CITY CALMER AFTER WILD WEEK-END
Two Women Believed Victims Examined at Hospital
Springfield, Ill. -- (TNS) -- "Five squads of Illinois state police were ordered to Mattoon today by Chief Harry Yde to aid in fighting the "mad Mattoon anesthetist."
This force of men, comprising five squad cars carrying two men each under command of Capt. Harry Curtis of the Champaign district, will patrol the Mattoon downtown area.
This will leave Mattoon police free to protect the residential areas, Chief Yde explained. The state police officers will arrive in Mattoon some time today."
As the friendly rays of the morning sun spread across this tortured city today sweeping away the night, Mattoon residents breathed easier and hundreds of persons who bordered on hysteria in fear of attacks from the "mad anesthetist" returned to calmer states of mind.
However, bedlam prevailed in the city both Saturday and Sunday nights when police received dozens of calls from persons claiming they had smelled the mystery gas sprayed by the "phantom chemist."
There were many week-end developments in the case which has brought terror to local citizens and stirred the sympathy and imagination of the nation.
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Hardin, 521 North Thirty-second street, reported Sunday night that her sister, Mrs. Lucy Stephens of Allenville, and the Hardins' nine-year-old son, Jimmy, were victims of the strange gas Saturday night at the Hardin home, while Mr. hardin was away. Mrs. Stephens and the boy had retired to twin beds in the Hardin home a short time before the gas entered the bedroom causing them to choke, cough and suffer disorders similar to those experienced by earlier victims, Mr. and Mrs. Hardin related.
Two women, one residing in the 1300 block of Champaign avenue, the other in the 600 block of Moultrie avenue, were taken to Memorial Hospital for treatment and examination after they told police they had been attacked by the gas. The former woman claimed the attack occurred at her home, the other said she smelled the gas as she sat in a theater.
A physician who examined both women said that he could find no evidence of a poison gas or other chemical and that in his opinion both suffered from extreme nervous tension. Both women were given sedatives and taken to their homes.
The doctor said that both women suffered nausea and that tests would be made on the contents of their stomachs in an effort to find the residue of some gas or chemical.
After the physician's report, Police Commissioner Thomas V. Wright ordered that all future "victims" be examined by a doctor immediately following an attack.
Miss Frances Smith, 2100 Moultrie avenue, Columbian grade school principal, who with her sister, Miss Maxine, was a victim of the "anesthetic prowler" Thursday night, reported another attempted attack at her home Sunday night.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation agent has been in Mattoon observing the case, but has taken no active part. It was understood that the FBI's chief interest in the case was the "gas" used by the madman to knock out his victims.
Commisiioner Wright and Chief of Police C. E. Cole, after a conference with State's Attorney W. K. Kidwell Sunday afternoon, announced that a check of patients recently released from mental institutions would be made to determine if there were any with tendencies which would fit those of the local prowler.
"Chasers" to Be Arrested.
Hundreds of persons congregating in the vicinity of the City hall both Saturday and Sunday to watch for up-to-the-minute developments in the case led Commisiioner Wright to tell police to arrest persons following police cars when they leave the station on calls and missions.
The practice of following the officers to see where the prowler might have struck was interfering with organized police work to a great extent, Mr. Wright said.
Police also discouraged self-appointed vigilantes from patrolling with guns and other weapons of every description, pointing out that they add confusion and more danger.
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