GRIM FINGER-PRINTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 71, 24 March 1928, Page 7

GRIM FINGER-PRINTS.

"OPIUM QUEEN" AND HER LOVER. iCEHS XX FLAT. EXULT OVER DYING VICTIM. Out of the skein of tangled romuu* and revenge which had its setting in the tinder-world of the Mid-west of America, the police of Chicago pieced together the strands of evidence which threatens Marion Kirk, described as the "Opium Queen," with the electric chair. The impressions of a woman's fingertips upon the adhesive tape used in suffocating Betty Chambers, known as the "White Diamond," found dead in a Chicago apartment hotel, resulted in charges of murder against the "Opium Queen" and her sweetheart, Gordon Chambers. The "White Diamond" was the directing mind of a jewellery gang in the United States, whose loot in the last 18 months had reached the ami ring total of £600,000. The "White Diamond" fell desperately in love with the man who by chance bore the same name as her own. Upon young Chambers the woman lavished her affections and riches. She presented him with a Rolls-Royce motor car and saw to its upkeep, and because of the extensiveness of his wardrobe provided him with a valet. His life was one round of luxury and comfort. He made a pretence of loving her, but in reality he favoured the younger and more attractive Marion Kirk, the opium distributor. Jealousy. The two women had been close friends, but when she discovered their perfidy she attacked them with a revolver. But her aim was poor, and the police ignored the incident, praying that the next sortie would be a complete success. After this attempt on her life Marion Kirk began to urge Chambers to 101 l the "White Diamond." Word of this soon reached the other's ears, and she resolved, if death was to be her lot, to even up scores all round by incriminating Chambers and Kirk, and of necessity other leaders of the crime syndicates of Chicago. The police story is that Marion Kirk and J. Gordon Chambers, with a skeleton key, admitted themselves noiselessly into the luxuriously furnished apartments of Betty Chambers. From room to room they tip-toed over carpets as silent as they were thick. They came upon the "White Diamond" in her library. She was at her desk writing. So absorbed was she in her task that she neither saw nor heard the pair in the room—almost at her side. Exulting Over Victim. With cat-like tread the "Opium Lady" made her way to the desk and peered over the shoulders of the "White Diamond." Sensing that someone was at her bade, the hand of Betty Chambers began to slowly work its way toward a drawer where she kept a pistol. But it was too late! Around the throat of the "White Diamond" were the lingers of the "Opium Queen." And there on the writing desk, unfinished, was a letter "squealing" to the police. The name of Marion Kirk loomed large in the damning document. The pair gagged and trussed Betty Chambers, and when it was done tha Kirk woman began to exult. Upon the lips of Chambers she planted passionate kisses. "Now we're going to kill you," she cried, and all appeals for mercy were in vain. With an electric light cord woman was strangled, and the murderous pair battered her over the h—H with a blunt instrument. Fearing that their grim work was not completely done, yards of adhesive sticking plaster were wound about the woman's face, the nose »twl mouth lwing tightly sealed. An inquisitive woman in the adjoining apartment, who had heard Chambers call for "more sticking plaster," through a door slightly ajar, saw Marion »nH her companion depart laughing and joking. The woman neighbour became apprehensive next day, and asked the janitor to take a "peep into Mrs. Chambers* apartment and see about things." He peeped, and a gruesome scene met his eyes. The Chicago police sent to the "Opium Queen." They knew Marion would fortify herself well with opium before coming. The drug loosened her tongue, and soon she was floundering helplessly under the piercing examination. Then the police took Marion Kirk's finger-prints. They tallied precisely with the finger-prints on the adhesive sticking plaster. So did the fingerprints of the dapper Gordon Chambers. The woman of the next apartment identified the pair almost immediately as the laughing "guests" of the "White Diamond." The chemist who sold the adhesive tape said that Chambers was the purchaser of the same.