Oklahoma, R-S, 1922-1999, Undated

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flying through the air, and J heard it hit
in the water.”

The clip had been removed before the
was tossed out, she said.

Later, when she was located by OSBI
agents, she led them to the spot where
the gun had been discarded, she said.

She said that Robison had told her of
the shootings, saying that when the
men got to the farmhouse, they kicked
down a door and “a lady was pointing a
gun at them ... She was shot to keep
from being shot.”

She testified that Robison also had
told her that “a man came up behind
him and squeezed him real tight in a
bear hug. He got shot.”

Another young woman—said to be a
former girlfriend of Williafn Jordan—
told the packed courtroom that she had
seen a .22 caliber revolver dismantled
and the frame thrown into the Wichita
River. The woman said she had seen the
same .22 revolver the night of the slay-
ings, when the three men returned to
the party in Healdton and Jordan took
the gun apart and hid the parts for
about a week. She later directed OSBI
agents to the site where the gun frame
had been tossed into the river.

The witness related she also had
turned over the cylinder of the gun—
which Jordan had hidden in the glove
compartment of her car—to agents the

same day the gun frame was recovered.

The state next produced the manager
of a discount store in Cheyenne, Wyom,
who related that his store records
showed a person identified as John W.
Gilliam had bought abéut fifty .380
caliber bullets at the store on May 31st.
The state also put on testimony to show
that Gillum had used the name John

_ Wayne Gilliam.

An OSBI firearm and toolmark
examiner, Jim Looney, took the stand to
report on ballistic tests he had made of
bullets from the victims and crime scene
and the .22 revolver and :380 caliber
automatic. He said the tests showed the
guns had fired the bullets.

A 17-year-old convict, serving a
seven-year prison sentence in Texas for

robbery, was called by the prosecution. .

He said that he had met Robison some-
time after the shootings in Oklahoma
and that Robison had told him that
Robison had “been involved” in the kil-
lings. ~

“Robison said he had been involved in
it, some people had been killed,” the
witness said. “There wasn’t no witnes-
ses left alive. He couldn’t be charged
with anything because there wasn’t no
witnesses.”

The convict testified that Robison
also told him that another man named
Gillum had been involved in the slay-
ings.

The witness quoted Robison as telling
also that they “got away emptyhanded.
He said it was all for nothing.”

62 True Detective

r ' ®

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The defense introduced testimony |

that Robison would have been in a

“comatose” condition from a combina- '
tion of drugs and alcohol he allegedly
consumed on the day of the killings.and
would have been unable to take part in
the crime. Robison’s girlfriend testified

that during the hours before the killings

Robison was intoxicated “the worst I’ve

‘ever seen him.”

After final arguments by attorneys,
the case went to the jury on March 27th.
After deliberating for three and one-
half hours, the jury returned.its verdict
finding Robison guilty of first de
murder in each of the three deaths.

The jury deliberated only one hour
and 40 minutes on Saturday before set-
ting Robison’s punishment at death by
legal injection—the first death penalty
in.Stephens County in 50 years.

Testimony in the trial of another of
the accused killers, Johnny Gillum,
opened on March 81st in the same dis-
trict courtroom. In his opening state-
ment to the jury, District Attorney
Burns told the jury that Gillum had
later related tq one of Gillum’s relatives
that he andtwo other men “went to the
house to rob people.” He said Gillum
was to remain outside and guard.

The D.A. said that Gillum told the
relative that Robison “went crazy” in-
side the ‘house and people were shot.

Much of the testimony in Gillum’s
trial was a repeat of that offered in the
trial of Robison, but new evidence came
in a statement that OSBI Agent Arthur
Linville testified he had taken from Gil-

lum,

WR ectibiting the eVents on the fatal
* night, Gillum said in the statement that

he went to Healdton from Wichita Falls,
Texas after receiving a phone call from

Robison. Gillum, Robison and’a man |

Gillum knew only as “Smiling Jack”
(William Jordan) drove to the farm-
house at Velma.

Gillum said in the wii tals that
Robison told him he was “going to whip
a man’s butt . . .. with a sock with a lock
in it.” When they arrived at the house,
Gillum said, he was told to stay in the
car, and the other two went in the house.
Gillum claimed he had entered the
house after hearing gunshots, and that

_ after the shooting, Robison put a gun to

Gillum’s head’ and said, “What am I
going to have to do, kill you too?”
Gillum said in his statement that
Robison “went crazy” in the house. Gil-
lum denied that he personally took part

‘in the slayings.

The defense called Gillum to the
stand, and he told*the jury he didn’t
know anyone was going to be killed in
the farmhouse until he heard the gun-

shots. He said he was sitting in the front

seat of a car when he heard the shooting

_ inside the’ hoube.

Gillum testified that after the trio
arrived, Robison and Jordan walked
to the house and knocked.

“They got a friendly type greeting,
‘come on in’ or something like that,” Gil-
lum said.

Thirty seconds later, he heard a gun-
shot, jumped out of the car and ran to
the house. Entering, he could see “some
legs of a body” through a bedroom door,
he related. He said Robison was holding
a pistol in his left hand, and he turned
and looked at Gillum with a “wild-eyed”
look.

“I said, “Randle, please stop this. Let’s
get out of here!”

On April 5th, the jury returned a ver-
dict finding Gillum guilty in all three
shooting deaths and set his punishment

_at three life sentences, to be served con-

‘ secutively. ;
William Jordan’s preliminary hear- *

ing was held on April 14, 1981. A wit-
ness testified that Jordan had admitted
doing “some of the shooting” at the
farmhouse.

A former girlfriend of Jordan’s tes-
tified that he told her during a ride from
Healdton, Okla. to Wichita Falls, Texas
on the night of the slayings that the
three men had walked up to the door of
the farmhouse at Velma and “Randle

' introduced me to the people I was fixing

to kill.”
She testified that Jordan told her that
Robison “shot the’ man when he was

_ jumped from behind.”

“As he was falling, Billy said he shot
him, too,” the woman said. She related

that the men had gone to the house to .

get gold, according to Jordan...

She quoted Jordan as telling her dur-
ing. the ride of flight to Texas after the
slayings, “We shot ’em all.”

She added, “He found it apeitiig
he was ready to do it again.”

Another man, who said he aioe to

California with Jordan after the slay- .

ings, was called by the state. He said

Jordan had admitted his part in the kil- - ?

lings,

“He said he did some of the shooting.
He acted like it didn’t bother him,” the
witness said.

Upon conclusion of the testimony,
Special District Judge Mike Reynolds
ordered Jordan held for trial on three
counts of first degree murder.

But that trial never came to pass. On’
May 22nd, in Duncan, William Starr —

Jordan pleaded quietly to the three
murder counts. Assistant District At-
torney Joe Enos said that Jordan was
promised, in exchange for his guilty
plea , that the state would not seek the
death penalty.

Sentencing was to be pronounced at a
later date. Jordan was expected to re-
ceive the same penalty as the other two
convicted men—three consecutive
-life terms. . ooo

“I was scared to death,” Gillum said.

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men returned to the party.

One of the women at the party told
Robison “he had blood on his shirt, and
he ought to take it off and let her rinse it
out,” the witness related. She then gave
a graphic account of what reportedly
happened at the farmhouse in Velma.

According to Gillum, three people had
been shot to death but.he hadn’t done
the shooting. The woman witness tes-
tified that, according to Gillum, “they
went out somewhere in the country.
Randle (Robison) and Billy Jordan went
in. Randle shot the first girl in one bed-
room.”

The woman said she was told by Gil-

_lum that Robison found another bed-

room with the door locked and “tried to
kick through it.” Entering the room,
Robison saw a girl sitting on the bed, the
woman said she was told, and Robison
shot her.

“He was jumped from behind by a
man, and he shot the man in the thigh,”
the woman claimed to have been told by
Gillum. “HeShot him again, and he shot
the girl again.”

While the shootings were going on,
Jordan was busy ransacking the house,
and Gillum claimed he was just “stand-
ing and watching,” the witness said.

The woman related that after the
three men returned to the party, Robi-
son told her, “Either you’re with me or
you're not,” and threatened to kill her
and Gillum “if I have to.”

Another withess testified that when
Robison, Gillum and Jordan left the
party in Healdton, they said they were
going to “get some gold.” When the trio
returned later, Robison handed a boot
that appeared to have a blood spot on it
to one of the women present and ordered
her to clean it.

“He just said clean ’em and I cleaned
’em,” the woman said from the witness
stand. She said also that the three men
had with them upon their return four or
five Polaroid photos of two partially un-
dressed women, a watch, a pocketknife
and a necklace. She was ordered to burn
the pictures and to get rid of the other
items, she said.

She said that the trio appeared “nerv-
ous and excited.”

Another woman at the~ party—also
called as a witness during that prelimi-
nary hearing—related that two days
after the party she accompanied two of
the defendants to the Wichita River
where they threw a dismantled gun into

the water.

She said one of the men, Robison, al-
ready had told her that three people had
been shot, so he didn’t really have to
explain to her why he was getting rid of
a gun.

Relative to weapons, OSBI Agent Ar-
thur Linville testified he believed that
more than one gun was used in the kil-
lings.

The agent said that he concluded

. 60 True Detective

- the site by witnesses. Loyett said:

early, in the invedtigation that more

‘than one gun was used because of the

smaller wounds in Averil Bourque’s

body, indicating a smaller caliber gun. .

During the autopsy, a .22 slug was re-
moved from the woman's head, the
agent revealed.

He also told of having te sev-
eral .380 caliber shells at the slaying
scene.

Another witness, OSBI agent Ernest’.

Lovett, said that he and other agents
recovered all of the dismantled gun that
had been thrown into the river except
the hammer, after having been |

tests were made on the gun, .22 caliber
revolver, by putting on substitute parts
that enabled the gun to be fired.

At the conclusion of the hearing,
Robison and Gillum were bound over for
trial on the first degree murder charges.
Judge Reynolds denied a motion by Gil-
lum’s attorney that the charge against

Gillum be reduced ‘to accessory to mur- .

der after the fact on grounds there was
no evidence showing that Gillum par-
ticipated in the slayings.

On Dec.-18, 1980, Robison and Gillum
were arraigned before District Judge
George Lindley. They both entered
pleas of not guilty to the murder charges
and were remanded to jail with bond
denied to await trial.

M canwhile, Stephens County ah-—

thorities, on March 5, 1981, won their
drawn-out battle to obtain the extradi-
tion of the third suspect, William Jor-
dan, from. Wichita County, Texas. Jor-
dan had been fighting extradition even
after the Texas governor signed an
order for his return to Oklahoma to face
the murder charge. But the extradition
was upheld-by a district court in
Wichita Falls and later the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals. Jordan was
brought to Duncan by Undersheriff
Stewart and Deputy Shultz, and placed

_in the county jail with bond denied.

Robison was the first of the suspects
to go to trial. An eight-man, four-
woman jury was seated on March 23,
1981, in the district court at Duncan.
Testimony began the next day.

In his opening statement, District At-
torney Tony Burns said the state now
had both guns used in the triple slay-
ings, the second weapon having been
recovered only a month before the trial
by an underwater recovery team from
Lake Arrowhead, southeast of Wichita

Falls, Texas. He said the gun was a .380.

caliber automatic pistol.

The prosecutor said the gun was in-
tact when found, but the clip was mis-
sing.

Burns told the jury that a bullet found

_in the car in which the suspects were .

thought to have been riding the night of

the savings had been linked to the .380°

- automatic pistol. The prosecutor said

the state would prove the slayings were
premeditated and that robbery was the
motive.

A picture of what took place in the
farmhouse on that fatal night began to
emerge with testimony of the state med-
ical examiner who performed autopsies
on the three bodies. For one thing, it
appeared that Swinford probably had
struggled with his killer.

The pathologist said Swinford re-

_ ceived two bullet wounds—one in the

right back near the armpit and the
other in the center of the back near the

t .. neck. The medical examiner testified

that the first wound was consistent with
the theory that Swinford, facing Robi-

son, had grabbed. him in a bear hug. .

