Plymouth with black vinyl top. It bears Pennsylvania license number F19-702.
On September 16 it is reported the police found Rhoads’ car in Virginia and on September 17, New Era reporter Tim Mckeel wrote, “Condition of Rhoads Now ‘Good’” with the header, “Car Yields Receipts” and ends his article with these paragraphs:
The suspects’ path to Goochland remains undetermined Henry said, though police apparently have two good clues – a pair of gasoline charge receipts. Henry said the receipts are dated over the weekend but he declined to reveal where the receipts are from.
Fingerprints lifted from the car won’t provide much evidence immediately, according to Henry, since comparing them against files is a task that could take weeks.
However, if police had names of potential suspects, then the prints from the car would be matched up quickly with those of the suspects.
Henry still feels the suspects are not Lancaster County residents. “As I said before, they were too obnoxious and too brazen. They didn’t attempt to keep a low profile.”
The captain added, “Numerous people saw them but no one could identify them by name.”
Tomorrow it is back to today’s news. On Monday, a desperate Captain Luther Henry, caught between a rock and a hard place, throws out a huge, outrageous lie.
How do you tell an 81-year-old man who has led a privileged life that the Detectives working his case
know the three men who tried to kill him?
Please check back later today…
SEEKING INFORMATION
In September of 1985, I received a newspaper clipping from my mother along with this handwritten note:
Hey Beck, isn’t this interesting!!! This has to be the man you and I went to see in School Lane Hills. Why the request for info now, do you suppose?
The clipping was the following, small boxed article from the Lancaster New Era published on September 12, 1985 and titled, "Police Seek Info On Kidnapping" :
City police are seeking information about a kidnapping and assault in September 1981 when an 81-year-old man was abducted from a downtown parking garage.
The man was found beaten and cut, lying along Chiques Hill Road in West Hempfield Township, more than three hours after he had been abducted from the Prince Street garage on Sept. 11, 1981.
City police ask anyone with information about this crime to contact Detective Sgt. James Walsh or call the We Tip hotline, 1-800-73-CRIME.
~ By Detective Geesey ~
ANOTHER
UNSOLVED CASE
“Abducted Man’s Car Returned Here”
[Editor’s Note: This is the complete article from the Lancaster New Era on September 21, 1981. The story, with no byline, features a large photo of Rhoads’ car with the passenger-side door open and Detective Geesey standing by the door holding a bag of evidence. The photo is credited to New Era photographer Richard Hertzler.]
A city police detective returned Daniel Rhoad’s car to Lancaster from Virginia on Saturday and today will begin sorting through two bags of evidence found inside the car.
After Rhoads’ stolen car was found in rural central Virginia last Tuesday, Lancaster Detective Lt. Joseph P. Geesey flew to Richmond, Va. to recover the car and work with Virginia State Police in gathering evidence that they hope will lead them to the identity of Rhoads’ three abductors.
In the photo above, Geesey is removing the bags of evidence from the car.
Geesey said through the cooperation of Virginia authorities, they were able to trace the route of the car from Pennsylvania to Virginia.
Inside the car, police said numerous empty beer cans and whiskey bottles were found, along with several fingerprints.
The fingerprints and other evidence were returned to Lancaster by Geesey, and the detective will now attempt to match the fingerprints with possible area suspects.
Because Rhoads’ abductors crossed state lines, the information, including copies of the fingerprints, also will be sent to the FBI to be placed for comparison on a central suspects file.
The car was found in fair condition 35 miles west of Richmond with a flat tire, police said. After minor repairs, Geesey was able to drive it back to Lancaster, where it will be kept at the police station as evidence.
Rhoads, a retired Armstrong executive, was abducted in the fifth floor of the Prince Street parking garage on Sept. 11 when three men forced their way into his car.
The men beat, stabbed and robbed Rhoads before throwing him over a 50-foot embankment. Rhoads was discovered along a roadway in West Hempfield Township by a passing motorist.
Rhoads, of 645 Oakwood Lane, is listed in good condition at St. Joseph Hospital, but is expected to be kept in the hospital for a least another week, according to his physician.
