Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sept 10

Mysterious Gas Sprayer Again Idle on WeekEnd

Mattoon, Ill. Sept. 10 [UP] -- Mattoon's gas-spraying prowler, whose mysterious "sweet, sickening" gas has claimed 31 victims, today appeared to be working a 40-hour week as he gave the city's 15,800 residents another day of peace.
Since he started his bizarre assaults Aug. 31, the occult marauder, who prowls the streets wearing a skull cap, has sprayed his gardenia-like gas and claimed at least one victim every night with the exception of Saturday nights, Sundays and Labor Day.
He remained in hiding last night and today as agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation worked independently in an attempt to analyze the mad anesthetist's vapors which leave the victim temporarily paralyzed or burned.
Police Commissioner Thomas V. Wright placed some credence in a theory that an eccentric inventor was trying out the effectiveness of a new wartime gas and was using bedrooms as his laboratories. It was noted that the prowler was indiscriminate in selecting his 31 victims from 13 different homes.
This central Illinois town was jittery today, anxiously awaiting a new report of the "Thin Man." While authorities remained baffled by the prowler's elusiveness, antiquated family weapons made their appearances in many homes. -- Monday, September 11, page 1