Robison could have fired the shot with

his left hand. (During the testimony, '

the state pointed out that Robison was

left-handed, and was taking notes with. |

his left hand at the counsel table.)
The second wound could have been
received while Swinford was lying -on

the floor on his stomach, the expert wit- »

ness said.

This theory matched the account of
the shootings given by a former
girlfriend of Robison’s, who had told in-
vestigators and later testified that
Robison told her he was forced to shoot

‘Swinford when Swinford“jumped” him. ,
OSBI Agent Linville threw. more

light on the violent events that left
three persons dead from bullet wounds.
He said that trajectory tests conducted

by investigators indicated that Averil

Bourque had fired one shot with a..22
revolver (probably a fefensive shot). The
shot missed its target, according to the
agent. Then the Bourque woman was
shot twice between the eyes with a .22
revolver (believed to be the gun she had
fired the first shot with.)

Linville also told the jury that he took
a statement from Robison in which the
defendant denied having been involved
in the shootings—claiming he had spent
the night in Wichita Falls—but admit-
ting that he had been in the victims’s
house previously and taht he was aware
that one of the women owned a quantity
of gold jewelry.

Another witness, Mary Long, an
OSBI forensic chemist, said that during
a search of the car the trio reportedly
had driven to the farmhouse on the
murder night an unspent .380 caliber
bullet was found under the front seat.
(Tests reportedly showed the bullet had’
been in the chamber of the .380 automa-
tic later recovered from the lake.)

Taking the stand, a woman identified
as a former girlfriend of Robison. tes-
tified that she was with Robison and
Gillum when they were driving around
on a night after the shootings and they
stopped on a bridge at Lake Arrowhead.
She said the men heaved two suitcases
into the water, and then, “I saw a gun go

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This is-an appeal. from an order denying federal habeas corpus
to. a state prisoner. Olan. Randle -Robison (Petitioner) sought
relief from his conviction of three counts of first degree murder
upon which three death sentences were imposed in Stephens County,
Oklahoma. Petitioner raises several issues, including denial of
the right to offer evidence in mitigation of the death penalty;
prosecutorial misconduct; the introduction of testimony by
witnesses whose statements were taken under hypnosis; and denial
of the right to effective assistance of counsel. Finding need for
further development of facts on the issue of the effectiveness of
Petitioner's state appellate counsel, we remand for the purpose of
a limited evidentiary hearing. We affirm on the remaining issues,
however.

Respondents have defended some ‘of the issues raised on appeal
on the grounds of procedural bypass. Because the issues’ could
have been raised in the state appeal but were not, the Oklahoma
courts considered the issues waived and refused to decide them in
the postconviction proceedings. Accordingly, Respondents argue,
the federal court is barred from entertaining them. Respondents
raised the same defense in the federal district court which held
to the contrary. Respondents did not appeal from this’ ruling;
hence, the issue cannot be raised as an argument on appeal. 28

U.S.C. § 2107; Fed. R. App. P. 3. See also Averitt v. Southland

Motor Inn, 720 F.2d 1178, 1180 (10th Cir. 1983).

lpetitioner has received both direct and postconviction review of
his sentences in the courts of the state. The record before the
federal district court and that here on appeal contains the entire
transcript of the trial as well as the evidence taken and the
arguments heard in the state postconviction proceeding.

-2-

ros NOCTLEGE, « plhn/ Saks es Ol

Mc A les fer , 0K be mo FILED
PUBLISH Unit aon Cur APP
| SEP 25 1987
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
TENTH CIRCUIT ROBERT L. HOECKER
Clerk

OLAN RANDLE ROBISON,
Petitioner-Appellant,

vs. No. 86-2087
GARY MAYNARD, Warden, Oklahoma
State Penitentiary, McAlester,
Oklahoma; LARRY MEACHUM, Super-
intendent, Department of
Corrections, State of Oklahoma;
and ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE
STATE OF OKLAHOMA,

i i i i th dt

Respondents-—Appellees.

Appeal From the United States District Court
for the Western District of Oklahoma
(D.C. No. CIV-86-534-R)

Randy Alan Bauman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Petitioner-
Appellant.

Robert A. Nance, Assistant Attorney General, Deputy Chief, Federal
Division (Michael C. Turpen, Attorney General of Oklahoma),
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Respondents-—Appellees.

Before MOORE, SETH, and TACHA, Circuit Judges.

MOORE, Circuit Judge.

conclude, as a matter of federal law, the required infectious

- conduct was not present in this case. Coleman v. Brown, 802 F.2d

1227 (10th Cir. 1986).

“As we -noted, the evidence against Petitioner was strong.
Because of that evidence, we are unable to say, as a matter ‘of
federal constitutional law, that the antics of the prosecutor or
his statements to the jury could have tipped the scales in favor
of the prosecution. Indeed, as we shall later discuss, defense
counsel testified at the state postconviction hearing that he
thought the district attorney was prejudicing himself in the eyes
of the jury by his conduct. Our review of the record leads us to
the conclusion that surmise was not unjustified. Nevertheless,
within the confines of our scope of review, and viewing the
conduct of the prosecutor in the light of all surrounding
circumstances, we conclude because of the overwhelming nature of
the evidence aligned against the Petitioner, the jury must have
been swayed by the facts and not the conduct of counsel, even

though that conduct was questionable.

V.
Petitioner has challenged the Oklahoma statute permitting a
jury to find as an aggravating circumstance that a killing was
"especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel." We have held the

statute constitutionally deficient in our en banc ruling in

Cartwright v. Maynard, $22 F.2d 1477 (10th Cir 1987).

Accordingly, the death sentence given petitioner for the killing

-19-

-counsel was -not-functioning as -the ‘counsel' guaranteed the
defendant by the Sixth Amendment." Id. The second component
requires a “shewing that counsel's errors were so serious as_ to
- deprive the defendant of .a fair trial, a trial whose result is
reliable." Id. The measure against which these components’ are
judged is that of an objective standard of reasonableness.
Judging the reasonableness of counsel's performance requires that:

every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects
of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of
counsel's challenged conduct, and to evaluate the
conduct from counsel's perspective at the time. Because ~
of the difficulties inherent in making the evaluation, a
court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel's
conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable
professional assistance; that is, the defendant must
overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances,
the challenged action "might be considered sound trial
strategy."

Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689 (citation omitted). The Court

instructed that one who contends counsel was ineffective must
first specifically delineate the acts or omissions of counsel
which were not reasonably competent. Then, a reviewing court must
judge those specific instances in light of all circumstances’ in
the case in which those acts or omissions were allegedly outside
the wide range of professionally competent assistance. Within the
context of that review "strategic choices made after thorough
investigation of law and facts relevant to plausible options are

virtually unchallengeable." Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690.

Finally, the Court added, even if counsel's actions do not meet
the standard of reasonableness, a judgment of conviction must not
be set aside if those actions had no effect on the judgment. That

result can occur only when the defendant shows “there is a

-21-

of Averil - Bourque cannot stand. -Nonetheless, we do not believe
this consequence mandates total relief.

The constitutional implications of the invalid statute exist
only for the sentence to which the statute was applied. Since the
jury was not instructed-to consider whether the killings of the
other two victims were “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel,"
its verdicts on those crimes cannot be impeached on that ground.
Following Oral argument here, Petitioner has contended the
instruction regarding the killing of Averil Bourque had a "spill-
over" effect on the jury, thus necessitating vacation of the

remaining verdicts. We find no justification for that argument in

the record, hence we decline the invitation to so-rule. ~
VI.
| A.
Petitioner raises .the effectiveness of his trial and

appellate counsel, claiming because of their failures to raise or
preserve many issues, he was denied his right to counsel.
Petitioner was represented on appeal to the Court of Criminal
Appeals by counsel different from those who represented him at
trial.

Our review of this issue is guided by Strickland v.

Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984), which held that in order to

succeed on a claim of incompetent counsel, a defendant must show
that counsel's performance was deficient and that the deficiency
prejudiced his defense. The first component of the test requires

the petitioner show “that counsel made errors so serious that

-20-

reasonable. probability that,- but. for counsel's -unprofessional
errors, the.result of the proceeding would have been different. A
reasonable probability is a probability —sufficient to undermine

confidence in the outcome." Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694. fThis

test is not to be made in a vacuum, however, as -the Court added
the reviewing court must presume, in the absence of evidence to
the contrary, that the judge or jury acted according to law.
Moreover, the determination of the ineffectiveness claim must be
governed by the totality of the evidence before -the jury.
Petitioner has met the first burden of particularizing the
errors of counsel. He claims trial counsel was inept in failing
to object to the actions of the prosecutor; in failing to object
to the testimony of hypnotized witnesses; and in failing to make
objections necessary to preserve issues for appeal. Petitioner
also argues trial counsel failed to properly prepare for and
conduct the second phase proceedings and, in particular, in
failing to call witnesses in mitigation. After reviewing the
record, we find some of these contentions factually deficient.
First, as previously noted, trial counsel did object to the
testimony of Ms. Henderson. Unfortunately, the colloquy between
court and counsel was not reported; therefore, it is impossible to
determine the argument made in support of the objection, but it is
clear the trial court allowed Ms. Henderson's testimony over an
objection based upon her hypnotic interview. Second, we believe
it a mischaracterization of the record to claim trial counsel
called. no -witnesses in the second phase. Even though it was on

the prosecution's motion, all the evidence in the first phase,

-22-

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No Way

To Treat
A British
Lady

by WAYNE T. WALKER

For its location, Stephens Coun-

“ty in south central Oklahoma has
had more than its share of homi-
cides in the last two years. Three
at a time, however, was like
dumping iodine on an open
wound: The morning of Friday the
13th, in June 1980, was almost too
much for the law enforcement
officers in the county...

Law enforcement officers compar-
ing notes on the case outside rural

farmhouse where three were slain.

Ambulance attendants carry sheet-wrapped body from murder
house after triple slaying.

Sy he ong

Ft oto:

1
en

Abou!
in Velm
someon:
could h:

“It's :
“They:
God, th:

The d
on the o
John Sv
brother’
east of °
there, a:
mediate!

Relayi

om murder

It was incomprehensible that a human being could
_.murder in such a savage manner. One bullet had -
entered the left side of her head, another was fired

into her left ear, and both eyes were
blown away by gunshot.

About 7:40 a.m., the police dispatcher
in Velma received a telephone call from
someone who was so distraught they
could hardly talk coherently.

‘It’s a bloody mess,"’ said the voice.
‘*‘They’reall dead — all three of them. My
God, there's blood everywhere.”

The dispatcher calmed the male voice
on the other end enough to learn it was
John Swinford and that he was at his
brother’s residence, located two miles
east of Velma. She told him to remain
there, and she would send sdmeone im-
mediately. - :

Relaying the message to Velma Police

Chief Dennis Rue, she was told to contact
the Stephens County Sheriff's Depart-
ment in Duncan and Dr. Gerald Bealey
Jr., the county coroner.
‘*Being outside of town, it’s out of our
jurisdiction,"’ said Chief Rue, ‘*But llrun
on out there to check it out. Someone
might still be alive. Besides, someone
needs to stay there until Sheriff Alexan-
der gets there, so nothing is disturbed.”’
As he drove out to the rural home,
Chief Rue thought about the occupants of
the residence... two women and a man.
The women, on a visit from Britain origi-
nally, had created quite a stir in the small

oe ah

community when they had moved into
the house outside of town.

About 18 months before, Sheila Love-
joy, 38-year-old Briton from Greensway,
had come to Healdton, 25 miles southeast
of Velma, to visit her sister, Mrs. Polly
Upton, who had settled there with her
family. :

Evidently, Sheila Lovejoy had decided
to extend her visit for she had begun
working as a barmaid at the Hilltop Bar in
the small town of Countyline, east of
Velma. On April, Chief Rue had heard
another Briton — Mrs. Averil Joan Bour-
que, 42 — had arrived on a visit with the
other two women. Then about two
months ago, he had learned Bob Swind-
ford and the two British women had ren-
ted the house outside Velma and move
in together. :

This had really set tongues wagging
over the county...

