Samuel Gutermanhof, a settler in the Jewish colony of #far Hassidim, was shot dead in his house about midnight. The murderers fired three shots into the house, and managed to escape before it was possible to organise a pursuit. There is no trace at present to their identity.
This is the second midnight murder of a Jewish farmer in the Valley of Jezreel within seven weeks, Joseph Burstein, a farmer in Balfouria being shot dead in his house shortly before midnight on January 17th.
Mr. Burstein, whose house was situated only about 50 years from the main Afuleh-Nazareth Road, heard someone moving about the house, and when he went to investigate he was shot down. The bullet pierced the heart, passed through the body and lodged in a prayer book on a shelf.
Police from Afuleh were on the scene within ten minutes of the crime. By three o’clock in the morning, tracke4rs were put on the scent and it was stated that the tracks led to the Jenin area, where seven arrests were made.
The following day, about 20 suspects were arrested among the Arabs of the villages of the Jenin area, but nothing could be proved against them, and they were released.
As a result of the crime, Balfouria. Afuleh and other places in the Valley of Jezreel strengthened their night watch and reinforced their police detachments.
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