FOLLOWING THE EVENTS RELATED herein, attempts were made to obtain sworn statements from all the principals involved as soon as possible, while the details were fresh in their minds. Individuals interrogated included the victims and the alleged lawbreakers. It soon became apparent that the key to the proposed plan to loot the apartment house at 535 East Seventy-third Street was Apartment 4B, owned by Mrs. Martha Hathway, widow, and occupied by her and her companion-housekeeper, Miss Jane Kaler, a spinster.
Mrs. Hathway was ninety-one at the time of the crime. Miss Kaler was eighty-two. Both ladies refused to be interviewed or to make statements individually; each insisted the other be present—a rather surprising request in view of the results of their interrogation.
In any event, the statements of both ladies were taken at the same time. The following is an edited transcription of NYPD-SIS recording #146-91A.
MRS. HATHWAY: Very well. I will tell you exactly what happened. Are you taking all this down, young man?
QUESTION: The machine is, ma’am. It’s recording everything we say.
MRS. HATHWAY: Hmph. Well … it was the morning of September first. Sunday morning. I’d say it was about one o’clock in the morning.
MISS KALER: It was about fifteen minutes to one.
MRS. HATHWAY: You shut your mouth. I’m telling this.
MISS KALER: You’re not telling it right.
QUESTION: Ladies. …
MRS. HATHWAY: It was about one o’clock. We had been asleep for, oh, about two hours or so.
MISS KALER: You might have been asleep. I was wide awake.
MRS. HATHWAY: Oh, you were indeed! I could hear the snores!
QUESTION: Ladies, please. …
MRS. HATHWAY: Suddenly I woke up. There was this pounding on our front door. A man was shouting, “Fire! Fire! There is a fire in the building and everyone must vacate the premises!”
QUESTION: Were those the exact words you heard?
MRS. HATHWAY: Something like that. But of course all I heard was “Fire! Fire!” so I immediately rose and donned my dressing gown.
MISS KALER: Naturally, being awake, I was already suitably clad and standing near the front door. “Where is the fire?” I asked through the door. “In the basement, ma’am,” this man said, “but it is spreading rapidly throughout the entire building and we must ask you to leave the premises until the fire is under control.” So I said to him, “And who might you be?” And he said, “I am Fireman Robert Burns of the New York Fire Department, and I would—”
MRS. HATHWAY: Will you stop gabbling for just a minute? I own this apartment, and it is my right to tell what happened. Isn’t that correct, young man?
QUESTION: Well, ma’am, we’d like to get both. …
MISS KALER: “And I would like all the occupants of this apartment to leave immediately,” he said. So I said, “Is it serious?” And he said—all this was through our locked door, you understand—he said, “Well, ma’am, we hope it won’t be, but for your own safety we suggest you come down to the lobby while we get the fire under control.” So I said, “Well, if you’re—”
MRS. HATHWAY: Will you shut your mouth, you silly, blathering creature? Just be quiet and let me tell this nice young man what happened. So, seeing we were both perfectly covered in our dressing gowns and we had on our carpet slippers, I told the girl to open the door. …
MISS KALER: Mrs. Hathway, I’ve asked you times without end not to refer to me as “the girl.” If you remember, you promised to. …
MRS. HATHWAY: So she opened the door. …
QUESTION: It was locked at the time?
MRS. HATHWAY: Oh, my, yes. We have the regular lock, always double-locked whenever we’re in the apartment. Then we have a chain lock which allows the door to be opened slightly but held with a powerful chain. And we also have something called a policeman’s lock which had been recommended to me by Sergeant Tim Sullivan, retired now but formerly of the Twenty-first Precinct. Do you know him?
QUESTION: I’m afraid not, ma’am.
MRS. HATHWAY: A wonderful man—a very good friend of my late husband’s. Sergeant Sullivan was forced to retire at an early age because of a hernia. After we had so many robberies on the East Side, I called him and he suggested we have this policeman’s lock installed, which is really a steel rod that fits into the floor and is shoved against the door, and it’s impossible to break in.
MISS KALER: Ask her how this “wonderful man” got his hernia.
MRS. HATHWAY: That is of no importance, I’m sure. So the man outside kept shouting, “Fire! Fire!” and naturally we were quite upset, so we opened the three locks and threw open the door. And much. …
MISS KALER: And there he was! A monster! He must have been seven feet tall, with this terrible mask and a big gun in his hand. And he snarled at us, “If you—”
MRS. HATHWAY: He was, perhaps, six feet tall, and he had no gun that I could see, although I believe one hand was in his pocket so he might have had a weapon. But really, he was quite polite and said, “Ladies, we must use your apartment for a short while, but if you are quiet and offer us no resistance, then we can—”
MISS KALER: And right behind him were two other monsters—sex fiends, all of them! And they had masks and revolvers. And they pushed us back into the apartment, and I said, “Then there is no fire?” And the first man to come in said, “No, ma’am, there is no fire, but we must request the use of your apartment for a while. And if you don’t scream or carry on, it won’t be necessary to tie you up or tape your mouth shut. And we will not tape your mouth shut if you act intelligently.” And I said, “I will act intelligently.” And then the first man said, “Keep an eye on them, Killer, and if they scream or act up, you may destroy them.” And the second man—who, I am sure, was a darkie—he said, “Yes, Butch, if they scream or act up, I will destroy them.” And then the darkie stayed and watched us through his mask, and the other two men. …
MRS. HATHWAY: Will you shut up? Will you just shut your mouth?
QUESTION: Ladies, ladies. …