When Chief Rue parked in the drive-
way of the house, he found John Swin-
ford, brother to the man who lived there,
standing in the yard. He looked as if he
were in a state of shock.

‘*He’s in the house — it’s in a mess,”’
John Swinford mumbled and motioned
toward the doorway.

**... a mess,’* was an understatement.
Chief Rue stepped into a shambles, with
overturned furniture, emptied drawers,
clothing and papers scattered every-
where in the house. The television set
was still on, as if someone had been view-
ing it when the assailant busted in.

In one of the bedrooms he found a pile
of furniture, as if the door had been bar-
ricaded in a futile attempt to keep out the
killer, but the attacker had apparently
forced his way inside. :

‘‘The bedroom door was definitely
kicked in,’ Chief Rue said later. ‘Near
the doorknob a hole was almost kicked
right through it.”

Bob Swinford was sprawled face-down
on the floor in his own blood. The chief

(continued on next page)

Olan Randle Robison (center) Is
manaclied at the waist as he’s led
into District Court to answer to
charges of first-degree murder.

could see where he had been shot at least
twice — between the shoulder blades and
in the left shoulder.

Half on and half off the bed lay Joan
Bourque — shot four times. It was unbe-
lievable that a human being could murder
another human being in such a bizarre,
savage manner. Mrs. Bourque had been
shot once in the left side of the head, once
in the right ear, and each of her eyes had
been blown away by gunshots.

By this time, Chief Rue had to force
himself to continue his way to the other
bedroom. Here he found the body of
Sheila Lovejoy. He could see no wounds
on her body, but blood had gushed from
her mouth and formed a pool under her
head. He speculated that the killer had
rammed his gun into her mouth and pulled
the trigger.

Returning shakily to the freshness of
the outside, he talked with John Swinford
until the county officers arrived. The
grief-stricken brother explained how he
had come to discover the bodies.

‘**As you know, Bob and I work for the
sandblasting company. Well, this morn-
ing Bob didn’t show up for work. Any-
time he’s going to be late or can’t make it
that day, he has always called. When he
hadn’t arrived by 7:20, I tried to call, but
no one answered. Finally, | gave up and
drove out —I had this gut feeling, but this
was so unexpected...”’

He broke down and sobbed for a mo-
ment, then continued: ‘‘Well, I found
him. Yes, Lord, I found him. My brother
was on the floor — I could see a wound in
his back. My God, did you ever see so
much blood in one place?”’

Chief Rue comforted him the best he
could...

Not long after Stephens County Sheriff
Bill Alexander arrived and looked the
scene over, he contacted the headquar-
ters of the Oklahoma State Bureau of In-
vestigation (OSBI) in Oklahoma City and
requested assistance on the case. His de-
partment simply wasn't equipped and
trained for the sole investigation of sucha
major undertaking. Three agents — Paul
Renfro, Arthur Linville, and Jim Avance
— soon appeared on the scene with the
OSBI mobile crime lab.

From his initial examination of the
bodies, Dr. Beasley determined that the
victims had been slain sometime before
midnight, on June 12th. He reported that
Sheila Lovejoy had been shot once in the
right corner of her mouth and that one of
the bullets that had entered 41-year-old
Bob Swinford had passed through his
heart.

‘‘A madman must have done this,”’ Dr.
Beasley commented to the law officers
around him. ‘‘I’ve never seen anything so
barbaric.”’

For the most part, authorities were
tight-lipped to the news media, but the
sheriff indicated the killer may have inter-

rupted Mrs. Lovejoy while she was
watching television, chased her into her
bedroom and killed her. Hearing the tur-
moil and shot, the other two tried to bar-
ricade their bedroom doors without suc-
cess. The killer had broken in and slain
them also.

At that time, Shenff Alexander said,
they had no suspects or motives beyond,
perhaps, robbery. Relatives of Swinford
and Mrs. Upton, sister of Sheila Lovejoy,
could not determine whether anything
was missing from the home.

At first, Sheriff Alexander said, it was
speculated that it might be a case of
murder-suicide. The investigators
thought perhaps Sheila Lovejoy might
have been jealous of the other two and
killed them. Later, she went into her bed-
room and shot herself. The theory was
fine, but there was a hell of an important
factor missing from the scene — the gun.

This weak speculation was quickly
dropped for numerous reasons... For one
thing, none of the officers could see
Sheila Lovejoy kicking in the door with
the force it would have taken for the
rather heavy door.

Although both sheriff's deputies and
OSBI agents questioned neighbors, they
found no one who had heard or seen any-
thing unusual on the night of the slaying.
This was understandable, since it was
mostly ranching and farming country —
the houses were few and far between.

The OSBI crime lab technicians
meticulously went over the house and
yard seeking fingerprints or anything else
that might possibly be a clue in the slay-
ings. There was no evidence of forced
entry on the outside doors, so they
theorized that the Lovejoy woman had
either let them in or a door had been un-
locked and the killer had walked in to
surprise her watching television. Proba-
bly, she had run into her bedroom,
screaming, and the crazy killer had shut
her up by ramming the gun in her mouth
and pulling the trigger.

Mrs. Upton told the news media in an
interview that her sister had paid her a
visit the day before she was found slain.

““You never knew when she was going

‘to pop in... She was here at my house that

day — and that night she was dead.’ __

The woman who owned the Hilltop Bar
where Mrs. Lovejoy had worked said the
slayings were the main topic of conversa-
tion.

**Sheila was very popular with the cus-
tomers,’ she said. ‘‘They got the biggest
kick out of the way she talked. She was
always good natured about their teasing
her.”

Then she added, *‘It certainly has peo-
ple in this area scared. Everybody is
keeping their guns close, from the way
they talk.”’

When the AP picked up the story about
the slain women being Britons here ona

visit, the case suddenly became an inter-
national case. The small community of
Velma had a changing population of
around 600, dependent on births and
deaths; but now there were so many peo-
ple you couldn’t stir them with a stick.

It looked as though every metropolitan
city in the nation had sent news media
representatives from newspapers and
television networks. The reporters,
photographers and television crew al-
most drove Sheriff Alexander and his
staff up the nearest wall. There were even
a flood of long distance calls from Britain,
either their news media wanting an up-
date on the case or some of the relatives
with questions.

Meanwhile, OSBI agents were busy
doing their legwork by questioning rela-
tives, friends or just acquaintances of the
three victims. They had obtained some
leads; however, most of them went no-
where. Not realizing it, Mrs. Upton gave
them their first real lead.

She said she was afraid that she might
have told some people the wrong thing on
the day of the shooting. Someone had
asked about Joan Bourque and her back-
ground in England. No malice involvcd,
just curiosity. During the conversation
about her friend from South Wales, Polly
Upton bragged about Joan having a lot of
expensive jewelry.

“Why, she has one gold bracelet that
was possibly worth $4,000 by itself,’ she
had said.

Immediately, the agents became in-
terested in who had heard her remark.
After thinking a moment, she was able to
give them the names. When they showed
the list toC arter County Sheritf Bob Den.
ney, whose county Healdton was lo-
cated, he pointed out the name of a male.

‘That's real interesting,’’ he said.
**He’s out on bond now on several
charges here in Carter County. I think
he’s supposed to appear in court on the
19th. He’s served time in Big Mac (state
prison at McAlester) for armed robbery.”’

The two OSBI agents looked at one
another, then one of them asked,
*‘Where can we reach him? I think we
need to ask him a few questions. Like
where he was on the night of the 12th..."’

“Yeah, I'll dig you out everything I
have on him,”* replied Sheriff Denney.
**He’s amember ofa motorcycle club and
kind of a part-time musician. Don’t think

- he does much with the music anymore.

‘I saw him on the street (in Healdton)
one time when he was playing guitar and
singing with the Outlaws... that’s a west-
ern swing band made up of convicts from
the prison. They play at towns over Ok-
lahoma.”*

The address proved to be worthless in
regard to locating their suspect. He had

‘taken off and no one knew where he was.

When he didn’t appear in court on June
19, Sheriff Denney issued an APB on him.

Mear
down ©
OSBI a
ing, tal)
looking
of the s
ivnestig
minds t

“reason |

cessful
Acco
gland, |
expecte
there. A
women
ing tim

The NATIONAL EXECUTION ALERT NETWORK is a project
of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
For more information, contact: Pamela Rutter, NCADP

1325 G St. NW LL-B, Washington DC 20005 (202)347-2411
Peacenet Access Code--ABOLITION//Non-Business Hours Alert Answering Machine 202-347-2415
Partial: Funding for the Alert Network is provided by the J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation,
the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute, the Boehm Foundation and the Unitarian Universalist

Foundation.

ALERT 92-2 February 21, 1992
**EXECUTION ALERT**EXECUTION ALERT**EXECUTION ALERT**EXECUTION ALERT**
OKLAHOMA 10 MARCH 1992 LETHAL INJECTION

ROBYN LEROY PARKS, (Black), age 37 has been on death row since October 1978.
He was convicted of the murder of a gas station attendant. Mr. Parks was denied
by the Pardon & Parole Board 4-1 for a recommendation of clemency. The

Governor does not have executive clemency power without the recommendation

‘ of the Pardon & Parole Board.

OKLAHOMA 13 MARCH 1992 LETHAL INJECTION
OLAN R. ROBISON, (White), age 45 has been on death row since April 1981.

Robison was convicted of the robbery/murder of 1 white male and 2 white females.
There was no mitigation on Robison’s behalf introduced at his trial. Robison’s two
co-defendants received llife sentences. Robison was sentenced to death, after the
trial judge granted a prosecution motion to prevent a sister of one of the victims
from testifying that Robison should not be given the death penalty.

TAKE ACTION ON OKLAHOMA CASES, CONTACT:

Gov. David Walters OK Pardon & Parole Board

State Capitol 4040 N Lincoln Blvd. Ste 219

Oklahoma City OK 73105 Oklahoma City OK 73105

(405) 521-2342 (405)427-8601

FAX (405) 521-33353 FAX (405) 427-6648
ALABAMA 20 MARCH 1992 . ELECTROCUTION

LARRY HEATH, (White), age 40, has been on death row since February 1983. He was
convicted of the contract murder of his pregnant wife. Tne two co-defendants
who actually committed the kidnapping and murder were given life sentences.

* TAKE ACTION, CONTACT: Gov. Guy Hunt
State House
; 11S. Union St.
. Montgomery AL 36130
(205) 242-7100 FAX (205) 242-4407
ARIZONA 6 APRIL 1992 GAS CHAMBER

DONALD EUGENE HARDING, (White), age 42, has been on death row since January
1982. He was convicted of the robbery/kidnapping/murder of two males. Based
on the advice of his lawyer, who was recently out of law school, who had never
tried a capital case and who had conducted virtually no investigation, Harding
represented himself at trial and at his sentencing hearing. Harding, who is
diagnosed as having organic brain damage, made only one objection during his
trial and presented no mitigating evidence. Although the ineffectiveness of
Harding’s lawyer has been acknowledged, the state of Arizona is continuing to
refuse to hear unrebutted evidence that would warrant a sentence less than death.
Arizona has not had an execution since March 1963.
TAKE ACTION, CONTACT: Gov. Fife Symington

1700 W. Washington (602) 542-4331

Phoenix AZ 85007 FAX (602) 542-7601

LARGE CARB BOOK. & MAGAZINE EXCERPTS,
(Comanche ) :
SANDS, Charles, and SILER, Leon, elec. Okla, SP RGMMAMR 5-31-1935,

"TWO YOUTHS EXECUTED FOR MURDER OF DEPUTY, = INDIAN AND ANOTHER DIE IN
CHAIR FOR KILLING OF OFFICER IN 1935. = By the Associated Press, = Mc-=-
Alester, Ok., Jun e 11, = Charlie Sands and Leon Siler were executed in
the electric chair at McAlester penitentiary shortly after midnight for
the killing of Deputy Sheriff J. E, Wilson of Grady County May 31, 1935,
Siler, 21 years old, was the first to walk to the chair from the death
cells. He was placed in the chair at 12:13 and was pronounced dead at
12:15. Four minutes later, Sands, 20-year-old Kiowa Indian, was st gapped
in the chair. He was pronounced dead at 12:21. Siler smiled as the
electrodes were adjusted, and said nothing, Great beads of perspira-
tion broke out on Sands! forehead as he was placed in the chair, He
gritted his teeth." POST-DISPATCH, St, Louis, Mo,, June 11, 1937, (1)

iLactto™ Cyurshtdiom

”

. | GEN. BIKNIE, CHIEF OF FIE LD AK iL,
Vea Ea Se
yoo j Nae ee
CLC LZLE ea aan On DRL eat ag
VOL. XXXV.—No._ 228. FULL NEA SERVICE oe

. ed

Ty} y}

Piel ip hAu

NERA

1,400 Othicuresa and Members
Of Crew Are Aboard

Tennessee

DETAILS ARE LACKING

Four Tugs Ave Sent To Scene
On Mud Flats
Friday

SAN FRANCISCO, June
11.—UP)—The U. S. battle-!
ship Tennessee radioed Fri-
day that she had grounded
on mud flats in San Fran-

cisco Bay off Alameda.
Navy Confirms Report

The navy department here con-
firmed the report that the ship
Was aground, but said “details are
lacking.”

