Nevada, L-M, 1868-1985, Undated

\—BUT STATE MAY

Starting in the Gambling Capital of Reno,
They Went On A Rampage Through the

Far West. As Things Worked Out, They Didn't
Get Far, But While It Lasted, They Had

~ ARUN FOR ©
THEIR MONEY

Two boys; a brand-new .22 rifle; a crisp early winter’s afternoon, mellowed by a
sun that warmly kissed the woods-crested Nevada mountains... .

“We might scare up a bobcat or two, out in the hills,” Bob MoKinnon said.

“Up above Mustang Station,” his brother, Alvin, agreed. “That’d be the place to go.”

A narrow road climbs north, out of the Truckee valley off U.S. 40, thirteen miles east
cf Reno. It struggles past an old gravel pit and lips the maw of a rocky ravine a mile
and a half above the main highway.

The youths turned up the defile, working with hunters’ caution over log and rockslide,
their eyes alert for a movement in the trees or a telltale silhouette on a limb, their ears
wary for a wildcat’s angry snarl. It was 2:15 p.m., Sunday, December 13, 1953.

At first, when they spied the man’s shoe thrust out from a long, low mound of
rocks, they didn’t know what to make of it.

“Who'd leave that out in a place like this?” Alvin wondered.

Bob peered. more closely. “Looks to me,” he said gravely, “like whoever did leave it,
left his foot in it, too. Let’s see.”

They tugged away the heavy slab above the shoe. A stench of long-dead flesh hit their
nostrils an instant after they uncovered the leg beneath the rest of the pile of stones.

The boys backed off. “We better clear out of here and get to a phone,” Bob gulped.
“We found a lot more’n we came hunting for.”

SHERIFF C. W. ‘BUD’ YOUNG PICKED UP Jim Wood, his identification expert, and followed
Deputies William Driscoll and Frank Cole eastward out of Reno, through the suburban
city of Sparks and into the open country beyond, —

They rode in silence until they swung north, just east of Mustang.

“You got the same hunch I have?” Wood queried as the sheriff’s car jolted over the
byroad.

“That we’ve found Dan Shenk, or what’s left of him?” Young answered. “I thought
of that right away. It won’t be hard to tell. If there’s a thumb missing, it must be Shenk.”

Coroner Harry Guerin was on the scene before the last rock was tugged away, ex-
posing the badly-decomposed body of a man. He was clad in a brown, green and white
plaid flannel shirt, blue-gray slacks,. white socks and blue, crepe-soled canvas shoes.
Around the throat, tightly knotted, was a length of heavy binder twine.

Wood stooped quickly beside an outflung arm and looked at the fingers. There was

43


ind the gun a few
ad never been fired.
‘ranged a short while
‘an Jones completed
e weapon. “It’s the
1¢ bullet into young
. uid.
e, Corbin admitted
| the fatal shot, but
irth member of the
’ sergeant, had pull-
7
r-old sister, Florrie
id wearily. “What’s
hnny?” she -asked.
- else with us. You

n, eighteen-year-old
acked her up, Cor-
in his chair.

e admitted dourly.
idn’t mean to pull
off before I knew

xin shook his head.
ug bad for me for
“But this does it.
now.”
ey were broke and
and clothes. “Why
ve a decent pair of
nplained bitterly.
ice, Corbin and the
ids about going to
ig. Corbin said he’d
3185 from the cash
im’s™. wallet.
ed that Tom-
t with Corbin
‘-husband left for
ary, 1953. She said
1 had been having
the $91.30 army al-
‘ived every month.
tight squeeze. We
‘k,” the pretty girl

d before Municipal
Thursday, January
: to the impressive
onted by the state,
lem over without
y Grand Jury. The
“gency session the
turned murder in-
1 and the two girls.
sometime during
ie Criminal Court.
ls, neither Corbin
iny comment since
laborated at all on
ture. Why did they
a drinking Cokes;
when Corbin’s ex-
hy didn’t one of
‘d young people—
cy needed money?
vit can only be an-
the criminal men-
slice could answer
‘e any crime prob-

irbin, Florrie Bul-
Couch are entitled
until proved other-
law,

Satie ant esoncteonsiann sie

nil

.

———— A RUN FOR THEIR MONEY ———

(Continued from page 45)

time. He seized Bobell and wrenched the
pistol away. Bobell lunged out the door
and hit the pavement, running.

Following close behind, Lawson shot
forward and overtook the fugitive. Bobell
rode the rest of the way in handcuffs.

“What're you trying to pull?” Sheriff
Young asked him at headquarters.

“T didn’t tell your men the whole story,
out there by the school,” Bobell admit-
ted.

“Obviously,” Young said and waited.

“I bought the car, like I said, over in
Sacramento. From a guy I met in a bar.
I picked it up for only $100—because I
knew the heap was hot. Where he got it
I don’t know, but I knew the car was hot.

“I took it to my brother-in-law’s, over
in Santa Rosa, and put the new paint
job on myself. Those bloodstains—I don’t
know nothin’ about them. And I mean
nothin’. But when your boy starts to bring
me in, I know I’m hooked, cause I’m an
ex-con. So I tried the only thing I could
—to make a break.”

“An ex-con in Nevada with a gun,”
Young said, “that’s enough to salt you
away. For longer than it'll take us to dig
up the truth about you.”

AS BOBELL WAS LOCKED UP, Deputies Wood,
Martin and Lawson were working on the
Pontiac.

As they opened the luggage compartment
a sickening odor of decay fanned into
their faces. The interior of the trunk was
covered with blood. Gore had puddled deep
in the spare tire channel—so deep that,
although it had been there for a long
time, the ooze was still moist beneath a
thick crust.

They checked the motor numbers and
searched in their files.

The Pontiac had belonged to Daniel
Shenk !

Bobell, who had served time in Cali-
fornia’s Folsom Prison for the kidnap-
robbery: of a storekeeper, swore he had
never seen, never even heard of Daniel
Shenk. Sheriff Young eyed him dubiously.

“Shenk told his wife he was picking
up a guy he called Slim to go to Las
Vegas,” Young said. “You fit that name.”

Bobell admitted he was not exactly a
stranger around Reno, that he had been
in and out of the city several times in
recent months. But he said he had been
in his home territory, in California, on
September 21, the day Shenk departed for
Las Vegas, with $450 in his pockets, to
attend the opening of a racing meet in
America’s gambling capital.

Young and his aides sweated Bobell, day
after day, but could wring no damaging
admission from the stir-wise mug. He was
smart enough to stick to one simple story
that he could not prove—and the Nevada
officers could not satisfactorily disprove.

The sheriff’s men quizzed the Califor-
nian not only about Shenk, but about the
body in the ravine, the corpse still with-
out a name. Bobell merely shrugged and

shook his head. He knew nothing about
it. But nothing.

Then, the day before Christmas, the FBI
came through with an identification on
the body in the rocks. The dead man was
Clarence Morgan Dodd, 39, a carpenter
from Lancaster, Calif., a small city forty
miles north of Los Angeles. In October,
Dodd had combined a hunting-fishing va-
cation with a visit to his mother, Mrs.
Ruby Dargan, in Winnemucca, Nevada,
150 miles northeast of Reno. He had left
Winnemucca on October 23, in his 1953
Dodge station wagon. His route home
would have taken him through Reno.

Five days later, according to the FBI,
Dodd’s station wagon had been found a
few miles west of Texarkana, Texas,
some 2,000 miles from Reno, destroyed by
a fire that had been set after the vehicle
was drenched with gasoline.

As he set out from his mother’s home,
Dodd had had about $300 in cash. This, of
course, was missing, as were a fishing rod,
a 16-gauge shotgun, some camping equip-
ment and the victim’s clothing. Relatives
said Dodd frequently picked up _hitch-
hikers—but that was a habit he would
hardly have indulged on the lonely stretch
of road traversing the desert southwest
of Winnemucca.

Bobell never blinked an eye when the
cops threw Dodd’s name at him. He gaid
he’d never been anywhere near Texarkana
and challenged his interrogators to prove
that he had.

“We know he killed Dan Shenk for the
car and the money Shenk was carrying,”
Young told District Attorney Jack Street-
er, “but you can see for yourself how
much of a case we've got this far. No
proof there even was a murder or, if there
was, where it was committed and when.
No body. No way to explain why Bobell,
if he did kill Shenk, came back to Reno
in his victim’s car, let alone why he failed
to clean the blood out of the trunk and
off the upholstery.”

“You. figure he was in on the Dodd
killing, too?” Streeter asked.

“Good chance he was one of the killers.
I'd suggest we send some fellows over

to Sonoma County in California to dig |
up some facts. About Bobell’s pals, his |

whereabouts through the month of October
—anything they can find.”

Following up Young’s suggestion, Assis-
tant District Attorney Dyer Jensen ac-

‘companied Deputies Driscoll and Cole to

Santa Rosa, California. There, Sheriff
Harry Patterson and Chief Deputy Andrew
Johansen offered their full cooperation in
checking on Jack Bobell.

The officers examined his brother-in-
law’s garage, but found no sign of a recent
paint job done there. Bobell’s mother had

‘a suitcase he had left in her home a

few weeks earlier and she turned it over
to the Nevada men. _

“Who were his pals?” Driscoll asked
Johansen. “He probably did the Shenk
job alone, but there was more than one

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71

weit


A RUN FOR THEIR MONEY (continued) —

no missing thumb. The body was not that of Daniel Jay
Shenk, 57-year-old guard at the Sierra Ordnance Depot
at’ Herlong, just outside Reno, who had left home on
October 21 for the racing at Las Vegas and had never

returned.
This corpse appeared to be that of a man from forty to

fifty years old, tall and well built. The dark brown hair
was streaked with gray.

Wood kept staring at the hand on the ground. Then he
spread his fingers wide and moved his palm near the

corpse’s hand.
“Look at this,” he invited the others. “Awful little mitts
for a guy his size.”
“Been dead a long time,” Sheriff Young said.
“A couple of months, anyhow,” the. coroner agreed.

“Most likely dragged in here off the road and buried un-
der those rocks. He’d never have been found, except for
a shoe left uncovered and a couple of kids who wanted
to try out a new gun.”

Young squinted back down the ravine to the road.
“About 150 yards,” he judged. “And a tough pull.
Must’ve have been two of them, at least.”

When they lifted the body, to take it to the Walton
Funeral Home, the head lolled crazily, as if the neck was
broken, and a set of false teeth, both upper and lower
plates, clattered on the gravel. Guerin picked them up.

“New dentures,” he said. “They may help to identify
him, if there’s no other way.”

The pockets of the clothing were completely empty.
There were no visible dry cleaner’s marks on the outer

44

THE INCREDIBLE CASE BEGAN WHEN THEY FOUND THE BODY OF THE MAN (|.) IN THE MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY (c.) ..-

garments or laundry symbols on the white undershirt or
boxer shorts.

The binder twine, it was discovered at the mortuary,

had been looped four times around the victim’s throat.
It was an ordinary piece of hemp, thirty inches long.

“That proves it,” Young declared. “There'd have to be

mcre’n one man, to wind that cord four times around the
neck of a six-footer weighing: better than 180 pounds.”

Dr, Alan J. Roche, the autopsy surgeon, revealed, how-
ever, that the man may have been unconscious, or even
dead, before the garotte was applied. In the post mortem
examination, Dr. Roche found no evidence of asphyxia
from strangulation—but he did discover a severe hemor-

‘rhage at the base of the brain.

This, the doctor pointed out, could have resulted from

bludgeoning, stabbing—or even from a bullet wound. The
stage of decomposition was so advanced that the exact
kind of injury could not be determined. Dr. Roche placed
the time of death at anywhere from a month to three
months before he examined the remains.

Besides Dan Shenk, there was only one other missing
man on the ledgers of either the Washoe County sheriff
or the Reno City Police; a laundry driver who had van-
ished several months before. But he was much. younger
than the victim found beneath the mound of rocks.

Deputy Driscoll thought of Baxter Shorter. A Los
Angeles hoodlum who ratted on fellow members of a gang
which sadistically killed elderly Mabel Monahan in May,
1953, Shorter had been kidnaped by others in the mob
and had never since been found.

.
a

Young looke
“Couldn’t be §
doesn’t fit at a
and he was bu

Deputy Wco
the corpse and
In the meantir
the pathetic pz

One by one
or father who
away. No des
seemed nothin
fingerprints wi

At 3 p.m. T
Robert Lawso

-» NEAR

.just south
two-tone F
It flashed |
speed.

The dep
he reached
with a squi
noted that
too, that \
repainted—
yellow.

“Your dr
the man at

The Calii
Bobell, 33,

undershirt or

he mortuary,
ctim’s throat.
nches long.
d have to be
2s around the
180 pounds.”
evealed, how-
ious, or even
post mortem
of asphyxia
severe hemor-

resulted from

JNTRY (c.) .--

‘et wound. The
that the exact
-. Roche placed
nonth to three

: other missing
County sheriff
‘ who had van-
much. younger
.d of rocks.

shorter. A Los
nbers of a gang
ynahan in May,
srs in the mob

Young looked up an old bulletin on file in his office.
“Couldn’t be Shorter,” the sheriff was sure. ‘Description
doesn’t fit at all. Anyhow, Shorter didn’t wear false teeth
and he was bumped six months ago, not three.”

Deputy Wood laboriously took a full set of prints from
the corpse and airmailed copies to the FBI in Washington.
In the meantime, as news of the body’s discovery spread,
the pathetic parade of anxious and fearful relatives began.

One by one they showed up, described the husband, son
or father who was missing. One by one, all were turned
away. No description fitted. None was even close. There
seemed nothing now to do but to hope the dead man’s
fingerprints were in the files of the FBI.

At 3 p.m. Thursday, Deputy Sheriffs Robert Martin and

Robert Lawson were on patrol at the Anderson School,

a ore ‘ i "
* oh -

... NEAR RENO, IT WOUND UP WITH LE ROY (r

just south of Reno on the Carson City highway, when a
two-tone Pontiac sedan came boring out of the south.
It flashed past the school zone signs with no decrease of
speed.

The deputies’ siren signalled the driver to a halt before
he reached the city line. He was a tall, slender man,
with a square jaw and a thin, hard-bitten mouth. Martin
noted that the Pontiac bore California plates. He observed,
too, that while the car was a 1952 model, it had been
repainted—and none too skillfully—in light gray and lemon
yellow.

“Your driver’s license and registration,” Martin said as
the man at the wheel rolled his window down.

The California operator’s permit identified him as John
Bobell, 33, with an address in Sebastopol, a community

.) TELLING THE WHOLE BLOODY STORY TO SHERIFF BUD YOUNG (far ¢.)

in Sonoma County, Cal., 55 miles north of San Francisco.

“Y’m sorry, officer,” he apologized. “I’ve been living here
in Reno only a short time. I didn’t see the school sign
back there.”

“Where’s your registration for this car?”

Bobell pawed through a billfold, searched in his pock-
ets, then fumbled in the glove compartment.

“That’s damn funny,” he said. “I must have left it at
home.”

Martin was staring past Bobell, at the upholstery on
the inside of the right door.

“Keep your eye on this guy, Bob,” he said to his part-
ner, as he walked around the halted machine and yanked
open the far door.

“These are bloodstains, fellow,” Martin said. “How

come? And you'd better have a real good explanation.”
Bobell shrugged. “That was there when I bought the
heap, over in Sacramento, a month back,” he said. “The
guy who sold me the job told me his dog’d been hit by
a truck. He put him on a blanket on the seat to get him
to a vet and the damn mutt bled on the side of the car.”
Martin looked in the back, where a suitcase lay flat on
the seat. Then the deputy rounded the car again.
“Move-over, Bobell,” he ordered. ,“I’ll drive. You've
got a speeding rap to meet—if nothing else.”
Martin drove up Virginia Street, toward the center of
the city. A mile up the thoroughfare, Bobell twisted
around and quickly opened the suitcase.. Martin hit the

* brakes.

He saw the gun in plenty of ( Continued on Page 71)

45

Calin Masti? ca ee sam
we rceiinieetemt = ~ SSS

Ea

tiny, unincorporated town of Monroe.

“The boy stopped there and bought
another soft drink,” Klinker_ said.
“Then he went on southeast. There’s
a dozen side roads where he could’ve
turned in.”

“We can take it for granted,” Wein-
hardt said, “that he was going home
and that he lives at least seven miles
out of town. Tomorrow we’ll give that
country between here and Monroe a
going-over.”

Weinhardt, Fisher and Hill left La-
fayette early the next morning headed
southeast on Highway No. 52. Mc-
Donald and Bowman followed in an-
other car. Chief Taylor and Captain
Flack made up a third contingent, ac-
companied by Klinker and Smith.

BY. NOON, the officers had canvassed

more than a score of farms abutting
the highway south of Lafayette and
questioned dozens of people without
substantial progress in their efforts to
trace the Cat Man. Only a single help-
ful suggestion had been offered and
that came from a farmer living near
Monroe.

When he heard about the bicycle
riders he said, “It might pay to look up
those Loveless boys, Robert and Floyd,
over in Stockwell. I understand
they’ve both been in one sort of trouble
and another although I can’t say for
sure.”

Weinhardt, Hill and Fisher returned
to Lafayette at once and consulted the
records of the Juvenile Court. They
quickly found a record for Robert Kay
Loveless.

Robert Loveless had been arrested
on September 27, 1939, for vehicle tak-
ing and later committed to White’s In-
stitute for Boys at Wabash. He had
been released on probation ten months
later. He was seventeen years old.

Information obtained by the officers
indicated that Floyd Loveless, only fif-
teen years old, was a “pimply, arro-
gant and emotionless incorrigible who
rebels at discipline and manifests a
deep-seated anti-social attitude.” Rob-
ert Loveless was a “weak and willy-
nilly disciple of his younger but strong-
er-minded brother, equally as con-
scienceless but more amenable to dis-
cipline.”

Robert’s right eye was distinctly
crossed.

Weinhardt, Hill and Fisher went to
Stockwell Friday evening and located
the ramshackle two-room cottage in
which the boys had been living with an
aunt in 1941. The place was vacated.
Neighbors said the aunt had moved
several months before. The boys had
hung around Stockwell for a_ short
time and eventually disappeared.

Fortunately, Weinhardt located a
youth who formerly had been friendly
with the Loveless pair.

“Last I heard of Floyd and Robert,”

this youth said, “they had a place of
their own rigged up over near Monroe.
I’ve never been there, but I under-

stand it’s a white shack sittin’ right -

smack on a hillside about two miles
southwest of Highway Fifty-two. You
get there by turnin’ into a narrow
gravel lane.”

The boy shrugged. “There’s a miil-
lion lanes turnin’ off Fifty-Two. I
don’t know how you'll find the
right’n’.”

Weinhardt discovered later that the
boy was right. There did seem to be
a million lanes branching off No. 52.
After prowling over a dozen of them,
he gave up in the face of darkness.

Weinhardt was in his office shortly
after 9 o’clock the next morning when
he received a telephone call from the
proprietor of a well-known pawn-
shop on Main Street. :

The man’s voice was hushed but
undeniably tremulous. “There’s a
cross-eyed boy in my shop right now
trying to sell me a watch,” he told
Weinhardt. “Its number is the same
as the one on the stolen watch. Pll
keep him here until you get here.”

“Here’s what you do,” Weinhardt
told the pawn-shop proprietor. “Ill
be in front of your store in five min-
utes. As soon as you get a high-sign
from me, write out a pawn-ticket, give
it to the boy and pretend to accept the
watch in good faith. When he comes
out, I’ll follow him and make the ar-
rest later.”

Weinhardt hung up, telephoned
Bowman and McDonald and told them
to meet him at the pawn-shop.

When the detectives drove up to the
shop and parked at the curb in a bor-
rowed car without the police depart-
ment insignia, they found the proprie-
tor playing his role well. He was still
“dickering” with his customer. Wein-
hardt gave him the high-sign.

In a few minutes, a husky youth in
a white polo shirt and blue-denim
pants stepped nonchalantly out of the
door. He was short, broad-shouldered,
had rumpled chestnut hair and a

-crossed right eye. Without noticing the

three detectives, the youth mounted a
red bicycle leaning against a telephone
pole and rode north.

He threaded his way slowly through
town and turned south on Highway No.
52, unaware that Weinhardt, McDonald
and Bowman were following.

The youth continued riding at high
speed for nearly twelve miles. Then
he turned into a gravel lane a few
yards north of Monroe. By the time
the detectives reached the lane in their
car, they saw their quarry gracefully
sailing across the top of a knoll to the
west. Weinhardt followed _ slowly.
Reaching the top of the knoll, he pulled
off the lane beneath a gigantic elm
tree. The three detectives walked 20
yards until they came to the down

grade on the o:ner side of the knoll.
Ahead of them was a long dip in the
lane leading to a second rise not quite
as high as the first. :

Squarely on top of the second knoll
at the right of the lane was a rambling
white shack shimmering in the sun.

The boy in the white polo shirt was
running his bicycle into a small out-
house behind the shack. A slender
youth in a blue shirt and blue-denim
trousers stood smoking in the front
door.

Weinhardt, McDonald and Bowman
separated and approached the shack
from three directions, catching the two
youths completely by surprise as they
were preparing a crude lunch of bread
and bologna in the shack’s lean-to
that served as a kitchen.

Floyd and Robert Loveless, readily
admitting their identity, surrendered
with a grin.

“T been a little leery of you fellows
lately,” Floyd said to Weinhardat.
“That’s why I sent Robert to town
with the watch instead of going myself.
I guess a guy can’t beat the Law.”

“No—not all the time,” Weinhardt
said grimly. “At least I don’t think
you’re going to beat those finger-prints
on the bottle you carried into Mrs.
Soller’s home.”

“Who said I’d try to beat ’em?”
Floyd asked, with a touch of petulance.
He cocked his head arrogantly. “I’m
willin’ to come clean and give you guys
a break if you'll treat me and Robert
right.”

“That’s strictly up to the judge,”
Weinhardt said. “Come along, you
two.”

Once seated in Weinhardt’s office,
Floyd Loveless dictated a long, ram-

bling confession revealing the particu-

lars of his dastardly operations as the
Cat Burglar. °

He not only admitted the attacks on
Mrs. Soller and the Park Avenue
housewife, but divulged details of
many raids that hadn’t even been re-
ported.

He said he had given the gun, stolen
during the Park Avenue crime, to Rob-
ert and Robert in turn had sold the
gun to some friend for $2.25.

Robert admitted this and told detec-
tives where the gun could be found.
The cross-eyed brother also admitted
selling many other articles stolen by
his brother.

NDIANA laws provide that a juvenile

cannot be sent to reformatories or
penitentiaries. This meant that Floyd
Loveless, calloused criminal at fifteen,
had to be treated as an ordinary, mis-
directed child.

Judge W. Lynn Parkinson shook his
head soberly when Floyd - appeared
before his bench in Juvenile Court on
July 10, 1942. ;

He read the charge to the youthful

renegade. It contained only the one
count, that of breaking and entering
pe home of Mrs. Soller and assaulting
er.

“I can exercise my powers only
within their prescribed limits,” Judge
Parkinson said. “I hereby sentence you
to the Indiana Boys’ School until you
become of age.”

As the youthful Cat Man was led
away, he laughed and said he wouldnt
be in the Boys’ School long.

Later in the day, Robert Loveless
was sentenced by Judge Parkinson in
Circuit Court to one to five years in the
reformatory on a charge of receiving
stolen goods and fined $500.

Detectives, subsequently searching
the premises about the Loveless shack,
recovered several score of stolen items
ranging from silk underwear to a mink
coat. Many of the articles had been
thrown into an unused cistern,

Eventually the missing highway
worker called on Weinhardt and sheep-
ishly admitted that he had fled from
his job because he thought he was to
be picked up to serve a sentence for
drunken driving. He hadn’t even sus-
pected he was being hunted as the Cat
Burglar.

True to his boast, Floyd Loveless
didn’t remain long in the Boys’ School.
On August 15 he anda companion flied
from the institution after Loveless had
told another inmate that he was going
on a crime spree that would shame
Dillinger.

KACRe Nevada officers poured into
the search for the youth who shot
Constable Berning. Highways were
blocked, side roads watched.

At Emigrant Pass, nine miles west of
Carlin, Deputy Sheriff S. O. Guidici
spotted a youth fitting the description
of the wanted gunman. Without eny
show of resistance, the slender hixer
gave up. :

He identified himself as Floyd Love-
less and made a complet Tession
of the shooting.

Loveless’ companion was captured
later when a blast from a deputy’s
shotgun forced the stolen vehicle he
was driving into a ditch near Lovelock,
Nevada, some 170 miles west of Car-
lin, The youth said he let Loveless
out of the stolen truck because the
quick-shooting Cat Man thought he
would have a better chance afoot.

Berning died and the State of
Nevada was not so lenient in dealing
with Loveless as was Indiana. District
Attorney C. B. Tapscott presented the
case to a jury which convicted the Cat
Burglar of murder.

He was sentenced to death, his exe-
cution to take place in December, 1942.

At the time OrrFriciAL DETECTIVE
Srortes Magazine went to press, no
legal disposition had been made of
Loveless’ companion.

"Stamp Out the Sex Offender!" (Continued from Page 32)


LOVELESS, Floyd, white, asphyx. Nev. SP (Elko County) on September 29, 19h).

Public and Technical Services
i NEVADA STATE LIBRARY Reference/Documents
y's Capitol Complex 885-5160
Carson City, Nevada 89710 Blind and Physically Handicapped
Talking Book Program
TWX 910-395-0139 885-5160
Area Code 702 Interlibrary Loan
RICHARD H. BRYAN c meee
Governor Collections
. \
JOSEPH J. ANDERSON Ps pase
State Librarian Cataloging
Ce 885-5155
2” Division of Archives
885-5210
MarcH 19, 1985
|
RonALD_C. VAN RAALTE
» Oe BOX B04
ArLiIncTON Hts, IL 60006
’
DeaR Mr. VAN RAALTE,

ENCLOSED ARE PHOTOCOPIES OF ARTICLES IN THE ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS
FoR AuG. 20, 21_AND 25, 1942 DISCUSSING THE INCIDENT IN WHICH
CONSTABLE A. H. BERNING OF CARLIN WAS SHOT AND KILLED, BY FLOYD
[OVELACE AND ARTICLES IN THE SAME NEWSPAPER FOR Sept. 256.20. .29
AND OcT. 2, 1944 DISCUSSING THE EXECUTION OF LOVELACE.

IF YOU HAVE ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT ME « I WOULD
ALSO LIKE TO KNOW IF THIS INFORMATION WAS USEFUL IN YOUR

RESEARCH.
SINCERELY,
Lestie M. HESTER ) ’
REFERENCE LIBRARIAN MAY 2 | I985
3


If the mounting publicity gave the
prowler any qualms, he failed to sho

it.

raided homes in the Oakland Hill
district, each time selecting a dwelling
from which the husband, a war-plant
worker, was absent.

The Cat Man was- utterly unpre-
dictable, striking as he did with stealth
and without warning.

Several nights later a shyill scream
of terror shattered the night’s calm in
the Oakland Hill district shortly after
12:30. It was the painful, constricted
wail of a woman in mortal peril, fol-
lowed by an ominous quiet that seemed
to the listeners to last an eternity.

Somewhere a door slammed with a
resounding crash. Several women,
peeking timidly from their own front
doors, saw a slender, fleeting figure
dash across the avenue and vanish in
the darkness of the adjoining park on
top of the hill. Someone had the pres-
ence of mind to call Police Headquar-
ters.

Within minutes, a cruiser braked to
a halt before a modest home near the
middle of the block in which the front
door stood open. Two uniformed offi-
cers, Lieutenant Paul Klinker and
Patrolman Joe Smith, rushed into the
house. They were hardly inside before
Weinhardt, Hill and Fisher piled out of
a cruiser and followed the uniformed
men.

The scene that greeted the officers
in the front bedroom of the bungalow
brought their blood to a boil.

Lying across the bed was a hysteri-
cally weeping young woman in her late
twenties. Her flowered gingham apron
was twisted grotesquely about her
neck. The remainder of her clothing
was torn and disarranged. Her wavy,
honey-colored hair tumbled about a
pretty face that was white and
strained.

She sobbed a poignant story.

She had been ironing at 12:30 when
she heard a strange noise. At once she
noticed the curtains blowing through
an open bedroom window that previ-
ously had been closed. Also the front
room light, previously turned on, had
been flipped off.

Without warning, she was seized and
dragged bodily to the bed. A powerful
hand at her throat choked off her
screams for help. In the filmy illum-
ination provided by the streetlight
outside, the woman recognized the nar-
row, half-masked face of the Cat
Burglar. .

' When he left the Cat Man ran
through the front door and across the
street into the park.

Weinhardt took command of the
situation at once. Klinker and Smith
hurried to the park in the hope of
picking up the Cat Man’s trail. Fisher
and Hill examined the yard outside the
house. The woman, still sobbing but
more composed, was giving Weinhardt
additional details of her frightful ex-
perience when her husband arrived.
He had been notified by a neighbor-
ing woman at the war plant where he
worked.

Weinhardt said to the woman, “That
bureau in the corner looks like it’s
been ransacked. Is anything missing
that you know of?”

i= woman stared at the top of the
bureau. “My husband’s watch,” she
said. “It was lying there by my pow-
der-box. It’s gone.”

.The husband rummaged_ wildly
through a top drawer that was hanging
open. “My gun’s gone,” he exclaimed.
“l’ve kept it for months in_ this
drawer.” :

“What kind of a gun was it?” Wein-
hardt asked.

The man described the gun, a :38
with bone handle. .

“T’ve got the number around here
somewhere. If I can’t find it, I can
get it from the man who sold it to me.”

“Was it loaded?”

“Yes. I had often told my wife to
tab for it if she heard the Cat Bur-
far about. But I guess—” The man

‘@hoked up. “I guess he caught her

unawares.” :
The woman cried brokenly. “I
thought it was the milkman at. tirst,”

AD-9

On three nights in succession he~

she said. “I paid no attention when I
heard a noise on the porch.”

“What’s your milkman’s name?”
Weinhardt asked the woman.

“T don’t know,” she replied. “We’ve
only been taking milk from this com-
pany a short while. I don’t even know
the name of the company.”

The husband ducked out the door.
When he came back he had a milk
bottle, one of three placed on the porch
by his wife. He extended the bottle
to Weinhardt. The name on the bottle
was the same as that on the bottle
which the Cat Man. had crashed into
Mrs. Soller’s head.

“What time does your milkman usu-
ally get around?” Weinhardt asked the
woman, ,

She shook her head. “I couldn’t say

‘for sure. Usually after midnight.”

Weinhardt remembered that the Cat
Burglar never struck before midnight
—usually between midnight and 1.

Why hadn’t he thought of a milk-
man before? .

“I think,” Weinhardt said to the
husband, “that I’ll look around outside.
You’d better get your wife to a hos-
pital.”

Weinhardt joined Fisher and Hill
outside the house.

“We found several good footprints
near the porch and under the window,”
Fisher said. “We'll dig up a couple of
them and bring them in. The Cat Man
wears a heavy, large-size shoe.”

“Keep up the good work,” Wein-
hardt said. “I’m going to Headquarters
to get started on a new idea. You fel-
lows stick here at least until the milk-
man comes. If he doesn’t come—”
Weinhardt walked to his cruiser, leav-
ing the rest of the sentence unspoken.

Back at Headquarters the Lieutenant
consulted a city directory, making a
list of all dairy farms doing business
in Lafayette. They included the com-
pany whose name was on the bottles
at the Soller home and the Park Av-
enue bungalow.

Weinhardt was mapping’ his new
strategy when Hill and Fisher came in.
Fisher laid a section of earth with a
broad, flat footprint on Weinhardt’s
desk. “We waited until the milkman
showed up and then came in,” he said.

EINHARDT sat back in his chair.
“Was he a young man or old?”

“I'd say he was a man of 50 at
least,” Hill put in. ;

“Hmm. That’s slightly contrary to
my expectations, but I still think IT may
be moving along the right line.”

Weinhardt showed Hill and Fisher
the list he had compiled. “Later to-
day,” he said, “‘we’ll check every dairy
firm in town. We’ll ask every driver
to account for his whereabouts on the
dates the Cat Burglar has prowled.”

Weinhardt went out to breakfast a
little after 6 o’clock Wednesday morn-
ing. When he returned to his office
he was surprised to find the husband
of the assault victim waiting for him.
His face was worn and haggard but
the lines about his mouth were grim
and determined. “I found the num-
ber of my gun,” he said. “It’s sixty-
seven. The number of the watch is
4-8c97201.”

Weinhardt was delighted. “Those
numbers are the very things we need,”
he said. “The Cat Man will doubtless
try to pawn the watch, if not the gun.”

The Lieutenant turned the numbers
over to Détectives James McDonald
and Kenneth Bowman and instructed
them to circulate a theft order among
the city’s pawn-shops.

Hill and Fisher were delegated to
check on the dairy concerns Wein-
hardt had picked out of the city di-
rectory.

They reported in at mida(ternoon.

“All the drivers check out,” Hill said.

The next morning Weinhardt dis-
consolately looked over a couple of
dozen slips turned in that morning
by Lafayette pawn-shop proprietors,
recording their sales of the past week.
A city ordinance: required that such
shopkeepers give police a caibon copy
report on each item turned in for
pawn.

“T had really expected,” Weinhardt

said, “that the Cat Burshar would

have tried to pawn that watch or gun
by this time. I’ve got every shop-
keeper in town looking for it, with
orders to hold the boy at all costs
should he bring in either the gun or
watch.”

The telephone buzzed at Weinhardt’s
elbow. He picked up the receiver and
held it to his ear. Rapidly he scrawled
a series of notes across his desk pad.
When he hung up he turned to Hill
and Fisher. “Let’s get going,” he said.
“That was a woman on Oregon Street.
She called in to say that she’d been
followed home from downtown by a
slender kid riding a bicycle. The kid’s
been walking back and forth in front
of her house for twenty minutes. She’s
alone and she’s afraid he’s the Cat
Burglar.”

At three detectives grabbed their
hats and raced to a cruiser in the
rear courtyard.

The telephone caller, young and
comely, was sitting in her front room
peering fearfully into the street from
behind drawn shades when the detec-
tives reached her home.

“He disappeared almost as soon as
I called,” she said to Weinhardt. “I’m
—TI’m—afraid he might come back to-
night. He looks so. much like the Cat
Man who’s been described in the pa-
pers.”

Her description of the youth left no
doubt in the detectives’ minds that he
was the Cat Burglar, striking for the
first time in daylight, or preparing a
night call. He had overstepped him-
self in audacity by following the wo-
man through the heavy traffic of down-
town and then deliberately “casing”
her house in view of half a dozen
neighbors. :

“What kind of a bicycle was he
riding?” Weinhardt asked.

“A blue one,” she answered. “It
had a wire basket strapped across the
front mudguard. There were two
quart milk bottles in the basket.”

Weinhardt went to the hallway and
called the radio room at Headquarters,
giving the dispatcher a description of
the bicycle with the basket and bottles.

In a remarkably short time, the Ore-
gon Street neighborhood was ringed
with grim-faced officers, some on foot,
others in cruisers. Under Weinhardt’s
telephoned directions, radioed from
Headquarters, motorized units made
comprehensive crosstown sweeps of a
dozen streets running north-south and
east-west. Scores of pedestrians and
operators of neighborhood stores and
gas stations were questioned about
the slender boy on the blue bike. The
answer in every case was the same. No
one had seen him.

Hours passed and it looked again
as though the Cat Man had effected
one of his successful disappearances.

Then at 9:20 Weinhardt received a
telephone call from Lieutenant Klin-
ker, who had been patrolling the
northeast section of town with Patrol-
man Smith in Car No. Two.

“I’m at the filling-station at Kossuth
and Highway No. 52,” Klinker said,
reminding Weinhardt that it was the
gas station abutting the Soller home.
“The kid on the bike stopped in here
about 4 o’clock and bought a bottle
of pop. He left here riding north on
fifty-two. What’s more, Johnny Crum
says this kid comes in from the north
every day about noon. He _ usually
stops here and gets a drink, leaving
his bike back of the oil rack while he
goes on downtown. Most of the time
the kid never gets back to the station
until after midnight. He gets another
bottle of pop and goes back home.
Crum has noticed that he wears a big
amber ring.”

“Doesn’t Crum have any idea where
the boy lives?” Weinhardt asked.

“No,” Klinker said. “He told me
the boy never talked much.”

Klinker and Smith came in long
after midnight, tired and downcast.
They reported that they had found
only a single trace of the bicycling
Cat Burglar after he left the gas
station at Kossuth and Highway No.
52. That was at another gas station
seven miles southeast on No. 52, be-
tween the point where No. 52 entered
Lafayette from the northeast and the

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*
ear “maddie. horse: has’ come: into : greater promincace at ‘the -Newada: Livestock Show and
‘Eiko County Fair bt held this yearin Eiko, to. Seeme of the ’
3 eee os Se owen ey took part la the 1941 fair
(eult $o fight:ft. Mea| ==
ted: their tempts
Ph attle or

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Bre lost as this ts one| September Sth.’6th and 7th.

sagehen sections in.

“mediate military duty: ‘The recias-

Afication of 1B men: hegina Sep-
‘tember: Ist_and one fourth of such |

n n that area. White {nad:war. ndustry: tailyards: today} yo
af se were tuned j


Police information, as are most metro-
politan centers in isolated areas. Here
local authorities came with their re-
ports of missing persons, stolen autos,
wanted men, and so on. So when
Sheriff Vannoy sat down in Chief
Harry Fletcher’s office at headquarters
in Reno, the Chief said, “Maybe we can
help you. We keep a pretty complete
Missing Persons record.”

: HE PICKED up the phone and told
Richard Heap, head of the Missing
Persons Bureau, to come in. Heap did,
and Vannoy described the dead lieu-
tenant and his woman companion.

“The doc thinks they’ve been dead

about six weeks,” he added.

Heap nodded and went to some files.
The officers waited. Chief Fletcher
said, “Here's hoping,” and Vannoy
nodded. :

In a moment Heap was back with a

folder. Taking from it two photos, he.

passed them to Vannoy and Bellinger.
A glance was all they needed: Those
were the dead people.

“Who are they?” Vannoy asked.

“Name of Fisher,” Heap said, read-
ing from his file. “Lieutenant and Mrs.
Raymond Fisher. Her name’s Marion
Burke Fisher. On April 23, they left
Gowen Field at Boise, Idaho, for March

16

Field, California. They weren’t heard

‘from again.”
Vannoy frowned, got up, went to a.

But the shortest way

best
‘would take them through Fallon. Got

anything else.on them?” .
Heap said, “They were driving a 1940
maroon Ford sedan. Here's the license

“We've Got a Lot More Suspects
Than Evidence and from Right
Here | Don’t See How We
Could Pin the Job on the Killer
Even If We Are Lucky Enough
Actually to Run Him Down”

asked, “Do you know of any enemies
Lieutenant Fisher had?”

“No, Everybody liked him.”

“Was anybody traveling with him
besides his wife?”

-“Not that I know of.”

“Were they planning to meet any-
body on the way?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“Did they have friends or relatives
ae here that they planned to
v

au . AS far as I know, they were go-
ing straight through. Lieutenant
Fisher’s home was on Long Island. I
don’t think he knew anybody around
this part of the country. But I can
check back East with his ‘relatives.”
“I wish you would,” Vannoy said. “It
might mean a lot. Now, another thing
—do you know anything about how
much money they might have been
oF aed Or how much jewelry they
Captain Pyle thought a moment.
“They had enough money to make the
trip; I know that. Maybe a couple of
hundred dollars. I don’t know much
about their jewelry but I do remember
that Mrs. Fisher had a Bulova wrist
watch worth about eighty dollars.”
“Anything else?” _
“Not that I can think of.”

. The Captain promised to let Vannoy
know if he turned up anything back
East—“I'm especially anxious to know
if they were acquainted at Eureka,”
Vannoy said and thanked him and

°

nung up. He told Bellinger and Chief
Fletcher what he’d learned

The Chief said, “That wrist watch

That was a good angle. Another was
the missing Fisher auto, their maroon
Ford sedan. Its description was broad-
cast across the Nation.

hitchhiker theory seemed to conflict
with the Eureka angle, for that indi-
cated they were acquainted there or
knew their murderer was.

Still, was it not possible that, if a
hitchhiker had killed them, they had
picked him up in Eureka?

“Not. strong enough,” Vannoy mut-
tered. “Not enough to make the Lieu-
tenant write Eureka in the sand while
he was dying. No, it’s some stronger
connection than that.”

To discover it, the officers left Reno
and started over the route which the
Fishers must have taken. They had
with them the. Fishers’ photographs,
and at each filling station, in every
hamlet, they stoppéd and displayed
the pictures. Witnesses cannot always
recognize a verbal description. But
ree ug invariably they can finger a

One in this case did. He was the op-
erator of a filling-station at the small
town of Frenchman's Station, where
the officers paused on their way to
Eureka. He said he thought the pic-
tures looked like a man and a woman
in a red Ford sedan who'd stopped at
his place for gas five or six weeks ago.

“Was in the car with
them?” Vannoy wanted to know.
The man hesitated. “Yes. Yes, I'm

sure there was. There was another man

with them.”

“what did he look like?”

“I didn’t get a good look at him. But
there was something funny about him.
I thought so at the time. He was sort
of slumped down in the back seat. His
coat kind of hid his face. I he it
was funny at the time.”

Vannoy nodded grimly. This, he felt
certain, was the murderer. The Fishers
had picked him up by the time they
reached Frenchman’s Station. But who
was he? A hitchhiker? Or a friend they
had met en route?

“What time of day was this?”

“Around noon, I think.”

“Much obliged,” the Sheriff said
and, with Bellinger, drove off rapidly

!
|

ward Eureka, “There's a good chance
ey ate lunch at Eureka that day, It
is lunchtime when they stopped here
d Eureka’s not far down the road.”
That was sound reasoning. It nar-
wed the investigation. In Eureka,
2 officers ignored everything but res-
arants, These they canvassed slowly,
iplaying the photos to each res-
arant proprietor, being disappointed
ae after time, going on to the next
ice, until, finally, they hit the De-
ley Restaurant where the proprietor,
| Delaney, said, “We get a lot of tour-
s here. But I think I remember this
ung couple.”

ANNOY said eagerly, “When were
they in here?”

‘About six weeks ago. But wait a

nute. Let me ask my wife. She talked

them, if it’s the couple I’m thinking

Mrs. Delaney glanced at the photos
d bobbed her head emphatically.
ure. That’s that nice young couple.
e wife said she’d write me about the
wers. Wait a minute,” and she came
with a piece of paper. “Fisher,” she
d, reading. “I wrote their name
wn, They were here April twenty-
irth, because she said they had to
in March Field on the twenty-sixth.
rote their name and address down.”
‘Were they alone?”

‘They—no, they weren't, to
nk of it. it. Yd almost phe pong But
‘re was another man with them.
d he didn’t look like he belonged
th them either. They were such a
e young couple. But he looked—
ll, he just looked different, Kind of

puty Spray Kinney, left, and
ief Merle Curtis set a trap in
hop, California, when they —
it a man passed the State Li

=
‘

an, or something. I wondered at the |

time’ what he was doing with them.”

Vannoy nodded, It was plain what
the other man had been doing with
them: He had been about to murder
them. init
_ “Can you describe him?”

Mrs. Delaney said the stranger was
a big man with a long nose, disheveled
clothing, and a receding hairline. She
thought he was about 35 years old.
‘That was all she could remember.

Vannoy asked, “Did you get any im-
pression of what his connection was.
with them?”

“No, they didn’t say.”

“I know. But maybe you got some
idea, anyway. Did they treat him like
a good friend? Or more like you'd
treat a hitchhiker?” -

She frowned. Slowly she said, “I
don’t know. I guess that’s what kept
bothering ‘me. They didn’t seem to

: know how to treat’ him. But I’m cer-

tain that they didn’t treat him like a
good friend of theirs.”

This was somehow unexpected.
Might it not suggest that the Fishers
had indeed known their guest, who

killed them, and had been forced to

permit him to accompany them? Per-
haps he once had been a friend but
now was an enemy.

“Did you ever see him before?” Van-

noy asked.

Mrs. Delaney shook her head. “He’s
not from Eureka,” she said flatly. “I’m
_almost positive of that.”

“Do you remember anything that he
said to the Fishers during lunch?”

“He talked them into going to Cali-
fornia by way of Gabbs Valley and
Reno instead of by way of ‘Tonopah,
Ely and Mount Mongomery Pass.

That’s all I heard him say to them.”

This was interesting. Why had the
stranger induced them to change their
route? The officers talked it over and
decided it could mean that he was

. known in the Tonopah district and

didn’t want to be seen there. So he had
taken them up toward Gabbs Valley,
where, probably, he was a stranger
and therefore safe,

On this theory, Deputy Bellinger
and Lester Moody of the Nevada High-
way Patrol headed for the Tonopah
district. They would hunt a big rough-
ly-dressed man who was spending un-
usual amounts of money, for they be-
lieved that, since six weeks had elapsed
since the murder, the killer probably
ion confident he had escaped detec-

ion.

While they worked, Sheriff Vannoy
whipped through Eureka a_ second
time, trying to find out whether the
Fishers had stopped anywhere else be-

sides the Delaney Restaurant. They

hadn't.
And Vannoy concluded that Lieu-

-tenant Fisher had intended, with his

message scrawled in the sand, simply
to call attention to that one stop at
the restaurant. Far-fetched as that ex-
planation seemed, it simply had to be
the correct one. The killer was not
from Eureka. Neither were the vic-
tims. Nor were they connected there,
Captain Pyle reported after investigat-

ing back East. No, the only tie-in was
that stop at the restaurant.

Why had Lieutenant Fisher been so
desperately anxious to direct the of-
ficers to that restaurant? Vannoy
puzzled over this question time and
again. He wondered if he had missed
something. Had Mrs. Delaney forgot-
ten something vital that had been said
during that last luncheon the Fishers
ate with their murderer? Was there
more here than appeared? Perhaps in
the change of plans, the decision to go

‘to California by way of Gabbs Valley

rather than through Tonopah—did
the vital. clew lie there? —

ANNOY tried desperately to utilize
the help the dead man had given

‘him, But in the end, he could see

nothing he had overlooked.

So he went on down the road to
Fallon, trying to trace the Fishers’
progress right up to the death scene.
And in Fallon, he talked’ to a filling-
station operator who recalled seeing
not the Fishers, but their murderer.

He couldn’t identify the Fishers’
photos. So Vannoy described the ma-
roon Ford. And the station man. said
that, about six weeks earlier, a tall
man with a prominent nose and re-
ceding hair drove into his station in a
1940 red Ford sedan, purchased gaso-
line, and presented a gasoline permit
: (Continued on Page 54)

17


off the back of the yard, the scurry-
ing of frightened animals awakened
suddenly and the undeniable odor of
‘rabbits in captivity assailed his ears
and nostrils.

Owes the gate of the oil refinery
in Long Beach, Lieutenant Car-
mack sat in the Sheriff’s car contented-
ly smoking his pipe. When Paul Degley
appeared to enter the plant, the detec-
tive stirred and called softly.

“You're Mr. Degley,” he said. “I

recognized you from a picture down '

at your house. Thought I might find
you around here.” ,

Degley came over and spoke nervous-
ly. * “Were you—down at my place?”
he asked. “Is everything all right
down there?” a

“Just as you left it,” Lieutenant
Carmack said smoothly. “But there
ought to be someone down there to
take care of those little girls.”

“Mrs. Johnson said she’d be in,”
Degley said irritably. “She's the next
door neighbor.”

“Yes, I spoke to her,” the officer con-
tinued evenly. “But she didn’t seem
very anxious to take up the job.”

“She’s afraid,” Degley explained.
“She claims she heard a loud quarrel
going on at my house last night, then
the screaming of a woman. It's all
crazy, of course—because nothing of
the kind took place.”

“She says that she'll swear in court
that it did. She says she's almost cer-
tain it was your wife who was scream-

“How could it be my wife?” Degley
cried. “My wife was driving me to
work when this screaming is supposed
to have taken place at my house. And
—there’s a friend of mine.” Degley
pointed.to a young man who was enter-
ing the plant.. “We honked our horn
at him thinking he might want a lift,
but he didn’t look up. Hi, there,” he
called to the youth. “Why didn’t you
turn around when my wife and I were
honking at you last night?”

The young man came over. “Is that

Written by the Dead (Continued from Page 17) OFFICI

made out to an Army lieutenant.

“Was he in uniform?”

“No.”

“Describe him again.” - >

He described the murderer.

“Did you ever see him before? Is he
from around here?”

“No, I never saw him.”

“Do you remember anything else he
said?” hg

“I guess he was figuring on selling
the car, because he asked what I
thought it was worth.”

“That all?”

It was. But it gave Vannoy a new

idea. A quick check showed that‘the ,

Ford had not been sold in Fallon it-
self. But Vannoy didn’t stop there; he
went a second time to Reno where he
enlisted Chief Fletcher's aid in trying
to trace the sale of the Ford.

B igre rer they made the rounds of

auto dealers in Reno. Time after
time ‘they drew blanks—until they
talked to Byron Compton at the Rich-
ardson-Lovelock sales lot. “Sure,” he
said, “I bought a car like that about a
month ago.” : :

“Who was the owner?”

“Wait a minute.” He rummaged
through his desk, came up with some
records. “Here it is. I bought the car
on April thirtieth.”

That was less than a week after the

. crime, Vannoy noted. ‘““Who sold it?”

“Fellow named Floyd McKinney.
From Luning, Nevada.” :

“Can you describe him?” = *

The dealer frowned. Then, bit by bit,
he described the murderer—a big man
with a prominent nose, roughly dress-
ed, tight lipped.

“Let’s see the license number and
the certificate of title.” .

Compton displayed them. It was the

54

ibis. i

you, Paul?” he said, “Don't tell me
you're going to work—after what hap-
pened?” '

“I've got to get my mind off it or I'll
go crazy!” Degley cried. “You did see
me‘and Charleen pass you in the car
last night, didn’t you?”

“Well, no, Paul.” The worker glanced
at the detective sitting in the car. “I
don’t think I did, but—”

“You must have seen us!” Degley’s
voice rose.. “We blew our horn at you.
You looked right at us!”

; TR youth thought carefully and

then he said, “No Paul, I can’t say

that I did see you. Guess I'll be getting
in to work.”

Degley. beat with his palms against
his temples. ‘I don’t know.” He seem-
ed about to go to pieces. “Maybe it’s
me. I get blank spells. They wanted
me to go to the hospital, but I had to
stay to protect Charleen. If I had left
her it would have given Hank a free
way to her. I couldn't stand the
thought of it.” °°

“Have you ever been in a hospital,
Degley?” the detective asked. °

“Yes—yes. I have been taking treat-
ments. I believe I am mentally sick.
If it had to happen it would have
happened sooner or later, anyhow.”

“What’s. that?” Carmack asked
sharply, ‘ :
“I don't know.” Degley looked be-

wildered. “I'm glad it’s over.”

‘*You mean you're glad your wife's’

dead?” : Pek

“I—don’t know what I mean. I can't
think straight.” Degley was babbling,
tears streaming from his eyes, “Maybe
I did and maybe I didn't.” :

“You're in no condition to work or do
anything else, Degley,” the Lieutenant
said shortly. “You're coming over to
the Sheriff's office with me.”

He put the weeping man into the car
and drove him down to the jail. As
they walked over the’ newly-polished
linoleum in the corridor leading to
Captain Konou's office, Lieutenant
Carmack purposefully fell in behind

Fisher car, all right: The motor num-
bers jibed. \ ‘

But the license numbers didn’t.

The officers stared at each other.
What did this mean? That the car
was the one stolen from the dead

. Lieutenant was indisputable. But the
license plates were not the ones issued
to him. :

“That means the certificate of title
_was forged,” Fletcher said slowly. He
turned to the dealer. “I suppose you
checked. the license and motor num-
bers on the car against these on the
certificate of title.”

“Oh sure,” Compton said, “They
matched all right.”- ‘

“Then.” said Fletcher, “the plates
either belonged to the killer or they
were stolen by him.”

“And that means that. the plates
may be the answer to the whole thing,”
Vannoy said.

“We'll know in a few minutes.” The
Chief got hot on the phone. Vannoy
paced restlessly. The case was break-
ing fast now, almost too fast. The man
with the big nose was the killer, all
right. He had eaten a final lunch with
the Fishers, had been traveling with
them, had been seen driving their car
alone, had sold their car, using the
name of Floyd McKinney of Luning.
Was it his real name? Probably not; a
man -careful:enough to forge a cer-
tificate of title wouldn't put his true
name on it.

Chief Fletcher came back: “The li-
cense plates were issued to a man
named Harlan Ruler. His. address is a
hotel here in Reno. Let’s go.”

As they drove to the row of com-
mercial hotels downtown, they won-
dered if Ruler were McKinney. They
didn’t find out that day. The room clerk
said that Ruler hadn’t been registered

Me ah emt lo yn 6 int ini Oda han tree

the suspect and studied the imprint
of his tread on the floor. Wherever
the husband laid down his feet, he was
leaving a trail of rubber heel patterns
identical with the shape and outline
of the footprint found in the field of
wild oats where his wife had been
found!

The evidence against Paul, Delmont
Degley was so overwhelming that he
remained mute at the coroner’s in-
quest where he was named the killer
of Charleen Cooley Degley. As. wit-
ness after witness was sworn in to tell
the truth in the course of the day’s
testimony, he could not have escaped
this judgment by anything less than a
miracle, -

He was identified by Radio Officers
Dalmer and Peterson as the man at
the wheel of the gray sedan, on Long
Beach Boulevard between Las Flores
and Elizabeth Streets at 3 o’clock in
the morning, at which time he had as-
serted he was at work. His whole story
of being at the oil refinery, his com-
plete narration of how his wife took
him to work turned out to be pure
fabrication as his time card proved ab-
senteeism during the slaying period. |

Asked to answer, Degley stood on his
constitutional rights and refused to
speak. He heard Autopsy Surgeon
Frank R. Webb declare that his wife
may have been dead all of twelve hours
when found in the morning at 9 o'clock,
thus allowing plenty of time for killing
before he had “reported” for work. He
listened to Lieutenants Larry Carmack,
Garner Brown and Vic England.of the
Sheriff's Bureau set forth the details of
what likely had taken place—and
maintained a rigid and often debonair
silence. ;

Lieutenant Carmack went back to
the beginning of the story and pushed
it to its inevitable conclusion. Paul
Degley had been married not once,
but twice before: -He was subject to
fits of jealousy in which he imagined
he was being the cuckold of many af-
fairs, in which he seized upon any
man’s name in his wife's past as co-

for some time. Nor was any forwarding
or permanent address listed for him.

“Do you know him?”
The clerk nodded. “I. used to see
him.” :

“Describe him.”

And the description didn't fit Mc-
pope the big man with the big nose,
at all:

ANNOY and Fletcher looked at each
other, frowning. What did this
mean? This was a strange twist. Who,
then, was Ruler, if he was not McKin-
ney? And what was his connection with
the case? : ;

“What else can you tell us about
Ruler?”

The clerk said he thought Ruler was
a mining man of some sort. He used to
see salesmen in the lobby calling on
Ruler, salesmen of mine machinery or
equipment. But that was all the clerk
knew about him.

The officers had reached a dead end.
They told the clerk to notify them if
Ruler reappeared, then went back to
headquarters. On the way, Vannoy
said slowly, “There’s one possibility—
that Ruler’s wholly innocent of any
connection with the crime.”

“How do you mean?”

“Maybe his license plates were stolen
by McKinney, the killer, who then put
them on the Fisher car and sold it.
That way Ruler would come into the
picture without really being mixed up
in the thing at all.”

Fletcher nodded. “It’s a possibility.
I'll have a check made and see if
Ruler reported the plates stolen.”

“Here’s another possibility. Why not
ask the newspapers to appeal to him
to come forward? If he’s innocent

he’ll do it. If he’s not, we still won't:

lose anything, because we haven’t got

reapondent in these fancied actions,

In this case he had piled it all up on
the man Hank, who had come mo-
mentarily and innocently into his

wife’s life. To prove his point—to try

‘to catch his wife off-guard—he even

had sent telegrams himself and then
accused her of receiving these mes-
sages from other men. On Tuesday
night he had picked up the telephone
—only to‘hear a click in-his ear when
he answered, “Hello.” This set him off
on the belief that Charleen was mak-
ing a date with someone for the time
after he was at work. He accused his
wife of this.

Mrs. Degley denied all this, for all
of it was her husband’s imaginings.

EGLEY went wild, rushed out to the

‘yard for something with which to
break up house. He tore the two-by-four
from a rabbit hutch, and came back
swinging. He crashed it against the
ceiling and beat at the articles of fur-
niture around the place. Finally he
brought it down on his wife’s head and
killed her. This was the mortal scream
which had been heard by neighbors.
Following this the house had been
plunged into silence and darkness.

Later Degley cleaned up the blood
and packed his wife into the family
car. He had picked a likely dumping
ground in the wild-oats pasture, and
there had relieved himself of his grue-
some burden. Then he had thought
how to clear himself of suspicion, but
it had been a bungling job all around.
His—and only his finger-prints—were
all over the death car. His—and only
his—heel mark had been found freshly
imprinted in the ground by his dead
wife’s body.

This was the case the police present-
ed against Paul Delmont Degley, and
to which he returned the denial of si-
lence. As this magazine goes to press
his trial had not been terminated.

In this story the names of Hank and
Bernard Bohrer are fictitious to protect
innocent men,

Read 1? First In ,
AL DETECTIVE STORIES

a line on his whereabouts anyway now.
If he doesn’t come forward voluntar-
ily, we can figure he’s in it pretty deep
and we can concentrate on him. But
that'd be a big job; we might save a lot
of wasted effort by getting him to come
in on his own hook.”

It was a good idea. They would try

When they got back to headquarters
they found Deputy Bellinger. He and
State Trooper Moody had failed at
Tonopah: Nobody there recognized the
description of the killer. Nor did any-
body named McKinney come from
there. ‘

Then why did the killer want to
avoid Tonopah, why had he induced
the Fishers to go west by way of
Gabbs Valley? The question could not
be answered. .

Another report showed that’ McKin-
ney apparently was a phony name in
the first place: He was unknown at
Luning, which he had listed as his
home when he Sold the car. “Unless of
course,”’. Fletcher mused, “McKinney
is his real name all right but Luning
isn’t his home.”

The thing was getting thoroughly
confused. But in the midst of the of-
ficers’ speculations came a scrap of in-
formation that sent them off in an en-
tirely different direction.

Detectives checking pawnshops had
learned nothing in Reno, so they had
branched out. And they had discovered
that, in the town of Winnemucca, a
man had pawned a lady’s Bulova wrist
watch which matched the description
of Mrs. Fisher’s exactly.

Immediately Vannoy rushed to Win-
nemucca where he talked with the
jeweler who had bought the watch. He
went through his records. Since then,
he had sold the watch he said. But per-

it


aps he could help a little anyway: He
iad a record of the name of the man
vho had sold the watch, k
While Vannoy held his breath, the
eweler searched his files again. He
woduced a document showing that
he watch had been sold by one Harry
Vilhelm, who had given his‘ address
‘is San Bernardino, California.

That rang no bells. Vannoy asked
he jeweler to describe Wilhelm. And
Oy description didn’t fit McKinney at

Everything was right—the watch
vas exactly like Mrs. Fisher's, it had
een pawned a-.few days after the
rime—but the description didn’t jibe.
Vhat did this mean? Had the actual
iller had an accomplice?

Vannoy wired authorities in San
‘ernardino, asking for a checkup on
tarry Wilhelm.

Awaiting it, the Sheriff looked up
ne Winnemucca police and told them
is troubles, asking if the names Mc-
‘inney or Wilhelm meant anything to
1em.

“Wilhelm doesn’t. But we had a
heck forger around here a few weeks
go that used the name of McKinney.”
“That so? Where is he now?”
“Wish I knew. He took one of our
usinessmen for a nice piece of
qange.”

“What's his description?”

“About thirty-five, tall, heavy set,
iaybe two hundred, big nose, high
wrehead and receding hairline, rough-
i on a surly manner. Does that
ck?”

)1D. it click? Vannoy spent about five
minutes in getting the name of the
\ulcted businessman and reaching his

ore. Yes, he corroborated the de-,

ription. He figured this McKinney
as a miner,

McKinney had.come into the used
uniture store and bought a coffee
mn. This led Vanney to believe Mc-
inney had planned to start a res-
rant. Or had he only bought the
rst thing that caught his eye when
2 set out to cash a bum check? This
dn't seem so likely, for the cheated
isinessman recalled that McKinney
ad offered to trade a set of mining
ols for the urn but the businessman
ad preferred to take the check, which
tbsequently bounced. i

He produced the check. Vannoy
udied it carefully. Then from his
allet he drew the forged certificate of
tle which McKinney had used when
2 sold the Fisher auto. Vannoy placed
1e two documents side by side and
udied them closely. The handwriting
as identical.

So that part of it clicked perfectly.
annoy had _ trailed McKinney one
ep farther along the route of his
ght after the murder. But where was
> now?

The only thing to do was to start
oking around Winnemucca and see
he couldn’t dig up somebody who
1ew McKinney or had seen him as he
assed through here.

Before he started on that, Vannoy
ceived a reply from San Bernardino:
arry Wilhelm was an ex-convict. And
> admitted having pawned then sold
1e Bulova watch at Winnemucca.
How did this tie in?. Wilhelm un-
yubtedly was not McKinney: Their

° /
descriptions were ee, disparate.
And yet.

Vannoy decided to go to San Ber-
nardino. Before leaving, he called
Reno, told Fletcher what. he had
learned, and ended, “I want Bellinger
to keep hunting this McKinney. I
figure he’s a miner and we’ve thought
all along he comes from around Tono-
pah, since he steered the Fishers away
from there. So tell Bellinger to go to
all the mines around Tonopah and see
if he can find McKinney there or any-
body answering his description. Tell
him to ask if anybody recently started
a restaurant there; remember, this fel-
low bought a coffee urn. And say,
anything on Ruler? He’s a mining man
too, you know.”

Bet Ruler had not yet appeared. Van-
noy hung up and departed for San
Bernardino, There he questioned the
ex-convict Wilhelm closely. This one
was a close-mouthed dead pan man, a
veteran of many police interrogations.
He admitted he had been in the region
of Winnemucca looking for work a few
weeks back, that he had run short of
money, and had pawned the Bulova.

But he denied any knowledge of the
murder and claimed he had come into
possession of the watch legitimately.
To prove it, he produced a bill of sale
made out by a San Bernardino jeweler
who had sold him the watch. .

Vannoy interviewed this jeweler. He
was a man of good repute. He said that
it was true that he had sold the watch
some time previously to Wilhelm.

And when Wilhelm produced wit-
nesses who accounted for his where-
abouts at the time of the murder pe-
riod and substantiated his statement
that he never had been at the scene of
the crime, he was released from cus-
tody, no charge having been placed
against him at any time.,

So Vannoy went back to Rena, con-
vinced that McKinny—whoever and
wherever he was—had acted alone in
the crime. But how to find him? Cer-
tainly he had succeeded in camou-
flaging his trail.

At Reno, Chief Fletcher met Vannoy

with this: “Harlan Ruler has come
forward. Want to hear his story?”

The Sheriff started, nodded. A mo-
ment later he was facing the man
whose connection with the case had
been enigmatic for so long. He had read
in the newspapers that he was wanted
for questioning and had come to the
police voluntarily to tell this story:

He was a mine official, and one day
about six weeks earlier, he had stopped
at the King Summit Mines in Gabbs
Valley on business. While his car was
parked there, somebody stole his li-
cense plates. .

That was all there was to it. He knew
nobody named McKinney, nobody
named Fisher, had no other connec-
tion with the case. Purely by chance, a
killer-to-be had picked his car to strip
of license plates, had fastened them
later to the auto of his victim, and
thus, without so intending, had drawn
Ruler, a wholly innocent man, into a
murder investigation.

_ Ruler, of course, was not held. He
was in no way connected with the
crime and co-operated heartily with
the officers. But when the officers went
over his story and matched it up with
what they already knew, they had in

They Say My Boy’s a Murderer

enneth saying as they helped me
ward the door leading upstairs to
i rooms: “Sis, take hold of your-
If. You've got to control yourself
1d be calm.”

I moaned. “It’s not true—It can’t

aly a few miles west of Denver. I've

got to get to William. He will be scared
to death without me.”

“I'll drive you out there, Sis; ” Ken-
neth said. “My car is out front, but
first you must stop shaking. You ought
to know the whole story before you go,
too. The details are in the paper. Why
don’t you try and read it?”

I tried. It was so awful, I couldn't
hold the paper.

“You tell it to’ me, Kenneth, while
we drive,” I said.

We met mother as we got into Ken-
neth’s car. I told her what had hap-
pened. She got in the back seat with me.

.

hand a pretty definite plan of action.

Heretofore, they had concentrated
their search for McKinney on Tono-
pah, which he had shunned. Now they
would dig deep at Gabbs Valley. There
McKinney had stolen Ruler’s license
plates. There McKinney had induced
the Fishers to drive. And they’ would
concentrate especially on the mines
around Gabbs Valley, for the man who
had cashed McKinney’s bum check
thought he -was a miner,

This they did. They talked to a fore-|-

man of the King Summit Mines, and
he said yes, he knew a man by the
name of McKinney. A man named Mc-
Kinney had been employed near by up
* until about six weeks ago. Description?
It matched their quarry perfectly.
Vannoy asked, “Any’ idea where we
can find him?” And held.his breath.

“No,” the foreman said. “But there's

a fellow working for the State Highway
now.” He mentioned a name. “He
might be able to tell you. He worked
here when McKinney did and I think
he knew him.”

Swiftly the officers hunted up the
man and he said, “No, McKinney’s
gone from these parts now. But seems
like I heard somebody say he was go-
ing to open up a restaurant in Bishop,
California.”

And that clicked too. So immediately
the investigators hurried to Bishop,
where they enlisted the aid of Police
Chief Merle Curtis and Deputy Sheriff
Spray Kinney. They knew McKinney.
“He lives out north of town,’ the
Deputy said. “He's going into the Army
pretty soon. I think he's going to open
up a restaurant so his wife can make
a living off it while he’s away.”

But at the McKinney home, his wife
said he'd been gone for a week and
she didn't know where he was. The of-
ficers searched the place. They didn't
find him. But they got his photo and
broadcast it everywhere. And they
staked out the place. And they noti-
fied officers stationed on the Nevada-
California State line to be on the
lookout for McKinney.

THs got him. July twenty-third, the
officer at Benton, on the line, tele-
phoned Bishop: McKinney just had
passed the line and was heading for
Bishop. Immediately Deputy Kinney
and Chief Curtis blockaded the high-
way just outside Bishop. They grabbed
McKinney without a struggle,

Aside from denying any knowledge |.
‘of the crime he kept a sullen silence.

Despite this, the officers with the aid
of information they had obtained from
witnesses reconstructed the story as
follows: Somewhere previous to their
entry into the restaurant in Eureka,
the Fishers had picked up McKinney.
He figured they had money he needed
to set his wife up in a restaurant be-
fore he was drafted. So he murdered
them and left with their money and
car which he sold later.

This was the story brought out in
court when the trial began on August
30, 1943. Three days later he was found
guilty and sentenced to die by lethal
gt ane the week of November 21

As used in this story, the names, Har-
lan Ruler and Harry Wilhelm, are fic-
titious to protect men not involved in
this case.

(Continued from Page 5)

Kenneth drove out West Colfax,
over the viaduct toward the mountains
and Golden. The street lights and the
passing cars were just flashes of harsh
color and roaring sound. I wasn’t con-
scious of any distinct thing except
Kenneth’s and Mildred’s voices as they
told me, with frequent references to
the newspaper reading by the dash-
light for details, about the murders
my boy was said to have committed.

The story went like this! William,
Arthur and Robert La Vasseur had
hitch-hiked to Golden on Friday look-
ing for a farm job. Robert La Vasseur’s

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2, 1943, in the Second District Court.
District Attorney Peterson presented
the State’s case, while Attorney R. R.
Hackett represented the defendant.

Mrs. Ora A. Trueman appeared on
the witness stand and identified the
defendant as the man who shot and
killed her husband. Captain Keeter
and Officer Gill identified the gun
taken from the gunman when he en-
tered the police station and the empty
and loaded shells taken from Cox.

The empty shells found at the True-
man home and the one shell recov-
ered after Cox had fired the shot at
the police station, all were identified
as loaded with “nitro-express, No. 4
buck” and all were fired from the gun
taken from Cox, according to. Captain
Hedman who made the ballistics tests
to determine these facts.

Mrs. Wanda May Carter Cox was
brought from Porterville, Utah, and
testified that her former husband was
“mean and jealous.” He always had a
grievance and felt that he was being

DEATH TOURS THE HIGHWA

eS Bas asian Sea es ee ae

west. Then he composed letters to the
sheriffs at Ely and Wells, Nevada, and
at Twin Falls, Idaho. In each letter,
Sheriff Vannoy requested the same
information, Could they find trace of
Lieutenant Fisher and his wife who
had passed through their city on
either April 22nd or 23rd? The
Churchill County officer particularly
asked the Ely and Wells authorities
to check hotels and auto courts, since
he believed the victims had spent the
night in one of those two cities, Then
he had copies made from the Army
picture of Lieutenant Fisher and his
wife to enclose in his letters.

With this paper work out of the
way, Sheriff Vannoy issued a stolen
car bulletin on the Fisher Ford. Then
he placed a picture of the Fishers and
a description of their car in his
pocket, and drove to the last filling
station at the eastern end of Fallon.

Churchill County is a farming area
located in the heart of the Newlands
Irrigation District. The streets of the
county seat were lined with cotton-
woods. The fertile fields around Fal-
lon were green with growing grain,
but Sheriff Vannoy was not inter-
ested in the scenery. Captain Pyle’s
suggestion that the killer had -as-
sumed the lieutenant’s identity had
started a train of thought in the sher-
iff’s active mind.

It is 261 miles from Ely to Fallon.
Working on the theory that the
Fishers had spent the night in the
former city, they undoubtedly had
filled their car with gas the following
morning, Somewhere along the route,

SMASH OFTECTIVE CARES

persecuted.

Testimony at the trial revealed that
Cox had been informed by his friends
that his wife, Wanda May, was stay-
ing in the little cottage at 2240
Lincoln Avenue.
12-gauge shotgun and visited the
Stauffer home with the intention of
killing her. Mrs. Eliza Burton an-
swered the door and was shot to
death.

The defendant attributed his orgy
of killing to a spell which left his
mind a blank. This was due, he said,
to an accident at the Hill Airfield
project, when a timber fell on his
head.

The jury of twelve men found him
guilty of murder in the first degree.
Judge Adams imposed the death pen-
alty, setting the execution for October
15, 1943. When the judge asked the
defendant the manner of death he
preferred, Cox chose the firing squad.

However, Austin Cox was tempo-
rarily saved from death when a Utah

ried dene 1:

(Continued from page 23)

either at Eureka or at Austin, they
must have stopped for gas again. But
even so, the chances were that their
tank was nearly empty as they ap-
proached Fallon. The killer had re-
moved Lieutenant Fisher’s dog tag.
Had the killer, posing as his victim,
purchased gasoline in Fallon?

It was a long time since the Fishers
were killed, but then, gasoline ration-
ing had reduced out-of-state travel.
Some gas station attendant might re-
member a maroon Ford with Idaho
plates.

