The Disappearing Parrot - PART 2

0:00 Warning, Kind of Murdery contains adult themes, explicit language, and descriptions of violence. It is not suitable for anyone, and we recommend you stop listening now. Language I heard true crime with a dash of the paranormal, the garish, the strange in the darkly comic. I'm Zevan Odelberg, host of Kind of Murdery, a podcast that's about more than just murder. It's my very own pocket dimension, home to a curated collection of bizarre and compelling stories, the unsolved, the unsettling, and the unbelievable.

0:39 I cover it all just so long as it's kind of murdery. That's right, folks, Just like it says in the intro, I am Zevan Odleberg, and this is kind of Murdery. You have found your way to Part two of The Disappearing Parent. So if you haven't heard part one yet, go and listen to it, then rejoin us. We'll save you a seat if you're all caught up. You may remember the detective Parker found a piece of a shotgun stock at the murder scene, and by following the route of the murderers presumed getaway car, they went on a hunt for the rest of the shotgun, and there in a creek near the road jackpot they found it.

1:16 So that's where we are, and if you're ready, I'm ready. So I'm not gonna dilly dally. Please join me as we uncover what truths we can and solve what mysteries we may kind of murderies the disappearing parrot are two starts. Now, the barrel of the gun was in the mud at the edge of the creek, not far from the main highway. It had apparently been tossed in there at high tide, but now at low tide it was visible. Checking up, we found that the number on the barrel corresponded to the number on the portion of the grip found on the grounds surrounding the Bruton home.

2:00 We immediately began a more thorough search of the creek and were rewarded by finding the stock of the gun. The stock bore the manufacturer's name. We then started the process of tracing the gun. Now I anticipated a long, hard task in tracing it, and believed me. I was not disappointed. Meanwhile, we were trying to communicate with every one of the four hundred people who had been connected with Brunan's show and the two hundred workers who had been with Moore's show the year previous. Quite a job rounding up some six hundred people who were scattered all over the United States and Canada.

2:29 One was even located in jail in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he was serving time for a minor offense. He was soon eliminated from the case, however, having begun his term before the murder. In order to get in touch with the show people, I communicated with the billboard the Theatrical Weekly, where I knew they kept their addresses on file. Well within the record break in time. At twelve days after the murder, I knew the whereabouts of every one of the six hundred people who had worked for either Moore or Brunan during the two preceding years.

2:57 Clifford Kane, Hermann Baiting, and another of my assistants, Arthur Carabine, and I set out on the tedious job of communicating with all these people in an effort to find out just where they were and what they would doing at the time of the murder. The police in various cities in the country and in Canada helped us out considerably by questioning a great number of these folks In getting satisfactory alibis. However, my associates and I had to make trips here, there, and everywhere to interview those whose stories did not sound quite right.

3:24 During this gigantic checkup, an idea came to me which loomed very large. As I thought it over. I discovered that four of the people who'd worked with the Brunnan Show had worked for Harry Moore the year previous. This was very interesting. Indeed, of these four people, one lived in Philadelphia, one in Canada, and one in New England. They were shadowed, in questioned, and quickly eliminated. But the fourth man in this group, one Charles M. Powell, who had lived in Indianapolis, could not be located right off the bat.

3:54 Further investigation revealed that he was living at four or five five Cooper Street, Camden, New Jersey. We at once said about the work of getting some detailed dope on the one man out of the six hundred who sounded a promising Bear in mind that by this time the other employees, every one of them, had been eliminated. I had stayed through ber Herman bating secret himself in a factory located directly across the street from Powell's home, and report the man's description and actions. By this time, however, the newspapers were beginning to play up the case as an unsolved mystery and one that has Parker baffled.

4:28 At last. To digress for a moment, I might state that a good reputation is not always a comfortable thing to have. Just because I'd succeeded in solving many murder mysteries, some people suspected, perhaps that I was falling down on the job and the Brunan case. But that wasn't so. As you have probably already gathered, The truth of the matter was, I had a certain, very definite information which I was forced to keep to myself in order to protect the case. All the public knew was that Werner had been eliminated from the whole business.

4:57 They didn't know that we were shadowing Powell, or w we were shadowing him. They weren't familiar with the gigantic groundwork that I was building up. They didn't realize that if I showed my hand too early, I would ruin the case and undo the work that had been accomplished. So it should therefore be readily seen that a smart detective, one who is really more interested in solving a case than in covering himself with glory, will bear the brunt of criticism at those very times when he knows that he least deserves it.

5:23 This was one of those times for me, But I threw public opinion the one side, and among other things, concentrated on tracing the various owners of the shotgun. We found through the number and the manufacturer's name on the stock that it was imported by a Philadelphia armstealer. The Philadelphia firm retailed the weapon to a man who lived in Shrkel County, Pennsylvania. The gun was later confiscated by a game warder and subsequently disposed of at a public sale by the Game Commission at Harrisburg.