The vessel came into a San
Francisco bay from Puget Sound
at 3:50 a. m. and apparently on the
mud flats sent it aground,

The Tennessee's message said
che was trying tu get here under
her own power.

Sent By Company
Fourteen hundred officers
few omembers were uabvard
feship.
The tugs
ta Banyper

"ty the

and |
the |

ste!
Sea

and

King, Sea Scout,
Kelinnee were |

scene by the Hed Stack |

I \ Tal\ra
MATTIECHIDIG sCONTACT WITH |CANT CW] 7
if ty tied Nd wins eS DNAPERS IS aii mil J
bias “W REPORTED! GHHAUUATE

Taxi Driver Seen At Home
Of Missing New York

Society Woman

STONY BROOK, N. Y.,
June 11.—(UP)—A_ report
that contact had been estab-
lished with the kidnapers of
Mrs. Alice McDonnell Par-
sons spread Friday after a
taxicab driver went to her
home here and conferred with
her husband, William H. Par-
sons,

Drives Away Quickly

The cabman drove away within
a few minutes. A man believed to
be Mrs. Parsons’ brother, Frank
McDonnell, followed him. Police
and detectives prevented newspa-
permen and photographers from
following the cars.

Officers patrolling the region
professed to have no knowledge of
the reason for the cab’s trip or
McDonnell’s ‘nasty departure.

The activity occurred after fed-
eral and. state investigators ‘nad
withdrawn to Stony Brook to leave

; Parsons free to negotiate directly

his 38-year-old
wife, held for

for the return of
social registerite
$25,000 ransom.

TNE A FLOODS
FAL AVY RAIA

QM OMUNDAT

Chief Of Field Artillery Will
Address F, A. S. Class,
Present Diplomas

PROBLEM ENDS FRIDAY

Only Two Accidents Despite
Adverse Weather; Radio
Successful

Seventy-six officers, most
of whom have been attend-
ing the Field Artillery school
at Fort Sill since Sept. 8,
1936, will receive diplomas at
graduation exercises at the
post Saturday morning.

May Be In Theater

The commencement address and
the diplomas will be presented by
Maj. Gen. Upton Birnie, jr., chief
of field artillery, who has been at
Fort Sill since Wednesday.

The commencement exercises
will be held at Rucker park, offi-
cials announced Friday providing
weather is fair. It is scheduled for

8:30 a. m.
‘In case of inclement weather,
they said, the evercises will

be held in the army post theater.
Problem Ends

The five day field problem,

which has been the climax to the

months of study of the artillery of-

“LAWIO 11 OFLA

SANS

[candies

00) dS *eT40.°908T° “URIIS P

LEON SILER

NOW A WIDOW

DRESS FORT SILL GRADUATING CLASS SATURUAY § wexnire conccast |
Cain Ce
CAEN I Ll eae oe ere
Seas Net et WY é i; ee Say < z

epee ge pee = ortega 2:

Price 5e—DAILY EDINOWW

~
.

roe rt Ff f i

ned Youths Meet Death [hich
ctors; 250 Witnesses, Kin | [Obi cui0
lin Oificer At Execution) TfLEUI
‘Fail To Deliver Last Minute Speeches; Phyllis Siler Is Permitted To

| Wife Of Siler Breaks; 14 Attend a ee | “OM Saitigdaes

At Semincle
From Comanche County , Pate fo ee
BY BILL LOGAN

‘BE GOOD,’ LAST WISH

. Bl : é I lerring Girl Denied Peaquest
a Constitution Staff Writer a To Attend Sweethesrt's
McALESTER, June 11—Like actors playing character 1! nt ee Last Rites
. * ey 4? : aes 3 | te
roles in the climax of a tragedy drama, smiling Leon Siler,|: i gon
‘ ie . "headin a! ae 3 : ; ee s : ! $ ~ co an
21, and stoic Charley Sands, 22, walked unaided tatheir oe 8, } Funeral services for Char-
deaths early F riday. — ome ley Sands, 22-year-old Kiowa
” 250 Witnesses Present _ a Indian, put to death in the
They were electrocuted at the state prison for the mur- deetitte- ehair: « Af eAdnnkee
si Ah ap Aen \ are a Aw: electric chair oat) MeAlester
der cf J. E. “Pete” Wilson, Grady county deputy sheriff, i edtly Friday, will be held at
10 miles east of Lawion, May 31, 1935, after robbing the]. - aa ae . “a wilivkd Maas
he : i y pn + ep mein Anadarke Satur-
Elgin bank. Se SE OMe py’ day, and burial will be made
lwo of Wilson’s brothers, a nephew, Henry W. Hoel, i- (oe Nim I fat the Indian cemetery east
Stillwater, judge of the Sands-Siler murder trial in Law- jo ote - 4 of yn ie , aie
- ' . z ant rH i .
ton, and about 15 Comanche county people were included]. ; ¢ ‘A re) 53 ysl Only Beg. Burned
. fe ; . ee aa v4 — s : 7
in the 250 witnesses to the execution, ge rie Wd OL ore i| Sands, with Leon Siier, 21, alse
Last minute speeches, reportedly .planned by both men, were not é ¢ wae, ; 4 » electrocuted, held up othe igin
made. ; Bae seb id wtbbnbi dade SbbeS Box: LEN Fes ssdvinty uh oi State bank, and killed JOE “Pete”
Siler, Serninole, walked into the over-crowded death chamber first, Wilson, Grady county deputy sher-
visibly shaken but grinning broadly. He shook hands with Warden CHARLIE SANDS iff, May 31, 1935. :
Jess Dunn, and others, und murmured a few words very low. :

Sands will be buried within a few
He smiled as the electrode was adjusted. He glanced ‘a moment at

miles of the seene of the erme
the witnesses before the mask was put over his ‘nead, VOWS REFUSED | Which led to his downfall
Switch Thrown At 12:14 a. op,

Services will be held in the Ana-
At 12:14 a. m., Executioner Rich Owen threw the switch, adminis- darko | Faneral home. Funeral
tering a 2,300-volt shock, which threw Siler’s body rigidly forward, The | , -- > }home directors said) Sands'. bed
curent was turned off at 12215, Was not burned as an result of the
Three physicians, including: Dr. W. 1. Taylor, Holdenville, who has electrocution, except om one te,
“wittessed all executions since statehood, pronounced “This) man is eS ae '
pee

penning spuappateensiermmiinisin ami

DO WE HAVE TO DIE?

A strange man in Los Angeles, known as
“The Voice of Two Worlds,’’ reveals the
story of a remarkable system that often
leads to almost unbelievable improvement in
power of mind, achievement of brilliant busi-
ness and professional success and new happi-
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Others tell of increased bodily strength, mag-
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The man, a well-known explorer and geog-
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methods in far-off and mysterious Tibet,
often called the land of miracles by the few
travelers permitted to visit it. He discloses
how he learned rare wisdom and long hid-
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thousand years by the sages, which enabled
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in all of us, and that methods for using them
are now simplified so that they can be used
A almost any person with ordinary intel-

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He maintains that man, instead of being
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universe which can be used in his daily af-
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mind-power, when awakened, can make man
capable of surprising accomplishments, from
the prolonging of youth to success in many
fields. To that eternal question, ‘‘Do we have
to die?’’ his answer is astounding.

The author states the time has come for
this long hidden system to be disclosed to
the Western world, and offers to send his
amazing 9000-word treatise — which reveals
many startling results — to sincere readers
of this publication, free of cost or obligation,
For your free copy, address the Institute of
Mentalphysics, 213 South Hobart Blvd., Dept.
112M, Los Angeles, California, Readers are
urged to write promptly, as only a limited
number of the free treatises have been
printed,

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PLAY WHILE GETTING WELL AT THE PHYSICAL CULTURE HOTEL

That’s a little house, and the walls are
almost like paper.”

Chief Moncrief, who was sitting in the
office with us, remarked, “There were
enough bullets fired into the house to kill
everyone in it. After the shooting was
over, I counted seventy-two bullet holes
in the walls. That’s to say nothing of
the shots that went into the roof, and
the yard. How anybody escaped out of
that is beyond me.”

On June 7th, the grand jury returned an
indictment on both counts against the
quartet. Siler and Sands were brought
from Granite, to be arraigned with the
women. All four entered pleas of not
guilty to the charges against them, in the
hearing of tense crowds that had packed
the courtroom for two hours before the
arraignment.

Phyllis received a continuance because
of her extreme youth, and the remaining
trio went to trial on September 20th. Four
days later, after deliberation of only a few
hours, the jury returned a verdict of guilty
against both of the men. Ruby Herring
was found guilty of manslaughter. The
jury made no recommendation for clem-
ency in the Siler-Sands verdict.

On September 30th, Siler and Sands
stood with expressionless faces and heard
themselves sentenced to die in the electric
chair at McAlester on December 30th.
The Herring girl, nervous and fidgety, en-
tirely Jacking in her earlier insolent calm,
received a sentence of ten years’ imprison-
ment at McAlester. Shortly afterward,
Phyllis was tried in juvenile court on a
charge of assault with intent to kill, and
committed to the State girls’ institution at
Tecumseh.

While in the county jail at Lawton,
before being removed to the State Peni-
tentiary at McAlester, the condemned men
made several attempts at jail-breaks. Gas
pipes were twisted from their fittings and
spoons were filed to dagger-like points, for
weapons. It became necessary for the two
to be under constant, armed surveillance.

Meanwhile, the decision against them
was reviewed by the Oklahoma criminal
court of appeals and upheld. Date of exe-
cution was set for Thursday. midnight,
June 11th, 1936.

Now in death row, the two desperadoes
refused to believe that they would be
executed, declaring their certainty that
Governor E. W. Marland would intervene.
“T don’t think I’ll have to go.’ Sands re-
marked, with something of his old bravado.
“But if I have to, I can take it.”

He and Siler went to the chair at Me-
Alester, shortly after midnight, on Friday,
June 12th.

HAVE YOU
A STORY?

If you have in mind any
fact case, with actual photo-
graphs, deemed suitable for
publication in this magazine,
please address the Editor,
MASTER DETECTIVE, 122 E.
42nd Street, New York City,
and ask for our “Letter of
Suggestions” covering full in-
formation relative to writing
the accounts of fact crime
cases for this magazine.