Coming tomorrow - articles by New Era reporters Janet Kelley and Tim Mckeel on the Rhoads assault. Later, why did the three men drive to Goochland, Virginia? And why didn’t the Lancaster Police ever tell us the very obvious answer?
“They didn’t attempt to keep a low profile. Numerous people saw them but no one could identify them by name.”
Lancaster Captain of Detectives Luther Henry quoted in the New Era on September 17, 1981 regarding the three men who tried to murder Daniel Rhoads.
Please check back later today.
~ Lancaster Lynching ~
PICTURE IT!
When I thought the Lancaster Lynching story couldn’t get any uglier – it did. Within four months of their attempted lynching of Robert Henderson, the same three men tried to murder another man.
Daniel Rhoads, an 81-year-old, retired Amstrong executive, was in the wrong place at the wrong time on September 11, 1981. The three men literally had a license to kill – a license they were given by the Lancaster Police.
There will be much more on Rhoads tomorrow.
The artist sketches and written descriptions of both sets of men that were published in the Lancaster Newspapers are below. The top row and the first written description (in red) are Henderson’s assailants. The second row and the second description (in blue) are Rhoads’ assailants.
Suspect 1:
White male, 25 to 30 years old, 5’9 to 5’10, 250 to 260 pounds, brown hair, beard, moustache, T-shirt, bib-overalls. Armed with a .44 caliber revolver.
A white male, approximately 25 years old, 5 foot, 10 inches. 250-300 pounds. Wearing a dark brown T-shirt, jeans, boots which were half laced, a denim blue cap with a white stripe similar to a welders or railroad cap.
Suspect 2:
White male, 19 to 25 years old, 5’7 to 5’8, 150 pounds, Brown-red jacket, “Adios” printed on back, dark trousers.
White male, in his 20’s, about 5 foot, 10 inches, thin build, slouched shoulders, clean shaven face, shorter dark brown or black hair than the other two suspects. He was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, boots, a railroad-type cap, and sunglasses or some other kind of glasses.
Suspect 3:
White male, 20’s to 30 years old, 6’ to 6’1, 200 to 210 pounds, blond hair, beard, moustache. Levi Jacket, plaid shirt, dark trousers.
A white male in his mid-20’s, 5 foot, 11 inches, medium build, approximately 180 pounds. Wearing a white T-shirt, jean vest, faded jeans, dark shoes or boots and a welders cap with “Lee” branded on the back.
“I said, ‘I understand that you have my money.’ And he said, ‘I don’t have any money.’ I said, ‘You retained the money in my apartment?’
And he said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Well what did you do with it?’ And he said, ‘I gave it to the Thriftway Market.’
I said, ‘It is mine.’ He said, ‘If you want it back, sue.’ So I said, ‘Okay,’ and I sued.”
Robert Henderson testifying in Federal Case #68-1640 in 1972 – Henderson versus Goeke and Geesey – about a conversation he had with Detective Goeke before filing his lawsuit.
LANCASTER LYNCHING
My name is Becky Holzinger. Twenty years ago I was the former editor of this paper, living in Philadelphia and working as a freelance reporter for the Philadelphia Tribune, America’s oldest Black newspaper. Twenty years ago they printed a headline that changed my life. It read, “Man critical after Lancaster lynching try.” I jumped on a train to Lancaster. Nothing would ever be the same.
This quote and all of the quotes, articles and photographs below are from the Special Edition of the Lancaster Independent Press – “LANCASTER LYNCHING – Twenty Years Later,” September 2001.
This special edition of the Lancaster Independent Press is dedicated to Alice Johnson, the grandmother of Robert Henderson. She knew. She's the one who told me. She had to live with it all those years. I am doing my best to keep my promise to you. I wish I could sit on your porch and talk to you again. I can’t. Rest in peace.
“Your honor, there was stuff seized in my apartment three weeks after I was arrested.”
“Your honor, they made several searches and kept bringing things in.”
Federal Case #68-1640 – Henderson versus Goeke and Geesey, 1972. This was Henderson addressing the judge.
