November 26, 1923 - Topics on Newspapers.com

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News from November 26, 1923 (Standard Union, via Newspapers.com™)

Police Investigate the Murders of Two Bank Messengers

On November 26, 1923, newspapers provided an update on the investigation into the West End Bank Robbery. On November 14, a crime had occurred in New York that resulted in the brutal murder of two bank messengers and the theft of $43,000. The victims, William S. Barlow and William H. McLaughlin, were employees of the West End Bank. They were shot while transporting money to the New Utrecht Branch of the Irving National Bank-Columbia Trust Company. The assailants managed to escape in an automobile.

After a nationwide manhunt, the police apprehended a suspect in Cleveland. The suspect was Barlow Morris Diamond, a 28-year-old member of a Brooklyn family. Diamond was brought back to New York to face the charges against him.

The police identified Diamond through fingerprints found on the windshield and license plates of the abandoned Cadillac car used by the murderers. The license plates had been issued for a Ford on the application of a fictitious name, Joseph Samuels. However, the address given was that of a building owned by Diamond’s mother.

Diamond had a previous police record for carrying concealed weapons and stealing an automobile. He had also been arrested on charges of assault and robbery, but the Grand Jury had failed to indict him due to lack of evidence. Despite Diamond’s protestations of innocence, the police were confident they had apprehended the right person.

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