MASTE DETECTIVE

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Edward's bi
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“Both the
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(Continued from page 13)

posse running toward us, and the deadly
hail of flying bullets kept up, kicking spurts
of dust from the ground and thudding into
the walls of the building. I realized that
the posse had the place surrounded, and
that we were in aw bad spot, caught by cross-
fire. Glancing over my shoulder, I could
see that the officers on the highway be-
hind us had dropped flat in the ditch to
escape the dangerous rain of flying lead.

“The farmers in that posse don’t know
us,” Cochran yelled at me, “and they’re
shooting at anything that moves. We’d
better figure out some way to get those
guys oul of there so we can stop the shoot-
ing.”

“Lin going in,” I shouted back. “It’s
about as safe in there as it is out here.”

Pistol in my hand, I ran toward the
house. I saw a man, briefly, through a
window. He had a gun. I squeezed down
on the trigger, but I heard a disheartening
click. My gun was empty. A_ bullet
whizzed past my head, much too close for
comfort, and ] whipped behind the car,
reaching through’ the window for a revol-
ver which lay on the rear seat. T had given
my Winchester to Cochran, when Garner
had taken the other gun.

At that moment, I noticed that some
one inside the house had fastened a shirt
to a broomstick and was waving it fran-
tically from behind the partly closed door-
way. Apparently those inside had had
enough of the deadly cross-fire, too. “They
want to surrender,” Cochran yelled, and
we ran for the house with Bailey, who
arose from his place beside the foundation.
I saw the other officers leave their places
of questionable safety and dash toward
us. Evidently the possemen could see what
was happening, because the firing died
down at once, and I heard their shouts as
they ran toward the farmhouse.

Inside, my first concern was for Tete
Wilson. He was lying on the floor in the
kitchen, shot in the back. He was dead.
Near him, lay a slender, dark-skinned
youth, breathing heavily. I recognized him
as Adrian Medrano, the husband of the
woman who had run out to the barn just
before the shooting started,

Two roughly dressed men, whom I knew
at once, were there, standing sullenly silent,
with their hands in the air. Sands, the In-
dian, was injured, and was supporting him-
self against the wall. Siler, a slim, blond
youth, stood near him, his face impassive,
The two women cowered close by, both
obviously badly frightened,

Near an inner doorway stood a man and
a woman whom JI did not recognize, and
in the room beyond I could see another
youth, Cochran muttered, “How on earth
do you suppose these people ever escaped
being hurt?”

The officers quickly took charge of the
two youths and the women, and others
questioned the bandits’ hostages. Sheriff
McCarty and Chief Moncrief began or-
ganizing guard details to bring the prison-
crs into Lawton. “You see about Stephens,”

Bank of Elgin, looted by the robbers

the Sheriff ordered me. I went back into
the yard, now swarming with the excited
possemen. The banker was still lying on
the ground beside the truck,

“Help me put him into my car, and
Vl get him to the hospital,” I said.

Hederal Officer Ed Smith was bending
over Constable Deeds, near by. Both of
Deeds’ arms hung useless, and his face
was haggard with pain. He was being
helped into Smith’s car as I left with
Stephens.

All the way to Lawton, I drove at top
speed, not knowing how badly the banker
was hurt. There was a wound in his left
chest, and he had been shot in the mouth.
It looked pretty bad to me, but he kept

C. D. Cochran, special agent for the
Frisco Railway, was caught in cross-
fire from posse’s guns

insisting that he was all right, and trying
to sit up. “Did they get those gtiys, Wald-
ron?” he asked me.

“Yes, they got all four, and they’re on
their way to Lawton by now.”

“Is it true about Tete Wilson?”

I nodded grimly,

“That’s a dirty shame,” Stephens mut-

tered.
.I knew what he was thinking, and I
shared his feelings. Tete had been fairly
new in the law-enforcement game, but
already he had made his mark as a promis-
ing, fearless officer, and no. job was too
big for him. He was a brother of D,
Arthur Wilson, an officer who had a long,
splendid record in the service, and who at
present was a member of the State Bureau,
and engaged in trying to trace down the
belief that the men we had captured to-
day were the same ones who had com-
mitted the dastardly killing at Pauls Val-
ley.

Tete had been a laughing, kindly man,
liked by all who knew him, prisoners and
civilians alike. and he hada fine family,
It seemed so useless and unfair that he
had to die under the blazing guns of two
killers who should have known they were
trapped, anyway.

“IT didn’t see D, Arthur there today,” I
commented. “Did you?”

“No,” replied Stephens, “I didn’t. He's
still over at Pauls Valley, I imagine. Well,
some one will have to call him, and that
won’t be an casy job. That family thought
an awful lot of Tete.”

Tete got into the law-enforcement busi-
ness chiefly because he was so proud of
his brother’s record and wanted to be like
him,” I recalled. “Well, I’d hate to be
those guys and have to face D. Arthur.”

At the hospital in Lawton, the attendants
had hardly got Stephens in bed before

MASTER DETECTIVE

others of the

learned

wounded.

“Wilson ne:

Sheriff told ;

kid, is in a }
possemen’s gi:
he’ll live.” }

aged. “One :
Deeds and >
know how bs

one of the wo
price to pay
the way. we «
farm.”

Before we })
us that a larg
county jail, ;
killers. Alth
been a Coma
known and |i
ing among t}
was a little d

“Tf we keep
be trouble,”
“We'd better

Fritz McC

formatory at
be all right ir
can be a long
finds out we’
All the way
an uncommu:
all right with :
of mine, and
of the best. I»
table toward h
We returned
ning. I got a
with Sheriff M.
the two girls.
sullen, althoug!
for their enco
flesh-wound su:
She elected
what little wa
built, rather ta
she had a cock:
peared much h
The younger g)
was the wife of
seemed scarcels
her demeanor,
failed to reali:
situation. She
and freckle-fac:
of a naughty 1
wife. She see:
mixed up in su
questioned her
“They made
promptly. “I\
ily. Leon cam:

NOVEMBER, 1940

back into
the excited
ill Jving on

woocar, and
said.

vas bending

x. Both of
nd his face
was being
I left with

lrove at top
> the banker
4d in his left
» the mouth.
but he kept

%
7

-nt for the
it in cross-
ins

rand trving
guys, Wald-

d they’re on
MLS
ephens mut-

iking, and I
d been fairly

game, but
> us a promis-
job was too
rother of D.
» had a long.
and who at
State Bureau.
ice down the
captured to-
ho had com-
at Pauls Val-

. kindly man.
prisoners and
» fine family.
nfair that) he
/ vuns of two
wn they were

cre today,” I

didn’t. He's
imagine, Well,

others of the posse began to arrive, and
I learned that in all, five had been
wounded.

“Wilson never knew what hit him,” the
Sheriff told me. “Adrian Medrano, the
kid, is in a bad condition. One of the
possemen’s guns shot him. I don’t think
he’ll live.” He looked tired and discour-
aged. “One officer dead, Medrano dying,
Deeds and Stephens wounded, I don’t
know how bad, a bullet in Sands’ leg and
one of the women wounded. That’s a stiff
price to pay for $600 in bank loot. By
the way, we got the money there at the
farm.”

Before we left the hospital, word reached
us that a large crowd was gathered at the
county jail, awaiting the arrival of the
killers. Although Tete Wilson had not
been a Comanche County officer, he was
known and liked in Lawton, and the feel-
ing among the residents toward his killers
was a little dangerous.

“Tf we keep them here, I’m afraid there'll
be trouble,” McCarty said anxiously.
“We'd better take them to the State Re-

Fritz McCarty, Comanche County
: Sheriff

formatory at Granite. The women will
be all right in the county jail here. We
can be a long way off before that crowd
finds out we’re gone.

All the way, both prisoners maintained
an uncommunicative silence. That was
all right with me. Tete had been a friend
of mine, and as an officer, he was one
of the best. I wasn’t feeling any too chari-
table toward his killers, myself.

We returned to Lawton late in the eve-
ning. I got a bite of supper and went
with Sheriff McCarty to have a talk with
the two girls. ‘They were tight-lipped and
sullen, although apparently none the worse
for their encounter, save for the slight
flesh-wound suffered by the Herring girl.

She elected to serve as spokesman in
what little was said. She was slightly
built, rather tall and net unattractive, but
she had a cocky, insolent manner, and ap-
peared much hardened, beyond her years.
The younger gil, Phyllis, who told us she
was the wife of the blond desperado, Siler,
seemed scarcely more than a child. From
her demeanor, it was obvious that she
= ies deeded a ea ruienene: ofa ner

and Ruby, and told me I was coming with
him. I said I was going to stay at home,
and Leon said, ‘That’s what you think.’
He grabbed my arm and pulled me into
the car. I didn’t want to come, and I
didn’t know they were going to rob any
bank, when they started out.”

She told us she was fifteen, and that
she and Siler had been married for only
a short time. The Herring girl corrobor-
ated her story of how she happened to be
in the bandit car. However, Ruby made
no attempt to clear her own skirts of her
part in the crime, and admitted that she
had the money-bag in her possession. At
one point, while the Sheriff was out of the
room, she asserted calmly, “I shot that Wil-
son guy, but they never will prove it on
m

Neither of them appeared to harbor any
particular resentment against the “laws,”
but they simply weren’t talking. Although
they discussed the gun-battle freely, they
refused to divulge the activities of the ban-
dits prior to that time, where they had
come from, or what their plans for the
future had been. “If Chock (Sands) wants
you to know, he’ll tell you. If he doesn’t,
you just won't find out, that’s all.”

The Sheriff told me on the following

morning that the case would be taken for
hearing before the grand jury, then in
session, and that charges of bank robbery
and murder would be preferred against the
quartet. Either charge carries the death
penalty in Oklahoma. If indicted, the
four would plead the following week be-
fore District Judge Eugene Rice, of Dun-
can.
From the hospital we learned that
Bailey Stephens’ wounds, though serious
and painful, were not fatal. At his home,
Constable Deeds was also reported recov-
ering. But on June 2nd, Adrian Medrano,
the farm youth, died at the hospital in
Lawton, raising the toll of life taken by
the gun-battle. His death added to pub-
lic feeling, for although struck by posse
lead, it .was the outrageous actions of
Siler and Sands which had precipitated the
tragic fight.

“They could very easily have caused the
death of other innocent persons, beside
Adrian,” McCarty observed, “Did you
know there were five others in that house
beside the four we were looking for? Clem
Ambrose told me that he and his son
walked down to the Medrano place from
their house, about a quarter of a mile
away, after a gun. Some possemen had
been by and asked them to help, and Am-
brose hadn’t any weapon.

“Fle knocked at the door and asked for
Adrian’s gun, and said ‘Have you heard
about the bank bandits?’ Adrian looked
sort of funny, and told Ambrose, ‘They’re
here, now.” Then Siler and Sands made
Ambrose and his son come on into the
house. In a little while, Mrs. Ambrose,
with two of her younger children, walked
down to the Medrano house, and were also
forced to come inside. They were held
there for two hours or more. They said
the bandits treated them kindly enough,
but ordered them around at the point of
guns. When the shooting started, they
made everyone lie down on the floor.”

“Did they see which one of the bandits
shot. Tete?”

“No, They were in the bedroom, and
Wilson was in the kitchen. But Deeds said
Siler shot him, from the double doorway.

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» the exeited
all lying on
inv car, and
I said,
was bending
oy. Both of
ind his face
Wis being
[ left with

ivove at top
v the banker
id in his left
n the mouth.
but he kept

nt for the
in cross-
ns

Jand: trving
wuys, Wald-

i they're on

Ory)
ne

phens mut-

cing. and I
heen fairly
game, but
isa promis
ob Wus too
ther of D.,
had a long.
and who at
tate Bureau,
» down the
aptured to-
» lind) come

Pauls Val-

kindly man,
risoners and
fine famuly,
tair that) he
vuns of two
n they were

re today,” I

lidn’t. He's
agine, Well,
m, and that
nly thought

cement busi-
proud of
) be hike
te to be

), Arthur.”
e uttendants
bed before

ER DETECTIVE

others of the posse began to arrive, and
I learned that in all, five had been
wounded.