Vannoy’s first three calls drew a
blank. He worked his way back to the
service stations along the highway.
His fourth stop at the outlying sta-
tions produced the answer he was
searching for.

“I remember that car,” the pro-
prietor of a gas station on the western
fringe of town told Vannoy. “He came
in here just about midnight, late in
April. Fellow in uniform was driving.
He was alone. Had a “C” book.
Bought ten gallons of gas. He showed
me his identification, but I don’t re-
member the name. The car was all
polished up and there aren’t many
that color.”

Sheriff Vannoy returned to his
headquarters and immediately con-
tacted Chief of Police G. Fletcher at
Reno. “It is evident that the man I
want is headed your way,” Vannoy
said. “Wish you’d check and see if
you can pick up his trail there.”

“We'll do it,” Fletcher promised.

Vannoy read off the description of
the maroon Ford and gave the regis-

He borrowed the’

DNS

Supreme Court justice signed a cer-
tificate of probable cause for appeal.
The Supreme Court upheld his con-
viction and the death sentence.

On May 9, 1944, Judge Adams re-
sentenced him to be shot on June 19,
1944. :

Defense counsel Hackett. petitioned
the state Board of Pardons in Salt
Lake City for commutation of the
death sentence to life imprisonment.
However, when the board met at the
Utah State Prison on June 17th, it re-
fused the appeal mainly upon the
recommendation of Judge Adams
“that the judgment of his court be
carried into effect as he believed Cox
to be a man of a ‘mean, revengeful
and surly disposition,’ and that he was
dangerous to the lives of the people of
the state.”

At 5:45 am., on June 19, 1944,
Austin Cox was strapped to the chair
outside the prison walls and his wish
to be shot was carried out by five
marksmen selected by Sheriff Watson.

tration number of the Idaho plates.

Having covered all possibilities of
picking up the trail, Sheriff Vannoy
could do nothing more but wait.

On the afternoon of June 11, 1943,
Vannoy received a telegram from the
Ely sheriff, It stated that the Fishers
had stopped in his city for gas on
April 24th. They did not stay in Ely,
and the service station operator was
positive that there had been a civilian
in the car with them.

Within the hour, another wire came
from Wells, where the Fishers had
spent the night of April 23rd, Appar-
ently, Lieutenant Fisher was in no
hurry, traveling leisurely toward his
destination. But as Sheriff Vannoy
compared the reports, one thing be-
came significant. Somewhere between
Ely and Wells, they must have picked
up the man who killed the lieutenant
and his wife.

The Churchill County official im-
mediately wired back ‘to Ely for a-

description of the civilian, if one was

available.
Then on June 12th, Chief Fletcher
called Vannoy and informed.him that

-his men had located the maroon Ford..

“Tt was sold to a used car dealer,” he
said. “Better come down here.”

When Sheriff Vannoy arrived in
Reno, Chief Fletcher and Richard
Heap, Superintendent of the Tdentifi-
cation Bureau, took him to the used
car dealer.

‘J’m sure we had that car,” the
manager of Richardson - Lovelock
Company said, “The model, motor and
serial numbers all check with a 1941

59

maroon Ford we bought May first.
But this car had Nevada license
plates. We sold it a week later to a
cattleman living out at Sparks.”

“Can you give me a description of
the man who sold the car to you?”
Vannoy asked.

“Yes. He was about 36 years old,
I'd say. Six feet three or four inches
tall and weighed all of 200 pounds. As
I recall, his eyes were blue, but his
hair was heavy and dark brown.”

The manager handed Vannoy a file
containing bill of sale, receipts and a
title certificate.

“Here is the bill of sale he gave us.
He signed it F. L. McKinney.”

“Of course, that’s probably an as-
sumed name,” Supt. Heapt said. “I’d
like to know where the man got
Nevada plates. We can go out to
Sparks and check with the man who
bought it.”

Sheriff Vannoy turned to the used
car buyer. “How. do you happen to
remember this fellow so well?” he
asked.

The auto dealer smiled. “I’ve had
time to ‘think about it since Chief
Fletcher came here this morning.
Good used cars are hard to get these

days, and this McKinney  haggled
about the price.”

Vannoy studied the papers the
manager had given him, “According
to this, the Ford was registered to
Fisher when you bought it.”

“That’s right. He said he had traded
Lieutenant Fisher a house here in
Reno and had taken the Ford on the

deal. The title was properly counter-

. signed, and so we had no, reason to

question it.”

The sheriff digested this informa-
tion in silence. “Of course,” he said,
“the killer of the Fishers must have
known the bodies hadn’t been discov-
ered. Lieutenant Fisher must have
told him they weren’t due at March
Field until the 29th. He figured it was
safe enough so long as he sold the
car before anyone knew the Fishers
were missing.”

Sheriff Vannoy turned to Fletcher.
“It begans to look,” he said, “as
though the man we're looking for
knows this area. An ordinary tran-
sient wouldn’t have hung around
seven days before selling the car.”

Chief Fletcher nodded. “And we've
got to remember that the killer talked
the Fishers into coming west on High-

way 00 via Mallon and Keno, Hle must
have had some reason for that. There
are plenty of lonely spots on the road
from Ely to Tonopah that would have
served his purpose as well.”

“There is one more question,” Van-
noy said to the manager. “How was
this McKinney dressed?”

“As I recall, he was wearing a blue
suit, but I may be wrong.”

“You’re sure he wasn’t
form?”

“Positive. If he had been a soldier,
we would have taken his serial num-
ber,”

“We have a good description of the
killer now,” Sheriff Vannoy said, “and
that is going to help. Before we go
to Sparks to check the Ford, let’s stop
at headquarters and put out a bul-
letin.”

in uni-

PARKS is only three miles east of

Reno. The officers had no difficulty
in locating the purchaser of the 1941
Ford. The man was amazed to dis-
cover that his purchase had figured in
the gruesome Sand Springs murder
which had shocked the entire state.

“The agency will refund your
money,” Vannoy said, “We want to
take the automobile with us.”

The new owner produced the keys
and led the investigators to a garage
where the Ford was parked.

Supt. Heap checked the motor and
serial numbers. “It’s the Fisher Ford,
all right,” he said. “No question about
it.”

They ran the car out into the sun-
light. “Too late to look for finger-
prints now,” the identification expert
said, “But there may be something
else.”

The three officers went over every
inch of the interior of the auto, Then
they opened the trunk, Chief Fletcher
pointed excitedly to a brownish stain
in the fabric matting that lined the
luggage compartment.

Heap pulled out the tool kit and
began studying the implements in-
side..On the cast iron base of the auto
jack, he found a second stain. ,

Fletcher voiced the significance of
their find. “Fisher might have been
killed before they reached Sand.
Springs,” he said. “That jack would
fit the weapon you're looking for. His
body was stowed in the trunk. When
the killer reached Sand Springs, he
turned off the road, shot Mrs. Fisher,
dragged her husband’s body from the
trunk, robbed them both, and then
removed everything that would iden-
tify his victims.”

The chief's reconstruction of the
double murder seemed logical. It
added new horror to the brutal crime.
It was not difficult to imagine the
agony suffered by Mrs. Fisher on the
last few miles-of that trip with her
husband’s body in the compartment

SMASH DETECTIVE CASES


through strange country where they
didn’t know anybody, we can assume
that robbery was the motive for their
deaths, What time did they leave
Gowen Field?”

“About 8 a.m., on April 22nd.”

“Figuring roughly, it’s about 400
miles from Boise to Ely. At 35 miles
an hour that would mean about 12
hours’ driving. Stopovers weuld con-
sume another two hours. That would
keep them on the road about 14
hount They woulda’t tave come fur

SMASH DETECTIVE CASES

The killer (shown here)
thumbed a ride from Lieu- '
tenant Fisher and his wife.
He murdered them both
and drove off with their
car.

ther than Ely the first day, and they
might have stepped at Wells. As I
understand it, from what your man
told me last night over the ’phone,
they planned to follow U. S. 6 from
Ely and go into California through
the Mt. Montgomery Pass.”

“That’s about correct.”

“Then, sometime before they
reached Ely, they changed their plans
and decided to come east on U. S. 50.
Looks like the Fishers had picked up

w bitch-hikeer north of here and he

28 i RO eatin ro o “= ws =

persuaded them to switch to Highway
50.”

“How can you find out?”

“We'll find out,” the sheriff prom-
ised grimly. “Have you a description
of their car?”

Captain Pyle produced a sheaf of
papers, “Here’s the information you
need, They weve driving a 1941 ma-
roon Ford with Idaho plates.”

Vannoy nodded. “This will make it
easier to trace.” ‘ .

‘And here are some pictures of the
Fishers in life.”

Sheriff Vannoy studied the photo-
graph for a moment. Lieutenant
Fisher had been a tall, slender, good-
looking young man with dark hair.
His wife, an attractive, wholesome
girl, was smiling in the picture,

“This picture will help a good deal,”
the sheriff said. “We’re up against a
cold trail, and it may take some time.”

“Is there anything we can do to
help?”

“If there is, I'll get in touch with
you, While you’re here, perhaps you’d
like to go out and see where we found
them,”

Captain Pyle nodded. “I don’t sup-
pose you’ve missed anything, but it
wouldn’t do any harm.”

The two men picked up Lieutenant
Atkin at the mortuary and drove out
toward Sand Springs.

“It’s a wonder you found them at
all,” Captain Pyle said, when they
reached the scene of the tragedy.

Sheriff Vannoy shook his head. “No.
It’s surprising we didn’t find them
sooner. I’ve been in this business a
long time. The violent dead don’t rest
easily.”

“I have been wondering about his
dog tag, Sheriff—you know, the Army
identification disk with his serial
number. You should have found
that.”

“There wasn't a thing on them
when we found them.”

“Strange that their killer would
want it,” Captain Pyle said, “unless.
. ..” he hesitated, “unless the mur-
derer planned to impersonate Lieu-
tenant Fisher.”

Vannoy turned swiftly. “I’m sure
you've hit it!” he exclaimed. “The car,
gas coupons, maybe traveler’s checks
if Lieutenant Fisher had any, wouldn’t
be of much use to anybody else. But
with Fisher’s papers and identification
disk, the killer could have used them
all.”

* * *

PON their return to the county
seat, Sheriff Vannoy mapped
plans for his investigation, Since rob-
bery was apparently the motive, a
hitch-hiker would be a most likely
suspect.
He ‘prepared a bulletin describing
the crime and the victims for trans-
mission to all peace officers in the

(Continmed on page 59)

23

is


ane

~

\
:
\

\

.

The hunt for the fugitive killer con-
tinued. Late in the afternoon of Fri-
day, July 30, 1943, W. M. Pearce, a
quarantine officer, was standing in
front of his booth at the Benton Sta-
tion on U. S. Highway 6, just west of
the Nevada-California boundary.

As Pearce watched, he noticed a
small sedan leave the highway, swing
out on a side road and bypass the
agricultural quarantine stop. It was a
deliberate action and aroused suspi-
cion. Somebody was trying to avoid
inspection, Pearce cut swiftly across
the adjacent field, intent upon secur-
ing the license number of the car as
it passed. But when he espied the
driver, he understood the reason for
the dodge. Pearce recognized the man
at the wheel as Floyd McKinney. He
had known the wanted man casually
in the past, and he knew that the
burly ex-miner was wanted for mur-
der in Nevada.

Pearce raced back to his station and
spread the alarm.

Two miles north of Bishop, Deputy
Sheriff Spray Kinney of Inyo County,
and Patrolman Merrill Curtis of the
Bishop police, forced the sedan from

she called him up, he had already:
left. .. .

The next day, with Mulhare, Vose

made a trip to check Albertson’s cus-
tomers in Wakefield. There was a slim
possibility that he had gone directly
to Wakefield on Saturday night, put-
ting up over Sunday. They checked
lat the railroad station; there was no
recollection of Albertson by anybody.
Vose went into conference with Chief
of Police James J. Pollard.
. “f know Albertson well,” replied
Pollard. “Let me see now. I saw him
here in Wakefield around four o'clock
last Sunday. He carried some sort of
package, and was headed towards
Water Street.” °

Water Street was a fairly populous
section of Wakefield, According to the
list supplied by Miss Otis, Albertson
had a lot of customers in that section.
“You know the set-up, Chief,” Vose
said. “I’d like to find out where Al-
bertson stayed over when and if he
arrived here on Saturday night. I'd
appreciate your cooperation, This is
the first good clue we've found to
work on. As for the package you saw
him carrying, it may have contained
the jewelry.”

“How about getting a little inside
dope on Albertson? suggested Mul-
hare.

“He got his start here in Wakefield,”
Chief Pollard said. “He worked in a

62

SDER

the. highway. The driver gave up
without a struggle. He admitited that
he was Floyd McKinney. The long
manhunt was at an end.

Before the wanted killer was re-
turned to Churchill County, the Cal-

‘ifornia officers charged him with

grand theft. He admitted having
stolen the car he was driving at the
time of his arrest in Porterville, Cal.

During the long and intensive inter-
rogation by Sheriff Vannoy and Dis-
trict Attorney Winters, McKinney
denied the double murder, but he
could not explain his possession of the
maroon Ford, nor could he say why
he was traveling with the Fishers.

* * *

USTICE moved fast for the double

killer. He stood trial before Judge
Clark J. Guild in Fallon on August
30, 1943. Attorney General Alan Bible
came from Carson City to assist Dis-
trict Attorney Winters in the prosecu-
tion.

Three days after the trial opened,
McKinney took the stand and denied
the murders. He claimed he had sold
the Fishers’ car at the request of two
soldiers, that when he sought them

he TS Ste MI AE. See
Rhea SN Sa SNS

MUSI

ELUTE SOTA

ES fe dN AR ROIS aE INET

(Continued from page 41)

shoe factory. Started selling jewelry
as a side line. He built up quite a
large trade here through Luigi Gras-
sidonio, a co-worker, Both men made
quite a bit of extra cash that way.
When Albertson went in business for
himself, he left Wakefield.”

’ With Chief Pollard checking on
where Albertson had lodged on the
night of December 19th, Vose and
Mulhare hunted up Luigi Grassidonio.
However, Grassidonio wasn’t of much
help. He told the Lawrence Inspectors
he had no conclusive information as to
the whereabouts of Albertson. “So,”
concluded Grassidonio with a shrug,
“sf he came here, then, I’m truly
sorry that I have not seen him. That’s
all I know, gentlemen.”

Chief Pollard had information for
Vose, The jeweler had put up with a
friend on the night of December 19th.
This man, reputable and honest, as-
serted that Albertson had left his
home on Sunday morning about

eleven o’clock. He said that Albertson -

mentioned something about a big deal
put through by a friend.

“Who was this friend?” Vose asked.

quickly.

The man didn’t know. His final ad-
ditional information showed that Al-
bertson had been too tired after his
collections in Haverhill. He then de-
cided to make the trip straight to
Wakefield that night, instead of Sun-

¥ BER te MAAR no Kactate

Te it 8G PA lt SA OPA LER AST AER

to turn over the proceeds of that sale,
they had disappeared.

But the chain of evidence developed
by Sheriff Vannoy blasted his story
to shreds. Rebuttal witnesses placed
him in company with the slain lieu-
tenant and his wife from northeastern
Nevada to ’Frenchman’s Station.

On the afternoon of September 2nd,
McKinney’s fate was placed in the
hands of the jury. Two hours and 17
minutes later, court was reconvened,
and the clerk of the court received
the sealed envelope from the foreman
of the jury.

In the hushed silence of the court-
room, the clerk tore open the sealed
envelope and read the verdict. Mc-
Kinney was found guilty of murder
in the first degree and sentenced to
die in Nevada’s gas chamber at Car-
son City. :

A last minute plea to the State
Board of Pardons and Paroles had
been in vain, and on November 27,
1943, Floyd McKinney was sealed in

the death chamber. Fifty-four seconds

after the first death pellets dropped
into the acid beneath his chair, phy-
sicians pronounced the killer dead.

Hasan ‘
bee

day morning.

* * *

OSE and Mulhare started their

investigation of Albertson's cus-
tomers in Wakefield. He had made
about a dozen collections on Sunday
morning. The tide of events turned
when the two able police Inspectors
reached Columbia Road, a little nar-
row street, They acquired there a
startling bit of information. He had
collected from most of his customers
on Columbia Road, but not from the
family at No. 35. :

Vose and Mulhare went over every
inch of the neighborhood. They drew

a blank. Back of No. 34 was a large,

unpainted shack. The place was
locked.

They looked through a grimy win-
dow into a dirty interior, noted

nothing unusual.

Back at the Wakefield Police Head-
quarters, Vose enlightened Chief Pol-
lard:as to the fruits of their investi-
gation, “I feel doubly sure now,” he
stated bluntly, “That Albertson met
with foul play. And, without hedging,
right here in Wakefield, Chief!”

Chief Pollard immediately took
charge of his end of the hunt for
Albertson, He ordered his small but
efficient force to search Wakefield
from one end to the other. Then Pol-
lard said, “Vose, when you lose some-
thing, you go back over your steps

SMASH DETECTIVE CASES


getince:

:
a
a
a
5
3
<
r
4
:

chicken, hot rolls and home-made pre-
serves until the prisoner must have felt
like a pampered pig being fattened for the
slaughter. Representatives of Virginia’s
clergy and members of the Sisters of
Charity attended him regularly. To many
he appeared more like an honored guest
than a condemned criminal.

But among Virginia’s male population,
it was a different story. As the date for
Millian’s hanging approached, commit-
tees were appointed to handle all sorts of
ceremonial matters in connection with
the execution. Architects were employed
to draw specifications for a gallows, the
design and dimensions of which would do
honor to the finest hanging in the history
of the Comstock.

A municipal holiday was declared.
Schools would be closed, the children dis-
missed; the mines would be closed down.
Even the saloons announced that they
would lock their doors, with the result
that forthright citizens found it prudent
to provide themselves with bottles well in
advance.

0, the appointed day, before eight
o’clock in the morning, small groups of
the curious had gathered on B Street out-
side Virginia’s court house. In two hours
the entire square was jammed with spec-
tators. Newspaper accounts noted that
among those present were many ladies
and “also a great many of the class to
which Millian’s victim had belonged.” By
9:30 a veritable torrent of humanity, rid-
ing in wagons, carriages, buggies, on
horseback and afoot, was pouring into
Virginia City. They came in droves from
nearby Gold Hill, Washoe, Dayton and
Carson City as well as the surrounding
countryside. Every rooftop, doorway, win-
dow and balcony was crowded with the
curious. Nothing like it had ever been
seen before on the Comstock.

Finally the prisoner was brought out.
He mounted a carriage especially pro-
vided for the occasion, waved his hand
and bade farewell to the assembled

- throng, and then his carriage and those of

public officials, escorted by the National
Guard, moved off down B Street toward
the execution site in a natural amphi-
theatre at the north edge of town. Behind
them came a yelling, surging mass of
men, horses and wagons, stampeding in
the wildest confusion.

Within the very shadow of the gallows,
families had spread checkered tablecloths
for their picnic lunches. The surrounding
hills were black with humanity. A murmur
arose as Millian, unassisted, mounted the
steps to the scaffold. From a prepared
text he read his last remarks to the crowd
in French, which few of them could un-
derstand even if they were close enough
to be able to hear clearly. While he did
not admit his guilt, neither did he deny
the crime. He thanked Sheriff Mulcahy,
Deputy Sheriff Gregory, his attorney, the

members of a local family, the Sisters of -

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58

ed in Julia’s funeral procession, his arm
displaying the solemn band of mourning,
did so in order that his absence might not
be noticed and embarrassing questions
asked afterward.

In death, even as she had in life, Julia
Bulette seemed destined to evoke con-
troversy, a sizable proportion of which
survives even to the present day. One
account of her funeral (vehemently de-
nied by the incumbent pastor) recalls that
Father Manogue, Virginia’s Catholic pre-
late, granted special dispensation in view
of Julia’s many charitable works, so that
her services might be conducted in St.
Mary’s. Another, more believable version,
relates that the Reverend William Martin
pronounced the final words over her
mahogany coffin with its silver nameplate
in Virginia City’s fire-house.

It has also been recorded that Julia, on
account of her profession, was denied
burial in holy ground, and today’s visitors
to Virginia City are directed to a lonely
gravesite on a rocky hillside, perhaps a
mile east of town. This is claimed to be
her final resting place. Originally its mark-
er bore simply the name, “Jule,” but to-
day no such marker remains to identify
the occupant.

One romantic version of her funeral has
the band of the Brigade of the Nevada
Militia marching resolutely home from
the cemetery, playing “The Girl I Left
Behind Me.” If they didn’t, surely they
should have done just that. It would have

been a fitting final tribute to Julia’s loving °

nature, and her true generosity.

F ollowing Julia’s elaborate funeral, life
returned almost to normal on Sun Moun-
tain. No trace of her murderer was found
and after awhile the crime became more
or less accepted as unsolvable. But after
several months, on the night of May 2,
Martha Camp, another Virginia City
woman who lived on South C Street, en-
countered a felon armed with a knife
skulking in her bedroom. Her screams
so unnerved the fellow that he fled from
her home via the back door. She had got-
ten a good look at his face, however, and
having recognized him, caused him to be
arrested the next day on a charge of at-
tempted murder.

The man proved to be a personable
young Frenchman, John Millian, alias
Jean Marie A. Villain, a native of St.
Malo, France. He had been in custody
for about three weeks when a certain Mrs.
Cazentre, a resident of nearby Gold Hill,
informed authorities that she believed she
had some dress material which had belong-
ed to Julia Bulette. When the material
was brought to Virginia City, two dry
goods merchants remembered having
sold this goods earlier to Julia, she having
been the only buyer of the expensive stuff.
Mrs. Cazentre, confronting Millian in his
cell, identified him as the man from whom
she had purchased the cloth.

Previous to his arrest, Millian had been

employed at a bakery on North D Street,
only a short distance from Julia’s resi-
dence. Virginia’s Police Chief Edwards
soon located a key to Millian’s trunk,
which had been left at the bakery, and
upon opening it discovered many of the
articles stolen from Julia’s home on the
night of her murder.

Millian was a member of Virginia City’s
fire department and had marched with
his fellow firemen on the day of her fu-
neral. On May 28, Millian was formally
charged with Julia’s murder.

Once again there was hell to pay in
Virginia City. There was talk of lynching
Millian, but cooler heads prevailed when
it was explained that more than enough
evidence existed to hang the guilty man if
the law were allowed to take its course. At
his trial, several citizens came forward to
identify the defendant as the man who
had sold (or offered to sell) them various
diamonds and other articles of jewelry,
now recognized as having belonged to
Julia Bulette. The evidence was all cir-
cumstantial, but its weight was deemed
more than sufficient to hang the man,
even though Millian steadfastly denied
his guilt. Presently a verdict of guilty was
returned, and the death penalty was pro-
nounced by the presiding judge, Richard
Rising.

Charles De Long, Millian’s attorney
(later the first U.S. Minister to Japan)
moved for a new trial and, denied this, he
appealed his client’s conviction to the
Supreme Court. The court denied Mil-
lian’s appeal, and Friday, April 24, 1868,
was set as the date for the condemned
man’s execution.

Vieginia City’s population had mush-
roomed meanwhile from 15,000 in 1863
to more than 38,000 in 1868. Her Com-
stock Lode had developed into the larg-
est concentration of precious metals ever
discovered on earth, all within the short
space of 10 years. Now Virginia boasted
4 banks, 20 laundries, 54 dry goods stores,
6 churches and something over 100 sa-
loons. The first elevator west of Chicago
graced her International Hotel, and her
opera houses and theatres presented
Italian light opera, lectures, vaudeville
and even Shakespeare’s plays.

Any day a man might stumble upon a
vein of high-grade silver in the floor or
walls of his basement which would make
him rich overnight. In 1864 Nevada Ter-
ritory had been admitted to the Union as
the 36th State. Comstock mines had
financed much of the building of San
Francisco and had bolstered the federal
government’s credit during the Civil War.
Now their output of gold and silver was so
great that the government was about to
establish a branch of the United States -
Mint at nearby Carson City. sat

Virginia City’s womenfolk, many of
them, made no bones about their sym-
pathy for John Millian. They trooped
back and forth to his cell bringing fried

GOLDEN WEST

est a


j
'
j

Ee oe fe on tet ate nee et ee ee

Bate abe Bt) Re ieee Vid ete GR hte bays

tended its construction and had it covered
with evergreen boughs and artificial flow-
ers. When the governor’s carriage clat-
tered beneath it on July 15, Julia’s trium-
phal arch provided the crowning touch
to the greatest day Virginia City had ever
seen. Down the street between waving,
cheering masses of citizens and Visitors
came the procession. Bands played “Hail
To The Chief.” Tom Peasley, in a bright
red coat and white helmet, led the ele-
ments of Virginia’s fire department. Some-
where a cannon boomed. And Governor
Nyé, attired in a black frock coat, his tall
silk hat in his hand, bowed to the right
and left from his carriage.

Watching the parade, Virginia City’s
public spirited love-image, Julia Bulette,
must have experienced mixed emotions.
Governor Nye’s arrival meant that law
and order were on their way to Sun Moun-
tain. It foretold an end to barroom brawls,
to nocturnal knifings and shootings out-
side saloons.

And what of her? Was this the prover-
bial handwriting.on the wall? Already Vir-
ginia’s matrons were raising their hands
in protest and inserting dainty forefingers
in their ears whenever her name was men-
tioned. But Julia still occupied a respected
place in their husbands’ hearts. How
would it all end?

0. March 7, 1864, there occurred an
event of unparalleled histrionic impor-
tance in Virginia City. Adah Isaacs Men-
ken, one of the most adored Thespians
of that golden era, opened an engagement
as Mazeppa at Maguire’s Opera House.
By curtain time every seat was filled, and
the aisles and the back of the theatre were
filled with standees. Mark Twain, (or
rather, Samuel Clemens), and Dan De
Quille occupied front row seats to cover
the gala opening for the Territorial En-
terprise. Julia Bulette awaited the per-
formance in an elaborate stage box, its
brocaded interior screened from the audi-
ence by thin, partially drawn curtains. We
are told that diamonds glistened from her
ear lobes, and that a giant, blood red ruby
flamed on her breast. Furs draped her
lovely shoulders, and one might have
thought that Julia had every reason to be
happy.

But she wasn’t. Increasing pressure
brought to bear by the town’s more “prop-
er” ladies had relegated Julia and others
of her kind to this luxurious box when
she would have preferred a seat on the
main floor among her many friends. Julia
Bulette, “Queen of the Red Lights,” was
denied the one thing she could never
hope to obtain, respectability in the eyes
of her peers. It was a bitter pill for the
lovely libertine to have to swallow, but
she had no alternative, and at the play’s
conclusion she returned to her home with
a strange feeling of impending doom
troubling her heart.

On Sunday morning, January 20, 1867,
a Chinese servant entered Julia’s Palace,

GOLDEN WEST

as was his custom, to build up her fire.
Finishing his duties, he departed again,
believing her still asleep.

About eleven o’clock, Gertrude Holm-
es, a neighbor, came to summon Julia to
breakfast. Receiving no response, she
entered her friend’s bedroom and turned
down the rumpled quilt which completely
covered her. The awful sight that met the
poor woman’s astonished eyes caused her
to run screaming from the house. The
queen of Comstock courtesans lay dead,
foully murdered, beaten and strangled in
her bed!

One might easily have believed that the
devil, himself, had broken loose in Vir-
ginia City. A vast crowd assembled quick-
ly outside Julia’s house, and there were
ominous murmurings of action by vigil-
antes and even lynching if the law—such
as it was—failed to apprehend her mur-
derer. An inquest was held by Acting
Coroner Murray, but it accomplished lit-
tle beyond establishing robbery as the
motive for the crime. Julia’s earrings had
been torn from her ears, and most of her
other jewelry had disappeared along with
her furs, a costly man’s watch, two gold
watch chains and charms, and various
other articles of her personal property.

On C Street the saloonkeepers decor-
ated their swinging doors with black
mourning crepe, and at Engine Company

No. 1’s headquarters, Tom Peasley’s men
went silently about the task of festooning
their entire fire station in a magnificent
black manifestation of misery. Julia's fel-
low-firemen vowed to give their beloved
transgressor the finest funeral Virginia
City had ever witnessed and to march be-
hind her bier to the cemetery in final
tribute to their departed queen.

0, the following day as the hour for
Julia’s obsequies drew nigh, Virginia City’s
firemen assembled, each displaying a
wide band of black mourning crepe on
the left sleeve of his dress uniform. More
than a few could still hear the cataclysmic
reverberations of marital fury ringing in
their ears, and several had purposely
abandoned their abodes via the back door
to postpone, for an hour or two, the
domestic explosions which their obvious
loyalty to Julia was certain to bring about.

On the other hand, the good ladies of
Virginia City were secretly congratulating
themselves that what they considered
Divine retribution had finally caught up
with their “female ambassador from hell.”
It had been a long time coming and some
among the exasperated ladies might well
have wished her murderer unqualified
success in escaping justice.

Alas, the firemen’s wives could not
possibly have known that one who march-

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Charity and all of the Virginia City ladies
who had been so solicitous in his behalf.
He declared that he was not afraid to die
but regretted the disgrace which the man-
ner of his death would bring upon his
family in France.

Under Sheriff Leconey then read the
death warrant. Father Manogue of Vir-
ginia City and Father Clark from Carson
City administered extreme unction. Sher-
iff Mulcahy adjusted the noose around
the prisoner's neck, and Millian, himself,
kicked off his slippers to allow his legs to
be bound. The sheriff then drew a black
cap down over the condemned man’s
head, and at 18 minutes before 2 o’clock
John Millian dropped through the trap
amid the unabashed cheers and roars of
the males of the assembled multitude.

Twenty-five minutes from the moment
the trap was sprung Millian’s body was
cut down, and life was pronounced ex-
tinct by Doctors McMeans and Green.
While the crowd filtered slowly back into
town where Mark Twain was to lecture at
Piper’s Opera House that. evening, John
Millian’s lifeless body was carted away
to the Catholic cemetery for burial. Its
exact location within that cemetery is
unknown today.

flings died Julia Bulette’s murderer (or
one of them) in a manner which the as-
sembled throng agreed was “truly gen-
teel.” It was rumored afterward that Mil-
lian had been the unwitting accomplice of
two men named Douglass and Dillon who,
he claimed, did the actual killing. But in

the temper of frontier justice, an accom-
plice would serve as well as the actual
killers, and neither of the other two was
ever apprehended.

It was also determined that Julia was,
after all, English. She was born, according
to one source, in London in 1832 (another
source lists her birthplace as Liverpool).
At an early age she emigrated to the
United States where she lived for awhile
in New Orleans. At one time she had mar-
ried a man named Smith from whom she
subsequently separated. She supposedly
had an uncle and a brother living in Louis-
iana at the time of her death at age 35.

Today, the official court records of
Julia Bulette’s estate, badly charred by
Virginia City’s great fire in 1875, still
exist in the office of the Storey County
Clerk of Court. For nearly a century those
records were kept “under wraps,” and
only recently Editor Bob Richards of the
Territorial Enterprise was allowed access
to them. This writer, during a visit to Vir-
ginia City, was also allowed to examine
the documents and to have photostatic
copies made of several of them, so that
they might be reproduced as a part of this
article for the first time in any national
magazine. Interestingly enough, the court
records of Millian’s trial and sentencing
have mysteriously disappeared.

Inventories of Julia’s estate, made at
the time of her death and, later, following
the discovery of Millian’s trunk, indicate
that much of her affluence, if it ever
existed, had likewise disappeared. When
she was murdered Julia owned no real

RACE FOR THE NORTH POLE

(Continued from page 37)

snail’s pace and had made progress at all
only when helped by their drivers.

At the foot of the hill the men stopped
and held the excited teams, that I might
walk on before and be the first to greet
the two exiles. But aside from an over-
turned boat, half-buried in the snow, a
collection of empty biscuit and provision
tins, and a group of dogs chained to the
top of a bank of ice, I could see nothing
whatever indicating a human habitation.

“The hut is just before you, sir, right
behind the dogs,” said Emil Ellefsen.

There is not an atom of superstition in
my mental composition. I never had a
presentiment or anything of that sort.
But it is the plain truth that, as I picked
my way up the rough snow-bank and
through an array of shaggy dogs all howl-
ing and leaping and straining at their
leashes, I knew something had gone
wrong at the hut.

That instant a rough human figure
emerged from the mouth of a tunnel lead-

60

ACE eeeereseraas

estate and boarded with her landlady,
Gertrude Holmes. The total appraised
value of Julia’s personal property im-
mediately following her murder was $517
although this same property sold later at
auction for $875.43. A subsequent ap-
praisal of her property, or that part of it
which was recovered from Millian’s trunk,
totaled $534.25, but its sale netted only
$360.80.

Proceeds from both auctions were al-
most sufficient to pay Julia’s funeral ex-
penses, her doctor and her other credi-
tors. It is interesting to note that her
“double mahogany bedstead” sold at
auction for $20, and a pair of her red silk
stockings brought exactly one dollar.

Virginia City’s Red Light District con-
tinued to flourish until 1947 when another
Particularly gruesome murder there re-
sulted in its being closed by authorities.
Today a Nevada state historical marker

‘on the corner of D and Union Streets re-

calls those earlier, boisterous times when
it flourished with little, if any, restraint.
Another bronze marker on the east
side of Virginia City’s C Street memorial-
izes Julia, herself. She was not the last of
her kind on the Comstock, but she was,
without doubt, the Old West’s most be-
nevolent, magnanimous courtesan. Her
memory rests as firmly rooted in today’s
history as it was in the hearts of those
rough miners to whom her very presence
gave the only tangible assurance of a bet-
ter life somewhere away from the dig-
gings, once they had made their pile. May
She rest in peace! *

ing down into the snow-bank. The man
held a rifle in his hand. He was dressed
in furs. His face was as black as a stoker’s.

“Bjoervig, how are you?”

“I am well, sir, but—but poor Bentzen
is dead.”

We stood silent for a moment, hands
grasped, and looking into one another’s
eyes. A tear trickled down upon Bjoervig’s
black cheek and froze there. Then his
countrymen came up, and when he told
them the news, these simple-hearted fel-
lows were as dumb as I had been. It was
Bjoervig who did the talking. We only
listened and watched him, being but dimly
conscious of the true nature of the
tragedy within the shadow of which we
stood.

Bjoervig talked and laughed and cried
by turns. But he did not forget his hos-
Pitality. “Come in, sir, come in and have
some hot coffee. You must be tired from
your journey.”

He dived down into the mouth of the
tunnel, pulling me after him. First we
entered a little cavern where a mother
dog lay nursing a hairy, squeaking brood.
Hardy puppies these, opening their eyes
and gulping milk ina temperature seventy

degrees below freezing. The mother dog
licked Bjoervig’s hand, and growled at
me. Now we went down upon our hands |
and knees, and crawled through an open-
ing in the rock wall of the hut. A bearskin
was hung there for a door. Once inside, I
tried to stand erect, and bumped my head
against the ice with which the ceiling was
covered. It was so dark in there I could
see nothing, and Bjoervig led me to a seat.

“Sit down, sir, sit down and rest your-
self, and Ill have the coffee ready in a
moment.”

At one side of the hut, in a niche in the
rocky wall, a bit of fire was smoldering.
Bjoervig put on a few pieces of dried
driftwood and a big hunk of walrus blub-
ber, and the flames burst out.

Very cheerful and bright, the fire look-
ed, but not a particle of heat did we get
from it. What was not used in boiling the
coffee went up the chimney. Three feet
from the flames the rocks were white with
a thick coat of frost, and all the walls and
the roof glittered like a bed of diamonds.

It was a strange little den, and to me it
seemed colder than out of doors. The bril-
liant fire was but mockery. Fairly well
illumined was the end of the hut where we

GOLDEN WEST


By Franklin Sharpe

Special Investigator for

OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

0 one known as Slim who had been a
‘iend of Shenk.

The only real clue was Shenk’s car,
1952 Pontiac sedan with a two-tone
lue finish carrying Nevada license
lates. His license number and a de-
‘ription of the car were given to law-
ronoes agencies in all the western
ates.

But days, weeks and months went
’ without word of Shenk or his car,

AEANWHILE, Clarence © Morgan
Dodd, a 39-year-old carpenter of
incaster, California, near Los Angeles,
lid a visit to his mother, Mrs. Ruby
argan, in’ Winnemucca, Nevada. He
ft her home on October 18. 1953, in-
nding to see friends in San Diego.
But Dodd did not reach San Diego.
hen he failed to arrive at his desti-
‘tion, his stepmother, Mrs. J. R. An-
rson of Pearlblossom, made a report
the police.
To travel from Winnemucca to San
ego in his 1953 station wagon, Dodd
uld have taken Highway No. 95 for
1 miles almost to Reno. There, he
d a choice of continuing on the same
ite to Las Vegas and then ogg 4
2r into California, or taking No. 39
t of Reno and travelling across the
jave Desert.
3ut when the California authorities
estigated, using the license number
Dodd's station wagon, they discov-
‘d a strange thing. At the Truckee
pection station, where all out-of-
te cars are searched to stop all fruit
1 vegetables that might be diseased,
‘y found Dodd’s car had Passed
‘ough there.
Chis was on the way to San Fran-
20, not to San Diego.
\n even more ominous report came
m New Boston, Texas, just ten days
er Dodd left his mother in Winne-
cca. His station wagon was found
pe highway near there completely
ned.
‘ew Boston is on the Texas-Louisiana
der, 1,800 miles to the east.
‘exas authorities reported that an
estigation convinced them the car
| not been wrecked but had been de-
rately fired by someone who had-
red gasoline over it.
‘elegraph wires hummed as the Cali-
lia, Nevada and Texas authorities
d to find some answer to the puz-
g riddle. The highway was searched
miles in both directions from the
> where the car had been found and
body or signs of violence could be
overed.
exas police could uncover only one
|. A gas-station operator near the
Il town of Delight, Arkansas,
wht he recalled seeing the new

Dodge station wagon with two men in it.
“I remember them because one of the
men asked me to fill up a three-gallon
can,” the service station man recalled.
“He said he didn’t want to be caught
out someplace with an empty tank.”
Asked for a description, the gas-sta-
tion attendant could recall only that
the man was about 40 years old and had
“tattoo marks on his hands.” He was
pas ond to remember the designs of the

Dodd had no tattoo marks. -
The station wagon was burned so
badly that technicians could not recover
finger-prints or even determine if it
had had bloodstains in it.
So the case remained a mystery for
—the time being. Why had the station
wagon been headed for San Francisco
when Dodd had planned to go to San
Diego? Why had it suddenly reversed
direction and gone east, only to be
burned.on the lonely road?

Two months later, on December 13,
Alvin and Bob McKinnon of Sparks,
a town just east of Reno, went hunting
for wildcats in the mountain coun.
try along the highway leading to Win-
nemucca. Clambering down a ravine
a short distance from Highway No. 40,
the boys discovered the body of a man
partially covered with rocks, They re-
_ borted their find to Washoe County of-
ficers in Reno.’

Sheriff C. W. “Bud” Young, Under-
sheriff William O’Boyle and Deputies
Frank Cole and Bill Driscoll went to
the scene. - One glance told them the
man had been murdered. A 30-inch
length of stout binder’s twine had been
knotted around the throat for a garrote.

Nothing in his pockets even hinted at

The second auto, bound from
Winnemucca, Nevada, to San
Diego, was found 1,800 miles
away, in New Boston, Texas

John Bobell: A gun, he
thought, would make him
the equal of an officer

ws

OUND

2

Ya at oe
‘4 b Re 4,
betenan oy wy %,

Pedrini, center below,
to Deputy Johannes,
at his right, "I'm
fouled up this time”

heard a shot..." This is the

his identity. The boiling desert sun
beating down on the body for what the
officers estimated must have been sev-
eral months, made the man’s features
completely unrecognizable,

Sheriff Young went over the files of
missing persons. The two top names
were Shenk and Dodd. A number of
other men had been reported missing in
the state but their general height and
bone structure did not conform. Rela-
tives of Dodd and Shenk were sent for
but all means of identification had been
obliterated by decomposition.

Finally, after diligent work, Identifi-
cation’ Officer James Wood managed
to remove the skin from the fingers. He
modeled similar fingers from wax,
stretched the skin over them and came
up with a set of prints.

These were rushed to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation in Washington
to compare with the master file. The
officers knew that several weeks would
be needed for a comparison to be made,
If they were lucky, the victim might
have his prints recorded, from being in
the armed services or in a defense plant
during the war.

THEN. on Thursday afternoon, De-
cember 17, Sheriff’s Deputies Rob-
ert Martin and Robert Lawson were
cruising on South Virginia Road near
the Anderson school in Reno.
A car whizzed by doing about 45 miles

‘an hour and Lawson took off after it.

He soon halted the car, a light yellow,
1952 Pontiac sedan with California tags.

“What's the idea?” Martin demanded
of the driver. “Didn’t you see that
school zone back there? . It’s a fifteen-

—_ limit and you were doing forty-
ve.”

“We drove up a road and Frank took him down in a ravine. |

death "ravine", or box canyon

“I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t see it,”
the driver replied apologetically, “I'm
not feeling well; I was trying to reach
town so I could get a hotel room.”

Martin moved in closer, sniffed.
“Drunk?” he queried.

a7 I’m not drunk. I just don’t feel
we _ .

Martin examined the driver’s license.
It was issued to John Evans of Sonoma
County, California.

“I'll have to take you in to Head-
quarters,” Martin told him. “We con-
sider going through a school zone that
of & pretty serious offense in these

“Can’t you just give me a ticket?”
Evans pleaded. “I’m really sick. I'll
come in later and post bond, or pay a
fine or whatever you like.”

Martin eyed the man. ‘He didn’t look
sick. The officer had run up against
some pretty good excuses from out-of-
state cars. Once the drivers left the
state, they all figured the police could
whistle for their fine.

“You'll have to come in and tell it to
the captain,” Martin declared, sliding
into the seat beside fhe driver. “The
office is right on your way into town.”

“They moved off, with Lawson fol-
lowing in the patrol car.

At Mary and Virginia Street, Evans
stopped the car. “Will you drive?” he
asked. “I’m too sick to keep on.” ~

At Saint Lawrence Street, Evans
reached over the back seat and fumbled
with something on the floor in the rear.
aa are you trying to get?” Martin

ed.

“A gun!” Evans cried. “And I’ve got
it! That makes us even.” : :

Martin lunged against the man, pin-
ning him to the door. For a moment


Deputy Cole and the stains

in the ailing ox-con's car

ney struggled. Then the door flew
pen, the man rolled to the sidewalk and
nen sprang to his feet.

Lawson, right behind them, leaped
ut of the police car. .

“Hold it!” he shouted.’

The man ran. Sprinting after him,
awson fired a shot over his head. Un-
aunted, the man tried to climb a fence.
ut he was too slow. Lawson caught
im and pulled him down.

Evans was unarmed. But in the
ack of his car was a Spanish-make
utomatic. Martin had knocked it out
f his hand when he lurched against
im in the struggle.

At Headquarters, Evans was searched.
‘e had $353.19 in his pockets. In his
allet was a registration slip for a 1947
adillac registered to a Reno business

cm.
“What was the idea of trying to use
gun to escape?” Sheriff Young de-
‘anded. ‘You must be in some kind of
serious jam to pull a trick like that.”
“I was just sick,” Evans rrotested.
: told the officer I was sick. I guess I
st my head.”

Evans was finger-printed. ‘What's
yur real name?” Officer Wood asked
im. “You may as well give it to us
raight. We'll get the dope as soon as
e send these prints in to the Califor-
‘a State Crime Lab at Sacramento.”

Daniel Shenk: He thought he

knew which horse was fastest

“T’ll_ save you the trouble,” Evans
id. “My true name is John Bobell
d I’m an ex-con, all right. I’ve been
king at Sebastopol on the railroad.”

HE record book filled in what Bobell

failed to tell. He had been sentenced
prison three times and since his last
itence, had been on parole for about
0 years without any record of viola-
ns during that time. :

“Go over that ear closely,” Sheriff
Young told Wood. “A man with a rec-
ord like his must have been in some
sort of trouble to try to pull a gun on
an officer.”

Wood looked over the car and said:
“It must be hot. Someone has put a
cheap yellow paint job over a two-tone
blue finish. The paint underneath is
good so he must have had some reason
for changing the color.”

Wood noted something’ else—dark
stains on the right front seat and door
and the carpeting under the seat. They
looked like blood. A lab test would be
made to determine what they were.

The motor and serial numbers of the
car gave the officers their first break.
This car had belonged to Daniel Shenk.
It was the one he had been driving
when he disappeared en route to San
Diego. °

Bobell was questioned by District At-
torney Jack Streeter. “You were driv-
ing Shenk’s car,” Streeter declared.
“We found a body about a week ago out
near Sparks and it will be identified
soon. Why not save us: the trouble?
Where did you meet him?”

“It’s a lie!” Bobell screamed. “I didn’t
kill anybody. I bought that car.”

“You'll have to do better than that,”
Streeter replied.. “You were using a
phony registration card. We know
about that one, too.”

The Cadillac registration, officers
found, belonged to a car that had been
totally wrecked about six months pre-
viously.

Bobell was sweating. “I’m on a spot,”
he said. “I know it and I don't expect
you guys to believe me, everi if I told
you the truth.”

“Try it and see,” Streeter invited.

Wetting his dry lips, Bobell leaned
forward. “I bought the car from an
ex-con in Sacramento. He told’ me it
was hot but I could get away with it
if I had it repainted. I only paid him
a hundred bucks for it.” He paused to
see how Streeter was taking his story.
Then: “I picked up some plates in a
wrecking yard. I knew I had to have
new plates after the first of the year,
so that’s why I bought the title to the
wrecked Caddy. You don’t believe me,
do you?” :

Streeter shook his head. “It doesn't
sound good. The car you were driving
belongs to a man who disappeared.
oe tests show bloodstains on the front
seat.”

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me,”
Bobell replied. “But it’s the truth. I
bought the car from an ex-con.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know his name. All I know
is he’s an ex-con.”

Streeter pulled out a pack of cigarets.
He offered one to Bobell, lighted it for
him. “It won’t wash, Bobell,” he said
softly. ‘“You’re an ex-con. You claim
you bought the car from an ex-con. It
just won’t wash.” ee

“I’m dead,” Bobell moaned. “I'm
dead and I know it. I ain’t got a
chance.”

“Why not give us a statement and
clean it up, then?” Streeter‘suggested.

Sweat glistened on Bobell’s forehead
and beads of perspiration formed on his
upper lip. “Don’t you see, if I knew
the car was wanted in a killing, I
wouldn’t have touched it with a ten-
foot pole,” he pleaded. “I’m not stupid
enough to go driving around in my own
death warrant.”

Repeated questioning failed to shake
Bobell’s story. Investigation in Reno,
Voobtepdec® turned up some interesting

acts, -

Bobell was known in the local “horse
parlors” as a “place plunger”. He bet
only on the favorite to place, or run

second in a race, wagering large sums: .

on short odds. .

Shenk also had been known in the |

same bookmaking offices. Bobell even
admitted that he might have met
Shenk but denied that he was the Slim
who had gone to Las Vegas with the
missing man or that he had killed him
for his car and the $400 he was
carrying.

A few days later the Federal Bureau
of Investigation sent in a report that
the finger-prints from the body found
in Mustang Canyon identified it as
Clarence Morgan Dodd.

Bobell was questioned again. He told
his story over, denying any knowledge
of what had happened to Shenk and
swearing that he did not know Dodd.
The only new bit of information the
officers got from him was the fact that
he had re-painted the car himself in
a@ garage at his brother-in-law’s home
in Santa Rosa, California.

The bloodstains, in the Pontiac,
Positively identified as human, left
little doubt in the minds of the officers

that the missing ordnance depot guard, .

Shenk, had been killed.
But where was his bodv? .-—_—
(Coniznuea on Page '58)

43

e

Meanwhile, authorities announced,
Roche had startled them with another
atatement, According to the police he
had confessed that on August 22, 1953,
he had found a man asleep in his car
+ Mtg Street near Beach Channel

ve, i

He had bludgeoned that man: to
death with a length of pipe and stdien
his wallet, Roche supposedly confessed.

Such a killing actually had occurred;
the victim was a sailor named Edward

8. Bates. However, the case supposedly
was solved. A Brook) youth named
Paul A. Pfeffer, 22, had been found
guilty of the slaying, in spite of his pro-
testations of innocence, and at the time
of Roche's alleged statement, was in
Great Meadow Prison, Comstock, New
fee serving a 20-year-to-life sen-

nce.

Authorities at first were inclined to
discredit Roche’s supposed confession
of this crime. However, attorneys for

Pfeffer demanded a full investigation
and two reporters for a Now York nown-
paper found a twelve-inch galvanized
iron pipe in the spot where Roche
allegedly said he had thrown the death
weapon after the slaying of Bates.

On June 15, 1954, Queens County
Judge Farrell granted a motion for a
new hearing for Pfeffer, to get to the
bottom of the situation. That same
day, June 15, a New York County grand
jury returned four indictments against

_ )

Roche for first-degree murder, charg-
ing him with the slayings of Jablonka
Mrs. Chronik, Marion Brown and
Dorothy Westwater.

Aa this issue of OFFICIAL DETEC-
TIVE STORIES goes to press, action on
the indictments against Roche and the
hearing which may free Pfeffer from
prison, are pending.

All names in this story are real ex-
cept Hugo Flack, which is fictitious.

The Victim They Didn't Expect (Continued from Page 43) ‘OMICIAL SarucTine Tones

Was Bobell telling the truth?
Thus, Washoe County officers had

two slayings. In one of them, they had ©

&@ man under arrest but no body. In the
other, they had a body but no suspect.
Sheriff Young sent Deputies Cole
and Driscoll and Assistant County At-
torney Dyer Jensen to Santa Rosa to
see if they could turn up anything more
on Bobell. The officers talked to Chief
Criminal Deputy Andrew Johannes.

At Bobell’s parents’ home in Santa
Rosa, they found a dark shirt with
bloodstains on it. The shirt was similar
to one Shenk’s wife had reported he
was wearing when he disappeared.

“It isn’t proof of anything,” Jensen
pointed out. “Bobell will say he found
it in the car when he bought the auto
from the ex-con.”

Cole said, “‘Bobell did time in Folsom.
Do you know if he was hanging around
with any other ex-cons up here?”

“I wasn’t keeping an eye on him,”
Johannes replied. “But there’s one
man out of Folsom I’d like to get my
hands on in a hurry. Frank Pedrini.”

OHANNES told them about Pedrini.

He had been sentenced to Folsom
after the brutal murder of a grocer.
Batista Acquistapace, in the neighbor-
ing, county of Napa sixteen years pre-
viously. :

“I worked on the case,” Johannes
said. “It was pretty terrible. We were
all sore when the parole board let him
out. Sheriff Clausen told them Pedrini
would kill again if they let him loose.

“But they did. A bartender named
Ed Williams gave him a job as a handy
man. He worked around the place for
@ few weeks and then one night he
came in with a gun and whipped Wil-
liams. Darn near killed him. That’s
the kind of a man he is, after Williams
had given him a break.”

However, no apparent connection
existed between Pedrini and Bobell or
Pedrini and the Nevada killings.

“Keep an eye out for him down your
way,” Johannes requested. “He
threatened to kill everybody who had
anything to do with his conviction and
‘ — he’s just the kind who would

lo Yd

“We'll look for him,” Cole promised.

“You won't have any trouble identi-
fying him,” Johannes declared. “He
= _ on the backs of both of his

ni oe -

“Tattoos on his hands?” Cole asked.

“Yeah.* All over his body, too, on
his arms, chest and legs. But the marks
on his hand are most noticeable.”

“The Dodd case!” Cole cried. “Re-
member the report from Arkansas? A
service-station operator down there
saw a man in a Dodge station wagon
with tattoo marks on his hands.”

The Nevada officers gave Johannes a
rundown on the Dodd murder.

“You may have something there,”
Johannes declared. “While I was
tracking Pedrini, I got a tip that he had
a girl friend whose home town is De-
light, Arkansas. He was supposed to
have made a trip there with her. By
the time I got the information, it was
too late. I wired the Arkansas author-
ities but the couple wasn’t around.”

“When was this?” Jensen asked.

Thumbing through his reports Jo-
hannes discovered that he had re-
ceived the information the first part
of November, so Pedrini must have
been in Delight some time in October.

58

“It fits like a glove!” Cole declared,
“Dodd came up missing on October
eighteenth. His burned station wagon
was found near New Boston, only a
few miles from Delight, on the
twenty-eighth.” .

“He could do for your murderer,”
Johannes said. s‘I’ve never come across
@ more cold-blooded killer.”

“How about his girl friend?” Jensen
asked, “Maybe we could find her.”

“No soap,” Johannes replied. “All
I know is her name, Jackie Devore.
I’ve been looking for her, hoping she
could lead me to Pedrini.”

Johannes gave them one other lead.
He had learned that Pedrini had gone
to Arkansas with Jackie Devore, an-
other ex-convict, LeRoy Linden, and
Linden’s friend.

“Linden was Pedrini’s cellmate in
Folsom,” Johannes explained, “I had
him spotted in Los Angeles awhile
back, hoping he’d join up with Pedrini,
but I lost him and I don’t know where
he is now. Maybe he and Pedrini have
teamed up.” ‘

The Nevada officers returned to
Reno, They hadn’t accomplished much
in solving the mystery surrounding the
disappearance of Shenk but they did
have their first lead on the Dodd
murder.

“The tattooed hands and the fact
this Pedrini is known as a killer and
was in Delight at the time Dodd’s sta-
tion. wagon was burned, all make it
look good,” Jensen reported to Streeter.
“But we're stymied on locating him.”

“Sonoma and Napa Counties are af-
ter him,” Cole said. “About all we can

‘do is put out our bulletin for him.”

“We can do better than that,”
Streeter declared. “We'll get the FBI
to give us a hand.”

“On a local murder case?” Cole ques-
tioned.

“No. Dodd’s car was taken to Texas.
They can come in on the interstate
transportation of a stolen vehicle. We'll
ask them to help us locate both Linden
and Pedrini on the assumption they
drove Dodd’s car to Texas.”

Bobell was questioned again about the
Shenk case. He gave the expected an-
Swers concerning the bloody shirt found
at his parents’ home. It had been in the
car when he bought it from the ex-con
in Sacramento, he said.

For a time, both the Shenk and Dodd
cases seemed to come to a standstill.

y= Sonoma County Sheriff Harry
L. Patterson and Johannes went to
see Pedrini’s mother, who lived in the
little town of Boyes Hot Spring.

“Has he killed them yet?” the elderly
woman asked when the officers identi-
fied themselves,

“Killed who?” Patterson asked.

“His sister and her husband.”

“Not that we know of,” Patterson
said. “We're only here to see if you
might know where he is.”

+ “Thank Heavens!” the mother cried.
“I’ve been so afraid.”

Mrs. Pedrini revealed that Frank had
been in her home on Christmas morn-
ing. “He’d been drinking and he said
he wasn’t feeling well and he thought
he was going to die but before he died
he was going to kill his sister and her
husband.”

As he left the house, he had told her,
Mrs. Pedrini said, “I’m on my way to
kill them. You’ll probably read about
it in the papers tomorrow. After I fin-

ish with them, I’ve got some others to
take care of.”

Pedrini’s sister, Erma Mozzetti and
her husband, Joseph, operated a motel
in Brisbane, California. The officers
went there to interview them.

“Mother called us to say he was com-
ing,” Mrs. Mozzetti declared. “We
haven't slept since she called.
wants to kill us because we opposed
his parole.” .

Sheriff Patterson decided that he
could not take a chance on trying to
get Pedrini in silence. He revealed the
threat against the Mozzettis and the
others to newspapers and asked any-
one who knew where Pedrini was to
notify the authorities at once.

And to all law-enforcement agencies,
the bulletin went out: “If you spot him,
do not try to take him alone. He is
known to be armed and dangerous. He
will kill without hesitation.”

On January 5, 1954, G-Men located
LeRoy Linden in Los Angeles.

“I’ve been going straight,” the Fol-
som ex-convict protested. “If those
cops in Nevada say I’ve done anything,
they’re crazy.” :

Reno officers flew to Los Angeles to
question Linden. He denied knowing
where Pedrini was.

“I saw him just after Thanksgiving,”
Linden declared. “Then I heard he got
in some kind of a jam up north over
beating up a bartender, so I figured he
was hot. I didn’t want any part of him
because I’ve been going straight.”

Asked about the trip to Delight,
Arkansas, Linden denied it flatly.
“Wherever you got your information, it
is wrong,” he said. “You haven’t got
a thing on me. I’m clean.”

Linden said he would not fight ex-
tradition, He would willingly return
with the officers to Reno to face any
charges they might have against him.
Sheriff Young and County Attorney
Streeter brought him to Nevada. Jen-
sen, Cole and Driscoll were left to carry

on an investigation with the help of

be Los Angeles police and _ sheriff’s
office.
“We really haven’t got anything on
Linden except Johannes’ tip that he
went to Arkansas with Pedrini,”
Streeter pointed out to the officers.
“Pedrini is the one who has the tattoo
marks on his hands and might possibly
be identified by the gas-station at-
tendant in Arkansas, Unless you fel-
lows can dig something up, we won’t
be able to hold him very long.”

ba RENO, Linden continued to deny
any knowledge of the slaying of
Dodd. Authorities had nothing to tie
him to the disappearance of Shenk.
And although both Linden and Bobell
had been in Folsom Penitentiary, they
denied knowing each other.

“We're just skating around on the
edge of both of these cases,” Streeter
told Sheriff Young. “Unless we get
some kind of a break, we won't be able
to crack either of them.”

In Los Angeles, with the help of the
local officers, Jensen, Cole and Driscoll
covered the area where the FBI had lo-
cated Linden. They canvassed the bars,
cafes—any place where anyone might
know about Linden.

From a bartender, they got the bit of
information they were looking for.
“He's been going around with a real
good-looking chick,” the bartender
declared.

hor” you know her?” Driscoll asked

The bartender hesitated. “How seri-
ous’is the deal?” he asked. “I know the
babe, but I also know she’s married.
I don’t want to get anybody jammed
u ”

“It’s a murder case,” Cole replied...
“If you know something, you'd better
open up.”

The bartender gave them the name
and address of Mrs. Ellen Brooks and
soon the officers were questioning her.
At first she denied knowing Linden or
having been anywhere with him.

“Do you want us to prove that you
were in Delight, Arkansas, with him?”
Cole asked.

The woman’s face blanched.

“You know Jackie Devore and Frank
Pedrini,” Cole went on. “If they say
you were in Delight with them and
Linden, how are you going to deny it?”

Without actually making the state-
ment, Cole gave the impression that
Miss Devore and Pedrini were in cus-
tody and had given statements.

“What do you want to know?” Mrs.
Brooks asked.

“All about that trip to Arkansas.”

Mrs. Brooks declared that she and
Linden had met Pedrini and his gir)
friend in the Arkansas town. — -

“We were there about a week, party-:
ing and having a good time, and then
the fellows ran out of money,” she said.
“They left their cars with us and went
off somewhere. When they came back,
they. were loaded.”

“How long were they gone?”

“About a week.”

“Where did they go?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t tell us.”

“How did they get the money?”

“They didn’t tell us that either.” .

“But you've got a pretty good idea.”

Mrs. Brooks had “a pretty good idea”
of what had happened. Pedrini and
Linden had left their cars in. Delight
because they planned to hitch-hike un-
til they were picked up by somebody
with money they could take.

Mrs. Brooks also gave the officers in-
formation about Miss Devore that made
it possible for the Sonoma County offi-
cers to locate her in Santa Rosa. She
told a similar story to the one given by
Mrs. Brooks.

Going over the evidence in the Dodd
murder. Streeter pointed out the one
weak link. “We can show a motive.
We can show Pedrini and Linden were
in Texas,” he said. “But:the one thing
we can’t do yet is put them in Dodd's
i wagon or prove that they killed

“And we still have the Shenk case
to worry about,” Sheriff Young said.
“Bobell is sticking to the story that he
bought the car from an ex-con.”

Streeter suggested: “As long as we
got the Dodd case rolling, let’s worry
— it first. We have to find Ped-

“And how do we do that?” Young
asked.

“The way the FBI gets most of their
wanted criminals after they've been
identified. Give the picture and a story
about the crime to the newspapers.
They'll have the whole country look-
ing for them.”

“You think we should give the news-
papers the story we have so far?”

“We'll give them all the facts that
won’t hinder our investigation,”
Streeter declared. “It should be in-

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McKINNEY, Floyd, white, asphyx. Nev. (Churchill) ¥&Z% Nov. 27, 19 3.

The grim desert
concealed the skeletons
nearly two months,

but it also preserved
a direct link

to the double killer

; He assumed the identity
A A. H, Ah f Ce his two victims.
{ Arndt L< awd Me ty .
- QoS

HE buzzard, wheeling silently over the desert,
had been hanging like an artillery spotter
plane for a good ten minutes, occasionally

‘ dipping low, then soaring aloft again to resume its endless :
circling. This couple headed unsuspectingly
“That must be the place,” Sheriff Ralph Vannoy, of into the desert to meet death.
Churchill County, Nevada, told his companion, Coroner
Harold Bellinger, pointing toward the scavenger of the <= Ae RBIS Toe

air. From five miles back they had been watching the bird,
at first a mere speck in the cloudless sky.

Bellinger nodded, increasing the speed of their car which
had been moving slowly along the blazing ribbon of con-
crete while the officers scanned sand and sage upon which
the merciless sun beat down at a hundred degrees tempera-
ture turning Sand Springs Salt Flat into an inferno of
j heat and alkali dust.

“If it is,” the coroner said, “there probably isn’t much
left to investigate but hones since only one buzzard is hang-
ing around.”

‘ _ Presently, when they were abreast of the place over which
the bird hovered, Bellinger stopped the car and with his
companion started for a patch of mesquite a hundred yards
off the highway. They quickly detected the odor reported
by a motorist and then came upon two human skeletons,

virtually stripped of flesh and already bleaching white.
) Moving up on the windward side they saw ata glance this A pair of skeletons was found off this road
[Continued on page 69] cutting straight across the blazing salt flat.


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iran
h hin..
, take
n kill
it. I'd
ynne-
cell as
which
-ossed
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laude,
When

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protect
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4 Two Telegrams
4 From a Corpse

{Continued from page 4]

was no accidental
i or thirst, but a double murder.

clothing nearby, only

3 dence of
% to cover the bodies

BY shreds and scattered
3 From the condition
q exposure to sun and
, coroner said

and later
by the buzzards.

i closer examination

death from exposure

Both
if skulls had been crushed with a heavy
4 instrument. Moreover, there Was no evi-
the
remnants of a blanket apparently used

ripped to

of the bones, due to
dry desert air, the
he estimated the Victims had
i been dead at least two months. Upon
he thought one was

a man, the other’a woman. It being June
4 9, 1943, Bellinger’s estimate put the date

of death at about mid-April,

Sheriff Vannoy and the coroner now

began a search of the area for clues. A

% short distance away a set of tire tracks

¥ led from the highway. These circled

4 . around the spot where the bodies had
been left and back to the road a half mile
farther on, which was the reason the of-
ficers had not noticed them as they ap-
proached. For months there had been no
rain in the desert country and little wind
to drift a covering of sand Over the tracks,
so they stood out as Sharply as though
made that morning. Vannoy took plaster
casts of them with equipment carried in
his car.

Meantime, Bellinger was Studying the
positions of the skeletons and carefully
moving the bones in order to examine the
ground underneath. Presently,. he called
to the sheriff,

“Look, Ralph,” he said, turning the skull
of the woman with one hand and pointing
to a small hole just over the left temple
that had been hidden by the angle at
which the skull lay. “She was shot as
well as bludgeoned.” 5

For a moment Vannoy also studied the
hole, then both men Saw a second one
near the top of the cranium and at the
edge of the fractured area. “The slug
emerged here, Probably missing the por-
tion of the brain where it would have
caused instant death,” the coroner said,

Sheriff Vannoy nodded. “Yes, and the
bullet having emerged, is as lost as com-

the Golden Brayfogle mine over
Valley. No chance of finding it

to help solve this one,” he said with a per-
plexed frown.
While they

1 had been talking, Bellinger
had lifted the woman’s skull and now ex-
pie amined a dark stain underneath it. “Dried
‘fe. \blood,” he remarked finally. “That means

¢ probably was killed here. Let’s take a
k at the other skull.”

derneath, just an
¢bone made by ;

tbe,” Bellinger replied, “ ’
be, likely this man picked at 9
‘who robb I

y§ putting the body in the car
ihe may have shot the Woman

'

must have been murdered else-

’ brough
al,” Bellinger Said. 8ht here for

oy frowned thoughtfully, “pee
‘he said finally, “she was % lie
rder, then was knocked off her-

disclosed the teeth in both jaws had had
considerable dental work done on them,
including gold inlays and fillings.

“This may lead to an identification,” the
coroner said after completing his grue-
some job. “We'll have charts made of
those jaws and circulate them among den-
tists all over the country,”

It appeared doubtful to the lawmen
that the victims were local people, either
ranchers or residents of a town or vil-
lage, as no reports of missing persons had
been received during the last three or
four months,

At the end of two hours the officers
had discovered nothing except the tire
tracks and dental work that would be
helpful in identifying the murder victims
Or as an indication of the trail of the
killer or killers. Even the shreds of the
old blanket, after minute examination,
revealed no mark by which it could be
identified.

There were numerous footprints, but
sO imperfect in the soft sand as to be
useless for making casts. Search as they
would, the lawmen could find no murder
weapon, nor was there evidence of blood
along the trail from the highway over
which the mystery car had been driven.

Owever, the tire tracks did indicate
that the bodies had lain close to the rear
of the car, Supporting Bellinger’s theory
that the man’s body had been in the trunk.
Yet there were no small footprints such
as might have been left by a woman had
she walked to the spot of her execution.

WHEN the skeletons were taken to

Fallon, Churchill County seat, and
examined by Dr. Hobart Wray, he con-
firmed the opinion of the coroner, stating
death undoubtedly had occurred early in
April from fractured skulls in both cases.
The bullet through the woman’s head, he
said, probably was fired by the murderer
to make certain she was dead.

The complete disintegration of the
woman's body made it impossible to de-
termine whether or not a sexual attack
had been made or attempted,

The place where the Skeletons were
discovered was twenty miles southeast of
Fallon ona lonely and little used highway
through one of the worst desert sinks in
Nevada. Only by luck had the sheriff been
put on the trail of this double killing when
a motorist had been forced to stop near
the scene to replenish water in the car
radiator from an extra supply he carried.

Upon returning to his office, Sheriff
Vannoy called for all reports of missing
Persons received from the FBI and po-
lice departments throughout the United
States and Canada. After several hours of
sifting through this data, he found noth-
ing that cast even the slightest light on
the mysterious skeletons,

Next he turned to the stolen automo-
bile reports but these were as fruitless
as the missing persons file. All the stolen
cars had been so reported by their owners
and nowhere was there any hint that any
Persons had vanished along with a car.

With no link to tie the two victims
together, Vannoy gave deeper considera-
tion to the possibility that instead of they
Picking up a hitchhiker, that it had been
the other way around, And that perhaps
the slain pair had been given lifts sepa-
rately by a murdering motorist.

Even, if this theory proved correct,
where did it get him as a lead to solve

the crime, Sheriff Vannoy asked himself.
It would be impossible to examine all the
automobiles in the West for bloodstains,
Two weeks after the skeletons were
discovered, Sheriff Vannoy received a let-

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ing he had done the dental work described
in the police circular. He said the man
was Raymond E. Fisher, a former school
teacher in Mineola, who had entered the
air corps early in 1942. The woman was
his wife, Marion Burke Fisher. They had
left Mineola together in March 1942 for
an air base where Fisher was trying for
a commission,

With this information, Vannoy imme-
diately communicated with Army officials
and soon learned Fisher had completed
his course and been commissioned a sec-
ond lieutenant, being assigned to an air
base at ‘L'ucson, Ariz. Later he was trans-
ferred to Gowan Field, Boise, Idaho.

On April 4, 1943, Lieutenant Fisher was
again transferred to March Field, River-
side, Cal. He received a ten-day leave,
his orders calling for him to report on
April 14. It was known he left Gowan
Field with his wife driving a red Ford
sedan.

All this seemed to check with Vannoy’s
information regarding the skeletons but
then the mystery deepened. Fisher, the
Army reported, telegraphed for an exten-
sion of leave the day before he was due
to report at March Field, stating his wife
was critically ill, The wire was sent from
Reno, Nev., the address for reply being a
Reno hotel. The request was granted, an
additional week being given him.

At the end of this time another tele-
gram came stating Mrs. Fisher had died
and it would be necessary for the lieu-
tenant to go back to New York with her
body. He asked for thirty days to attend
to the funeral, dispose of jointly held
property and settle other personal busi-
ness. Again the request was granted.

This brought the time up to June 2.
When no further word was received from
Fisher, Air Corps authorities did not im-
mediately list him as A.W.O.L. because
of the confusion resulting from the trans-
fer and requests for extensions of leave.

Sheriff Vannoy swiftly set in motion
machinery to trace the sender of the two
telegrams which were dispatched after
the established date of the murder of the
Fishers. At the Reno telegraph office, a
clerk recalled the second one because of
the stated death of the sender’s wife.

The man was a second lieutenant, she
said, but here any similarity with Ray-
mond Fisher ended. The officer, according
to the Western Union clerk, was dark,
rather handsome and about 25 or 30 years
old. This description varied considerably
from that of Fisher provided by army
authorities.

Vannoy knew at once that his first
theory of a hitchhike murder was prob-
ably the true answer. But he also realized
that the killer probably had donned not
only Fisher’s uniform but also his identity
as given in his army papers. In all likeli-
hood he had disposed of the stolen auto-
mobile for he certainly would not have
kept the car while remaining in Reno for

ten days after murdering the couple.

A check of the register of the hotel
showed that a Lieut. Raymond E. Fisher
had stayed there alone from April 7 until
April 26. He had gambled steadily, at
first winning heavily. Then he lost his
profits. Several attendants at gaming
tables remembered him. Their descrip-
tions not only tallied closely with that of
the clerk at the telegraph office but were
even more detailed as to a small scar on
his face and his beady, emotionless eyes
set in deep sockets under bushy brows.

This man spoke with a soft, southern
accent, Sheriff Vannoy was told. The
back of his right hand was tattooed with
a naked woman, the legs extending down
on the third and fourth fingers. If he
drove a car, no one had noticed it.

Assuming this was the man who had
slain the Fishers, the sheriff went a step
further in figuring the stolen car might
have been sold in the divorce capital.
Again his judgment was good, for within
twenty-four hours the automobile was
found at a garage where it had been
bought for $675 from an army officer
representing himself as Lieut. Raymond
E. Fisher. He had turned over his regis-
tration card and bill of sale, so the
automobile dealers had every reason to
believe it was a legitimate sale.

Examination of the machine revealed
human bloodstains in the trunk. But when
it was checked for fingerprints, no useful
impressions were discovered. But the tire
treads matched the cast of those taken
by Sheriff Vannoy in the desert near the
skeletons.

Again the description of the phantom
lieutenant agreed with those of other wit-
nesses who had seen him, But once again
further information concerning him or
his movements faded away into nothing.

WE the investigation momentar-
ily bogged down, Sheriff Vannoy
was by no means discouraged. He now
had a good description of the person he
felt certain was the murderer of the
Fishers. Moreover, because of the bold-
ness with which he had operated, he fig-
ured the fellow was no amateur in crime.
Therefore the lawman felt confident that
if the man had been in prison recently,
he could be traced through the. unusual
tattoo on his right hand.

