ANew York Times, New York, New York, Friday, October 26, 1962 - Page 23 — Top Chess Player Stabbed To Death; Body of Abe Turner Found in Safe on 72d St. — Abe Turner, a chess master who was one of the top players in the country, was found stabbed to death yesterday in the basement of a West Side building where he had been working as a clerk for the magazine Chess Review.
The 38-year-old tournament player had been stabbed nine times and his body placed inside a large wall safe. It was found at 3:25 P.M. by the superintendent of the five-story building at 134 West 72d Street.
Last night the police arrested a clerk-typist employed by the publication. The suspect, the police said, admitted the crime and said he had thrown the knife into Central Park at 84th Street. The police quoted him as saying he had killed Mr. Turner because the Secret Service told me to kill him.”
Mr. Turner, who was six feet tall and weighed about 280 pounds, had apparently been killed and then dragged along a 40-foot-long basement corridor to the safe. The door was ajar.
The police found a claw hammer and some surgical instruments near the body and thought at first that Mr. Turner had been beaten to death. But a quick medical examination disclosed the nine stab wounds. The death weapon was not found.
Mr. Turner left the third-floor office occupied by Chess Review, a monthly published for chess enthusiasts, about half an hour before his body was found by Miguel Vasquez, the building superintendent. The basement is used as a store room and as space for laboratory equipment for Dr. José Saez, a physician who owns the building and has professional offices on the first floor.
Mr. Turner, a member of the Manhattan Chess Club, had started working for Chess Review about three weeks ago, according to Jack Battell, executive editor of the magazine. Mr. Turner had worked for the magazine about ten years ago, for two years, and has held other jobs since.
There were reports that he had been out of a job for an extended period, but his brother, Hy Turner of New Hyde Park, L.I., said that the chess player had not been in financial trouble.
Mr. Turner, a bachelor, had been living with his father, Morris, at 351 South Ninth Avenue in Mount Vernon.