“Wilson never knew what hit him,” the
Sheriff told me. “Adrian Medrano, the
kid, is in a bad condition. One of the
possemen’s guns shot him, I don’t think
he’ll live.” He looked tired and discour-
aged. “One officer dead, Medrano dying,
Deeds and Stephens wounded, I don’t
know how bad, a bullet in Sands’ leg and
one of the women wounded. That’s a stiff
price to pay for $600 in bank loot. By
the way, we got the money there at the
farm.”

“If we keep them here, I’m afraid there’ll
be trouble,” McCarty said anxiously.
“We'd better take them to the State Re-

Fritz McCarty, Comanche County
: Sheriff

formatory at Granite. The women will
be all right in the county jail here. We
can be a long way off before that crowd
finds out we’re gone.”

We returned to Lawton late in the eve-
ning. I got a bite of supper and went
with Sheriff McCarty to have a talk with
the two girls. ‘hey were tight-lipped and
sullen, although apparently none the worse
for their encounter, save for the slight
flesh-wound suffered by the Herring girl.

She elected to serve as spokesman in
what little was said. She was slightly
built, rather tall and not unattractive, but
she had a cocky, insolent manner, and ap-
peared much hardened, beyond her years,
The younger girl, Phyllis, who told us she
was the wife of the blond desperado, Siler,
seemed scarcely more than a child. From
her demeanor, it was obvious that she
failed to realize the seriousness of her
situation. She was small, coppery-haired,
and freckle-faced, and reminded me more
of a naughty urchin than of a gunman’s
wife. She seemed so very young to be
mixed up in such an affair that the Sheriff
questioned her closely.

“They made me come,” she declared
promptly. “I was at home with my fam-
ily. Leon came there with ‘Chock’ Sands

NOVEMBER, 1940

and Ruby, and told me I was coming with
him. I said I was going to stay at home,
and Leon said, ‘That’s what you think.’
He grabbed my arm and pulled me into
the car. I didn’t want to come, and |]
didn’t know they were going to rob any
bank, when they started out.”

had the money-bag in her possession. At |

one point, while the Sheriff was out of the
room, she asserted calmly, “I shot that Wil-
son guy, but they never will prove it on
me.

The Sheriff told me on the following
morning that the case would be taken for
hearing before the grand jury, then in
session, and that charges of bank robbery
and murder would be preferred against the
quartet. Either charge carries the death
penalty in Oklahoma. If indicted, the
four would plead the following week be-
fore District Judge Eugene Rice, of Dun-
can.

From the hospital we learned that
Bailey Stephens’ wounds, though serious
and painful, were not fatal. At his home,
Constable Deeds was also reported recov-
ering. But on June 2nd, Adrian Medrano,
the farm youth, died at tie hospital in
Lawton, raising the toll of life taken by
the gun-battle. His death added to pub-
lic feeling, for although struck by posse
lead, it was the outrageous actions of
Siler and Sands which had precipitated the
tragic fight.

“They could very easily have caused the
death of other innocent persons, beside
Adrian,” McCarty observed. “Did you
know there were five others in that house
beside the four we were looking for? Clem
Ambrose told me that he and his son
walked down to the Medrano place from
their house, about a quarter of a mile
away, after a gun. Some possemen had
been by and asked them to help, and Am-
brose hadn’t any weapon.

“He knocked at the door and asked for
Adrian’s gun, and said ‘Have you heard
about the bank bandits?’ Adrian looked
sort of funny, and told Ambrose, ‘They’re
here, now.’ Then Siler and Sands made
Ambrose and his son come on into the
house. In a little while, Mrs. Ambrose,
with two of her younger children, walked
down to the Medrano house, and were also
forced to come inside. They were held
there for two hours or more. They said
the bandits treated them kindly enough,
but ordered them around at the point of
guns. When the shooting started, they
made everyone lie down on the floor.”

“Did they see which one of the bandits
shot Tete?”

“No. They were in the bedroom, and
Wilson was in the kitchen. But Deeds said
Siler shot him, from the double doorway.
Sands was standing behind the kitchen
door, and you can see where his gun was
fired into the floor, probably when he tried
to raise it to fire.. Deeds said he and
Wilson never had a chance to fire a shot.
They got Tete in the back, and then shot
Deeds as he went to Wilson to try to help
him.” He shook his head sternly. “Is a
wonder some of those kids weren’t hurt.

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‘e Fuller ran a check on the
with other numbers his men
arch for black Pontiacs.
orning of April 1, the police-
North Carolina Pontiac still
: alley. They put a stake out _

g for the report from North _~

z, the stakeout patrolman —
car radio. “Have to pull you
ites. A robbery report in that
d you’re the only available -
ve to the address the dis-
. him. The people there told
ed no robbery. “It must have
idea of an April Fool joke,”

‘e back to the alfey to watch
‘as gone! cis

ller, meanwhile, got a phone
tment owner. “I just read in
ibout that terrible murder,
‘Il you about two men who
ions of those gunmen. They
vy apartments last week, but
it they both had wives and
ittle babies, I asked them to
1’t room enough for so many
< a duplex on F Street.”

is in the same. block where
spotted the North Carolina

phoned police headquarters.
nop a block from the police
as I read about the murder
embered selling two .25 cali-
d revolvers to a little man

like the Latin-American Mr. -)

‘ibed. I looked up the records.
: in the shop on March 27,
d traded a .32 automatic and
cash for a .25 Galesi auto-
me the name Don Locklear,
because he said he couldn’t
back last Saturday and told
1 the pistol so much that he
inother one. He gave me an
eet.”

ne address the landlady had
lex her evicted tenants later
vas directly across the alley
vhere the mysterious Pontiac

. authorities reported to Law-
the tag on the Pontiac was

name of James Spence, Deep: ;

‘e had a record for violation
and had served a term in the
ate prison. His description
the fat little gunman. °

ed on the duplex on F Street. .

empty. But it was obvious .

‘t in a hurry. Although the

| a month’s rent in advance’ ~

rlier, they had not asked the
fund. They’d left papers scat-
he house and food in the re-

e Tuesday Lawton Morning
streamer headline screaming
HOLDUP OF STORE was spread
Yr.

ision was left in the house. .
ve, police found a piece of
Yn one side was scrawled the
rcklear.” The other side. con-
headed “Dear Mother,” and
d Virgie.”

locked the house until they

SiS geek igi ees

alban AOR ta dt

ea ene

‘

PES en

could make a more thorough search and began

~ tracing the movements of Locklear and Spence.

A. Lawton used-car dealer reported that
he’d sold a 47 Plymouth to a man answering
Locklear’s description. The man had paid
$90 for the car the morning after the murder.

Sheriff Hale asked the Pennsylvania prison
authorities for photographs and fingerprints
of James Spence.

On Thursday morning, April 3, County At-
torney Warren H. Crane filed a joint murder
complaint against Spence and Locklear. Coun-
ty Judge John P. Fullerton immediately

' issued arrest warrants for the pair. Crane re-

quested U. S. District Attorney Paul Cress to
file federal fugitive complaints against the
suspects. ‘

City Detectives Cleo Stout and R. A. Davis,
in the meantime, made a more thorough search
of the house on F Street. They climbed to the
attic and found a wadded pillow case. They
picked it up and heard something inside jingle.
They dumped out “the contents, three keys,
hooked together with a tag bearing Kenny
Keiningham’s name. These were the keys the
gunmen took from Zimmerman the night of
the murder.

There were holes in the pillow case, cut for
a mask. Detective Captain Otis Waldron added
the pillow case, mask and keys to the growing
pile of evidence. ; Gi

WALDRON moves slow and steadily. He’s

a tough and thorough officer, known in
Oklahoma as a veteran perfectionist at ferret-
ing out and organizing clues. As he and Sheriff
Hale sifted evidence against the suspects, ‘they
realized that almost everything they’d learned
had come as the result of Reggie Zimmer-
man’s almost ‘photographic memory. If Zim-
merman had died, they would have had few
leads. There were no fingerprints at the mur-
der scene. Only the six slugs from a .25 cali-
ber automatic. ee

Waldron held up the pillow case mask. “If
they’d used a couple of these over their heads,
and parked their car three feet farther behind
the store, they might have stumped us longer.”

Thursday night, April 3, the FBI entered
the case in the search for the suspects.. Next
morning, an Albuquerque, N. M. police officer,
26-year-old Alfred Bundy, read the wanted
bulletin.

Bundy was especially interested . because
he’d lived in Lawton with an aunt and uncle,
before entering the Air Force and later set-
tling in Albuquerque.

As he and his patrol partner, Seth Wyche,

- cruised past the fairgrounds in Albuquerque,

he spotted a 1950 black Pontiac with 1958.
North Carolina plates. The number was MT-
586. The car was parked in front of a motel
across the street from the fairgrounds. Bundy
and Wyche radioed for assistance and three
other officers joined them.

An officer knocked on the motel apartment
door and it was opened immediately. As the
policemen rushed in, they saw two men; one
was short and stocky, the other short, thin,
and dark. The pair quickly surrendered to
the officers’ drawn guns.

One .25 automatic lay on a bed. Another

‘was under a mattress. .

The thin dark mah gave his name as Eddie
Oxendine, but admitted using the name Don
Locklear in Oklahoma. The other man was
James Spence, 29. :

Spence and his wife had two small children

with them. Oxendine and his wife had a baby

with them. The gunmen had driven-both the

Pontiac and the newly purchased Plymouth to
Albuquerque, then rented adjoining motel
rooms. ~ ; ;

Officers searched the two cars and found a

paper bag containing $50 in rolls of half
dollars, quarters, dimes and nickels, plus about
$40 in loose change.
‘ Oxendine, a 26-year-old from Penbrook,
N. C., said he met Spence in federal prison
at Lewisburg, Pa., while serving a sentence for
violating federal liquor laws. When released
they returned to North Carolina.

Spence, who'd spent seven years in the Army
as a military policeman, said, “I was working
for the street department when we left Kins-
ton,.N. C., about the middle of last month.
We went to visit Oxendine at Penbrook. Eddie
and me decided to look for work. We planned
to work our way west,( going as far as Cali-

?
,

: fornia if necessary.”

He said they stopped in Lawton on March
24, to look for jobs. “When I bought the
guns.” Oxendine said, “I did not think that
anyone would ever be killed by them.”

“When did you decide to hold. up the mana-
ger of Surplus City ?”

Oxendine shrugged. “We didn’t decide. We
just went ahead and done it without thinking.”

Spence added, “I guess we decided about.
five minutes before we did it. We had no rea-
son to pick that place out. We hadn’t been
there before. We’d never seen the manager
before. We’d been driving around town that
night, stopping at those drive-ins and drink-
ing beer. I guess we’d had several beers and
were about half drunk. At the time, we were
just driving around, we weren’t looking for
a place to rob. But then all of a sudden we
spotted this place. We knew we needed money
because we had to move on.”

He said they watched Zimmerman close the
store, then he sent Oxendine up the stairs
after the assistant manager to start the holdup
while he parked the car.

Oxendine had this to say about the kill-
ing. “I closed the door all the way when I
put them in the closet. He squatted down on
the floor in the corner of the closet, and she
squatted on the floor in the center of the

closet in front of the sliding door. I tried |

to lock them in, but I couldn’t find a lock.
Spence told me to open the door again. I was
just leaving the room when the shots were
fired.”

The pair waived extradition and ‘Sheriff
Hale and Oklahoma Crime- Bureau Agent
Ernest Lovett returned them to Lawton at
4 am. Sunday, April 6. At their arraignment,
Tuesday morning, April 8, they pleaded not
guilty to the murder charge. At a preliminary
hearing April 11 Reggie Zimmerman, his con-
dition improved enough to warrant a court
appearance, identified Spence and Oxendine as
the men who’d robbed the store, and pointed
out Spence as, the man who fired the fatal
shots at his wife.

Officers hammered at James Spence. “Why
did you fire? Why ?”