Two city detectives are being sued for $30,000 each by a convicted burglar who alleges his civil rights were violated when he was arrested in January 1967.
City Detectives Walter Goeke and Joseph Geesey have been summoned to appear in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia at 8:30 a.m. today to stand trial.
Goeke said Monday the civil suits were brought against him and Geesey by Robert Leslie Henderson Jr., 29, whose address in 1967 was 538 S. Lime Street.
From an Intell article on June 3, 1972 titled, “2 Detectives Sued For $60,000 In Rights Case.”
A 37-year-old man with a lengthy criminal record, including bank robbery, was found calling for help early this morning, his partially clad body impaled on the vent pipe of a fuel oil tank.
The man, who gave the name of Leslie L. Henderson to police, was reported in critical condition at St. Joseph’s Hospital this morning, an apparent victim of attempted murder.
…When he arrived, Zahm [Lancaster Police Officer James R. Zahm] said the victim still was atop the 100 gallon oil drum his body impaled on a seven-inch length of three-inch-round pipe.
The beginning of the initial report of the crime in the New Era on May 1, 1981, titled, “Man Assaulted in City, Impaled on Oil Drum Pipe.
So I will start with the photograph. I took it the day before the artist sketches were printed in the paper.
A friend from Lancaster called the following morning. “They printed artist sketches and descriptions,” she said. “Read me the descriptions,” I asked.
How do you describe a moment like that? As she read, I realized that while I thought I might have gotten one of them, I actually got all three of them – sitting around a table. Sitting around a table less than half a block from the crime scene.
I didn’t realize even then, what I had. I called the police – “by golly, guys, I found your suspects.”
When did the fear set in? When did I realize that by chance I had walked into the biggest story of my life? The scariest story of my life. I had no idea where it would take me.
…What I didn’t know was why. Why wouldn’t the police arrest them? Why would they say there was no resemblance between my photograph and the artist’s sketches and the descriptions?
Alice Johnson, Henderson’s grandmother, told me. I was sitting on her porch one day talking, as we did, and she very casually told me that her grandson had taken two Lancaster detectives into Federal Court for violation of his civil rights. What.” I said. “What?”
An excerpt from “MY STORY” in the special edition of LIP.
Twenty years ago I was stunned by this story. I was terrified by the implications. It stuns and terrifies me today.
My Photograph
Artist Sketches of Henderson’s three assailants done by Lancaster Detective Ralph McComsey
Janet Kelley’s article on Lancaster County Detective Joseph P. Geesey, “Case closed? Not for this guy,” was published on the same day I received an email from my webhost reminding me I have 60 days to renew the domain name, “LancasterLynching.com.”
Please check back later today…
In 1981 a horrific crime occurred in Lancaster, PA. It has never been solved. This site is under construction.
Please check back soon. Please also click here to go to the Lancaster Independent Press site which publishes
daily.
~ Calculator Please! ~
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
[Reprinted from LIP – Special Edition: LANCASTER LYNCHING – Twenty Years Later, September 2001. (Please also see my photo immediately below and the two sets of artist's sketches. The top are from the attempted lynching of Robert Leslie Hendeson on the night of April 30/May 1, 1981 and the bottom set are from the attempted murder of Daniel Rhoads on September 11, 1981.)]
This is what the police would have us believe happened between the months of May and September in Lancaster in 1981 – you calculate the odds.
The police said the men in my photo were not the same men as the suspects in either the Henderson or Rhoads assaults. Further, they said the two sets of artist sketches from those assaults are not the same men.
Therefore, we have three separate sets of three men, all with very similar descriptions, who hang out together, or work together, living somewhere near Lancaster. And two of these sets of three men commit brutal crimes within ten blocks of each other and within five months of each other. And one of these crimes, by one set of three men, is committed less than half a block from where another set of three almost identical men work.
But wait, the calculations get more complicated than that. In the Henderson case, the Lancaster police implied the men were not local. In the Rhoads case, Luther Henry is quoted as saying they do not believe the men are local.
