Hamilton, Ohio, May 21st, 1929.

Before a withering fire of machine gun bullets, a man obviously with underworld and racketeer connections

went to his death in a third ward alley Monday night,

the victim of a murder as cruel and mysterious as police have ever coped with.

Twelve hours later, the man who was found in the first alley south of Heaton Street between

six and seventh, was identified as

George Murphy, who a year ago was a night clerk in the Grand Hotel, then operated by Rudy

Lawbach, one-time sheriff of Butler County. His body was riddled through and through with 45 caliber slugs.

Six steel-jacketed bullets had pierced his left breast in the region of the heart,

and torn through his body, and through the thick doors of a garage against which he stood when he met death.

The six holes were in a circle not more than eight inches in diameter.

Six other shots broke his left arm and wrist in four places.

Triple identification had been completed at 11 o'clock this morning.

First identification was made by Allie Hacker, automobile salesman, and was corroborated

by Bob Lawbach, auto mechanic and son of the late Rudy Lawbach, who owned the Grand Hotel

when Murphy was on the job as a night clerk. Clinching corroborative identification was given by a man

taken to the Cahill Moore by detectives Ed Riley and Robert Denwitty.

The man who refused to disclose his identity said,

That's Murphy, and machine gun bullets got him.

The same man told of Murphy's connection at the hotel, of his having been a bartender at a St. Bernard

cafe and of a beer camp Murphy owned and ran in Butler County. Investigators declare

that Murphy went the route of the gangster and the racketeer. A ride overpowered by rival

...