The army was able to trace the Fishers’
route from Boise, Idaho, south through
the Snake River country to the Nevada
border, thence to Winnemucca, Nev.,
about 120 miles north of Fallon where it
ended as the ill-fated couple entered the
Humboldt mountains in Pershing County.

When they made their report to Sheriff
Vannoy, Captain Tyle and Lieutenant
Atken, army criminal investigators, were
asked if they knew of any soldier bearing
a tattoo of a nude woman on the back
of his right hand.

“That was the first thing we checked ‘
on,” Captain Tyle replied, “when you in-
formed us about it. All our records have
been examined and we found nothing.
Any soldier, private or officer, who had

“such a mark would have had a notafion _

about it on his record. I am sure the,man
you want is not in the service.”

Efforts of Sheriff Vannoy to determine
if Mrs. Fisher had worn any jewelry, at
first unsuccessful, now brought results.
A letter from a relative in Geneseo, N. Y.,
where she had lived prior to moving to
Mineola upon her marriage to Fisher.
stated she owned no expensive rings but
that she did wear a small diamond wrist
watch given her as a wedding present by
her husband. This was described in great
detail. So a search was undertaken in
Reno pawn shops to determine if such
a watch had been pledged since early
April.

Once more the sheriff hit pay dirt. A
Reno loan agent, who communicated with
Chief of Police H. C. Fletcher, said a
branch office of his in Winnemucca, where
the Fishers’ clear trail had suddenly
ended, had taken such a watch as security
for a loan early in May. Two weeks later
it was redeemed by mail by a Fred Wil-
lard who explained he had bought the
ticket from a stranger. He wanted the
watch sent to an address in San Ber-
nardino, Cal.

The trail of the murderer now seemed
hot. But it cooled quickly when San Ber-
nardino detectives located Fred Willard
without difficulty. He readily confirmed

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scudiig lor ine watcn Out proved to the
satisfaction of authorities he had been
working steadily and had not been out
of the, city since early March. Moreover,
his reputation and record were excellent.
Nor did he in any manner fit the descrip-
tion of the man believed to have mur-
dered the Fishers and stolen their car.

Willard said he had bought the pawn
ticket for the watch from a stranger one
night in a tavern. The fellow was an aver-
age sized man wearing civilian clothes and
appeared no different from thousands
working in war plants and shipyards up
and down the Pacific coast. Willard had
not noticed any tattoo marks on his
hands.

Meantime the army and the FBI had
been working quietly on the case. Numer-
ous transient workers and draft evaders
had been picked up and questioned with-
out success. Circulars, describing the
wanted mystery killer, and his strangely
tattooed right hand, were sent to federal
and state prisons throughout the country
as well as to state, county and city police.

At the end of another month, Sheriff
Vannoy and Churchill County Prosecutor
E. E, Winters, who had joined the inves-
tigation, were satisfied the murderer was
not a former convict and abandoned hope
of tracing him through prison records.

One day early in August, Vannoy and
Winters were discussing the baffling case.
“You know, Ed,” the sheriff said, “the
fellow who killed them must have slipped
up somewhere . . . left something along
the way that would trap him if we could
find it. They always do.”

“Well,” the prosecutor said after a mo-

_ ment, “what do you suggest?”

Sheriff Vannoy thumped the desk with
a heavy fist. “I’m going to start all over
again, We must have missed something
that could be the key to this puzzle. It
may be too late but out there in the desert
things don't change much in a couple of
months. There are no crowds stamping
around to destroy clues. If we overlooked
something, mast likely it’s still there.”

The following morning Vannoy re-
turned to Sand Springs Salt Flat. It was
the fourth time he had been back since
the two skeletons were discovered. Al-
ways searching for something he was
never able to find. For two hours he me-
thodically circled the clump of mesquite
that had hidden the remains of the murder
victims from the highway. He also care-
fully retraced the routes taken from and
to the highway by the Fishers’ car.

At last, hot- and parched from the ex-
treme heat of the desert, Vannoy was
about to give up once again when he
stooped to examine one of the numerous
footprints left by the phantom killer. Al-
ways he had hoped one of them would be
sufficiently clear to permit making a cast.

But, like the others, this one wouldn't
do, Yet it seemed to be better than any
he had noticed before. More from habit
than anything else, Vannoy withdrew a
small metal scale from his pocket and
measured the print. “No,” he muttered,
“it’s no use. Can’t get enough out of it to
be worth anything.”

As he rose, he dropped the scale and
reaching down to retrieve it, dislodged
sand in the track he had been examining.

Even as the desert had disgorged its
slain dead, it now gave up a small piece
of paper, Examining it, Vannoy observed
it was a corner torn from a small card
and had been hidden up to now because
the person who left the tracks had stepped
on it, forcing it into the sand.

The corner of the card still bore a few

rinted letters and part of a name written
in ink. On what was the topline, there
were the letters “CATE.” This type was

larger than portions ot two more lines
below. The first of these showed only the
word “the.” Immediately below and in the
same size type was printed “nited States.”
A quarter of an inch down was part of a
dotted line on which was written in now
faded ink “nney.”

Almost immediately Sheriff Vannoy
recognized this was the top right hand
corner of a draft registration card. To
be certain, he took his own from a wallet
and examined it. Sure enough, printed on
the top line in large type was “Registra-
tion Certificate.” The next two lines in
smaller type read: “This is to certify that
in accordance with the selective service
proclamation of the President of the
United States.”

It was obvious that the letters “nney”
on the doted line were the last four in the
registrant’s last name.

Realizing he at last had a real break,
the sheriff hurried back to Fallon. By
telephone he communicated with draft
board officials in Nevada as well as Cali-
fornia, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Arizona,
giving the information he had and re-
questing a search be made in the records
for a man whose last name ended in
“nney.” He also wired the FBI, asking
that a check be made of all draft evaders
with surnames containing those four
letters.

With the finding of this fresh clue, new
life was injected into the case. It was im-
mediately realized the registration card
could not have been Fishers because the
letters did not correspond with any in his
name. Within twenty-four hours every
local draft board in twelve western states
had been advised to check their records.
More notices were going out to state and
county authorities throughout the na-
tion.

It required a week to get results from
this campaign but eventually word was
received that the torn piece of registra-
tion card might be that of a Floyd Mc-
Kinney, whose last known address was
in San Bernardino, Cal. Since early in
July the FBI had been seeking him as a
draft evader who had failed to report for
his physical examination.

HEN San Bernardino detectives

visited the address McKinney had
given his draft board, it was found to be
a rooming house where the fellow had
lived while working in a war industry
plant. But he had left there late in March,
the landlady said, and she had not heard
from him since.

She did remember, however, several
letters that had come for him and been
returned to an address in Bishop, Cal.

Informed of this, Sheriff Vannoy and
Detective William Heap, of the Reno
Police Department's criminal identifica-
tion bureau, who had been working on
the case, went to Bishop where they
quickly leartted a Floyd McKinney lived
with his wife.

Upon going to the address, Mrs. Mc-
Kinney admitted them to the house. She
said she had not heard from her husband
for more than two months and had no
idea where he might be. She didn’t even
know whether or not he was working,
but thought he must be for when he was
idle he usually turned up in Bishop.

“Did your husband have a nude woman’s
figure tattooed on the back of his right
hand?” Sheriff Vannoy inquired casually.

The woman nodded. “That's right. The
legs extended down on his fingers. I didn’t
like it very much and always was after
him to have it removed, but he said it
couldn’t be done.”

It now seemed but a matter of time

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71

SPECIAL DETZCTIVE MAGAZINE,
oe dul yen 9K...

DEATH CAME QUICKLY IN THE GAS CHAMBER, .
=_ = pIDN'T. IT, KILLER? MUCH MORE QUICKLY AND
pea oe > er “ns Ee somercirutty THAN IT CAME TO YOUR vicTIM — :
CHURCH : ee le 34. ee in. “= * tHE ONE YOU TOOK ON A WILD, NIGHTMARISH RIDE
ee oo 2 : pete eee | yo DEATH WAS SURE TO COME, SHE KNEW — BUT —
"sue HAD TO WAIT UNTIL IT TICKLED YOUR FANCY
“Le MICHAEL H AND ; Aol ae “a eee4, tg Smee =—S—Ss«*STHACT:s«HERR HUSBAND’S ONCE WARM AND VIBRANT
_by MICHAEL e : iy fh, y wee Soe fia BODY WAS GETTING COLDER AS IT LAY DOUBLED: ~
HERIFF RALPH VANNOY of ff B41. 3 8 oa 24 iS a. oh, OS - YP IN THE TRUNK OF THE CAR IN WHICH
ee County. Ney eG See Be ae tg spite «SHE WAS RIDING TO HER DOOM! THE LAW - 3
D i'e he deserted road: .Ccce- RNIN i saat aa uae a be ee 4 Pre _" "WAS KIND TO YOU, WASN'T IT, KILLER? ™
Mubart Wray, was in the back seat, Me eee pee ligne 1. aa eae
the “doc’s” little black bag betweet : i ae ; ee es ae : —. : car window almost before-they had
his feet, he along here soon,” Bel £ Ps a oe eX Ss “Sure glad you got here, Sheriff!”
Jinger said. Ys Sepa. ee Sone ‘ oe | atten 's > oie . he gasped. “It’s awful, There's two of ;
“Yes.” the sheriff returned. “You os on ; “them, and I think they've been dead

The lecale of thi

eee

-@ ‘small clearing.

- alighted and followed a trail of ré&
- cent footprints. ~ ari gene gs eae
: Partly: hidden from view by the.

‘fragrant purple sage, two” human
“= bodies lay sprawled in the sand. A”
“thin, khaki “blanket concealed —the .

-. head and shoulders of each corpse.

“I was headed for Fallon when - “Gad!” Bellinger gasped. “One .of

- had a blow-out near that billboard,” -them is a woman.” = (0 0.
“he. said, “I. pulled off the road to ~ He stooped to roll away the blank-

change tires, When I got out of my

used in this story were
for SPECIAL DETEC-


Li. Fisher and his wife were ~~
ecstatie about the trip they
were going to take together.

_ ft was going o be a
honeymoon, but it turned out
to be rendezvous. with death.

é

- These questions tumbled about in
his mind. ik. was apparent that the
motive for the death of the pair was
effects of .

Vann arted to circle the little
seVennon, = keen eyes studying the —

to one knee. : 3
Pe*You fellows come here a minute, :
ne ne medical officer and Bellinger
fo ~sheriffbending~ over the =~
‘unmistakable print-of an auto tire. It :

There were always a number
“of hitchhikers on the road the
Fishers fook. Unfortunately, they -

e «picked up the wrong example.

~

e

killed here, but apparently the wo

ai

head, and torso

bare of flesh, and where the
bodies had been uncovered, the dry
Nevada air had preserved them in a

man was. ss
“How long have they been here?
Sheriff Vannoy wanted to know.

shrunken, mummified condition. “It’s pretty, difficult to say. About

-’ Sheriff Vanno; inted to the re- | two_months. : 8

mains of the ravens and belt on the ~ “How old do you think they were?
“That’s officer’s ” be “Judging from bone: structure,

man.
stated, “and that’s a buckle from an
Army belt.”

The county medical examiner be-
gan his preliminary examination. -_
Beneath the woman’s head, there « gers were
i like somebody robbed ar d
Dr. Wray touched it thoughtfully. them. It ll be a job to identify them,

ee Then he pointed to a jagged hole in Bellinger said.
: her head. “It’s evident that the wo- The sheriff nodded —,
shee man was killed here,” he said, “We long had they been on the ?

Where did they come from? How had
they come to this lonely spot?

Carefully, mile by mile, the offi-
cers went over the victims’ route
asking questions at every serv-
ice station, at every restaurant.

St ck se

* with a pretty heavy object,” the doc-
tor said..“It must. have-been-a elub
“gn automobile jack. And he ‘wasn’t ~

es Seiten ig ceehiaene
eaeceta os pease

~=spot was solved.

The three investigators followed
the tire treads to the highway. They
had come in a.car, and the killer

Be must have driven away in it.

*** *

a. sheriff and Dr.Wray returned
to Fallon and sent an undertaker

“to the scene of the double slaying-

In an effort to establish the identity

. = of the corpses in the desert, Sheriff
Vannoy enlisted the aid of the editor

of the Fallon newspaper, giving him
the description of the pair. The little
community was shocked by the grue-
some discovery, but their identity re-

mained a mystery since no. local per-
sons were reported missing.

When Bellinger and the undertaker
arrived in Fallon with the bodies, Dr:
Wray made a more complete exami-
nation. He confirmed his earlier
opinion as to the cause of death and
at the sheriffs suggestion, he made

” charts of the victims’ dental work.

Vannoy and Bellinger returned to
the sheriff's office in . Courthouse
Square. '

“T’'m going to contact every Army
base in this aréa,” Sheriff Vannoy
announced. “Maybe in that way we
can establish their identity.”

“Maybe this fellow was A.W.O.L.,”
the coroner suggested.

“It’s possible.” the sheriff de-
murred, “but highly improbable. This
man was an officer, and was travel-

“ing with his wife. We have to know
who they were, and that’s what I'm
going to do first.”

Sheriff Vannoy dispatched his tele-
grams and settled down to wait. Re-
sults developed sooner than he ex-
pected. Late that day, he had a long
distance telephone call from Army

SPECIAL DETECTIVE a

~~ was blurred 7 d from exposure sure to the ele-
~ ments, but the mystery of how the
_ stwo bodies had reached the forlorn

“feady to take off with Victim

Number Two very still alive.

- officials at Gowen Field, just outside

of Boise, Idaho.
Lieutenant Raymond E. Fisher,
“formerly stationed at Gowen Field,
and his wife had di while
en route to March Field, California.
The couple had left the base at
Gowen on April 22nd, They had in-
tended to travel south on U. S. High-
way 80 to Ely, Nevada, then take
route No. 6 into California.

This proposed route would not have
taken them through Fallon or any-
where near the spot where the bodies

“had been discovered, but Gowen
Field authorities thought it possible
that the discovery of the murdered
couple between Fallon and Sand

= Springs was an explanation for Lieu-
tenant Fisher’s disappearance. —
“Were they traveling alone?” Van-
noy asked. :

-- “Yes. They were driving a maroon,
1941 Ford sedan. Captain Pyle and

Lieutenant Atkin will leave here in

the morning by plane. They both
knew the Fishers-and should be able
to- identify them for you.”

The two Army officers from Gowen

Field arrived in Fallon shortly be-

fore noon the following day. Sheriff -

Vannoy took them to the undertak-
ing parlor where they were joined
by Dr. Wray.

The sheriff pulled back the sheets

covering the two bodies.

The Army officers studied the skele- x

tal remains for several minutes.

Captain Pyle spoke first. “It's diffi-
cult to be positive under these con-
ditions,” he said grimly. “There ‘isn’t
much left, but I think it’s Lieutenant
Fisher and his wife.”

Lt. Fisher said goodbye to his
friends at Gowen Field before
he began his ill-fated journey.

cian studied it for a moment,
it with the chart he had

there’s any question about it.” me
Captain Pyle accompanied Vamnnoy
back to the sheriff’s office while Lieu-
tenant Atkin made arrangements to
ship the bodies back to Gowen Field.

“We haven’t anything to go on yet,” é

Vannoy said, “They've been dead a
long time, and that. means that their
killer has quite a head start on us.

_ But now we know who they were,

and we can begin to do some

Their car, their clothes and money
are missing. Since they were traveling
through strange country: where they
didn’t know anybody, we can assume

- that robbery was the motive for their

deaths, What time did they leave

=.Gowen Field?”

“About eight a.m., on April 22nd.”
“Figuring roughly, it’s about 400
miles from Boise to Ely. At thirty- .
five miles an hour that would mean _
about, twelve hours’ driving. Stop-
overs would consume another, two
hours. That would keep them on the
road about fourteen hours. They
would not have come further than
Ely the first day, and they might have
stopped at Wells. As I understand it,
from what your man told me last
night over the ‘phone, they planned
to follow U. S, 6 from Ely and go in-
to California through the Mt. Mont-
gomery Pass.” cise ees
“That’s about correct.” “ES /
“Then, sometime ‘before they
(Continued on next page)

SRE

decided to
Une

ily.”
“J have been wondering about his
Sheriff—you know, the Army
should have found

% a thing on them

~  -when we found them.”

their killer would
i ess

“['m sure
ed. “The car,
gas coupons, ler’s checks
if Lieutenan
wouldn’t be of
else. But with F
identification di

sta’
rr

q
ar
i

tas
fies

af
FE

it

az
H
at

his men
“Jt was sold to a
said. “Better come do . :
When Sheriff Vannoy arrived in
ief Fletch Richard

cation Bureau,
Sure we had that car,” the
of Richardson - Lovelock

car

plates. We sold it a week later to 3

cattleman living out at Sparks.” ot
Aer

you?” -

eyes were

recall,
blue, but his hair was heavy and dark

e can go out to prin’

man who

9”

“Positive. If he had been a soldier, —

we would have taken his serial num-

“We have a good description of the
killer now,” Sheriff Vannoy said, “and
that’s going to help. Before we go
to Sparks to check the Ford, let’s stop
at headquarters and put out a bul-

* * *

in locating

ney

Ute
Lai
E
cet h

“Sticks and stones will break my bores,

but names will never hoit me!”

aif

iJ
fe


¢ “ Be
_ Er esi a RETR NEI SP st

ch

and the killer in the car with her.
Each moment must have been a hor-
ror of suspense.

“I want this car,” Sheriff Vannoy
said bruskly. “I’m going to backtrack
as far as Ely if I have to.”

Back in Fallon, the sheriff outlined
the latest developments to District
Attorney E, E. Winter's.’

“I've heard that name ‘McKinney’
before,” Winters said.

“I have, too. There was a fellow by
that name worked out at the mine a
few years ago. He was in an accident,
and he got a big settlement from the
State Industrial Board. Last I heard,
he was driving a water wagon down
at Lunning. And that ties in with our
theory that this is the work of a local
man.” :

“You think it’s this McKinney?”

“It doesn’t seem reasonable, But it
may be someone who knew McKin-
ney and assumed his identity. I'll ask
the chief there to check with McKin-
ney and see if he knows anyone an-
swering this description. In the mean-
time I’m going to drive the Fisher
Ford back to Ely. If I can find some-
body who remembers them and who
can identify the man who sold the
car as the man who was with them
before they reached the murder spot,
we can be sure we are on the right
track,”

“That's right. On the other hand,
when we catch up with the killer, he
may claim he found the Ford, or that
somebody had given it to him. He
might even claim he bought it from
the man who was posing as Lieuten-
ant Fisher.”

Sheriff Vannoy telephoned the
Lunning chief of police concerning
McKinney, and then headed east.

At Frenchman’s Station, about fif-

teen miles east of the scene of the,

crime, Vannoy picked up his first lead.
An employee of the roadside inn there
recalled that the Ford had stopped

there either on the 23rd or the 24th.

of April.

“There was an Army officer driv-
ing,” the attendant told the sheriff.
“He got out and went inside, I don’t
know what he bought. There was a
small woman in the front seat and a
big man in the rear one,”

“Can you describe the man in the
back seat?”

“Well, he was a big fellow. That’s
all I noticed about him. But I’d know
him if I saw him again.” ‘

Vannoy nodded. “What time was
it?”

“I was working the night shift in
April. Didn’t come on until 8. I’d say
it was about 9:30, but I couldn’t be
sure,”

The sheriff drove on, At Eastgate, 21
miles further east, he could find no
trace of the Ford, but at Eureka, a
little town in the middle of the Hot
Creek mountains, 145 miles from the

SMASH DETECTIVE CASES

Frenchman's, he hit a strong esa

A waitress at a roadside restaurant
there remembered the Ford and its
occupants.

“They had dinner here at 5 o'clock,”
she said. “It was a Saturday because
we had roast turkey, and they all
ordered it. I remember them Pparticu-
larly because the big man in civilian
clothes was telling them all about
Fallon and Gabbs Valley and Reno.
The officer and his wife weren’t sure
they were on the right road, and the
civilian was trying to argue. with
them.”

“You must cater to a big clientele
here,” Vannoy said. “How is it that
you remember these three so per-
fectly?”

“I heard the officer say he was
headed for March Field, I was setting
their table and couldn’t help but hear
him say it, and I have a relative at

that post. All during dinner I wanted _
to ask the officer to look up Joe and’

say hello to him, but I just didn’t have
the nerve.
* * *

sm circumstantial evidence ‘thus

far was complete. Sheriff Vannoy
returned to'Fallon convinced that the
six-foot, blue-eyed civilian who rode
with the Fishers was the man who
sold the Ford in Reno and was the
killer of the lieutenant and his wife.
When he reached his office, he was
surprised to find the Lunning chief
of police waiting for him.

“Did McKinney have any idea who ,

this fellow might be?” the sheriff
asked without preamble.

“I didn’t see McKinney,” the Lun-

ning chief replied. “He quite his job
and left town on April 15th,

Sheriff Vannoy made no attempt to
conceal his disappointment, “That's
too bad,”

“But I have found that the descrip-
tion you had given me fits McKinney
like a glove. He is 34 years old, six
feet three inches tall, weights . 202
pounds, blue eyes, brown hair, and a
heavy beard.”

It was incredible. Had the mur-
derer, feeling secure in his gruesome
deed, given his right name? Or was
there some mistake in the evidence
he had gathered? Could McKinney
prove he had come by the Ford in-
nocently?

All the sheriff’s wisdom argued that
the big man who had disposed of the
maroon Ford in Reno was the slayer.
But if he was McKinney, why had he
used his right name? Why had he
signed his name to the bill of sale?

“McKinney's been in trouble be-
fore,” the Lunning officer continued.
“I’m sure they had him in Reno on
a bad check charge.”

The Churchill County investigator
grabbed the telephone and putin a
long distance call to Supt. Heap.

“Took like we've aviaseed on Herel

‘

bet,” he said when his connection was
made. Then he repeated what he had
learned from the Lunning chief.
“Hold on a minute; I’ll check: our
files,” Heap. said. OT OR
In a moment, the Reno identifica-
tion expert was back on the: tele-
phone. “That's right,” he said. “We’ve
got his mug and prints. I’ll send them
out to you, and I'll also put out a

murder bulletin on-him,.” -—- —--- ~~

One week after the discovery of the
two bodies at Sand Springs, Sheriff
Vannoy received the picture and fin-
gerprint classification on Flyod Mc-
Kinney from the Reno police.

Vannoy made'a return trip over the
route taken by the Fishers. The gas
station attendant outside of Fallon
promptly recognized McKinney ,as the
man in uniform who had purchased
ten gallons of gas for the maroon Ford
on the night of the murder.

The witness at Frenchman’s Sta-
tion and the waitress at Eureka also
identified ‘the picture of McKinney as
the man in civilian clothes who had
been traveling with the lieutenant and
his wife. Thus, the mystery was
solved.

Sheriff Vannoy dispatched follow-
up bulletins on the murder to every
peace officer in the West, Sooner or
later Floyd McKinney would be
trapped.

During the interim, when Sheriff
Vannoy delved into McKinney’s past,
numerous reports poured into Fallon.
The killer. was reported seen in
Whitney, Nevada. San Francisco po-
lice wired that McKinney had worked
in a shipyard there. Winnemucca,
Nevada police wanted the fugitive on
a bad check. charge.

Vannoy learned that McKinney was .

a family man with six children. His
wife had at one time been a waitress

in a Fallon restaurant, and, following”

this lead, the sheriff learned that she
was presently living in Bishop, Cali-
fornia.

Sheriff Vannoy and Supt. Heap
visited the California city to check
this information. They learned that
the fugitive killer had visited his wife
on June 15th, and that when ‘he left,
he had told her he had intended to
seek work in the lettuce fields near
Salinas,

. Police officials in Bishop promised
to cooperate and placed the McKinney
home under surveillance.

The -weeks dragged by. Sheriff
Vannoy discovered that the fugitive
had failed to report to his draft board.
The FBI was contacted for a check
on this angle. ;

Gradually, the excitement created
by the double tragedy quieted down
and the citizens of Fallon went about
their business. But at headquarters
in Courthouse Square there was ne
let uap

61


gira So aie 2 sla hia

er ae aes

Sond oe eed

-
seciiibarsiste 8 OREO rin cao

Se

ey ese ee ates Sere res
etaencase sieeaimabtg

lost no time in convicting him.
And neither did the judge lose
any time in sentencing him to be
hanged by the neck until dead.

As soon as the date was set for
Millian’s sentence to be carried
out a party of local architects got
together to design his gallows.
They drew up plans for a scaffold
frame of, two sixteen-foot up-
rights connected by a heavy beam
over which the rope .was to be
hung. Said scaffold was to be
erected over a ten by twelve foot
platform with a drop of eight
feet. Truly John Millian was to
have a special scaffold for the
hanging of Julia’s alleged mur-
derer was to be a gala affair.
Committees were even formed for
directing the crowds expected to
the scene of the execution.

The respectable ladies of the
Comstock deemed Millian their
deliverer and an instrument of
Providence who had removed
something from their midst. They
flocked to the jail to coddle the
prisoner’ with honeyed words,
fried chicken, cup cakes and Rome
made preserves.

Came the day of doom for John
Millian, April 27, 1868. At dawn
great crowds thronged the streets
of Virginia City. Some families
even brought picnic lunches to be
eaten after Millian walked the
last mile or rather took the last
jump. White men, Indians and
Chinamen huddled together in an
effort to see the prisoner as he
was escorted from jail. At 11:30
that morning he was placed in a
carriage with the curtains drawn.
To prevent mob action forty
deputies from the Sheriff’s office

armed with Henry rifles were on
hand as was the National Guard
in full uniform. —

The ride to the scaffold was un-
eventful. Two priests from St.
Mary’s in the Mountains con-
sulted with the prisoner. Then
Millian mounted the scaffold and
thanked the ladies of Virginia
City for their kindness, fried
chicken, cup cakes and preserves.
Then he calmly submitted to his
hands and feet being bound and
the noose adjusted about his neck.
The trap was sprung and as many
said John Millian died in a “gen-
teel’’ manner. So the great hang-
ing was a success from start to
finish. Everyone had enjoyed a
holiday for even school had been
let out, the saloons closed and the
mines shut down for the great
event. And best of all, beloved
Julia was avenged. “An eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth” had
been taken for her murder.

It took the Comstock a long,
long time to forget Julia and her
palace. No one ever quite took her
place. Several years after her
death the Virginia & Truckee
named a car in her honor. A
Virginia City saloon. Her. grave
is still on the hill side surrounded
by a white picket fence.

Admittedly Julia was a woman
of easy virtue but still she had
some heroic qualities in that she
was generous, big hearted and
charitable. According to the
males of the Comstock she was a
necessity. And certainly she was
part of that raw, lusty area of the
beginning of the great Comstock

Lode. () .

Rugged miners, of the type who adored Julia, called her the Queen of the Comstock.

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All were welcome in Julia Bulette’s place.

stering to the sick and the dying with medicine
and words of comfort. During the Paiute Wars
the town was placed under martial law. The timid
and the cowards fled but not Julia. She remained
in the face of the red threat to cook for the men
who remained to battle the savages. And she
even offered to accompany the fighters into the
desert in pursuit of the hostiles. °
When Virginia City became a rich land with
millionaires by the dozens as its residents Julia
became wealthy. She made her palace the cultural
center of the vicinity. She served heavenly im-
ported food from fine china on tables laid with
linen and solid silver tableware. Well dressed. and
well mannered servants passed out imported “i ER es ae =
wines instead of the usual red eye. The miners Some of the early buildings of Virginia City. It was in a house similar
came to worship the woman on D Street who to those in-center photo that Julia Bulette lived.

‘ 3 af 6 * ‘ Be =

The old mining town of Virginia City. No “‘lady of pleasure’ had a more devoted following than did Julia here among the miners.

2 .


TAINTED QUEEN
OF THE COMSTOCK

made her palace for them a home
away from home. Virginia City
Engine Company No. 1 made her
an honorary member. She accom-
panied the firemen to the fires and
afterward served them coffee.

As time passed Julia grew
more prosperous. She imported
delectable bits of femininity, be-
decked in ruffles and bows from
the leading wholesale merchants
of San Francisco. And while the
male population approved whole
heartedly, the ladies of the Com-
stock were aghast and blanched
with horror at the mention of Ju-
lia’s name.

Now Julia drove through the
streets in a Brewster carriage
drawn by a matched pair of bays.
It was whispered that an admirer.

' \ had the carriage imported across

the Isthmus of Panama just for
Madame Julia. Another of her
Swains provided her with a rich
sable scarf and matching muff.
She sat in a special curtained loge
at the theater bedecked with dia-
monds. Via Wells Fargo came im-
ported wines for her table and
even cut flowers. Yes indeed Julia
found her own bonanza in the
Comstock but not via the pros-
pecting method.

And then tragedy overtook the
darling of the Comstock, some-
thing which the pious ladies of
the town were pleased to call
retribution. One dark Saturday
night three men with their faces
hidden by the turned up collars
of their great.coats were seen to
knock at Julia’s door. No one saw
them leave nor knew their identi-
ties but Julia must have known
them for she admitted them.

The next morning Julia’s Chin-
~ese house boy came in to build the
fire and sweep out. He saw the
famous madame covered up in
her bed and assuming that she
was still asleep, quietly per-
formed his duties and left. Later
when Julia’s maid came to cal]
her mistress to breakfast she re-
ceived no answer. Upon examina-
tion she found Julia dead of
strangulation. Immediately she
7 48 / PIONEER WEST—MAY 1976 - : ne a

gave the alarm. A huge crowd
gathered in front of the palace
and excitement swept the city.
The police found that Julia’s
trunk was gone as were her furs,

clothes and jewelry. Even her
‘earrings had been taken but the

rings on her fingers had not been
touched. oes

The leading newspaper of the
city, THE TERRITORIAL EN.
TERPRISE reported the murder

at great length and spoke of Ju-

lia as being, “kindhearted, bene-
volent and of a charitable dispo-
sition.” This was true for indeed
Julia Bulette was all of that. The
paper also expressed the hope
that “the murdering villain might
be captured and eventually adorn
the end of asrope.’”

The Justice of the Peace of
Virginia City, hastily called a
coroner’s jury. Julia’s close friend
Gertrude Holmes, was the first
witness. She told that Julia had
visited her home until] eleven-
thirty on Saturday night of Jan-
uary 19 and had gone home alone.

A man who had seen Julia’s
body soon after it was discovered *
by the maid on Sunady, January
20 testified that she was lying in
the middle of the bed. He added
that he had noticed a short cedar
stick on the fuel box and that
there were bits of cedar bark on
the bed covering. There was a
bruise on the murdered woman’s
head and cedar chips were in her
hair and on her temple. He testi-
fied that it was his belief that
Julia had been struck on the side
of her head with the cedar stick.

The carrier of the TERRI-
TORIAL ENTERPRISE testified
that he had heard a scream from
Julia’s house about five o’clock on
the Sunday morning that she was
found murdered but that he did
not investigate.

Two doctors who had per-

formed an_ autopsy on the mur-_
dered woman were called. They

reported that Julia Bulette had
been strangled to death and had
been dead from six to eight hours
at the time of their examination.

Another witness appearing be-
fore the coroner’s jury was a

clerk for a wholesale liquor deal-
er. He testified that Julia had
brought her wine from the store |

_and had some _ time back talked -

with him concerning a man who
had assaulted her friend. This
man had been apprehended, tried
and convicted and sent to the
Nevada State Prison. He had
vowed that he would beat Julia to
death after he had served his
term.

The coroner’s jury came to the
following conclusion: “We find
that the deceased woman was
named Julia Bulette, a native of
England, aged about thirty five
years and that she came to her
death by strangulation on the
20th day of January, 1867 by the
hands ef some person or persons
unknown to the jury.”

Julia’s funeral was held Mon-
day, January 21, after her body
was found on Sunday. It was the
finest event of its kind that Vir-
ginia City had ever witnessed.
From all the saloons mourning
wreaths were hung. The entire
facade of Virginia Engine Com-
pany No. 1 was draped-in black.
At the services were all the mem-
bers of the fireman’s organiza-
tion and each member wore his
dress uniform. After the funeral
sermon was delivered the firemen
assembled and marched behind
Julia’s bier, openly defying their
women folks who remained at
home behind drawn curtains. The
Virginia Militia was in attend-
ance. In a special silver handled
casket rested Julia’s earthly re-
mains. A black plumed hearse
bore her body to the cemetery and
there she was buried on a hill.
After the coffin was lowered the
Nevada Militia marched home-
ward playing THE GIRLI LEFT

BEHIND ME. Truly Julia had
the fanciest funeral in the history
of Virginia City.

After Julia was laid to rest the
people of the Comstock area de-
manded that her murderer be’
brought to justice. There was

even talk of organizing the Vigi-.

lantes if the law failed.
, And then the man said to have
committed the foul deed was ap-
prehended. His name was John
Millian and although he loudly
protested his innocence, some of
the stolen goods from Julia’s
home at the time of her murder.
was found in his possession. The

courts lost no time in bringing = © |
- John Millian to trial and the jury —— *

\


drini’s known ac-
a turned up three
sred having seen
-w station wagon
‘time late in Oc-
Linden, in Los
| somewhat to the
Mrs. Pedrini in

o California, she
w had shown her
. the station wagon,
ew Boston, Texas.
hat, except for an
# ec traveling home-

\NFERRED with spe-
{ in Los Angeles.
t to tip our hand
Assistant District
ned. “There’s still
Obviously, Pedrini
1 that killing. But
aay be implicated.
don’t want to risk
t we've talked with
want to let Pedrini
murder, as well as
ta Rosa.”

z to cooperate. Le
had done time in
‘bery, was arrested
f having driven a
.cross’ a state line.
r that he was the
he way from Cali-
odge station wagon

» Reno to face

ming he had
igon in California,
t. Nothing was said
‘larence Dodd with-
isoner and, in the
t in seclusion from
he could not learn

st could not be kept
be almost certain
ida officials realized,
be dumb enough to
iad been picked up
4 stolen car rap. Not
iine had belonged to
‘d. -
njectured, “if we put
7, we probably will
iround. We're more
out of cover that

‘nt out on the sadistic
his sister-in-law and
ffered—and both ae-
‘tody until such time
sure they would be

mewhere in the San
police believed. Only
x: he had telephoned
1e, five miles below
“aed to kill her.

2 and my husband,”
ise we did not want
son and because we
money after he was

A guard was set at the sister’s home.
Precautions were taken, also, to protect
officials, jurors and witnesses in the Ac-
quistapace murder case in 1935. When he
was convicted, Frank Pedrini had snarled:
“TIL kill everybody who helped to send
me up. Every single one. I'll do it, if it
takes me twenty years.”

Now, hunted publicly as a killer, with
every cop ordered to shoot him on sight,
Pedrini might very well attempt, in a
last, savage onslaught against socicty, to
carry out that threat.

Up and down the Coast law officers
hunted the fugitive killer. The FBI joined
in the search. Pedrini was “seen” time
and again. There was a rumor that he
visited a brother in Petaluma, but the
cops shrugged this off, commenting that
this was scarcely astime for Frank Pedrini
to go calling on relatives. He was reported
in Boyes Springs, where his aging mother
lived, but her home had been carefully
staked out and he had not shown up there.
A woman in Napa County, just to the
east, phoned to say she’d seen Frank Ped-
rini walking up a highway north of the
county seat. Deputies found no hiker.

“If there was one,” Sheriff Claussen
said, “it wasn’t Pedrini. He doesn’t like to
walk. He’d steal a car before he’d walk
five blocks. Besides, I think he'll give
Napa a pretty wide berth. He knows damn
well how we feel about him over here.
The same way the cavalry used to feel
about the Apaches. The only good one’s
a dead one.”

In the meantime, as the search for
Pedrini was stepped up, Jensen, Cole and
Driscoll returned to Reno to pursue the
investigation that had taken them to Cali-
fornia in the first place.

“A funny thing,” Driscoll said. “We
go over on one Case, and crack another.”

“How about Bobell?” Young questioned.
“What'd you get on him?”

“That he most probably was in Santa
Rosa when Clarence Dodd was knocked
off,” the deputy replied. “We also got this
suitcase—and the stuff in it.”

In the bag were a red and black check-
ered shirt, a jacket, an apartment key and
some bedding. Dan Shenk’s widow iden-
tified the bag and its contents as her miss-
ing husband’s property. Bobell frankly ad-
mitted having worn the shirt and jacket a
number of: times before leaving them in
the bag at his mother’s home.

“T found ’em in the car after I bought
it in Sacramento,” he said. “So far as I
knew, they had belonged to the guy who
unloaded the heap on me.”

Bobell stuck to his story like a B-girl to
a million bucks. He kept it short, he kept
it simple. He was not in Reno on Septem-
ber 21, when Dan Shenk disappeared. He
had never seen Shenk. He bought the
bloody Pontiac in Sacramento, for $100,
from a guy he met in a bar, a guy he did
not know and had never seen since. He
knew the car was hot. He repainted it,
switched plates and figured he would never
be troubled about it.

Young had to admit that Bobell was
shrewd. He knew that until it could be
proved that Daniel Shenk actually had
been murdered, he could not be charged
with the slaying—unless he confessed. And

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MORE CLASSIFIED ON PAGE 77


guy on the Dodd murder, the way we
see it.”

“There’s a prison buddy of Bobell’s from
this county,” Johansen said. “Frank Ped-
rini. About as tough ‘as they come. A
killer, out on parole, réleased despite the
protest of everybody who knew him, in-
cluding his sister. I’m looking for that son
of Satan myself, right now.”

JOHANSEN FISHED PEDRINI’s record card
out of a file. It showed several juvenile
brushes with the law. In 1928, when Ped-
rini was 21, he and a pal slugged and bound

‘a San Francisco storekeeper, using for a

rope a tablecloth from their rooming
house. Its laundry markings led the cops
to the guilty pair.

In San Quentin, Pedrini teamed up only
with the institution’s incorrigibles. He was
constantly in trouble. When his full term
was almost up, he was paroled simply to
allow the authorities to keep a string on
him for as long as possible. ~

“Pedrini got out in December of 1934,”
Johansen said. “He was back nine months
later. Another robbery with volence. Un-
fortunately, they tagged him only as a
parole violator and didn’t prosecute on
the second job, so he was free again the
following August.” \

Within a month he teamed up with one
Barney Bell in an orgy of violence—rob-
bery, slugging, kidnaping and auto theft.
In Napa County, adjoining Sonoma County,
on the night of October 20, 1935, Pedrini
and Bell robbed Batista Acquistapace in
his store and beat him to death. Four days
later they shot their way through a posse.
They weren't captured until a couple of
weeks later, after they’d wrecked a stolen
car in Sacramento.

Pedrini beat the gas chamber, but the
judge who sentenced him to life imprison-
ment indorsed the jury’s recommendation
that the thug never be paroled. In 1943,
Pedrini and another con broke out of
Folsom Prison during a wartime blackout,
but were recaptured a few days later. In
1951, the parole board indicated it was
inclined toward granting Pedrini’s plea for
‘freedom once again.

Napa County’s Sheriff John Claussen
blew up. “Turn that killer loose,” he
thundered, “and someone else’ll die before
we have to fetch him in again!”

However, Pedrini was paroled in De-
cember of 1951. He returned to Sonoma
County, got work as a handyman and, for
a while, made regular reports to his, parole
officer. Then he.dropped from sight—until
the night of Thanksgiving, 1953.

“That night,” Deputy Johansen said, “he
and another guy jumped Ed Williams, who
runs a beer parlor and gas station. They

’ pistol-whipped Williams, tied him up,, kick-

ed him in the head and stomach, robbed
him of $80 and left him for dead. Pedrini
wanted Williams dead, because Williams
once had given Pedrini a job when the
punk was down and out, and, of course,
recognized the louse when the robbers
stuck him up.

“There’s no direct tie-up of Pedrini with
your two murders over in Nevada,”
Johansen admitted in conclusion. “But he
was a pal of Bobell’s in Folsom and

12

your killings, especially that Dodd job,
sure fit his kind of ugly work.”

“We've pretty firmly established,” Cole
said, “that Bobell was in Santa Rosa a
day or so after Dodd was killed and
that he was here past October 28, when
Dodd’s station wagon was found burned
over near the Texas-Arkansas line. We've
got to find somebody he knew who can
be traced to that region.”

“Arkansas?” Johansen was silent a mo-
ment in thought. Then he reached for
Pedrini’s file and rapidly thumbed through
the contents of the thick folder, finally
extracting one paper.

“Pedrini has a_ sister-in-law , named
Josephine,” he said. “She came from a
little town in Arkansas, a place named
Delight. The reason I’ve got that dope on
her is that she went back for a visit last
September—and Frank Pedrini went with
her !”

HERE IT WAS, A POSSIBLE LINK between a
murderous hoodlum who might be con-
nected with a suspected killer in Reno and
Clarence Dodd’s burned station wagon!

Mrs. Pedrini had returned home from
Arkansas just before Christmas. A pretty,
buxom blonde of 36, she told Johansen,
Driscoll! and Cole that her brother-in-law
had been in Arkansas when she was there
in September, but said he had left and
she knew nothing about his movements
thereafter.

“We can check that story, back in Ar-
kaftsas,” Johansen said. “People in small
towns usually know quite a lot ‘about
strangers.”

“P’m—I’m afraid to say anything about
Frank,” Mrs. Pedrini admitted. “He’d kill
me if he ever found out. Why, he’s even
threatened to murder his own sister, be-
cause she was opposed to his parole.”

“He'll not kill anybody again,” Johansen
declared. “Tell us what you know, Mrs.
Pedrini. We'll keep you safe. We'll give
you protective custody, if you wish, until
Frank is safely behind bars.”

Josephine agreed.

She said she and Frank did not go to
Arkansas alone. There was another couple.
The man was Le Roy Linden, who had
been Frank’s cellmate in Folsom. The
woman was Le Roy’s sister, Vivian, who

‘lived in Los Angeles. Sometime near the

middle of October, the two men left Ar-
kansas to return to California. They took
a bus from Texarkana, about seventy
miles below the hamlet of Delight. They
returned to Delight about the end of
October, saying something then about their
car catching fire over in Texas, west of
Texarkana. Vivian had returned to Cali-
fornia with the two men; Mrs. Pedrini
stayed on with her relatives for a few
weeks, then she also came home.

Before they left Santa Rosa for Los

Angeles, Jensen, Cole and Driscoll heard.

from Sheriff Young in Reno. Records of
the California agricultural control check-
point at Truckee, southwest of Reno, show-
ed that Dodd’s station wagon had passed
through from Nevada late in the after-
noon of October 23, the same day on which
he had left Winnemucca. That day, also,
was undoubtedly the day he was murdered.

A check of Frank Pedrini’s known ac-
quaintances in Santa Rosa turned up three
witnesses who remembered having seen
the thug riding in a new station wagon
with another man, sometime late in Oc-
tober. Further, Vivian Linden, in Los
Angeles, was able to add somewhat to the
information given by Mrs. Pedrini in
Santa Rosa.

On the way back to California, she
related, her brother-in-law had shown her
the charred remains of the station wagon,
along a side road near New Boston, Texas.
He had told her then that, except for an
accidental fire, they’d be traveling home-
ward in style.

THE NEVADA OFFICERS CONFERRED with spe-
cial agents of the FBI in Los Angeles.

“We're not ready yet to tip our hand
in the Dodd murder,” Assistant District
Attorney Jenseri explained. “There's still
much to be cleaned up. Obviously, Pedrini
and Linden were in on that killing. But
John Bobell likewise may be implicated.
On the other hand, we don’t want to risk
Linden’s finding out that we've talked with
his sister, and we don’t want to let Pedrini
know he’s sought for murder, as well as
for the robbery in Santa Rosa.” *

The FBI was willing to cooperate. Le
Roy Linden, 34, who had done time in
Folsom for armed robbery, was arrested
on a federal charge of having driven a
stolen motor vehicle across a state line.
He had told his sister that he was the
man at the wheel all the way from Cali-
fornia to where the Dodge station wagon
burned in Texas.

Linden agreed to return to Reno to face
the auto theft charge, claiming he had
bought the station wagon in California,
unaware that it was hot. Nothing was said
about the murder of Clarence Dodd with-
in earshot of the prisoner and, in the
Reno jail, he was kept in seclusion from
other inmates so that he could not learn
what was happening.

The fact of his arrest could not be kept
secret. Pedrini would be almost certain
to learn of it, the Nevada officials realized,
and he would scarcely be dumb enough to
believe that his pal had been picked up
on nothing more than a stolen car rap. Not
when that stolen machine had belonged to
a man found murdered.

“Besides,” Young conjectured, “if we put
real heat on the guy, we probably will
force him to move around. We're more
likely to flush him out of cover that
way.”

Before the alarm went out on the sadistic
killer, however, both his sister-in-law and
Vivian Linden were offered—and both ae-
cepted—protective custody until such time
as the cops could be sure they would be
safe.

Pedrini must be somewhere in the San
Francisco area, the police believed. Only
about a week before he had telephoned
his sister in Brisbane, five miles below
the city, and threatened to kill her.

“He has hated me and my husband,”
she explained, “because we did not want
him let out of prison and because we
refused to give him money after he was
released.”

.

A guard was s
Precautions were
officials, jurors ar
quistapace murder
was convicte’ "~~
“lll kill ev
me up. Eve
takes me twenty

Now, hunted p:
every cop orderec
Pedrini might v:
last, savage onsle
carry out that th

Up and down
hunted the fugitis
in the search. F
and again. Ther:
visited a brothe .
cops shrugged tl
this was scarcely
to go calling on:
in Boyes Spring:
lived, but her | *
staked out and h:
A woman in N
east, phoned to s
rini walking up
county seat. Dep

“If there wa
said, “it wasn’t -
walk. He’d stea
five blocks. Be
Napa a pretty w
well how we f
The same way
about the Apac
a dead one.”

In the mean
Pedrini was ste
Driscoll returne
investigation the
fornia in the fir

“A funny th
go over on one

“How about |
“What'd you ¢

“That be me
Rosa whe
off,” the |
suitcase—anu u

In the bag w
ered shirt, a ja:
some bedding.
tified the bag a
ing husband’s p
mitted having °
number of. tim
the bag at his

“I found ’em
it in Sacramer
knew, they hac
unloaded the h

Bobell stuck
a million buck:
it simple. He
ber 21, when !
had never sec
bloody Pontia:
from a guy he
not know and
knew the car
switched plate:
be troubled al

Young had
shrewd. He k
proved that
been murdere
with the slayi:


he was willing to face the rap for pos-
sessing a stolen machine and for carrying
a gun rather than make any admission
that might lead to the gas chamber.

THEN, ON MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 1954, an
ambulance was sent from the Sonoma
County Hospital in Santa Rosa to the
Mendocino County Hospital in Ukiah, 65
miles to the north, to transfer a patient.
The man was Fred Delaney, a middle-
aged gardener who had been stricken with
severe bleeding stomach ulcers while at
work on the grounds of the Albertinium
School, a. boys’ institution operated by the
Dominican Order of nuns at Ukiah.

Although he was a new employee, hav-
ing only begun work on December 7, the
nuns had arranged for his hospitalization.
In the small Ukiah hospital, Delaney’s con-
dition grew steadily worse. Physicians de-
cided that specialized surgery, which their
facilities could not provide, would be nec-
essary to save the man’s life. They made
arrangements to send him south to the
larger hospital in Santa Rosa.

All the way down from Ukiah, 54-year-
old John Langbauer, the ambulance stew-
ard, studied Delaney closely. There was
something very familiar about the face
of ‘the patient, as wracked with disease
and pain as it was. As the ambulance
neared Santa Rosa, Langbauer began to
guess where he had seen the face before.
In the newspapers. The man was Frank
Pedrini, the dangerous desperado, wanted
for murder!

Delaney—or Pedrini—was under seda-
tion. To make sure of the man’s identity,
Langbauer examined his arms. There they
were—the tattoo marks described in the
bulletins on Pedrini.

At the hospital, no one. would believe
Langbauer when he named Delaney as
Pedrini, but when the ambulance atten-
dant described the arm tattoog over the
phone to Chief Deputy Sheriff Johansen,
he got fast results.

The patient, desperately ill, made one
weak, futile attempt to deny his identity,
then admitted that he was Pedrini.

“What’s the squawk?” he asked feebly.
“Violation of my parole?”

Johansen saw no reason to enlighten the
mug. “You've violated it,”. he replied.

After blood transfusions, Pedrini was
rushed to San Quentin Prison. In the hos-
pital there, surgeons went to work to save
his misspent life. They doubted whether
he would ever walk away from his hospital
bed, giving him at best only an even
chance.

With Pedrini safely in custody, the
Reno officers now went to work on Roy
Linden.

. “The girls have spilled everything,”
Young told him. “Besides, Pedrini’s dying,

over in the San Quentin hospital, from |

those ulcers of his and he’s making a
deathbed confession. We don’t even need
a statement from you, but if you want
to buck .a murder charge, you'll be left
holding the bag all alone. It doesn’t make
any difference to your pal, Pedrini. He’s a
goner anyway.” .

74

Linden didn’t have the guts to face it
out alone.

“I don’t know what Pedrini’s told you,”
he said, “but I'll give it to you straight.”

LINDEN SAID THAT AFTER HE and Pedrini
took the girls to Arkansas in September,
they left the women and rode a bus back
as far as Elko, Nevada. They thumbed
their way to Winnemucca and, out of
money, decided to wait for a driver who
looked as if he might be well-heeled and
rob him. ;

Dodd came by in his flashy new station
wagon and picked them up. When he
bought their breakfast, they saw he was
carrying a good-sized roll. On a lonely
stretch of highway, not far out of Reno,
they held him up and robbed him.

“I got: thirsty,” Linden said. “We stop-
ped at a roadside place and Pedrini held
the gun on the guy, while I went in for
a beer. When I came out, Pedrini was
wrestling with the driver. He’d tried to
grab the gun. Frank. said we'd have to
take care of the guy before we hit Reno,
or there’d be hell to pay. We went up
this side road. Frank marched the guy
back in the ravine. I stayed with the
station wagon as lookout.

“T heard a shot. I ran in and saw Pedrini
standing over Dodd. Frank said he’d shot
him.. We buried him under the rocks,
drove on across California, then let out
for Arkansas. Out in Texas I got to
figuring. It'd been five days. Dodd prob-
ably had been missed by then and there’d
be an alarm out on his car, A new Dodge
station wagon, with California tags, would
be too easy to spot in East Texas. So I
siphoned off some gas and burned the heap.
That’s it, all of it.”

Frank Pedrini proved as tough in body
as he was in soul. He was up and around
three days after his operation, full of
praise for the prison surgeon. “He’s the
best in the world,” the slit-eyed little mug
gloated. “He saved my life.”

“For the Nevada gas chamber,” said
District Attorney Streeter, who had jour-
neyed to San Quentin as soon as Pedrini
was able to be questioned.

“For what? Sure, maybe I did bust
my parole. I was livin’ with a dame. I
couldn’t give the parole officer my address,
with her. I just got a little fouled up.
You know how it is.”

“We know,” Streeter assured him. “We
know the whole story.”

The Reno D.A., told that story, as Le
Roy Linden had related it in the Reno
jail.

“Nuts to Linden,” Pedrini said. “And
to you, too.”

However, a week later, he sent word
that he wanted to see the district attorney
again.

“It gives me a pain,” he told Streeter
now, “to have a pal try to load all the
blame on me, even if he did think I was
goin’ to die. Here’s what happened, just for
the record.”

His story matched Linden’s—up to the
point of the actual murder.

“You found the rope around Dodd’s
neck,” Pedrini said. “Well, we both put
it there. Then I pulled on one end and
Roy hauled on the other. Afterwards, to
make sure, I shot the guy in the head.”

IT WAS TWO WEEKS before Pedrini could
be taken from San Quentin to Reno. In
the interim, further interrogation of Le
Roy Linden had wrung from him the
admission that he was present when Dodd
was slain. But he still insisted Pedrini was
the killer.

“It makes no difference,” Streeter said
to him. “You’re both equally guilty under
the law.”

Pedrini was brought back to Reno on
January 29, 1954. He and Linden were
brought face to face and, after an hour’s
talk, their stories fitted perfectly. Pedrini’s
version of the crime was the correct one.

Both signed confessions. The next day
they waived preliminary hearings and were
arraigned before Judge Harold’ O. Taber
in Washoe County District Court on
charges of first degree murder.

Their hearing was continued so that
the court could appoint attorneys to defend
them.

Meanwhile, with no real evidence of a
murder on which to base any charge,
Young charged John Bobell with illegal
possession of a gun as an ex-felon. Bobell
was ordered held without bail for trial
on this charge.

“Some day,” Young warned him, “Dan
Shenk’s body will turn up. You'll still be
in prison then, where we can lay hands
on you.” |

Two boys and a new gun. A shoe left
carelessly exposed by a pair of ruthless
killers. A car, driven too fast through a
school zone.

These were the insignificant items that
exposed one slaying and trapped two sus-
pects in it and may, one day, solve the
mystery of another.

Certainly, the law is confident that the
Shenk case will eventually be marked
closed. “In this day and age,” a Nevada
official points -out, “a man just doesn't
disappear. Not when we know—or at least
when we feel beyond any reasonable doubt
—that he’s been murdered. A guy skipping
out on his wife, that’s one thing. He can
listen to the radio and read the papers;
with luck, he can keep one step ahead
of us. He might even give us the slip.
But a corpse can’t move around; a corpse
has to be found. And, cruel as it sounds
to say it and hard as it is on his family,
we're sure Dan Shenk is a corpse. Any
other way, it just doesn’t add up.”

If that Nevada officer is right in his
assumption, Pedrini, Linden and Bobell
may make headlines in, the West again—
if any one of them lives that long. The
law can act fast when it wants to.

Editor's Note: Frank Pedrini, Le Roy Lin-
den and John Bobell are entitled to be pre-
sumed innocent until. proved otherwise by
due process of law.

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[

asphyx Nev. (Washoe)

te pri ~ 2. STE CD oT \ of
LINDEN Le rO lV bie BC hI $

July
oy O0DD STARTED
1954. W/S TRIP HERE

The Victim

r

A Missing Man, an Unrecognizable Body and a
Bloodstained Auto—Washoe County, Nevada,
, Authorities Tried to Lump Them Together Into
. ‘, , One Case, and Discovered, Instead, That—

Two brothers, looking for
wildcats in this canyon,
found, instead, the body

faced man dressed in faded blue

denim jeans and jacket, the
garb of prison inmates, shuffled into
the California State Adult Authority
hearing-room at the Folsom Peniten-
tiary. His tattooed hands toyed ner-
vously with his cap.

This man was a murderer, sentenced
to serve life in prison for savagely beat-
ing to death a grocer during a robbery.
He had been confined for sixteen years
behind the walls. .

The parole board had studied his
records carefully, noting the long series
of arrests that had been climaxed by
the murder. In those records was a
statement by Judge Percy J. King, writ-
ten at the time of sentencing: “Be-
cause of this man’s heinous crimes, I
strongly recommend that he never be
paroled.”

Also in the record was the fierce cry
of the defendant at the time he was
sentenced, “I'll kill everybody who had
anything to do with convicting me! If
I ever escape, I'll kill everybody con-
nected with this case!”

Besides studying the records, board
members had questioned the convict’s
sister. Asked if she and her husband
would help him get a job, she had re-
plied: “Both my husband and I feel
that it would be better if my brother
was not released. We are afraid of him
and would be afraid to have him
around.”

Napa County Sheriff John Clausen,
who had arrested the man and provided
the evidence that convicted him, also
had been interviewed. .

“If you turn this man loose, some-
body else will die before he is through,”
Clausen told the board. “He’s the
meanest killer I’ve ever handled in all
the years I’ve been in police work.”

A STOOP-SHOULDERED, gaunt-

Nevertheless; the parole board had -

to consider this application for release.
Each year 9,000 requests for release
from the penitentiaries in California
are received. Of these, 3,000 are granted.

The applicant before them actually
had been eligible to ask for parole after
he had served seven years of his life
term. But because his record had been
so violent and bad, the board had put
off considering it for sixteen years.

“You threatened to kill everyone con-
nected with your trial if you were ever
released,” a board member told the
convict.

The man gazed at the backs of his
tattooed hands. In a halting whisper,
he mumbled, “I guess I was a hot-head
in those days. Sixteen years is a long
time to change your mind in.”

“Do you have any intentions of car-
rying out that threat if you were re-
leased now?”

“Never!” The convict’s stooped
shoulders straightened a little. “If I
ever get out of here, I just want to live
in the free air. I’d never lay a finger
on @ person again. I've had sixteen
years to consider how wrong I was in
those days.”

The report from the prison psychia-
trist bore out the convict’s statement,
for it said: “We find that he has no
paranoid fixation to carry out any
threats he may have made previously.”

Statistics show that the best risks
for parole are life termers, including

. murderers, who have served long sen-

tences in penitentiaries.
The parole was granted.

THE state of Nevada has over 110,000

square miles within its borders and
only two large cities, if Reno with
32,000, and Las Vegas, with 24,000, can .
be classified as large cities. Four major.
highways cross the state from east to
west and‘ two run the entire 484-mile
length.

It is a rugged state, with sagebrush
and sand covering great areas of desert
and lofty peaks rising into the sky in
the isolated mountains. A man who
wanders away from the highway can
become lost in a few hours and even an
experienced posse would have difficulty
finding him.

And a body hidden in the vast desert
or concealed in the deep ravines of the
mountains would be all but impossible
to find.

Daniel J. Shenk, 57-year-old guard
for the Sierra Ordnance Depot at Her-
long, California, near Reno,- liked to
Play the horses. On his day off he of: ten
drove into Reno to test his skill at Pick-
ing a winner.

In September of 1953 a racetrack
was opened in Las Vegas.

“I think I'll drive down and see the
ponies run,” Shenk told his wife. “On
my first day off, I’ll see if I can’t shout
one of my favorites home. It isn’t much
fun trying to encourage a ticker-tape.”

Shenk left his home on Wednesday
morning, September 16, 1953, with sev-
eral hundred dollars to back up his
judgment: of which horse was the
fastest.

He told his wife he’d be home on
Sunday evening so he could go back to
work Monday. He planned to make the
450-mile drive with a friend by the
name of Slim whom he had met in Reno.

Shenk did not return Sunday. Nor
Monday.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Shenk went to the
Police. They -called officers in both
Reno and Las Vegas. .

No record could be found of Shenk
checking into any of the hotels or mo-
tels in Las Vegas. And Reno could find


r.

‘SAPER PUBLISHED IN BASTERW NEVADA — PUBLISHED EVERY AFTERNOON EXCEPT. SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

Oth Year—No. 192 Ae Pee laCee Te Seen rapes Cony Lay eee heise:

stable Bernin | Near Death;

Gilbert Islands Attacked 4 “Tange Fires
ee 6 r ny ; “hn Nevada Are
|More Critical

| [Floyd Lovelace Admits
“s\Shooting; Dale Cline -«
2 Arrested After Chase :

aan

; “While AH. “Dotph" Berning, Cartin constable; lay
5 Stvccomais WOUTRERTERIEY, District Attorney? Cte:

® | cott awaited the outcome of his condition before filing
f| charges against two youths who were returned to this nde
last night after harrowing auto chase of 200 milee, © “is

It appears that the‘officers are faced with the prabloms «<--

of dealing with two minors, aged about 15 each. The boys’ ** ‘a
are Floyd Loveless, charged with shooting Constable Bern- | Hy
ing and his tompanion Dal Cline, who was only stopped
by officers after they had {Wied his stolen car with. bucks“ See om |
shot. Cline wasonly slightly wounded as but two pellets:
had entered his head, and the force of ieee was “ee
by the windshield.

‘| STORIES CHECKED BY DuTRCT ATTORNEY”
~The district attorney.is

ue

i

Second “Offensive Is Seen Now Blass
reeeay rare Commandos i in Biggest Raid ¢ on France: ‘Garlia Arse :
ele oe

‘May Be Part

oe que ai, (UP) 2 Forest
and brush fires ar® sweeping vast
areas in the state of Nevada and
conditions are growing more erit-’
jea) ‘hourly, grazing - service. offi-
cials reported today. r fe

oh new tire lacteporiea Ih thes
Cartin. area, while: the: Central
mountain fire m Humboldt coun-
ty. is: said to. be under cantroi,
The Buffalo Hills: fire inthe Ger-
lach arva is out of:control and the
Gold Butte blaze at Las Yeuss is

yal ungengrelled, rf the office of -tewtenantgeoverT Pia infield, Indiana, where aes youth been incarcers = |
S Bherttt C.J Ac Harper and A: R. tment publisher, ated in the Plainfield Inatitute or Boys... They recently es 4.
Morzerson) forest service’ super. do bene in ae city today, |Caped and the Elko officer ds checking their story. upon -—
visor. returned: from the Bullion! He is. one of five candidates | their ages ag it will made a difference ae to how they are = i:
area last night with a group of] seeking the Democratic nomina- prosecuted. =

e No of the Gilbert attace [ess see tak Nie ES ee butven afte oy | fiahters Who had controlled the} thon, Pittman le widely knows |" “8 SHEN SB ign
ee sey oe ne Allies but the! } ee PRI ELIS nameete eee nee fire there. ‘The entire group was! throughout the state and hea 2 cae event they ring hen will come be
Tokyo radio broadcast an admis. i pd FS gt worn out ‘by the ceaseless strug: poen a consiatent booster fer ‘ore t juven fe court an een 14 not be
sion that American: troops ‘ace. gle, The fire atarted Wednesday good rods and progressive {returned against Loveless in the event he
fighting on Makin Talana, one ere aa eg i ano ats ae een (NESTS fopneiad night ig she ye es S"brther of the i’ Me is guilty. Cline would be tried a an aceom
Commanéos broke through def destro tal & brother Senator. ceen |
nr enh oe _Davieries and unions Sele Feber last night. 5 Loy Pittesan’s Mer | STATEMENT 18 WITHNELD BY ATTORNEY. - estat:
<12fmls fire was near the old Bett % When Sheriff C, A. Harper first questioned Loveless: *;.
‘lhame ‘ranch in the Bullion area. | Se @2U@F £0 Die rede this morning he ‘stolidly refused to make a :
They could sep a fire to the west, | wos Pesknl Gag  . ”.|However, after Sheriff Harper talked with him at
* «the voluntarily made a statement. District ont pos

; tey. ‘the. Cad inte Cay
United Statea forces in the Pa-
cifle indlonted today that. they
had opened a second offensive op
eration, this time aguinat the Gil-

Ss Fo k tonint Wey Soo" ‘

Sisk ‘ lo CARBON CITY, Avg. it (UP) tal arora when thee le called Le tra a Act
heer Midas; which had been’ con |: a
(By the United Press) lnarceaed as the Gerona bdvane trolled... The extent of the fire) qn one Pardons and par-/: ror ha ge ate a a

. joles t Sheek Joceeperd th. admited shooting Berning tarde:
_.While the great, thet te. the ed today, the Dyssian radio tekd| near Carlin was not mewn here. the = genetic’ BF Jack" KP. t vagy a
Ve Shia Beainaved, ond: ae; Hae | the poopis. of, see Soviet Linton, “A! O yes ot ‘ ee nA sack, KM :


awey
ithe car.

me upon Lovelace
Up slowly. some
rs

AB! Mam ws tw oe


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and
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Each year the le horse has come ter prominence at the Nev
Elko Guaniy. Fair bet held thin year Pi hee tember; 4 to 1. Home of
for the outstanding prises ure abou chee” paride.
cece FLOWER SHOW SUGGESTIONS |1-BMENTO BE
twas finally brought By HELEN 8. TREMEWAN ‘-Jeast vide ofthe building ‘will ‘be ;
trobee says FEAR * Again we wish to announce that{ used 10 arrange: your exhibits. In
0 cattle or sheep are be-| the idatesfor the Elko County jthese: rooms wil ‘bea committee
yy have ‘perished. in: the Flower Show have. been thangedof women from'the Elko Garden
believed that hundreds | from’ August:-22nd and. 23rd: to} Club whose duty will be to give
n were lost as this is one September Sth; 6th and 7thie- . ,¥ou advice on: your ‘exhibits. It is
at sagehen wections in|): Individuals from: Eiko may:en-( not their:duty ‘to arrange your
y,, Birds which came out | ter: their’ exhibits: up -unti) (11:00 | exhibits as that ‘would be. their
rhing section flew back am. Saturday; Sept. Sth."Rural | work and not yours. If in doubt
stion when fire fighters ple may enter their ita about some of your exhibits, be
d 1:60: p: ami: po Bept." sure th consutt>merfibers’ of this}:
Sth. Place of exhibit» is: in’ the Commit tee Str He gy
stig | nee Bulidingy: at? the’ Pairdr: nei caretulto:have enlyienat
the}, fire | was «finally Grounds: The'small rooms on thei the entry asks for’ For example
inder’* control iit was ‘the entry asks for an’ individual
“¢ “i AR | ‘rose, have ‘only the rose’ and not‘ '
sible © :other lowers or greenery mixed
at ee re apes ee LORE a eR eee arene judges ‘bar re
r morning’ were: to}. Riles PRI ap a Bn ts which do a close’
that the’ fire there Is{: MOSCOW;'Aug: 201UP)—Great | 41, what. is calle@ttcemscs is
ought under} control. fires» and “powerful: explosions”

“ Before“you ‘come:to'the Fair,
. As Harper ‘is heading i 8Pread havoc:among’ the. docks hate ahaa
rs in that ‘area, While a |@ad war industry’ railyards an
ber of ‘men: were: used | When’ a large: force+of: Russian:
ne. blaze: in. the -O'Neil4
d while. there is ‘2 con-: Were es Saath Site Gabe ee Aa s
numberat the Bullion) )<The Russians-announced that mg
umbers:are’no’ longer |they have: been forced:to’ with: aan h ee

please. correct) the’ following: tn |!
your: Premitm: book: On ‘page 47,{new> category: each month with

bombed- Danzig and-Kueng:} 2 COntnuedon Page: Kight)~—|action-upon-the‘entire rinse tbe:
plane. Fa ee ae Geng Sy = completed by January 1st.) 32 1"

,{araw: from: Krasnodar: and that ap hort de
{German infantry and ‘tanks: were: ; : Vata aes:
1] Pressing dangerously close to the 2 (Of V-Mail Letter:
Black’ Sea~ naval base< of: Nevo. Pasar ha eta :

| rossisk: The: Russians: were hold. for! 12 Displayed Here:
* = ing at all ‘other ‘tronts: F a rice eras te * hs Dae Par

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236 Ney. 136 PACIFIC REPORTER, 2d SERIES

STATE v. LOVELESS.
No. 3385.

Supreme Court of Nevada.
April 21, 1943.

t. Homicide €=313(I)
The statute requiring a-jury finding
a person guilty of murder to designate de-

‘gree of murder manifested an intent to re-

quire the jury to designate the degree of
the crime, and under the statute, a verdict
failing to designate the degree of murder
of which jury found accused guilty is so
fatally defective that no judgment or sen-
tence can be pronounced thereon. Comp.
Laws, § 10068. <

2. Homicide €=313(2)

Where verdict that jury found ac-
cused guilty as charged in the information
did not designate the degree of murder
found, and information was as good for
murder of the second as for murder of the
first degree, reference to the information,
if permissible, would not make the inten-
tion of the jury certain so that judgment
could be rendered upon verdict. Comp.
Laws, § 10068.

3. Homicide €=329

Where verdict that jury found accused
guilty as charged in the information did
not make required designation as to the
degree of murder found, Supreme Court
was not authorized to consider both the
verdict and the information to determine
the degree of murder of which jury in-
tended to find accused guilty so that judg-
ment could be entered upon. verdict.
Comp.Laws, § 10068.

4. Homicide €=313(3)

Under statute requiring a jury find-
ing an accused guilty of murder to desig-
nate whether it be murder of the first or
second degree, it is not permissible to con-
sider the indictment or information, the
instructions, or the evidence in interpret-
ing a verdict which does not unequivocally
declare the degree of murder found.
Comp.Laws § 10068.

5. Statutes C-188

The Supreme Court should not specu-
late beyond the reasonable import of the
words of a statute.

6. Homicide €=313(1)

Fault of verdict finding accused guilty
of murder in that the degree of the crime

found was not designated could not be
“waived” by accused. Comp.Laws, §
10068.
See Words and Phrases, Permanent
Edition, for all other definitions of
“Waive”.

7. Homicide €=325

A verdict finding accused guilty of
murder, but failing to contain required
designation of the degree of the crime
found, was deemed excepted to and was
reviewable by the Supreme Court. Comp.
Laws, §§ 10068, 11027.

8. Criminal law 894

No duty rests upon an accused in a
criminal action to have corrected a faulty
verdict returned against him, and he is
not called upon to make certain that he is
legally convicted.

9. Criminal law €=633(1)

It is the duty and province of the
courts to keep strict watch over and to
protect fundamental rights in all matters
that come before them.

10. Criminal law €=1129(1)

While generally consideration of the
appellate court will be confined to the er-
rors assigned and argued, where a juris-
dictional or other fundamental error of
law is apparent on the face of the record
itself, such error may be considered though
it is not assigned. ;

11. Homicide =313(1)

Jury €=34(4)

Under statute requiring that a jury
finding an accused guilty of murder to des-
ignate whether it be of the first or second
degree, a mere matter of “procedure” is
not prescribed but the statute is a “sub-
stantive law” commanding an unequivocal
act of the jury as a part of the trial of one
charged with murder, and if the directed
duty is not performed, accused has not had
the benefit of a “trial by jury” which he
cannot “waive” as to an essential part.
Comp.Laws, § 10068.

See Words and Phrases, Permanent
Edition, for all other definitions of
“Procedure”, “Substantive Law” and
“Trial by Jury”.

12. Jury €=29(2)

The right to a jury trial cannot be
waived in a felony case so long as accused
has joined issue on the charge.

STATE y. LOVELESS Nev. 237
136 P.2d 236

13. Homicide G=313(1)

Where jury finding an accused guilty
of murder fails to designate the degree of
the crime, the trial court has no jurisdiction
to pronounce sentence. Comp.Laws, §

10068.

14. Homicide €=313(1)

Where verdict found accused guilty of
murder but failed to make required desig-
nation of degree of crime found, the ver-
dict was void and accused’s alleged con-
sent to or waiver thereof could not re-
store vitality to the verdict. Comp.Laws

§ 10068.

15. Homicide €=313(1)

The facts necessary to show guilt in
a murder case as well as the degree of
guilt must be judicially ascertained in the
mode prescribed by law before judgment
can be rendered, and it is not within the
power of the accused or his counsel to con-
sent to another mode.

16. Constitutional law €=43(1)

That which the law makes essential
in proceedings involving the deprivation
of life or liberty cannot be dispensed with
or affected by the consent of the accused.

17. Constitutional law €=43(1)

The rights guaranteed to one accused
of crime in which the state as well as ac-
cused is interested cannot be waived by
accused, but those which are personal to
accused and which are in the nature of
personal privileges may be waived by ac-

cused.
leat Crier

Appeal from Fourth Judicial District
Court, Elko County; James Dysart, Judge.

Floyd Loveless was convicted of murder,
and he appeals.

Reversed, verdict set aside, and cause
remanded for new trial.

Taylor H. Wines, of Elko, for appellant.

Alan Bible, Atty. Gen., W. T. Mathews
and Geo. P. Annand, Deputy Attys. Gen.,
and George F. Wright, Dist. Atty., and A.
L. Puccinelli, both of Elko, for respond-
ent,

DUCKER, Justice.