So now, we have three sets of three men who are almost identical, two of the sets not from Lancaster. But two of these sets of three men decide to travel to Lancaster to commit brutal crimes within ten blocks of each other and within five months of each other.
And in one of the crimes, the men are first spotted walking on their way to the Prince Street Garage less than two blocks from where three almost identical looking men work.
My calculator just broke. Do you have a calculator Mr. Geesey? Do you have a calculator Mr. Goeke? Do you have a calculator Mr. McComsey? Do you have a calculator Mr. Simms? Do you have a calculator Mr. Henry? Do you have a calculator Mr. Totaro?
~ Lancaster Lynching ~
TWO PLUS TWO!
This email in yesterday and my response is below it. I would like to thank this writer and everyone for their emails.
Hello again Becky,
I have to be honest in saying that I have been waiting months to see what you had up your sleeve. This is extremely interesting to say the least.
What I did note is that if you were to switch the two end guys in the artists sketches, that it would be clearer about the matchup of the three individuals. Especially the side sketch of "Tubby" and the front sketch of him.
Also, am I putting two and two together? Henderson sues a certain detective in court and then Henderson gets it up the butt (sorry, but that's as plain as I can state it) in retaliation?
Each time you've mentioned the Coe Camera story and going up to take a photo, I've always wondered just what that photo would be and how you got the idea to go up and take it. Did you know these people? Did someone tell you about these people? No need to show your cards just yet, but of course these are the things I've been waiting to read. And how you made the connection that you believe to be possible.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I find the implied theory interesting, to say the least. As you may recall, I wrote you a long time ago telling you that I remembered that incident with Henderson so clearly because of how it was presented in the paper and how it just didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And that it has stuck with me all these years. And has continued to haunt me.
You’re putting two and two together quite nicely. But then the story gets more complicated and even uglier. All of your questions above will be answered. Let me just say for now, I was going for the man on the right in my photo. He is blonde. I realize that over the years that feature has been “lost” in the photograph. He was very blond and had just shaved – his face was still red.
You see, I saw him several days before – with a beard - and I got “suspicious” of a number of things – including him. He was the only one who had seen me before and knew who I was, so when I went into the building and saw him sitting at a table and raised my camera – he put his head down. The other two didn’t have a clue – nor did I about them. In an instantaneous decision, I decided to take the picture of all three of them. The artist’s sketches were printed in the Lancaster Newspapers the next day. Who could have ever known? By sheer “chance” and fate, I got all three of them sitting around a table less than half a block from the crime scene!
And those good, hard working Lancaster Detectives were just never able to solve this horrendous lynching attempt nor the attempted murder of 81-year-old Daniel Rhoads four months later...
To be continued…
LANCASTER LYNCHING
MY PHOTOGRAPH
LANCASTER LYNCHING
The written descriptions of the three suspects in the attempted murder of Daniel Rhoads, four months after the attempted lynching of Robert Leslie Henderson, Jr., as published in the Lancaster Newspapers are in order as they appear below:
Suspect 1: A white male, approximately 25 years old, 250-300 pounds. Wearing a dark brown T-shirt, jeans, boots which were half laced, a denim blue cap with a white stripe similar to a welders or railroad cap.
Suspect 2: White male, in his 20’s, about 5 foot, 10 inches, thin build, slouched shoulders, clean shaven face, shorter dark brown or black hair than the other two suspects. He was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, boots, a railroad-type cap, and sunglasses or some other kind of glasses.
Suspect 3: A white male in his mid-20’s, 5 foot 11 inches, medium build, approximately 180 pounds. Wearing a white T-shirt, jean vest, faded jeans, dark shoes or boots and a welders cap with “Lee” branded on the back.
Police artist’s sketches of the three men who attacked, kidnapped and tried to murder 81-year-old Daniel Rhoads beginning in the Prince Street Garage on September 11, 1981. Please check back later today…
LANCASTER LYNCHING
White male, White male, White male,
19 to 25 years old 20’s to 30 25 to 30
5’7” to 5’ 8”; years old, years old,
150 pounds; 6’ to 6’1”, 5’9 to 5’10”.
