C. Roy ReynoldsON FEBRUARY 6, 1935 The Gleaner observed "The perfect planning and the extreme self-possession of the men who wrote criminal history in Kingston on Monday ...can be gauged by incidents which have come to light concerning the first suspicions of persons residing in the vicinity of 16 South Camp Road."
According to the newspaper the noises heard on that afternoon coming from the house induced the owner, Abraham Dolphy, who lived next door, to peer into the premises to see what was going on. When that did not satisfy his curiosity he sent a helper to the premises on the pretext of recovering a dressmaker's dummy from an outhouse and to disconnect a clothesline anchored to the house.
The tenants were extremely courteous to the messenger, even assisting in the recovery of the items. Still not satisfied Mr. Dolphy dispatched his driver to talk to the men. Again the messenger was treated with courtesy. And as if to further bolster the appearance of normality one of the men called the driver back as he was leaving and asked him to be kind enough if a truck with furniture called at the Glenmore Road gate to redirect it to South Camp Road, thus further allaying suspicion.
Reveal
Meanwhile, as the investigations continued the police were becoming less open to the press. They did, however, reveal that their investigation had now gone international. But in a situation where as the newspaper observed, "every citizen is anxiously greeting his brother or sister citizen with: 'any more news on the double murders?'" rumours substituted for hard news.
For example, on February 7 it was reported that a man who had given incorrect information to the police had been arrested. Another rumour told of one of the suspects being seen on the day of the murders with a wad of money which he declared amounted to hundreds of dollars. Although such a boast was inconsistent with the behaviour of the men at the murder scene, in the absence of hard information it was widely received.
Meanwhile operatives, thought to be Cuban policemen, arrived in the island to assist the police in deciphering the meaning of a growing pile of letters and messages recovered by the police. Then a rumour ran wild about one of the suspected culprits being brought back in a Pan American plane and crowds rushed to the Palisadoes docking terminal, but nothing materialised.
Yet another allegation told of items recovered from the house of one of the suspects, including a slip of paper with a set of figures which added up to 2,500, the sum suspected to have been stolen from the victims, as well as articles of disguise. One suspect was reported to have been in the habit of disappearing from his lodgings for weeks at a time.
It seems that everybody was anxious to get in on the act. For example, Mexican boxer, Toro Del Sol, presented himself at The Gleaner office to announce that he had sold a dagger for four shillings to a man named Alphonse who had now disappeared from the island. The police themselves now added to the air of expectancy by announcing merely that they were in contact with neighbouring countries and that the case is shaping up to be "a big thing."
Then a man, resident of upper Hanover Street, came forward with another strange piece of the story. He reported that on Sunday night as he drove out of his premises he saw three men standing nearby with their backs toward him, and with two suitcases beside them. The next morning his gardener found two abandoned cases. When the police opened the cases they were found to contain among, other things, some ties, a bloodstained shoe, and letters written in English. It didn't matter to a population hungry for news on the affair, that this was nearly a week after the murders.
A reporter dispatched to interview the crew of the boat "Atlantida" on which one of the victims, Aurello Pollen, had travelled from Santiago to Kingston, elicited the information that he had been a quiet man and had given the impression that he was just an ordinary businessman travelling to Jamaica to purchase cattle. Fellow passengers warmed to the handsome Cuban.
On February 11 the drama tightened with a report that two fugitives had been apprehended in San Juan, Puerto Rico by the authorities there. To expedite the extradition process Resident Magistrate for Kingston Raymond Browne and Crown Solicitor A.B. Rennie gathered the depositions and prepared the documents necessary to attempt a speedy extradition of the suspects.
However, the police refused to release the names of the two men held until their identity could be satisfactorily established... which as things turned out might have been a justifiable caution.