5:49 The man who purchased it at this sale was one Solomon Simons, a dealer of Philadelphia. The weapon then passed from Simons to a man named William Berkowitz, who conducted a loner stab wishment on North ninth Street, Philadelphia. Upon questioning Berkowitz, we elicited the information that the gun had been sold to two men at a date just prior to the Brune and murder. Berkowitz said that he was unaware of the identity of the two men, but that he would be able to identify him if he saw him again. We then gave him a description of Powell based on the information handed over to us by State Trooper Bating, and Berkowitz said that the description of Powell fitted one of the purchases of the gun to a quote tea unquote.

6:27 Well, so far, so good. We were getting pretty hot on the trail by this time, so now it came back to shadowing Powell. We found out through several sources that Powell was a man in poor financial circumstances. Further, he had a wife and a baby. Now, any school child possesses reason enough to tell you that a man in financial difficulty and with a family dependent on him will at least try to hunt some kind of employment unless something's wrong with his health. There was nothing wrong with Powell's health so far as we could find out.

6:56 But did he hunt for work? Listen? State Trooper Bait observed every single movement that Powell made for ten days and ten nights. Baiting was relieved from his vigil by another man only in the middle of the night, when he had no choice but to grab forty or fifty winks. During the time that Baiting hid watching from the factory across from Powell's home, he observed that the man spent almost all of his time in the house. On the first day that he was under surveillance, Powell, a pale faced fellow of thirty two, came out of the front door of the house about ten o'clock in the morning.

7:26 He looked about him as if he was afraid of something. Then he walked briskly to a corner store about a half a block away. There, we found out later, he purchased two newspapers, which were filled with news about my being baffled by the brune in case. He also bought a loaf of bread and a pack of cigarettes. Little did Powell realize that Baiting, peering out of a secret window, was taking in his every action. Baiting, in his report to me the first day, as we later found out, guessed Powell's height to within a quarter of an inch and the size of his foot within half a shoe size, which, if you ask me, is pretty damn smart work.

7:58 After a turn from the corner store, Powell never left the house during the remainder of the day. On the morning of the second day, shortly after ten o'clock, he appeared again. Once Mary looked up and down the street, and then he repeated his visit to the corner store. He again bought newspapers, cigarettes, bread, and milk. He hurried back to the house and slammed the door and was not seen again until the following morning. This exact routine was repeated every day until the evening of the fifth day, when shortly after nightfall, Powell slipped out the front door as quietly as possible, But despite Powell's best efforts, troop Abating was tailing him in almost less time than it takes to tell it.

8:34 Powell bought it a trolley and then went to the terminal of the Philadelphia Ferry. He bought a ticket to Quaker City, so did troop A Bating. Powell. During the few minutes that it took the ferry to cross the Delaware River, looked around time and time again, as if he felt that he was being followed, but he didn't recognize the rather rough looking baiting. Hudda grown a gangster like beard to disguise himself and pulled his hat down over his more than active eyes. Upon arriving in Philly, Powell proceeded to an out of the way hotel, and there, in a corner of the lobby, he met none other than Harry Moore.

9:05 Now Baiting hid himself behind a pillar and observed that Moore and Powell had much to say to each other. They talked in whispers, and Baiting couldn't get close enough to hear what the trend of their conversation was. The two men talked for more than half an hour, and then Powell retraced his steps to his home in Camden, with state trooper Baiting never more than one hundred feet from him, and often as close as six inches. The next morning, Powell again visited the corner store as usual for his newspapers, cigarettes, and milk, and that night he again went to Philadelphia, accompanied in quotes by Baiting.

9:38 Once more, Powell met Moore in the same hotel, where they talked in whispers, and once again Baiting was unable to get close enough to the two men to hear what they were saying. Powell kept close to his house for the next few days, and on the tenth night, the tenth night of Baiting surveillance. That is, he again went to Philadelphia to meet more. By that point, I'd stationed another man in the factory with instructions to telephone me with that the information that Baiting thought I would want in a hurry.

10:03 I then gave him instructions to convey to Baiting. These telephone conversations would, of course carried on in code. The word apple meant one thing, the word lamp another, etc. So, as Baiting prepared to follow Powell on the tenth night, he told the second man to get in touch with me at once. As soon as I received the information, I made plans to nab Powell upon his return. I told my man in Camden that I was sending several other men there at once. I told him that they would park the automobile at a spot just a few doors from Powell's house.

