The Stars Are Right: The Irish Rose: Kansas City Connection Discovered in Irish Rose Murder

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Kansas City Connection Discovered in Irish Rose Murder

Unsolved Crime Mirrors Detroit Killing! Police at a loss to explain connection!

A February murder committed in Kansas City matches the recent Irish Rose slaying closely, raising doubts about the presumed gangland motivation for the recent outbreak of violence. The Detroit Evening Times has informed the Detroit police of this strange congruence of crime; the police were unaware of the more-distant crime, and are unsure of what this means for the ongoing investigation.

On February 18 of this year, Thomas Bitterman, a collections agent for the Kansas City Fund and Trust, a savings and loan bank based out of Kansas City, was found murdered in his apartment in a manner identical to the Irish Rose killing. As in the death of Danny Macklin, No money was taken, ruling out robbery as a motivation for either crime. Kansas City Police investigated Mr. Bitterman's most recent "client," farmer Warren Peters, whose farm Mr. Bitterman had attempted to foreclose on, but ultimately ruled him out as a suspect. While the details of both crimes are too graphic to detail in a family paper, the manner of death is absolutely singular, ruling out any chance that the two deaths are unrelated.

What this means for the current investigation remains to be seen. No gangland connection is suspected in the Kansas City death -- Mr. Bitterman was a well-known teetotaler, and a staunch supporter of Prohibition. Could Mr. Macklin's death, up to now assumed to be but a minor salvo in the ongoing war of the bootlegger against all, be part of a more sinister conspiracy?

Published August 11, 1932