Holding for investi- gation a 28-year-old man living a few blocks from the scene of the crime, detectives last night were working on the theory that robbery was back of the murder Saturday night of Miss Florence Raddatz, 29, in front of her home, 2333 W. 40th Street.
Early yesterday, the young man was re- ported as having gone to a confectionery store a few blocks from his home and having asked:
"Have you got a paper that tells about the shooting of a girl down on W. 40th street last night?"
The man was arrested by Lieut.Emmet Potts and Detectives Andrew Ryan and John Cress. He told the detectives that he had been at Euclid Beach and arrived home about 11 o'clock, which was about the time of the murder.
The robbery motive was brought forward when it was discovered that the handle of the girl's handbag had been torn and was found in her hand, while the bag itself was thrown away by the fugitive on W. 45th Street. It was found yesterday morning by William Chamberlain lying on the lawn under a swing at his home, 2084 W. 45th street. He turned it over to Patrol- man John Michael.
Girl's Purse Missing.
A little purse which Miss Raddatz always carried in her handbag and in which she generally had money was missing. Detectives believe that fugitive, after his run of several blocks, opened the handbag, took out the purse, and then threw the bag under the
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swing.
The purse has not yet been found. How much it contained neither the girl's relatives nor friends at the Lincoln telephone exchange, where she worked, were able to tell.
That robbery, how- ever, was only inci- dental to the attack on the girl, is believed by some detectives, who lay stress upon her remark, overheard by a fourteen - year - old boy, to the effect that "You ought to be ashamed of yourself." This remark, some detectives believe, would tend to show that the girl was well acquainted with the man who shot her and that they had been indulging in an argument.
Acting on the theory that an acquaintance may have done the shooting, detectives early yesterday ques- tioned two men who were friends of the girl. Both talked freely and offered proof that they were not in the neigh- borhood of the girl at the time.
By means of a wit- ness and the finding of the handbag, detectives established a part of the route taken by the murderer in his flight.
Mrs. Francis Leko, who lives upstairs across the street from the Raddatz home, heard the shot, got out of bed and went to the window. She saw the man run across the street, drop his hat at the curb, stop to pick it up, and cut through her yard and leap the rear fence going toward W. 41st street. The place where the hand- bag was found is on a line almost directly west from the scene of the shooting.
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