Spence shook his head. “I don’t even know
how many shots were fired. I wasn’t thinking.
I didn’t know whether I had killed them or
not. All I remember is the door being opened
and the gun start firing. I just hauled out of
there.”

“But why did you have to shoot them?”

“T’ve been trying and trying since I pulled
that trigger to figure out why. I haven’t con-

., vinced myself why I did it, unless I got pan-

‘icky or frightened. Naturally, if I had thought
about it, I wouldn’t have done it.” .

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ickefeller’s office
ad been receiving
‘sult of the Wood
Parole Board has
‘ake in releasing
id is believed to
s after his parole,
Y., men and to
h he wrote “J’m
INT PAGE, 1960).

found guilty of
wife, Wilma, 48,
fe imprisonment.
and five women
and 40 minutes
sion that he was
1 accomplice to
the jury decided
e death of

pas

ctually present
» nitted. Earlier
abandoned its
charging him

in asking the
the state ar-

* od Selby “wick-
this monstrous
"it parallel”
1 to get a
contended

veral occasions

to find a killer, and had finally succeeded °
when he made contact with a massage
parlor employe, Patra Mae Bounds. Patra
Mae testified that she, Maggie Morgan
and a third person, a man, entered the
Selby home with a key to the back door
furnished by Selby and were the ones
Who Fired The Hired Gun (March FRONT
PAGE, 1960) that killed Mrs. Selby. Mag-
gie Morgan has been sentenced to death
for her part in the slaying.

John Hart, Pittsburgh, Pa. cabdriver,
was sentenced to life imprisonment for
the hotel room slaying of William Querey,
29, of Rockingham, N. C. The term was
imposed by Judge J. Frank Graff after
Hart withdrew his appeal from his con-
victim of first degree murder. He was
accused of beating the victim to death

Joun L. Hart
Life term for get-rich-quick scheme.

after robbing him. Patricia Kister, a
friend of Hart’s who had spent the eve-
ning with Querey and was present during
the robbery, had been sentenced to 11%
to 23 months for her part in the crime
(Where Can I Find A Girl? February,
FRONT PAGE, 1960). ,

A Coroner’s Jury has returned a finding
of murder by persons unknown in the
death of Arthur Adler, Chicago, IIl., res-
taurateur whose strangled body was found
in a sewer (Mystery From The Sewer,
July FRONT PAGE, 1960) a short time after
he’d testified before a special federal
grand jury investigating organized crime.

Eddie Junior Oxendine, Pembroke, N. C., :
has had his death sentence commuted

“Many rich and successful men

and women,” declares the author of
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of Yourself.” —

, ...The book has proved a sensation.
Thousands ordered by sales .man-
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L460

Says Parables in Bible
show Way To Get Rich

eastern publisher is offering a de-
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has been published in Spain. A big
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The entire book, containing the
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to life imprisonment by the Oklahoma
pardon and parole board. No action had
as yet been taken on James Spence, of
Kinston, N. C., who earlier told the board
he had fired the bullet which killed 19-
year-old Lawton, Okla., housewife Mrs.
Reggie Zimmerman. The decision not to
act on Spence’s plea amounted to its re-
jection. Mrs. Zimmerman was shot after
being bound and gagged during a robbery
of a surplus store she and her husband
operated (My God, He’s Emptied The
Whole Clip, July FRONT PAGE, 1958).

Dr. Rodrigo Sarmiento admitted being
The Passionate Doctor who killed His
Reluctant Nurse (August -FRONT PAGE,
1958) in a dramatic change of plea during
his trial for her murder. Saving himself
from a. possible death sentence, the doc-
tor changed his plea from not guilty of
first-degree murder to guilty of first-de-
gree manslaughter. Dr. Sarmiento’s deci-
sion came after two weeks of trial, right
after the state had rested its case. Sarmi-
ento, after conferring with his attorneys,
presented his statement to Kings County
(N. Y.) Judge Hyman Barshay. Under de-
tailed questioning by Barshay a few mo-
ments later, Sarmiento blurted, “There
was an argument. I lost my head. I killed
her. Then I fled.” That was the first time
the doctor had ever actually confessed to °
the jealousy slaying of blonde, blue-eyed
Margaret Kabak. His romance with her

‘had foundered when she learned that he

had a wife and four children in the Phil-

ippines. Police believe he slew her when
she balked at continuing their love affair.
Following Sarmiento’s dramatic confes-
sion, Judge Barshay sentenced the doctor
to 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment, but
suspended the sentence on condition
Sarmiento leave the country within 48
hours, “never to re-enter.”’ The stipulation
almost proved a death sentence, since the
plane on which Sarmiento was flying to
his home in the Philippines crashed. How-
ever, the doctor was among the survivors.

Sabotage, the Civil Aeronautics Board
concluded, was the cause of the airplane

crash in which Julian Frank and 33 others.

died. The official report did not pin the
blame on Frank or on anyone else, al-
though the case centered around Frank,
a Westport, Conn., attorney, when it was
disclosed after his death that he was in-
sured for about $1,000,000 when he board-
ed the plane. The CAB formal accident
report stated: “A dynamite charge was
exploded, initiated by means of a dry-cell
battery within the passenger cabin and at
a point beneath the extreme right seat of
seat row No. 7. Mr. Julian A. Frank was
in close proximity to the dynamite charge
when the detonation occurred.” Investi-
gators have no evidence to prove that
Frank or anyone else was responsible. The
CAB report singled out Frank for special
attention because his body was found 16
miles from the other bodies and the main
wreckage of the plane (Dr. Mystery Of
Death Alley, May FRONT PAGE, 1960).

He’s Emptied the
Whole Clip
continued from page 33

hood of a strange car protruding from the

back lot. He had only a glimpse because he -

had to pretend he wasn’t looking. But his
quick mind photographed that hood-and front
fender and grille. : ?

“Pontiac,” he thought. “Black. Probably a
49 or ’50 model.”

Ruth still was sitting ‘where he’d left her.
Yellow shirt backed up for him to go to her,
then ordered them into the bedroom. The gun-
men followed. :

“Do you have any rope?”

“No,” Reggie said. “I don’t have any rope
up here.” '

Ruth’s voice trembled. She was holding back
tears. “Don’t tie me up. Please. The baby will
be hungry and I couldn’t stand hearing him
cry all night and not be able to move.”

The thin Latin shrugged sympathetically.

“But, lady, you would untie your husband,

You understand that. I’ll warm a bottle now
so you can feed your baby.”

She shook her. head, sobbing. “It’s not ‘time
now.” :

The gunmen cut cords from the venetian
blinds and tied Reggie’s hands and feet, He
tensed his muscles for the cord, knowing
there’d be a little slack when he relaxed. May-

‘be he could work loose.

The two men took several diapers from the
stack on a. bureau and ripped them into.strips,
to tie Ruth’s hands and to fashion gags for
their mouths. :

Yellow shirt dragged and pushed Reggie
into the far corner of a clothes closet. Reggie

( \

i James C. Blackburn was off duty and home
with his wife and family when Zimmerman

banged on his door. Blackburn opened it, then .

yelled for his son to get a knife as he pulled
the gag off Zimmerman’s mouth. He made the
injured man come in and sit down, then Reg-
gie stammered crazily, trying to tell him what
happened while one of Blackburn’s sons cut
the cord that bound his hands. .

“Ruth. You’ve: got to help Ruth,” Reggie
moaned. He was: bleeding from his chest and
arm. Blackburn told his wife to telephone for
the ambulance and sheriff, then he dashed out-
side and crossed the highway to the surplus

_ Store.

. In the bedroom upstairs, he knelt beside
Ruth Zimmerman and felt her wrist. Thgre
was no pulse, He examined her eyes and
searched for some indication of breathing.
There was none. '

Municipal hospital authorities reported
Ruth Zimmerman dead on arrival, at the age

' of 19. One bullet had struck her above the left

noticed he was wearing gray slacks and black

shoes. :
The skinny one lifted Ruth and put her on
the floor in the center of the closet. The closet

door was a sliding type and the Latin shoved -

it shut.
“Reggie waited in the darkness, listening to

hear them Jeave his apartment. But suddenly .

the closet door slid open. Yellow shirt stood
above them, spread-legged, pointing. his re-
volver down at them.

The blasts filled the small space with thun-
der. One, two, three, four... .

The force of the bullets flung him’ against
the closet wall, and Reggie thought, “My God,
he’s emptied the whole clip.”

~He heard all six shots, then footsteps run-
ning downstairs.

Dazedly, he squirmed close to Ruth.

His hands were working frantically, twist-
ing, plucking at the cords on his feet. He could
smell blood and feel the numbness in his chest
and shoulder. Somehow, with his hands tied,
he managed to free his ankles and drag Ruth
to the center of the bedroom floor.

The baby ‘still was asleep in its crib ‘above
her. Ruth’s eyes were’ half open, but she didn’t

see him. She just lay in a huddle, tied and’

twisted. He grabbed the kitchen knife that the
gunmen had used to cut the cords from the

‘blinds and freed her from the strips they’d

used to tie her.

A Lawton police officer lived across the
highway. Numbly, Reggie staggered to his feet
and ran down the stairs, He stumbled through
the darkness to the highway, then ran faster as
his eyes adjusted to the night.

breast. Another had penetrated the right side
of her body... . : : :
The gunmen had. worked fast. Manager

Kenny Keiningham had left the store as Reg- ©

gie was locking up. He’d ‘had time only, to
drive home, eat a snack and remove his tie,
before the telephone rang. It was Reggie Zim-
merman, half hysterical, reporting from Officer
Blackburn’s home that the store -had been
robbed. , ;
They’d withheld the word on Ruth’s death
from her husband, for Reggie still was in seri-
ous condition, in shock and with a bullet

wound in the right side of his chest and one in

his right arm. They sped him to the hospital
and police worked with what he’d told them
before he collapsed. .

A check of the office safe ‘at Surplus City
showed the thieves got away with $436.57... ¥

PoOLIcE were looking for two men, each

‘about five feet, six inches tall. Both: talked
like Southerners. One was heavy-set, balding,
fair-skinned, dark-haired, wearing a yellow

“shirt, gray slacks and black shoes. The other

was thin, probably Latin-American, wearing
a brown sports jacket and brown hat. Their
car was probably a black Pontiac, model 1950
or 1949. Police set up roadblocks.

Highway patrolmen reported that the High-
way 277-281 bridge between Oklahoma and

Texas was blocked by a traffic accident, A-

pickup truck had struck the railing, bounced

.into the center of the bridge and been struck

by an oncoming car. The patrolmen stayed at

- the scene of the accident and screened all traf-.

fic for hours after the bridge was cleared, but
the killers didn’t show up.

All other highways were guarded without
results, . ;

While Sheriff Everett Ray Hale and ‘his men
patroled ‘the highways and examined the mur-
der scene, Lawton city police officers combed
city streets. atige ? :

Late that night, as two police officers cruised
their patrol car down ‘an alley’ about five
blocks from police headquarters, they spotted
a black ’50 Pontiac parked behind a business
establishment. They got out and looked at the
tags. It was a 1958 North Carolina plate,
numbered MT 586. An officer jotted it down
with other numbers they’d taken from similar
cars during the night.

The neighborhood ’ flanked: railroad tracks
‘near the center of town, an area of garages,

small businesses and older ‘residences that had

been converted ‘to rent houses or apartments,

‘

Night Chief Pete Fuller ran a check on the
license tag, along with other numbers his men
collected in the search for black Pontiacs.

Early on the morning of April 1, the police-
men noticed the North Carolina Pontiac still
was parked in the alley. They put a stake out
on it while waiting for the report from North

‘Carolina. aD

At midmorning, the stakeout patrolman

got a call on his car radio. “Have to pull you

off for a few minutes. A robbery report in that

neighborhood, and you're the only available -

car.” a
The officer drove to the address the dis-
patcher had given him. The people there told
him they’d reported no robbery. “It must have
been somebody’s idea of an April Fool joke,”
they ‘said.