The defendant was informed against and
tried in the district. court of the fourth
judicial district of Elko County, for the
murder of A. H. Berning. The jury re-
turned a verdict as follows: “We, the

jury impancled and sworn to try the above
entitled case, do hereby find the defendant,
Floyd Loveless, guilty as charged in the
Information.”

Upon this verdict the court pronounced
judgment of death against the defendant.
He has appealed from the judgment. Aft-
er the appeal was argued and submitted
the question of the effect of the verdict
upon the judgment was suggested by this
court. The case was reopened and resct
for argument and briefs were called for
from the respective parties on the point,
which briefs have been furnished and oral
argument heard.

It will be observed that the verdict does
not designate the degree of the crime
found. By § 121 of an act concerning
crimes and punishments, (§ 10068, Nev.
Comp.Laws 1929) it is provided: “All
murder which shall be perpetrated by
means of poison, or lying in wait, torture,
or by any other kind of wilful, deliberate
and premeditated killing, or which shall
be committed in the perpetration, or at-
tempt to perpetrate, any arson, rape, rob-
bery, or burglary, * * * sKall be
deemed murder of the first degree; and
all other kinds of murder shall be deemed
murder of the second degree; and the
jury before whom any person indicted [or
informed against] for murder shall be tried,
shall, if they find such person guilty there-
of, designate by their verdict whether it
be murder of the first or second degree;
but, if such person shall be convicted on
confession in open court, the court shall
proceed, by examination of witnesses, to
determine the degree of the crime, and give
sentence accordingly.”

[1] By reason of this statute is the
verdict so fatally defective that no judg-
ment could be rendered on it? We are of
the opinion that it is. The statute leaves
no room for doubt or speculation as to its
intent and purpose to require the jury to
designate by their verdict the degree of the
crime. This duty imposed by statutory
mandate of uncquivocal meaning was dis-
regarded by the jury. They returned a
verdict, which, even though we were per-
mitted to go to the information in an at-
tempt to ascertain their intention, would
still be equivocal. But the question is not
an open one in this jurisdiction. In State
v. Rover, 10 Nev. 388, 21 Am.Rep. 745, it
was decided that a judgment of death
based on such a verdict was not warranted.
The facts in that case were the same as

rece TET eB

psa

Aa ete

SSR Sil Ps aang ti a


1022 Nev.

the official reporter at defendant’s first trial.
There was no error. This was permissible
under section 11252, N.C.L., the witness
then being beyond the jurisdiction of the
court. A proper foundation was laid show-
ing the witness to be at the time.in an
institution in Inglewood, Colorado, and by
proving the testimony to be correct in ac-
_ cordance with the terms of the statute.

[9] The contention under this assign-
ment that the court committed error in
refusing to grant a continuance from the
then Tuesday to the following Friday,
when it appeared that the witness would be
available at the. latter date, is without

_ merit, for the reason alone that the defend-
ant did not ask for a continuance.

[10] Under assignment number 9 ob-
jection is taken to the ruling of the court
in refusing instruction number 1, offered
by defendant, which is as follows:

“If you find from the evidence beyond
‘a reasonable doubt that the said A. H. Bern-
ing, the deceased, was unlawfully, fel-
oniously and unjustifiably shot and wound-
ed by the defendant and as a result thereof
died thereafter as charged in the informa-
tion, and that the killing was the result of
malice suddenly produced at the time the
fatal sHot was fired and was without pre-
meditation and deliberation, then it is your
duty to find the defendant guilty of murder
in the second degree.”

The court’s refusal was based upon the
ground that the requested instruction was
covered by another instruction. The rul-
ing was correct. The record shows that
the jury was fully and properly instructed
by the court as to what constituted murder
of the first degree. In these instructions
the point of the refused instruction that
murder, without deliberation and premedi-
tation, is murder of the second degree, was
as favorable for defendant as the instruc-
tion refused. It has been held many times
by this court that the refusal, under such
circumstances, of an instruction offered by
defendant, is not error, State v. O’Connor,
11 Nev. 416; State v. Buralli, 27 Nev. 41,
74 P. 532, and Nevada decisions cited there-
in: State v. Willberg, 45 Nev. 183, 200 P.
475. The refusal was not an error in
this case.

[11,12] Assignment of error number 10

goes to the refusal of the court to give
defendant’s offered instruction containing

150 PACIFIC REPORTER, 2d SERIES

the statutory definition of manslaughter.
It was refused upon the ground that it was
not applicable in view of the evidence.
We might dispose of this contention on the
simple ground that the jury having found
the defendant guilty of murder of the
first degree on evidence amply sufficient to
justify the verdict, the defendant could not

shave been prejudiced by the refusal of the

court to give the instruction requested.
However, in manslaughter, there must be
absence of malice, and there is no evidence
in the case tending to show in the slightest
degree that the defendant was not actuated
by malice in shooting the officer. The con-
trary, we think, was clearly established.
The defendant admitted that the officer
merely sought to effect an arrest. No un-
lawful act was attempted. If the officer
grabbed the gun, as defendant stated, it
was an act of self defense and done pur-
suant to his authority to arrest the defend-
ant. The circumstances of the killing are
sufficient to bring into operation the rule of
the statute, that malice shall be implied
when no considerable provocation appears,
or when all the circumstances of the killing
show an abandoned and malignant heart.
There was no error in refusing the pro-
posed instruction.

[13] Instruction number 6, complained
of in assignment of error number 11, was
not erroneous. It reads:

“You are instructed that if you find, be-
yond a reasonable doubt, that the defend-
ant, Floyd Loveless, did or on about the
20th day of August, 1942, near the City of
Carlin, County of Elko, State of Nevada,
with malice aforethought, and with intent
then and there to kill one A. H. Berning,
shoot and critically wound and injure the
said A. H. Berning with leaden shots dis-
charged from a revolver held in the hands
of and fired by the said defendant, thereby
causing the death of the said A. H. Bern-
ing on August 22, 1942, you will find the
said defendant guilty.”

It is claimed that the instruction is er-
roneous and misleading because, omitting
the clements of deliberation and premedi-
tation, it could have lead the jury to be-
lieve though it did not find these elements,
it could convict the defendant of murder
of the first degree. It is asserted that the
instruction was particularly susceptible to
that fault because based on the allegations
of the information which, the court in-
structed, charged murder of the first degree.

AS SCRE weg MRM SINCE Pr egg» Jae ee tal

STATE v. LOVELESS qi
150 P.2d 1015 Nev. 1023

We find no fault in the instruction. It did
not tell the jury that if it found the facts
stated it could find the defendant guilty of
murder of the first degree, but that it could
find the defendant guilty. This was tech-
nically correct. We do not think the in-
struction could have been misleading when
considered in connection with the other in-
structions defining murder of the first and
second degree, as the court instructed the
jury to do. The distinction between the
two degrees was clearly drawn in the other
instructions,

This disposes of all the errors assigned
that were not disposed of on the first
appeal.

No prejudicial error appears in the
record. ,

The judgment and order denying the
motion for a new trial appealed from are
affirmed, and the district court is directed
to make the proper order for the carrying
into effect by the warden of the state
prison, the judgment rendered.

ORR, C, J., and TABER, J., concur,

Gf aE


s : 1020 Nev.

thirty-eight Colt revolver. When asked if
he had any trouble with an officer up the
road, he said: “Yes, I shot him twice.”

On August 21, 1942, in the sheriff's of-
fice in Elko County, in the presence of the
sheriff and district attorney and several
others, the defendant made a confession

“ which, on the next day, was reduced to
writing by a shorthand reporter who heard
the questions and answers, and was signed
by:the defendant and acknowledged before
a notary public. In his confession the
defendant stated that he was born Novem-
ber 6, 1926, He detailed how he and his
companion, Dale H. Cline, had escaped
from a reform school at Plainfield, In-
diana, on. August 15, 1942, to which he
had been committed for burglary, and made
their way west, stealing a couple of cars
and committing a series of burglaries on
the way, finally arriving in Elko on the
day of the shooting, where he stole the
car he was driving when stopped by the
constable. He admitted shooting the of-
ficer twice, and his statements concerning
the shooting, and his subsequent actions,
are as follows:

“Q. You say the constable stopped you?
A. Y¢s, sir.

“Q, Where? A. By Carlin.

“QO. How did he stop you? A. I seen
him out there on the road and I just
stopped.

“Q, What happened then? <A. He said
he would have to take me back for being
in a car I didn’t belong in.

“QO. After the officer, Mr. Berning, had
told you that he had to take you hack,

got into the Buick.

Berning? A. Twice.

A. I don’t know.

mouth.

he was shot? A. He talked a little.

couldn’t stand the pain.

what happened then? A. He got in the car
and I pulled out a gun and said I wouldn’t
go back with him. He grabbed the gun
and I shot him. The gun got jammed and
we started fighting and then I pulled the
trigger again and it worked, and I drove
off down the road. Stopped the car and

“QO. How many times did you shoot Mr.
“Q. Where did the bullet strike him?

“Q. Did you see any blood? A. Yes, sir.
“QO, Where? A. Coming out of his

“Q. Did Mr. Berning say anything after

“Q. What did he say? A. He said he

150 PACIFIC REPORTER, 2d SERIES

“Q. Did you tell him what you were go
ing to do with him? A. I was going to
take him to a doctor.

“Q. Where did you last see Mr. Bern-
ing? A. Where they were working on a
construction. ;

“Q. Where was he? A. In the car.

“QO. You left him in the car? A. Yes,
sir.

“Q. Then what did you do? A. Got in
the Buick.

“Q. When you got into the Buick did
you have any conversation with Dale
Cline? A. Yes, sir.

“Q. What: was that conversation? A.
I told him what had happened.

“Q, What did he say? A. He didn’t
say anything until we got down the road
a piece and then Dale Cline said he saw a
gun by a bush and I got out of the car to
look for it and he drove off. * * *

“Q, Just where was Mr. Berning stand-
ing when you shot him the first time? A.
He was sitting in the car.

“Q. How long had he been in the car?
A. About a minute and a half.

“Q. Did you have your gun out in your
hand before that time? A. No, sir.

“Q. Did Mr. Berning ever draw his
gun? A. No, sir.

“Q. How long was it between the time
of the first shot until you fired the second
shot? A. Half a minute or minute.

“Q. And during that period of time
what happened or took place in the car?
A. He was trying to get the gun away
from me.

“Q. Was the car moving at that time?
A. No, sir, it was sitting still.

“Q. How long after the second shot was
fired until you started west again? A.
Quick as I got the car started.”

Dale H. Cline, who was a witness for
the state, testified that he caught up with
defendant before he reached Carlin and
stopped right behind him when defendant
was stopped by the officer; that the officer
waved him around the defendant and told
him to go on, and as he drove away he
looked through the back window of the car
and saw “Floyd (defendant) and the con-
stable wrestling around in the car, fighting
or something”; that he stopped at a filling
station a little further on; that while he
was there defendant drove by and waved
to him to follow; that he next saw defend-

STATE v. LOVELESS Nev. 1041
150 P.2d 1015

ant ata point where some road work was
going on; that his car was parked on the
left side of the road; that defendant waved
him down; that he stopped and defendant
got into Dale’s car and they went on;
that he asked defendant what happened
and the latter said he had to shoot the

‘sheriff; that when he was about one or

two miles. further on he told defendant
that he saw a gun on the side of the road
and as defendant got out to look for it he
drove away and left him.

The above statement contains all the
evidence that has any bearing on the con-
stable.

On the oral argument counsel for de-
fendant stated that said assignment num-
ber 2 presented their main point in the
case. The killing of the constable is not
denied, nor is it denied that the offense
proved was murder. But they contend
that though it be murder, it is, at the most,
murder of the second degree, because
there is no sufficient or any proof of that
deliberation and premeditation essential to
the higher degree of murder.

[5] .We cannot lend our assent to this
view. On the contrary, the circumstances
of the case are such that we feel no
difficulty in determining that the jury were
well justified in finding that the killing of
the officer, was wilful, deliberate, and pre-
meditated. Putting aside the evidence which
discloses that the accused was a criminal
character who, shortly prior to the killing,
had traversed the streets of Elko armed
with a concealed and deadly weapon, look-
ing for an opportunity to commit a crime,
and that he had committed it by stealing an
automobile, and was driving it away when
accosted and stopped by the officer, the
immediate circumstances surrounding the
shooting were in themselves sufficient to
warrant a legitimate inference that prior to
the firing of the first shot defendant had
formed the deliberate design to kill the
officer. It may have been a conditional
design to be accomplished if the officer un-
dertook to arrest him, but even so, when
carried into effect on the occurrence of the
event it was sufficient deliberation and pre-
meditation to warrant the finding of the
jury. The argument in support of the con-
tention that murder of the first degree was
not proved, is based on the assumption that
the evidence shows without conflict, that
the shooting was done during a struggle,

and that this precluded the formation of
a deliberate design to kill. But the jury
could have well believed that there was no
struggle, at least until the defendant under-
took to shoot the officer pursuant to his
declared determination not to go back with
him. From the time of his first contact
with the officer, when the latter told him he
would have to bring him back for being in
an automobile he didn’t belong in, the de-
fendant had ample time to reflect upon his
line of action while the constable was walk-
ing around in front of the automobile and
was entering the car. Then the event
proved the defendant was ready for action.
He drew his gun to enforce his resistance,
and the shooting followed.

[6,7] But conceding, for the purpose
of discussion only, the contention of de-
fendant that the intent to shoot Berning
was formed during a struggle, that does
not preclude deliberation and premeditation.
It does not matter how short the time is be-
fore the premeditated design is carried into
effect. State v. Millain, 3 Nev. 409; State
v. Ah Mook, 12 Nev. 369; State v. Acosta,
49 Ney. 184, 242 P. 316. The question of
premeditation is always one of fact for
the jury, and each case is governed by its
own circumstances. The cases cited. by
counsel in support of their contention that
deliberation and premeditation could not be
formed during a struggle, are cases of
mutual combat and are authority only un-
der the particular circumstances involved.
They are not analogous with the facts here,
which, under no theory, can be said to be
a case of mutual combat, but instead, the
case of an officer apprehending a criminal
with the fruits:of his crime in his posses-
sion, and endeavoring to make an arrest.
The evidence is clear that defendant knew
at the time that Berning was an officer. He
told Cline when the latter took him into his
car: “I had to shoot the sheriff.’ Why
did he feel he had to shoot the officer?
Not in self defense. This is not pretended.
The defendant said the officer did not draw
his gun. Obviously he shot him to avoid
arrest for the commission of a felony. His
intention was deadly. The character of
the weapon used and the manner of its use
precludes any inference other than intent
to kill.

[8] Assignment number 7 presents the
alleged error of the court in permitting the
state to read in evidence the testimony of
Dale H. Cline, stenographically reported by

teea ree Sake

FY
4

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238 Nev.

in the instant case. In-that case the de-
fendant was indicted and tried for mur-
der. The jury returned a general verdict
as follows: “We, the undersigned jurors
in the case of the State of Nevada against

J. W. Rover, -defendant, indicted for the .

murder of I. N. Sharp, do find the said de-
fendant guilty as charged.”

.The court, after quoting the above sec-
tion, said: “By this statute, murder is di-
vided into first and second degrees, de-
pending upon the particular circumstances
in which the crime is committed, and
whether it be of the first or second degree
is a fact to be specially found from the
evidence adduced, without reference to
any special facts which may be stated in
the indictment. In case of a trial, the
jury before whom the trial is had, if they
find the defendant guilty, are required to
find this fact, and to designate by their
verdict whether the guilt be of the first or
second degree; and in case of a plea of
confession, the court is required to deter-
mine this question of fact by the examina-
tion of witnesses in open court. It is,
therefore, apparent, from the plain and
positive provisions of the statute, that a
verdict which fails to designate the degree
of murder of which the jury find the de-
fendant guilty, is so fatally defective that
no judgment or sentence can be legally
pronounced thereon.”

This rule was followed in State v. Lind-
sey, 19 Nev. 47, 5 P. 822, 3 Am.St.Rep.
776, and has not been overruled or modi-
fied. The court in State v. Rover, supra,
declared that its interpretation of the stat-

- ute was not only in accord with its plain

and positive language, but was supported
by a long train of decisions in other states

having statutes the provisions of which =

are similar to ours, quoting from some,
and citing many.

In Bishop’s New Criminal Procedure,
Vol. 3, 2nd.Ed., § 595, appears the fol-
lowing: “That the verdict is imperfect
and void,—when silent as to the degree, is
the doctrine of the great majority of the
authorities, and probably the most in har-
mony with the reason of the thing; name-
ly, that. the legislature intended this pro-
vision to be mandatory to make sure of
the jury’s taking into their special consid-
eration the distinguishing features of the
degrees, and passing thereon. Therefore,
if the verdict fails to state on its face the
degree, the court cannot give judgment on
it, but must award a second trial.”

186 PACIFIC REPORTER, 2d SERIES

See note 77 at the bottom of the page
for long list of citations in support of the
text, among which appears State v. Rover.
As of the same effect are the following re-
cent decisions: Jones v. State (Ark.) 161
S.W.2d 173; Wilson v. State, 129 Fla.
891, 176 So. 845; Kent v. Lauthers, 95 W.
Va. 245, 120 S.E. 598; Orner v. State, 65
Tex.Cr.R. 137, 143 S.E. 935.

In an earlier case the Supreme Court
of California in conformity with its form-
er decisions held invalid a verdict which
did not specify the degree of murder, and
reversed the judgment and order refus-
ing a new trial The Attorney General
confessed error. People v. O’Neil, 78 Cal.
388, 20 P. 705.

Counsel for the state insist that the in-
formation charges murder of the first de-
gree, and contend that as the verdict finds
the defendant guilty as charged in the
information, it is thus made certain that
the jury intended the first degree in their
verdict. The information charges in sub-
stance, that the defendant “* * * did
then and there, wilfully, unlawfully, fel-
oniously, with malice aforethought, and
with intent then and there to kill one A.
H. Berning, shoot, etc.”

[2] We will concede that the informa-
tion is sufficient to support a verdict of
murder of the first degree, but it was as
good for murder of the second degree as
the first degree. So a reference to it, if
it were permissible, would not make the
intention of the jury certain.

[3] But intention is beside the question.
A fact, by statute made essential to the
efficacy of the judgment, is missing from
the verdict and cannot be imported into it
by reference to the information or by con-
jecture or anything of the kind. The con-
tention that the court is authorized in this
case to take into view both the verdict
and the information to determine the de-
gree of which the jury intended to find
the defendant guilty, was denied in State
y. Rover, supra, as contrary to the plain
language and spirit of the act. On this
point the court further said: “* * *
in our opinion, the court is not authorized,
in any case, to refer to the indictment in
order to determine the degree of murder
of which the jury find the accused guilty;
but on the contrary, that the true intent
and purpose of the act were to impose up-
on the jury the duty of designating by
their verdict, distinctly and unequivocally,

STATE v. LOVELESS Nev. 939
136 P.2d 236

the degree of the crime, and not leave it
to be inferred or cortjectured therefrom. It
therefore follows that the verdict is fatal-
ly defective, and for that reason the judg-
ment of the district court should be re-
versed.”

This is a sound ruling and states the law
of the present case. We are aware that
there are a few cases which hold, on stat-
utes similar to ours, that it is permissible
to take into consideration the indictment or
information, the instructions, and even the
evidence in interpreting a verdict which
does not unequivocally declare the degree
found. We do not agree with them.

(4, 5] When an indictment or informa-
tion is good for either murder of the first
or second degree, it furnishes no aid what-
ever in the interpretation of a verdict that
does not designate the degree, and a pre-
sumption against a defendant from such a
source presumes against human life in-
stead of in favor of it. The instructions
and evidence are equally fallible in this
respect. It is a fact that juries, out of
charity for the faults and weaknesses of
the human race, sympathy for the prisoner,
or other mistaken view of the law or facts,
often lessen the offense of murder of the
first degree to second degree, and often a
verdict is a compromise of opinion, State
v. Lindsey, supra,—frequently instructions
are disregarded. However, the plain and
positive language of our statute forbids
such unprofitable speculation. We believe
that it means what it says, and decline to
go afield searching for another meaning.
As was said in Los Angeles v. District
Court, 58 Nev. 1, 67 P.2d 1019, we should
not speculate beyond the reasonable im-
port of the words of a statute.

_ [6-8] But the state’s main contention
is that the defect of the verdict was waived
because the defendant did not object to it,
made no motion in arrest of judgment, or
for a new trial, and did not assign it as
error in this court. Hence, say counsel for
the state, the judgment must stand as pro-
nounced, and execution done accordingly.
We are not persuaded to this view, and are
of the opinion that the fault of the verdict
is of such a nature that it could not be
waived. We may note in passing that it is
not correct to say that no objection was
taken to the verdict. It was deemed except-
ed to. Section 11027, N.C.L. No duty
fests upon a defendant in a criminal action
to have corrected a faulty verdict returned

against him. He is not called upon to make
certain that he is legally convicted.

[9] We raised the question of its va-
lidity of our own accord because of our
opinion, which is quite generally shared,
that it is the duty and province of the
courts to keep strict watch over and pro-
tect fundamental rights in all matters that
come before them. State v. Holt, 90 N.C.
749, 47 Am.Rep. 544; Vogel v. State, 124
Fla. 409, 168 So, 539; Wells v. State, 193
Ark. 1092, 104 S.W.2d 451, 452.

[10] In Vogel v. State, supra, the judg-
ment was reversed because of a defective
verdict. No advantage was sought to be
taken of the verdict when it was returned,
and no exception noted. The court said:
“Tt is well settled in this jurisdiction that:
‘While, generally speaking, the considera-
tion of the appellate court will be confined
to the errors assigned and argued by the
plaintiff in error; yet, to this rule there
are certain exceptions. Where a jurisdic-
tion or other fundamental error of law is
apparent on the face of the record itself,
such error may be considered by the appel-
late court, though itis not assigned.’”

A judgment of death was reversed in
Wells v. State, supra, because on a plea
of guilty the court instructed the jury that
it was to determine only defendant’s pun-
ishment, so the jury failed to find the de-
gree of crime, as required by statute,
though error in instruction and defective-
ness of verdict were not raised by defend-
ant, but by the court on its own motion.
Referring to a former decision of the court
it was said: “The judgment was reversed
for the same reason, that the jury failed
to find the degree of the crime, without the
question having been raised by counsel on
appeal to this court. It was reversed on
the court’s own motion and the fact that
this opinion was not officially reported
shows how thoroughly the question is con-
sidered settled by this court.”

Continuing the court said: “So in this
case, the error in the instructions and the
defectiveness in the verdict have not been
raised by appellant, but we do so of our
own motion, because the instructions given
were erroneous and the verdict rendered
so defective that no valid judgment could
be rendered thereon.”

[11-13] It is not a mere matter of pro-
cedure that the legislature has prescribed,
but a substantive law commanding an un-

EEO RY 5 ie

ee

Nevada air had preserved them in a
shrunken, mummified condition.

Sheriff Vannoy pointed to the re-
mains of the trousers and belt on the
man, “That’s officer’s serge,” he
stated, “and that’s a buckle from an
Army belt.”

The county medical examiner began
his preliminary examination. Beneath
the woman’s head, there was an ir-
regular stain in the sand. Dr. Wray
touched it thoughtfully, Then he
pointed to a jagged hole in her head.
‘It’s evident that the woman was
killed here,” he said. “We can take
samples of this sand for analysis, but
I'm positive it’s blood from the head
wound,”

There was no such stain beneath
the man’s head, and the exposed skull
was crushed, “His head was bashed
with a pretty heavy object,” the doc-
tor said. “Must have been a club or
an automobile jack, And he wasn’t
killed here, but apparently the woman
was.” .

“How long have they been here?”
Sheriff Vannoy wanted to know.

“it’s pretty difficult to say. About

two months.”
“How old do you think they were?”
“Judging from ‘the bone structure,

in their thirties.”

Vannoy and Coroner Bellinger
searched the dead man’s pockets.
They were empty. The woman’s fin-
gers were bare of jewelry. “Looks
like somebody robbed and _ killed
them, It'll be a job to identify them,”
Bellinger said.

The sheriff nodded slowly. How long
had they been on the desert? Where
did they come from? How had they
come to this lonely spot?

These questions tumbled about in
his mind, It was apparent that the
motive for the death of the pair was
robbery, for no personal effects of any
value of the man and woman were
about the spot.

“Shake out those blankets,” Vannoy
ordered, “And dig around to see if

you can find anything to tell us who #

they are. I’m going to look around a
bit.”

Vannoy started to circle the little
clearing, his keen eyes studying the
ground, Two months was a long time.
Would the brittle alkali crust retain
any signs? When he had gone about
fifty feet, he stopped and dropped to
one knee.

“You fellows come here a minute,”
he called.

The medical officer and Bellinger
found the sheriff bending over the
unmistakable print of an auto tire, It
was blurred from exposure to the ele-
ments, but the mystery of how the
two bodies had reached the forlorn
spot was solved.

The three investigators followed the
tire treads to the highway, They had.
come in a car, and the killer must
have driven away in it.

* * *

HE sheriff and Dr. Wray returned

to Fallon and sent an undertaker
to the scene of the double slaying.

In an effort to establish the identity.

of the corpses in the desert, Sheriff
Vannoy enlisted the aid of the editor
of the Fallon newspaper, giving him
the description of the pair. The little
community was shocked by the grue-
some discovery, but their identity re-

The. lieutenant's wife
went on a horrible ride
with her husband's life-
less body in the trunk
and the murderer at the
wheel of their car. Two
shots soon snuffed out
her life, too,


mained a mystery since no local per-
sons were reported missing.

When Bellinger and the undertaker
arrived in Fallon with the bodies, Dr.
Wray made a more complete exami-
nation, He confirmed his earlier
opinion as to the cause of death and,
at the sheriff’s suggestion, made a
chart of the victims’ dental work,

Vannoy and Bellinger returned to
the sheriff's office in Courthouse
Square.

“I’m going to contact every Army
base in this area,” Sheriff Vannoy an-
nounced, “Perhaps, in that manner
we can establish their identity.”

“Maybe this fellow was A.W.O.L.,”
the corroner suggested.

“It’s possible,’ the sheriff de-
murred, “but highly improbable, This
man was an officer, and was traveling
with his wife. We have to know who
they were, and that’s what I’m going
to do first.”

Sheriff Vannoy dispatched his tele-
grams and settled down to wait, Re-
sults developed sooner than he ex-
pected, Late that day, he had a long
distance telephone call from Army
officials at Gowen Field, just outside
of Boise, Idaho. .

Lieutenant Raymond E. Fisher,
formerly stationed at Gowen Field,
and his wife had disappeared while
en route to March Field, California.
The couple had left the base at Gowen
on April 22nd. They had intended to
travel south on U. S. Highway 80 to
Ely, Nevada, then: take route No. 6
into California.

This proposed route would not have
taken them through Fallon or any-~
where near the spot where the bodies
had been discovered, but Gowen Field
authorities thought it possible that the
discovery of the murdered couple be-
tween Fallon and Sand Springs was
an explanation for Lieutenant Fisher’s
disappearance.

“Were they traveling alone?” Van-

noy asked. :

“Yes. They were driving a maroon,
1941 Ford sedan. Captain Pyle and
Lieutenant Atkin will leave here in
the morning by plane. They both
knew the Fishers and should be able
to identify them for you.”

The two Army officers from Gowen

Field arrived in Fallon shortly before
noon the following day, Sheriff Van-
noy took them to the undertaking
parlor where they were joined by Dr.
Wray.

The sheriff pulled back: the sheets
covering the two bodies.

The Army officers studied the skele-
tal remains for several minutes.

Captain Pyle spoke first. “It’s diffi-
cult to be positive under these con-
ditions,” he said grimly, “There isn’t
much left, but I think it is Lieutenant
Fisher and his wife.”

The captain picked up the dead
man’s ‘trousers from a table nearby

22

*

spot in Death Valley, Cali-
fornia, where the killer had

a

, a
Sheriff Vannoy found the ry oe

| hidden the Fishers’ be- ,
longings—suitcases, trunk,
aii and clothing.
rie ee" sath rey
4 + ge
4 ‘re
Y + 4

\

and turned one of the pockets inside
out. “This is the Gowen. Field laundry
mark,” he said quietly, “We brought
a chart of Lieutenant Fisher’s dental
work. Perhaps that will help.”

The Army officer handed Dr. Wray
a dental reference chart. The physi-
cian studied it for a moment, then
compared it with the chart he had
made of the dental work from the
dead man’s mouth. “Better get a den-
tist to pass on these, Ralph,” he said
to the sheriff, “but I don’t think

there’s any question about it.”
Captain Pyle accompanied Vannoy
back to the sheriff's office while Lieu-
tenant Atkin made arrangements to
ship the bodies back to Gowen Field.
“We haven’t anything to go on yet,”
Vannoy said. “They’ve been dead a
long time, and that means that their
killer has quite a head start on us.
But now we know who they were,
and we can begin to do some figuring.
Their car, their clothes and money
are missing. Since they were traveling

SMASH DETECTIVE CASES


ne

cee ene

Lt. Kaymond E. Fisher
(above) never reached
his destination because
he stopped to play Good
Samaritan to a knave.

HERIFF RALPH VANNOY of

Churchill County, Nevada

piloted the heavy car smoothly

over the deserted road. Occa-
sionally, he glanced briefly at Coroner
Harry Bellinger who sat beside him.
County medical officer, Dr. Hobert
Wray, was in the back seat, the
“doc’s” little black bag between his
feet.

“Should be along here soon,” Bel-
linger said. :

“Yes,” the sheriff returned. “You
don’t find many roadside billboards
along this stretch.”

Even in the gentle sunshine of that
afternoon of June 9, 1943, the country-
side which flanked both sides of the

roadway was far from inviting. U. S.

= Highway 50, crossing Nevada from

Carson City to Ely and linking Austin
and Fallon, the county seat, runs
through brush-covered valleys and
rocky hills, which are desolate and
uninviting. Their forbidden depths
and treacherous underbrush were in
keeping with the tale of murder which
had brought them here.

The police car passed through
Frenchman’s Station and continued on
to Sand Springs. About five miles
west of this sparse settlement, Sheriff
Vannoy pulled up before a huge bill-
board where a man waved excitedly
at them. His face was framed in the
car window almost before they had
stopped.

“Sure glad you got here, Sheriff!”
he gasped. “It’s awful. There’s two of
them, and I think they’ve been dead
a long time.”

Sheriff Vannoy jerked his head
toward the rear door of the cruise
ear. “Get in,” he said shortly. “Direct
me to the spot, and tell us what you
know as we go.”

“The spot is about a hur.dred yards
along the trail above,” the man said
as he scrambled into the police auto.

As the sheriff nosed the cruiser
back onto the highway, their inform-
ant gave them what facts he could,
His voice was strained as he at-
tempted to describe the scene of mur-
der upon which he had stumbled.

“I was headed for Fallon when I

had a blow-out near that billboard,” ’

he said. “I pulled off the road to
change tires. When I got out of my
car, I noticed a peculiar smell.”

The motorist wrinkled his nose.
“There it is again,” he ejaculated ex-
citedly. “Smell it?”

“Smells like decomposition,” Van-
noy averred. “Might be a horse or a
mule.”

“It’s those two bodies I found,” the
motorist insisted. “It was so annoying
that I-decided to investigate, and I
found them down this trail.”

The sheriff stopped at the edge of
a small clearing. The- four men
alighted and followed a trail of recent
footprints. ..

Partly hidden from view by the
fragrant purple sage, two human
bodies lay sprawled in the sand. A
thin, khaki blanket concealed the}
head and shoulders of each corpse.

“Gad!” Bellinger gasped. “One of
them is a woman.”

He stooped to roll away the blank-
ets and exposed the two corpses. The
bones of the head, neck and _ torso
were bare of flesh, and where the
bodies had been uncovered, the dry

County Court

Rlon, Nevada. It was -
here that the killer was
tried and sentenced to
die in the state's gas
chamber.

SMASH DETECTIVE CASES, Number 3, 1945,


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liv dess than two mindtes the Reno identifi
cation officer was back on the telephone.
“That's right,” he said. “We've got his mug
and his prints Ti send them to you and
Vil also put out a murder bulletin on him,”

On Monday morning, one week after the
discovery of the bodies at Sand Springs,
Vannoy received pictures and the fingerprint
classification on Floyd McKinney from Reno.

The service station attendant in Fallon
promptly recognized the picture of McKin-
ney as that of the man in uniform who had
purchased eight gallons of gasoline for the
maroon Ford on the night of the murder.

The witness at the Frenchman's and the
waitress at Eureka also identified McKinney
as the civilian who had been traveling with
the Fishers. The mystery was solved.

Complete bulletins on the crime had been
sent to every peace officer in the West.
Sooner or later, Floyd McKinney would be
trapped.

In the weeks that followed, numerous tips
poured into Fallon. San Francisco police
reported McKinney had worked in a ship-
yard there. The wanted man was recog-
nized in Whitney, Nevada.

The fugitive killer was also definitely
identified as the man who cashed a bad
check in the northern Nevada city of Win-
nemucca.,

Vannoy, patiently digging into McKinney's
background, learned that the killer suspect
was married and had four children and two
stepchildren. McKinney’s wife had once
been a waitress in a Fallon restaurant, and,
following this lead, the sheriff learned that
she was presently living in Bishop, Cali-
fornia, a town in the high Sierras just west
of the Nevada line.

Vannoy and Richard Heap, of the Reno
Police Department, went to the California
city to check this information. They learned
that McKinney had visited his wife and
family on June 15 and that when he left
he had said he intended to seek work in the
California lettuce fields near Salinas.

Police officers in Bishop agreed to keep
Mrs. McKinney and the children under sur-
veillance and to’ watch for McKinney’s
return,

The weeks dragged past. Vannoy discov-
ered the wanted man had failed to report
to his draft board. The Federal Bureau of
Investigation was called in to check the
angle. ,

Gradually the people of Fallon began to
forget the double tragedy. The spectacular
phase of the mystery had been solved. But

i

in the office of the sheriff of Churchill County
there was no let-up.

[ATE IN THE AFTERNOON of Friday,
July 30, W. M. Pearce, a California
quarantine officer, was standing in front of
his post at Benton Station on U. S. High-
way 6, just west of the Nevada-California
ine.

As Pearce watched, he saw a small sedan
leave the highway, swing out on a side road
and bypass the agricultural quarantine stop.
It was a deliberate action. Someone was
trying to avoid inspection. Pearce cut

Sebaiios hig

awiltly across an adjacent held, thinking to.
get the license nutnber of the cat ag it"
passed. When he saw the figure at the
wheel, he understood the reason for! the. 4
dodge. Pearce recognized the driver as hy
Floyd McKinney. He had known McKinney ©
casually in the past and he knew the burly
ex-miner was wanted for murder in Nevada.
Pearce raced back to his station and the —
telephone. bis
Two miles north of Bishop, Spray Kinne
deputy sheriff of Inyo County, and Patrol *,
man Merrill Curtis of the Bishop police
force, forced the sedan from the highway,”
The driver gave up without a struggle. He®
admitted he was Floyd McKinney. The long’ |
man hunt was over. ae
Before McKinney was returned to Church-”
ill County the following day, the California ©
officers charged him with grand theft. He.”
admitted having stolen the car he was dtiv- 7)
ing at the time of his arrest in Porterville.»
California. ee
McKinney, sullen and defiant, denied the
double murder, but he could offer no ex- -
planation for his possession of the maroon-*
colored Ford, nor could he explain why he \)
was traveling with the Fishers. “Gane
On Monday, August 30, Floyd McKinney
was brought to trial in Fallon hefore Judge >
Clark J. Guild. Courthouse Square was”

packed. The town seethed with excitement,

e
e

adh

Be He!
i

ee
a

Farmers, stockmen and miners, all shocked *"

took the stand to deny the murders. He. >

them to turn over the proceeds of that sale ~
they had disappeared. ; Vind
Bible and Winters blasted McKinney’s* »
story. The chain of evidence developed by #9
Sheriff Vannoy in those weeks of investi- Mae
gation was complete, and in rebuttal repu- “e
table witnesses placed McKinney in company. §
with the Fishers from northeastern Nevada \
to the Frenchman’s Station. eet
On Thursday, September 2, shortly after 3 a
3 p.M., McKinney’s fate was placed in the
hands of the jury. Two hours and. 17!
minutes later court was reconvened and the
defendant brought face to face with the 12.
men who had weighed his protestation of
innocence against the evidence and the tes="
timony of the officers. ie
Philip R. York, clerk of the court; tore
open the sealed envelope containing the, 4
verdict. The sound of the téaring paper wa
loud against the hushed expectancy ‘of the
crowd, i‘
In a calm, emotionless voice, York rea
the formal phrases. Two words emphasized
by their solemn meaning rang out, GUILTY
and DEATH. Death in Nevada's gas
chamber for the killer of the lieutenant and
his bride. hi

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John, white, hanged Virginia City, Nevada, on April 2h, i

MILLAN ,

She was all things to all men: fiery ambitious,
beautiful and bold. A luscious beauty in ruf-
fles and bows, she became the Queen of the
Comstock Lode. es ee a

he was detested by the respectable women of .
Virginia City, Nevada. She was adored by the
entire male population of the above ‘city, respect-
able or otherwise. She was the origin of the fanci-
est funeral and the most elaborate hanging that
the Comstock ever experienced. Her name was
Julia Bulette, she was beautiful, glamorous, char-
_Ming and she ran a bawdy house on D Street.— :
Not too much is known of. Julia’s early life.
She was born in London, England in 1832 and
came to the United States with her family who
settled in New Orleans. Later she took up resi-
dence in the Vieux Carre of that city. Some time’
in the early eighteen fifties after gold was dis-
covered in California she moved to the El Dorado
of the Pacific. It is known that Julia operated for
a while in Weaverville, California, a mining camp
. Some two hundred miles north of San Francisco. ©
For. almost ten years Julia remained in. Cali-——
- ~-fornia and then in 1859_a fabulous band of silver

—. Was_discovered curling around Sun Mouitain in

®,
05 »

Gi}

Julia Bulette, from a painting by Bob Richards, editor of The Terri-
torial Enterprise, Virginia City.

oe

°PIONBER WEST MAGAZINE, May, 1976.

Virginia City. It became a fountain head which |
spouted a rushing, gargantuan flood of precious
-ore and a teeming rushing tide of humanity has-
tened across the Sierra and founded a town in
_the shadow of the mountain. It was Virginia
City. By 1860 the town was incorporated and
thickening into a metropolis. A year later Con-
gress created the Territory of Nevada and three
years later granted her statehood. When Julia
arrived some time after 1860 there were some six

thousand males and a mere handful of females in -

~ the desert town.

In all probability Julia was the first prosti-. 2

oe

ated to a madam and again she was the first. In
time she became the most famous of her kind in
the Comstock Lode. From the first she prospered -
in her “business.” Then she expanded and placed .
a few girls, known in pioneer days as “soiled —
doves’ in a row of frame cottages on D Street. In
time she occupied a fine mansion which was
known far and wide as Julia’s Palace.
During the first years of the great lode when |
women were scarce in Virginia City, Julia was-
wife, mother, sister and sweetheart to the lonely *
Miners. When epidemics grinped the camp-she--

es

~ ‘went from tent_to- tent-and. shack-to-shack mini- — “4

tute to reach-the new diggings. Later she gradu- ) 77


In contrast tc her iife, Bulette’s death
is well-documented, written by reporters
who probably knew her well. She was
found dead by her friend Gertie Holmes.
The body lay on a blood saturated bed;
a pillow covered her face. She had been
strangled, beaten over the head with a
stick, and hit on the temple with a
revolver. A trunk containing her per-
sonal possessions was missing.

26

The murder was big news, but five
months passed before any evidence of
the killer’s identity was discovered.
Bulette’s missing personal possessions
eventually began to reappear in Virginia
City. A Mrs. Cozentre who lived on Gold
Hill claimed a dress pattern and
material she purchased had belonged to
Bulette. A diamond pin belonging to the
dead woman showed up at Nye Brothers

jewelers, and etne, >ieres of jewelry

were sold by a laundry worker, John

Milleian.

Milleian attempted to rob one of the
“girls” on the Line, who had him ar-
rested. While he was in jail, Bulette’s
trunk, still containing some of her per-
sonal affects, was found in the attic of
one of his friends. Confronted with that
evidence, Milleian confessed.

Old West

The case was tried on June 26, 1867,
in the Storey County Courthouse before
Judge Richard Rising. One of the best
criminal lawyers on the Pacific Coast,
Charles E. DeLong, was appointed by

_ the court to defend Milleian. But the

evidence against him was so conclusive
that the jury immediately found him
guilty, and he was sentenced to death.

The public hanging on Friday, April

Courtesy of the Reno News Bureau

we seh gSin.

Winter 1985

oS AS IIL

pciante cities ee

pASAGLLS RTE

og as pegs:
Se eee

Courtesy of the Nev

Left: Virginia City, Nevada, “Queen of the Comstock,” was home for Julia Bulette.
Here while plying her trade she was brutally murdered by one of her customers. Above:
A much publicized fraudulent photo of “Julia Bulette” pictures her as a Creole. The
true identity of the attractive imposter may never be known.

24, 1868, was a big event. People came
from nearby communities in all sorts of
conveyances. Some brought their lunch-
es. According to newspaper accounts,
the execution was quiet and orderly in
spite of the mob. The assembly was hyp-
notized by the scene. After dangling
about two minutes, the murderer hung
quietly. Twenty-five minutes later he
was cut down. A Gold Hill News reporter
wrote he had never seen a man die so
calmly.

When Bulette was buried in Flowery
Hill Cemetery, the facts of her life were
buried with her and the legends began
to spring up. Some years later, however,
the truth was discovered by the late Bob
Richards, one-time editor of the revived
Territorial Enterprise. Richards found a
packet of seventy-one documents in the
county clerk’s files in the Storey Coun-
ty Courthouse in Virginia City. The
documents were among the very few
that survived when the Great Fire of

1875 destroyed the original courthouse
and most of its contents. The entire
packet pertained to Bulette’s personal
effects, funeral expenses, and the
disposition of her estate. .

In 1967 Richards wrote that at the
time of her death Bulette’s possessions
amounted to some household furniture
and a few pieces of jewelry. Just before
her death she-had borrowed from her
landlady, to whom she also was in debt
for board. Her funeral cost $149.

BULETTE DIED INTESTATE, so
Mary Jane Minieri petitioned the court
to be appointed executrix of the estate.
Newspaper accounts never mentioned
Minieri. In some of the documents,
however, Minieri’s name appeared
above that of Gert Holmes, which had
been crossed out. Richards deduced that
Minieri, a prostitute, was Bulette’s
friend, neighbor, and landlady—and her
largest creditor. Other creditors filed

27

ada Historical Society

Peet PULLEY EACLE ARAN ERLE


Courtesy of the author

Two miles outside of Virginia City, Nevada, is Flowery Hill Cemetery, the final resting

place for Julia Bulette.

claims amounting to $610.23. Over the
other creditors’ objections, the judge
granted Minieri’s petition. Minieri and
her sureties, other prostitutes, executed
a $2,400 bond to secure the estate.

Bulette’s belongings were evaluated
at $517, with an appraiser’s fee of $30.
C. Gartnell, coroner and public ad-
ministrator, removed Bulette’s fur-
niture and stored it in a warehouse. His
expenses were $10, but there is no
record that his bill was ever paid.
Receipts from a public auction of
Bulette’s belongings netted the estate
$875.43. Of that amount, undertaker J.
W. Wilson received $149. Nye and Com-
pany jewelers received $115 for a gold
watch and other merchandise. A doc-
tor’s bill of $118 for unspecified medical
services was allowed. Thomas Taylor
Company, importers of wine and li-
quors, was given the difference on a bill
for $92, of which $50.50 had been paid.
Minieri’s bill included $205.51 for board
from November 1 to January 20, money
advanced for two suppers and a bottle
of brandy, and $81.75 advanced for
sundries.

Since the amount owed exceeded the
value of the estate, Minieri agreed that
one third be allowed each of the
creditors, with the exception of the
undertaker, who was paid in full. On
April 6, Dr. Green, who had performed
the post mortem, sent another bill for
28

services to Bulette in November and
December, 1866. It totaled $50 for ten
calls at $5 each. Of that, Minieri had
paid $10 on December 26, Bulette had
paid $25, leaving $15 still outstanding.

When a second auction netted only
$360.80, the judge ordered outstanding
creditors paid at the rate of fifty per-
cent. During the auction it was noted
that although Bulette had a large ward-
robe there was only one pair of shoes
and one pair of slippers. In contrast she
owned two riding habits and one riding
skirt. Two baskets of books were
another incongruity among her posses-
sions. Did they reveal another side of
her life, or were they merely for show?

Certainly Bulette was never a
glamorous madame. She was merely a
prostitute living alone in a rented shack
on a street designated ‘The Line.” Its
furnishings, as listed on the inventory
of her estate, included only an iron
bedstead, a commode, a couple of chairs,
a slop jar, and a settee. There may have
been a lamp in the window.

Today Julia Bulette’s remains lie in
Flowery Hill Cemetery two miles out-
side of town. Flowery Hill is not among
the cemeteries visited by Virginia City
tourists. In fact, most don't even know
of its existence. A map of the cemetery
reveals that no sections were set aside
for firemen or any fraternal organization
in the area where Bulette is buried.

Gaiuui=-s, courtesans, and other in-
dividuals of dubious reputations were
not permitted to be buried alongside
“decent folks.”

In the early 1970s, Virginia City’s
Catholic priests cleaned up the cemetery
and established Our Lady of the Snow
Shrine, which consists of an outside
stone altar and The Way of the Cross
along a gravel path. Members of the
Julia Bulette Chapter of E Clampus
Vitus try to keep the fence surrounding
Bulette’s grave painted. ;

Legends die hard, and some never do.
The Clampers erected a monument to
Bulette at the east end of C Street
across from the old Washoe Saloon in
1963. An iron pipe pointed at Bulette’s
grave penetrates the four and one-half
foot stone memorial from front to rear.
The organization features her supposed
image on its stationery. In 1967 it
erected a historical marker on the pro-
bable site of the Line at the corner of D
and Union Streets, climaxing its obser-
vance of the one hundredth anniversary
of her death. A macabre torchlight
parade complete with several old
hearses and a “Red Light Float”

Courtesy of the author
A monument honoring Julia Bulette was

erected by E Clampus Vitus. By looking
through an iron pipe inserted through the
monument, one can get a bird’s eye view
of her grave in Flowery Hill Cemetery.

entered by Reno’s Liberty Belle Saloon
was held on January 20. Every year
since, the Clampers have held a lively
bash in honor of the woman whose life
was in fact as brutal and spiritually im-
poverished as her murder at the hands

of John Milleian.

Old West

CHARLES M. RUSSELL |

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Winter 1985 =


RERWERX XXN

OLD WEST MAGAZINE, Winter, 1985.

Tue Lucrative Lees

or Jouia Bowerre

he identities of most of the fan-

cy girls who streamed into the

lusty, rip-roaring mining camp
of Virginia City, Nevada, have long
since been lost. Yet, despite the fact that
they never did anything wonderful or
outstanding, those faceless prostitutes
from the past have been romanticized,
and their brutal existence depicted as
one of excitement and wealth. One such
woman was Julia Bulette, a now legen-
dary courtesan who worked on the Line
five or six years before being savagely
murdered at the age of thirty-five on a
Saturday evening, January 20, 1867.
’ The popular version of Julia Bulette’s
life maintains that she was born in Lon-
don. From there she went to New
Orleans, was married, left her husband
and headed west. She settled temporari-
ly in Downieville, California, about
1863, but soon joined the frenzied horde
of miners, gamblers, saloon keepers, and
women of the town bound for Virginia
City. There, as the story would have it,
the pickings were good for fancy girls
because the men outnumbered the
women forty-to-one.

Writers with little respect for facts
have glorified Bulette’s life in Virginia
City. They say she was a sucessful
madame whose house was a cultural
center where uncouth miners were in-
itiated into the niceties of French cook-
ing and expensive wines in addition to
other continental refinements. Others
go even further. They claim Bulette rode
in a fancy lacquered brougham complete
with her crest of an escutcheon of four
aces topped by a crowned lion coushant.
Her wealth and jewels, they continue,
were legendary.

According to another legend, Bulette
was an honorary member of the
volunteer fire department and rode in all
the local parades enthroned on a gleam-
ing brass and silver fire engine. She was
so revered by the volunteers that she
was buried in a section of the cemetery

reserved for firemen.
24

By DORIS CERVERI

Numerous photographs, paintings
and drawings have depicted Bulette as
a beautiful Creole. Two such photos il-
lustrate a few paragraphs on her life in
Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the Early
American West, by Fisher and Holmes.

Besides writers, enterprising en-
trepeneurs have discovered a gold mine
in Bulette, adding more than their share
to the myth. Everywhere a visitor turns
in Virginia City there are popular ver-
sions of her image. Old West museums,
saloons, drug stores, novelty shops and
souvenir stores all offer some sort of

, memento. In the Sazarac saloon a large

painting of a voluptuous woman, sup-
posedly Bulette, hangs prominently
over the bar. Another establishment
features a life-sized figure of Bulette
dressed as a dance hall girl beside a
booth displaying a western tabloid. The
base of the statue is inscribed, ‘The
most gorgeous madame of them all.”

On the corner of D and Union Streets
above the flimsy crib where Bulette
lived, worked, and died is the Julia C.
Bulette Saloon. What the “‘C”’ stands
for is anybody’s guess—it simply serves
to aggrandize her impoverished ex-
istence. Inside the saloon, Bulette is the
Red Light Museum’s principal
attraction.

A high-powered telescope on the sun
deck of the Bonanza Saloon enables
visitors to see the grave of Julia Bulette
enclosed by a picket fence. It costs a
dime to look.

Even in Reno, The Legend of Julia
Bulette, a play by Ken Mizad was staged
in September of 1984 by a troupe from
northern California. It featured songs
and dances, all adding to the myth of
Bulette’s life.

The reality of Bulette’s existence con-

trasts sharply with the legend. As far
as is known, an enlarged photo
displayed in a cabinet at the Nevada
State Historical Society in Reno is the
only authentic photo of Bulette. It was
found among the memorabilia—
historical photos, papers, and so forth—
accumulated by the Society’s first direc-
tor, Jeanne Weir. Acquired by the Socie-
ty in 1915, the photograph was filed and
not rediscovered until several years ago.
Bulette’s typically English appearance
disputes the claims of various writers
and historians that she was part French,
Creole, or part black. Her rather plain,
unsmiling countenance also disputes the
glamourous accounts of her life.

BULETTE NO DOUBT earned the
same as her co-workers, which wasn’t
very much. Miners labored long hours
and received only $4 a day. Twenty-five
cents for a few minutes of pleasure was
the going rate. She was not important
enough to have been mentioned in any
historical documents. Nor were
courtesans discussed in polite Victorian
dining rooms. The story that Bulette
was an honorary member of the
volunteer fire department’s Company
No. 1 might be authentic, since Tom
Peasley, the captain of the volunteers,
was her special paramour. But the no-
tion that no parade was complete
without her riding on the fire engine is
far-fetched. No known photo of a
Virginia City parade shows any woman
on a fire engine. Her death, however,
rated a one liner in Thompson and
West’s History of Nevada. The chapter
“Homicide and Some of Its Causes”’
lists John Milleian simply as the
murderer of Julia Bulette, a woman of
Virginia City.

The fireman’s hat, shirt, and belt, and the
fact that the captain of the volunteers was
Julia Bulette’s lover, lend credence to the
supposition that she was an honorary
member of Company No. 1.

Old West

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AD

By BURT ALLER

HE MAN had suffered a ‘nerciless beating. Half-dressed, he i on the
floor of the bedroom in the rear of his-store at Union Station, in’ Napa |

County, California, his face grotesquely swollen and bleeding.
“Who did it, Bob?” Undersheriff William W. Gaffney asked, his gruff

voice kindly but urgent.

“Tell us who slugged you.”

A low, whimpering moan came from the stricken man. He muttered
something, and Gaffney strained to hear, but the sounds were the gibber-

ish of delirium.

The officer glanced at his partner, Deputy Sheriff Karl Graham, who
shook his head. ‘“We’ve got to get him to the hospital, ” the deputy. “Bald:

“The ambulance is here now.’

Gaffney nodded and, gently replaced
the blanket, which they had found cover-
ing the victim. A moment later, as the
middle-aged storekeeper was being car-
ried out on a stretcher, the Undersheriff
remarked, “Unless the poor guy. regains
consciousness, Karl, we may. have one
devil of a time finding out who his assail-
ant was.”

“He’s in. bad shape,” Graham agreed.

“This may turn out to be murder.”

“Probably he was beaten. insensible,
dragged back here and left for dead,”
“Must have lain here
for hours. Everything points to robbery.
Let’s talk to this fellow. Emery, who re-
ported the crime.’

He glanced at his watch. It was a
quarter past six in the morning, and
neither of them had eaten breakfast.

Waiting in front of the store were sev-
eral excited and indignant neighbors of
the victim, Baptista Acquistapace, known
affectionately as “Bob.” All seemed
eager to aid in avenging the brutal slug-
ging, but the information they provided
was disappointingly scant.

Archie Emery, whose left sleeve hung
empty, told how he had discovered the
crime. He lived in a near-by cabin. He
said he had come to the store to have an
early morning glass of beer with tHe
proprietor, Acquistapace.

“What time was that?” asked Graham,
making notes.

Emery hesitated.
he said.

“You came here to drink beer, at five in
the morning?” Gaffney demanded. in-
credulously.

Emery flushed, but explained that it
had been his custom to start the day with
a glass of beer, in which Acquistapace
often joined him.

‘Do you always get up so early?” the
Undersheriff pursued.

“Not always. Bob is usually awake
that early, but this morning he wasn’t up

“About five o’clock,”

the Noise.

yet. So I went around in back ‘arid rapped
on his window and told him to let me in.
He sort of moaned and told.me to come
in. sa :
“I ‘knew. something was wrong, so 1

got the window open and, crawled inside. °
There.he was, on the floor near the bed.”

“Okay, what happened—did he say
who slugged him?”

“No, he couldn’t talk, just isdked ‘at
me and. moaned. The blood all around
made me sick. I threw_a blanket over
him and ran across the road to. Mrs.
Stevens’ house and telephoned. your
office.”

“How would I know? Everybody likes
Bob—I don’t know who would want to
beat him up like that.’’

That opinion was repeated in vari-
ous ways by the other ‘neighbors at
the scene. The officers’ questions brought
out that two of them. had noticed a dis-
turbance during the previous night,
which was Sunday, October 20th. Mrs.
Rose Basaglia said she had been awak-
ened by a noise, which she could not
describe, and afterward her dog had

‘barked so furiously that she had been

kept awake for some time.

Graham looked up from his notes. Do
you know what time it was?”’
“About eleven .o’clock,”

said, “or maybe twelve.”

“It was around eleven,” the other wit-
ness, Howard Frazer, asserted. “I heard
I thought there had been an
auto accident of some kind, but finally. I
decided it wasn’t anything serious and
went back to sleep.”.

Further questioning revealed that none
of the witnesses had seen Acquistapace
later than.one o’clock of the. preceding
day. His store was: always. closed; on-
Sunday afternoon..

Thanking the witnesses, the officers

the woman

‘dismissed them.. Then they returned. to

gassed NV

OX original murder in Calif

(Washoe) Ju uly 15, 1954

Cad
ij

ornia)

tion: ~The scene was eloquent of the
brutal character of the assailant, for
there was a trail of blood from one end

of the floor to the other.

Apparently it began outside, at the
entrance to the cellar. ‘Here it appeared
that Acquistapace had either fallen or
been thrown down the concrete steps, for
his blood had stained the steps and the
door and walls below.

“Do you suppose it started as a brawl?”

Graham suggested. -

_ Gaffney was dubious; and a few min-
utes later they both discarded the theory.
The cash register had been rifled, and
they. had already determined that the
victim had no money on his person. The
motive appeared to be robbery. Possibly
Acquistapace had surprised the thief, and

received the frightful beating when he
attempted to resist.

“This isn’t the first time Acquistapace
has been robbed,” Graham pointed out.
“Burglars broke in here, several weeks
ago,-and got quite a sum of money.”

. The Undersheriff said slowly, ‘Right!
And one of the suspects was a one-

- armed man.”
“All right, Emery,” said Gaffney. “Now
“who do you think did it?”

“Archie Emery?”

Gaffney nodded grimly. “The fellow
may be innocent, but his story will bear
looking into. Meanwhile, let’s see what
clues we can uncover.”

The reddish brown trail led from the
cellar steps outside, through the store to
the bedroom. A close examination dis-
closed that Acquistapace had not crawled
along that route, but had been dragged.
The amount of blood was appalling, espe-
cially where the victim had lain until
discovered.

A curious circumstance was the burn-

ing of a light overhead in the bedroom.
Someone had evidently reached up and
screwed the bulb in the socket in order
to turn the light on, for there were blood
smears on the glass.
-.Had Acquistapace managed this feat?
It seemed unlikely. Desperately injured,
he would hardly have made the attempt.
even if he had the strength to stand up-
right.

“Unless,” Gaffney reasoned, “he
wanted the light to attract attention and
bring him aid.’’.

“That’s barely possible,” Graham ad-
mitted. “But if it was the slugger who

screwed in that bulb, he must have been
familiar with this room. He must have
known that the light switch is broken.
and he was able to reach up in the dark-

the store to conduct a thorough examina- -


Shown above is the combination home and store of Bap-
tista Acquistapace, where the robbery and murder took place

ness, find the bulb and turn it.”

“Say, you’ve got something there, Karl!
é The man we're looking for is undoubtedly
j one of Bob’s supposed friends—some-

body who’s been in here before. But
why would he risk discovery by turning
on the light?”

“So he wouldn’t overlook anything.
Thinking his victim was dead, he robbed
the body and then ransacked this room.”

A puzzling fact was that one of the
windows of the bedroom had been shat-
tered. Archie Emery had told of opening
this window to crawl inside; he had
failed to mention breaking the glass to
accomplish this.

Continuing their search, the officers
found a blood-smeared beer bottle. This
might have been the instrument with
which Acquistapace was clubbed uncon-
scious. It was carefully preserved for
fingerprints.

Someone, walking across the trail of
blood, had left several footprints on the
floor. One of these was clear enough to
be of possible value. Vaguely outlmed,
it gave no hint of the size of the shoe.
The imprint made by the sole, however,
was distinctive enough to serve for iden-
tification—the kind of pattern that might
be found on a sole of rubber composition.

When Sheriff John P. Steckter arrived,
just as the deputies were concluding their
preliminary investigations, he promised
to send his identification man, Deputy
Peter Yenni, to make photographs of the
footprint, as well as to get pictures of the
general scene. : :

“Tll also get in touch with Sacra-
mento,” Steckter said, “and ask them to
send one of their experts. We may get
the robber’s identity from those prints on
the light bulb and the beer bottle, espe-
cially if he has a record,”

“What about Acquistapace—is he going

to pull through?” Gaffney inquired.
20

' EB cu

wt

Sheriff Steckter -shook his head
gravely. “About one chance in a mil-
lion. But the hospital will notify us if
he regains consciousness.”

Baptista Acquistapace, though his con-
dition showed a slight improvement that
day, remained semi-conscious. His in-
juries included a severe brain concussion
and his condition was critical.

Working as a team, Gaffney and Gra-
ham returned to their questioning of per-
sons living in the vicinity of Union Sta-
tion, a crossroads neighborhood two miles
north of Napa, the county seat. The
closest friends of Acquistapace could
think of no one who might have borne a
grudge against the storekeeper. How-
ever, the name of one man was mentioned
in this connection.

The man was said to be a tailor by
trade; his name was John Story. He had
slept in his car, parked in Acquistapace’s
driveway, but on Sunday afternoon he
had suddenly moved away, taking all his
belongings.

At this time little was learned about
the man, except that he had engaged in
frequent arguments at the store. Dictator
Mussolini had embarked upon his quest
of glory in Ethiopia, in the campaign that
was the forerunner of the present world
conflict—and the swaggering Il Duce’s
downfall.

It ‘seemed that our citizens of Italian
extraction were divided regarding the
“great” Mussolini and _ his grandiose
schemes of conquest, as indeed half the
world was. Baptista Acquistapace was
outspoken in his own views, while the
tailor held contrary opinions. Their
voices had been heard in heated debate,
and Story had recently stalked off in rage
at the stubbornness of the other.

Now Story was gone. No one seemed
to know where he could be found.

When at length he.was located in Napa,

Trail of blood left by Acquistapace's body when he
was dragged through the inside of the store (above)

the tailor was cooperative enough, an-
swering all questions readily.

“Sure, I pulled out yesterday after-
noon,” he admitted. “I couldn’t stand all
that argument about the war, so I de-
cided to move. I’m sure sorry to hear
what happened to Bob, though.”

The witness insisted that it was pure
coincidence that he had chosen the day
of the crime to leave the Acquistapace
premises. He furnished an account of
his whereabouts during Sunday after-
noon and evening, and a checkup on his
alibi definitely eliminated him as a sus-
pect. He was a man of excellent char-
acter and was wholly innocent of any
connection with the crime.

“This leavesus Archie Emery,” Graham
remarked; “and what have we got on
him? After all, he went to a lot of
trouble to report the crime.”

“So what? That could be a very clever
move, to throw suspicion away from him-
self.”

“Well, maybe.. But he’d have been
taking an awful chance, knowing Acquis-
tapace was still alive and might later
identify him as the attacker,”

“Just the same,” Gaffney persisted,
“our friend Emery is going to have to
clear up several points to my satisfac-
tion.”

“Mine, too,” Graham agreed. “That
broken window, and the light bulb. And
another thing—he said that Acquistapace
answered and told him to come in. Yet
Bob was semi-conscious—couldn’t tell
him who had slugged him. Something
funny there.”

Emery had been absent when the offi-
cers sought to re-question him, but on
their next visit’ to his little cabin they
found the one-armed man there. He
seemed friendly and cooperative. As the
questioning proceeded, he became in-
creasingly nervous, however.

The victim »
here. Blood

He denie
enter the be:
found the pa
reached in @

“Why did
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RSE gr ne
te ae ey

The victim was found on the floor beside the bed in the room shown
here. Bloodstains on the floor indicate where the body was discovered

He denied breaking the window to
enter the bedroom, asserting that he had
found the pane shattered and had simply
reached in and unlocked the window.

“Why didn’t you tell us that to start
with?” demanded Graham. Emery said
he must have been too excited to men-
tion it. He also insisted that he had not
turned on the light, had failed to notice
that it was burning.

“In the middle of October,” Gaffney
said, “it’s pretty dark at five in the morn-
ing—but you didn’t notice the light?”

“T might have; I don’t remember.”

“Did Bob tell you to come in?”

“Well,” Emery replied cautiously, “I
thought he did. He was moaning, and it
sounded like that’s what he said. I was
excited, because something was wrong.”

Gaffney looked down at Emery’s shoes.
They were black oxfords, with smooth
leather soles.

“You have another pair of shoes,
haven’t you?” ‘

“Shoes?” The man was startled. “No,
this pair is all I’ve got.”

“No tennis shoes? Nothing with rub-
ber soles?”

“No,” Emery insisted. “Say, what are
you getting at?”

“Never mind. We’ll just have a look
around your cabin.”

With the suspect watching them in
growing alarm, the officers carefully
searched the two small rooms. They
failed to find anything incriminating.
Emery seemed relieved, but still worried.

“Is Bob going to live?” he broke in
suddenly.

“Tf he doesn’t,’ Gaffney told him, “his
murderer is going to pay. The best thing
you can do is to come clean, Archie. Hold-
ing back information is going to look bad,
later on.” :

“But,” the man protested, “I’ve told
you all I know!”

“No, you haven’t. There’s the other
time Bob’s store was robbed: You know
something about that. You knew your
way around—about the broken light
switch, for example. Now, with a mur-
der charge coming up——”’

Gaffney paused, to let it sink in. Emery,
trying to meet his stern gaze, had to avert
his eyes. -He started to say something,
but stopped. The officers remained silent.

“All right,” he muttered finally, “Ill
come clean. I do know something about
that other robbery.”

“What do you know?”

“I was in it. I helped rob the store.”

“Now we're getting somewhere. Who
else was in on that job?”

But Emery, as if regretting that he had
made the damaging admission, refused
to name his accomplice in the ‘earlier
robbery. Again and again he repeated
that he had taken no part in the robbery-
and-slugging. Although he had stolen
money from Acquistapace, he said, he
looked upon the man as his friend and
would never have done him bodily harm.
He could not imagine who the slugger
might be.

Obviously, his fear of a murder charge
had induced him to confess to a lesser
crime. Whether he was nevertheless in-
volved in the vicious assault, was a mat-
ter still to be determined. He was placed
under arrest. :

Leaving Emery to think the matter
over in the solitude of his jail cell, the
two officers continued their investiga-
tions. Little progress was made-during
that day or the next. Deputy Sheriff
Yenni had photographed the footprint in
blood. Armed with this picture, Gaffney
and Graham canvassed the Union Station
neighborhood; but nowhere could they
find a shoe that might have made the
footprint. .

Acquistapace remained in a_ serious

condition, never completely regaining
consciousness. However, the physicians
at Victory Hospital were hopeful of his
eventual recovery, and a deputy was de-
tailed to be on hand the moment he
should revive sufficiently to answer

questions.

Emery continued to deny any guilt
beyond that of having previously robbed
the store, and he still would not name his
accomplice. The officers were puzzled,
and hoped that an expert analysis of the
clues at the scene of the crime would
either eliminate the one-armed man as a
suspect, or definitely link him with the
slugging.

Their hopes in this direction were
raised when, on the third day, October
23rd, Owen Kessel and Harry C. Hickock,
special investigators from the State Di-
vision of Criminal Identification and In-
vestigation, arrived from Sacramento.
Assisted by the two deputies, these ex-
perts examined the store with scientific
thoroughness, taking numerous photo-
graphs.

To the disappointment of the Napa
officers, the ace investigators finally an-
nounced that, they were unable to find a
single fingerprint that could be identi-
fied. The prints on the beer bottle, like
those on the light bulb, were too badly
smeared to be of value.

There remained the clue of the bloody
footprint. But the officers were faced
with the almost hopeless task of finding
the shoe that had left the imprint. If
the guilty person learned that he had left
this clue, he would undoubtedly hide the
shoes or destroy them.

Kessel and Hickock returned to Sacra-
mento, leaving Gaffney and Graham just
about where they had started.. They had,
it was true, a definite suspect in the per-
son of Emery, but if he was guilty he cer-
tainly ‘showed no signs of cracking.
Definite proof was needed, and they could
not find witnesses or evidence to warrant
charging him with the crime.

Worse still, it now appeared that Ac-
quistapace would never be able to name
or describe his assailant. On October

Suspicion centered on Frank Pedrini,
a parolee from San Quentin Prison

21


i Ree F Rparaeatiammesas ae Goons

24th, he took a turn for the worse. Every
effort was being made to save his life,
but the doctors told the officers that it
was now only a matter of hours.

Knowing that the case was destined to
be one of murder, the two deputies re-
doubled their efforts, seeking a new lead.
It was during a conversation with one of
the neighbors, Mrs. Basaglia, that Gra-
ham learned something ‘that struck a
spark of interest. :

Mrs. Basaglia, an honest, well-reputed
citizen, mentioned that Frank Pedrini,
her son by a previous marriage, had paid
her a brief visit on Sunday afternoon.

“Frank will be sorry to hear about
poor Mr. Acquistapace,” she said. “They
were good friends.”

“That so?” asked Grah m, concealing
his interest. He quietly obtained what
information the woman had to offer, then
hastened to communicate his newly
aroused suspicions to his partner,

“Frank Pedrini?” Gaffney repeated.
“Haven't we got a file on him?” §

“Yes, he was paroled from San Quen-
tin. Until a couple of weeks ago, he was
living in one of those cabins near the
store.

“There was another fellow staying
with him, a pal of his who also served
time at San Quentin. I’ve checked with
the parole office, and Frank got their
permission to take a job on a ranch over
in Yolo County. His mother says that’s
where he is now.”

“Then he’s in the clear on that score?”

“Sure, but his visit to his mother places
him near the scene of the crime at a sus-
picious time.”

“When did he leave his mother’s
place?”

“She says he had to get back to the
ranch to do some evening chores, that he
left in the late afternoon. If that’s true,
and he can prove he went back to the
ranch, he has an iron-clad alibi, because
we know the crime took place an hour or
so before midnight.”

“It’s worth looking into, anyway,” was
Gaffney’s opinion. “What about this
other fellow you mentioned?”

“His name’s Rubin Bell. He appar-
ently wasn’t with Pedrini Sunday, though
I understand the two of them are often
together.”

Investigation disclosed that both Bell
and Pedrini, since regaining their free-
dom, had apparently been making sin-
cere efforts to keep out of trouble. They
had obtained jobs and worked regularly,
which was a good sign. The officers had
no intention of doing anything to make
either of them feel that he was being per-
secuted for past mistakes,

On the other hand, a routine checkup
was in order, if only to give both men
an opportunity to clear themselves of any
suspicion. With this in mind, Gaffney
and Graham set out immediately for the
town of Winters, fifty miles from Napa,
in Yolo County.

Arriving at Winters, they obtained di-
rections to the Lillard ranch, several
miles from town. Here they met Mrs.
Emil Pedrini, the sister-in-law of one of
the men they were seeking. Her husband
was not at home, having gone to town on
business. Without stating the purpose
of their visit, the officers learned from

22 the woman that both Frank Pedrini and

This footprint was taken from the
trail of blood in Baptista's store

Rubin Bell were staying at the ranch.
“Where are they now?” Graham asked.
“Why, they went to Sacramento this

morning,” she replied. “They ought to

be back this afternoon.”

The deputies decided to take a run over
to Sacramento to see what they could find
out. A few hours later, not having found
any trace of the former convicts in the
city, they returned to the Lillard ranch.

This time, Emil Pedrini was at home. A
rancher from his toes up, he had the ap-

‘pearance of a hard-working, straight-
forward type of person.

. “Sure,” he said promptly, “Frank is in

the house. Want to.talk to him? Frank

—oh, Frank, come out here!”

In answer to his brother’s call, Frank
Pedrini emerged from the house. He was
a man. of medium height but extremely
rugged build. He was dressed in khaki
trousers, blue shirt and sweater coat, but
it was his shoes that commanded the
officers’ attention. They were dress ox-
fords, with smooth leather soles,

Gaffney and Graham could almost read
each other’s mind: “This isn’t the man!”

Overlooking no bets, they introduced
themselves and explained that they were
investigating everyone who might have
knowledge of the crime.

“Yeah, I read about it in the papers,”
Frank Pedrini said. “Poor old Bob; he’s
a swell guy! It’s a dirty shame.”

“What time on Sunday did you leave
Union Station, Frank?” asked Gaffney.

“Oh, six or seven o’clock, I guess. We

»got back here around nine-thirty.”

The Undersheriff looked at Emil. “Is
that right?”

“I don’t know; I guess so. I. was in
bed. My brother and his friend sleep out
in the barn and I didn’t notice.”

“Bell was with you then, Frank?”

“Yeah—sure, but he don’t know no
more about that slugging job than I do.
You ain’t got nothing on us.”

“Probably not,” Gaffney returned
quietly, “but we’ve got to ask you these

questions, By the way, isn’t that blood
on your pants?”

