The Pittsburgh Press (May 23, 1942)
MacArthur’s pilots blast 2 more ships
13 enemy planes wrecked as bombs devastate Lae and Rabaul
By Don Caswell, United Press staff writer
…
10,000 Japs die in East China
Foe chased back to ships, Chungking says
By Robert P. Martin, United Press staff writer
…
Compromise on $42 pay for buck private hinted
$50 figure slated for discard after opposition by War, Navy Department spokesmen
…
Soldier held in 3 slayings
U.S. trooper arrested in deaths of women
Melbourne, Australia (UP) –
An American soldier, held in connection with the slaying of three women within the last three weeks, will be tried by an American military court.
Melbourne Police Commissioner Alex Duncan announced that a soldier, whose name was withheld, had been arrested in connection with one of the slayings but that no formal charges had been made against him. He is being investigated in connection with the other two.
In each case, a woman was found dead, apparently strangled, with her clothing torn from her shoulders.
The American soldier, arrested by Melbourne detectives, was turned over to U.S. Army authorities and held in custody.
The purses of two of the women contained money and had apparently not been touched. The purse of the third victim was empty.
An Army spokesman said that the case against the soldier under arrest was now being prepared by a court of Army officers. He said the soldier would be charged formally as soon as the case has been prepared and then would be tried by a general court-martial of at least five officers. The military penalty for murder is death by hanging.
It is customary, he explained, for an army abroad to try its own criminal cases, with the approval of local authorities.
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