THREATS TO ACTRESS

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 November 1935, Page 7

THREATS TO ACTRESS

PUZZLE FOR COURT. [BY CABLED—PRESS ASSN. COPYBIGHT.] NEW YORK, November 7. One of the most unusual extortion cases and a notable one, because it involved the ' cinema comedienne. Thelma Todd, was revealed to-day with the arrest by Federal Department of Justice agents of Edward Schiffort, aged 26, for attempting; to obtain ten thousand 'dollars from the screen star. ■' The circumstances involved in the case were almost unbelievable. . I Schiffort, who gave himself up, had great difficulty in convincing the authorities, that’ he was the culprit, since another man, Harry Schimanski, a janitor in the flat where Schiffort lived, was arrested last August, and was charged with the crime. An extended * examination ■■ showed tfiat both men had handwriting between which the experts were unable to distinguish and which were exactly alike in notes sent to Thelma Todd’. The voices of both men were also strongly alike. Because notes continued to be received by the actress even after Schimanski’s arrest, the Justice agents now convinced that it was Schiffort, and not the janL tor, who sent them.