Frank looked down at his trousers leg,
then shrugged. ;

“Oh, that,” he said. “I was doctoring
one of Mr, Lillard’s horses that got cut
on barbed wire.” He grinned. “It ain’t
human blood.”

“We'd like to talk to Bell,” Graham re-
marked. “Is he here?”

“No, I left him in Sacramento, He
wanted to catch a freight train. ’m using
my mother’s éar, so I drove him. to town
and left him there.”

“Where is Bell heading for?”

“Zanesville, Ohio. He has some friends
there.”

“Well, we want to talk to him,” said
Gaffney. “How about going to Sacra-
mento with us, to help us locate him?”

“Sure, wait till I get my hat and some
cigarettes.” He turned and went toward
the big dairy barn.

Gaffney and Graham stood talking.
Emil Pedrini excused himself and went
into the house. The officers were in-
clined to be favorably impressed with
Frank’s story. They wanted to look
things over in the barn where the men
had been sleeping, but they decided that
this could wait until they returned from
Sacramento. They were anxious to catch
Bell before he got too far away.

Several minutes passed. Frank Pedrini
did not return from the barn. They de-
cided to go and find him. As they were
walking toward the barn, a shot rang
out. Graham felt the tug of a bullet, as
it nicked his left sleeve.

“Get out of here, you
voice shouted.

The startled officers saw a man in the
doorway of the barn, some sixty yards
away, aiming a rifle at them. As both
deputies went for their guns, he fired
again. It was another miss, but danger-
ously close.

Gaffney fired hastily, but the man
ducked out of sight just in time. Know-
ing that their exposed position put them
at the mercy of their assailant, they
hunted cover.

“I missed him,” Gaffney muttered dis-
gustedly, as they crouched behind a tool
shed.

“That,” said Graham, “was Bell.
They’ve been talking it over and decided
to resist arrest. That’s a high-powered
rifle we’re up against.”

They discussed the situation hurriedly.
In another hour it would be growing
dark; Bell and Pedrini would then have
a good chance of escaping from the barn
unseen.

“We can try rushing them,” Graham
suggested .

“How far do you think we’d get? They
could pick us off like sitting ducks, with
that rifle.”

Graham nodded. He agreed that they
should not try to capture the desperadoes
without aid.

Graham stuck his head out and yelled
toward the barn, “Come out and give
yourselves up! Resisting us will only
make it worse for you both.”

Silence greeted this announcement.
Then the loud crack of the rifle, with a
bullet ricocheting from the wall near
Graham, gave him his answer.

“Tt looks like a stalemate,” said Gaff-

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out with a grimy fist and catching

Emma ‘Soller full in the face. She
crumpled in a heap. The Prowler, still
carrying one of the milk bottles, raced
into the hall and out the side door

by which he apparently had entered
the house.

Miss Soller arose and staggered to

the phone. She first called the family

physician, Doctor Kenneth Laws, and:

then the T.afavette Police Neanartmant

pee oe yds ce mtign Seer | em oo ag
sient SSE Tee eos

were aware of his presence, a factor
leading to his designation as the Cat
Burglar, Terrified wives in the Oak-
land Hill district organized a bridge-
and-sewing club in self-protection.-One
night the group would assemble at one
member’s house to await their hus-
bands’ return from work and the next
night they would meet elsewhere.

‘Until his appearance at the Soller
home, the Cat Man never had harmed
a victim. His wanton attack on Mrs.
Soller testified to his readiness to
attack his victims viciously without
provocation. ,

Lieutenant _ Weinhardt, after cir-
cling the house without finding any
helpful leads, spread a handkerchief
on the bedroom floor and gathered up
the pieces of the milk bottle.

“I’m assuming,” he said to Emma
Soller, “that this young man wore
denim trousers and a blue-striped
shirt.”

The woman nodded. “The thing I
remember most clearly,” she said, “was
the large ring he wore on his right,
middle finger. It had an amber stone—
an extraordinarily large stone.”

“Possibly stolen,” Weinhardt said,
although he recollected no report of
the theft of such a ring.

RUSK and Goldsberry stepped into
the room, the former Carrying a
milk bottle. ‘We found this off the side
of the road just a few yards north of
the gas station,” Rusk said. “Johnny
Crum, the attendant, Says he didn’t
hear any commotion or see anyone
run by his place. He’s open all night.”
“We also talked to the milkman for
this district,” Goldsberry said. “He
hasn’t seen any prowlers.”

“Had he missed any bottles along
his route?” Weinhardt asked.

“No,” Rusk said, pointing to the
label just below the neck of the bottle
he carried. “This bottle’s put out by
a small independent firm. The fellow

we talked to said he doesn’t-think that

company delivers in this neighbor-
hood.”

“T’ll take the bottle with me,” Wein-
hardt said. “The name is the same as
that on the pieces of the broken bot-

’ tle.”

Rusk motioned him into the hallway.
“I think it'll pay to investigate that
abandoned traction barn on the other
side of the gas station,” the patrolman °
said. “Goldsberry and I noticed sev-
eral cots scattered around the floor.

«ver a


“They’re members of a highway con-
struction crew,” she said. “I under-
stand they’re working on -that new
section of highway south of town.”

“Ever have any trouble with any
of them?”

*“No.,”” ‘é

“You fellows stick around and. see
what’s going on at the barn,” Wein-
hardt said to Hill and Fisher. “I’m
going in and check these bottles for
prints. The Chief’s going to demand
an accounting.”

Fisher grunted. “The Chief’ll be in
a sour mood when he finds out the
Cat Man has pulled off another job
and got away with it.”

Chief Taylor indeed was in a grim
humor when he reached his office

shortly after 7 o’clock. Weinhardt was

in the laboratory studying photographs
of two separate prints. “One of them
is off the bottle with which Mrs. Sol-
ler was struck,” he told Taylor. “The
other’s off the bottle found north of the
gas station. They’re both blurred but
good enough for comparison if we
catch a suspect.”

TAYLOR sighed. “Yes—if we catch a’

suspect.” _He walked to a calendar
hanging on the wall and studied it
closely. “Do you realize, John, that
this Cat Man has been making mon-
keys of us for about forty days
and nights. Evidently he’s just a kid
but he’s a bad one through and
through—a Dillinger or a Brady in
the making. We’ve got to catch him
before he kills or assaults some woman.
I'm assigning -the whole department
to work on this case. I want action.”
Saturday marked a day of unprece-
dented activity in which the entire
Lafayette force was concentrated on a
single objective—capture of the Cat
Burglar.
. Half a dozen detectives mingled with
the unusually large Saturday afternoon
crowd milling about the Public Square
and the courthouse. All of them had
their eyes peeled for a slender youth
in denim pants and blue-striped shirt.
Especially were the detectives watch-
ful for a young man wearing a ring
with a large amber stone. Taverns,
pool rooms, restaurants and motion-
picture theaters were under close
scrutiny. a ,
Hill and Fisher went to the paving
project south of town and obtained
from an official of the construction

mamnoanrw tha naman Af tun man elaan

The police were through with guess-
Ing when they reached this shack

present. His companions said he
knocked off work with them at noon
but had driven to a near-by town to
spend the week-end with his girl.

“Didn’t even wait to change from
his work clothes?” Fisher said to one
of the construction men.

“No,” the road worker said. “He
seemed purty anxious ¢’ git goin’.”


A ALL ADOABAMIIBH LIC WAYS UC prers vasswsae
to work on this case. I want action.”
Saturday marked a day of unprece-
dented activity in which the entire
Lafayette force was concentrated on a
single objective—capture of the Cat
Burglar. ; ;
Half a dozen detectives mingled with
the unusually large Saturday afternoon
crowd milling about the Public Square
and the courthouse. All of them had
their eyes peeled for a slender youth
in denim pants and blue-striped shirt.
Especially were the detectives watch-
ful for a young man wearing a ring
with a large amber stone. Taverns,
pool rooms, restaurants and motion-
picture theaters were under close
scrutiny. - :
Hill and Fisher went to the paving
project south of town and obtained
from an official of the construction
company the names of the men sleep-
ing in the abandoned traction barn
near the Soller home. They found
several but only four who fitted the
age classification.
The foreman pointed out each of the
four men to the detectives. Only a
seventeen-year-old youth appeared to

=—“Sure. I’m not such an old gu
myself. We’re going to get along fine;

HESITATED. Should I say anythin
more? Or tell him to leave? Mar
Catherine hurried on into the living
room out of sight. Well, let it pass
I thought. Only it wasn’t so good. An
Lucky kept staring after her as lon

as he could still see her. Then he wen
back to his stool and lit a cigarette ant
sat there, smoking and thinking.
When Ed came home from cuttin;
wood, I told him about the new fellow
He said, “Sure, we can use him. Gla
to have him.” ;
It was harvest time. We needec
somebody to help dig the potatoes am
| gather the corn. We have an olde
| boy and an older girl of our own-—
Jewel, who’s seventeen, and Eugen¢
who’s sixteen—but they’re staying i
Aurora going to high school. The thre
younger ones live at home with us-—
' Hugh, twelve; Ed, Junior, six, and Mar
; Catherine. But of course they’re i
: school too. J

Mary Catherine O’Connell:
Two young men waited

for her until it was too late

Robert Loveless: His pedal work
brought an answer to one question

In this attractive home the
Cat Burglar showed for
the first time his vicious-
ness when he struck
down the Soller women

be in any way nervous over the pres-
ence of the detectives, who told the
foreman nothing that would tip their
hand. :

Hill and Fisher drove directly to
Martinsville, county seat of the county
in which the youths lived, and con-
sulted Sheriff Ray Rainwater. Records
on file in his office showed that one

of the workers, a 22-year-old youth,

once had been jailed for petty thievery.
Another, seventeen years old, had been
up for questioning several times in
connection with housebreakings, and
at this time was out on bond on a
drunken-driving charge.

The detectives considered this in-
formation sufficient basis for question-
ing the two young men. Returning to
Lafayette, they went to the car barns.
All the men except the youngest were

The police were through with guess-
Ing when they reached this shack

present. His companions said he
knocked off work with them at noon
but had driven to a near-by town to
spend the week-end with his girl.

“Didn’t even wait to change from
his work clothes?” Fisher said to one
of the construction men.

“No,” the road worker said. “He
seemed. purty anxious t’ git goin’.”

The 22-year-old workman with the
thievery record at Martinsville made
no protest when he was asked to
accompany the detectives to Head-
_quarters. He said rather resignedly to
Fisher, “It’s pretty tough for a fellow
to get up once he’s down. I suppose
you think I’m the Cat Man. I been
reading about him in the papers.”

“Your finger-prints will tell us
whether you are or not,” Hill sug-
gested.

The youth laughed. “That’s one
good thing about finger-prints,” he
said. “They save an innocent man as
well as hook a guilty man. I ain’t
scared, Mister.”

Ta enough, the suspect’s finger-
prints failed to match those found on.
the milk bottles. After a severe grill-
ing, he was released. He said he had
no idea where his seventeen-year-old
project companion could be found.

“What time is he due back at work
Monday?” Weinhardt asked.

“At 6 o’clock.” —

Weinhardt conceded to Taylor Sat-
urday night that little headway had
been made in tracing the Cat Burglar.
The Chief and the Lieutenant to-
gether dropped in to see Mrs. Soller,
making a slow recovery from her head
wounds at St. Elizabeth’s.

“Do you know,” the white-haired |

woman. said, gingerly touching her
bandaged temple, “that: I’ve hdd the
strangest feeling while lying here in
the hospital that I have seen this young
-man around the neighborhood before.
Of course, I couldn’t be sure. He kept
on his mask. Yet there was something
familiar about him.”

Weinhardt grasped at one of those
intuitive straws that very often break

(Continued on Page40)

19

-g'

ite isaac a nian, witb oa tips

Deve COMET OL eats


eeas we Bh eeew en Cae,

who backed up Fees’ statement to the
letter. They also described as best they
could the “phantom” they had seen
leaving the Cobb home during the
fire.

When Fees had departed, Dresch
studied the facts with more than usual
care. Then he sped to Steves Avenue
and studied the entire block minutely.
He stepped east on Steves, attempting
to find a spot in which the phantom,
pink-robed figure could have hidden
when it disappeared.

He scrutinized the lawns of each
residence with eagle-sharp eyes. His
long experience as a crack investiga-
tor with the police department was
valuable now. He explored shrubbery,
ells of the modern homes and corners
of back yards, searching for a clew.

Although Dresch was eager to solve

The
just such perplexing cases. Carefully
he questioned her hoping that his
queries would aid her recollection.

But the woman could not help.

As Weinhardt was parking his car
back of Headquarters on Monday
morning Hill and Fisher drove along-
side in a dust-covered cruiser.

“We've been down to that road
project south of town,” Fisher said.
“The lad who ducked out Saturday
noon to see his girl didn’t show up for
work this morning.”

Weinhardt’s face clouded. “That
doesn’t look so good for him. You’d
better get over to his home-town and
see if you can find a picture of him.
We'll have Mrs. Soller and some of
these other women look it over.”

Weinhardt went on into Headquar-
ters. In the hallway, he was stopped
by Captain S. R. Flack.

“Jennie Horwitz just called on the
phone,” Flack said, “and gave me a re-
port that sounds interesting. A young
fellow about seventeen or eighteen

just brought a stolen watch in and tried
to sell it to her. The funny part about

40

here a
long time. Had the ph: | hid-
den here while the fire department
quenched the flames up the street?

Cautiously, Dresch explored the rest
of the lawn and approached the house.
He noted that a flower bed under one
of the windows had been trampled.
Using his magnifying glass on the win-
dow-sill he discerned faint finger-
prints made by an oily substance. He
sniffed the sill and uttered a low ex-
clamation.

The oily finger-prints smelled like
gasoline!

Dresch strode around to the front
door of thé home and rang the bell. No
one answered. He then went around
to the south side of the house, removed
a screen and went in- through an open
window. He strode through the house

Cat with the Amber

it is that the same boy stole the same
watch from Jennie about three weeks
ago. He must've got mixed up and for-
got where: he stole it.’

Jennie Horwitz, proprietor of the
Main Street Sport Shop, was still in a
dither of excitement when Weinhardt
reached the store.

“T tried to keep the boy here while

I telephoned,” she said, “but. he got.

suspicious and ran out.”

“A thief rarely makes the mistake of
trying to sell back a stolen item to
the person he stole it from,” Weinhardt
said.

“How do you know this was the
same boy, Mrs. Horwitz?”

“Oh,” the woman said, “he’s a type
you don’t forget easily. Thin-faced;
sour-looking and sharp-talking. .Then,
too, he still had on the same ring I
sold him June 2 when he stole the
watch out of a counter-case.”

“Ring! What ring?”

“Well—it was a cheap sort of ring.
A woman’s costume ring like those in
the case there selling for a dollar ten.
It had an amber stone.”

e .

sae Ve

As he puzzled over these facts he
remembered the ugly rumor one of the
neighbors had told him. Did that
rumor have some foundation in fact?
Was someone jealous of Mrs. Wynine-
gar on Mrs. Cobb’s behalf?

AND how had that rumor been
started? Had someone threatened
Mrs. Wyninegar?

Dresch set about to find the answer
to these questions. He interviewed
dozens of persons nearest the Cobbs
and their relatives, probing insistently,
hoping to obtain sufficient facts to clear
up the mystery. For a time the matter
seemed hopeless. Then, when the hope
was almost gone, Dresch-found a wit-
ness who made a startling revelation.

“T wouldn’t say that Mrs. Wyninegar
was threatened,” the witness stated.

all *

Aveav OL 4S Veumeeracns Estee 4y WN Witte
to dress. He then nined the bed
where she had been resting. Among
the crumpled sheets he found sprigs

‘of mesquite, Johnson grass and dried

leaves!

The elderly woman was immediately
taken into custedy, and after the usual
legal proceedings, was held for a
sanity hearing.

Dresch went to the hospital and
interviewe he dying victim briefly.
Mrs. Wyniffegar corroborated the fact
that Mrs. Miller had ordered her out
of the Cobb home within the month
previous to the fire.

Five days after the fire Mrs. Wynine-
gar died. gu.

Mrs. Miller was formally charged
with murder but on July 20, 1942. she
was declared insane and committed to
an institution.

Ring (Continued from Page 19)

The Lieutenant looked at the rings
in the display, saw grimly that they
matched the description of the ring of
the Cat Burglar as given by Mrs.
Soller.

Weinhardt was tense. “That was the
Cat Burglar, Mrs. Horwitz. Which way
did he go when he left the store?”

Mrs. Horwitz was so shocked she
fumbled for words. ,

. “Why—why they “both rode away
from the curb on bicycles,” the woman
said excitedly. “They had parked—”

“Who do you mean by ‘they’?”
Weinhardt cut in. “Was there two of
them?”

““Yes. While the boy with the ring
was in the store, another boy—he
looked a little older—was waiting for
him outside. He kept looking in the
window. I noticed him because he was
cross-eyed. Both boys had red bicycles.
They rode off north.” ,

Weinhardt hurried back to Head-
quarters. Within minutes he had
broadcast an alarm for a pick-up of
two boys riding red bicycles, believed
heading north on Main Street.

= ae 5

a al. ae i aes we Leaner, ~ Sage a

a ed dacs SLE Terr ag rp nengg ye nate meet g er a
moe \ RE RN a St tL oa he oe.

Next the Lieutenant checked the bi-
cycle-theft reports for the past month.
To his astonishment he found that 27
bicycles, nineteen of them red, had
been stolen during the preceding 30
days.

Throughout the day, police broughi
in more than two dozen youngsters
picked up on the streets on bicycles.
None of them .resembled the Cat Bur-
glar. Mrs. Horwitz looked over many
of them and waved them aside. By
evening, Weinhardt was certain that
the pair on the bikes had made a suc-
cessful escape.

However, one clew of value had de-
volved from the Cat Burglar’s visit
to Mrs. Horwitz’ store. She had pro-
vided the first tangible description of
his face without the ever-present mask.
The shopkeeper had been especially
impressed by the youth’s thick, sullen
lips and the dimple creasing his chin.

Every member of the police depart-
ment was provided with a supplemen-
tary description. It was broadcast over
the commercial radio into hundreds of
Lafayette homes.


soa

keen aren

an na ra

1018 Nev.

Such are the decisions of more than two
hundred cases, decided in more than thirty
states of the Union, besides a great num-
ber of the federal courts, including the
supreme court of the United States.”

No rehearing is sought in the case at
bar.

[4] Defendant contends, however, that
the finding of this court on the first appeal
above set out and relied on by the state as
decisive of the questions, is not so for
the reason that it was unnecessary to the
decision, and dictum.

There is no merit in this contention.
The opinion expressed by this court on the
former appeal as to the questions arising
in the case, was not obiter dictum. It
did not go beyond the case presented.
The attention of the court was particularly
called to them by defendant as points war-
ranting a reversal: “Dictum,” said this
court in an early case, “is defined to be an
opinion expressed by a Judge on a point
not necessarily arising in a case. * * *
The reason assigned for their not being
entitled to weight is that usually they
(dicta) are upon some point not discussed
at bar—something to which the attention
of the Court has mot been particularly
called—and something on which the Judge

uttering them may not have reflected a

moment before expressing his opinion.”
State of Nevada ex rel. Nourse v. Clarke,
3 Nev. 566. Such is not the case here.
As we have pointed out, the questions were
involved in the former appeal, briefs ad-
dressed to them by defendant and the
state. They were orally argued and sub-
mitted to the court for consideration and
decision, and decided.

Addressing itself to the question of
dictum, and citing State of Nevada ex rel.
Nourse v. Clarke, supra, the supreme court
of Iowa said: “But by no authority is the
expression of the views of the court on a
question in the case regarded as dictum.”
State v. Brookhart, 113 Iowa 250, 257, 84
N.W. 1064, 1066. “It is a mistaken opin-
ion,” said the court in Brown v. Chicago,

“ete. Ry., 102 Wis. 137, 154, 77 N.W. 748,

78 N.W. 771, 772, 44 L.R.A. 579, “that
nothing is decided in a case except the
result arrived at. All the propositions
assumed by the court to be within the case,
and all the questions presented and con-
sidered, and deliberately decided by the
court, leading up to the final conclusion

150 PACIFIC REPORTER, 2d SERIES

reached, are as effectually passed upon as
the ultimate questions solved. Trustees v.
Stocker, 42 N.J.L. 115. The judgment is
authority upon all points assumed to be
within the issues which the record shows
the court deliberately considered and de-
cided in reaching it. Quackenbush v. Rail-
road Co., 71 Wis. 472, 37 N.W. 834; Pray
v. Hegeman, 98 N.Y. 351. Nothing is
obiter, strictly so called, except matters
not .within the questions presented,—mere
statements or observations by the judge
who is writing the opinion, the result of
turning aside for the time to some col-
lateral matter by way of illustration.”
Citing, among other cases, . State ex rel.
Nourse v. Clarke, supra.

It was necessary to decide the questions .

arising on the first appeal, notwithstanding
the ruling of reversal was on a different
ground. As pertinently remarked in Flor-
ida Central Railroad Co. v. Schutte, 103
U.S. 118, at page 143, 26 L.Ed. 327: “It
cannot be said that a case is not authority
on one point because, although that point
was properly presented and decided in the
regular course of the consideration of the
cause, something else was found in the
end which disposed of the whole matter.”
True, it was not essential to the decision re-
versing the judgment to decide these ques-
tions to dispose of the appeal, but it was
necessary to decide them to establish the
law of the case on all points involved, and
for the guidance of the lower court on re-
trial as to the issues which could reason-
ably be anticipated to be made thereon.
This expectation became a reality on the
second trial and the evidence was sub-
stantially the same as on the first trial.
It would have been manifestly improper
in this court not to have decided the ques-
tions presented to it, and to have dumped
them back into the lap of the lower court
in a fluid state, with all the uncertainty
such a condition would cause.

The decision on the questions, we repeat,
was decidedly not obiter, and at the least,
was judicial dictum, Which counsel for de-
fendant seems to concede. However strict-
ly regarded as judicial dictum, it was
nevertheless binding as an authority on all
questions decided. Brown v. Chicago, etc.,
Ry. Co., supra; Chase v. American Cartage
Co., 176 Wis. 235, 186 N.W. 598; City ot
Detroit et al. v. Public Utilities Commis-
sion, 288 Mich. 267, 286 N.W. 368; Scovill
Mfg. Co. v. Cassidy, 275 Ill. 462, 114 N.E.

Spee ony n ee

STATE v. LOVELESS Ney. 1019
150 P.2d 1015

181, Ann.Cas.1918E, 602; Martin v. Com-
monwealth, 265 Ky. 292, 96 S.W.2d 1011.

“Whenever a question fairly arises in the
course of a trial,” said the court in Chase
vy. American Cartage Co., supra [176 Wis.
235, 186 N.W. 599], quoting approvingly
from Union Pacific R. Co. v. Mason City,

 etey .R.\Co.,. 199 U.S. 160, 166, 26-S.Ct.

19, 50 L.Ed. 134, “and there is a distinct
decision on that question, the ruling of the
court in respect thereto can, in no just
sense, be called a mere dictum.”

And further, the court said:

“* * * When a court of last resort

intentionally takes up, discusses, and de-
cides a question germane to, though not nec-
essarily decisive of, the controversy, such
decision is not a dictum, but is a judicial
act of the court which it will thereafter
recognize as a binding decision.”

The principle above declared was sanc-
tioned in City of Detroit et al. v. Public
Utilities Commission, supra.

In Scovill Mfg. Co. v. Cassidy, supra, it
was held that an expression of opinion
upon a point in a case deliberately passed
upon by the court should be held as judicial
dictum rather than a mere obiter and bind-
ing as an authority.

The court, in State ex rel. Nourse v.
Clarke, supra, held judicial dictum to be
an authoritative decision. See Dooly v.
Gates, 194 Ga. 787, 22 S.E.2d 730; Sowders
v. Coleman et al., 223 Ky. 633, 4 S.W.2d
731. .

We are aware that it has been held that
judicial dictum is not of equal binding force
as an authority, as the point on which the
decision of the case turned. But we think
this is a rule too rigid to be recognized as
the law of this jurisdiction.

“According to the more rigid rule’, says
Bouvier, “any expression of opinion how-
ever deliberate upon a question however
fully argued, if not essential to the disposi-
tion that was made of the case, may be
regarded as dictum; but it is, on the other
hand, said that it is difficult to see why,
in a philosophical point of view, the opin-
ion of the court is not so persuasive on all
the points which were so involved in the
cause that it was the duty of counsel to
argue them, and which were deliberately
passed over by the court, as if the decision
had hung upon but one point.” 1 Bouvier’s
Law Dictionary, Rawle’s Third Revision,
p. 863.

' And Bouvier further declares:

“So also it has been held, with respect
to a court of last resort, that all that is
needed to render its decision authoritative
is that there was an application of the
judicial mind to the precise question ad-
judged; and that ‘the point was investi-
gated with care and considered in its fullest
extent.

Assignments of error numbered 1, 3, 4,
5, 6, 8, 12, 13, and 14 are stricken in com-
pliance with the state’s motion.

We now turn to those assignments of er-
ror that were undecided by our opinion on
the former appeal.

Assignment of error number 2 is that
the verdict is contrary to the evidence and
the law, in that the evidence will not sup-
port a conviction of murder of the first
degree. A statement of the casé should be
made before discussing this assignment.
On the 20th day of August, 1942, the de-
fendant, a boy who was then between fif-
teen and sixteen years of age, and a com-
panion around that age, travelling west-
ward in a stolen car, arrived in Elko,
Nevada, near the hour of 9:00 a. m.
They had quarrelled along the road and
agreed to separate. About 9:15 a. m. on
that day, defendant stole an automobile in
Elko and continued on his way westward
along U. S. Highway 40 toward Carlin, in
Elko County. He was followed shortly
afterwards by his former companion. The
constable of Carlin, A. H. Berning, who
had been notified of the theft of the car
in Elko intercepted the defendant on the
highway near the former place. He said
to the defendant, “I have got to take you
in, Buddy”, and went around on the right
of the car, got in and closed the door.
After Berning got into the car and told
the defendant to drive him to Elko, the
defendant shot him twice with a revolver.
The bullet from one shot penetrated the
officer’s neck, and the other inflicted a
slight wound on his side. Berning died
from the effect of the wound in the neck
a few days later. After the shooting de-
fendant drove westward with the officer
in his wounded condition some fifteen or
twenty miles to a point on the highway
where the road was under construction,
and there abandoned the car and the offi-
cer. Shortly afterwards the defendant
was apprehended on the highway by a
posse about twenty-eight miles west of
Carlin. One of the posse took from him a

es wee yes
eka:


LOVEIESS, Floyd, asphyx. Nev. SP (Elko) S,ptember 29, 19hh.

Ghicet Pole OF CA
st Police Dept. Xe -

Bus: 754-6323
Emergency: 754-6710

Box 693
Carlin, Nevada 89822
Your Problems Are Our Business

jEcelve

ACT 2 3 1984

October 18, 1984

hi
l

Ronald C. Van Raalte
P.O. Box 584
Arlington Hts, IL 60006

Dear Mr. Van Raalte:

Per your letter to us dated October 6, 1984 regarding the death of
Adolph Berning. He was a Carlin Constable, and was killed in the

line of duty in the year 1942.

I contacted his daughter, Peggy Woods, who still lives here in Carlin
and she gave me the following information. Two youths (late teens)
escaped from a youth detention center somewhere back east. They
headed west stealing vehicles and robbing stores. When they got

to Elko, Nevada (23 miles east of Carlin) they stole a car and Elko
Police called Constable Berning and requested he stop the vehicle.
Constable did so, using his pick up to block the road (highway 40).

He put the boys in the pick up and headed toward the Carlin jail. But
one of the boys shot him in the neck. Mrs Woods did not know if her
father was shot with his own gun, or if the boys were carrying weapons.

The boys then drove the pick up west and got as far as Emigrant Summit,
about 15 miles out of town. According to our Mayor, Earl Trousdale,
there was construction work going on there at the time as they were
putting through Highway 40. The boys dumped his body there and left.
The construction foreman drove Constable Berning to the hospital in
Elko, where he was operated on and lived for two days after.

The boys were caught and the one who had actually done the shooting
was executed. Mrs. Woods could not recall the names of the boys, or
the state they were from. She did recall however, the vehicle they
were driving was inventoried and some jewelry stolen in Salt Lake City
was found in it. She also recalled the boy who shot her father was
originally incarcerated in the youth detention center for hitting an
old lady over the head with a milk bottle while robbing her.

Perhaps the State Penitentary in Carson City can furnish the details
on the boy who shot Constable Berning, or perhaps the District Court.
Sincerely,

MorWorX legroretth. X

Marilou Tognarelli tw EME EO SGN

aoe

1014 Nev.

speedy and adequate remedy at law. It is
unnecessary to cite authority to sustain a
holding that where such a remedy exists
the writ of prohibition will not issue.

The petitioner contends: first, that he
would not be in a position to appeal from
an adverse judgment; and, secondly, that
in the event the trial court ordered the re-
ceiver to endorse the check, then the widow
would cash the same and there would be no
way in which the estate could be reim-
bursed in the event that the judgment of
the lower court were reversed on appeal.

The case of State v. State Bank & Trust
Co., 36 Nev. 526, 137 P. 400, is urged by
the petitioner as authority for the proposi-
tion that the receiver would have no right
to appeal. If the money represented by the
check could be. considered as funds of the
estate in the hands of the receiver and
there was an‘attempt being made by the
widow to have said funds declared a pre-
ferred claim and the trial court should so
hold, in such an event no appeal would lie.
But here the situation is quite different;
the amount of money represented by the
check has never come into the hands of the
receiver, and it is the contention of the
widow that it is not an asset of the estate
and,the receiver has no right to exercise
any,control over it; that the policy of in-
surance on the life of deceased, Blomquist,
having been reinsured by the Lincoln Na-
tional Life Insurance Company, the amount
is due from said Lincoln National Life
Insurance Company to the widow direct,
the same situation as would exist as to any
other amount-of money which the receiver
might lay claim to and attempt to take into
his possession, such claim being disputed
and such action opposed by a third party.

[2] The question to be determined in
the lower court is whether the receiver has
the right to the possession of the money,
to be distributed as an asset of the estate,
or whether the widow should retain pos-
session of it as her property. Under these
circumstances it seems clear that in the
event of a judgment adverse to him the
receiver would have a right to appeal, .be-
cause a decision requiring the money repre-
sented by the check to be turned over to
the widow would affect the estate as a
whole. Also, a question of the increase
of the whole fund in the hands of the re-
ceiver is involved, and such increase, if
obtained, would inure to the benefit of all

150 PACIFIC REPORTER, 2d SERIES

the creditors. State v. State Bank & Trust
Co., supra.

The second question presented is:
Would the appeal in such a case be ade-
quate? Reference is made by the receiver
to the case of Buckingham v. Fifth Judicial
District Court, 60 Nev. 129, 102 P.2d 632.
That case can be distinguished from the
case at bar. In the Buckingham case it was
conceded the trial court had jurisdiction,
but prohibition was granted for the reason
that to allow the trial court to proceed
with the hearing might result in irreparable
injury. Here the irreparable injury which
the receiver claims will result is that should
the check be endorsed and the widow get
the money, it could not be recovered. The
answer filed in this proceeding negatives
that contention. Since the petition was
filed by the widow in the district court, the
Lincoln National Life Insurance Company,
the re-insurer, has, at the request of the re-
ceiver, stopped payment on the check, and
the said re-insurer, the said Lincoln Na-
tional Life Insurance Company, has stated
it will allow the matter to remain in status
quo until a determination as to who is en-
titled to the money is had in the courts.
It affirmatively appears from the pleadings
that in the event the trial court made an
order that the receiver endorse the said
check, the widow could not realize on it
until such time as the legal proceedings—
and this means an appeal from the said
order in the event the receiver elected to
take that course—had been terminated.

From what has been said, it follows that
the receiver has a plain, speedy and ade-
quate remedy at, law and the writ should
not issue.

There is one more matter we feel should
receive attention. Mr. Diskin feels that
in the application for a writ of prohibition
the receiver has in effect charged him with
the commission of a crime, in that it 1s
alleged that the attorney for the widow
opened a letter addressed to the receiver.
The receiver attached to his application a
copy of the letter addressed to the receiver
by the Lincoln National Life Insurance
Company, and the address on the letter is
to the receiver in care of M. A. Diskin,
attorney. However, in the body of the
application for the writ the statement 1s
made that M. A. Diskin opened a letter
addressed to the receiver, omitting to state
that the envelope in which the letter was
contained was addressed to the receiver 10

i

STATE v. LOVELESS Nev. 1015
150 P.2d 1015

care of M. A. Diskin. The fact that the
copy of the letter was attached to the ap-
plication did not supply the information,
missing in the application, that the en-
velope was addressed to the receiver in care
of M. A. Diskin.. The record clearly es-
tablishes that in the opening of the en-
velope not the slightest improper motive
or intent existed and the act was one that
might easily occur in any office under
similar circumstances.

Application for writ denied and proceed-
ings dismissed.

TABER and DUCKER, JJ., concur.

==

STATE v. LOVELESS.
No. 3410.

Supreme Court of Nevada.
Aug. 16, 1944.

{. Crimtnal law €>1180
Generally, an adjudication on the first
appeal is the “law of the case” on all
subsequent appeals in which the facts are
substantially the: same.
See Words and Phrases, Permanent
Edition, for all other definitions of
“Law of the Case”.

2. Criminal law C>1180

Where testimony of witnesses at
second trial after reversal of conviction
was substantially the same as given at
first trial, and admission of such testimony
had not been complained of on first appeal,
assignments directed at such testimony
could not be urged for first time on sub-
sequent appeal.

3. Criminal law G-1192

Where admission of testimony of two
witnesses at first trial concerning de-
fendant’s statements was held not error on
a prior appeal, admission of substantially
same testimony by two other witnesses at
second trial was not error under rule of
the former decision.

4, Criminal law C1180

Assignments seeking to raise questions
which had been involved in former appeal,
and decided, would be stricken on ground
that prior decision was “law of the case”,
even though prior decision was only judi-
cial dictum. :

5. Homicide €=253(3)

Evidence justified finding that defend-
ant’s killing of officer was willful, de-
liberate, and premeditated, so as to au-
thorize conviction of murder of the first
degree.

6. Homicide €=22(3) x
Fact that defendant’s intent to shoot
officer was formed during a. struggle, if
established, did not preclude deliberation
and premeditation necessary to support con-
viction of murder of the first degree.

7. Homicide €>282

The question of premeditation neces-
sary to support conviction of murder of
the first degree is one of fact for jury.

8. Criminal law €=543(2)

Where it was shown that witness who
had testified at defendant’s first trial on
same charge was beyond jurisdiction of the
court, trial court did not err in permitting
state to read in evidence testimony of
such witness, stenographically reported by
official reporter at first trial, upon a proper
foundation being laid by showing witness
to be at the time in an institution in
Colorado and by proving testimony to be
correct in accordance with terms of stat-
ute. Comp.Laws, § 11252.

9. Criminal law €=603(1)

Refusal to*grant a continuance from
Tuesday to the following Friday, when
it appeared that witness who had testi-
fied at defendant’s first trial on same charge
would be available at later date, was not
error, where defendant did not ask for
a continuance,

10. Criminal law €=829(21)

Refusal of defendant’s requested in-
struction that murder without deliberation
and premeditation was murder of the sec-
ond degree did not constitute reversible er-
ror, where requested instruction was cov-
ered by another instruction.

11. Homicide €=341
In murder prosecution, refusal of de-
fendant’s offered instruction containing

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4016 Nev.

statutory definition of manslaughter was
not prejudicial to defendant, where jury
found defendant guilty of murder of the
first degree on evidence amply sufficient to
justify the verdict. J

12. Homicide €=309(3)

In murder prosecution, refusal of de-
fendant’s offered instruction containing
statutory definition of ‘manslaughter was
not error, where there was no evidence
tending to show that defendant was not
actuated by malice in shooting officer.

13. Criminal law €=823(4)

In murder. prosecution, an instruction
on shooting with malice was not erroncous
on ground that it was misleading because
omitting elements -of deliberation and pre-
meditation, when considered in connection
with other instructions defining murder of
first and second degrees. eff

—_—_—-——-———"

.. Appeal from District Court, Fourth Dis-
trict, Elko County; James Dysart, Judge.

Floyd Loveless was convicted of murder,
and he appeals. * f
Affirmed.

Taylor H. Wines, of Elko, and Oliver C.
Custer, of Reno, for appellant.

Alan Bible, Atty. Gen., W. T. Mathews
and Geo. P. Annand, Deputy Atty. Gen.,
and George F.. Wright, Dist. Atty., of
Elko, for respondent.

DUCKER, Justice.

The defendant was convicted in the dis-
trict court of the fourth judicial district of
Elko County, of murder of the first degree,
tor the killing of one, A. H. Berning. The
jury did not exercise their discretion to
fix the penalty in their verdict, and the
court, after denying a motion in arrest of
judgment and a motion for a new trial,
pronounced judgment of death against the
defendant. He has appealed from the judg-
ment and order denying his motion for a
new trial.

This is the second appeal in the case.
Upon the first appeal the judgment of
death against the defendant was reversed
and the cause remanded for a new trial.
State of Nevada v. Floyd Loveless, 62 Nev.
17, 136 P.2d 236. On the first appeal a num-
ber of errors were assigned which were
discussed in the respective briefs. These

450 PACIFIC REPORTER, 2d SERIES

errors were all discussed also in the oral
argument on appeal. As to these, the court,
in its decision, found as follows: “In de-
fendant’s assignment of errors we find none
that is well taken. At least there is none
that tended to his prejudice in respect to
a substantial right.” But the court, on its
own motion raised the question of the va-
lidity of the judgment, and reversed it-on
the ground that it was void, and set the
verdict aside.

A motion by the state to strike from
the records, files, bill of exceptions and de-
fendant’s brief, certain assignments of er-
ror, was argued and submitted for decision:
at the time of the oral argument on this ap-
peal. The motion is leveled at assignments.
numbered 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, and 14, and
upon the ground that each was submitted
to this court on the first appeal and de-
cided adversely to defendant, and cannot
again be considered. It is the contention
of the state that the second conviction of
defendant on the identical charge was tried
upon the same set of facts, circumstances,
evidence and testimony, and that the deci-
sion of this court on the first appeal is the
law of the case as to the errors complained.
of in said assignments and are therefore
not reviewable on this appeal.

[1] If the facts in this regard are as
claimed, the contention is well taken, for
it is a firmly established general rule that
“an adjudication on the first appeal is the
law of the case on all subsequent appeals
in which the facts are substantially the
same.” 5 C.J.S. Appeal and Error, p-
1267, § 182la; 3 Am.Juris. 541-544, §
985; Wright v. Carson Water Co., 22 Nev.
304, 39 P. 872; Crosman v. Southern Pac.
Co., 44 Nev. 286, 194 P. 839; Bottini v-
Mongolo, 45 Nev. 252, 200 P. 451; Barrett
vy. Franke, 48 Nev. 175, 228 P. 306. The
rule is the same in criminal cases. 24 Ce
J.S., Criminal Law, p. 690, § 1840; 8 Cal.
Jur. 568, Sec. 567; People v. Marshall, 209
Cal. 540, 289 P. 629; People v. Hatch, 163
Cal. 368, 125 P. 907; Johnson v. Common-
wealth, 225 Ky. 413, 9 S.W.2d 53.

The first assignment of error made in
defendant’s opening brief herein, is to the
order of the court in the juvenile depart-
ment dismissing the juvenile court proceed-
ing against the defendant, and permitting
him to be proceeded against in accordance
with the law of this state governing the
commission of crime. We may resort to

STATE v. LOVELESS | Nev.
150 P.2d 1015 1017

the record in the first appeal to ascertain
if this point was determined. 3 Am.Juris.
544, Sec. 985; Barrett v. Franke, 48 Nev.
175, 177, 228 P. 306. The examination re-
veals that the same assignment was made
therein as Exception No. 1, in appellant’s
opening brief, and discussed in his brief
as well as in the state’s answering brief.

’ Assignments 5 and 6 deal with the alleged
error in admitting the testimony of wit-
nesses S. O. Guidici and Frank Giocoechea
concerning statements made by defendant
in their presence at the time of his appre-
hension after the killing of Berning. Both
witnesses being dead, their testimony was
read from the transcript thercof at the first
trial. It was therefore necessarily the same
on both trials—and assignments 5 and 6
correspond with Exception Nos. 2 and 3 on
the first appeal, the claims of error being
that the statements amounted to a confes-
sion and that no proper foundation was laid
for its admission. The. exceptions were
fully briefed in the opening and answering
briefs on the first appeal.

[2,3] Assignments 3 and 4 relate to the
admission of testimony of witnesses I. B.
Alexander and Dino Aiazzi. They were
witnesses also at the first trial. These men
were in company with witnesses Guidici
and Giocoechea when defendant was appre-
hended, and their testimony was substan-
tially the same as the testimony of the lat-
ter. The assignment and claim of error are
that the statements made by defendant in
their presence amounted to a confession
and that a proper foundation for the admis-
sion thereof had not been laid. While Alex-
ander and Aiazzi were also witnesses at
the first trial, the admission of their testi-
mony now complained of was not assigned
as error on the first appeal. These assign-
ments therefore cannot be urged now. To
be availed of they should have been made
on the first appeal, as the assignments con-
cerning the testimony of Guidici and Goi-
coechea were made. They fall under the
rule recognized in State v. Summers, 9 Nev.
399, of which the court said: “The error
claimed in the present record, if existent,
arose before the former appeal, and could
and should have been therein considered,
if so wished. It is too late to present it
now; * * *.” 5 C.J.S., Appeal and Er-
ror, p. 1279, § 1825; 3 Am.Jur. 549, sec.
995. Moreover, if the admission of the tes-
timony of Guidici and Goicoechea concern-
ing defendant’s statements was not error,

150 P .2d-—64%4

it follows that the admission of substanti-
ally the same testimony by Alexander and
Aiazzi, was not error under the rule of the
former decision.

Assignment of error number 8 on
this appeal, corresponds in all respects
with Exception No. 5 of the first appeal.
The error claimed in both instances goes
to the admission of the testimony of wit-
ness Sheriff Harper as insufficient founda-
tion for the introduction of the signed con-
fession of the defendant. The testimony
was the same on both trials, for the witness
not being within the state at the time of
the second trial, his testimony was read
into the record from the transcript of the
first trial. The assignment and exception
were fully briefed on both appeals.

Assignments of error Nos. 12, 13, and
14 concern instructions number 18, 19 and
20 given on the second trial. They corres-
pond to exceptions number 9, 10, and i2
of the first appeal, as to error in giving in-
structions number 15, 16, and 18, given on
the first trial. A comparison of these in-
structions on both trials discloses that they
are substantially the same. The assign-
ments of erfor and exceptions were fully
briefed on both appeals. We are of the
Opinion that the motion of the state to
strike these assignments of error must,
under the facts stated, and the rule ap-
plicable, be allowed. We do not under-
stand defendant as questioning the general
rule heretofore stated in this opinion, that
after a case is remanded the court, on the
second appeal will not consider those ques-
tions adjudicated on the first appeal. Con-
sequently we will content ourselves with
quoting from Wright v. Carson Water Co.,
supra, which states the rule and the rea-
son thereof. The court said [22 Nev. 304,
39. P. B/S}:

“The decision (on the first appeal) is
the law of the case, not only binding on
the parties and their privies, but on the
court below and on this court itself. A
ruling of an appellate court upon a point
distinctly made upon a previous appeat is,
in all subsequent proceedings in the same
case upon substantially the same facts, a
final adjudication, from the consequences
of which the court cannot depart. The
supreme court has no power to review its
own judgments in the same case, except
upon petition for rehearing, in accordance
with the rules established for that purpose.

ba43

MiEUISUSS ITT Ese st


ness and left. They agreed both Doan and
Langley would have to be checked. They
also knew the time element was working
against them. Lieutenant Fisher and his
wife had not been heard from after
leaving the motel on April 26 until their
bodies were found June 9. The coroner’s
report said they were killed about May 1.

“That’s quite a spread,” Detective Heap
said. “The murderer has had plenty of
time to clear out of this part of the coun-
try. He took the soldier’s wallet containing
identification papers and the car registra-
tion. The Ford sedan could have been sold
to somebody who didn’t know what he
was buying. We’re going to need plenty’
of help from the Motor Vehicle Bureau.”

Castleberry thought Walter Doan was
the man to check first. “He left the same
day the Fishers started out for Califor-
nia,” the detective said. “I’ll talk with
police in Sacramento.”

Walter Doan was well known in that
city.

“Professional gambler,” an identifica-
tion officer in Sacramento told the Reno
detective. “‘We’ve had him in for ques-
tioning on several cases, but couldn’t pin
anything on him. Doan was arrested last
year in an assault investigation. The
charge was withdrawn. We'll check
around. If he’s in town you'll hear from
me.”

Meanwhile, the Nevada Motor Vehicle
Bureau came up with information on the
1941 Ford sedan the soldier and his wife
were driving.

“We've found transfer sale papers on
the car,” a state employe told Castleberry.
“It was sold to a Reno used car dealer on
May 1, presumably by Raymond Fisher
of Boise, Idaho.” .

The detective went straight to the used
car dealer’s lot. “You bought a 1941 Ford
sedan on May 1,” Castleberry said. “Check
your records. I want to know as much as
you can tell me about the man who sold
the car to you.”

TWO BOMBS FOR BRUNETTE

Army Capt. William DeLong and, Sgt. James Wilson of El Cajon, Cal., deactivate
bomb mailed to a Mrs. Kathryn Morris. Because Mrs. Morris had moved the package
had lain in the post office for 16 days. In November, 1958, another bomb exploded
outside her apartment. A former boyfriend of the woman was held on suspicion.

60 ad

The dealer looked through his books.
“I do a big volume of business,” he said.
“Was there anything wrong with that
car?”

Castleberry told him about the double
murder. “You must have read about it
in the papers,” he added.

The used car man appeared surprised.
“Sure I did,” he said. “But I didn’t con-
nect one of my cars with it. I would have
come to you right away if I had.

“The man who claimed to be Fisher had
identification papers and the registration
was in order,” the used car man said. “A
lot of people are getting rid of cars these
days because of gas rationing. Just as
many people are buying them because
they’ve got money. I had no reason to
question the car at that time.”

Castleberry knew that was correct. He
also knew transfer papers and a bill of
sale had to be made out. The dealer turned
both over to him.

Next the detective and Heap went to
the hardware store. After telling the mer-
chant about the Ford they went over it
thoroughly, finding what looked like dried
blood on the floorboard in front.

The case was beginning to take shape.
The detectives had obtained a full de-
scription of the man who posed as Ray-
mond Fisher from the used car dealer.
They had a specimen of his handwriting
on the bill of sale. The catch was that the
seller’s description could fit either Henry
Langley or Walter Doan.

Most of the investigation had centered
on Walter Doan, but Reno detectives
hadn’t by-passed Henry Langley, either.
They had been stymied on that latter
phase, however, by a call to Lovelock, the
town Langley had put down after his
name on the motel register. Authorities
there said no such person was known.

“That gives us two possible suspects,”
Castleberry told Detective Heap. “Doan is
a gambler who could have been hard up
for cash after losing what money he had.
Henry Langley, or whatever his real name
is, must have had a reason for putting
down a false address.”

Despite this confusion, the Reno investi-
gators knew they had a definite lead.

“The man who killed Fisher and his
wife signed the name ‘Raymond Fisher’
on the car transfer slip and the bill of
sale,” Castleberry said. “He also signed
either Henry Langley or Walter Doan
on the motel register. Handwriting ex-
perts can tell us which one we’re after.”

That was all right as far as it went. The
detectives were working on the theory
that one of the men in a cabin next to the
Fishers had struck up an acquaintance
with them, been offered a ride and then
killed the unsuspecting young couple for
the car, their money or lust for the young
bride.

Handwriting experts provided an an-
swer to at least part of the riddle.

“The man who signed the motel register
‘Henry Langley, Lovelock, Nev.,’ also
forged Raymond Fisher’s name on the
car transfer papers and bill of sale,” the
report read.

California authorities called Detective
Castleberry the same day that informa-
tion came in to say Walter Doan had been
picked up, but that the gambler appeared
to have an air-tight alibi.

“Release him,” the Reno officer said.
“We think Doan is in the clear. Evidence
points to another man who signed the
motel register Henry Langley.”

The big thing was to find Langley. Po-
lice had-a good description, but Love-
lock, Nev., didn’t know such a person.
Before leaving for that town to make a
personal investigation Castleberry had

1 PRES LR RO IR Ee TT eT

another ta
the used c
Ford sedar
The first ....
tional informati
one of his emp]
said he knew s
“T talked wit}
to be Ray Fishe:
out of the offic:
berry. “It was p:
off his coat. He
tooed on the u;
The detectiv:
could prove,
Knowing that
false names ar
of a town as ¢
decided to che
himself. f
Although nob
heard of a Hen:
were well acqu
gineer who hz
on the upper |
“That sounds
a police officer
around these
tooed. McKinn
dered.”
Castleberry
ened when tt}
hadn’t been
May. Questior
help. McKinn:
California
actly where |
Handwriting
the picture ag
of writing Floy
hind with the
and Raymor
Castleberry “
been dodne b:
weeks of inves
vain.
“McKinney
Castleberry t+
“He must
try.”
Authori

ifornia and N

3 Grave

of the residen:
region.
Consequent!,

ing much of }
city of any siz
seat of adjace:
gossip had it
prospective se
that he neiths«
Thus, wher
his home
1958, after
Center whe
shortly afte:
neither his
were particu
soned that be
small black %&
miles southea
remain for the
time in rec4nt
come homed
But when t

alarmed
17, telephone
Center to le


his books.
5,” he said,
with that

tne double
i about it

@ surprised.
lidn’t con-
ould have

“isher had
tration
n said. “A
cars these

Just as
1 because
eason to

‘rect. He
1 bill of
iler turned

went to
g the mer-
nt over it
i like dried

ake shape.
full de-

i as Ray-
dealer.
cndwriting
s that the
her Henry

i centered
ietectives
either.
t latter
ock, the
‘ter his
horities
known.
suspects,”
“Doan is
1 hard up
y he had.
eal name
putting

o investi-
lead.
and his
i Fisher’

bill of
» signed
Doan
ing ex-
e after.”
vent. The

» theory

xt to the

jualntance
and then

»uple for

the young

i an an-

@ register
Tev.,’ also
© on the
gale. the
\ .

@etective
informa-
had been
appeared

cer said.
Evidence
gned the

gley. Po-
ut Love-

1 person.
nake a
had

another talk with the motel owner and
the used car dealer who had bought the
Ford sedan.

The first man could provide no addi-
tional information, but the dealer brought
one of his employes in from the lot who
said he knew something.

“I talked with this man who claimed
to be Ray Fisher for a while after he came
out of the office,” the witness told Castle-
berry. “It was pretty hot and this guy took
off his coat. He had a naked woman tat-
tooed on the upper part of his arm.”

The detective said that information
could prove to be mighty important.
Knowing that frequently people will use
false names and then give the right name
of a town as their address, Castleberry
decided to check at the town of Lovelock
himself.

Although nobody in that town had ever
heard of a Henry Langley several people
were well acquainted with a mining en-
gineer who had a naked woman tattooed
on the upper part of his arm.

“That sounds like Floyd McKinney,”
a police officer said. “Not many people
around these parts get themselves tat-
tooed. McKinney is tall and heavy shoul-
dered.”

Castleberry’s enthusiasm was damp-
ened when the informer said McKinney
hadn’t been in Lovelock since early in
May. Questioning of neighbors didn’t
help. McKinney had moved his family to
California without telling anybody ex-
actly where he was going.

Handwriting experts were brought into
the picture again to compare specimens
of writing Floyd McKinney had left be-
hind with the Henry Langley signature
and Raymond Fisher forgery. When
Castleberry was told all this writing had
been done by the same man, he knew the
weeks of investigation had not been in
vain.

“McKinney is a mining man,” Detective
Castleberry told Sheriff Vannoy in Fallon.
“He must have headed for mining coun-
try.”

Authorities in all such regions in Cal-
ifornia and Nevada were notified of the

db ey oa aa aa | RPE a we ee

manhunt.’ Undue publicity was avoided
because police reasoned they would have
a better chance to make an arrest if Mc-
Kinney didn’t know he was being sought.

Sheriff Vannoy kept in close touch with
Lovelock officers. In mid-July word came
that a resident of that town had received
a letter from a friend in California men-
tioning that he had seen Floyd McKinney
working in the Panamint mining country
? the High Sierras across the California
ine.

Sheriff Vannoy contacted authorities in
Inyo County. They were able to locate
the McKinney family in Bishop, a little
mining town on Route 95, the same high-
way Lieut. Raymond Fisher and his bride
had planned to take to Southern Cal-
ifornia.

A watch was staked out on the house
by Sheriff Cline and Patrolman Roland
Bell, but Floyd McKinney did not put in
an appearance. Police wondered if some-
one had tipped him off.

“Keep trying,” Sheriff Vannoy told the
California officers. “If McKinney’s family
is there he is bound to show up sooner
or later. I know that is rugged country. It
would be hard to find a better hiding
place, but we’ve waited a long time to
arrest the man who killed Lieutenant
Fisher and his wife.”

Days of alertness paid off on July 23
when a man in a Chevrolet raced west-
ward across the Nevada-California line
on Highway 6 without stopping for the
required inspection.

Quarantine Officer W. A. Pearce tried
to flag the speedster down, but failed. He
radioed police in Bishop, 40 miles to the
south.

Officers Merle Curtis and Spray Kinney
set up a roadblock north of Bishop. The
Chevy came barreling down the highway,
but came to a screeching stop when the
driver saw Curtis and Kinney guarding
the road with machine guns.

These policemen had been on the look-
out for Floyd McKinney ever since his
family had been located. They hadn’t ex-
pected to capture him as a result of an
agricultural quarantine inspection viola-

tion, but that’s the way it happened.

Taken to the town of Bishop, McKinney
admitted his identity. “I didn’t want to
stop for an inspection because I stole this
Chevy in Porterville,” the prisoner said.

Patrolman Curtis told him that was the
least of it. “You’re wanted for the murder
of Lt. Raymond Fisher and his wife in
Nevada,” the officer said.

McKinney denied any knowledge of the
double murder. He went right on denying
it throughout the trial that started in
Superior Court in Fallon, Nev., on August
30

Prosecutor E. E. Winters had evidence
to prove otherwise. There was a gun found
on McKinney when he was arrested. Bal-
listics experts had the bullet taken from
Marian Fisher’s skull. They said the slug
had been fired from McKinney’s gun.

There was also the testimony of hand-
writing experts and the car dealer who
bought the Ford sedan in Reno. Detectives
who had worked weeks to clear up the
baffling murder mystery had done a
thorough job. The jury found Floyd Mc-
Kinney guilty of murder in the first de-
gree. Judge Clark J. Guild pronounced
the mandatory sentence: Death in the gas
chamber at Carson City. ’

Floyd McKinney never did make a
verbal confession to the double murders.
Just before the prisoner died on Novem-
ber 27, 1943, he asked for pencil and
paper and an envelope. A few lines were
scribbled and the envelope sealed. Mc-
Kinney asked a guard to give the letter to
a relative. “It is not to be opened until
— November 28,” the condemned man
said.

The relative turned the letter over to
Sheriff Vannoy on that day. It said, “I
killed that soldier and his wife to get their
car. I buried their luggage outside Bal-
lerat, Cal.”

There was.a crude map drawn to show
the exact location. Police found Lieu-
tenant and Marian Fisher’s clothes there
just as the dead man said they would.

(The name Walter Doan is fictitious to pro-
tect the identity of a person indirectly involved
in the investiantinn.—The Editor)

3 Graves for 1 Corpse

[Continued from page 41]

of the residents of that sparsely settled
region.

Consequently, when he took to spend-
ing much of his free time in the closest
city of any size—Martinsburg, the county
seat of adjacent Berkeley County—local
gossip had it that he must be courting a
prospective second wife. For it was known
that he neither drank nor gambled.

Thus, when Poole failed to show up at
his home on the Sunday night of July 27,
1958, after quitting work at the Veterans’
Center where he had been employed since
shortly after the end of World War II,
neither his children nor other relatives
were particularly concerned. They rea-
soned that he had probably driven in his
small black sedan over to Martinsburg, 25
miles southeast of town, and decided to
remain for the night. It was not the first
time in recent weeks that he had failed to
come home.

But when the children returned from
school the next day, and found their father
still missing, they became genuinely
alarmed. The oldest boy, Stanley William,
17, telephoned to the nearby Veterans’
Center to learn whether he had showed

up for work that morning. He was in-
formed that his father had neither re-
ported for duty nor called in. So Stanley
left his sister Carole Ann, 15, in charge
of the younger children, and started for
the office of Morgan County Sheriff
William J. Clark.

Clark, a lifelong friend of the family,
assured the youngster that his father was
well able to take care of himself and would
probably return in a matter of hours.
Forty-year-old Otis, the sheriff knew, was
not the man to desert his family. And if
there had been an accident, Clark would
certainly have been informed.

But Otis Poole did not return within a
few hours to his neat frame home on the
outskirts of town. Sheriff Clark, with the
aid of state police, launched a routine in-
quiry once it became apparent that some-
thing was amiss. First, authorities in
adjacent Berkeley County were asked to
check on his recent activities there,
through friends and acquaintances.

Martinsburg police, in turn, questioned
several persons whose names Poole had
mentioned to friends and relatives back
in Berkeley Springs, but learned nothing
to indicate that the missing man had
been in Martinsburg the previous Sunday.
A pretty teenage girl with whom the
middleaged man’s name had been con-
nected said she had neither seen him nor
heard from him for more than a week. The

employes of local theaters, where he had
gone on previous visits, did not remember
seeing him that day. And neither county
nor state highway patrolmen, to whom
his old black sedan had become a familiar
sight, could add any information.

Mrs. Maggie Daniels, the children’s
maternal grandmother to whose home
they moved during the week following
their father’s disappearance, could suggest
no reason for her son-in-law dropping
from sight. Insofar as she and the young-
sters knew, Poole had carried little if any
money with him on the last day he was
seen alive.

The authorities communicated with
Poole’s mother, Mrs. Joseph Starliper who
had remarried and moved to Baltimore,
Md., after the death of the missing man’s
father Grover Poole, several years before.
But Mrs. Starliper could suggest no one
who bore a grudge against her son. Like
other relatives and friends, she was posi-
tive Otis would not have gone off volun-
tarily without providing for his children
and informing his employer.

During the next few weeks Sheriff
Clark checked fruitlessly from time to
time with the family and officials at the
Veterans’ Center. At the Berkeley Post-
office, Clark learned that Poole’s veterans
checks had been piling up. Moreover, he
had not collected his last two pay checks
at the federal institution.

od 61

anal Guibidiiibiasabdeesaesniidilance iain aan


~ AN ANGRY JUNE SUN poked ex
ploring fingers through the pie

tective leaves of the towering
cottonwoods — surrounding = Courthouse
Square in Fallon, Nevada.  Sunmer

comes early to the fertile acres of the
Gabbs Valley irrigation district.

In his offce on the first floor of the
dignified stone building which houses
both the Churchill County sheriff's office
and the county jail, lean-faced Sheriff
Ralph Vannoy was occupied with routine
business,

At 20 minutes past 12 on this Wednes-
day, June 9, 1943, the telephone buzzed.

Vannoy, his eyes still on the paper be- |

fore him, leaned over and picked up the
receiver.

“Sheriff’s office, Vannoy speaking.’

“We have a long distance call for you
from the sheriff at Austin,” the operator
~ said. ‘

“Put him on.”

There was a moment’s delay.’ Then
a man’s heavy voice boomed. “Got a
murder for you. In fact, two of them.
Or else it’s a practical joke.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some tourist going to Michigan
stopped here long enough to tell us he
found two bodies on the desert about
five miles west of Frenchman’s Station.
This fellow had a flat tire there this morn-
ing. When he stopped to fix it he no-
ticed the bodies. He-says they are in
the brush about 75 yards south of the
highway. From his description, sounds
like he was about opposite Sand Springs.
He says there is a big Coca-Cola sign
where you leave the highway.”

“L know the place,” Vannoy said.
“What's this fellow’s name?”

“We don’t know. Darned if he didn’t
duck out before we had a chance to ask
him. He said they had been dead a good
while. It might be somebody’s idea of a
practical joke, but I thought you would
want to know about it.”

Vannoy said, “Thanks,” and hung up
the telephone. A veteran of 20 years’
service in the sheriff’s office, Vannoy
knew the brush-covered valleys and the
rocky hills of his county as intimately as
most business men know the contents of
their own desks.

U. S. Highway 50, crossing Nevada in
an almost east-west line from the state
capital at Carson City to Ely, links Fal-
lon and Austin. From the description
given by the sheriff of the neighboring
county, the spot where the unidentified
motorist had found the bodies was about
20 miles east of Fallon.

’

Ten minutes tater, Vannoy, coroner
Harry Bellinger, and county medical off
cer Dr. Hobert Wray were racing east
on U.S. 50 in the sheriff's cruise car.
On the way out Vannoy told them what
he knew of the reported murder,

“Nobody missing from this area so far
as [ know,” he said. “Must be transients.
Might be a horse or a mule. Folks get
excited sometimes.”

The Churchill County officials had no
difficulty in locating the spot beside the
soft drink sign where the motorist had
changed his tire. They followed the trail
of recent footprints. Seventy-five yards
from the highway they stopped at the
edge of a small clearing.

Partly concealed by the blossoming
purple sage, two human bodies were
sprawled in the sand. The upper half
of each body was wrapped in a thin cot-
ton blanket concealing head and shoulders.

“My God,” Bellinger said. “One’s a

McKINNEY, Floyd, white,
on 11/27/1943,

THIS DUAL DEATH MYSTERY SEEMED
TO DEFY SOLUTION—EXCEPT TO THE
SHERIFF WHO HAD TO SOLVE IT...

woman

The coroner bfted away the blankets, 2% i

The bones of skull, neck and torso were >
bare of flesh, and where the bodies had .%
been uncovered the dry Nevada air had»
preserved them in a shrunken, mummi-~
fied condition. ‘
Vannoy pointed to the belt and trou-
sers on the remains of the man. “Those ¢
are officers’ pinks,” he said, “and that’s (7
an Army belt.” * *
Dr. Wray dropped to his knees be-
side the bodies. Beneath the woman's
head there was an irregular stain in the
sand, The doctor touched it thoughtfully.
Then he indicated a jagged hole in her
skull. “She was shot here,” he said.
“We can take some of this sand and have

-it analyzed, but I am sure it is blood.”:

* There was no corresponding stain be-
neath the head of the man, and the naked
skull was crushed. “It would take a
pretty heavy weapon to do that,” Dr,

asphyxiated Nevada (Churchill)

.