10:32 As Baiting followed Powell home, he was to be given a signal from the auto indicating that the time was ripe to nab Powell. My men arrived in Camden shortly after nine o'clock and parked a machine at the designated spot. Not until a few minutes before one o'clock in the morning did Powell show up. He'd alighted from a trolley a few blocks from his home and was walking briskly up the street. Baiting saw the parked car. He'd previously been told what that meant. The night was dark and there was no lights about, but Baiting saw one of the men in the car wave a large white handkerchief, but so did Powell.

11:02 Baiting pounced on him, put his hand over Powell's mouth, and in just a few seconds was assisted by several of my men in bundling Powell into the car. Just as the car was speeding off, Missus Powell, who had apparently been waiting for her husband, came to the front door of the house, evidently she'd heard the scuffle, but in a few moments the car was out of sight, headed at breakneck speed for Mount Holly. I was waiting for Powell in my office shortly after one thirty am. He was brought in. Well, good even, Charlie, I said, hello, mister Parker, retorted Powell, who was visibly nervous.

11:32 Charlie, I said, you've been arrested in connection with the brune and murder at my request. Now make yourself comfy and tell me all about you. Where you were born, what you've done especially lately, and things like that. Well, all right, mister poker. Powell, in a very even voice, told me that he was thirty two years of age, that he had a wife and a child, that he'd been in show business as a bollihoo man for a good many years. I then asked him what he'd been doing since the close of the season the previous year until now the six to April, and he said he'd been running a bazaar at Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania with Harry Moore.

12:06 When asked why he had come to Camden to live, he replied that Moore had brought him on from Wilkes's bar promising to get him employment until the Brunan Show went on the road. Powell then proceeded to tell me, without being question that for the past month he'd been a salesman for a novelty company. He'd been working right up until the time of his apprehension, he said, and he'd been quite successful. Herman Bating winked in me, and I almost laughed in Powell's face. I'd put Powell in jail secretly on a John Doe warrant.

12:34 I might pause here to explain the procedure he was locked up quote in connection unquote with the murder. I had no grounds on which to charge him with the murder. If I had charged him, he would have obtained the services of a lawyer and demanded a hearing, and in the absence of definite incriminating information, I would have lost the battle to the lawyer and Powell would have been freed. I knew Powell was a weakling. I also knew he would confess everything he knew sooner or later. But I knew we would spoil the confession by forcing it.

13:03 In my years of experience, I've obtained most of my confessions by the simple method of leaving a man to himself behind boss and jail has a peculiar effect on a guilty conscience, and the average man is more than glad to unburden himself after a stay alone in jail. When a guilty person is allowed to associate with others, his conscience is not so apt to bother him as it is when he's left alone. Any experience detective will tell you that I've managed to convince certain authorities in New Jersey as to the wisdom of my method of securing confessions.

13:32 I therefore had the full cooperation of the Camden County authorities when I secretly detained Charlie Powell. They were tipped off before the arrest and agreed to give no information of any kind if they were appealed to by Missus Powell or any other interested parties. A few hours after we'd nabbed Powell, Missus Powell went to the Camden Police and reported that he'd been kidnapped. She said she'd recognize the khan which he was spirited away. The police working with me told Missus p that they would bend every effort to locate a husband, and that was that I had men watching the Brunan home where Moore was living.

14:07 I wanted to watch the effect of Powell's disappearance, and I was not surprised therefore, when two hours after she'd reported a husband's disappearance to the police, Missus Powell showed up at the Brunean home. She'd only been in the place five minutes when she reappeared, accompanied by Moore. Missus Powell and Moore hopped into the latter's machine and sped off toward Camden. Not an hour later, Lawyer and Camden called up Jonathan H. Kelsey, then the prosecutor of Burlington County, and asked if Powell had been arrested in connection with the Brunan murder.

14:39 Things were becoming interesting. Mister Kelsey didn't answer the lawyer's question, but told him to hold the wire. He then sent for me and asked what he should say. I told him to say that he'd never heard of Powell and asked by the lawyer on the other end of the wire thought the arrest had been made. This was done and the lawyer was mystified. He told Kelsey that something told him that Powell might have been picked up because he'd worked for the Brunnan show. On the following day, Missus Powell came to see me.

15:06 She asked if her husband had been arrested. I admitted that he'd been apprehended. Missus Powell then broke down and said she didn't know what she would do because she had no money left. I gave her some money when she told me that a baby didn't have enough food. I ain't a hard hearted bastard. I have several children on my own. She thanked me profusely and then left the office. I didn't tell anything more than that her husband had been arrested in connection with the case. I also made her a promise that she would not tell anyone else about it.

15:34 We followed missus Powell when she left the office. She went to Camden, where she met Harry Moore in a restaurant near the ferry terminal. Missus Powell came again the following day seek an additional information about a husband. I then asked a point blank who had sent her to me. She said Harry Moore had advised her to come. I asked why. She replied that Moore was very interested in Charlie. It occurred to me that More had offered a large reward for this, why shouldn't he come to my office himself?

