The Press: Find the Killer

Readers of West Virginia's Clarksburg evening Telegram and its sister morning paper, the Exponent (combined circ. 37,000), gawked last week at a new contest. On the front page appeared a "Secret Witness" form urging readers to fill in the blanks. It read: "I think the following person or persons should be suspected of the murder [of Milton J. Cohen, 59-year-old co-owner of the city's most fashionable women's shop] : Name __________. Address ___________, Or full description _________. For following reasons _________________." The form made clear that "in case of duplicate information, the letter bearing the earliest postmark will have priority." The prize: $1,000.

The contest was no stunt. It was proposed to the papers by the state police, stymied in their hunt for a masked man who shot Cohen at the door of his home during an attempted holdup. The prize money was posted by the authorities. Entrants were assured of anonymity and told to mark their forms with an identifying symbol so they could claim the prize if they won.

The papers agreed to run the form for ten days. In the first two days, a dozen entries arrived addressed to "Secret Witness, Post Office Box 654, Clarksburg," i.e., the police. Some of them listed "reasons" in such detail that they required an extra sheet of paper. Said Sergeant Walter L. Pike, in charge of the investigation: "We'll get around to every one."