BY MARK STEVENS

Wee, sagt eth page

THE ARMY OFFICER brought out
dental chart. "We'll show this to a de
tist,” the doctor said, “but I don’t thir
there's any doubt.about the victim
identities.” (Photo portraying scene
posed by professional models


MARGARET

SANBORN

Clor

A Biography

Ppok 19190
b

Doubleday

New York London Toronto Sydney Auckland


% meaceneene iannamenall
\ a “
‘ g C—O . ° .
recs. VE. a TAL ENTERPRISE aa oS Stigwing statement in] STUCK sYP MONCY MAEKET. POLITIOAL BOTICES, FOR SALE AN® TO LET. MINCELLAS £008, MIPCELLAB £OUS. 1 ANMUSEMES TS.
oghetaass ie Be R { / that confessi. : a = —F— = ®
‘ TERRITO “His name as given to me, is Jean Murie A. Vil. | SEPORTED F° 8 CANTLE & CO, STOCK #XD FOOHT) PROCEEDINGS GF IME UNION EX- . Fe . - ’ 5
O.F | may e 25. xem fain, 5 motive @ 8 Main, He « migrated we ae Nn wowteoutsy neted, ax {| 5CU21VE OMMITTES OF STU. HORSES AND MULES hes 4 5 Ss E E D Ss I S E E D Ss I alse s. OPERA Hou:
oe 4 = -ecce Apri: ° to in 1840, and woul_1653, e 6h. BONPROMER ‘= RLY COUKTYS F 2 d . i 5 ’ A = * - a : « —— Pe
‘ 2 patyorday a when be retarned to Frenes and wag conscripied |~ PRARCI~. CALTRORSIA ace i T¥e . rex, FOR wsALE..- - - . ° - i
= —— ‘<r G5 served in the tari .c eervide durmg the Gai Francisce Bieck Ba! 7 © held test ee : ; 5 Wy axD WER Propriciers ,.....-eums. JONES end BFEES ©
Rope MATTERS. \ crmcen war, 2nd served in the irencbes there ov oe nang rinsig > s ee 8. : : as : 5 +? +» -debe
: ‘OCAL n war, ‘ Ga Faakcrce, April 24, og propesition wae submited: A ‘ & $353 > pie je } Neeser eben secresenreresereseede Es
L : r& period of twenty-three moutbs, Leing oxo eee « WE GAve PITY HEAD OF == ee 2 os aoe :
ANAM Vine ce Jabe Miltinn for the | Pf the turming party at the tell of the Midekolf | we aren | TSS purpoer of preventing Soy “ates: Pat Po ae Be “|. SEE s ; mer RG
AY ree Exceution x galls ae... eapey ee ; Seseaeea eee tant SOEMNOTED ©: MONS sau| Name of Stnck. | Opening) Cail, | Clasine. (of the paris by internal empicela, bare! wpos indi- at Horses and .M ries, 2. eater? es RECEIVED AND NOW OPENING—FROM EXGAGENENT OF
i Murder imutes to 1 by sbastopok Subwaueuuy be re. | Tpref-re‘eca for a Unit d Siates Benatar; t ra. 5 a taf A at THORBURN 2 OO. NEW TORE. « ‘
THE - Pale terday afternoon at 16 m turced to this coast and persued varion- cursuits - OPEN BOAED. | ¥ Lieve aul appreb -asiows of w te our primaries | Just arrived frem Galifornia, which we will sell low £*" of aes -- . . _
i _ Yes . otherwiso Jesn Marie | bere aud in Cahfo tia, tach os working usa post | go! vipa by wi-ca the suecess of the party might be endangered; | CASH, or XOTES well eccured, We beve alee @ tof | To i Fourth Wears I : TRE TALENTED STEERS.
TED . o'clock, Jonn Wilhan, leyof the band on the Stocktou boats—serving as a aiior| jul perener 19 gceble each member. of tbe per.y, te express ase *F. * ye | ae Ag ear’s Im: ; .
States © vine: suffeted -the extreme pena ou coaslers in tue lumber trade up the coasi— S\zailion : cpateaeta ‘Wagens oe Sale, Larre ae Beet, tei - Ss T-1860-X. TE tee. accorted RADME cB: EMMA AND ADL
for tbe murder cfs woman of the town Serising Salen oer im Ban | ieee, 00 marke 2s! “octlay-Potoss ... lemtoratc Coudite~m.. ° . 80 ite SPIRACH StED; s -
A on rauches u@a latorer, peat a, fe bY - kee
a pame of Jutis Bulette, Randay morn- |" ond in ibis Btate goaring work-d suniniy ae sirsebagaer seoeee We are loving out berinres. ond wm pac cnr 4W x ann Siie. WHITE CLOVER ScEB > Fuss.
AR«a by the 1867, in Qhis city. “ S0 much | jecndryman in this ci:y, and at Mr. Hal's laun- Zentect pubes eoaniy for aed office devermining the vote | 1 OW tor Cash or wellercure? paper, if ‘ ttrwe)s . :
DE yog. Januers 20, rf is atrocious , ob tbe Geiger grade. bi be Ko. uy emuers of the Lagiainture 10 be cinsed BPssFil 2 CROCK, e : 25 lee. amorted BEET SEED; ~ og ER - 6g
; pss been said 10 regard tins fn ngen © net at sain See Seine bis life be bed form- | he wil wore tat opera. for Delegate othe apa lw Bmore Cire Sereee | a aaa 200 tee. emaries TURSIP SEED, “PRESE SEACTIVCL AxD 0COMPL:
ce circumstances y fn- 2 acquaintance 0 men, obe Bame Cox Cor une-who has bot signed agreemwpani, -_———. - - . eneh Physician says: “ More The, aesort ROT SEED Arunes supported Seeerse
gurier that all the . Douglass aud one named Dilloe, two men whom pad wa shall wot pidge bimeslf to eary ou srieuy ks F oO R Ss A L E a Ube Cisease in be world comes from segiest to fortify SO Ive. accerted CABEAGE SEER; seta.
CAMPMINT @ guiisr.to our readers. be particulaciy described to we and otuerr, but FO OE ee as Chins Cai a a’ [Be syeem against changes of elimsie, weather and @8 lbs. assorted OMION SELB; :
mic, gan OCEAE AT SME COURT BOCES: = |] wrheee Wheeneens Seats Beret Saformed es dene: peng me food. The great secre: of heakh is w keep the cemtition | 94 1h, wuried SQUASH SEED, | MR- PIERPORT, THAYER,
pis Cit As early a8 8 o'clock in the moreing, 8 Unt tue “night of the murder of Julis Buletre, SO poe ee eee ta A COMPLETE SE7 OF of the Biomech sud Biced seguiar at ee 60 tes. mecorted WATER MELOX mR. CHARLES THORN?
y. to ther about the Court-/ po ;sijlian) was passing the comer of C and “L Essciven, That : : 5 | oj cuanges from Heat ‘old, frean te , ae, BREM: 4 ‘
erowd began 00 Fe ch’ is the | Union streets, at the Int-rnaticna! Hotel, when BAW MILL 1-R ON | cconx upset ihe mackisely of the bedy, and breed dis | 1,000 papers of aesqried FLOWER 2
@t, 1968, first floor of wh
: , on the 7 he sidewalks | D¢**™ Douglass ana Daliou im privax converse; FoR 8A ease.” SESS; . hs
> p eas, Jail, and by renee 6 8. , shat Doggmbs spoke to him and egg eee are Now, i be a fact, positive aall well knows, thai there — papers of sesapied VEGETABLE ie
rig street (B street), for a| you, Frevpbman?” at which be balted and wit yy 4 , 5 IME EXTIRE OPERA HOY
Wikdamenig’ sod infact the whole nae " ie ae wisien for tL & moment ‘aig Die aod ‘@ RAWS, COGING 18, STC, | te'no pach bulwark and aenistant for the S.omach as Pe a Rennonabie Prisca find Waive dons we
jerable distance bving, ' nlon contin conversaticn ecard by lequire PROWS 2 EaGaz, -_—s — ;
Bend. . aie beings. Anbour later and| tim, Presently ho beard Dillon axy: “Who will - GEORGE P. MORREILI. aed
poaey posse of barman peif'us?” Lo which Docgiass rerlied: “Freacb- tet srcihs Sas ioe. coum PLANTATION BITTERS, mame Ke. 6 South C Birest. <r 4
xe: avery window t the trint nde of per | AE Tillge,” Dillon replied: 1 would rathy wey tor md pond and tbe perce wore | HORSES AND MULES FCR SALE TEE GEEAT PLATS OF
bouse was crowded with fhe F tise prison wan. will do} sa turplag 40 him’ ( wiliasa), Samir shall dhs be plesed ween See tees seen « om
: 9. W Mertens, soot eager to entel eons entoke Wis said: ~~ Preoebeemn, I went you to betp us do 8 per yet this county fer wali Poston, and shall recetye : ae This pica Tonte'is new weed by all siaaaas of pee : goes Lest ta Lenéen, =
. ww, rs ry i nignt; re is money you suppor: of ibe Legisintive delegation as above stated. > ° - pie for every symptom of = “ Stomach out of: ! ‘ Ws
ies Sal the ans Cee eas | eit, fens Man ee ad oa “eC aoe teenie | Pam rate or rein. urie|"5 77cm tam mer menm| GREAT BARGAINS! Poot”
ws. en 4:23 '. . . = % 4
ous Fags. bam to the galloNe d down with men and|sgodown and goto bed with ber ahd we will be Inve than eigen Ui) of the Legilacve meminem of this : s to correct the juiees of the Biomech, ast all tte maskinery : z eee “Cane,
Leocs, Bo. 13, og every balcony was with men | trere;’’ at which Dillon eft, going in tbe diree- ‘Thd—No 40 SADDLE AXND-WOEK HORSES, | + work. and enable t resist and Grow of cate 3 + ? : :
hal co ys. 8 fidren. The crowd upon the | tion of Juha Bulette’s house. Douglas tuen , danger. The tendency of the operation: . aye ; bd < ca oe
Lawes, ee ee, nd cae tbe stairway of the Conrt- said to Milistn, ** Come, let us go around and ses Fer particulars, inquire at (in’s Biable, B atrees Tir | 3. ure ie tlwaystowards acure ; all abe seedsis « litle ' . eos Ande chstes seiection from their Reperici:
onion roam ied wo pash thear ™83 anh range sues seston emecniane . Seavert e aiuiton Se curd: The wald Convention shall presertbe the mode Ginla, or ot flone & Gates’ Creacing, ea Ue Trucker, cf | assistance at the proper time How much more res- . be a ews | 2 4
4 , . | aus { z2 = z : é o
James 2. Wes fare ctice—in short, poked shear noes @s-| 20 So atauy comiug ep Dawa to sear D| oh Kenan of sous ing ead vere tae ceey of Senaemr and af] apa awe > Lots Drax. | mabicnndemanie ite hnp brains wane puma | Tae Sy | peamas, :
Day, D. O. Adkises, oryenere 8) Wr morbid curiosity. About wre, shen, Dowctens “Searing (es Sr they 18|SeJow Jacket... And the flowing dopred ia retery R E A L E § T A Tt ‘tuteas bee i th bal @ruge and oe : RURLESQUES act
C. BE DeLong. rapt dock the — = ef ay need house, and when there, Douglass, drawing = | . : Becton, , ee. ee oo Poe ; te " <7 ry roixtures, which only stupety end plant the eseds o we ® MUSICAL Fasc:
aap was driven in trons of tip Bpecial Depts | Parcred sate sort af wecant place tenet wiser | ym qurygas™? PESOTIEE ARE ROCTE. 1 | pare! Bn} ‘county, tat weepprene ef the rege a ae NO. 7 0 STREET, WTI be predosed.
? “mi " van Sudivan ius cLaus. Ug prop = e < ° : ‘ - >
Bro. C. B. Plummer if, when DotN med with = Heory rifts. |Joiia’s hoore—Milign following bro. When } hes Uke = OW Halland wifes doors ee Ne ieie any members of be Tae pany | BUSINESS PROPERTY| Important. Certificates ee
» the vebicle. ‘Shortiy’ after tuo | tere, be told Milian to wait while he wentop! 4 richardson =-K L White baldeyce who may have enjecdons thereto, or amendmenig to .
Ne. rounded te an full uniform and nun pr dairy got some launch; me whit bungises oan - i “te sppear before us! ¢ FOE SALE OR TO EREXT. Pie ee pews south 3 wn, Ort vantly Satine Seieréay Afterveoca, Grand si» -
— Nationa . marehed f. to started end soon resurped with a person accom - ag Lutte y a . lantation Bitters e . : z
ot men, rom their . ‘ Chae Brocthun of i Gi to 3 DK LIN, Rev. W. H.W. ur —
Bro. 1. G. Binste bering sBoat voll @ square outside of the papyiae bim;,but who thst person wag, Millian ei Manaban re A Chilés * = ce hd ee. C Bene aearinls Olice, ovse the poner Gatiete, ssocmmn, Hateit, Will Sell the Wext Thirty Days
ry and form oq’ 4 ~, | Was uDeble 4o’escertain. “When Douglass arnved | (4°) " : Mereet : : : «
= or X arto aud the prisunsi’s FC FarringwoatWJ Doviey JM wracr 4 in regard to the of the} Virguus. : mie uw ¢ © © Thou wilisend me two bottles more ef thy - ADMISSION:
or Ravana gosrd bf arm WT was wed Pp jmp Be wroda sed tac eapeas a9 tmaciet pari Sami L Clemens Jobs Bran SD hase fru poei0a. : ° | Pla My wife has been grenuly . prow Cireie
J. LY % be cro igod Hf rep-binap, be: eis some wine you; we pref-? | alias Mark Twain Your inamen Reso . That the be pablishei in the woo ™ te. . ‘Thy fri
" Wilam H. Wee P prrcsbew wi the carriaze that it was a Cif-| whisky; and passing Milian some of tne hunch AY TMB vaabs sy ROUTE! | Teuritowiak ExTearaisa, the fei) Trespass” and . D FOR male , sy her one “age Coun, Patiedaiphia, Pa.” en
hn y Van Dyke. ficult matter to push back the eayer thronz, soda. ¥ ttic of the wine. they proceed to eat ee Sewers Ane Berteah | Sabo I anders tye # aiy Gold Hull News, ¢ One wTheusnne Carte of the Biess eae — : Nawsand Treen
» Wiliam B. Hal pushing aud threatenmg |avd drink m silevee, si & ebort distance | 15 Toe ¥ WM Hu-sey : I-aave been a gree: sufisrer from wie
bat by ® ¢. room was at last made in| ssart. He (Mullan), after eating snc dringing, — _— ¢ NUT PINE W oD sia, an! hed 10 abandos preaching. The
Rae, Gow remening. wut ores pages Se the order was given to | {cll asleep aud a a aie merits know, PE cduonaiyescny ea CiTy UNION TICKET.,: . . : 9 = ‘gerd Carmensz, Rechester, X.Y.” ‘
white trimaning. whch rm, n being in part stope fects of the wine. TEx LAKE . . - . . TP htaans eee : 2
. <a Joed with ball’ cartridges, “Soon atter a lane | Mend Sov esPaboon two bara; a peur es be | APICabae  BBorings J anemk, ae a : FOR SALE, aT €250 PER COED. | ... . . , ive civesae Pasion Biternto ber : A. GRAND Bh
. of bayonets was formed from attended by }022'4 Juige, Douplars arowsed him, 21 bun, | Pk Seaver MB Sparks rD \ ©. 2F applied tor escn—S miles from Dayter-. reds of our disabled wun Ge men eomniching | SEES or Cash! : : <
> Boerifl's nties and the yr pore said Face os ad: 5 Come ae 5; it te ume,” whereupon gi ST Tuk VTEALARD BOLTE vou mavoa, ‘ ao : : gorreen mower, |°™ea2 : G. W. D. ANBAETS, |, r —7EL we orrrs— “
peed stanting. are Her. Father mr ey ali wen H Douglass, ban - Lewis Ego ero w mOPKINS 4 a perintenden' sae? ra’ Home, Cpaianati, O." ‘ :
Theed gf ¥ Cay = r Clarke of Carson City, advanced to | Hans e.cked wer atibe foot of ‘the steps YN Haven . . 3 . FOR HALE. aoe cates ea .
Best, ta fal rman’ es wee on with a quick | leading up to Sous Bulette’s house, exid to ian: ceougn TOTES “ ; : Kore en er eet ag o* :
fee tne se step, and the crowd after all thicir | “ Now theo, you stand herp snd if any ove comes Ciemens ra Mors JH Bucean sora Pears ; = ‘tue public may rest thet im no ease wil the
segregate sod frm sicp, ane Meaught no more thau a|you give the slurm;” then grocreding up the | PD burger "a Mass © M Baliwin @EO. DOWNEY. A FINE SET OF perteety pare cf tbe Prawearson Koremns be apt
oe trouble yeep res eT the curtains on the | sep, be pl.osd the unkrows thitd perton om | Mr Lun: James Andersoa BWaciich + PARLOR FPURNITURD |S: Kivery peace beara sia toe sina ot vat
jim o , " lie aar@ at the isading, an ng 8 key trom Leuies Pine. sigoalure op & sive! plaie engre' ee ‘
MARCE eee of the carriage being down Shes Pod eocket uclched tie door of the house and en. |B Psien Mary Dian J bc bi uinon on mapenemn, : Ros jgenutnc. PRES - ¥
pinétion of B guslle to pec hun once be was within it and) (7) aystin @ sbort time be (Millian) beard | * Spee JD enaany Db. ©. ADKISON YOR S4L5 CHEAP: in telitee Wye pegagee Sorenson ae al
will tall ee ee peated. a9 ove swotLered exclamation of distress trom witb- = — of 2 ss M. COGPZ2, Rawabe it, oeked: eno nace senume Game ne
oagh C street to Buen OLTTING STARTED io tat BA oat, auch os yer pa ob Was: Pom-tersed! ps8 LEGAL IALELLIGCSC2:. POR sSaEssoR, at 2 Baker's Pas: Froign. Use. us Usmeritaren over every cork. .
Be * some diffico . ully expressed {2 a subddar Olce, BE a shincadae y Drugyisu, Greeers Deer trough é ‘;
= es ead wae forced beck by the } person being smothervs. hover 2 ay Sin noe Fi BDietetes Court.—hetore Jaze tien. We. LIVINGSTOER. LODGING HOUSE FOR SALE. @us the world. =, * _
od pest yl. lon - F : max onhe .
THE THEATRE poloe—Chief Edwards a aeons ee = Dosti Dihag the. uity plocder. cinasang | ‘The following businesa ‘was traunacted ip ee oe = pibeiie odetealee! - ATTENTION, i
s — Ns vagiloea wun lormed aud the | of tue drosees, furs, sie. on bis atm, and tossing | this Court yesterday : . Me OF. BE SESE ARE ORES IOP S MOUSE, ves Rate Pompelcten. MILL & SLUICE MEN
° e . ‘ aia thrm lian, remarked, * Here, eochman, 5 2 om % 7 e
y ap eet ha Alaa _ etart was made jost atpoon. ‘She cariaze you tako these, you have a roum aide truuk,” Mitchell ve. O’Nesle.—Motiou for new trial |- & wathney ba Wie wen con A and ner pa lt nen
. containing the prisoner and the Prieta Was | dod peretng out toward Union airec: were about overruled. _ ae a Senate Bagh ey sa, 416 and £18 Freai st., San Frascices, ALIPORNIA BLANKETS BY TIE BALE, AND ae A carebooeior
follored by s second we ting (the two" to pert, when Douglass nmarted to Dillon. “Jim, Charles Shad wa, £. Ereyenhagcn et als. preset warp pert Coua:y suite. Agents for Cattorais and Nevada, | Cli tncatine ty ue part of all wither asd > agrragd aa ae
she whale Cover physicians who were req s' that d—d woman woman would bare got away | On trial SZCOND WaRD. - superwr ¢ tor sale at der, Fink, - ies
5 y i members of the press, wile | with you tf 1 bea pot been there.” Muliam has RRC hin Re eee RRR STAGE © COACH FOR —EALE . t . » L. Mavtobis
——— toe iat Ip behind came the volnse con- | alwsysiuested to me that thi: was the first tnu- FROM 2AX FRANCISCO. THIRD WARD.. ‘ MABRK LEVISOK’S Clothing Stere, BP eS Sp ere
form street tain rueg tees = draped i black, and the | mt on he lad that e*ma:cer Lad bees commit- 8 oateecinns YOURTH WAkD.. * - - - >> sgtin @ SOUTH © STREET, VIRGINIA. ‘ eutas ‘ars,
“aus =p Do meet ndertaker and "assistants. The upecis] | ted, and did not huvow, that oop. ae in‘ended. 4 (aPrcLaL DIMRATCH To THE ENTERPRISE. | . SIX-BOgsE CONCORD ; é “ Dr. Wms. Buncher, Jobn Sedooa,
i thence to B, through 5 Jeouties formed a line en either wide of the | That bo conveyed the plunder to nis roots, the | Ratiread Masior—Rabb-ry—<nicide—& |lretion.....2.... 2... Peedi ay 4, 2008 | A EO eeE CONCOES ot aad Senn a é Sor yreti
puts ide of their Lndjmarchei others goiug in varioga dircchong. ™ Man bofreng with, Delirium Treinens ~ Aeniy a " * ss E eS oe : ei primary
of the Theatre and oute’ morning they came to his room, took the @ia-| Mak.ee Feurfal Lewp—-em. bren-nn . ILLY WILSON roy eiga e ie . . ‘ ries
‘ag toe herp the National Guard. while the moncs frow their stings and + re ap rT Dauarr — Passengers Comtur | -~ : Or to H. LUFKIN, Gene 2" > ect ie ty Seer ; : 4. Ciyse, settee dai
ee eet. ‘cleared the way in front. them. Ibsi be called op Mra. ’ : mder olt—arrivalet| -. « °- | Maren 3, 1887. me ati eg FLOOR MaNACERS
Kax + Grend Marshy. THE BOAD 10 THE GALLOWS + ber if she uid vot wish to buy some diamonds, sh ee eee. eee ee neperee t DEMCCRATIC TICKET, TyOUsE AK» LOT = . Fi oF poe , os Monnet, - H. Kaity,2
\ Was Hines on cither side with met, wOmen | aud oho replied that she would fone aoe oe pes b sani MUNICIPAL RED scce Hew sod yoR SAL . . ic mn. Boogea, J. Tyre.
We coed mde Fi i i mon them che ip sn were good. . . FRAKCSCO, = es P CT. «farmer Constructed dur bu- | * rt . - * °
. sod enikiren, all striving With Oper, ge of | ber the cismouds, eh sue afer fret inquiring | | Yesterday morning the work of driring plice in . at ROE eee Secon UE. eae hens . : ; :
D BALL and digpaded eyes sipin na far as | of bins how be came by them {ll ot whicu ques. | the #4: at tye north ena of Government iulane te | [__ Se tock Nomk an A ted Matord ever: Dameen oe = . Tiekets (aching Supper)
. the pritgecs, Awsy 1D ance, tions be anewcred so that ber suspicions were | Ox we of the grant made by the ta.t For Maysr, mreet to sreet. Apply wo F. B. B. OLDFIELD, om
EVEXING : could bo wees, « sol Of men, women and | oo) ised), agreed to take them to sowe Jewel- | Legisiature tu the Pacific Maitrosd Company, was : ee . i: dewh 5 sweet, near Cams, in seer GREAT EXCITEMENT ! t oxoRau *
C MALL ee eee earl Gala, fete | Ceene Sud cnt wba try wore werte sad it Sie | oS Somthern Poste Baflrwed Ceimenny be Shinty rma. — == Virginia, April 18, 186°. (34!
CPO owe My in we she informed biw e ve . - : F {ap
. Cam be procured ae age | nyse tact updb for tue eze- uit the jeweler tell ner thes were worth $100, | fle? with the Board of lide-land Cummis+ioncre For Chief ef Police, . bh ee Gatrony yor nALE gy : : A
ection, Tt was a moticy crowd: whito | but tust abe woult give but $75 tor them, whicn @ formal econ ptance of the domation mede by the " MARK sTROUsE tng s emall capital to pom lal +s my THE os bg,
ARRANGEMENTS: th ebildren in their arms; Pints | be delved to take and * em t> | State. > appey to "H.C. KIRK & CO. ~ a ;
women wil ’ P : What action is contemplated by the Western Reserder, ppiy to . . Bes “
. MeClelian, A. 4. Punam, with young ones banging upon their | bs rocm, where he met Dow-laes apd Diliou and Por Cry > . . : 7 o;
squaws y : songs @ the diamonds to them That lass | Pacific hss pot yet transpired. AGON FOR saLE—. Poet of the matter ts just thie: I have enme to the con- ot ALAR -
Me. 3D. 0. Adkins, backs, poliag themselves abemg with Lrocm- | Trinro.d We ciesn ime! Wb) sobs-quently met | Tbe Hombolut Hey Malrosd Company wil ROBERT E. LOWERY. po ee ALES MA EARLY . station to briefly index m the people of huerey county DANCIN BAS
. stigks ; long-tailed and-wilieyed Ceipamen ; | pr (Millian) oD the street and give him some Word at cD next .nesJay. fors Stage. dor sale by H.C. KIBK & CO. v ‘ thes if they are amt —
7. Bikes, G. H. Meise, Méxican women and negrowemen ; Women | 201'y and told him to keep shady and take good | . Albert Kahv or Alb rt smth trom Ked Biull For City Amemer, : . . LEAS, : . 2 MR. AND MAS. RE
—C. Findley, G. A. of the town and women evijemy from the | oar. o/ the tutes, etc:, aud (bat in a tew days be | Was rovbed of $400 on the Secramepto boat list rPATERICN o’cox ror. = Lyox’s Macwenc Lweact Pewsen fe cere and cartels ° .
. eountry, with men of all kinds and » | would sec bim agatm. ‘Tb he (Millian) beinga | Dgdt Ihe money was found screted to-drr. ; - sQ6T AND FOUND. desib to everyiking of the insest species — Fieas, : DEAD AVIXG PERFECTED AKKANGE%?
- Wiliams, A. Corewall, evarmed w the northward. member of ap Engine Co. to Virgin's that attend- | Un the )2th fost. an unknow2 man comulited : _ Fer Cty Treasurer, . cctcsntillie nxt canoe = Ante, Bags, H ANT
5 TEE Gallows oJ the tuneral of Julia Bulette, attended with the | #Sicide by drowning in the bay. It bag risce JOHX E. DOYLE. ©sT-ON SATURDAY LAST, O85 IT KILLS INSTANTLY . ‘To their ows they will buy tebe SUMMEM SEAS
Me. 1. 8. Kansan, Wm. in » broad slope or semi-basm, | company, to avoid suspicion, ap fuilcwing the | trapenirea that Lis name was DH. Pocis. Lie & : mom stirect. Leiween F and A mreva,a se and GROCERIES, CROCKERY, BOOTS and SHOES, TO- -
‘Was-erected ins oe : : aa 10 the ‘ore & piece of crape ou bis | eit letters announcing his iuteoton end statins hold BREASTPIN (mar logeiber wrb samall | | Whatte peeuliariy sarprising invegaril te this articie | yy. LIQU KEROSENE, CASTOR Respectfully tniorm the citizens of Vs eio
3-D. Statapeors, W. Pom Sebart datance above the reer, Tart benses wv the arave w » ave that poverty and destitution had driven pim 1 | - aa FUR COLLAR. The B eas:pin Wee Buiacmed to the pobre tpatremg rg le Nie gre grocers ig 1g be thet Line of one whe is | Will open tbelr NEW SCHOUL for Luho
A lstie over a mie to the portowar we | om ‘onage si persist red : s FE ‘ur Collar. Tae finder wil be suitably rewarie) by tony trys p . Every Weduccony sas Sater
tity. Leaving the serriages on the Galcor Dh olceety me por sete pip hee ee *Noout 11 o'clock last nicht a man named A] Tijisi) WakD.. B FLRGUsON at Da Drug Bure, o,posie b= Ier- {ican be inhaled or eaten wih log Ace ap eres Bits i. isharss
: po ety me ee opene ine pPOTCE Feousees.co to Bs, He Bae also al mays ded d to | Byade, she lsboting unter anatinet of dourine | Fut kil WARD LAWRENCE Bass} mali JOSEPH .ARXITAGE. FREE FROM POISOR. ALIVE pe noe tome - pipet
Was Iuarched weafold abunt oth. com wi: mene, “pron? oot of & secoid «iors window uf ‘ " ery Men ewig Be A ergs
N, LADIE game order axYhat Oleerved while Le was a eS et Eanes cone aia t. tell |® lodging-towse ai tue corer ac sackaoa ini} Election em the 4th day of May, 1968. “one meme | _ Xo article bas over given euch puciive antici a ft ab he eos or bu Con Breet. : ‘4
> in his carriage. The ground on three sider | me if be kuew enythimy avout (Le wurder of U. | Moutgomery sircets and fell co the payment api 1s reputation 8s well knows. It te enaily ond readily | teasers, and can aluays be found ai his Stand, 36 South | The iatest anc mov: facts ae tic Oxmence &
Of the gallows rose ratber abruptly, forming | A. 5. Hi!!, and alesoaboar the mysterious mur. | belugg He wae not killed but badly bettercd up 7 incl-—sireclives SSSURpSBY OER “Sexk- “Sewere of I Convert, ox tes ¥ Rherey county, Nev. shortest possible tine. :
MO . 4 . ntezie: zene Sad
ssort of ampbitbeatre, aud here was col- | vere of women of 11] fame ‘Lat Lad been perpe-| whca hwuc. | * “Tuc genuine bas the signatare ef F. Lrox, and the | 49/9 im M. L. DEXTER. =

jeeteds crowd f noi
@nd persons.

THE EXECUTION.

The military aud special deputies formed

& square about the gallows, with the pris-

oner. Leverend Fathers, Sherif, Under

¢

joes than three thous- |

tret d in ten Francisco; he 2)wayh enc peraist-
sutiy deniedio me baving auy knowledge in re-
guru to ipem, ercept be stated that on tue dsy or
tue day after (and Prorget which) of the murder
of Mr Hill, that he was in Silver City and tocre
tet Doug.ses and Dillov, and suspecting them of

having cummitie! the cflense asked tbem ebest

A disnutch from Napa et 10 c’elock 2. to-aay,
staics that Sam. Brammah is considered. out of
danger

The Bising Star left New York to-day with 1,009
pasecnygere aod 750 tops freght ter Calif suis

Et.jab Waite sues W. Hoigridge and wile io re
cover § 20,000 for alleged sl.ncer.

a iste hour

‘(PDE BOOKS
a CLUBaren
W.TL YOUNG,

enrell their name:

pe is ot

wal Grave agacn

Attention, Unisex Men!

OF TUL FIRST WARD UNIOX
2W open for Bignatures, a: the ofSce of
Cay Clerk. ii who Gesire © “go
"are invited te come forward sad

ny
8B MEETS THURSDAY EVENING

gee bankrup:
the Duwie. Canrt of the
3
CHAS. D. KING, Anstzafe,
Residence. Dafwe. Nevada

1 wenp +f Deust saases a Co Anytung eles
ol Uuis hind ls an imtauen er evunterfelt. Span Apt pa
wii procure the gaeuwe, f you insist you will bave ne

vwl.er.
Sci by all druggists and dealers on Preis Const

CONNECTICUT
MUTUAL

LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY,

DANCING

Dae

LYON!


Bhber: poty . payescs ’ .
te g bers of the press and some few other | as they approached the bar pertiuly Gpesed & Jast night. Among her passencers were Mejor | =!. 4. ibe Cry Han. - —
‘Dw Goons persons inside. Milkany ascenled the | Pocket boos, exposing same greenbacks, wed m | Genere! Ord, Hon. 8 B. Arte, Aparew J Mouk | yp. 4 JAMES PHELAN, Presijeat “Dbereby given that the undersignéd Bes been appaist- er ~ ~~ ———<—<— tC C—O
Mtire leading to the scaffold with a | Teply te Malian s Teath wal, We Bove fot | Cer and Joseph W. McCorkle. "Tne latrer ceucie- | _"* Hi. Youxs, Secreiars. mbll ef | Olas Anaicnee in Bansropicy of ihe come end cfocw | - INCORPORATED...... ‘1946
: «abt apringing step and elms: ate tun. | tis Sen eee co of 8 bitch | man wil retura to Nevada aud enur te ercus|ReCUN WARD ONION MEN, AT of JOSEPH BW RIARS Oe Sepe aveh tis coats ee on cece
, Upon reaching the scaffold he turned and ix in bell, and we intend to leavé, the country at asacandidsie ior the United states senate, in ° i“ own petiion, by tke Disuies Court of the Vanes Blaies AYING FITTED UP THE sb '\) *
gucod & m th é vane and afuer driaging they left the house, | Place of Senator Stewart, whose term exjire DENTIONt for the Distrecy uf Nevade. . Cc -$18,000,000. Hall, the undersignes: wii! bed » &
__ Barisan upward at the rope, ce | pouuted their Bor-es and rose away 10 the di- | ext March. +y°1'E SECOND WARD UNIC - WM B. THORNBURGA, Assignee. . . Every Meanany Py curr
rf — egal " Whie ot then on press — the — he ores mew ‘an ay pred eueance excised | Dee as een ean nas coe Deted March 24, 15-5. nabs im* Eaghtece Militen Bellare, ASD GIVE A SOURKE
ly secur m2. always Genied tw me thet ay {rom 2 and Wey alter ci ERY WEDNE: y EVENING i ae - = 2 — . Teureeoy Ret
Under Sheriff Leeoney read the @eath war- | was the man that Marika + ap.p test: Sea a af th dass. ‘ ports svorece N ; AROLL wl he wen ler uguolares EVERY MF iy ph te ef ated cd . Statement for the Year endi Ge A gem acie pe az
, gtocn ‘ar Millis stood firmly upright apd lis- | the house, and which tet to bre arrest, and bas Taga) lenders, 11%, Gold closed in New York -KNOON, trom 2103 @cloek_at Perry & Lrwin’s | od ws Assizner in BaDkrup.¢ Mg ihe encase and emects . December 3 nak _psamnleahs
tened wit bout the slightest tremor or change | sivce bs arrest untis pow, in af] of tis senvetea-] Waar 13934.‘ Semple Lonms, oppaste the F ; at other times | of ROBERT ROBINSON of Lyon councy. State af Ne- ; i, 1967s ADMISSION, EACH EVENING :
\UTIFUL of counteasnes, Aliorwards be turned and | 400s snd .onfessions, told this ame story Wit ee > ore | CG Toons, Becrecary. - a pao, tag ee Derriet aed ct ibe ‘Ccued, Babes for base oe y
knelt . out variation. j . . - Be : x ae ;
P novi, shen eS nue cepted a that he mage other A Rew Dowx a —— Thurs- THIKD WAMD UNION MEA! - Dimric. ot Newest ip THORNBUBGH, Ansienee. * baer — *. 2
xl Reverend Fathere -peayed for bim. After aa ne ay morning a man named Osborn, who nies , Dated March 34, leet. mans bm 7 CT erg RS ee aie
ths prayer was over be arose and being ot dsoura inva been seas ena T cease oe was traveling along the Ophir Grade, rode ate ALL BALE ON cLUp ore mow % BASKEU ig - Ps 2 *%
-&. - asked Ly Bhenff Mulcahy if he had anstling | public through this letter ol mine to you,and too lose to the edge of ‘an embankment | ore Sr sisma:ares, at the office of KT. SMITH. Eg oth BN eee eat op oY | ee xrcas canis 6S > a cane ae s
to say to to thore about bim, he took from | wish 0 be understood and belicved that it w= j when the ground gave way and both horsc [ett aa gtty Oe ie mance enrol nee ofnune | ates mm tey of the esse abd checis af mUsTane STIR UP-TKE Ak
his pocket » sheet of paper upon which be | Wet, spa ali, Jobp Mulligt. bes cyer confrssed or | and rider rolled down the lace of the moun- tant thy miny have voto Oi ibe opponadlangy Cates Fea BARNES of Siofcy coun'y, mam of Novads, | ~ , LER RM ERY. .
ees ten in the French lanruaze what | emitted to we; end this I bed bis permission to | tain for a distance of 50 feet. The maz Was | Cos Pounary, wan tan Reon atiatees MNP yao’ wane ike] 1 PRs pists Sete
ia, he wished to say, pot being sniucientiy con- nar eon 1 do, giving you —— not serious!y injured, though his horse wie HE CLUS ere EVERY MONDAY EVAN 4 ‘ the United sates sor the see stanet See Meriean Nestang tant, re 3 femme
vereant, as be gsid, with te E. lish to: ue ; ean realise ‘smytuing rosa st, | rolled ovcr bin—be was a vod deal bruived, Sia oe eas : ° WM. B. THORNBULGE, Assignee... | beast, to: article Gissover ed. ,
al pcan clestly what he wis heer sg . CHARIS for Jog Ml however, i * W. 3. Covren, Seere‘ary. A. 5. SME, Frettem, Dated Apri 18, 1st. : pss im Ne cumpound has ever bees invested so unsfal amd WE LIKE THE ©
suugh be wore a sumewbat haggard look | Virginia, Nev., April ipa he 1889 tian. : : — ee msn uring “ og
fd 3 : —W. H.: Bobinson has ebs!-| RercsaTsm, Soas Txnesz,
SOG tem, irom his long co yet be showed ; =. 1 CRANE fei s oo
. that be posscesed nerves of sterl. He road} ¥ co Seat . 5] énged W. We Wright, chsmpion billiard | (+! A CARD. briry axp Waan Joawen, ve FA s + Fe p \
tes bad od ugar voice nod nace talparod inpian eeioua- Major oan of the —— - a as gg + Ot Fo A YEAR I MAVE BEEN ILL. NOT EXOW “i bwasxes, — e & H ‘3 . . .
— 3 a ’ awe, points, parred, on a De Srom weed enuer, supposing my inves io be | Or 1 a dueteniontaamn .
LA MSEILLES, oo firmly in bis fends that pot ube slizhteet | Ninth Infantry, with all the available force | Swali-sised carom table, 2% inch balls, for Goasamporn. “Upon saiing my symp ame 0 ME a — wre
tremor was cbeervable. Having tajshed | : the champi 350° = | ates Hall of Menu cS ee ee oe te Detue Leos coasts, xed UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, OTR iS
rebil pion cue and $250. FPobinsen bes} x oy. a , ving, Lyww coaaty, Neo} - POR HORSES
. Feeding ap ag 3 for some twu i ge siiatagor ? 1, epee post hee see deposited #50 at the Aisshoe Excuunge Eil- Xi. L. Dears. peak POF clea 4, Pree’. Tae a eeil unter bor care, sane Tape | Foie poly ne indispensable sod valuable remety ie Dow? RATES FOR FAST FREIGHT
mies renen " clock ving lard Saloon i bet. The challence words were veriéed. Ihave the Worm in alcoLol, fur of Spavin, Splint, Ring Bone, brmmee.
tarned ~ “SLEVIION p> Strains, eve. . dscragye te Merks Cs
rseneene, ho. Seg ee ee ee | rene at ne end ba sppeare in another column. ACW AES UD UGE patie ie | fare er mene bo eine STs be nept nevery howe, gap aad ane | FROM SAN FRANCISCO |P- Bec ot San Vrecetas we
He then stepped to the front of the scaflold c - encamped Jashi fre Nawe.—Corover Gartrcll held an in- aun Nery member of the Club which ‘eal = Bates 90h hae Aiea een ae alt nse Gh genuine “a wrapped fa steel piawe emg WILL 3B RED! ; pemiady the evils to Whitt» ee en
Shdim hud velco and jn very goou he [exci atthe Picanol, Lowes, 087 2 ) quest on che body of the efor inet We |: CS edtes ene Ogee (Seam peetiae, here 2 SELTE™ | SEs, M MP tassios omar oo | @ eee ens OU Nid ee ea
POP. 7 Mend tones ot oo MO “Ls pet ise Md wont ug, Peron eg age wd the Deyton road evening’ before last. We coat bot be allowed to again dole, during thig year, om Senky Pees NED, Daye, Ferree sn asta ep eis : pals — Pons Peete get's ac came er
servi: ! tT . pects 2 pe * . tw Tare atthe i Pri ad a <9 ’ . ~ been made te eounterfett ‘ e
theo to the kind Ledave thet vusited me i my {Read of Long Valley in six days from the have only space to say that his name is) Wit. Corres, Seg'y- HA Pree Sree Ere nen SF MSHIP | ginoe piaic lade! Look closely | _—_—— BAKER'S FAST FREIGHT LINE, “
call.” 3 md : > j Sveldon Dixon; owned a wood ranch beroud - pane a Wine M2 a a ae nod, tyall Droggtts’ dod in every townand | apiitf MM. woo
Two young men of the Hall family | time of starbng from the Fort. It appears : : : i : = | de by mu:ual eensent. C. yenter will Pex, Agent. i
- then went upon the weaSold and Xi tuat the Indisn aidicultics are outside of | Deyten: ® Dany of the State of New York | POUSUM , WAM Rp DaMvENiNG a Lcolleet ail ecoounie due the firm and pey 2° ‘rim of we mniciag ceany ot Poeiss Cote —_— A
- bands with bim His sek | the District of Nevada, but iappearing | Deturat about 50 yeare ef age—diod from | rece uh st y Torec doue All Demseeiet or] Bagtan, 5 C. CARPENTER, Mi FAST FREIGHT RATES
were now firmly plaiousd, bimelf |tost tac poopie of tbe Valley acitjergents | Beara! canses. ° ve | Wari" aad' all men opposed te rae paras ae vt
coops, taking off his slippers and otberwise assist- | ¢¢e in urgent necd of assistance, and bang| Bvtiox Tax Rercarep.—Mr. 8. T. Gace. ‘By orcer of the President © <. HOBBS. : = REDUCED.
ig, his collar. opened amd the fatal nvoso | 8 areat distance from the nearest post 12 | Coliesor a? | and. Eopens, Secretary apll et ; . “8 ¢ say
aqjasted sbont his neck by the Under Sherié, | (Mlifornia, General G has determined of Internal Revenue ia this Dis = = GooD NE Ss. oo ee ther propose ‘ =
. He took one hasty look at tbe nour as i | ascent! trope 00 thelr penet, The soldiers | trict, yesterday received the following dis- TTENTION, UNION MEN OF , 4 ee - is pictween Virginia anu Guid Hil,
gor saLz @. T*# brought forvard, then stood while it se 89 days rations them and .an ; * Washington, April 23, 1868. &. T- Aer s AMD the tana hat rem oe MON. FOR THE LADIES. UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, OUR maeely ree
wen ‘being placed, with his eyes ataosenae of arms and smmgnition and | nag ego ae Revenne: Isal- | DAY EVERING o1iigw/olsak, Every member neare ce ae : iota em - Fast rEREIGHT RazvEs 4
| downcsst,.and lipe moving as -thougb ve the ectilors all the protection im | #00 repealed, E,- A. Hollins, Commis- Yorn, Bee” THELAN, Pres’. mRs. LASH :
+ wbleting @ prayer. The black exp was now:| their power. District Commander General sioner.” \ Ege ee eae ee : : : : ee fares
EK fs ae al ie iaaeall : . ; Fashionable New York Mftliner, FROM FRA sco
DWEST PRICES — (Sduz™ grer i face end on the matant | Pe troubles ins fom lf to vit the seat Qf Tuisown Faom 4 Wasox.—Jerry Lebizh | "POY, SEAT AN Ipay erento fever. | EA scvmg, meee tuptine, coxstaxnix n-| Carriers’ Black List, 7 ~ ee ee
Raat ee ieee [eeacgioe ft Ae poe |g rea ce Tt 2c eco Sway” Lug mermeta, lowers, Straw | Terris ease eae EAT —as we
of Millian disappeared the people. : 4 nINg, Ww: FOWL | are OFS REF invaed > |. Be erder. y te )
> roach the scatiuld. Fhe fell betwcen six _ from “a wagon and considerably brumed | "0% Ciias. B. Fist, Seweter?--/ Gats, Bonnets, Fl Str: a 8 CENTS PER POUND.
—— tad seven feet, : e Ww —The fol about the shoulders, side andarms. His > 5 3 owers, aw Te Fors OWING BILLS BTETEE
: . r* ot, gpd was doybtiese killed in- | ~ ELELe : owing ww & — u FOe CHIEF OF PULICE. e 5 A Carriers of the Exrzarnses will be seid CH
- sisntly, as bis Beck was dislucatod. Alter | stalemgnt ofthe amount of bullion shipped injuries are not of s serious nature, Z — 2 Trimmings, etc. FOR CASI 9a applicaiion to ten apts bw WELLS, FARGO & 00." :
. being sugpended a eouple of mingtes a tre- | ¢ , : | Miwen'’s U _T RANK A. PARRY RESPECTFULLY AXNOUN- | - il : : Hw a
‘ p! pies a é jved for assay during the week ixzn’s Uxton—The members of the es himself @ candidate 1 McDosald, Virginia 80 5
or if Tece: ng past $ 3 fur the office of Chief of 1 : 3
nis limbs for § few weconds and y : a re : me i Yer stock has bren most carefully aclected, and, as | Pa: Keese, Virginia 42
mp was Us theo nie fF 8 Jon noocnds sn | rom she office of Welle, Fargo & Cow in | Ooo tei salle to mect atthe Glia! eel ama [SST reene Se eee ae Cate | un Goren Vere. “{8|__TO RENT OR TO LEASE, STIR UP THE AW!:
b hia Cane ratlins are officially : meet at the Goki-Hill | —— : Se aay as LOWER | Bir Carson, V' esse se aha
aagh ila pase wee patoepue for near | thin ity, Chore ere shipped 8.276 poanes | Theatre toe ab con, 19 at | eee at reanate HALL 3 Sram | HSERE Gags Ase Otuce wor acctsiiaese | Perl Dette Tene 15 |THE GOLDEN GATE HOTEL, ee
ithine Jot ayed_ ion, val st $75.17 ; | the funeral of the wife r. B. F. Rogere : dinieipincine : — Tesh (Ted roads, Vir . .
1@ XLSEWHEEE ae ee as ee beat a Sg we ce lg * Aa pace Gold a worthy member of the Union. ’| Mginiy evenine, ate eee EVERY On band, carefully selected .cork of Ru’ erie, rein ‘ Be @x NORTH C SI REET. acta LADING AN Ay Nnoar ibe
« a by pout a a & . "4 7 ’ . rx Lane (formerly of Howse), 2 ‘te 2 my
aes soed in tite coffin. The amouut of ‘grade Ddallion received Iytrarstixe To Miemxo Compaxtes.—By — ~__ 3.3. COOPER, President | Pateme Mass and, Monnete Dreet from) tren aa Bayuoe.- $i | she a i wan Le
MILIJAN's SPEECE. for welting -and assay jv as follows; | smotice in another column it wiil ‘be seen ‘ ‘ : —_ TEA Wakio, Da HE HOUSE CONTAINS FOURTEEN SLEEPIX
Ay Ban air nite Se kes Sek, wept SE) Ralig & Co. ofthe Guy, 18897 oumece ; | that E Ruling & Co. will, upon application Democratic Central Chab | 222 StS et eo rete prem = Cosien Dayna. zt Vier wan Bats, -
tae panes 1S ae eset athe cmat recaon | Keoeata & Ut (quoonenore to Theat Co.) | tm ‘eacnall Pope ere GF THE CITY OF YIRGINIA | ° age dee om B STREET, Taleb Boros Ee canta Feige opae oon inane
does . n Pe a 4 =
‘ Stes eat ee me a ak of this oe 13,809 ounces ; Gold Hill Branch “4 F N ss oT ss Pause aetiea cpsiz: | NO Logan € a Bi. a2 1, w
a , 1 ° A et ee f -
ae ts die, Dat nee e Moet rat | aeed : eed Rubilng « 4.90" Sateep,—Mark Twain arrived there at 5 Meet’ Every Saturday Evenifg, RDAMANTINE CANDLES, i Wen: erty, Gord Ha. ie oa ‘water and afl eter crovenienece, messed m8
> piss sens - © would not | 36,071 ounces. or ok Zyis o'clock yesterety , morning in healt - 3 - ae 3 re oe | ‘The House te pleasantly located, and will be bet toa
sve beexJnentenced téccsth. No suid thet and without meecting a atone tonaped nate AT 71-8 OCLOCK, — ot veqpenatbte party an renainabis t=
[7 8 | Require on the promisce—12 NORTH C STEEET.
‘2 0 ep Zi km
ee

twas : = Torees.
ia tuisfortune to have been without} Jxpiax Drrricuury qn ad TACCHET | way. Ibe will loctuce at tho Opera Hons on ae Xiddara Iai, B Mtreet. |G. BM. GRANT & co.’s

Baneyin hig time of need, and that all was | N is ci i :
“ bed th t t ae
pd rg ep ed rl or inn pdm ren = ee ae ee eae :
. _ 3 ateremd- 1 che ne ic _ Petes ;* "

Beng every phage Be —— oe the aReronee bebupeg bas Shtice end 30-1 6h wu gergons foes eli parte pars Sete be filiowing ia a List of the of said Cid a CARRIENS OF DAILY ENTERPRISE t BUTTER AND HANS
pe ortega Apaecaghy hone bese diane on the Trackse, roe pang op ae whe oummedo Saat the exeention of Mil- JS PAMANTINE CANDLES nmMoW AT AUCTION.

sie Pa evidengs e¢duced in | yonng white man sbot snd k an Jodsan | fan. Never néfore hag a man «offered sailed - * ¢ Ss ;
wy ond lenin en Kngiisn fia- a mn 20 a. oe a and | ital punishment in Mae dp scab gy ed tings ase Prscecs eee . ss wa SS

worthy rower cht hi to action x « J ’

he Gases operated sethy ingeryscver | bronht bim wp fo, Hadakces Thi action | jurors —A grand matinee wil Be gtvea | jc ymone San WS. COMBINES & OO. BLAKE & MOFFITT, | on nacorcas, Avett 25, toot at 10 vctock : g
a2 be would ao! answered qucstions | Yoduans there, at least, are peaceably in- | at Piper's Opera eae Aiiniainn a8 | nn ee eee ‘ : —_—— FAP SR WEPRESTeN : iota heer Wis, cacRETOLIOS,

F eudnet have dene bad be known | clined, ss 9 believe Mr. Huffaker is a Jus- | o'clock. As the weather is now particulary Teen ve Comennners > |ROVAL HAVANA LOTTCRY | Arar Be, 8h : ~ qty BE BOLD AT AUCTION, TOUPEES, TWINTS, Bem
Bee ating ee ae |e we beet echve heaton ous] SESE: TN Al | LOPTZBY | Hie ee oe enre ov oumiacas
taking the forgiv pir oxery Prrrn’s Ores Hovse.—“ F bon” asi jadies an: vibe. : : Dire Ward: M. FECRY, J. L. BRATTY, DAV. B or &UBs, oe re ae = 28 FIREINS EASTERK BUITER; : ¥ 5 LECES,
Ph sel mone Under Sheriff Leconey | repeated af the Opera House last night te Tora SmrrMext oF Brizioy.— The total ee ed Wat: J.P, SMATH, WM. WOODBERE, | (soNDTCTED BY THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT: | BOOK, KERR WANING AND at PAPER, : — ‘aun mines OF MALE”
ewedit for rg an don deserve great] gn cxcclicnt hoyee, A matinee will be giv- ery ae gs yang from this city || Tiira Ware: THOS, CORDIELL, H: GLOUBER, LU sas0,c0e te Gels Drown Every revsuiees  MUGTRAW ASD BINDERS WOEEDS J. ©. CURRIE & ©0., © et
the aad and soot 3 agra in wileb en thia afternoon, at 9 o'cjock, and this and Go uring by past ‘weck was i CHARE s Foun : PRIZES CARTED and Infurmston Furn‘sbed, apis ims 4 itt aauee {| een ‘ Avctionecrs. B@r%. B.—Reoeived also a large sex:
throughout. roe in Alena gpevicnw ate er eniug tho Webb aistess iake's benciit, 9,074 pounds, valued at $201,667 1. enn X SNOW, $.-F. HOOLE, EB Tee Ricers 3 Raves Paid ior Deavioucs and : Ce. 7 : ; mye COMES eabed
from the Jail il the deed body ge Thos will Goubtlens have s ood house, Fig | | Dewocsric Cextmai CLUm—Phis club | rhe folowing a he Fost of Membenahip adapted by 000 TAYLOR # 78 “Bagters, NICHT. WORK.. “TO MILLMEN. Empire and Princes: °

re was ill offered on the oceasic t i j ee aa a snacoen dunce destlibes : 5 Jos <a
nots siugie balk or holt, ° xo is a moet at | @)] mect to-night m Niagara Hallssusnal. | snr. 10. all white male ciusens skal be eligible ae ‘yor a LE, Cx yor catm. Together whh others of genes

and ;
tof all, there wat no buagling on | tractive one and the sisters and all sonnect- | A full styendance of the wutarritiod pnd aa- | rmen.vere ofthis Club who abail make ane subseribe | Tog Cream, Seda Water and Ee | TREUXDERSIG#eD WOULD RESPECTIULLY Tee only piace tor gencine LUELE
PERFUMERIES.

the etafold—all w i i
eut swi! 07} ed with the house will use their best en- J de fli declaratic we a i
hy the trap Was petite rant ig } a deavors for the successful representation of washed is requested, th rae ee puree, 1 bel Sa ee ee eee Deughs, thet a i freshment falocn, CLEAN "OC Ti ar gers PTY pu yng A BOILER,
crowd, bet they eeetht rash forward by tho She proces to be presented. ‘Tarax are mossages at the teleg“aPh'Or | (vives sates. % hold that thie oe ee cae bur etee srw Se aes crpag| ober him! ol work, Dich as Yarde, wc. Or Go Sat | 1, peer '¢ INCHES LONG AND € INCHES IX |, sa Prtvase Matréreeting
Aner EUsrds poon restored order. | IeowsgurD Vorers.—Last ev £6 | fice for Elijah Hall, Mike Kenefict, Empire j vin s whe bs '7 oy Sriine ree voncts off Beene msusecd Darues c E—ICH CREA | Rusnure, or soy uuni! of thet deecriptioa. "As be wae Leetes,
poled MEALLES LAE AND A BEETCH | o'c1ock nots i : . entng in, | State Mail, and Mollie Lowe. ynen ar preter Seok Soha See re ae Tee wagpael io Fear | eesan x hens. he oitera tbe pairanaes of the a eaagg itr cesctorgoet —_— *y
Pi pooh: Regis on ia Y y ic a pred 5 gilmore poaen 7 e ns of Virgings. Joe . . i ’ >
: qth ah Saiais “ead ‘wg 5 tte re nae sieund, : gre wr Papeenind Bee esarns tie jee es ow oe een — ses mchale | Monte enemchy of ous pound OF DOL ABRANAS OES TN orders te ine : 7 CH TUBES. 3 The Welsh € .
foreseen’ that be had nover sade a ev: | of names registered are 2,604. This exo ceeds Ee ee et with an- | songit ctrertent r220) sateen oe recgniven | Camm ARET NS ent 2 aoe oe eee OF \ VIRGINIA
Char: . = 4 a is perha ‘ el, wt ne Ah catainsiagsr bey Srate As aa! ate = ee ee, ote 3h —— ~se ~~ jeveds Boer Werka Silver C \ “i
Wye that be did eiite ont a gonfeaston ss [corte the poous anticipated number st | Sorption of = Romola,” which ie Tikely to | "5¥2r uit if joram tial ye commnindy membg DOW ULAss—soe BOXES wis: | SUT TRO Te tat Pil over made tor | WARE gear Wat rep ree | wate MEET MERE>
Atement, and gave tt to a time the booke wore opened—in- | endure as long as the English language. ofthe Cla upon making the forecolng declare‘ion of Gow Ghast, all sizes, for sax ata amsl! a6. | *> thartic Palle The, best ever made tor | WW Bi pavurkitos oN -
han afterwards bim, but that Slii-|deed many thought that 1,600 would be Co ae te ance to the Constiiecion | TERC® “D cost, by FC EInK £ CO. | Bilious Complaints and ail Gerengements of ‘tbe Soon Dae at an Fridsy =
ta he wiahed to meverite te sea ven back j about the ber of 2 ed. It ph pponme ta sn icw beeen East was yl Dy Taw Ais ring a woe em Wiseow naw mena semegh., ‘Ask for Kirk & Co.'s Bitver-Coated Yor sale by C. KIRK & 00. meory A dlest fl ex
Possession of it he etting | appears to be an uncommonly year for a lump of ice falling on his bead. oll of the Clab will be kept epen at the siSee of s Ex 80¢ WIN HOW Cathar tic Pile. a RUSSES, ABDOMINAL SOF aT dy
p t, he never returned a) : c J. A. BROWK, Biockbroter. nearly oppesia Well Sbevdes, all patterns, For sale only by B C. ETRE £& 00, T Este ; exter of 7808. T. BOGE
fa d Mr, |* quajised voters!” — fe Verdict hed By hard drink Figo 4 U2 welate,on Caves br aor, male Forsaiewerylowby © H.C. KIRK & CO. Be 41 C ctrest, ¥ ie Oe reE & CO. wee ve, Mast. =
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Ecseeninermneacenane Wualeuaniioe one = ; ney sentir naa a ki : sane


~~

MILLAN, John, hanged at Virginia City, Nevada, on April 2l,;,1868.

_-DASTARDLY MURDER OF

GOLIEN WEST MAGAZINE, January, 1969.
On € Street the saloonkeepers decorated the swinging bat doors with black mourning crepe;

at Engine Company No. 1 Peasley’s men festooned the entire fire Station
in magnificent black—a manifestation of misery—and vowed to give
their beloved transgressor the finest funeral Virginia City had ever witnessed...

by William R. Wilson

N | OBODY IN VIRGINIA CITY knew for certain whence
she came. Occasionally some peripatetic gambler, plying

his profession in one of Virginia’s riotous saloons, would recall
her face in an ectoplasmic, whiskey-scented dream—years
ago, he believed—somewhere in New Orleans’ French Quarter.

illus. furnished by Author.

Portrait of J

12

ulia Bulette is displayed in Virginia City's Bucket of Bloog
Saloon, with distinctive red kerosene lamp, (lower right in photo).

That could possibly mean that she was Creole, or perhaps “just
plain Gulf.”

There were those, too, who claimed that she was most cer-
tainly French. None but French girls, they argued, possessed
such exquisite taste in dress, manner, food and drink. How
else could she have acquired such a genuine passion for French
cuisine and French wines?

Her name lent additional support to this latter theory.
Bulette, it was, Julia Bulette. Let those
fools who believed she was English try to
refute that! The name was French. No
doubt about it. So, French she became
too, and this conclusion lent a further
romantic aura to the girl, dear to the
hearts of Virginia City’s gold-grubbers and
silver seekers, following the discovery of
Nevada’s fabulously rich Comstock Lode
in 1859.

It is certain that the women of the com-
munity never indulged in idle gossip about
her then. That would come later. During
those early days there weren't any women
there except Julia and Eilley Orrum. And
Eilley was much too busy peering into

boarding house. So it was left to the men
conjecture they did, in the manner of
men since time immemorial.

Although the exact date of her arrival
in Virginia City is unknown, it is certain
that Julia came during the community’s
earliest days as a lawless gold and silver

outs, tent shelters and shacks clinging to
the precipitous eastern slope of Sun

was there by late 1859, although another
April, 1863.

homes. Julia’s Palace, the men called it,
soon it was the focal point of social life in
their community. It was attractively furn-

ished, scrupulously clean, airy and wellFlit.-

in her home. Her guests may have been

GOLDEN WEST

0G

her crystal ball and running a miners’ -

to conjecture about Julia’s origin, and |

Julia, herself, tolerated no tomfoolery

rough-and-tumble miners, but they puton | 9),
their Sunday-best manners at Julia’s. In 2 eee
turn, she taught them to discriminate be- eee
tween the delicate bouquet of French “7
- wines and the offensive stench of their 3
local saloons. When Julia entertained, the ge
food she served seemed nothing short of ae i

camp, a ramshackle hodge-podge of dug- >

Mountain. One source declares that she

and contemporary accounts tell us that _

43

tity

places the time of her arrival as about — es

Hers became one of Virginia's first real... >


t

~

sn’t that blood

Nis trousers leg

‘ was doctoring
ses that got cut

nned

Graham re-

ramento

fro
for?

s some friends

to him,” said
ng to Sacra-

ocate him?”

hat and some

‘ went toward
stood talking.
elf and went
ers were in-
‘pressed with
nted to look
‘ere the men
decided that
‘turned from
{ous to catch
away,
rank Pedrini
They de-
hey were
‘hot rang
bullet, as

a hoarse

man in the
sixty yards

As both
as, he fired
out danger-

the man
ne. Know-
n put them
‘lant, they

ittered dis-
1ind a tool

‘was’ Bell.
ind decided
‘h-powered

hurriedly,
© growing
then have
n the barn

Graham

+9
sCU:

They
icks, with

that they
speradoes

nd yelled
and give
will only

nceement,
with a

near

. Gaff-

“Tt ain't

nae ; He
rain. I’m using
e him to town

“You stay and watch the barn, and
V’ll go telephone the local Sheriff.”

Graham nodded grimly, and his part-
ner slipped away and reached their car.
He had to drive several miles before he
eame to a ranch house with a telephone.
He got a call through to Sheriff James
Monroe, of Yolo County, who promised
immediate assistance.

“Better hurry,” Gaffney urged, ‘‘be-
cause it will soon be dark and we don’t

ney.

want them to give us the slip.”
He returned to the Lillard ranch and
Grahary reported

rejoined his partner.
that he had kept the barn under surveil-
lance, but had seen nothing of either Bell
or Pedrini. Nightfall was fast approach-
ing, and the two deputies waited .impa-
tiently for reinforcements.

Presently Sheriff Monroe arrived, ac-
companied by his son Forrest, a deputy
who later was to become Sheriff, after
his father’s death. It was now dusk. The
four officers discussed the situation and
decided to approach the barn from differ-

ent directions.

While the Monroes hurried back to
Woodland, Gaffney and Graham turned
their attention to the pelongings left in
the barn by the desperadoes. They found
two blanket rolls and several articles of
clothing, among the latter a pair of house
slippers.

Graham gave a cry. “Look at these
slippers—there’s blood on them!” He
produced a photograph, and together they
compared the soles of the slippers: with
the picture of the red footprint. The de-
signs were identical.

“Tet’s talk to.Emil,” said Gaffney.

Emil Pedrini, white-faced and shaking
his head over the folly of his desperate’
brother, identified the slippers as belong-
ing to Frank. The rancher and his terri-
fied wife had not ventured from the
house since the gun battle. -

“Frank wears those slippers a lot,”
Emil explained, “because they’re easy on
his feet.’ Abruptly he blurted out, “I
hope you catch them both, before they
kill somebody. My brother, he’s a bad
one, and I did not like the fellow he

brought here.”

circulated. It contained the prison pho-
tographs, police records and descriptions
of Frank Pedrini, alias Frank Roberti,
and Bernard H. Bell, alias Rubin Bell. A
grim admonition was appended: “Use
caution in apprehending. These men are
dangerous.”

The case took a tragic turn on October
26th, when Baptista Acquistapace died.
He had never regained consciousness, but
the identity of his murderers was now
known. With officers: throughout the
West Coast on the alert for them, Bell
and Pedrini continued to elude detection.
Pedrini’s various relatives were all law-
abiding persons, but their homes were
watched, in case he should try to com-
municate with one of them.

A week passed without further de-
velopments in the case, then a second
week, and a third. The former con-
victs had managed to drop from sight
without leaving a hint as to their
whereabouts. :

Then, almost a month after the fatal
beating of Acquistapace, 4 two-man
crime wave heralded the return frem

Armed now with rifles as well as their
revolvers, they proceeded cautiously,
taking advantage of such cover as they

could find. At a signal from Gaffney,

they all rushed to the barn. No shot was The next day, scores of heavily armed
fired at them. A few minutes later they men, organized . under Sheriff Monroe,
discovered why. The fugitives had searched the countryside; but the fugi-
crawled out the back. way and made good tives were not seen. The manhunt con-
their escape. tinued during the next two days, without

“Well, they won't get far,” Sheriff result.

Monroe said. “I'll organize a posse, and Teletype warnings had been flashed
by daybreak we'll have this entire area to officers throughout northern Califor-
covered.” ‘nia, and now a printed bulletin was

hiding of the hunted men.

On Saturday night, November 16th, a
pair of arnted thugs resembling the fugi-
tives held up a truck driver named Henry
Lorman, a resident of Los Angeles. The
crime occurred in the mountainous re-
gion of Pacheco Pass, in Merced County.

As Lorman’s huge truck labored up the
grade in low gear, he noticed the two men
walking ahead. They separated, allow-
ing the truck to pass between them, then
leaped on the running-boards on each
side. Both had guns.

“Pull over and stop!” one of the bandits
commanded, poking his gun against Lor-
man’s ribs.

The -truck driver had a considerable
sum of money with him, but a glance at
the faces of these men told him that the
‘least hesitation in obeying might prove
fatal. He brought the truck to a stop.

“Now get out,” ordered the taller gun-
man. Lorman obeyed, and the second
bandit seized him from behind and bound
his wrists together with stout cord. Then

they went through his pockets, taking his
wallet, his watch and coin purse.

“Get back in your truck,” was the next
command. Lorman got into the cab,
where they tied him so that he would be
unable to attract the attention of passing
motorists.

A car approached from behind, and as
the headlights picked out the parked
truck, the driver slowed down. He was
Lester Hansbro, of Santa Clara County.
He operated a service station in Pacheco
Pass, and he recognized the truck as one
that had just left his place. The driver,
he thought, (Continued on page 103)

“We'll get them,” Gaffney promised,
“put it may not be easy. They’re not
going to surrender without a fight.”

|

POR

Police photo of the slippers, the one
clue linking the killer to the crime

it out with the

The fugitives fought
Lillard’s ranch

law in this barn on

my

} ¢

ANU, LeRoy & P TNT. Br ; ,
by he LD er eke ae a 9 i & K, } ; eA NTT
cS Su ANY

( : 4 oF Ls /7 tC) omy

badd / ; wt f the J +|

By Carlos Lane

e ULCERS DIDN'T KILL MAN WHO IS HAVING HIS FINGERPRINTS TAKEN BY DEPUTY WOOD—BUT STATE MAY

42

5S Oteow (ct D4
i /75 A

im. “The
i photo-

railway

irned to |
i SIX-

the

inti]
m over
¥ took
ney
arlvle
the
Shop
ll, the

tne de-

(Continued from page 23) must be having
trouble, to stop here.

Just as Hansbro brought his Plymouth
sedan alongside, the bandits sprang out,
jerked open the car doors and ordered him
to stop. Like the truck driver, Hansbro was
wise enough to obey. One of the despera-
does got in beside him, the other climbed
in the back.

“New Plymouth—just what we need,”
the man in the rear seat approved. “Turn
around,” he said, brandishing the gun, “and
head the other way.”

The swarthy, heavy-set gunman beside
Hansbro warned, in an ugly voice, “And

don’t try no funny stuff, see?” His gun
barrel prodded the driver’s side.
“T won't,” the man promised. “Where do

you want to go?”
“Never mind, just drive!”

@ HANSBRO SWUNG the car around and

drove in the direction of Merced. Several
miles from Los Banos, the bandits ordered
him to turn left on a side road that brought
them to Highway 33. They followed this
highway for some time, going north, toward
Stockton and Sacramento.

“Come on, step on it!” the man beside
Hansbro kept urging. The speedometer
already showed sixty miles an hour, and
there were many sharp turns in the road.

“I can’t go any faster, without killing us
all,” the service-station operator protested.
The gunman cursed and ordered him to
stop.

“I'll show you how to drive,” he boasted.
“You keep him covered, Rube.” The man,
later identified as Frank Pedrini, climbed
under the steering-wheel.

A few moments later the sedan was doing
seventy, then seventy-five miles an hour.
Hansbro’s heart seemed to choke him asthey
careened around a curve on two wheels.

After an hour of this, the captive told him-
self that he was less afraid of the kidnap-
pers’ guns than of remaining in the car
with this driver at the wheel. He begged
to be let out.

“And let you call the cops?” sneered the
driver. The one in the back, his gun
menacing Hansbro, said, “Shut up. Or don’t
you want to live?”

The trouble was, Hansbro did want to
live; but he was afraid to make this retort,

Finally, however, they decided to get rid
of their captive. In a region of open fields,
near the town of Davis, they stopped the
car and made him get out. He thought they
were going to kill him; instead, they took
his money and commanded him to strike
out across the fields.

“Don’t turn back, or we’ll kill you,” he
was told.

Hansbro stumbled into a field, waited un-
til his car was out of sight, then returned
to the highway. Arriving at Davis near
midnight, he reported what had happened.
As a result, Henry Lorman, still bound
hand-and-foot in his truck, was found by
officers from Hollister a short time later,
and released.

Hansbro was able to furnish a good -

description of the pair who had kidnapped
and robbed him. Shown a police bulletin
bearing the photographs of Bell and Pedrini,
he had no difficulty in identifying them.

Officers of the Highway Patrol set out to
hunt for the kidnap-bandits. Two miles
west of Sacramento, a Plymouth sedan was
found, half buried in the-water of a deep
ditch. It proved to be Hansbro’s car; but
there was no trace of the criminals.

Evidently the car had been going too fast
to make the sharp turn, had leaped the
highway and capsized in the ditch.

It seemed unlikely that both men could

THE RED FOOTPRINT

have escaped from the badly wrecked sedan
without injuries. Consequently, in the in-
tensive search that followed, the hospitals
in the Sacramento area were visited; but
no one resembling either of the fugitives
was found.

The following afternoon, Sunday, Miss
Alpha Musso read a newspaper account of
the Hansbro kidnapping. A nurse in the
Sacramento Emergency Hospital, she im-
mediately became excited. She had been
on duty the previous night when a man
was brought in for treatment of a head
injury.

The patient had given the name of Harold
Randall when she registered him. His
companion did most of the talking, ex-
plaining that Randall had fallen from a
truck, had been unconscious for some time
and might have a fractured skull.

“Randall” was given emergency treatment
and put to bed. The other man left.

Now Miss Musso recalled that the cloth-
ing of her patient had been soaking wet.
She went to the telephone and called the
police.

Bernard Bell, with his head swathed in
bandages and a patch of gauze under one
eye, had successfully passed the scrutiny
of a deputy sheriff at the hospital. Cornered
now, as a result of Miss Musso’s tip, he de-
nied everything.

Under the questioning of Detective Ser-
geant Perry Gamble, of the Sacramento
Homicide Squad, he finally admitted his
identity; but he was tough and defiant, and
refused to confess any connection with the
slaying of Acquistapace, the kidnapping of
Hansbro, or anything else.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Monroe, of Yolo
County, received a tip that Pedrini was
hiding at a ranch owned by his brother-
in-law.

Early Monday morning, Gaffney and
Graham received the news of this develop-
ment by telephone. They set out at once
for Woodland, where they met Monroe and
a member of the Sacramento force, Sergeant
E. L. “Wildcat” Roberts.

Fully aware of the dangerous character
of their quarry, the officers carefully
planned a course of action. They watched
the ranch house until they thought the oc-
cupants would be at breakfast; then they
drove into the yard.

M MOVING SWIFTLY, Gaffney took his
station at one side of the house; Graham

went to the other, while Roberts slipped

around to cut off escape in the rear.

Sheriff’ Monroe went boldly to the front
door and knocked. The door was opened
by a woman.

“Hello, may I come in?” asked Monroe,
and pushed past the frightened woman with-
out waiting for a reply. He found him-
self face-to-face with Frank Pedrini. The
scowling ex-convict had drawn his gun.

“The game’s up, Frank,” the Sheriff said
calmly. “Put away that gun.”

” “Tike hell I will!” the desperado retorted
furiously. “You dirty cop—I’m gonna let
you have it!”

He jerked around suddenly, as cautious
footsteps sounded behind him. Seeing Rob-
erts coming from the kitchen, he turned
his gun in that direction. Monroe sprang
forward and seized his wrist; at the same
instant, Gaffney and Graham rushed in to
aid the Sheriff.

Pedrini’s gun was knocked to the floor.
In the ensuing scuffle, Gaffney applied the
handcuffs.

“Okay, you got me,” the prisoner jeered.
“So what?”

Gaffney said, “We've got Bell, too.”

“So what?” he repeated.

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National Radio Institute, Washington 9, D. C.
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tate cosas 05. 4FR 3
.

103


104

“So we're charging you with murder, with burglary and armed
robbery; with resisting arrest and assault with a deadly weapon;
with car theft and kidnapping. There may be other charges, but
the murder charge would be enough.”

“You ain't got no proof,” Pedrini sneered. “Bell won’t talk, and
neither will I.” ,

“We'll see about that,” Gaffney said.

The prisoner was locked up in the Yolo County Jail. The officers
questioned his brother-in-law, who said that Frank Pedrini had
come in the middle of the night and demanded shelter. Frank had
been drinking and threatened to kill him.

Held under police guard at the hospital, Bell was still refusing
to answer questions when Gaffney, Graham, and Detective M. W.
Lincecum, of the Sacramento Homicide Squad, confronted him.

At first the suspected murderer refused even to admit that he
had ever been in Napa County. He had never seen Baptista Ac-
quistapace in his life, had never been near his store.

This story was easily punched full of holes. Patiently the officers
outlined the evidence against him, and Bell at last decided to “sing.”
True to the nature of a cornered criminal, he tried to shift most of
the guilt to his accomplice, Pedrini.

After hearing Bell’s confessed part in the slaying, Gaffney tele-
phoned Napa and asked the District Attorney, Mervin C. Lernhart,
to come to Sacramento. He arrived two hours later, accompanied
by Court Reporter Emil Locarnini.

“He may try to repudiate his confession in court,” Gaffney ex-
plained. “So let’s get it down in shorthand. We'll have plenty of
witnesses that he wasn’t coerced or offered any promises.”

Bell’s signed confession stated that he and Pedrini had gone to
Acquistapace’s store on the night of October 20th and had broken
the bedroom window in order to draw the storekeeper outside.
When he appeared in the doorway, they leaped upon him, knocking
him to the ground. Then they beat and kicked him until they
thought he was dead.

They had not dragged the victim inside, Bell asserted, but had
left him lying outside. As for the gun battle at Winters, it was
Pedrini who stood in the barn and fired at the officers, he said.

As soon as he recovered from his injuries in the auto wreck,
Bell was brought to Napa, where Pedrini was already awaiting
trial for murder. At separate hearings before Superior Judge
Percy S. King, they both entered pleas of not guilty by reason of
insanity. The District Attorney requested a joint trial, which
was set for January 2nd, 1936.

The Court appointed alienists to examine the accused men; but
before the examination took place, the pair decided to plead guilty.

A few days before, Archie Emery had pleaded guilty to a charge
of burglary, naming Frank Pedrini as his accomplice. Using this
conviction as a basis for his argument, Defense Attorney Sylvain
D. Liepsic, when his clients appeared for sentence on December
28th, urged that the death sentence be not imposed.

Neither Bell nor Pedrini had ever admitted having entered the
bedroom where Acquistapace was found, and, Liepsic maintained
that a third party had been involved. He asked that, because of
the strong element of doubt in the case, the defendants be sentenced
in such a manner that they could never obtain parole, but would
spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Upon stipulation of the prosecution, therefore, Judge King sen-
tenced the slayers to life imprisonment for murder; to a term of
from one to fourteen years for burglary; and to a like term for first-
degree robbery, the sentences to run consecutively. In addition,
the Court recommended to the Prison Board that they be denied
pardon or parole.

With all legal means of ever regaining their freedom thus elimi-
nated. Frank Pedrini and Bernard Bell were taken to Folsom
Prison, there to remain until death.

The story of Pedrini does not end here, however. On April 22nd,
1943, after having served seven years of his life term, he escaped
from Folsom with another two-time loser, William J. Smith.

Using the knowledge he had acquired as a plumber in the prison
workshop, Pedrini managed secretly to construct a thirty-foot
ladder of heavy pipe, by means of which he and Smith, a robber
from Los Angeles, climbed up an elevator shaft to a barred window.
By sawing through one bar and bending another, they were able
to squeeze through and drop tothe prison yard.

The rest of the inmates were in the assembly hall, seeing a motion
picture. Blackout requirements, then in effect, enabled the pair
to cross the prison grounds undetected. They’used a sledge ham-
mer to break a Yale lock, pried open a gate, and escaped.

Now they had to swim the swift water of a canal, then to scale
a steep cliff. Arriving at the edge of the American River, below the
prison, they left behind a pair of prison shoes and a pair of trousers.
These articles gave the scent to bloodhounds, a few hours later,
when the break was discovered. The dogs led guards to the town of
Folsom, where the trail was lost.

When nothing was seen of the fugitives for nearly forty-eight
hours, it was feared that they might have made good their escape.
But in spite of their spectacular break, the two convicts proved to
be no match for the forces of the law.

Climaxing a manhunt that had enlisted the aid of scores of officers
and private citizens, they were discovered on the second day after
their disappearance, hiding in tall weeds near Mather Field.

MURDER MASQUERADE
A vacation in the land of romance and
magnolias became a trip of terror for
the accountant confronted with the

mystery of the Mardi Gras murders

CASE OF THE BUTCHERING
BRIDEGROOM

Death stalked the streets of gay
Vienna, until police uncovered the
curious clue of a child's scribbling

ATTIC ASSASSIN

He could feel someone watching him;
yet he didn't dare investigate the
secret lurking behind the trapdoor

ALSO

Death in the Crystal—Clue of the Three
Hats—Who Murdered Myrtle?—The Dead
Man, the Girl and the Writer—and many
other features

(Above Schedule Subject to Change)

IN THE AUGUST

IMTASTER DETECTIVE

ON SALE AT ALL NEWSSTANDS JULY 25th


repre:
“the. oar ame zinc

a tose yeni rom
desi to ald labor. Thi
gram ts a ‘morale: buildi
, | STam,: one which we
improve produgtion,”:

bees

y

ely after concluding . its business |.
in Mopntain City.: oe Moe
Neddeyaeiend Shiney
j the greatest draw, backs to the
war effort todey:is the fact that}.
bottlenecks have developed be-
cause-of lack. of ‘raw. materials,

| When’ the-miner realizes the im- p

| portance of his job in keeping the:
j fighting: ‘supplied he is]

ior each day to see that production

[is: kept at’ the: highest possible 4{:°

: point: The ‘4s nation-wide
Peirce ordered te ira
eee

LATE WAR.
RULLETINS-

Pi emer re ie
goverument: said: today: that® the }!
United’ States flying. fortresses
‘attack-on Rouen: caused 175 cas’
ualties,: including es ane ie

py ‘Aug. 24 1UP)

The “War; Labor. Board ‘today’
told» striking © truck~: drivers © in
96. midwestern: cities, that? unless
' their -walkout: ends ‘immediately
the, board will “take® action® to7:
‘terminate: your: Gefiance of - beoge

penile ;

The committee from ‘the Wea ‘
pre omeaarteputr peta oen am

, anxious to works just.a little hard-

YWhot be enly: ofthe: fair?
“This annual interesting | _quey

7. o'¢lock’'at_ the Commercial hotel:

{Indications ‘are that at: least; 100

fair boosters ‘will be present;An
outstanding menu, entertainment;
short*talks,, group. singing--and

go to’make up'the exalts ais
y  Calnracatss: So Re: re Sy setentn

Will it: ‘ti aol
iNelson™..

Petter?

: = gerughan Miller

Visit in:Elko =

Short Time: °

ee

Ny aus

' government."t; :
Approximately 10,000 tritckmen seal
are involved in the walkout, which}
| the; board) said is mole e des
bs, paneporsationt: wed

| LONDON. Aug: 36. (UP) A
‘United States* airforce communis
que ‘sald today that Sarobers ate

“LONDON: August» 25 (UP) es
A news chronicle said today that:

the Japs are using flame throw.)
crue seelrakinch saportinas intl
in the Solomon: Islands, hae

be
4,000 men including their airforce 4
persopnel in the Dieppe battle:

senavor from: Nevada, acompanied
My Cole. Thomas Miller’ visited

j shortly in Elko today. They were}
"40m their way to attend the funcral ? Poca will: judge livestock as one

of: Constable* A? H.. Berning< of
Carlin and visited: are eoeays ca?
short) time; . 3%

: Son. Shee Livestock:

CATTLE— Severs, pai fed
$19.56! heifer: medium: rane,’
611-811.3 75,. cows, suet range,

" $9-50.50.