Brown-red jacket, 200 to 210 pounds, 250 to 260 pounds,
“Adios” printed Blonde hair, Brown hair,
on back; beard,mustache; beard, mustache;
Dark trousers Levi jacket, T-shirt,
plaid shirt bib-overalls
dark trousers Armed with .44
Caliber revolver
The above are the artist’s sketches and written descriptions of the three men wanted for the attempted lynching of Robert Leslie Henderson on May 1, 1981. They were released and published in the Lancaster Newspapers 22 days after the attack.
JUSTICE – LANCASTER COUNTY STYLE
- DA Totaro Has Got To Go -
MY STORY
(Reprinted from the Lancaster Independent Press, Special Edition, September 2001 – LANCASTER LYNCHING – Twenty Years Later)
My name is Becky Holzinger. Twenty years ago I was the former editor of this paper, living in Philadelphia and working as a freelance reporter for the Philadelphia Tribune, America’s oldest Black newspaper.
Twenty years ago they printed a headline that changed my life. It read, “Man critical after Lancaster Lynching try.” I jumped on a train to Lancaster. Nothing would ever be the same.
TWENTY YEARS AGO I WAS STUNNED BY THIS STORY. I WAS TERRIFIED BY THE IMPLICATIONS. IT STUNS AND TERRIFIES ME TODAY.
So, after twenty years, I will tell my story. Well, actually, you see it on the pages of this paper. So I’ll just tell you things.
I’m not going to be a reporter. I’m not going to cite every source. I’m not going to state a date for every clipping and every quote.
I have the clippings, the photographs and the notes. A lawyer watched and read and listened as I pulled all of those out of a twenty-year-old box over the course of three evenings.
“Find the victim. Find Henderson,” he said. “If he identifies the men in your photograph, we can make a case.”
Robert Leslie Henderson, Jr. died in Florida in September of 1986, apparently from unrelated causes, although that has not been verified.
Henderson is dead. Rhoads is dead. What was left to do?
Tell my story.
PHOTOGRAPH
So I will start with the photograph. I took it the day before the artist sketches were printed in the paper.
A friend from Lancaster called the following morning. “They printed artist sketches and descriptions.” “Read me the descriptions,” I asked?
How do you describe a moment like that? As she read, I realized that while I thought I might have gotten one of them, I actually got all three of them – sitting around a table. Sitting around a table less than half a block from the crime scene.
“I FOUND YOUR SUSPECTS”
I didn’t realize, even then, what I had. I called the police – “by golly, guys, I found your suspects.”
When did the fear set in? When did I realize, that by chance, I had walked into the biggest story of my life? The scariest story of my life. I had no idea where it would take me.
Yes, my life was threatened. Yes, I was followed by the Lancaster police. Yes, the original photograph was stolen after I showed it all over town. I showed it at the Friendly Greek. I showed it at the Wonder Bar. I showed it at the 7-11. (By the way, Mr. Henry, there aren’t a lot of stores open at that hour of the night in that area of town, that sell hand cream. Why don’t you name them for me, Mr. Henry? I only know of one twenty years ago. Please tell me the others.)
VIOLATION OF HIS CIVIL RIGHTS
What I didn’t know was why? Why wouldn’t the police arrest them? Why would they say there was no resemblance between my photograph and the artist’s sketches and descriptions?
Alice Johnson, Henderson’s grandmother, told me. I was sitting on her porch one day talking, as we did, and she very casually told me that her grandson had taken two Lancaster detectives into Federal Court for violation of his civil rights. “What,” I said? “What?”
So, I looked it up. And yes, he had. And I went to City Hall in Philadelphia and looked up the case. It still brings tears to my eyes.
PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
I sold my story to the Philadelphia Daily News for $100. The editor took one look at my photograph and the artist sketches and said, “Jesus.”
I needed rent money. The Philadelphia Tribune didn’t reach Lancaster and they couldn’t afford to follow the story.