16:02 Again we followed missus Powell when she left the office, and again she met Moore in a restaurant near the Camden Ferry terminal. A couple days later, Missus Powell called on me for a third time. She was beginning to crack under the strain and admitted when I suddenly fired a question at her, that Moore was given her money to continue her visits to my office for the purpose of finding out what all this was about more than that. For the purpose of finding out all that she possibly could, I told Missus Powell, knowing that she'd repeat what I said, that I was certainly glad that Harry Moore was taking such an interest in the case, and especially in Charlie.

16:34 I added that I thought Moore was a prince among men for being so nice to her while a husband was in jail. I instructed Missus Powell to tell Harry Moore that I'd be more than glad to receive any information he might obtain which would aid me in the investigation. During this time I made repeated visits to Powell's sell and had him tell me more about himself. I never once asked him about the actual killing of John Brunnan. I was observing his every action and checking his story as quickly possible.

17:00 I sent a man to Wilkes Bar, and he found out that Powell had constantly been seen there in the company at Harry Moore. As the days wore on, I allowed Missus Powell to visit her husband in jail, and then on the twenty ninth day of April nineteen twenty two, she came to me with tears in her eyes. She said she'd just been talking to her husband and that he had something to tell me. Yep, you guessed it. Charlie Powell confessed that he fired the shot that killed John Brunnan. He also stated that he was hired to do the job by Harry Moore, who wanted to get control of Brunan's show.

17:30 Powell was the picture of a broken man as he poured out his confession. He said that Moore had repeatedly asked him to do the job, and then finally one night they lay in wait for Brunan as he was driving home from the winter quarters of his show, but on this occasion, Powell lost his courage. Another time, they planned to get in a car and follow a train in which Brunan was riding, and then shoot him. As the train pulled up at a station that was deserted. They sped alongside the train for a considerable distance, but once more Powell lost his nerve.

18:01 Another time, Powell accidentally broke the gun which was to have been used, and that's when he went to Simon's in Philadelphia and purchased a shotgun with which they snuffed out Brunan's life. Powell said he was a victim of a man with a stronger will who took advantage of his poor financial condition by holding out a big reward for the killing. As it was, Powell only received about two hundred dollars for More. We nabbed More as he was walking along Camden Street. He denied any knowledge of the crime, branding Powell is crazy, but Powell turned state's evidence and Moore was sent to the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, where he is now serving a life term at hard labor.

18:39 Powell was given twenty to thirty years, and he was in prison a short time when he was found insane due to remorse for his revolting crime and committed to an asylum. He's now back in prison. Listen close now, because I'm about to explain briefly a few interesting things. And I know what you're probably wondering, hey, Parker, when you're gonna tell us about the disappearing parrot right now, right fucking now. The fact that the parrot in the Brunean kitchen had been removed convinced me, after I talked with More, that the crime was an inside job.

19:10 As I had previously stated, a guilty man will immediately shift the responsibility for a crime. More, like all guilty persons, had his story already made up when he implicated the discharged circus Chef Werner. I let Moore think that I believed him and thus tricked him. Had I shown him I doubted him in the beginning, he probably would have fled before I had a chance to pin anything on him. Another thing was more, he lacked the real feeling of an affected person when he pretended to be greatly upset about the death of his brother in law.

19:38 I saw him through it once. Then, quick as a flash, I figured that it was More who had the parrot removed from the kitchen, And as you now know, I was later proved right. See I knew the parrot must have been moved by somebody who knew it could talk, and Moore probably figured that the parrot would pick up any words which might be exchanged at the time of the murder. Remember this, kids, everything looked suspicious to a man with a guilty conscience, and that parrot was what first implicated the Brunean slayers.

20:06 It put me on the right track at the very beginning. The moment I laid eyes on More, I was convinced that he was an arch criminal of the worst type. So interested was I in bringing the guilty persons to justice during the long, hard investigation, which left me a nervous wreck, that I overlooked the strange actions of my associate. That associate was State Trooper Herman Baiting. Little did I realize that while I was tracking other people, he was just as busy fooling me. When the Brunean case was over, I had the opportunity to think of other things, and I discovered that Baiting had been committing one of the cleverest thefts ever brought to my attention.

20:45 Bastard stole my secretary. She's now missus Baiting. Oll'swell that ends well. All's fair in love, war and murder. Something like that, right anyway, Thanks for letting an old detective benja ire awhile for Zevan Odelberg. I'm Ellis H. Paker, and you've been listening to kind of Murdery. If you like the show, please subscribe, review and tell your friends. You can find us on social media at kinda Murdery or email at Kindamurdery at gmail dot com.