_ LAMBS—Good choice 513.30.

5OR87 off 20; fret ralie 901.95,

off 13: ancnnd ‘valle 838.46 ott
26; public utilities $108.32 off.
3; industrials $106.20 off .11.

< {tion will be answered at the Fair
<j Pep: Rally: Wednesday: “night: at

the introduction xf the quesn will,

| Youths t he

B Ponereneraaie James. Cc Scrug. |
ham: demortatiqcandidate tor the ' Livestock at:
* nomination for- United © States

: but this is. in error.:

a

Ehaac-ckoguvaterices se ON

contestants* in the? queen's ‘con-
test and their pictures have been.
sent to the following judges: Her:
ry’ Busse; who’ is.-bringing «his
famed orchestra here for the fair
period, with a complete: Lounge
show; Edwin Semenza; ‘manager
of the Little Theatre in Reno and
Jimmy Fiddler; Hollywood: com.
tor, and: ertobeamie column-

aan invitation: has: Soci fasued
{to men from the Wendover camp
“te. be present for the evening and
Base Chaplain O’Gorman:-may, be:
able to bring some-entertainment |
mente le eset for in aoa

County’ Fair

Four and: iutures Farmer

lof the “opening: day features -of
} the: Elko County Fair. The scor-
— jing: will: be upon. an” individual
[ basin. The judging will begin: at

118, will be turned over. to the FBI

}stable Charles: Smith;: Constable:>
1 Ray King of Wells, William Rute: pee!

“fat “Twelve: Mile: House, near Car *
Ga City, and had been constable,

8 ela for the office’: again’ this:

were conducted at the Carlin 7
school auditorium teday for
A. H.“Dolph” Berning...a
coroner's jury here brought
in a verdict that he had died
from - wounds - inflicted by .
Floyd Lovelace, 1§ youre
escaped inmate from @ boy's |
institute at Plainfield, ind. :

His companion: Dale Cline; aloo:

officials for violating the Dyer” °

ER Verediwi deme ar he Benes He :

A King; George’ Alazzi;..C. T.*
Hurd; honorary pallbearers were:
‘David Dotta, James. Griffin, Al:
McGinty and George Kennedy.
Seitsnasirineh pleated
were Sheriff» C.. A Harper, Con:

jledge- of Beowawe: and Oteern® fe 3
Olexander: and Dunn: of Carlin <°
** He would have: been’ 57 years”
\pid on September 80. He was born):

of Carlin: since: 1916).He was run

year, but-had no opposition,: as 7
had been the case for most of the)
terms he ran for: :

He is survived by his wife Rita.
Berning,:- two © daughters; Mra.”
Margaret ‘Woods. of Carlin‘ ands

getes, a brother; Aura

.

Edmond Recoumee! county |
agent ftom Lyon countyr1s bring:
:ing boys: here’ to: enter: the judg: !
dng. i

_ frou in theagnculture classes are |
jurged by L. M. Larsonjjnetructor

is excelent, qpdraining \), After | the:
fe one of

: \who brought in their'verdict this <
‘Roywienrolied or planning to en- ‘afternoon’ were’: Jra Sepulveda,’

{They waited a final -report from.
lat the Elko high? school, to \par-the doctors,’ who: performed othe
So Higell Santak.Averagenti Mensial ticipate. He points: gut that)thisjaufopsy, before reaching @ ver-;

thes! ‘Seading. conducted the hearing.
jJudges-at the fair will place: the |’ z
animals and tell why he made man, was probably the last man a5 2
Ithe selection as he did. * es

and a sister, Mrs: Edith Marconis,

‘not of Carson. City: There: are’

‘also four grandchildren? :-
Members of the coroner's jury

Ben Swisher and.’ J. D.. Lewis.)

dict, Coroner Alvin: McFartane- ‘

Rodney 8. Wiliams, Eiko sales

‘Continued no Page Four?

-

Commercial Hotel.

o M.. COMMERCIAL HOTEL: ; Ee
sted in'‘making the Nevada Livestock Show and Elko Count? Fair : a Sompicte-n
rdially invited to be acme Darn few. sperches a nd lots of entertainment?

Sa

ss is urged ‘to be in attendance
serve your place with Pete Walters, :


the War
Production ‘Board arrived'in Elko
today and were met by Superin.
tendent J.J. 3: (of ‘thes Inter:
national Smelting “and Refinery
company. They left for Rio Tinto

"copper, branch: James Eddy;
¥ mévince ofthe: WEB

“The one‘ala onty aim ‘of :the
bor-management “ committer ~ ts
0 increase’ production: of non-
errous metals, which are so vital
© our.-war program,”.: Healsey
id today, “The miners must
ealige that this ts tied up in:no
y for. the: benefit of manage-

‘ wane fanagement : must

i tees ROR I
pity

ly after: conetuding, ts, business |:
nm Mountain City. :
Heasiey pointed out that one of
he greatest ‘draw backs to’ the
ar effort:today is the fact that

ottie-necks © have® developed: be- |

wause. of lack of raw. materials,
‘hen’ the miner ‘realizes: the im--
rtance of his job in. keeping the}:
xhting | meff supplied: he~ is
uxious to work just a Httle hand-
each day to see that production
kept: at. the highest= possible

vint. The program is nation-wide |:

-~ was. devised by: the war.de-
es Sorat 4

ATE WAR
ULLETINS

TCHY= Aug. 4 a (UP) ‘The
Vernment: said today that the }
ited: States’ flying. fortresses

Ai

“Mamey Ranae's orchestra ta erin Nevada

‘Wile teas Chine |

=e

ew Queena

“Whol
‘ammuakinte

phis®"

fino eh
seeecienitene cond eee

Who’ ‘ll Be Queen? .
Annual - paleo To

ng- ques-}contestante in’ the” queen's: con-

tion will be answered at the Fair|test and their pictures have been
{Pep Rally’ Wednesday- night at jsent.to the following judges: Her-
7 o'clock at the Commercial hotel. | ry" Busse, whois bringing his
Indications, are that at least 100 | famed orchestra here for the fair

fair. boosters will be present: An ;pertod, with a complete Lounge

Joutstanding menu, entertainment, show: Edwin Semenza, manager

short talks, group’ singing~ and | of the Little Theatre in Reno and

the introduction of the queen -wil
ga to make up the ee enter.
The; talnment.

“wil it be Berna ae
Ne son? Barbara ee

immy: Fiddler, Hollywood  com-


«&

deg ty Poe 57

WANTED; TO: BUY PRESSURE

"| Cookers: Large size preferred:

© Bee: Helen Tremewan. Phone 65
< or 488.305) Se nA
WANTED—.. CHICKEN® FEED
: HORSES; We pay $1.25 per 100
| ‘pounds and up, F.0.B. car Elko

~ or near points for truck and car-
+ Joad tote: RENO RENDERING

~ WORKS, RENO, NEVADA, tf.
» FOUND

FOUND ’— Bunch of rallroader’s
© keys on ring: Owner. identify at
Free Preasiofficerandypay; Boe
fap thie ade oc iy NAM

Fi | FOUND— On highway--~ Bleck

i: traveling « bag’ containing» per-
jponal etlects7 eee can. have

A 20-26chg.

i i. Berning

oe ‘(Contiaued from Page One)”
to ‘see Constable Berning: alive,

» 1 other than Lovelace, He say Bern:

ing: neerCartin: and the officer
-| asked. him if: he-had seen:& car
go by.As they: were speaking a
ear drove: up and Constable Bern-

ing stepped to the driver's side,
Wy atunstostitiohetseperenerss
inquest.

= The maroon: ar: droves up at
that” “time; driven’ by) Cline: It
stopped. Williams felt everything
tr. did not know: Constable Berning

had. been shot: forsome time: >:
» Willams) was) able® to: identify
Lovelace as the youth in the car.
Later: testimony, showed the car

-|{ stopped’ in| Emigrant: Pass and
4 Lovelace transferred to ‘the Cline
“-\car. Workers found Berning shot

in the car-and got him to ald as
rapidly as possible. tte

Constable Berning had a letter
written for him in 1905 which ‘he
treasured ‘highly and which: he
had* framed... He* had» resigned | >

‘Women on the ‘spotters’. crew, from: the’Virginia« and: Truckee
however, objected *to having: t0} Rajiroad: company. and the letter
etimb- to the dome,; oo: they neat stated © in-part:: “I recommend

<* | him: as a young man’of) good

habits, relieble: and» thorough in

his work.” ae vasimigned myiAs Mi:
Ardery, raliroad: officials: 3.

Sheriff 4. H. Clawnon of Pershing
cuunty, originally: credited. with

(Bne's captare, walaway fight-

lace Van Reed and Arthar C. Seb-

flight. ter
| Vee esdond  Sebbes,
panied by Deputy Sheriff Crone

is? acrclepedi Bacerday i thas}

ing fires at the time. Instead Wal:

at ne ta

{the top in navy. enlistments per
capita and will do everything pos=|.
)S-2 {alble® to correct: rumors» that |~
“8 |would tend to defeat this desires} > {

“At an_early date: we hope: to

-an)) |have: the - Elke and: Ely: substan: 6.
“| tfons Zopen ‘sevengdays a. week |

py | with nent» staffs ; in. each |"
“Teity” But? until’ this change can | >

be made we hope: that. those en-

», | tending to enlist. will ae 70 an the
days, eres A ee,

Four Divorces -
Are@Filed in -
District Court ae

; ~ Four. divorces quits nave haces
filed recently in the district court:
“*Stella\A. Holden is'suing Oliver
E.: Holden on grounds of cruelty:
They maried in Dryden, N. Y.,
June. 10, 1914. She is represented |:
by Attorney’ H: U,. Castle. 9 ~

“Lubin M Gonzales: is asking:
for a decree: from Augusta: Gon
zales.'They married May 26, 19:
He charges cruelty. :-,

Edith: J. Longo has’ bern aep-
arated: from - Paul J.° Longo: for
more: than .three years and asks
fora: divorce’ on’ that’ grounds:

They” married © in” Middletown,

tiffs are ~represented : bye Mc

Namara-Robbins.

:. George Siebert is auinee Cath:
erine Siebert on grounds of cruel.
ty. They maried in Pittsburg, Pa.,
peng, obe an Kt
of Austin is the attorney:

Workers Asked

‘To Keep: on Jobs.
Labor ‘Day © =
" WASHINGTON; Aves m (UP)

—Ward Production Chief Donald
Nelson® today: asked workers to

| Celebrate» Labor: Day = in - ‘some

manner so as not to interfere with
the continuous pornstar of; war
plants;

RSG, Ca ar
Nevada’ Tires.
Will Be Cut.
For September

RENO, Aug. 24 (UP)— Nevada's
quota of tires and’ tubes for civil:

Pye:

Ea

a

; cone

(SERS “. asietes. [3 ete: arg

Chureh trustee: SC abhing Friday,

“Those in - sn issedanca were “the
Mesdames +" “Henrietta; Goble)
Agnes: Otmsted,, Hugh McGuire,

At a well attended cial a
nies held’> at’ Winchell's® picnic

jan Church bazaar to be held tn’
December, Nothing actinitee ser"
been @ecided |: 3

suisuaake

Ree ale hennaeke

Klke-county was in Wells recefitly
Ms eS ry ester fs

LO nO,
* war. and. Mrs. Herold Murphy
and daughter, Matie, returned to

23 B. Ra couedewicuhgaiocs
away in Eiko last Tuesday after

was taken to zk some: time oie
for treatment: :
-’ Surviving. are two. ema ‘sons

= Care Deacon of the St Barnabas

| | Episcopal: church In) Wells: offt-
clating: Mrs. Dan’ Gets’ sang a@

The Rt. Rev: William -F: Lewin
Bishop of Nevada; celebrated the
Holy.Communion in St. Barnahas
chapel ere: peony at 21:30

ae Y ye one ‘ a
* ur: celhardecnaaecions eck
{daughter Jackie; of Magna; Utah,

afew: days ‘visiting Mrs... Burr's
parents, Mr." ‘and. Mrs: John

~ Elko: Daily’ Free: Press « Want
Ads Bring Results! ;

Pittman-Is Leading: =.
Contender, Says Eagle >

Vail M, Pittman, who has filed’

"this dechirationel,santidiaey for the

; Nevada, wil’
campaign for the

‘ the office, etates
Bi the FALLOM

An estotnading
Leamnaliy) Mr. Pittman is

grounds’. last: Thuraday,-. plans |}:
were discussed: for the Presbyter-

Pima pao: abst mala mam rae ;

> jarrived in’ Wells: Friday to spend} .

make an active |,

regard over the state, and B®

painting the church was discuas-| <<
1), ed,” Nothing nae meen: vegitrenp ©
 accided.

-"\ George Toombs and the Messrs. |: 5"
AlecGilmore,'T: L.*Davis, and te
! Rev. Norman: Riedesel. °°

candidate for district attorney of . Sori sce g

“ < svisiting for

the

their home in Wells recently after |:

an iliness of several» weeks: He 3


expnaciaalins ty: ARP WERE: sani aad

te a

Officer of the law inch cold blood.
»: Abo at Second Front

year rene aerreraay <4 Ramen a
q Sel ty ly |
Fullest Penalty*. -:

Should: Be Exacted

i C ONSTABLE’A‘'H. BERNING 1s dead,

victim of a bullet from a cheap gun,
wielded by a young desperado. The Carlin
. constable was every inch a man, a fearless
2» Officer, who was always willing to give
every man he ever arrested an even break.

" ‘He could have used a gun against the youth

who killed him, 6but he chose, as he always
‘did, a course which would have given the

j <i youth a chance to have nothing but a car

theft against him.

Gcommning which has probably. remained Ply it, willbe so unbearable thie thet gi ;

unsaid too long.:: The cooperation of the

¢ officers ‘along Highway “40” has always
<<: been outstanding. The local officers have

always been reedy to answer any calls
: from their fellow officers in different cities
and these officers bave been just as willing
to respond when they have.been called
upon. It has made the way of the trans-

#* When these etiicies answer @ call they
‘sever know what to expect. “Some of the

“=<: most. hardened criminals in the country

ve passed through this state, either flee-
from seme previous crime or bent upon
r nefarious practice. They are always

re) a thenace to the life of law-abiding citisehs

and particularly to men who are sworn to
» uphold the law:in their capacity as offic-
2OPB, Soy) i
Often: this’ fact is forgotten.: It -is

cm brought home strongly: by the death. of

Constable Berning who’ could always: be
depend upon to do his duty. Most people
would have, been quick to criticize him

5 had he used ‘a’gun on such a “tender”

“"The. people of this state will wish to
sce justice done in this case and they will
‘) have no'sympathy for a youth, regardiess
of the fact that he is only 45, who killed an

‘the signs point to some dramatic

eck4 “4 ie te oe may Ue

our control is limited. Moreover, President }

Roosevelt has promised that we shal] wage
a war of offensive. Therefore ft is up to us
to decide, principality, seas ree pear
to hit Hitler, and how. Naot

* Laymen Be aed oe walied

to their opinions. But lay opinions in the} “*-.

matter of a second front strategy are not

worth the breath it takes to expound ' them. ral

Only the experts should determine, on the

basis of secret information properly with-j.

held from the public, when we are ready to
strike, and where, and how.

national existence upon that one throw
dices. : ‘
The losses we. must mutter, landing

not be repeated.

“If such an attempt is made énd it ;

fails, we shall have lost the war for yy ke

right there. f
‘The decision Is too vital to be made},
on the basis of emotion. If Franklin Rooee-|f i
velt were so weak that he could be egged | f4
into :rashness .by pre-printed "postcards,
Red Front sponsored, they should be teh

held. Cooke oe [Mp

Ls

Fortunately, he ist noth ©

Think in a Young Way | :
EEDS are what count—not words. But
the War_ Production’ Board's ‘action

thus far gives life to the most:promising

words that have ome ou out of Washington
in weeks:
“We are trying to think ina young

way on this,” E. A. Locke, Jr., assistant to/| 4 ve

Donald Nelson, said the other day of
Henry Kaiser's cargo plane proposal—
“vigorously, freshly, without prejudice.
‘From here on we are determined to
provide the leadership in this war and to

be the first with all that is new and better.| ”

Then let the: Hun follow after.”

Mr. Locke is just one man out of the}.

thousands who must co-operate if those
brave words are to be translated into vic-
tory. Perhaps he is just an optimist, a
Pollyanna, @ prophet crying in a “wilder-

+ jness of bureaucratic inertia and tradition-
- |alism,

“Half of America js doing thin

ie i
% er
: tLe

uy Ay og i
Min Uh thes ;

4 es

ten 3 eg
[Peeiins
=
eaanee °,

Pia aa te laptade PSt


,

gs
Ait

McKINNEY, Flgiyd, White, asphyxe Neve (Churchill Co.) Nov. 27, 1943.

ar —hAtasgae a uae MET sok te ANSON Cals oD tamed KABAB KES Sada ata Uhl sieht tod aoa
<i EAE IGE REET MS mM 1 PD Sie FM AT a NARS ett aN Deg
‘iad e ; t ' 7 4 * “i

Special Investigator ‘for —

Ce ee ee
| JAY )=FORE THEY died,” the sheriff
said, “one of them tried to

= Sheriff restore the message? Could he
« bring the. dead man’s voice from this

write a message in the sand.” lonely desert grave?

 “? He straightened up beside the bodies.

“There's a whisk broom in the car. Go

*  Vannoy glanced uneasily about him.

© They: were miles from nowhere. The~

“get it and I'll see if I can. make. any. sir was absolutely still. Far beyond the

-gense out of it.” ot ;
“While Acting Deputy Harold Belling-
er hurried back to the highway, Sheriff
<R: J. Vannoy, tall and graying, gazed

“

+ down at the desert sand. He'd just as.

‘soon have been somewhere else. The”
. odor assailed him. Investigating, he:

“bodies of the man and the woman

. long white glare of the desert, moun-
* tains rose. This was June 9, 1943, on
*. Highway No. 50 outside the little desert
town of Fallon, Nevada. soe
A tourist had stopped to change a
tire, As he worked, some overpowering,

“\were not pretty to look at. The man—~ found the two decomposed bodies be-~ oy
‘he was an Army lieutenant—and the hind the desert bushes not far off the - out boldly etched in the sand. Vannoy

© woman had been beaten to death. They

Schad been dead a long time, probably”
* with the whisk broom, the tourist fol-.

“jowed gingerly, keeping a respectable:

ne

= several -weeks. Several. weeks. under

the blazing desert sun. Mat RAR ce
Sheriff Vannoy shifted his position
little so he wouldn't have to look

‘highway: He called Sheriff Vannoy.
“<< Now, as Deputy Bellinger reappeared

distance behind. ‘There were just the
& three of them—the Sheriff, the Deputy,

ee ary Ye eae ae ees

~ Reno ‘Chief of Police Harry gor 3
oPletcher: He tied a lot of loose :
ends to speed the investigation _
C"they already had read that letter, and °

» ‘They
if he destroyed it in his first attempt, .

“no harm would be done. ; one
-<, He grunted and Bellinger leaned
“over and nodded. The “E” now stood

“shifted his weight and attacked the

, next letter. Or was it a letter? Might
‘sit not be mere senseless scratchings,

* useless to the investigators?
No. After long moments, the letter
»“U” appeared. It had been buried be-

‘at the decayed bodies.” It was hard ’-the man who found the bodies—just “neath drifted sand but now it came up

to avoid them; ‘the cryptic marks in

those three out here in the desert with

mid-morning. °*:
Vannoy took the

plainly, bitten into the under

“EU.” > Vann

(OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES MAGAZINE, Jamary, 1944.)


rect ait i cedbnadnidili aia tbial

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240 Nev.

equivocal act of the jury as a part of the
trial of one charged with murder. If this
duty is not performed as directed the ac-

-cused has not had the full benefit of a jury

trial. The fundamental right to a jury
trial cannot be waived in a case amounting-
to a felony so long as the accused has
joined issue on the charge. If he cannot
waive it as a whole, does it not logically
follow that he cannot waive an essential
part of it? And is not the designation of

the degree of guilt in a murder trial as in-

dispensable as a finding of guilt in general?
It is the same in quality though different
in degree. The right accorded him in such
a case is the right to have the jury pass
upon the whole issue. His right to have
the jury determine and designate the de-
gree of guilt is highly important because
the issue of life or death is involved in it.
The statute commands them to do so and to
register their action in their verdict in such

a way that there can be no mistake about:

it. When this is done there is no chance
for a court to pronounée a judgment of
death on a void verdict, as was done here.
When it is not done the court has no juris-
diction to pronounce sentence.

The court said, in State v. Lindsey, su-
pra [19 Nev. 47, 5 P. 823, 3 Am.St.Rep.
776]: “A,verdict finding the prisoner guil-
ty of murder, without mentioning the de-
gree, would be a nullity.”

[14, 15]. How consent or waiver can
restore vitality to a verdict that has no
legal effect, and thereby transform it into
a valid basis for a sentence of death, is not
discernible. Nor has the state’s counsel
suggested any theory to convince us that
such a miracle can be worked. The facts
necessary to show guilt in a murder case,

as well as the degree of guilt, must be ju-:

dicially ascertained in the mode prescribed
by law before any judgment can be ren-
dered. It is not within the power of the
accused, or his counsel, to consent to an-
other mode.

[16] On the authority of Blackstone,
Mr. Justice Harlan, in his dissenting opin-
ion in Schick v. United States, 195 U.S.
65, 84, 24 S.Ct. 826, 833, 49 L.Ed. 99, 1 Ann.
Cas. 585, stated the principle applicable
here. :

“The natural life”, he said, “cannot le-
gally be disposed of or destroyed by any
individual, neither by the person himself,
nor by any other of his fellow creatures,
merely upon their own authority. * * 8

4136 PACIFIC REPORTER, 2d SERIES

The public has an interest in his life and
liberty. Neither can be: lawfully taken
except in the mode prescribed by law. That
which the law makes essential in proceed-
ings involving the deprivation of life or
liberty cannot be dispensed with or affected
by the consent of. the accused, much less
by his mere failure, when on trial and in
custody, to object to unauthorized meth-
ods.”

In Bishop’s New Criminal Procedure, the
rule is thus stated: “Though formalities or-
dained for the ease and protection of the
litigant may be waived, what is of the es-
sence of a vital judgment cannot be.” §
123, Par. 3, 73, 4th Ed.

And again: “There can be no waiver of
what leaves the record destitute of parts
essential to.a judgment.”

In 23 C.J.S., Criminal Law, § 1417, pages
1114, 1115, the text reads: “Ona trial in-
volving deprivation of life or liberty, ac-
cused cannot waive any essential matter,
but must be considered as standing on all
his legal rights, and waiving nothing.”

In People v. Titus, 85 Cal.App. 413, 259
P. 465, 467, the court said: “But while the
defendant may waive formalities estab-
lished for his protection, he cannot waive
that which ‘is of the essence of valid
judgment.’”

To the same effect are: Stewart v.
State, 41 Ohio App. 351, 181 N.E. Tit;
State v. Adair, 1 W.W.Har., Del., 558, 117
A. 20; State v. Oakes, 95 Me. 369, 50 A.
28; State v. Snider, 32 Wash. 299, 73 P.
355.

[17] Counsel for the state cite in their
briefs cases from this state and decisions
and authorities from other jurisdictions on
the claim of waiver. We have examined
them all with care and find none which,
in our opinion, is in point. For the most
part they show a waiver of some formality
in the nature of a personal privilege ac-
corded a defendant, and not an essential
matter. The rule. in this respect is stated
in State v. Vanella, 40 Mont. 326, 106 P.
364, 366, 2 Ann.Cas. 398, as follows:
«“*x * * The rights guaranteed to one
accused of crime fall naturally into two
classes: (a) Those in which the state, as
well as the accused, is interested; and (b)
those which are personal to the accused,
which are in the nature of personal privi-
leges. Those of the first class cannot be
waived; those of the second may be.”

STATE v. LOVELESS Nev. 941
136 P.2d 236

Commonwealth v. Petrillo, 340 Pa. 33, 12

A.2d 50; 8 R.CL. § 23, 69; 14 Am.Jur.
§ 119, 848.

The cases cited by counsel fall generally
into the second class. We will not com-
ment on all of them and thereby prolong
this opinion. State v. Lewis, 59 Nev. 262,
263, 91,P. 820, was stressed by counsel for
the state in the oral argument. In that
case it was held that the failure of the
court to give the statutory admonition to
the jury embodied in § 10991, NG Les at
each adjournment of the court, was waived
by failure of the defendant to move for a
new trial on that ground. While the stat-
ute declares a duty that should be strictly
complied with, as we held in that case,
clearly it is not an indispensible formality.
ts omission would not necessarily prevent
a fair trial. If properly raised in the court
below it might be cause for a reversal un-
less the state could sustain the burden of
showing that no prejudice resulted to the
defendant therefrom. This burden was
sustained in the case of State v. Gray,
19 Nev. 212, 8 P. 456, and the omission
held not cause for a reversal. Clearly the
giving of this admonition does not go to
the essence of a valid conviction.

In 23 CJ.S., Criminal Law, § 1417, p.
1115, it is regarded in the nature of a
personal privilege. State v. Lewis is cited
therein in support of the following text:
“It has been held, however, that accused
may waive any constitutional * * * or
statutory right which is in the nature of
a personal privilege, and which he can
waive without affecting the rights of oth-
ers or the jurisdiction of the court as to the
subject. matter and without detriment to
the public.’ See section 1417, note 37,
p. 1115 for said citation.

While it must be conceded that the ad-
monition required by said § 10991, N.C.L.
is for the benefit of the state also its omis-
sion in a given case would not necessarily

186 P.2d—16

result in prejudice to the state. Whereas
the failure of the jury to designate in their
verdict the degree of murder has in effect
denied the defendant a trial by jury. Peo-
ple v. Hall, 199 Cal. 451, 249 P. 859-861.

The case of Frank v. State, 142 Ga. 741,
83 S.E. 645, L.R.A.1915D, 817, is in the
same class. It was held that the absence
of the accused at the reception of the ver-~
dict was a mere incident of the trial and
not having been raised in motion for a new
trial, was waived, and that his absence
did not render the verdict a nullity. There
is no analogy between that case and the
one at bar. Lastly, the case of State v.
Grier, 11 Wash. 244, 39 P. 874, is urged
upon us as stating the true rule to be fol-
lowed in this case on the question of waiv-
er. It is sufficient to say as to this conten-
tion, that the verdict of murder-.in the sec-
ond degree was not void as in the instant
case. The indictment in that case was for
murder of the first degree by the admin-
istration of poison, and the court held that
the defendant could be convicted of second
degree. The same was held in State v.
Lindsey, supra. If we should grant the
contention of counsel for the state that the
accused by his silence waived the defect
of the verdict, what did he waive? He
waived the right to urge the point. Could
that validate the verdict? No. It is still
void. Will the court permit the defendant
to go to his death on a void verdict? Such
a course would be against reason and the
common dictates of humanity. The judg-
ment should be reversed.

In defendant’s assignment of errors we
find none that is well taken. At least
there is none that tended to his prejudice
in respect to a substantial right.

The judgment is reversed, the verdict
set aside, and the cause remanded for a
new trial.

ORR, C. J., and TABER, J., concur.


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TRIAL

APPEALS

EXECUTION

FRANK NEWTON OFFICE SUPPLY=OOTHAN

nore. He turned to Bellinger. Both
nen were thinking the same thing:
cureka, Nevada, was about 180 miles
‘ast of here.

4AD the dying Lieutenant tried to
tell those who would find his body
hat his killer-came from Eureka? Or,
erhaps, that the Lieutenant himself
ved there?

Vannoy said, “You're sure there’s no
lentification on the bodies?”
“Positive.” ‘The Lieutenant's wallet,
he woman’s handbag, every possible
leans of identification had been
tripped away. ‘There was no way of
iscovering, now, his name or his home
awn or his base camp.

“I don’t think he’s from Eureka,”
‘annoy said slowly. “If anybody had
isappeared up there, it’s close enough
» we'd have been notified at Fallon.”
“Then you figure the murderer's
‘om Eureka?”

“I don’t know. But I do know that

.

correct gee

iif

il

m going there. Right now.” .
He left. Bellinger cleaned up the
ose ends at the crime scene. He cailed
‘octor Hobart Wray, Churchill Coun-

‘ physician, who said he thought that ©

1e lieutenant and the woman had been

ain about six weeks earlier, that is, °

dout the last week in April. They had
een beaten to death with a blunt in-
rument. But Bellinger’s careful search
' the vicinity did not turn up the
eapon.

However, he.did uncover a different
ew—a man’s footprint. Judging by
s depth and size, the man who made
was a big man, weighing perhaps 200
ounds and standing six feet tall. The
2ad lieutenant -was smaller.

/EFORE he left, Bellinger learned one
' thing more: That the couple had
-en driven to this lonely spot from the
orth, from the direction of Eureka.
y examining the earth at the road-
de inch by inch, the Deputy discov-
ed a set of tire tracks made some
eeks previously. Brushing the sand
om them as Vannoy had cleaned up
1e writing in the earth, Bellinger saw
‘at, when the car pulled off the high-
ay gradually as it drew to a halt, it

!

MUN

+1;

Lieutenant and Mrs. Raymond.
Fisher: He made an effort to
finger the killer before he died

Ps had been coming from.the north. When
v]

it started up again and turned abrupt-
ly onto the highway, it was headed
south. All this, of course, was assum-
ing that the car parked on the correct
side of the road, a logical assumption,
for a murderer hardly would attract
attention to himself by parking on the
wrong side of the road. 4
Not a bit of money or jewelry re-
mained on the bodies, leading Bell-
inger to believe robbery might have
been the motive. That might mean a
hitch-hiker killing. But, he realized, it
also was possible that this was a private
murder, that wallets and jewelry had
been removed to prevent identification.
Bellinger could do no more at the

The first that investigators heard
of the myiterious passenger
riding with the Fishers was in
this Eureka, Nevada, restaurant

A

scene of the crime. He arranged to
have the bodies removed for a post
mortem then hastened north to join
Sheriff Vannoy at Eureka, pausing to
ascertain that nobody in Fallon either
knew or had seen the murdered couple.

ANNOY had had no better luck at

- Eureka. Indeed, by the time Bell-
inger arrived, he was beginning to won-
der if he hadn’t somehow misinter-
preted that clew scrawled in the des-
ert. He had talked first with Eureka’s
mayor. No help there; there wasn’t
anybody missing from Eureka. Then
he had canvassed people in drug stores,
restaurants, hotels, Nobody recognized
the description of the young Army lieu-
tenant and the woman who had died
at his side. :

It added up to this: The victims were
not from Eureka. And if they had been
tourists who -had passed through, no-
body remembered them.

Bellinger suggested, “So maybe the
writing in the sand meant that the
murderer, not the victims, was from
Eureka.”.

Perhaps. But what good did that do?
The officers knew nothing about the
murderer, not enough to ask questions.
They knew, from his footprint, that
he was a big man. But that was all.

Vannoy said irritably, “The answer's
right here in Eureka, all right,” and
gazed down the sunlit main street of
the desert town. “But I don’t see how
we can find it till we get the victims
identified. If the killer's from here,
the victims may have had connections.
here. But we can’t find out what those
connections were until we know who
the victims were. Let’s try Reno.”

‘Reno, being the nearest city of any
size, was a sort of clearing house for


“a club or an ax or an auto:

Wray said,
1 dowt think the mean was

mobile jack,

killed here.”

“Hlow long have they been here?”
Vannoy said,

“Hard to say.
perhaps.”

“How old were they ?”

@ csi from the bone development,
1 their thirties, but that’s only a guess.”
Vannoy and Bellinger searched the

dead man’s pockets. They were enipty.
The woman’ s fingers were bare of jew-
elry. “Looks like somebody wanted to
make it hard to identify them,” Bel-
linger said.

Vannoy nodded slowly. How long’ had
the bodies been on the desert? Where
had they come from? How had they
come to this lonely spot?

“I guess we can rule out suicide,” he

said, thinking aloud. ‘The man couldn’t
have shot the woman and then clubbed
himself to death, and if she had a gun,
she wouldn’t have used a club on him.
Shake out those blankets and dig around
and see if you can find anything to tell
us who they were. I’m going to look
around a bit.”
. The sheriff started to circle the clear-
ing, his eyes studying the ground. Six
weeks was a long time. Would the brit-
tle alkali crust retain any sign? When
he- had gone about 30 yards he stopped
and dropped to one knee.

“You fellows come here a minute,”
he called.

Dr. Wray and the coroner found Van-
noy bending over the unmistakable rut
of an automobile wheel track. The tire
treadmark was blurred, but the mystery

show the bodies had reached that spot

s solved.

The officers followed the tracks to the
highway. They had come in a car. The
killer or killers must have driven away
in the car.

Vannoy and Wray returned to Fallon
and dispatched an undertaker to the scene.

Six or eight weeks,

EWS OF THE gruesome discovery

-N spread quickly through the little
town, Vannoy called in Allan Dalbey,
editor of.the Fallon Eagle and Associated
Press correspondent. Briefly he outlined
his knowledge of the case.

“We couldn't find a thing to identify
them,” he said. “I wish you'd put a
story on the wire. Dr, Wray says the
man was well over six feet tall, slender,
with regular features. The woman was
about five feet four. The man was an
Army officer, and most likely the woman
was his wife although we couldn't find
any ring.”

When Bellinger and the undertaker
arrived in Fallon with the bodies, Dr,
Wray made a more complete examina-
tion. He confirmed his earlier opinion
as to the cause of death and, at Van-
noy’s suggestion, made a chart of the
victim’s dental work. .

Vannoy and Bellinger returned to the
sheriff's office.

“I’m going to send a telegram about
& to every Army Corps area in the

st,” Vannoy said. “The gue keeps
good track of its people.”

“Maybe this fellow had gone over the
hill,” Bellinger suggested.

» The sheriff shook his head. “I doubt

Hoo dle was an otheer and he had his wile
with) hin. We won't get to first) base
inti) we find out who they were, and
that's the anple Um poimp to work, y

Vannoy sent his telegrams, then set-
tled down to await the result, It came
even more quickly than he expected in the
form of a long distance telephone call
from Army officials at Gowen Field, just
outside Boise, Idaho.

Lieutenant Raymond E. Fisher, for-
merly stationed at Gowen Field, and his
wife had disappeared while en route to
March Field, California. The couple had
left the base at Gowen on April 22, They
had intended to travel south on U. S.
Highway 80 to Ely, Nevada, then fol-
low U. S. 6 into California.

Their proposed route would not have
taken them through Fallon or near the
spot where the bodies had been found,
but Gowen Field authorities thought it
possible that the discovery of the mur-
dered couple was an explanation for Lieu-
tenant Fisher’s disappearance.

“Were they traveling alone?” Vannoy
asked.

“Yes. They were driving a maroon,
1941 Ford sedan. Captain Pyle and
Lieutenant Atkin will leave here in the
morning by plane. They both knew the
Fishers and should be able to identify

them,”

The Army officers from idaho arrived
in Fallon shortly before noon the fol-
lowing day. Sheriff Vannoy took them
to the undertaking parlor where they
were joined in a few minutes by Dr,
Wray.

Vannoy pulled back the sheets cover-
ing the two bodies.

The Army officers studied the skeletal
remains for a few moments.

“The clothes we found on them are ~

here,” Wray said, indicating a table.

Captain Pyle spoke first. “It’s hard
to be positive,” he said grimly, ‘“There
isn’t much left, but I think it is Lieuten-
ant Fisher and his wife.”

The captain picked up the dead man’s
trousers and turned one of the pockets
inside out. “This is the Gowen Field

cleaning mark,” he said quietly. “We”

brought a chart of Lieutenant Fisher’s
dental work. Perhaps that will help.”
The captain handed Dr. Wray a dental
reference chart.
The physician studied it.a moment,
then compared it with a similar chart he

had made of dental work from the dead

“Better get a dentist to
Ralph,” he said to the

man’s mouth.
pass on. this,

sheriff, “but I don’t think there is any
question about it.”


© Ford had ne there somewhere around
P the 23rd or 24th of April.

— “There was an Army officer driving,’ the
Patation attendant told Vannoy, “Te got out
~ and went inside. I don't know what he
bought. There was a sinall woman in the

front seat and a big man in the back.”

~ “Can you describe the man in the back
> of the car?”

* “Well, he was a big fellow. That’s about
» all I noticed. If I could see him again I
think I would know him.”

Vannoy nodded. “What time was it?”

“IT was working nights in April. Didn't
come on until after 8. I'd say it was about
9:30, but I couldn’t be sure.”

Vannoy drove on. At Eastgate, 21 miles
farther east, he could find no trace of the
Ford, but at Eureka, a little town in the
middle of the Hot Creek mountains, 145
jetig from the Frenchman’s, he hit a strong
ead.

A waitress-in a restaurant there remem-
berd the Ford, the Fishers and the civilian
who was with them.

“They stopped here for dinner at 5
o'clock,” she told Vannoy. “It was Satur-
day because we had roast turkey, and they

all ordered it. I remember them particu- °

Handy becotine the big dia elvan clothes
was telling them all about Fallon and Gabbs
Valley and Rene ‘The officer and his wife
weren't sire they were om the tight road,
and this man was trying to argue with them.”

“You must serve lots of people dinner,”
Vannoy said. “low does it happen you re-
member these three so perfectly?”

“Well, the lieutenant said he was going
to March Field. I couldn't help but hear
him say it, and I have a brother at that post.
All during dinner I wanted to ask the lieu-
tenant to look up Bill and say ‘hello’ to him,
but I didn’t get up enough nerve to do it.”

HE CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

was now complete. Vannoy returned to
Fallon convinced that the six-foot, blue-eyed
man who sold the Fishers’ car in Reno was
the author of that double death at Sand
Springs. When he reached his office he was
surprised to find the chief of police of Lun-
ing waiting for him.

“Did McKinney have any idea who this
fellow might be?” Vannoy asked without
preamble.

“T didn’t see McKinney. He quit his job
and left Luning on the 15th of April.”

Vannoy made no attempt to conceal his

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HHisippolmtinent.  "Ehat's too bad."

“But L found out that description you gave .

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202 pounds, blue eyes, brown hair, and a
heavy beard”,

Was it possible? Had the killer, feeling
secure in his gruesome deed, given his right
name ?
circumstantial evidence? Could McKitiney
prove he had come by that maroon Ford
innocently ?

All the sheriff's wisdom argued that the
big man who sold the car was the killer. : But
if he was McKinney, why had he used his
right name? Why had he signed his name
to the bill of sale?

“McKinney's been in trouble before,” the

Luning chief continued. “I think they’ve had

him in Reno on a bad check charge.”

Vannoy grabbed the telephone and put
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Captain Pyle accompanied —Vannoy
back to the sheriff’s office while Lieuten-
ant Atkin made arrangements to ship
the bodies back to Gowen Field.

“We haven’t anything to go on yet,”
Vannoy said. “They have been dead a
long time, That means the killer has
six weeks’ head start. But now we know
who they were we can begin to do some
figuring. Their car, their clothes and
their money are missing. They were
traveling through a strange state where
they didn’t know anybody. That adds up
to robbery as the motive. What time
did they leave Boise?”

“At 8 o'clock in the morning on April
a2,”

“It’s about 400 miles from Boise to
Ely. At 35 miles an hour that would
mean 12 hours’ driving. Figuring stops
it would keep them on the road 14 hours.
They wouldn’t have come any further than
Ely the first day and they might even
have stopped at Wells. As I understand
it from what your man told me last
night on the telephone, they planned to
take U. S. 6 from Ely and go into Cali-
fornia through: the Mt. Montgomery
Pass.”

“That's right.”

“Then sometime before they reached
Ely, they changed their plans and decided

FLOYD McKINNEY (above) swore that
he was not the stranger seen riding with
the Army couple before the slaying.

_ But how had he obtained their car?

LIEUTENANT and Mrs. Raymond Fisher
(left) were the victims in this most heart-
less of all wartime murders, and for a
.time it seemed that their slayer had
‘really committed a “perfect crime.”

to come east on U.S, 50, 1 think whoever
killed them bad a hand in that decision.
T think we'll find it is a hitch-hiker and
someone the Fishers picked up either in
Fly or north of there.”

“How can you find out?”

“We'll find out,” Vannoy promised
grimly. “Did you bring a description of
their car and the license number ?”

Captain Pyle produced a sheaf of pa-
pers. “Here's the information on the
car, It is a 1941 maroon Ford sedan
with Idaho plates.”

Vannoy nodded. ‘That will make it
easier to trace.”

“And here are some pictures of the
Fishers in life.”

Vannoy studied the official Army pho-
tograph for a moment. Lieutenant
Fisher had been a tall, slender, good-
looking young man with dark hair. His
wife, an attractive, wholesome girl, was
smiling in the picture.

“These pictures will help,” Vannoy
said, “We're working on a cold trail
and it may take some time.”

“Is there anything else we can do?”

“If there is I’ll let you know. While
you’re here, perhaps you'd like to go out
and see where we found them.”

Captain Pyle nodded. “I don’t sup-
pose you have missed anything, but it
wouldn’t do any harm.”

They picked up Lieutenant Atkin at
the mortuary and drove out to the scene
of the tragedy.

“It’s a wonder you found them at all,”
Captain Pyle said.

Vannoy shook his head. “No. It’s
surprising we didn’t find them sooner.
I’ve been in this business a long time.
The violent dead don’t rest easily.”

“I was wondering about his dog tag,
sheriff—you know, the Army identifica-
tion tag with his serial number. You
should have found that.”

“We didn’t, nor any of his papers
either.”

“Seems strange the killer would want
those,” Captain Pyle said, “unless . . .”
he hesitated, “unless the killer planned
to impersonate Lieutenant Fisher.”

Vannoy turned swiftly, “L think you've
hit it!” he said excitedly. “The car, the
gas coupons, maybe traveler’s checks if
Lieutenant Fisher had them, wouldn’t
be much use to anybody else. But with
Fisher’s papers the killer could have used
them all.”

HEY RETURNED to Fallon, and—

Vannoy began planning his campaign.
Robbery seemed the most likely motive,
and a hitch-hiker the most likely suspect.

The sheriff issued a bulletin’ describ-
ing the crime and the victims for trans-
mission to all peace officers in the west.
Then he wrote personal letters to the
sheriffs at Ely and Wells, Nevada, and
at Twin Falls, Idaho. Each letter re-
quested the same information. Could
they find trace of Lieutenant Fisher and
his wife who had passed through their
city on either April 22 or 23? Vannoy
particularly asked the Ely and Wells
officers to check hotels and auto courts,
since he believed the victims had spent
the night in one of those two towns. Then
he had copies made of the Army pictures
of Lieutenant Fisher and his wife to
enclose in his letters.

When this paper work was comple!

Vannoy tind a stolen car bulletin on
Visher's Ford sedan, Then he tucked
picture of the Fishers and a descripti
of their car in his pocket, and drove
the last filling station at the eastern e&
of Fallon.

The Churchill County seat is a far
ing community located in the center
the Newlands Irrigation District,
named in honor of former Senator Ne
lands of Nevada. The streets were lir
with cottonwoods. The fertile fie
were green with growing grain, but Ve
noy was not interested in the ‘scene
Captain Pyle’s suggestion had started
chain of presumption in the sheriff’s :
tive mind. ;

It is 261 miles from Ely to Fall
Figuring that the Fishers had spent t
night in Ely, they would undoubtec
have filled their car with gas the follo:
ing morning. Somewhere along t
route, either at Eureka or at Aust:
they must have purchased gas again. B
even so, the chances were their tank w
nearly empty as they approached Fallo
The killer had taken Lieutenant Fisher
identification tag. Had the killer, pc
ing as Fisher, purchased gasoline
Fallon?

Six weeks was a long time, but gas
line rationing had reduced out-of-sta
travel. Some service station attenda
might remember -a maroon Ford wi’
Idaho plates.

Vannoy’s first three calls produced
blank. He worked his way back dow
town to the service stations on the hig!
way. His seventh stop produced : tl
answer he hoped for.

“I remember that car,” the propriet:
of a filling station at the western ed,
of town told the sheriff. “He came :
here just about midnight, late in Apr:
Fellow in uniform was driving. He wi:
by himself. Hada C book. Bought eig!
gallons of gas. He showed me his ides
tification but I don’t remember the nam:
The car was all shiny and there are nm
many that color.”

Vannoy returned to the sheriff's offic
and telephoned H. G. Fletcher, chief «
police at Reno. Briefly he outlined de
tails of the case to date. ‘“Apparentl
the man we want was headed your way,
he said. “Wish you’d see if you ca
pick up his trail there.” hs

“We'll do it,” Fletcher promised.’

Vannoy read him the description of th
Ford and gave the number of the Idah:
plates.

There was little more the sheriff cou):
do, It was a game of cat and mouse
watch and wait.

Late in the afternoon of June 11, Van
noy received a wire from the sheriff a
Ely. The Fishers had stopped there fo
gasoline around noon on the 24th, The:
had not stayed overnight, and the servic:
station attendant was positive there ha
been a civilian in the car with them. °

An hour later a report came in fron
Wells. Lieutenant Fisher and his wif
had spent the night of April 23 in tha
northern Nevada city. Apparently the.
had not been traveling fast. , Somewher:
between Wells and Ely they must have
picked up the man who killed them,

Vannoy wired Ely for a descriptiot

of the civilian (Continued on page 44)
Lae iy”


~~

The Lieutenant
and His Bride

(Continued from page 13)

if one could be had.
On June 12, Chief Fletcher of Reno called
to report that he had located the Fishers’

automobile. “It was sold here to a used
car dealer,” he said. “You better come on
over.”

When Vannoy arrived in Reno, Fletcher
and Richard Heap, Superintendent of the
Identification Bureau, took him to the -Rich-
ardson-Lovelock Company, a used car dealer.

“I’m sure we had that car,” the manager
of the auto concern told Vannoy. .“The
model, motor and serial numbers all check
with a maroon Ford we purchased May first,
but the car we bought had Nevada plates.
We sold it a week later to a cattleman living
out at Sparks.”

. “Can you describe the
to you?”

“Yes. He was 35-or 36, I'd say, six feet
three or four inches tall. Must havé weighed
better than 200 pounds. As I remember, his
eyes were blue, but his hair was heavy and
dark brown.”

The automobile dealer handed Vannoy a
‘ile containing bill of sale, receipts and a
title certificate.

“Here is the bill

man who sold it

of sale he gave us. He

signed it F. L. McKinney.”

é

- 44

look,” he said,

killer must have

“Of course, that’s probably not his right
name,” Superintendent Heap said. “I won-
der where he got the Nevada plates. We
can go out to Sparks and check with the
man who bought it.”

Vannoy turned to the used car buyer.
“How do you happen to remember this fel-
low so well?”

The man smiled. “I’ve had time to think
about it since Chief Fletcher came here this
morning. Good used cars are hard to buy

these days, and this McKinney haggled about

the price.”

Vannoy | studied the papers the used car
dealer had given him. “According to this,
the Ford was registered to Fisher when you
bought it.”

“That's right. He said he had traded
Lieutenant Fisher a house here in Reno and
taken the Ford on the deal: The title was
properly countersigned and we had no rea-
son to question it.”

Vannoy digested this for a moment. “Of
course,” he said, thinking out loud, “the
known the bodies hadn't
been discovered. The Fishers must have told
him ‘they weren't due at March Field until

_. the 29th. He figured it was safe enough so

long as he sold the car before anyone knew
the Fishers were missing.”

Vannoy turned to Fletcher, “It begins to
“as though the man we're
after is acquainted here in Nevada, An ordi-
nary transient wouldn't have hung around
seven days before selling the car.”

Fletcher nodded. “And we've got to re-
member that the killer talked the Fishers
into coming west on 50 via Fallon and Reno.
He must have had some reason for. that.
There are plenty of lonely spots on the road
from Ely to Tonopah that would have served
his purpose for murder as well.”

“There is one more question,” Vannoy
said to the used car dealer. “How was this
fellow dressed?”

“As I recall, he was wearing a blue suit,
but I might be wrong on that.”

“You're sure he wasn’t in uniform?” -

“No. If. he had been a soldier, we would
have taken his serial number,”

“We've got a good description of our
killer now,” Vannoy said, “and that is gZo-
ing to help. Before we go out to Sparks to

check the car, let's stop at headquarters and
send out a bulletin.”

PARKS IS ONLY three miles east. of

Reno, The officers had no difficulty lo-
cating the purchaser of the maroon Ford.
The man was amazed to discover that his
new car had figured in the gruesome Sand
Springs murder case which had shocked all
of Nevada.

“The agency will refund your money,”
Vannoy said. “We want to take the car with
us.

The owner produced the keys and led the
officers to the garage where the Ford was
parked.

Heap checked the motor and serial num-
bers. “It’s Fisher’s,” he said. “No doubt
about that.”

They ran the car out into the sunlight.
“Too late now to look for fingerprints,” the
“I” Bureau expert said. “But there might
be something else.”

The three officers went over every inch
of the upholstery inside the car. Then they
opened the trunk. Fletcher pointed excitedly
to a dingy brown stain in the fabric matting
which lined the luggage compartment.

Heap pulled out the: tools and began
studying them. On the cast iron base of the
tire jack he found ‘a second stain.

Fletcher voiced the significance of . this
discovery. Fisher might have been killed
before they got to Sand Springs,” he said.
“That jack would fit the weapon you're look-
ing for. His body was stowed in here.
When the killer reached Sand Springs,. he
turned off the highway, ‘shot Mrs. Fisher,
dragged her husband’s body from the trunk,
robbed them both, and removed everything
that would identify them.”

The chief's reconstruction seemed logical.’
It added new horror to the brutal double
murder. It was not difficult to imagine the:
agony suffered by the lieutenant’s wife on
the last few miles of that trip with her hus-
band’s body in the trunk and the killer in
the car with her. Each mile must have been
a horror of suspense.

“I want this car,” Vannoy said bruskly,
“I’m going to backtrack as far as Ely if I
have to.”

In Fallon, Vannoy outlined the latest de-
velopments to District Attorney E. E,
Winters.

“I've heard that name ‘McKinney’ before,”
Winters said.

“T have, too. There was a fellow by that
name worked out at Dan Tucker’s mine a
few years ago. He was in an accident. He
got a big settlement from the State Indus-
trial Board. Last I heard he was driving
a water wagon down at Luning. And that
ties in with our theory that the killer is a
local man.”

“You think it’s this McKinney ?”

“That doesn’t seem reasonable. But I
think it’s someone who knew McKinney and
assumed his identity. I'l ask the chief there
to check with McKinney and see if he knows
anyone answering this description. In- the
meantime I’m going to take the Fisher Ford
and head towards Fly. If I can find some-
body who remembers the Fishers and who
can identify the man who sold the car as
the man who was with them before they
reached the murder spot, we can be sure
we are on the right trail.”

“That's right. Otherwise, when we. do
catch this fellow, he may claim he found the
Ford, or that somebody had given it to
him. He might even claim he bought it from
the killer, who was posing as Lieutenant
Fisher.”

Vannoy dispatched an inquiry to the Lun-
ing officials concerning McKinney, and then
headed east.

At the Frenchman’s, 16 miles east of the
spot where the bodies had been found, Van-
noy picked up his first lead. An employe of
the roadside station there recalled that. the

(Fifth. of

be AN ingenious “anticipation alib "as.
4 have for want of ‘a better nam
signated those prepared in advance
' the commission of a crime, was made th

a series)”

oF PREF:

& two nephews’ who had become impati

_ at the unbedrable persistence with whic
| their rich old uncle clung to life,”

decided to help Nature al f 3 a
_ . The uncle lived, with only his butler?)
for servant and companion, in a hou
« in a suburb about 25 miles froma la
p city. The house was equipped with:
» telephone on the first floor ard an’ex
| tension on the second. BS Rsk
|. On the night the two impatient heirs
decided on what the “commies”. call?
(“direct action,” the old man was seated
_ at dinner when the telephone tang. 1
- butler went to the adjoining room |
answer it. It was a call from he he
| John, in the city 25 miles away. He i fe
' quired about his uncle’s health, as he®
\ frequently did, and then held the butler.”
in conversation about various matter:
_ for several moments, Thén he said:
| “Just a second, Joseph, my bro
~ wants to talk with you.” ngs
-> There was’ a delay of but-a mo
ment, and then the other brother, Ger-"”
_ ald, came on the wire. He, too, talked
for a short while, and then hung up.”
' The butler returned “to the dinin
* room, to find his master dead, a knife
| sticking in his back. He immediately
_ gave the alarm. The local officer, after
,, the usual, routine inquiries, telep
_ the news to the nephews in the city,
Gerald, who” answered, appeared
shocked, and ¢alled his brother to ‘the
_ phone, so that he could tearn the:sa
x hews in person, 8 F<) ree
The verdict was “Death at the hand.
' of a party or parties unknown.” Every
_ one knew the two brothers would profi
. by their uncle’s death. But it was pres,
" posterous to think that they had any-.
« thing to do with it. Nevertheless, thé:
~ nephews were arrested and charged wit
' murder,” Ag Sherlock Holmes » wo
have put itfii°h hae Mage eA
» “Simple enough, my dear Watso
The brother Gerald, ‘ who had _ secretl
, come down from the city in the afters]
» noon, secreted himself on the upper floor,
. of his uncle’s house, with which hé wa
_ thoroughly familiar, At the agreed upo
' time the telephone rang and the butle
answered it. Immediately he left th
_. dining-room, the brother, hiding © up
- above, sneaked down the rear stairway,
' stabbed his uncle in the back and.then
hurried again to his hiding-place. He
picked up the receiver of the telephone |
, extension and, when his brother said | |
- that he, Gerald, wanted to: talk to the |
butler, he did talk to hirh. a

+

/ , “But, Watson, he talked to hit, noé
© from the. tity; but from the ext sion
i not fifty feet awa Hiheae
rset Bey ol ona, 2 thie’ are B.


. tole D5. se : ee ‘ eee : sass ee ee pars Soe? ‘
View of Virginia City looking south from old cemeteries, past Ophir Mine, toward Sun Mtn., (renamed Mt. Davidson).

GOLDEN WEST 13

£ E Pe :  & rs oe


ire

nore
sania allenic’

Boe or

Height of boom period on Comstock; Wells
Fargo office and freight depot on C Street.

lus. furnished by Author

Julia Bulette’s cribhouse stood at N.W. cor. of D and
Union Sts., location now marked by bronze tablet.

a gastronomic miracle in contrast to the miners’ usual diet of
bacon, beef, beans and sourdough biscuits. Her perfumes and
her apparel, the men declared, could have come from nowhere
closer than Paris.

To the virile, diversion-starved, all-male citizenry of Virginia
City, Julia’s Palace offered true elegance and magnificent, lux-
urious escape from their sordid world of grim reality. Little
wonder then (and no matter) that Julia became their slightly-
sullied darling. They would have given their very lives for her!

Ana Julia would have done no less for them. There came a
time during one particularly bitter winter when an epidemic
of grandiose proportions swept through Virginia City like a
plague. Historians have since diagnosed it as influenza or some
mysterious malady brought on by the high arsenical content of
their drinking water. Whatever it was, it struck down’ almost
every man in camp, and hundreds succumbed, to be hastily

14

buried with scarcely a scrub of sage to mark their final resting
places.

Julia, we are told, converted her home into a hospital. Night
and day she labored among the afflicted, feeding them nourish-
ing broth and steaming rice, bathing their fevered brows and

_ lending encouragement while the town’s two physicians gave

whatever medical assistance they could. Her sympathetic,
warm-hearted presence inspired the will to live, and many a
delirious young miner found her far more of a ministering angel
than a fallen one. When the fever had run its course, Julia’s
place in the hearts of her men was as secure as the Rock of
Gibraltar. Surely their saintly sinner deserved the highest trib-
ute within their power to bestow. Eagerly the men cast about,
looking for some fitting form of recognition with which to
honor her.  °

Now, in those days, Virginia’s most dreaded danger was that

of fire. A holocaust in the mines could make the pockmarked |

side of Sun Mountain erupt like an inferno. Fires in homes and
businesses were all too frequent. To combat this menace the
miners organized and equipped Virginia’s Engine Company No.
1, with Tom Peasley, saloon-keeper and ex-New York City fire-
men, as captain. With fitting ceremony its members installed
Julia as an honorary member of their elite fraternity.

Nor was Julia the girl to take her new responsibilities lightly!
Whenever the dreaded fire alarm sounded she would rush from
her residence and run down the street to mount the fire engine,
which invariably slowed down for her on its dash to the con-
flagration. If the battle turnea out to be a long and weary one,
Julia would make coffee and serve it to her fellow-firemen. On
more than one occasion she was known to lend a willing hand
at the pump.

Julia’s interest in everything pertaining to the Virginia City
fire department was boundless. Whenever one of her fellow-
members was ill, she would nurse him tenderly until he regained
his health. As the department grew and expanded, her contribu-
tion became more and more evident. On one holiday occasion

Tom Peasley’s men staged a grand celebration like nothing

ever seen before on Sun Mountain. Of course their parade call-
ed for a Queen, and Julia Bulette was unanimously acclaimed.

Gowned and helmeted, she rode ensconced as the firemen’s
Goddess of Flame, high amid the sparkling wheels, valves and
gauges of Engine No. 1. Her arms held a glittering fireman’s
trumpet, its brass bell filled with roses imported from Sacra-

mento. Behind her came more fire engines and brigades of -

sweating, red-shirted firemen. Each contingent was preceded by :
an elaborate banner with the company’s unit designation skill-
fully worked by Julia’s own two hands.

There were other, equally deadly perils encountered as part —
of their daily lives by the miners on Sun Mountain. Cave-ins and
other accidents deep inside the hellish-hot mines were all to
frequent occurrences. Blackdamp, the deadly odorless, taste-
less gas which kills silently, was a constant threat. Scarcely a
day passed without some new grave being consigned its occu-
pant in one or more of Virginia’s fast-growing cemeteries.

In May, 1860, two breathless riders galloped up C Street and
reined their lathered horses to a skidding stop before Virginia's
Wells Fargo office. “Paiutes,” they managed to gasp when they
could speak. The Paiute Indians were on the warpath. Only
yesterday they had burned Williams Station, killing five men,
a woman and.a child. Five thousand of them were even now
advancing on Sun Mountain. Virginia’s citizens must arm them-
selves. Now!

All activity ceased in the mines. Telegraphed appeals for
arms were dispatched to California’s Governor Downey in
Sacramento. Henry Meredith, a young attorney, began organiz-
ing a company of mounted militia, recruiting men, comman-
deering weapons, ammunition and mounts with which to defend
the community. The men elected Meredith their captain, and :
soon they were intent not only upon defense but vengeance. —

There were several new women in Virginia City by now, and
the men were determined that no harm should befall any of

GOLDEN WEST


them. All were rounded up and escorted to an unfinished stone
hotel, the doors and windows of which were barricaded to
render it an impregnable fortress.

Following an all but sleepless night, Captain Meredith under-
took to assemble his new company only to discover that the
majority had slipped away during the night, considering discre-
tion the better part of valor! The few who remained were
mounted on horses or mules, armed with rusty muskets or musty
shotguns, decidedly shoddy in appearance but apparently full
of fight. Led by handsome Henry Meredith, they rode off to
face the poisoned arrows and scalping knives of their wily
enemy. Julia Bulette’s fervent appeal to go along “to cook for
the boys” had been denied with thanks. From Peter O’Riley’s
unfinished hotel she waved her white lace handkerchief.

For three days Virginia City’s citizens—or what was left of
them—held their collective breath and waited. By night the
Paiute signal fires could easily be seen off to the north, pin-
pointing, they believed, the location of their defenders. Each
evening these signal fires seemed to move farther away in the
direction of the desert and Pyramid Lake. Were Meredith’s
men being lured into a trap? The agonizing hours dragged
along, and still there was no word.

On Sunday, May 13, a lone, dust-covered rider came pound-
ing up the canyon, his horse near-dead from fatigue. All night
he’d ridden—more than a hundred miles. His fellow defenders
had indeed fallen into a Paiute ambush around four o’clock
the afternoon before. Meredith’s undisciplined company had
deserted him in panic, left him to stand alone against the howl-
ing horde of savages. Now his handsome scalp was the trophy
of some murdering redskin. Others were dead, too.

Virginia was panic stricken. As her “heroes” straggled back
from the conflict, rumors of thousands of savages, close on their
heels, were received. More messages were dispatched to Gov-
ernor Downey in Sacramento. A town meeting was held, and
“martial law” was declared. The men urged Julia Bulette to
join those fleeing to California for safety, insisting that Virginia
City under Indian attack would be no place for a woman. But
Julia refused. As long as her men stayed, she would stay too.
She would cook for them and nurse them if need be. Nothing

that anyone could say would make her change her mind. And.

the men loved her anew for her pluck.

Those brave citizens who still remained on Sun Mountain
were immediately organized into several new rifle companies.
There was no lead left for making bullets, so the men melted
down silver and lead pipes to cast in their bullet molds. In the
canyon a fort was erected. It featured an improvised cannon
made from the trunk of a hollowea-out pine tree, encased in

iron bands and loaded with metal scraps and links of broken —

chain.

Finally, on May 24, the relief column from California ar-
rived. To the cheers of her populace, the newly-formed Vir-
ginia Rifles proudly escorted the Sierra Guards from Downie-
ville and the United States Infantry from San Francisco’s
Presidio through Virginia City’s streets. They brought howit-
zers, droves of commissary beef and pack mules laden with
arms and ammunition. On down the canyon they moved in the
direction of the enemy. When darkness fell, Paiute signal fires
flamed anew atop the foothills north of Sun Mountain.

Captain Edward Faris Storey commanded the Virginia Rifles
now. At the scene of the recent ambush the advancing column
discovered Meredith’s naked body. Paiute arrows protruded
from his breast like porcupine quills. And he had indeed been
scalped. His friends laid his body on a stretcher and carried it
with them into the Battle of Pinnacle Mountain. When it was
over the Paiutes had fled deep into the desert, but Virginia City
had lost another prominent citizen. Captain Storey was shot
through the lungs during the last minutes of the battle. His body
accompanied his men back over the long trail to the bleak
cemetery on Sun Mountain. Later, Storey County, Nevada was
named in his honor.

With the threat of Indian attack (Continued on page 56)

GOLDEN WEST

i) te gh

C Street today; Virginia City’s population dwindled
from 30,000 to 600, now depends on tourist trade.

eae

At height of town’s fame famous theatre people played —
Piper’s Opera House at cor. of B and Taylor Streets.

Sa

Coins bearing tiny CC mint mark, made at U.S. Mint (abv) in
Carson City from Comstock silver, are collectors’ items now.

15

sib paneer

FAMOUS PRINTS
in Bold Color
Renowned INDIANS and INDIAN CHIEFS

EIGHT large, full-color reproductions of
treasured Indian engravings in glorious
color, from one of the rarest 19th-century
color plate works, the famous McKenney
and Hall folio of 1840. Unusually evoca-
tive of our early Western history, these
superb prints uniquely capture the pride
and nobility of great chiefs of the Sioux,
Chippeway, Pawnee, loway and other
tribes. Highly prized Americana, extreme-
ly decorative, printed on heavy, antiqued
paper. 14x18”, each.

Mercer, Arundel & Co., Ltd. GW-1
P.O, Box 111—Freeport, N.Y. 11520

C] Please send me set of four prints num-
bered 5 to 8, | enclose $5.00

LU Please send me set of four prints num-
bered 1 to 4. | enclose $5.00

O Please send me combination of the 2
sets, with pictures numbering 1 to a.
enclose $8.00 for both sets.

NO C.0.D.’s—Satisfaction guaranteed or
money refunded. Outside territorial U.S.
please write for information — (slightly
higher rate.) (Please print)

By this time all the outer walls and
batteries, except for one gun, had been
deserted, and the garrison took refuge
in the ground buildings, mainly in the
barracks housing.

Terrible hand-to-hand fighting took
place until the last of the defenders was
slain. The last gun to be silenced was
the 12-pounder, which several of the
defenders had turned inward against the
enemy infantry which was inside the
walls of the fort. Two shots were fired
which killed a large number of the Mexi-
cans, and then the Texan gunners were
pierced by a number of bullets. ~

Jim Bowie was slain in his sick bed,
but not before he had dispatched a few
Mexicans with his revolvers. His terrible
knife claimed nine more Mexican lives
before he died. His dead hand still clutch-
ed the knife when his body was burned.

The body of Davy Crockett, the famous
scout from Tennessee, was found near
the cannon which he fired last. Possibly
he commanded that point or had assist-
ed in the last discharges from the 12-
pounder.

The chapel was the last to fall. With

all the guns in the fort turned on this.

building it was not long before it, too,
crumbled. Its occupants were slain.

Lieutenant Dickenson, with his child
in his arms, made a desperate leap from
the east wall of the chapel, but to no
avail, as both were shot and killed. Those
whom the Mexican bullets had only
wounded were soon slain with the bay-
onet; no quarter was given or asked.

So the Alamo had fallen, but soon its
fate and its memory became the rallying
cry of beleaguered Texans everywhere,
as the Battlefield at San Jacinto revealed.

The brave Alamo defenders died for
a republic they never knew. It is true
that Travis and his men fell under the
Mexican Federal Flag, but at a Conven-
tion held in Washington on the Brazos,
independence had been declared and
the Lone Star Flag of Texas adopted.

Naturally a tourist or Stranger will
ask, as I did, where lie the remains of
these brave men? After the fall of the
Alamo the Mexican commander ordered
that all slain Texans be burned. So it
was done. The slaughtered men of the
garrison were placed in several large
mounds upon which was thrown various
types of fuel, and the bodies were burned.

It was not until 1837 that General
Houston commissioned Colonel Seguin,
then in command at San Antonio, to col-
lect, as best he could, the remains of
the Alamo defenders for military burial.

The bones and ashes that could be
located were placed in one large casket
and buried in a peach orchard a few
hundred yards from the fort. Not too
many years ago it was still a large, en-
closed lot dedicated to those brave men,
but today even this has disappeared.
The place has been densely built up,
its identity forever lost.

There stands a monument to them,
however, on the capitol grounds at Aus-
tin, which bears this inscription: “Ther-
mopylae had her messenger of defeat:

the Alamo had none.” a

COMSTOCK COURTESAN
(Continued from page 15)

abated, Virginia City’s population expand-
ed almost beyond belief. As more and
greater wealth flowed from the Comstock
mines, so Julia Bulette’s personal fortune
grew apace. More practitioners of the
oldest profession set up headquarters in
Virginia City, where by now a row of trim
white cottages lined the west side of D
Street, each identified according to law
by a small red light which burned after
dark in its window or above its door.

From time to time, new platoons of gaily
beribboned and plumed examples of
feminine pulchritude from San Francisco
arrived to staff the love marts on what
became known to Virginia City’s citizens
as Sporting Row. Whenever the “chang-
ing of the guard” took place, Virginia’s
stage office was easily the most popular
place in town.

Julia, herself, had fresh cut flowers
and French wines delivered to her home
at the corner of Virginia City’s D and
Union Streets almost daily. When she

spent an occasional evening at Maguire’s
Opera House, she wore a fur stole with
matching cap and muff, something the
more “respectable” ladies of Virginia
City, believing it to be sable, would have
given their all to own.

Was this finery a gift bestowed upon
Julia by some affluent admirer? Envy
mingled gradually with dismay among
the women on Sun Mountain, and anyone
with half an eye could see trouble brewing.

In March, 1861, President Buchanan
signed a bill which created the Territory
of Nevada. Abraham Lincoln, inaugurated
two days later, appointed New York
politician James W. Nye to govern the
territory. Word of her new status reached
Virginia City by Pony Express and precipi-
tated an impromptu celebration. When,
Shortly after his arrival in Carson City,
Governor Nye expressed a desire to visit
the Comstock, plans were drawn up to
welcome him with due ceremony to Sun
Mountain.

Julia Bulette, according to accounts of
the event, worked night and day on a
magnificent arch erected across C Street
especially for the occasion. She superin-

GOLDEN WEST


it The
nish

Innocent—It took the
ind 35 minutes to free
f Chicago, of charges of
try Lynn Bell (Don’t
n Murder, April INSIDE,
eld before Judge Mat-

in Chicago Criminal
four days. Martin had
days after Mrs. Bell’s

a. ditch near Hinsdale,
e Assistant State’s At-
ance a confession pur-
Martin after he was
This confession was not

id to ‘have been made.

Martin took the stand
and vehemently denied
was a true one, charging
orced to make it.

2»cret — Judge Bennett
va District Court, sen-
Henderson, 36, and
Ish, 39, to life imprison-
ery-slaying of’ William
Mondamin, Ia. (The
ver. June INSIDE, 1954).
ailty to murder charges
third man, David Kee-
lid the actual shooting.
we- Lilled in his home
‘rong box con-
Cullison said
‘5 committed
= oery . requires
a. _ vf life imprison-
ould like to see a lesser
cases.”

7
2 I :
Bake

4

Sugar Shorer—Charles Vaninoy, 30, re-'.

ceived a life sentence for the slaying of
Joe Carr, 38, last New Year’s Eve in ‘Lin-

coln, Ill. (You Can’t Share. My Sugar,

April rs1pe, 1954)..Ilinois Circuit Court

Judge Frank S. Bevan was reported as say-
ing “this defendant took: the law into his
own. hands and that .cannot. be condoned.”
He also gave Vannoy a one year term for
assault with a deadly weapon.

_ -The Bald Faced One ia Michael Timo-

thy Cavanaugh, 30,'was convicted of killing
Ralph Robert Welch, 31, by a California
Superior Court jury in San Diego “(Just
a Bald Faced Liar, July nse, 1954),
Welch’s’ body was discovered near Albu-
querque, N. M., three months after the
slaying. When ‘arrested, Cavanaugh was
driving the dead man’s car and he later
admitted that he had carried the body from
San Diego to Albuquerque in the trunk.
The jury did not recommend a life sentence
which placed the court under.an: obligation
to deliver the death sentence.

A Girl's Worst Friend—Ruth Maco-
hen, 28, accused of smuggling $104,635
worth of diamonds into the country, (A
Girl’s Worst Friend, May INSIDE REPORT,
1954) was sentenced to one year and a day
in jail by Federal Judge Matthew T.
Abruzzo in New York City, However Judge
Abruzzo said that he would consider -re-
ducing the sentence if, within 60 days, she
could produce evidence that she could and

_ would leave the country.

’ Tattoo—Frank Pedrini, 46, and Leroy’

Linden, 34, on trial for the Nevada desert
slaying of Clarence. Morgan: Dodd, were
convicted of first-degree. murder. by a
Reno, Nev., jury (Case of the Too-Gabby
Tattoo, April tnswe, 1954). The state
claimed that the pair murdered Dodd, a 39-
year-old California carpenter, after he had
given them a ride in his automobile. The

jury ordered that they die’in Nevada State ~

. Prison’s lethal gas chamber.

LINDEN, LeRoy & PEDRINI, Frank, whs,
gassed NV (Washoe) July 15, 1954

ue.. 1954
INSIDE DETECTIVE? “UE+» 199

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‘were soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss, Tex.
They had been given the death penalty
which was later set aside by the Fifth Cir-
.cuit Court of Appeals. Gonzales was found
dead and robbed of $4.66.

