Police Still Searching for Prowler After Assault Attempt at Radcliffe

Cambridge police reported yesterday they had made no progress toward capturing a "small, thin" housebreaker who attempted assault in an Annex house last week.

The assailant, who is believed to have approached another girl earlier this week, is still on the loose, Police Chief Ready admitted.

"We've put three plainclothesmen on the case, but we haven't got him yet," the chief stated.

The prowler, according to police reports, climbed the fire escape of Henry House, 11 Linnaean Street, last Thursday and entered the room of a sleeping Radcliffe sophomore.

Awakening, the girl burst into screams of "Help, help," as he climbed through the window. The scream frightened the intruder back down the fire escape before patrolmen could arrive. Police said he was described as "short and thin, dressed in a dark suit," and has been reported seen before in the Radcliffe area.

Take Footprint Molds

Radcliffe Dean Emily B. Lacey, in confirming the story last night, said she had called the police "out of interest to find out what they were doing" several days after the incident occurred. The plan-clothesmen could report no progress then, but did return to Henry House to take footprint molds.

"The molds won't do us any good," Chief Ready explained yesterday. "Our main concern is finding a charge to bring a suspect in on."

"If the Radcliffe girls will just pull down their shades when they turn on the lights at night," Chief Patrick J. Ready said last night, "we wouldn't have so many prowlers around in the Radcliffe area."

Despite a recent increase of prowlers in the area, Ready said he was not adding any more men to his Linnaean Street patrol force. "We've got enough on the job now," he stated.

The "small, thin" description fits that of a man who accosted a Linnaean Street lady resident with a knife earlier this week and of a man who was caught in a dormitory at Sargent College last year. In both cases, when the police arrived, they were unable to arrest the accused man "because of lack of proof."

The prowler who accosted the Linnaean Street resident reportedly drew a knife, and asked the girl if she "wanted to go for a walk." She started walking, but when she reached her house, broke away and ran inside