CONFIDENTIAL FILE

"No Place to Pull a Job"

Half a year ago, I first met Albert Ebert.

He was a short and solid man whose 50-odd years had removed his hair, but none of his backbone.

By trade, Ebert was a storekeeper. Some 30 years ago, in his native South Germany, he had worked as a clerk.

But now, in the states, he had a store of his own. A liquor store. With a "reputation" among the small-time crooks in our town.

It was, according to the grapevine, no place to try and pull a job.

When I talked with Ebert six months ago, I asked him how long it had been since anyone had faced him with a gun.

Eight
years, he told me. But he added, the first few years he was in business
in L.A., robbers had gone into his store on five occasions and
attempted to take his money.

None walked out with so much as a penny.

One, Ebert killed. Three others, he wounded.

"When you shoot at a man, do you shoot to kill him?" I asked him.

"I do," he said. "Absolutely."

There was a trace of a scowl on his face as he continued:

"Mr. Coates, I don’t have an easy life. I work hard. I get up early. I work late. I earn my money.

Request Not Enough

"I am not going to hand it over to a dirty lazy rat just because he says he wants it."

No
policeman would recommend that a store owner or clerk risk his life in
defense of a few dollars, I pointed this out to Ebert.

"That’s why we have police departments," I told him.

"If
a man comes into my store with a gun, he’s looking for trouble," he
answered. "With me, it’s the only way. If you give in like a meek
sheep, the crooks will run the town."

"How do you feel about killing a man?"

"It is not pleasant."

"Then, to you, it’s a matter of kill or be killed?"

"You’ve got to be smarter than they are."

"But usually they have the advantage of having the draw on you."

Brave Look Scares Them

"That’s right. But if you stand up to them and look them in the eye, they get scared."

"Always, Mr. Ebert?" I asked.

"They are cowards."

"Has it ever occurred to you that some day you might be killed?"

"Mr. Coates, my time comes. Your time comes. When it comes, we go."

These
are some of the notes I have from my old conversation with Albert
Ebert. In our society, he was a strange kind of man. He worked hard for
every dollar he earned. An he was willing to defend each cent of every
dollar with his life.

A few days ago, the headlines told of a new attempt, by three gunmen, to rob the till of Ebert’s cash register of $75.

Ebert was asleep when they entered the store. But his son-in-law was behind the counter.

Only One of Three Escapes

When
the police arrived, two of the trio of would-be armed robbers were
sprawled on the floor, one dead, another critically injured.

The pair weren’t amateurs. They were pros — dangerous, seasoned criminals.

I talked to Ebert about it the following day.

"Eberhardt — that’s my son-in-law — and I have talked about how to handle those kind of men several times," he told me.

"Eberhardt was a brave boy," he added. "He was a smart boy. I’m proud of him."

CONFIDENTIAL FILE

American Cleared in Tijuana Slaying

TIJUANA, Feb. 27 — Mexican officials have cleared Richard N. Thomas, 34, of La Puente, of any connection with the slaying of an unidentified woman whose torso was found 19 miles south of here last week.

Thomas, a television repairman who owns a string of thoroughbreds stabled at Caliente race track, was picked up and held by police here seven days ago.

The slaying victim’s body had been bound with a television lead-in wire.

Richard Thomas was at home in bed, sleeping off a nightmare, when I called his wife yesterday.

"He got in at 5:30 this morning," she said. "Completely exhausted.

"I’m just so relieved that it’s all over, that he’s back."

Until Thomas’ arrest last week, he, his wife and their three children
were just another nice family in a nice house in a nice neighborhood.

"When it happened, I told my older girl what it was about," Mrs. Thomas
explained to me. "I warned her that until her dad was cleared and
released, some people might say some mean things.

"It broke her up. At first, it did. She loves her father — maybe even more than she loves me. He’s just a wonderful man.

Friends Are Wonderful

"But after I had explained everything, she smiled and said,
‘Mother, I can hold my head up anywhere when they talk about daddy.’ "

"Did they talk?" I asked.

"Here on the street, a few
children said some terrible things. A couple of kids came over and told
my children that their father had cut up a woman.

"But the
adults — they were wonderful. The ones who knew Dick, of course, felt
as bad as I did. But even the others — they did everything they could
to make it easier."

"Were there any crank letters, crank phone calls?" I said.

"No,"
Mrs. Thomas answered. "Only once, when I was walking down my side of
the street, there was a group on the other side. One of them shouted,
‘Don’t go across the street. The butcher’s wife is here.’

"I ran back into my house. It was just a kid, I guess, but when you’re under a strain, it can upset you."

School Officials Kindly

Mrs. Thomas added that she had avoided telling her younger children about her husband’s being jailed.

"I
kept them in school," she said. "The officials at school said they’d
watch and make sure that none of the other children made remarks. They
were very helpful.

"The kids did learn, of course. But it was from others in the neighborhood, and news broadcasts."

Richard Thomas owns a modest television repair business.

"We’re
not rich people," his wife told me. "I have to admit that that’s what
we’re worried about now — that this terrible thing doesn’t hurt our
business.

"The only reason they picked Dick up was because of
the television wire at the scene of the crime, and the fact that he was
driving a television repair truck in Tijuana.

"It could have happened to anyone in the same business. To a plumber, if they’d found a pipe.

"I only hope," she concluded, "people will realize that what happened to us could happen to just about anyone."