:, Shoot Anything—Robert B. Smith, 25,
who was taken, into custody after shooting
at streetlights and policemen in Casper,
Wyo., (Shoot Anything Man, June 1nsie,
1954) has been declared insane by a Wy-
oming District Court which ordered that
| _ he be committed to the State Hospital at
" Pueblo, Wyo.:

A Pocketful—James Willie Morgan, 18,
‘and his brother Clarence Leon Morgan, 16,
confessed killers of cab driver Eugene T.
y Bryant in. Augusta, Ga., were found guilty
@ of first-degree murder (A Pocketful. of
- Death, July: msmpe, 1954). The Georgia

Superior court sentenced Clarence to life
imprisonment, while James was sentenced
, to die in the electric chair on June 18 at

SRI

For the Money—Marvin Lee Austin and |

Raymond Leslie Button, convicted in the
murder of taxicab driver Jefus Gonzales,
(One for the Money, March 1nstnz, 1953)
were sentenced to life imprisonment. Aus-
tin and Button, at the time of the slaying,

-

+O Me ah % bie ee
Sue Ree EET ao i ae ea to

the Georgia State Prison at Reidsville.
However Judge Grover Anderson of the
Superior Court has accepted the motion for
a new trial and has fixed the date for the
hearing at June 22. Clarence did not appeal
his. case.

15


Floyd Loveless: His luck
when another substituted

ran out
for him

Terror Gripped Residents of Lafayette, Indiana,
After a Series of Vicious Attacks on Women by
-A Masked Prowler—Terror That Was to End. in
The Murder of a Constable at Carlin, Nevada

HE childish face of the teen-age
kid twisted into a frenzy of ragee
His hand flashed up with a gun—
a gun that blasted out smoke and
leaden death. ;

The look of incredulity on the face
of Constable A. H.-Berning turned to a
grimace of pain. Gamely he fought to
maintain his faltering balance. But it
was no use.

He slumped down, shot fatally in
the neck and groin. :

As the Constable was rushed to
medical aid, word of the shooting was
phoned to Sheriff Harper at Elko,
Nevada. The Sheriff was told that
Berning sought to stop a youth who
was driving a stolen pick-up truck at
Carlin, 23 miles west of Elko.

The stolen vehicle had been taken
in Elko only a short time before.
Police had a record of the license
number and immediately contacted
other officers in the vicinity, giving
it to them.

Heavily armed posses hit the trail,
grim-faced and determined to shoot
if they should encounter even the least
sign of resistance.

-This was August 20, 1942, and Con-
stable Berning was to die just two days

*. later,

As the hunt was pushed for the kid
gunman the officers had -no way of
‘knowing that this murder stemmed
from a nocturnal reign of terror in
Lafayette, Indiana, a short time be-
fore. To a vicious outburst of crimes

Xx

that included the beating, robbing and
assaulting of helpless women.

La deities siementme 72-year-old Mrs.
Mary Soller sat on the edge of her
bed and listened tensely to the shuffling
noise in the unlighted hallway. Other-
wise the house was silent. A soft
wind rustled the shrubbery outside
the open bedroom window and the
hollow clump-clump of a horse’s hoofs
echoed through the night air. The
milkman was somewhere in the block
on his usual after-midnight delivery.

Softly Mrs. Soller called out, “Emma

—that you?”

As if the name had been a signal,
the door was pushed open. The over-
head light switched on. Mrs. Soller
recoiled in dread. Standing erect in
the doorway, surveying her coolly and
insolently, was a_ slender, hatless
youth whose face was concealed by a
white-handkerchief mask.

Instinct told Mrs. Soller that she
had been trapped by the notorious
Cat Burglar whose audacious nightly
forays had terrified countless women
in the Oakland Hill section of Lafay-
ette, Indiana, for several weeks.

The Cat Man was roughly five feet
ten inches tall and slender to the
point of stringiness. The eyes above
the mask were angry and sulphurous.
His forehead was narrow and his hair
bristly and unbrushed. He wore
rough work shoes, skimpy, unpressed
denim trousers and a blue shirt open

at the collar. In each hand he held
an empty quart-size milk bottle.

Without warning, the prowler’s
right arm described a lightning arc.
A milk bottle hurtled across the room
and struck Mrs. Soller in the right
temple. She fell to the floor, bleeding
but still conscious, as fragments of the
shattered bottle showered the carpet.

Instantly the Cat Man was beside
her, bending low, breathing heavily.
- “Your money,” he hissed. “Where’s
it at?” The voice was youthful and
reedy yet it had the ripping quality
of a buzz saw.

Half blinded by pain, ‘Mrs. Soller
pointed to a vanity in a corner near
the foot of the bed. “In there,” she
said. “There are two twenty-dollar
bills in my pocketbook. Take them
and—and—please go.” -

The prowler gloated as he extracted
the bills from Mrs. Soller’s purse and
rammed them into the watch-pocket
of his trousers. “This is the easiest
job yet. Hey—”

The thief swirled at the sound of
light footsteps behind him. In the
same door through which he had en-
tered the bedroom stood Miss Emma
Soller, sister-in-law to the injured
woman. Asleep in an adjoining room,
she had been awakened by the crash-
ing milk bottle. _ :

She stepped forward courageously
and grabbed at the prowler’s mask.
“Get out of here!” she shouted.

The Cat Man leaped aside, lashing

17

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4
“

Tess we wees aay PLUWIErS,”’

“Had he missed any bottles along
his route?” Weinhardt asked.

“No,” Rusk Said, pointing to the
label just below the neck of the bottle
he carried. “This bottle’s put out by
a small independent firm. The fellow
We talked to said he doesn’t think that
company delivers in this neighbor-
hood.”

“Tl take the bottle with me,” Wein-
hardt said. “The name is the same as
ap on the pieces of the broken bot-
’ tle.

Rusk motioned him. into the hallway.
“I think it’ll Pay to investigate that
abandoned traction ‘barn on the other
Side of the gas Station,” the patrolman -
said. “Goldsberry and I noticed sey-
eral cots scattered around the floor.
We couldn’t see very well but there
0 5 to be a man sleeping on each
cot.” ; ;

Weinhardt went back to the bed-
room. He asked Emma Soller, “Who

are those men sleeping in the traction
barn?”

Emma Soller full in the face. She
crumpled in a heap. The prowler, still
- carrying one of the milk bottles, raced
_ into the hall and out the side door
by which he a parently had entered

| out with a grimy fist and catching
i

the house.

Miss Soller arose and staggered to
the phone. She first called the family
_ Physician, Doctor Kenneth Laws, and

then the Lafayette Police Department.
‘At 1:30 a.m. on this Saturday morn-
Hi ing of June 20, 1942, Radio Patrolmen

' Forrest Goldsberry’ and ‘John Rusk
: reached the imposing Soller home at
' No. 2215 Kossuth Avenue on top of
1 Oakland Hill. Hurriedly they jotted
: down Mrs. Mary Soller’s account of

her terrifying experience and then
went scouring the neighborhood.

Lieutenant of Detectives John Wein-
hardt and Detectives Edgar Hill. and
| James Fisher arrived a few minutes
| after the injured woman had been re-

a tpt tea eer *

Men

moved by private ambulance to St.
Elizabeth's Hospital.

i Weinhardt, Hill and Fisher com-
' prised a Specially assigned detail
| which had been hunting the phantom
Prowler for weeks under Police Chief
William F Taylor’s orders to “get
him dead or alive.” Although off duty
| at this hour, the detectives had been
notified of the Soller outrage by tele-
| Phone and they had responded with
| alacrity in the hope that they could
Snare him before he reached his un-
known lair.

Lieutenant John Weinhardt: He was sure he could.
build a lead out of the broken pieces of a milk
; bottle which the Cat Burglar used to club a victim
A one-man crime wave had followed

the Cat Burglar’s first appearance on ie

the night of May 9 at the. home of -.

Mr. and Mrs. Quentin Sloan on East

Eighteenth Street. When police, summoned by neigh- masked prowler made regular excur-
Sloan, night watchman at a war bors, reached the Sloan home, the _sions into East Side homes. Two facts
plant, was absent when the masked prowler had vanished without a trace. . were evident to Police early in the
a youth stepped into-.a back bedroom None of the neighbors had seen him case: The Cat Man deliberately, and
where Mrs. Sloan was putting. her approach or leave the house. Indistinct Possibly with forehand knowledge, se-
two children to sleep. Brandishing a footprints led through the Sloan back- lected homes from which the husband
length of iro

m pipe, the- intruder yard to the alley gate. Outside the was absent at work in one of the sev-.
. cowed the mother intojsubmission by gate, the. footprints disap

peared alto- eral war Plants around ‘town. And
threatening to bash out the children’s gether. Police could find no signs in- never did the prowler appear before
brains.. While Mrs. Sloan stood by indicating that the prowler had fled in

midnight,
- frozen fright, the youth leisurely ran- a waiting car. .So stealthy was his approach that He carefully dug up
; Sacked the house. From that night on, the slender, he ‘was upon his victims before they - ‘the Cat Man’s footprints

ut
p

ee Cee ee

anal

Detective James Fisher:

age: ore « OF eee ae *
me *, a meee mee ay
—~ . ° - serene 0 203 eo

»
Cd


ng enough to make the front
all over the West. We'll put out
fe a It’s our best bet to

aay was released and Streeter
wrrect. It did make the front
and continued to be a top-flight
story for several days as Sheriff
n revealed that he had pro-
the release of Pedrini on parole
ud predicted the convicted mur-

would kill someone else if he:

reed.

State Adult Authority defended
ion in granting the parole, de-
: “At the time, we used our best
2nt. Unless paroles are granted,
penitentiary in the state would
rflowing in a year. We have to
vse those we think are the best

LE the newspapers carried Pe-
rini’s photograph, naming him
thless killer who had threatened
‘ his own sister in revenge, the
1 officers questioned Pedrini’s
i cellmate, Linden,
tough ex-convict refused to co-
2 “I don’t know what you're
: about,” he replied in response
astions about Dodd and the
| station wagon in Texas. “All
is you're trying to pin a murder
me and I ain’t going to stand
r it. I’m clean and you guys
‘soak. I ain’t saying yes or no
thing.”
capture of the dangerous fugi-
‘’edrini, came about in a most
u Ata on the afternoon of
ry 12.
y in December, a gaunt, pale-
man applied to the Nuns
ing a parochial school for boys
: northern’ California town of
and asked for work. He gave
iis name as Fred Robert Delaney.
worked until shortly before
nas and then, after a short va-
returned to his job as gardener
landyman around the school,
ining that he was ill. He had
\ seizures of vomiting.
December 29 Delaney finally
ied in the schoolyard and the
sent him to the Mendocino
’ Hospital. The doctors there
find nothing to explain his ill-

atch was placed over him and
ants discovered that the spells
iting were self-induced. Delaney

thrust his finger down his

The only explanation the doc-
uld give for the action was that
— Delaney wanted to be

7 warned him against the self-
d vomiting. However, he per-
and as a result produced a
thage when he ruptured a blood

His condition became serious.
r several blood transfusions, the
3 decided that he should be

moved from the Mendocino Hospital to
the Sonoma County Hospital in Santa
Rosa, where more facilities were avail-
able for hia care.

An ambulance transferred Delancy
on January 29. Later the same day,
the ambulance driver, John Lang
Bauer, went to the Sheriff's office to
see Sheriff Patterson.

“I could be mistaken, but I'll swear
I just hauled that guy Pedrini you're
looking for from Ukiah to the county
hospital,” Bauer said, pulling a news-
paper from his pocket and exhibiting
the photograph it carried of the
wanted murder-fugitive.

Patterson called Johannes. “You
know Pedrini, don’t you?”

“T'll say I do.”

“Go over to the hospital and see if
he’s there.”

Johannes was taken into the hospital
room. He needed only one look at the
pale man on the bed.

“What's doing, Frank?” he asked.

“Not much, Andy.”

“Why haven’t you reported on your
parole?”

“You know how it is. I got fouled
a I guess I’m really fouled up this

Pedrini said he knew the police were
looking for him and he’d figured the
best hiding-place he could find would
be in a hospital.

Physicians reported that Pedrini was
so ill he could not be questioned further
at the time.

The following day, he was transferred
to the prison hospital at Folsom prison
for safekeeping.
pa Bacar Sty ot pase

no, Streeter a copy of the r
to Linden. “id We

“We've got Pedrini,” he announced.
.“I’m on my way up there to see him.
I thought maybe you'd want to tell me
your story before I get there.”

Linden sneered. “You ain’t going to
get noplace talking to Frank. He’ll spit
in your eye.”

“Yeah?” Streeter asked easily. “May-
be you’d better read that newspaper
story carefully sve Peetein! is going
to die. I got a: “ might want
z unload before tiey «row dirt in his
‘ace. ”

“You won't crack Frank.”

“We'll see,” Streeter said, starting out
of the room. “It makes a difference
when you're dying. Bay! his statement,
you'll be a cooked g:

“Wait a minute!” Lir Linden cried. “I'll
tell you what happened! Frank killed
the guy. We were in on it together, but
Frank killed him.”

Linden’s statement, as released later ~
by Streeter, said that he and Pedrini
had gone to Arkansas with their girl
friends. They ran out of money and
planned to hitch-hike until they got a
‘ride with someone who looked like he
had money.

They got as far as Winnemucca,
Nevada, without running into a good

prospect, Outside of town, they split
up sv catching a ride would be casier.

“Frank got the ride first and: then
talked this character into ot ag for
me," Linden declared. “ jot him
alone until we figured we were pretty
close to Reno and then Frank pulled the
gun on him. We made him drive up a

side road and took his dough, about’

three hundred bucks.”

Linden claimed that after the rob-
bery, he left Pedrini and Dodd together
while he went to a store for some beer.
When he returned, he found both of
them on the ground, with Dodd strug-
gling for the gun,

“I knew Frank was going to kill him
after that. We drove up a road and
Frank took him down in a ravine. I
heard the shot and Frank came back
and told me that he had killed him.”

WHILE the Officers accepted this
statement from Linden, and most
of the details coincided with the evi-
dence they had gathered, they spotted
two glaring errors in Linden’s account.

First, the autopsy on the body failed
to show that Dodd had been shot. Sec-
ond, Linden made. no mention of the
rope garrote that had been found
around Dodd's neck.

As soon as Pedrini improved at the
prison hospital, Streeter went to inter-
view him. The ex-convict only laughed
when asked about the murder of Dodd.

“Maybe you can prove I killed him,”
he said. “Maybe Roy Linden has
squealed. But you aren’t going to get
me to sing my way into the gas cham-
ber. You might shove me into it, but

Tain’t going to help you any by talking.”

Further questioning of Pedrini was
useless as he declared: “I got one life
term waiting for me here in Folsom for
a murder. I don’t know what you guys
do in Nevada, whether it’s gas, the rope
or the chair, but whatever it is, I ain't
for having any of it. You don’t think
a jury would give me a second break, do
you? So my only chance is beating a
conviction and I can't do that if I give
you a confession, So, you can see, we
just can’t do any business. I'll see you
in court.”

Streeter returned to Reno where he
filed charges of first-degree murder
against Linden and Pedrini.

They were brought to trial and on
May 7, 1954, a jury found them both
guilty, recommending the death sen-
tence. As this issue of OFFICIAL DE-
TECTIVE STORIES goes to press, exe-
cution is pending—in Nevada, legal
execution now is by the gas chamber.

Bobell was sentenced to five years’
imprisonment for violating Nevada’s
law against ex-convicts being in pos-
session of firearms and so far the dis-
appearance of Daniel Shenk has not
been officially solved.

In this story, to protect their identi-
ties, the names of Jackie Devore and
Mrs, Ellen Brooks are fictitious.

Bursting Bubbles to a Killer (Continued trom Page 27)

xen sighed. “So now we start
ng doorbells.”
ht. On both sides of the alley.”
+ worked north from Nineteenth
Some people were having
ast, others were just getting up
2 day, a few were still sleeping.
tectives apologized for disturbing
but insisted on talking to them.
y was passed up. If a building
1ed six flats, the tenants of each
testioned.
you hear any screams in the alley
ght? Did you hear any sounds
iffiing or running? Did you hear
1usual sound? Did you see any-
out of the ordinary or hear a car
through the alley after mid-

you think of anybody living in
ughborhood who might pull a
arm robbery—maybe some punk
ho are known as troublemakers?
o the men, the detectives got di-

rect answers. They hadn’t seen any-
thing or heard anything. Sure, they
knew some rough kids, but none who
would beat an old man to death.

It was different with the women.
They didn’t know for sure. They had
heard drunks in the alley. They had
heard noises. But nobody would offer
anything concrete or definite. Some of
the women shifted their glasses and re-
fused to look directly at the detectives
as they talked.

As the door was closed on them by
one housewife who had been particu-
larly evasive, Larson said: “They all
know something. They’re covering up.”

Hensen nodded. “Some of ‘em still
don’t like cops. And some are afraid to
talk. The hoods have got a lot of the
people in this district scared to death.”

The 21st Ward was settled by immi-
grants from twelve different European
countries. After Old World hatreds
and jealousies had died out and the

residents had learned to live in har-
mony, the Black Hand had moved in,
intimidated them and violently im-
pressed upon them the penalties that
would accrue from talking to cops. The
Black Hand had been succeeded by the
Mafia, which had spread its own doc-
trine of fear.

Though the district had been thor-
oughly Americanized, remnants of that
old fear persisted, particularly among
the older women. Their wall of silence
and evasion at the moment constituted
the greatest hurdle that Larson and
Hensen faced.

The net result of their canvass, as
they neared the end of the block,
seemed to be a lot of time wasted.

Until they came to Mrs. Myrtle
Janousek,

Mrs. Janousek was ready to talk and
the detectives knew why when they
looked at the strips of adhesive tape
that dotted her face, neck and arms,

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Coast to Coast Over the

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8 p. m. EDT

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Presenting the OFFICIAL DETECTIVE

‘Awards to Outstanding Detectives

THURSDAYS

7'p.m. CDT —

59


SIXTY-SECOND YEAR

NO, 14

ELKO, ELKO COUNTY, NEVADA, FR

(S. GAIN: FIGHTING

Execution
Until 6 P

To Die At6:00 P. M.

ons 1s ermacamneg |

ON ga cerns:
be ANF : ‘

>
din ‘
a ™ we woe 1

: ital
AEE Oe ens seis ops

FIOYD LOVELESS

Plans Discussed

:|For Annual Farm
{Bureau Meeting

The Elko'County Farm Bureau
‘|directors met Thursday after:
noorm with J. H. Helth, president,
Mrs. 8Orval Ames, secretary, 3.

V. Smiley, Eddje Murphy. and
‘| Mrs, Jack Sharp in attendanc®.
Present alan were extension ag:
ents Helen Tremewan, J. Wo Wail:

Floyd Loveless

Delayed

Last Minute
Attempt Is Made
To Save His Life

Supreme Court
Denies Plea
For Writ

CARSON CITY, Sept. 29 CUP)
—The supreme court denied a
jwrit of hubeas corpus for Floyd
‘Laveless ‘toduy, but

16 o'clock this evening. He will
die In the lethal gus chamber ut

'the Nevada state penitentiary.

Chief Justice William ‘Orr an:
nounced the decision, Last night
Justice Orr requested Warden
Richard Sheehy to postpone the
execution, originaly scheduled fox
five o'clock this morning. This
action was taken to give the su:
preme court time to decide upon
the plea for the writ of habeas
corpus. The arguments continued
from 7:30 until almost midnight.
LAST "DOOR" CLOSED © +

The attorneys § for
said that the
last possible door for the escape
of the youth who is the younpest

state.

Last night, before the court

the execu: |.
thon of the youth was delayed).
. from 5 o'clock this morning until

Loveless
action closed the

person ever to be executed in the

ROSIE JAYO

(CHARLES PERRY

Magnesium Chest
With $2,000 to

Be Presented

CARSON CITY, Sept 29 (UP)
--Gov. E. P. Carville today an-
nounced — that the magnesium
chest “ith 2,000 silver dollars:
vit, USN, répresenting the USS
Nevada, next Wednesday. “John
lL. Lytle, only other Nevadan on
Jthe ship, will be present for the
I presentation, which will be- re.
[corded by newsreel cameras.

Class Contestants for ‘‘King”’
anaes “SENIORS

GENE AN

SOPHOMORES

JOSEPHINE
Annu

To Be

There is one q
terests Elko hig?
today more tha
be7found in the
are studying. 7

“Who will be the —

of the annual }i

A queen for th

chosen for many
a real innovatio:

|
;
|
|
|
|

“his majesty”

thas mirtiira


{LOVELESS GOES
}TODEATHIN
GAS CHAMBER

Floyd Loveless died in the Ne
vada state prison Iethal gas
{chamber Friday night for the
murder of Constable A. H. Bern-
ing of Carlin. The smallest num-
ber of witnesses in the history
of gas executions atthe institu-
tion were on hand to see Love.
less pay the supreme sacrifice.

The former Indiana youth, who
would have been 18 years old
on Nov. 2, was executed before
sundown, thirteen hours after the
time when he was. originally
scheduled to die.

‘| CONVICTED TWICE

‘Twice convicted here of the
murder two years ago of A. H.
Berning, Carlin constable, and
-lrefused a commutation to life
sentence earlier last week by the
State board of paroles and par-
@ons, Loveless lost his final
chance Friday noon. The state
supreme court, heeding a last-
minute plea by the youth's law-
yers Thursday night ordered a
| delay. in. the execution as-origin-
ally set for 5 a.m., but at noon
refused to grant a writ of hab-
eas corpus and stay of exccu-
tion. .The attorneys had based
their last plea on an_ insanity
angle.

Loveless walked his last steps
to the death chamber in the com-
pany of Father Buell of Gardner-
“|ville. He had spent his final
hours with the priest, having em-
“!braced the Catholic religion two
months before the execution.
The youth, a fugitive from the
_|Indiana reformatory at the time
he killed Berning, was taken into
the execution room at 6:24 p.m.
The hydro-cyanic acid fumes
reached his face at 6:28 and one
minute later his heartbeats stop-
ped. He was the youngest pris-
_joner ever executed in this state.

‘BPW Will Hold

Convention
ATIn Flka

{Given Welcome

|
REV. GEORGE SMITH

—_—_——

Former Pastor
Of Elko Church .

Is Honored

‘Father George Smith, former
pastor of St. Joseph’s church,
was given a welcome by mem.
bers of the Elko parish last
night at the church hall. A spec-
special program had been ar:
ranged in hisshonor, in which the
children of the parish participat-
ed. Members of the Altar Society
served refreshments late in ing
evening.

Father Smith, who has been
stationed at the Great Lakes nav-
al station, left today: for San
Francisco. He expects to leave
for a new assignment in.the Pa-

cific mn the near future.
i age Sens ye
The” program arranged in his:

honor included, a song of -wel-,
come, by the grammar grade chil-
dren; a dance of greeting, by
‘tthe prayer class; an. impersona-
tion of the crooked-mouthed fam-
ily, Iolanda Cosci; duct. “You
Can't Play in Our Yard,” Joan
and Louise Paoll; a poem of wel-
come and tribute, Doris Quilici
and presentation of spiritual bou-
quet and floral gift by Doris
Quilici. Roy Fratini was the an-
nouncer of events.

—_——

Father Smith spoke bricfly of
his experiences and asked for
the prayers of the congregation
to aid-him in performing his
duties.

Mining Gompany
Given Judgment _
In WaterCase

. cluding one at the home of Mrs,
3 Malena Kelley, in which he stole

‘|! Deputy Amberger read of the

Elko Homes

Paul Maynard Skaug, alias
; Paul Masterson, has confessed to
‘the murder of Mrs. Beate Marie
Voss .of Reno. He has also con-
fessed to robberies in Elko, in-

a locket and bracelet belonging
to Miss Lorraine Berg, which
were partly responsible for his
capture, owing to a “hunch” held
by Roger Amberger, deputy
sheriff.

The incidents which aurvoiind
the Skaug case read much like
a detective novel, proving that
old assertion that truth is strang-
er than fiction. ;
ELUDES OFFICERS

Skaug burglarized, the Kelley
‘home in Elko on the night of
August 29th. He had first burg-
larized the home of Mrs. Flor-
ence Perry. Mrs, Perry, arriving
home at 10 o’clock, called the of-
ficers, Skaug was in the Kelley:
home at the time, but he cluded
the officers.

All trace ‘was lost of him in
Elko. But he had stolen a brace-
|Iet_ belonging to Miss Berg.
Strangely that bracelet appeared
in the-office at the Elko Clinical

not long after it was stolen. An-
other girl was wearing it and
tits: Berg reeognized it. The of-
ficers here were notified.

' An investigation showed that
Skaug was working for Dick
MaGce, who brings horses to the
‘Elko County Fair. But before
Skaug could be apprehended he
disappeared again, saying h
going to Lovelock to have some
dental work. In the meantime
the Voss murder ocdurred
Reno. :
The officers in Elko had a Iet-
ter written by Skaug to the sec
to whom he had given the brace-
let. Some of his history was in-
cluded in this letter, including
the name of his birthplace.When

murder of Mrs. Voss in the Reno
papers, he had a hunah-- he felt
that: Skaug might have been in

Man Who Burglarized

Guilty To Murder # eA

Bracelet Stolen Hare Makes Odd.
Appearance; ‘Hunch’ of Elko Deputy”
‘Sheriff Amberger Aids in Arrest. 7

Pleads’ ” a oe

Reno about the time she was
murdered, September 16 and he
notified’ Reno officers, who «in
turn enlisted the assistance of
the FBI to arrest Skaug.
Skaug was arrested by Cali-
fornia officers while attempting
to hitch-hike a ride. He is being
held at the Marysville city jail
pending the arrival of Reno Pol-
ice Chief Harry Fletcher and De.
tecfive Captain Joe Kirkley who
left Reno last, night. gf {i
According to the California: of: =)
ficers, Skaug, when taken "into

nm En

Le

ir
2
1

.| ballistic markings as the bullet
‘which caused Mrs. Voss's death,

group, .whore. Miss. Rerg. works; « ‘/pashjtan, -will tecovér from

Johnston Urees

‘WTO TUE CEDUIC

custody, had in’ his possession. alp
32 caliber revolver which hore cl
the same serial numbers as’ the oO.
‘gun which was used in the slay-|s
ing of Mrs. Voss. He stole the | ¢;
gun from the Voss home. . iS,

Skaug ts also wanted in Fres-

no, Calif., in connection with the
shooting of a druggist during an =

4

armed robbery.
A bullet recovered from the h
Fresno shooting bore the same Mi

officials at the Reno police de- |?

partment said. ie
According to word reccived in C
Reno, the Fresno druggist, who|!!
has been identified as Karekin|'
the two bullet) wounds ~in’, his}
‘chest. 7777 ‘ c
Neer , ee > ane 19 fy
t
: I
Bass Season !
oa,
Will Be Closed: |!
On October13.° °° ir
vee ae en ot id
H. E. “Buck” Cherry, ‘superin. |°
in| fendent of the Ruby Valley Wild),
Life Sanctuary, is in from Cave] _
Creek today and announces that
the black bass fishing ‘season I
closes on October 13, the day be:
fore the opening of the duck)¢
season. This, he says, \s govern- | }
ment, regulations and holds good | C
all over the United States.’ How-Fn
ever, he says, the bass are fe)
biting fine in spite .of the cold |g
weather and that as far as’ he} t
can see there are unlimited quan: w
% A

tities in the marsh.

=


|

Z
YAY. SEPTEMNER 20, 1944 -

FOUR PAGES sO

Troops Are Facing
Situation at Arnhem

G: Butler Is

ing In Action

sermany”
Shot
7

er 9

Elko Youth
‘Is Missing

1

eras “miss.

on Septem
a omessage
Mrs. Doro
eda. Cahf
r, employee
Power cam
word from
sed through

LT. F. Gh.

BUTLER

| ven Inductees
one of the lT eave Elko For

to the top,
rs Salt Lake City
HiCk
service Jan,
nitial train-| Ten Mon left Elko today by bus
tht. He wag|' repor, at Salt Lake City for
vy different physical examination for entrance
States and [into the armed services. Three
at LaaJunta, ven failed to report,

* sep pe, I ;
from) Kear laaving for examination were

(sane par Emil CC.) Premo, Veron H. Boul-
ARP SSSLODS ton Wayne Lewis, Norman. F.
y. he Foe late, Luciano Avrano, Laster
KNOWN Ten ptaymend J Montgomery,
iall ot the Elka board and the
following transfers from. other
September | hoards te leave from Flko: Wil
ed ene ford WL Wise, Tonopah, Ruben
W Watson, Carlsbad, New Mex,

members of latdand W. Gerber, Downey, Calif.
,Opportiumi

Safety ames

Ceol J Tave and Suniel Be

i | Friday nwrning, Sept. 29, af the

Floyd Loveless
Must Die for
Berning Murder

| Sentence to Be
Carned Out On
September 29th

-_—<.

CARSON CITY, Sept. 26 (UP)
Floyd Loveteas, 18 yeareld Indi-
| ana youth, mast die for the mur
der of Constable A. H. Berning
'of Cartin. He will be executed

Nevada state pealtentiary.

Loveless took his last fight for
life before the state board of
pardons and paroles here today,
with Gov. E P. Carville sitting
as chairman. After a four hour
hearing, the board denied his
plea,

He will not be 18 years of age
until Nov. 2, 1944. While he was
not immediately informed of the

shown no emotion, prison guards
stated.

Many persons were heard
throughout the day by the board
before the decision was finally
reached. Attorney Taybor H.
Wines of Etko defended the youth
before tne board, while District
Attorney George F. Wright was
the prosecutor in the case.

Ab —-—-QO---: t-

Dr. R. P. Roantree

Medical Assoc.

Dr. Daniel J. Huriey of Eureka

outcome of the hearing, he has |

Re-elected Trustee |

‘Battered Nazis

Beginning to
Leave Riga

| Superforts Hit

Jap Industrial
Targets Again

Supreme Headquarters, AEF,
Sept. 26 (UP) — The thinning
ranks of paratroopers held xrim-
ly to the Rhime gate at Arnhem
today under meurderrogs cross
fire of the (cermans, bet dinpatch-
en hinted that the situation was
deaperate and only isumediate re
ef could prevent their death er

capture.

They're fighting their 10h day
of battle, with but litte relief
against superior numbers and
armor.

General Dwight Eisenhower or
dered a security blackout of a¥
operations in Holland saying that
the situation is “extremely fMuid”
and it is necessary to sereen the
Allied moves. A second corridor
has been opened by the Allies inta
Nijmegen, with the capture of
Helmond, Deurne and Mook. No
major changes have been report-

Third army fronts the Seventh
army drove closer t@ Belfort.

NAZES LEAVING B&B

MOSCOW (UP)— Bat-
tered i ve begun
the evacuation of wherr the
Reds have c in on three sides

te control of all
4 The Nazis are be.
oO thee along secondary
under a viesous air at-

was elected president of the Ne-

day. {

Assisting Dr. Hurley will be the |
| following officers’ Dr. John A.

’
PE Mee nd B? asene . wana Lawn oid ae

With the British Secoad Atmy

vada state medical association atiin piolland, Sept 26 (UP). British
j the xroup’s one day annual con i pat rots stnking from Nijmegen
ference beki in Reno last Sature | ahent reached the Meuse nvr

on a 42 mile front.

e-em: sg

Supreme Headquarters, AEF,

Sent PR (UP) General Fisen.

ed on the American First and

Caneel 200° --
ead tat ._é ‘

ne ee Tt ee

ear pe Kien se wt

<

Se Bet ee ees ee enig oo
DP Ge eet * ‘

+


ome toe serps

Justice Orr requested Warden

Richard Sheehy to postpone ino | Magnesium Chest Annual Harve
execution, originaly scheduled | With $2,000 fo

five o'clock this morning. This ~ bo eee
wsDiowsed Ee Sintne” To Be Held S
vureau Meeting

preme court time to decide upon |

the plea for the writ) of habeas) ; .
corpus. The arguments continued | CARSON CITY, Sept 20 (UP) TEETH IW ONO AHORTIOR Wish, Fray
from 7:30 until almost midnight.{° Gov. EB. P. Carville today an- eepente Fike, big), Meneo) SERCO UE I

LAST “DOOR” CIASED — + nounced that the magnesium today more than any which can | moon

The Elko-County Farm Bureau] The attorneys for Loveless [chest with 2,000_ silver dollars berfound in the text beoks they | schoo

directors met Thursday after: | said that the action closed the | Will be presented To Lt. J. K. Kie. pare studying. The question is: | tion «
noon with J. H. Helth, president, Hast possible door for the escape | VI USN, representing the USs | “Who will be the king and queen va
Mrs. Orval Amex, secretary, 3.Jof the youth who is the youngest Nevada, next) Wednesday, “John lof the annual Harvest Ball?” ing.
V. Smiley, Eddie Murphy. and | person ever to be executed in the L. Lytle, only other Nevadan on A queen for the event has been | of ch
Mrs, Jack Sharp in. attendane®. | state. [the ship, will be present for the | Chosen for many years, belt: it was [we
Present also were extension aK: 3 Ipresentation, whieh will be re.\? real innovation this year when} the ¢
Last night, before the court learded by newsreel cameras. “his majesty” was brought into; A !

ents Helen Tremewan, J. W. Wil-
son and Mark Menke.

i |
Plans for the annual meeting asked Shechy to “send some ros: | FHS Joins faces above, the students of the| will b

tol were considered with a tentative pes to my grandmother,”
sek | date, November 1, in mind. A let- |
aniter was written to Senator P. we
McCarran asking him to investi-
es| gate the possibility of sending
id | horses to Europe to restock Eur v9
Be yepran countrice iter: 9 e o'clock. They argued their case hits joined (he nationwide cam: Elk f S G

; ; : “igs it ne ‘ j aS ‘ :
oe esas Se ee orumatea ee! 10:30 o'clock at which time ; paign by selling War Bonds and S tate. O’
xd} through the lend lease program,
al| The petition of the Tuscarora |
Home Makers club was accepted,
allowing the group to join the ,
Eiko County Farm Bureau and |

asked for a 13) hour postpone: :.
ment, Loveless, as at last request |

‘the picture. en fi
i Judging from the array of fine | above

school are going to find a selec-} stude

: tion plenty difficult. king
Attorneys Royal Stewart andj Campaign to Sell | ; : Thos
Bert Goldwater of Reno present: | ee Te ee nn :

ed the petition for a writ or Bonds, Stamps

habeas corpus before Justice E.

o'clock tomorrow night at the! side

J. il. Taber last night at 7:30! The Elko county high school

Chief Justice Orr called Warden |Stamps to finance the purchase |
Sheehy and requested the post. ;of a piece of vital war material. ; 6 6
| poncment. This campaign is being sponsor: Will Be Held
[CLAIMED INSANE ped by the Girls Athletic Associ-! ;
The attorneys argued that Love sition (G.A.A.),

jless was insane at the time of his | The first bond and stamp day

A number of outstanding fea- , ficial

s elepates to represent them) : eg! , é *itures should make the 1944 Ne-| non
6 sae ans ge enn Oe ene but | was Wednesday, September 27| Jaga gtate Elks Association con: es w
a 2 Siena ode’ : that the question of insanity was ;when $571.10 worth of bonds) vntion in Elko ieanw one of} A
The membership for 1944 WAS not raised at any time. and stamps were sold. The boys ‘ ,
| dd. There are now 138 : YS i extreme interest, regardless of | for
scussed, e See Saree Jand girls have chosen to buy anion. gact that it has been st from
ald members of the Elko Coun: FAVOENOS pager U1. Wines was ambulance for the United States " eoig 3 ee ee ee Lcbicusie
t-/ty Farm Bureau with 19 to go to appointed by the court: here tovsayy, which will cost $1950. If lined because of war conditions, ; Tour
7 . fae ‘Closs : ee ' Ue , if bia ota rvs
“¢l complete their goal. The direet- n he! cones oe ep sa ae the the school can reach this goal.| The state association will be ake
‘dors made plans to complete secs we Be Mase gl pealieridy Will be awarded a plaque with! honored here with a visit: by Mi
. ) « x . ‘ Mu ‘ ws, ba ‘ ’ .
ad goal before October an. sien gan 1, ne aa : - ithe name and the address of the chacl Shannon, past grand exalt:
‘ol A community. niveting . was) SENN ; was on the’ Cnoet on the inside of the ambu-led ruler in this section,
Yi planned for Ely. Lamoille and | initiative of the two Reno attor | rien | (
iy m4) : . + j ia td } “ng? oP).
1¢! Starr Valley. ney The schaol is also. trying to Sidney Robinson, district dep

ad [STREETS IMPROVED ‘for the murder of Constable A. |

>

woe

t ‘
i an ay . j coving schoo! anust have (09 ‘tieipa-
The City of Elko ts Improving preme court ordered ie “owen Choo \ kh participa: |

(CONVICTED TWICK . ivalted rule |

0: Loveless was twice convicted racheve i high ovedivical partied NEY: wrand rene’ raier, will also W:

| PaO 2 ree bation in order to win a minute Hie prevent, “These mien In corr
pany with John B. Foy, associt-| Op,

cman flag. Too secure this the ; :
lion president, Joseph Haller, sec

1H. Berning of Carlin. The osu!
tion for a month ar more. { Te MeY and K.P. Caffrey und

’ Yy Tore Wane |
the business alleys before WIM ial and he was again convicted | a Harold Caffereta, past dintriet } Be

ter sets in, Oiling bas been CONN ty the Elko district court, |
pleted between drd and 4th and ,
dth and Sth streets on Idaho, The | Warden Richard Shechy of the
’ . ‘repens. Garage state prison said last night that: : ;
a btery g Ee FE ail oe cae . pdecr hides again this year. He
hax been graded, and the alleys the doomed youth spent: several | : \
j ‘rel : gi) hours with a priest, Father Buell, ’ |
behind Gonmmercial street bi "hose 4 , ; s Still anxious to get hides and
ness buildings WU also be oiled, of Gardnerville, having enibraced
Center drainage ts being estab. the Catholie religion in the past
Chihed in these alléys to pre: {couple of months.
vent water backing up into gar: | He asked that his personal be. |
ages and business building in, longings Ie given to a pal. He |
the winter and spring thaws. jwrote several letters yesterday |

’ deputies, are expected to arrive 00>
TO BUY DEER HIDES ‘in Elko this afternoon. :. +” | sho:
“J. Mintz, hide dealer, will buy |GET- TOGETHER 7 Garey
An. tntormal geLtogether- vill’ min
said today that the government; be held ato the Fiks Jlome. ta’. T.
night. The main Iddge Foom i#) awa
that he will pay the top) price.) being redecorated for the o¢cas:] go \
‘His shop is near the La Palonia. | ion. ° i

oO FEBS | etbg ole wh fg te ath

sf “pT stuc
3 A breakfast to be Pivan by Dis-| Bob
Mrs. me as ay’ < . So 4 ‘
ah inte : on apd ema trict Deputy Robinson to exalted | alic
son Jimmy arrived from Salt Se een : ;
Lake City today to visit h jrulers and past ~malted rulers |Jay
‘afternoon, to his father, qrand-. y y cr par wilt. be. held tomorrow at & s

“mother and brother in indiana.) tr. and Mrs. Willlam Raine | oock at the Commercial hotel. awe

ite ~ a3 ‘ pea.
‘He was in tears for a short time ‘A ee Fb gushes m “es oun The regular meetings will be as:
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NOTICE TO ‘ealm last night. prennet seca gts luncheon will be served at 1
agate c(t onaelne ane ee ; ed ' ; ° - an of-!
ee hiss ee | Ro, . I MARRIAGE LICENSES cap ATClOER Tbe TORRES Re eee
' . Jailer Rodger Badger has re. | Sept. 28-- Joseph Edward Burk: | “s le
The: grouse season has | ¢urned from his vacation, which hart Jackson and Grace Gilman| ion Is BORN | Eds
been opened from October | *#s apent in Utah. He is back at! Burkhart. Jackson both of San| : | pre

his desk at the courthouse, Depu- Leandro, Calif; George B. Neff} A son was born this morning at’ Rot

8th to 15th Inclusive. ty Sheriff Roger Amberger Is in of Des Moines, lowa and Thelma| the Elko general hospital to Mr.i-—
‘Salt Lake City on business, while O. Carter of San Angelo, Texas.;and Mrs. Carl J. Lino of Elko,| J

: HARRY ELLIOTT, Sheriff C. 1. Smith in Carson! ----—O See a The baby ix their sccond son cia pe
Game Warden - City, where he will witness the! Stephen C. Richards, Ruby Val-; has been named: David . Francis.‘ as

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before the much wanted McKinney would
be picked up. His picture and description
were broadcast throughout the United
States. Not only was he wanted for sus-
picion of murder, but it quickly was dis-
covered Los Angeles police were seeking
him on charges of automobile theft and
the FBI was pressing its search for him
as a draft dodger.

Two weeks later, William M. Pearce,
a California quarantine officer stationed
on the highway crossing the Nevada-
California state line near Bishop, re-
ported to local police that a man he be-
lieved to be McKinney, had passed his
station headed toward Bishop.

A guard was immediately set around
his home and within a few hours Mc-
Kinney was arrested without offering any
resistance. He. was driving a stolen car
at the time, which he admitted, as well
as the draft evasion charge. But he de-
nied any knowledge of the murder of the
Fishers on the desert near Fallon, stating
he had not been in that section of the
state for many months,

McKinney was returned. to Fallon,
waving extradition from California, and
was charged with first degree murder.
The rest of his registration card was

never found. He claimed he lost it soon
after receiving it. No murder weapon or
property of the Fishers was recovered
from McKinney's effects.

But when seen by the proprietor of the
Reno garage where the murdered couple’s
car was bought, he was immediately iden-
tified as the man who sold it. Not only
that, but the manager of the pawn shop
in Winnemucca identified, him as the
party who pledged the woman's watch.
At the casino where the mysterlous “Lieu-
tenant Fisher” had gambled, attendants
did not hesitate to point their fingers and
say: “That's the man.”

McKinney, assisted by his wife who en-
gaged a lawyer, waived a preliminary
hearing and was taken before the district
court where he entered a plea of not guilty
before Judge Clark J. Guild. After two
days of testimony at the trial which bore
out Sheriff -Vannoy’s first theory—
namely that the Fishers had picked up a
hitchhiker who had then slain and robbed
his benefactors—the jury returned a ver-
dict of guilty. Floyd McKinney was sen-
tenced to die in the gas chamber, a penalty
which was carried out after an appeal to
a higher court failed to upset his con-
viction.

Fickle Fiancee
and Murder

[Continued from page 15]

night that you'll always remember.”

The girl did not take these threats seri-
ously. Besides she was busy preparing for
the bridal showér and wondering how sur-
prised her friends would be when she
broke the news of her change in
plans.

She went to the shower with her mar-
ried sister. Jimmy was to call at the sis-
ter’s home at nine and, with the sister’s
husband, Clifford Doe, drive to the hall
and pick up the girls.

Shirley’s exchange of prospective:
bridegrooms was a sensation at the party.
She said nothing of George Duffy’s fran-
tic call, but its memory plagued her a
dozen times until, at a little before ten,
her brother-in-law arrived to drive her
and her sister home.

“Jimmy didn’t show up,” Doe said. “He
probably has got plenty to do to get ready
to become a husband in two days.”

As they reached the Doe residence in
the southwestern part of Cedar Rapids,
they saw young Hackman’s sedan parked
at the curb. It was Shirley herself, get-
ting out of the gift-piled auto in which
she had ridden home, who first noticed
the shattered window on Jimmy’s ma-
chine.

She ran up ‘to his car and saw her
fiance sprawled inside.

“He's hurt!” she screamed. “Help him,
Cliff. I'll get an ambulance.”

‘When Doe opened the door on young
Hackman’s sedan, he saw instantly that
it was not an ambulance they needed, but
a hearse. Jimmy’s head was all but blown
away. Doe turned toward his house and
stopped Shirley as she came bolting out.

“Don’t go to that car, Sis,” he said
gently. “You don’t want to see it.”

For a moment she didn’t understand.
Then a scream tore from her throat. “He’s
dead, Cliff! Tell me, is he dead?”

“He's dead, Sis,” the brother-in-law an-

swered soberly. He helped her into the
house, and phoned for the police.
Detective Inspector Frank Bukacek
and Capt. John Kuba found that it was a
shotgun, fired repeatedly at close range,
that had blasted out Jimmy Hackman’s
life.

There were witnesses in the neighbor-’
hood who had heard the shots, five in
all. The witnesses had seen Jimmy’s car
at the curb with another auto near it and
had thought the explosions were backfires
from one or the other of the two autos.
A few seconds after the blasts, the sec-
ond machine had been driven rapidly
away.

“George Duffy,” Shirley Arnold said,
when she recovered sufficiently from her
shock to talk with the police. “It was
George, you can be sure of that.”

After listening to Shirley’s story of her
romantic mixup, of the 21-year-old Duffy’s
wild threats over the phone, the detectives
agreed that he was a prime suspect.

“That's what he meant when‘he said
this would be a night I'd always remem-
ber,” the girl sobbed. “He intended then
to kill Jimmy. George always had a shot-
gun in his car, a big twelve-gauge
gun.”

It was a fine weapon, a Savage auto-
matic. and George had been very proud
of it. He had shown it often to Shirley.
That was how she knew about the gun.

She described Duffy’s car, and wit-
nesses said it was a convertible like his
that had been parked near the Hackman
sedan just before the shooting.

Shirley also described her ex-boy
friend—five feet eleven inches, 160
pounds, with dark hair, wearing glasses—
and the same witnesses said this descrip-
tion fitted the youth who drove the con-
vertible away after the shots were heard.

George Duffy had come to Cedar
Rapids from his parents’ farm just out-
side of Waukon, a little city 120 miles
to the north in Allamakee County, in
Iowa's northeastern corner.

“There’s a good chance he'll head for
home,” said Captain Kuba. “If he killed
young Hackman, he must know he’ll be
the first suspect we'll be after, and he’s
likely to figure the only place he can get
help will be from his folks.”

“But don’t forget one thing when you


eared in rugged
their first lead.

was the begin-
his pretty bride,

»ise, Idaho, the
i in California.
eutenant Fisher
10tified.
.irman’s record.
enlisted man to
r to California
mmissioned sec-
t record to fore-

ea

shadow absence without leave.

“Ray Fisher is not the kind of
soldier who goes over the hill,”
one friend assured the provost
marshal. “Something has hap-
pened to him if he didn’t report
for duty on time. His high school sweetheart, Marian Burke,
came out here so they could get married. Ray has a car and
he told me they were going to take Route 95 through Reno
to California.”

This man felt positive Ray Fisher was in some kind of
trouble.

BY KEN DAVIS

Sheriff Vannoy, 2nd left, figured the
couple had been killed elsewhere and
the two corpses dumped in desert. It
required a long hunt for a tattooed
suspect to locate this grim-faced man.

For over a month
the desolate Nevada desert

guarded the grim secret of

the couple's fate

Everything seemed to point that way. The provost marshal
was told Fisher owned a Ford sedan. A check with the Motor
Vehicle Bureau showed the car was maroon colored and
carried Idaho license plates 1-A-15058. Reno appeared to be

‘the place to start the investigation.

Although the “biggest little city in the world” has a highly
efficient police force, it was over-run with gamblers, prosti-
tutes and con-men in wartime. Lieutenant Fisher and his
young bride would be no match for the underworld charac-
ters who then frequented the wide-open Nevada city.

The provost marshal contacted Chief of Police Harry C.
Fletcher in Reno over long distance [Continued on page 59]

Tee ae

~~,

nd

1S surrounded.
ipped into the
ounded on the
.k out with his

without put-
ne agent could
od they were
|nt as well kill

| sion as to who
\Chief Tackett

war gas shells

e police re-
1b-machine-
vered rifles.
gas billowed
of the shells
20m.

in and shot-
i right up to
ells into the
nanhunt was

tollowed the
1an'’s scream
‘rounded the

she pleaded,

g, groping
ght, Barbara
ound female
sut. She was
housecoat.
wed by Scott
of shorts. A
d out lividly
4 shoulders.
girlfriend,
ed like a

found four
hat brought
‘arge quan-

liller Co@hty
t a Sunday
‘helma Win-
r temporary
of unlawful
nurder and

insisted she
I love,” was
irge of har-

Will Fitz
1 admitted
nts during
»wn. These
pecialty—a
tores.
zeles, police
iat threw a
g of Savoy.
ve been cut
just because
Mey. There
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ind jury on
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and the
No charges
Margaret
ng day all
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43 to protect
nvolved in
> Sampson

a person
2 Editor)

Vanished Honeymooners

[Continued from page 25]

phone on June 2, 1943. He spoke firmly.

“Lt. Raymond E. Fisher and his wife,
Marian Burke Fisher, left Gowan Field
on April 22,” he said. “Fisher had been
transferred to March Field, California.
He had ten days to get there. They were
driving a 1941 Ford sedan and planned
to stop in Reno. No one has heard from
them since. We’ve been conducting an in-
vestigation at this end. Fisher was not the
type to go AWOL. We believe these
people met with an accident or foul play.”

Chief Fletcher could not recall any acci-
dent in which a soldier named Fisher had
been involved. “I’ll give this a thorough
check,” he told the provost marshal. “A
picture would help.” ~

The Gowan Field officer said he had a
good photo of the missing couple. “I'll
forward it along with full descriptions
of the lieutenant and his wife. Also the
data we have on the car they were driv-
ing.”
Chief Fletcher received the information
on June 3, 1943. He summoned Detective
William Heap, head of the Criminal In-
vestigation Bureau. They studied the pic-
ture of Lieutenant and Mrs. Fisher care-
fully.

The soldier was a smiling, long-
legged six footer in his late 20s. Marian
Fisher was pretty and wholesome looking.

“Have copies made,” the chief said.
“Your men can show the photos around.
If these people stopped off here, somebody
should remember them. Honeymooners
usually attract attention.”

It took the CIB officers a full day to
check hotels, rooming houses and
drive-ins where tourists register. But
finally they found a motel owner who re-
membered the young couple.

“Lieutenant Fisher and his wife checked
into my place on April 23,” this man told
Detective Heap. “They left on the 26th.
The soldier said they were heading for
March Field in California.”

Asked about the young couple’s activi-
ties while in Reno, the motel owner said
he got the impression they were staying
pretty much to themselves. “I could tell
they were newlyweds right away,” he
added. “Mrs. Fisher was quite shy. The
soldier did mention winning -a little
money at roulette.”

Detective Heap wanted to know if this
witness had seen Fisher and his wife with
any other people. The motel man hadn't.
This information was turned over to the
chief of police.

Fletcher called the provost marshal at
Gowan Field and told him what the CIB
officers had found.

“If anything happened to Lieutenant
Fisher and his wife,” the chief said, “it
was after they left Reno.”

The Army man thanked Fletcher and
asked him to keep the data on the Fishers
and their photo handy. Both officers were
well aware of the wild country between
Nevada and March Field. The provost
marshal said service investigators would
check every mile of the route.

That was no easy matter. Highway 395
winds its treacherous way along the
southern half of the Sierra Nevada moun-
tains after leaving Reno. It.is a land of
dry lakes and deserts. Army personnel
covered the route thoroughly without
finding any trace of the missing couple.

Dry dust from the alkali flats choked a
lone motorist on Highway 50 June 9.
Traveling 25 miles east of the town of

Fallon, Nev., he noticed buzzards circling
near the road. Tired and hot, the driver
decided to stretch his legs and investigate.

Two corpses lay sprawled on the sun-
baked ground. Starving animals and birds
of prey had torn almost all of the flesh
from the bleached bones. One skeleton
wore army shoes and tatters of khaki
trousers. The other was a woman with
long brown hair.

The shocked motorist ran back to his
car, stepped on the gas and sped to Sheriff
Ralph J. Vannoy’s office in Fallon.

“Two skeletons on Route 50,” he ex-
claimed. “A man and woman. The bones
are too close to the road to be people who
got lost and died of thirst. The skulls are
split wide open. There is no car around,
either.”

Sheriff Vannoy called Coroner Harold
Bellinger after hearing more details of the
grisly find. “Better come with us,” he told
the doctor after explaining the situation.

The county officers found the skeletons
just where the finder said. Both skulls had
been cracked with a heavy weapon.

“They were also shot,” Dr. Bellinger
said. “Two bullets went through the man’s
head. One hit the woman. This happened
at least a month ago.”

The sheriff asked about slugs.

“One is lodged in the woman’s skull,”
the coroner said. “I can dig it out later.
Maybe you can find more on the ground.”

Vannoy looked around, but came up
with nothing. There was no pocketbook or
other means of identification.

“These people were killed somewhere
else and dumped here,” the sheriff said.
“If that happened a month ago, we're
going to have a devil of a time finding out
who they are and who killed them.”

Dr. Hobart Wray helped the coroner
examine the remains at a Fallon mor-
tuary. Both physicians agreed the victims
died about May 1.

“Skull fracture appears to be the direct
cause of death in both cases,” Dr. Wray
said. “That’s particularly true as far as
the man is concerned. One of the bullets
cut across the break in the skull.”

He turned one lead pellet over to Sheriff

Vannoy. A check of missing persons in’

Churchill County provided no clue. The
army shoes and khaki clothes indicated a
soldier and possibly his wife or girl friend.

Sheriff Vannoy heliewed they had been
driving a car and perhaps picked up a
hitch-hiker.

If this were true, that meant the young
couple had been driving along Route 50
headed either for Reno, which was 60
miles west of Fallon, or Salt Lake City,
hundreds of miles to the northeast.

The Churchill County officer thought
both places should be contacted. He tried
Reno first because it was nearer.

Speaking with Chief of Police Fletcher,
Vannoy outlined details of the grim dis-
covery. “The victims appear to be a soldier
and a woman,” the sheriff said. “They’re
in their middle or late 20s. The doctors
here say they died about May 1.”

The Reno officer immediately thought
about Lieutenant and Mrs. Fisher. “There
was no means of identification whatever?”
he asked.

Vannoy said a local dentist had made
charts of both victims’ teeth. “They had
considerable dental work done,” he told
Fletcher. “That’s the only starting point
we've got.”

The Nevada officer said, “I think we’ve
got more than you realize. A young lieu-
tenant named Raymond Fisher and his
bride, Marian, started out from Gowan
Field in Boise on April 22. They came
through here the next day headed for
California. Nobody has seen them since
April 26. I think we know what happened

to them now. But what were they doing
so far east of here? Fallon is out of their
way.”

Sheriff Vannoy couldn’t answer that
one. “I’ll send what information I have
along with the dental charts to the provost
marshal at Gowan Field,” he said. “We
had all better start looking for the Ford
sedan you say Fisher was driving.”

Authorities at Gowan Field sent the
dental charts to Lieutenant Fisher’s
family in Mineola, N. Y., asking them to
have the man who did the work make a
comparison. Word came back promptly
that an identification had been made. The
dentist was sure he had made a distinc-
tive type of inlay found in the dead man’s
mouth.

Although the Western officers were en-
couraged by this step forward they were
puzzled by Lieutenant Fisher’s family’s
statement that he was not the kind of
person to pick up a hitch-hiker.

Reno detectives under the supervision
of Chief H. J. Castleberry were working
with the CIB-man William Heap on the
investigation.

“We know Lieutenant Fisher won a
little money at roulette,” the detective
chief told Heap. “We also know Marian
Fisher was pretty. Reno has more than its
share of people who would kill for either
a woman or money. Maybe some oppor-
tunist hecame friendly enough with the
couple to be offered a ride.”

The CIB investigator thought that
was logical. Detectives canvassed gambling
casinos, drinking places and restaurants
trying to find a lead. They showed pro-
prietors pictures of the ill-fated soldier
and his wife. Nobody recognized them.

The trail ended at the motel where the
Fishers had remained during their stay in
Reno. The owner dug out the register for
April.

“The soldier and his wife occupied
cabin 11,” he showed the investigators.

Chief Castleberry took the book in his
hands. “What about Nos. 10 and 12?” he
asked. “They would be on either side of
cabin 11 wouldn’t they?”

The register showed a man named
Henry Langley occupied cabin 12 from
April 20 to May 1. He had put down Love-
lock, Nev., as his address.

“Langley said he was a mining engi-
neer,” the proprietor remembered. “I got
the impression he was looking for work.”

“What about cabin 10?”

Walter Doan of Sacramento, Cal., had
been in that cabin from April 15 until
April 26.

“That’s the same day the Fishers
checked out,” Castleberry said. “Tell me
all you can about this man Doan.”

The motel owner shrugged his shoul-
ders. “That’s been a month and a half
ago,” he protested. “I do remember Doan
was a moody sort of guy. I spotted him for
a gambler right away. We get a lot like
him. They come in here expecting to beat
the wheels. When they lose they’re sore.

_I’'d say Doan was in his late 30s. Husky

guy; tall and heavy shouldered.”

Although Detectives Castleberry and
Heap were most interested in Doan be-
cause he had checked out the same day
the Fishers left, they also wanted to know
all they ‘could about Henry Langley of
cabin 12.

The proprietor said the engineer was
about the same build as Walter Doan.
“Around the same age, too,” he added.

Castleberry asked about cars.

“Neither Doan nor Langley were driv-
ing,” the motel man said after checking
the register. “I always make a notation on
that in case somebody decides to skip.”

The two investigators thanked the wit-

> 59

The gambling casino was crowded with soldiers and
civilians playing the wheels of fortune before casting their
j lives into the lottery of war. A young lieutenant was win-
ning consistently at roulette. A pretty girl snuggled close
\ to him.
\ “This is our honeymoon, you know,” she said.
The soldier smiled. “It’s a shame to quit when we're win-
ning.”
| The girl looked up at him in that certain way. He cashed
in his chips and they left. .
It would have been difficult to tell whether the man who
' had been watching the young couple was more interested in

oe

mystery of

24 >

Lieutenant Fisher and his bride, Marian, (left) disappeared in rugged
country (below). Discovery of this car gave officers their first lead.

>

the girl or the money. It didn’t matter. This was the begin-
ning of the end for Lt. Raymond Fisher and his pretty bride,
Marian.

Starting out from Gowan Airfield at Boise, Idaho, the
newlyweds were headed for March Airfield in California.
They had ten days to make the trip. When Lieutenant Fisher
failed to report for duty Gowan Field was notified.

The provost marshal checked the young airman’s record.
Fisher was from Mineola, N. Y. He was an enlisted man to
whom promotions had come fast. The transfer to California
came as a direct result of his having been commissioned sec-
ond lieutenant. There was nothing in his past record to fore-

for duty or
came out !
he told m«
to Califorr
This m
trouble

BY KEN

| YD Decleor
Tig [155


a oes 3Q2 «+:
r = 5
Se T_T F— BB A-C HE LOR _¥ E-A-R-S

sixteen hundred dollars in gold and silver. But for some reason he
thought the lecture was “miserably poor.” Possibly it was his
mood, for the audience was delighted and the reviews were favor-
able. He probably revised the talk but kept the title, for he lectured
on ‘Pilgrim Life” throughout his tour.

_ He took the evening steamer to Sacramento, where he spoke to a
full house. He found the weather there as balmy as summer, and
saw roses and peach trees in bloom. On the night of April 21 he
gave his talk at Grass Valley. There in the foothills it was still
spring, with lilac buds just opening. He went on by rail to Donner
Summit, where snow lay thirty feet deep on level ground and one
hundred feet in drifts. He was experiencing all the seasons but
autumn in a matter of hours. At the summit the passengers
boarded a mail coach with four horses, bound for Coburn’s Station.
From there Sam sent a telegram to the Territorial Enterprise (he was
to be Joe Goodman’s guest): “I am doing well, having crossed one
divide without getting robbed anyway. Mark Twain.”

On Friday, April 24, the Enterprise printed under the heading,
‘MARK TWAIN: This celebrated humorist, after having visited the
Holy Land and all the principal cities of the world, will again once
more press his foot upon his native sagebrush this morning.” A
change has been made in the date and place of the lecture. Instead
of speaking Saturday night at the Athletic Hall, as advertised, the
Opera House has been booked for the following Monday and Tues-
day nights, because of its greater seating capacity. Meanwhile, “he
will have enough to do for three or four days to shake hands and
swap yarns with his old friends.”

The stagecoach from Coburn’s Station pulled into Virginia City
at five o’clock that morning. The streets were already bustling, and
streams of people on horseback and afoot were pouring into town.
This was the day that John Milleain (also known as Jean Millian),
convicted of having murdered and robbed the popular (and elite)
prostitute Julia Bulette, was to be hanged. After months spent in
the civilized cities of Europe and America, Clemens, in crossing
the Sierra Nevada, had stepped back into a scene from the Old
West. Toward mid-morning, he was seen standing on B Street in

front of the Court House, where a large crowd had already gath-
ered. |

ewe 393 eee
On the Wing

86S

By eleven-thirty, when the carriage for the prisoner drove up to
the door of the sherifl’s office, the crowd had grown into an im-
mense throng. Twenty-four specials from the sheriff's posse, armed
with Henry rifles, and some sixty members of the National Guard
in full uniform surrounded the vehicle. At exactly twelve noon, the
prisoner and two attending Catholic priests stepped into the car-
riage; the procession then formed and moved off. Second in line
was a vehicle carrying two officiating doctors, and the reporters
from Virginia City and Gold Hill newspapers. Behind them came a
wagon draped in black, with the coffin and undertaker. On either
side of the road marched the posse and the National Guard, and
bringing up the rear was an army of people on foot, on horseback,
in buggies and carriages. Sam Clemens was in one of the carriages.

The gallows had been built in a sloping ravine about a mile
north of Virginia City, near the Jewish cemetery, just below the
Geiger Grade. About five thousand people, among them many
women and children, covered the encircling hillsides. The prisoner
read his farewell as it was written, in French. He said he had been
guilty of many “bad deeds” during his life, but of this one he was
innocent. A great injustice had been done him during his trial and
conviction, for the chief of police had perjured himself, and “‘aban-
doned women” had been brought to the witness stand to “swear
his life away.” Not understanding or speaking English well, he had
been unable to refute the accusations. It was claimed that he had
confessed; that was not true. What he was reading now was his
only confession. He then knelt on the trap, and after a short prayer
with Father Manogue, stood up, embraced the priests and shook
hands with the officers. Then he waited imperturbably while the
noose was fitted around his neck. “Just as the black cap was drawn
down over his head, the spring was touched, the trap dropped, and
John Milleain dangled in the air,” wrote the Gold Hill News. His
manner and voice had been so sincere in his address, many won-
dered if this was another miscarriage of justice; another case where
advantage was taken of a foreigner lacking knowledge of English.

The following day was so warm and springlike in Virginia City,
the ice cream man with his donkey cart and tin horn came out to
peddle for the first time that year. Clemens visited with his friends


MCKINNEY, Floyd, wh, gassed NVSP IIlChurchill) November 27, 1943

—

in hand. “It’s all over, boys,” “he said.
“Get your hands up.”

Curry -leaped up, snarling but the
officers gun was leveled on him instantly.
The man subsided. “Okay, we give up,”
he said.

The prisoners were taken to Coolidge
and later turned over to Sheriff Mobley
and Deputy Stanfield. Averitt was silent

on his trip to the Waco jail but Curry:

was broken from his two-day hideout in
the swampy woods. He wept with fear
and exhaustion. “We knew we’d be killed
if we didn’t give up,” he said. “And we
haven’t eaten in two days.”

In a signed confession before District
Attorney Burleson the youthful mur-
derers told a shocking story of planned
crime and cold-blooded murder.

“Roy and I had been pulling the old
shell game around Hubbard,” Averitt
said. “When we got to Waco we decided
to get some pistols in case we got caught
taking money from someone in that
game. We looked at some guns on
Bridge Street but they were too high
so we went to San Antonio, We fooled
around San Antonio a week and got some
guns. Then we came back to Waco.”

In Waco the pair decided to start hi-
jacking. “We wanted some money to go
to Florida,” Curry put in.

They were walking along the road,
going toward Dallas, Averitt continued.
“We were about fifty yards apart, and
I-had my gun in a bundle. Roy had his
gun stuck in his belt. This man Stewart
came by, going south, and asked me if
I wanted a ride. I rode a little way with
him and decided to hijack him. I took
my pistol out and ordered him to go back
and pick up my partner.”

At gunpoint Stewart had turned the
car and started back along the Loop
Road where Curry was walking. “Just
as we came abreast of Curry,” Averitt
continued, “Stewart made a grab for my
gun and it went off accidentally.’ The
bullet went through the windshield.”

Curry’s confession. detailed -the next
act of the death drama. “I saw a man
struggling with my pal so I made a
flying leap on the running board. I
opened the front door. The man was
fighting Averitt and the pistol was
pointed right at.me. So I pulled my gun
and shot him in the arm. The car was
running toward some big pecan trees. I
climbed over him and got the wheel I was
pretty*excited. I didn’t even know I shot
twice until I looked at my gun later.”

The bandits righted the machine and
drove into Orchard Lane where they left
it in the ditch. ©

Averitt had dropped his gun during
the struggle and in his haste to escape
failed to retrieve it. Curry carried the
death weapon until he got scared and hid
it in the cotton seed where officers re-
covered it. ; ,

The men left the death scene and
started their string of kidnapings in their
fear and desperate desire to get away
from Waco, They said they only got a
dollar from the Stewart murder. The
$16 taken from their kidnap victims had
been buried near the barn where Curry
hid his gun. Ballistics tests with the
bullet recovered from the victim’s body
proved that Curry’s gun shot Stewart.

One angle of the bizarre mystery was
never cleared up. Officers never learned
the identity of the young woman who
supposedly left the hotel with Stewart
shortly before his death. Officers con-
cluded that the hotel porter had been
mistaken in his identification. .

James Malcolm Stewart had been slain
on Nov. 17, 1934 On Jan. 11, 1935, after
a long and bitterly contested legal battle,
Roy Curry, the ,23-year-old confessed
killer, was sentenced to life imprison-
ment in the State Penitentiary. Joe

- Bailey Averitt, 26, who instigated the

crime, was also sentenced to life im-
prisonment at the same term of court.
Both men are still behind: the walls at
Huntsville.

ARMY COUPLE MURDERED

Southwest authorities faced a twin murder riddle when the bludgeoned bodies of
Lieut. Raymond E. Fisher and his wife were found on the desert near Fallon,
Nev. Police sought a hitchhiker who apparently fled with the: Fisher car.

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. 482 eee

~ NOTES AND SOURCES

December 22, 1867, included in Norman and Jeanne Mackenzie, Charles
Dickens, A Life. The January 8 letter to Jane Lampton and Pamela gave
an account of his dinner at Henry Ward Beecher’s and spoke of his just
having learned he is to lecture the next night. It was William Dean
Howells who was aware that Clemens never failed in a lecture, and wrote
of it in “An Appreciation,” included in Mark Twain’s Speeches. In that
same January 9 letter Sam spoke of getting to work on that “confounded
book.” George Francis Train’s book was entitled Championship of
Woman. For the text of Sam’s toast, three sources, all differing, were
used: Mark Twain’s Speeches (no editor acknowledged); Howell, ed.,
Sketches of the Sixties; and Paul Fatout, ed., Mark Twain Speaking. Clem-
ens sent the clipping giving his speech and a covering note to “Dear
Folks,” on January 13, 1868 (V). He defended himself to Mary Fair-
banks on January 24; his reply to her “scorcher,” January 30, exists only
in postscript. On January 24, 1868, he gave Mary Fairbanks an account
of his stay with the Hookers, and the restrictions. Clemens wrote his
mother and Pamela from Hartford on January 24, 1868 (V) about stop-
ping with Dan Slote and making the contract with James Gordon Ben-
nett. In a letter to Will Bowen, January 25, 1868, from New York, he
spoke of taking a drink on the contract. In that same January 24 letter
home, he gave an account of his visit with Beecher, Beecher’s advice, and
the contract with Bliss. In his letter to Bowen he also told about the “tip-
top” contract for the book; and he recalled their days together at Daw-
son’s school in Hannibal. Clemens to Bliss is dated January 27 (MTP).
Sam told his family about the various posts offered him in a letter of
February 6, 1868, (V), written from Washington. Sam to Orion, regard-
ing chasing phantoms, February 21, 1868, is in Paine, Letters. Sam
asked Mary Fairbanks for her letters to the Cleveland Herald, on Febru-
ary 20, 1868. Clemens wrote the sketch, “Riley—Newspaper Correspon-
dent,” which he later included in his Sketches New and Old. He told
‘Dear Folks” about moving five times, and the reasons, in a short letter
dated February 21, 1868 (V). William M. Stewart, Reminiscences, pro-
vides faulty recollections of Clemens. A report on Sam’s faultless attire
appeared in the Philadelphia Press (MTP). On February 9, 1868, Sam
told Mary Fairbanks about his illness, and gave her the Indiana Street
address. On March 10, 1868, he wrote Mary that he must go to San
Francisco and stop the Alta’s publication of those “‘slangy” letters. Sam’s
letter to his mother from sea was dated March 15 (V). He wrote Mary
Fairbanks on May 5, 1868, about his San Francisco lecture and the
proceeds, paid in gold and silver. The telegram to the Territorial Enter-

eee 4,03 eee

NOTES AND SOURCES ISL

prise is in Mack, as is the Enterprise’s announcement of his coming.
Alfred Doten, who also witnessed the prologue to John Milleain’s execu-
tion and the hanging itself, described it in detail in the Gold Hill Evening
News. In his journal, Doten spoke of the springlike day, April 25, and
mentioned the ice cream man; he also recorded that he met Clemens at
the Enterprise office on that date. Sam told Mary Fairbanks, in a letter
commenced on May 1, about working on his correspondence for Eastern
newspapers. Doten attended the Odd Fellows celebration and heard
Goodman’s poetry recited; he also went to hear Clemens speak, listened
to Sam playing the piano and singing the old hoss song behind the
curtain, and described his apology. Doten was so delighted with the
lecture he attended the following evening. He noted that Clemens did not
get a full house. In a letter of June 17, 1868, from San Francisco, Sam
wondered to Mary Fairbanks why the local ministers were blasting him.
He told Mary about the enthusiastic reception to his lecture on Venice,
July 5, 1868, and spoke of the steamship company refusing to let him
pay for his ticket.

25. The Siege of #lmira, pp. 398-423.

Clemens’ account of the “Country School Exibition” is included in his
Alta letter of September 6, 1868. A rough draft of “The Story of Mamie
Grant,” is in Notebook 11, as is his sketch about a balloon voyage. A
note added ‘at a later time, just above the start of the story about the
Frenchman and his balloon, states that the sketch was never finished
because of the publication of Jules Verne’s book. The inventor of the
‘noble big balloon” in Jom Sawyer Abroad was possibly based on Orion
Clemens, who in his last years was inventing a flying machine. The
meeting with Captain Wakeman was also recounted in his Alza letter. His
decision to turn Wakeman’s account of his dream voyage to heaven into a
burlesque of The Gates Ajar, a novel by Elizabeth Ward published in
1868 under her maiden name, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, is in an autobio-
graphical dictation of August 30, 1906, (MTP). He wrote Mary Fairbanks
on August 3, 1868, about working on an article for the Tribune. Sam
Clemens’ daughter Clara remembered the authoritative clang of the iron
gates, in her book, My Father, Mark Twain, and spoke of the unexpected
stairways and halls in the Elmira mansion. In a letter started on August
24, 1868 (V), broken off in midsentence and continued the next day, Sam
told his family how comfortably he was situated at the Langdons, and the
reasons for having to stay so long. Dixon Wecter, The Love Letters of Mark