The Daily News sent me to Lancaster with a white reporter who was nervous around Black people. The police told her I was crazy. They said it wasn’t those three men. They said I was interfering in their investigation. They told her they might arrest me. This is the absolute truth – she was afraid to drive back to Philadelphia with me.
“I AM SORRY, MS. JOHNSON”
I went to the FBI. They opened and closed the case in less than a day. I imagine they called the police. The police told them I was crazy and that was that.
A friend called after Rhoads was attacked. “You better see these artist sketches,” he said.
Now the story would break. The three men would be arrested. This was a former Armstrong executive. It was in the paper for days.
I went to see Alice Johnson. I was elated. “They will have to arrest them now,” I told her. “They attacked an 81 year-old, white, former Armstrong executive. They will have to arrest them now.”
I am sorry, Ms. Johnson
[This is the first article in the Lancaster Newspapers. It was published on May 1, 1981. It began on the front page with a one-by-two inch photo of Henderson. It continued to an inside page with a 5-by-6-1/2 inch photograph. The photograph is of the Miller Junk Yard and shows the crane hook over a large pile of trash and tires. This was a full size crane with a very large hook. The caption under the photograph reads: "Detective Ralph B. McComsey Jr., right, examines the site where an attempt was made early today to impale a 37-year-old county man on a crane hook, shown in photo. The victim, Leslie L. Henderson, Quarryville R3, was found critically hurt, impaled on a length of pipe projecting from a fuel oil tank, less than a block away on Mill Street.”)]
Claims Three Men Attacked Him
Man Assaulted in City,
Impaled on Oil Drum Pipe
By JIM G. BALDWIN
New Era Staff Writer
A 37-year-old man with a lengthy criminal record, including bank robbery, was found calling for help early this morning, his partially clad body impaled on the vent pipe of a fuel oil tank.
The man, who gave the name of Leslie L. Henderson to police, was reported in critical condition at St. Joseph Hospital this morning, an apparent victim of attempted murder.
Police have since identified the victim, however, as Robert Leslie Henderson, a man listed in their files.
According to Officer James R. Zahm, the battered man was found around 6:30 a.m. today in the unpaved lot at the north side of the H. E. Martin & Son auto body paint shop, on Mill Street, between Hazel and Conestoga Streets.
When he arrived, Zahm said, the victim still was atop the 100 gallon oil drum, his body impaled on a seven-inch length of three-inch-round pipe.
The man was rushed to St. Joseph Hospital, where he was taken into emergency surgery in critical condition.
Late this morning a hospital spokesperson said attempts were being made to locate members of the man's family, and that he still was in surgery.
Capt. Luther Henry, detective division commander, and several detectives were summoned to investigate what Henry said appears to have been an attempted murder.
Henderson, he said, gave an account of what happened. Some aspects of the account itself, however, are being investigated. Police do not as yet have independent confirmation of the full account.
The victim told police he was walking on S. Prince Street toward the Wonder Bar, which closes at 2 a.m. He did not say what time the incident occurred.
According to Hendersons account, a van, thought to have Maryland plates, pulled up beside him, and he was forced to enter the van at pistol point, Henry said.
The victim said the van was occupied by three males, all armed.
The victim said he was driven to the Miller Junk Yard, on the south side of Conestoga Street, just east of Mill Street.
There he said his clothes were partially removed. An attempt was made to impale and hang him on the greased hook of a crane in the junkyard.
The victim said he struggled and escaped. When he was caught, he was taken to the location near the paint shop, about a half-block away, where he was impaled.
Evidence found at the two locations - junkyard and paint shop lot - confirm part of what happened. Police are also looking into others items of evidence they said was found at the scenes.
Newspaper files show that Robert Henderson, in March, 1967, was sentenced to a state prison term of 5 to 10 years after his conviction on two counts of burglary and three of theft committed about three months earlier.
In 1971, he pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of bank robbery in connection with the June 1970 holdup in which only a bag of worthless food stamps were taken from the Fulton Bank at Duke and Chesapeake Streets.
He last was arrested locally in August, 1978 for forgery in an attempt to pass a stolen check and for possession of stolen money orders according to newspaper files.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
