MURDER OF ACTRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18631, 12 February 1924, Page 7

MURDER OF ACTRESS.

IN NEW YORK FLAT. BEATEN AND STRANGLED. FOUND TIED TO BED POST. By Telegraph —Copyright. Sun. NEW YORK. Feb. 10. Miss Louise Law son, aged 24, a cinematograph actress, was found dead in her fashionable apartment, at West Seventy-Fourth Street, New York. She had been beaten and strangled to death. Her hands were spreadeagled and tied to the bedposts with a leash belonging to her Belgian police dog which lay moaning in another room. The woman wore only a nightgown, and a towel was stuffed in her mouth, the ends being fastened to her face with adhesive plaster. The murder occurred after nine o'clock in the morning. The occupant of an adjoining apartment heard a knock at Miss Lawson's door, and saw two men, one of whom said he was an expressman. Once inside they must have pounced upon the actress, as no sounds were heard of any struggle. Apparently chloroform was used, as the dog was suffering from the effects of an anaesthetic. Miss Lawson's coloured maid found her two hours later, when the body was still warm. Jewels worth 2000 dollars are missing.

Miss Law6on moved in most select circles and frequented fashionable country clubs on Long Island. She was known for her beautiful gowns and fine jewels. A lift boy states that two men told him they were bootleggers taking liquor to Miss Lawson's flat. When they emerged from her rooms they carried the same case of supposed liquor and explained that *Miss Lawson wanted Scotch and all they had was Rye whisky. Many prominent New Yorkers whose names are in Miss Lawson's diaries are being questioned. POLICE VISIT MILLIONAIRE, VICTIM HIS PROTEGEE. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 8.5 p.rn) NEW YORK. Feb. 10. Police searching Miss Lawson's rooms found that a necklace worth 2000 dollars had been stolen. They noticed a portrait of a handsome middle-aged man, signed, '"Jerrie Doll,"i which translated is Gerald Dahl, the name of a multimillionaire who is chairman of the executive of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation. When the police visited Mr. Dahl rooms they found a lawyer present to answer for him. The lawyer said tlvtt Mr. Dahl was providing Miss Lawson's musical education. It was learned that Mr. Dahl last left Miss Lawson's apartment early on Wednesday morning. His Rolls Royce car called: regularly for her in the afternoons, presumably to convey her to a musio professor's. The police questioned Mr. Dahl for several hours, especially regarding thousands of dollars worth of certificates of his company's stock which were found in Miss Lawson's apartment.

Miss Lawson was also the companion of Mr. Angier Duke, a tobacco magnate, and she was aboard his yacht when he was drowned last September.