The officer drove back to the alfey to watch

_ the Pontiac. It was gone! :

Night Chief Fuller, meanwhile, got a phone
call from an apartment owner, “I just read in
my newspaper about that terrible murder,
and I want to tell you about two men who

. fitted the descriptions of those ‘gunmen. They

rented .one of my apartments last week, but
when I found out they both had wives and
a total of three little babies, I asked them to
move. There wasn’t room enough for so many
people. They took a duplex on F Street.”

. The duplex was in the same. block where

officers first had spotted the North Carolina

Pontiac. ‘
Another man phoned police headquarters,
“I own a pawnshop a block from the police
station, As soon as I read about the murder
last night, I remembered selling two .25 cali-
ber chrome-plated revolvers to a little man

who looked just like the Latin-American Mr. .&
Zimmerman described. I looked up the records. ~

“He first came in the shop on March 27,
last Thursday, and traded a 32 automatic and
paid ten dollars cash for a .25 Galesi auto-
matic. He gave me the name Don Locklear,
and signed an X because he said he couldn't
write. He ‘came back last Saturday and told
me his wife liked the pistol so much that he
wanted to buy another one. He gave me an
address on F Street.”

It was the same address the landlady had
given as the duplex her evicted tenants later
had rented. It was directly across the alley

from the place where the mysterious Pontiac

had been parked.

North Carolina authorities reported to Law-

ton police that the tag on the Pontiac was
registered in the name of James Spence, Deep

Run, N.C. Spence had a record for violation .

of the Dyer Act and had served a term in the

~Pennsylvania state prison. His description

matched that of the fat little gunman. -

Police descended on the duplex on F Street,
They found it empty. But it was obvious ©

someone had left in a hurry. Although the

tenants had paid a month’s rent in advance’ -
only six days earlier, they had not asked the ~

landlord for a refund. They’d left papers scat-
tered throught the house and food in the re-
frigerator. Mia

A copy of the Tuesday Lawton Morning

. Press, witu a streamer headline screaming
KILL WOMAl 'N HOLDUP OF STORE was spread’
-open on a dresser. .

A rented, television was-left in the house. .
Behind a stove, police found a piece of
wadded paper. On one side was scrawled the
name “Eddie Locklear.” The.other side con-

tained a’ letter headed “Dear Mother,” and ©

signed, “Don and Virgie.”

The officers locked the house until they |

could make a more
tracing the movem:

A Lawton usec
he’d sold a ’47 Ply
Locklear’s descrip:
$90 for the car the

Sheriff Hale ask:
authorities for ph.
of James Spence.

On Thursday mo
torney Warren H.
complaint against S
ty Judge John

' issued arrest warra:
quested U. S. Distr
file federal fugitiy.
suspects.

City Detectives C
in the meantime, ma
of the house on F S
attic and found a \
Picked it up and hea
They dumped out
hooked together wi
Keiningham’s name,
gunmen took from
the murder,

There were holes j
a mask. Detective Ca
the pillow case, mask
pile of evidence.

WALDRON move

a tough and th
Oklahoma as a veter:
ing out and organizin
Hale sifted evidence ;
realized that almost ¢
had come as the re:
man’s almost ‘photog:
merman had died, th
leads. There were no
der scene. Only the s
ber automatic.

Waldron held up t!
they’d used a couple
and parked their car |
the store, they might }

Thursday night, A;
the case in the search
morning, an Albuquerc
26-year-old Alfred Bi
bulletin.

Bundy was especiz
he’d lived in Lawton \
before entering the Aj
tling in Albuquerque.

As he and his patro
cruised past the fairgr
he spotted a 1950 bl:
North Carolina plates.
586. The car was park
across the street from
and Wyche radioed fo
other officers joined th:

An officer knocked 0
door and it was opene
policemen rushed in, th
was short and stocky,
and dark. The pair q
the officers’ drawn gun:

One .25 automatic ls
was under a mattress.

The thin dark man g:
Oxendine, but admitted
Locklear in Oklahoma.
James Spence, 29.

Spence and his wife h

with them. Oxendine an

with them. The gunmen

utters’ farm home.
3 a radio, a pair of
$50 in cash. Smith
sted in Las Vegas,
were put on their
the Kansas State
he robbery-murder
walls of the prison
.d, he mentioned to
1 and Hickock that
the informant had
thy and had a safe
s no such safe.

well, convicted in
> murder of elderly
ad himself the tar-
; to send him to the
: he also murdered

rata Pr
{OTHERWELL
chamber.

” defective child. The
n, D. C., construc-
‘tained his innocence
ig the wealthy Mrs.

_ ting her cross-coun-
yur, said, after hear-
y, “It wasn’t what I
cution, in their at-

~ ysentence rather than

xplained that when
vife was found face
leath was ruled acci-
Aongoloid child was
‘t cemetery, Mother-
d strangled to death
ba~ in a panic. How-
ion’s efforts to
ns Lyin’ Larry’s
NT PAGE, 1959), the
nerwell to life im-
in death.

FRONT PAGE DETECTIVE, July, 1960

Luis Moya, 23, awaiting execution in the
San Quentin, Cal., death house for his
part in the slaying of Nurse Olga, Duncan,
29, in the plot engineered by her mother-
in-law (Jn The Witch’s Tentacles, April
FRONT: PAGE, 1959), is seeking court per-
mission to give one of his eyes to save the
sight of a minister. Moya said he wanted

to submit to the corneal transplant opera- .

tion “in atonement for past misdeeds.” His
recent court action was a move to force
California Prison Director Richard McGee
to allow the operation, which McGee had
turned down last Fall on the contention that
it conflicted with prison regulations. The
minister who would benefit from Moya’s
offer is going blind from wounds suffered
as a marine in World War II.

Eddie Oxendine, of Pembroke, N. C.,
has been turned down on his appeal to the
State Court of Criminal Appeals: for what
it termed the “cruel and wanton murder”
of a young Lawton, Okla., housewife, Mrs.
Ruth Zimmerman, during a robbery, the
court set execution. Still pending is the
appeal of Oxendine’s cohort, his brother-
in-law, James Spence, 29, Hampton, N. C.
The court had reversed the men’s convic-
tions earlier on grounds that improper pic-
tures were shown at the trial. They were
tried again, and both drew the death sen-
tence. Oxendine admitted his participation
in the robbery-murder, but pleaded for
mercy on the grounds that it was Spence
who fired the fatal shots. All three appeals
judges concurred in the opinion, written

by Presiding Judge John Powell, that Ox-
endine deserved the death penalty: ‘The
deceased was tied and gagged at the time
she was killed by defendants in an apparent
attempt to prevent detection and identifica-
tion. Truly, the evidence disclosed a cruel
and wanton murder and was. amply suffi-
cient to support the extreme penalty
assessed.” The opinion stated that Oxen-
dine had told a jailer “that their only mis-
take was not staying to see that the Zim-
mermans were dead.” (My God, He’s Emp-
tied The Whole Clip, July FRONT PAGE,
1958)

Dismas House, the establishment created
by Father Dismas Clark to help convicts
stay straight during that critical period be-
tween release from prison and the acqui-
sition of a job and enough money to pay
the first month’s rent, will soon gain in-
ternational renown: the movie industry is
about to immortalize on film the Hood-
lums’ Priest and His Half-Way House
(February FRONT PAGE, 1960). Actor Don
Murray is scheduled to portray the St.
Louis, Mo., priest whose drive to establish
Dismas House was based on his conviction
that ‘ex-convicts “can be rehabilitated into
useful members of society” provided that
society remembers “they need things—a
hot shower, not a sermon . . . a good place
to sleep, not a pat on the back .. . a good
meal, not a pep talk.” The actor who will
portray Reverend Charles Dismas sampled
all of these things during his flying prelim-
inary visit to meet the prison chaplain,

gh i i itd NAMM a ssi:

and Don Murray’s comment—between
bites of steak, and later strawberry ice
cream—was that he had “slept like a log”
during the night he spent at the rehabili-
tative project named after the thief who
died with Christ on’the cross.

Charles Nash, Richard Jones and Roy
Hicks, have been convicted of murdering
Detroit, Mich., auto dealer Parvin Las-
siter. The three were sentenced to life
imprisonment by Circuit Court Judge
Joseph A. Rashid after pleading guilty to
second-degree murder. Nash, the admitted
trigger man, angrily protested “This is a
kangaroo court.” Jones declared, “They
gave us the works on this thing.” (Paged
To Fill A Coffin, August FRONT PAGE, 1959)

George Flatter, 21, has been found guilty
of murder in the first degree for the
strangling of housewife Mrs. Elizabeth
Moughlér (Run, Lady, Run, May FRONT
PAGE, 1960). The verdict came after a De-
troit, Mich., jury did some checking of its
own to determine whether or not the dis-
tance between where the victim was found
and where the accused lived could have
been covered in the 20 minutes between the
time the woman was killed and the defend-
ant was seen to arrive home. Two jurors
took a walk on their own, clocking them-
selves, and concluded that young Flatter
could have covered the distance easily in
20 minutes.. The jury’s decision carries a
mandatory life sentence for the 21-year-
old murderer.

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seat. Testimony-revealed investigators.attempted to enhance Ms.
Henderson's recall of the encounter with the use of hypnosis. 2

Petitioner. and his friends returned to the Briscoe home from
which they had set. out, arriving in a state of high agitation.
Petitioner instructed the group to pack for an immediate trip to
Texas. Meanwhile, the photographs of the victims were displayed
in the midst of laughter from the Petitioner and others.
Petitioner then removed a bloodstained shirt and later had his
niece clean a bloodstain from his boot.

. Upon arrival in Texas, Petitioner, in the company of one of
his accomplices and Patricia Higdon, disposed of one of the
weapons and a suitcase taken from the murder scene. Ms. Higdon
later testified that Petitioner threw a .380 caliber automatic
pistol off a bridge into water below. Police divers subsequently
recovered from the spot described by Ms. Higdon a _ .380 pistol
identified as the murder weapon.

Petitioner and his accomplices were eventually ‘arrested and
tried. After deliberating some three and a half hours, the jury
returned guilty verdicts on each count. The next day, in
accordance with Oklahoma's statutory bifurcated procedure, the
same jury was called upon to consider imposition of the death

penalty.

2Hypnosis was also used in the interrogation of another witness,
but use of the procedure was not disclosed in her testimony.
Petitioner predicates an argument of constitutional error on _ the
hypnosis of this witness as well, as we shall discuss in part III.

-4-

disposed to call: "relatives". of Averil- Bourque and Sheila Lovejoy
- who had "expressed to me a desire to ask the jury not to impose
the death penalty in this —case."4 The defense contended this
testimony. would present proper mitigating factors for the
consideration of the jury. The trial court granted the State's
motion on the ground that allowing the testimony "would be no more
proper" than allowing the State to put on testimony that the
penalty should be invoked.

Petitioner contends the refusal of this testimony deprived

him of due process, citing Skipper v. “South Carolina,

_ U.S. ___, 106 S. Ct. 1669 (1986). He contends that one of the
reasons underlying imposition of the death penalty is the sanction
of retribution. Assuming the validity of that contention,
Petitioner argues testimony of a family member of the victim
urging the jury to reject the death penalty would have been strong
evidence mitigating that sanction.

In our view, the answer to this issue turns upon the
relevancy of the evidence in the context in which it would have
been presented. Additionally, we are disinclined towards
Petitioner's argument because the obvious consequence of allowing

this kind of testimony by the defense would be to permit the State

to present witnesses who would testify the penalty should be

4puring the course of the state postconviction hearing, defense
counsel testified that he had discussed with Petitioner the
possibility of "putting on the one witness who was related to one
of the victims." At the same hearing, co-counsel testified: "I
believe that this particular witness, who was a sister of one of
the victims, .. . certainly didn't want him to get the death
penalty.” From this testimony, we assume the representation that
"relatives" would be called was an inaccurate representation and
that only one person was available as a witness.

-6-

At dusk, on June 12, 1980, Petitioner and two accomplices
drove in a-car belonging to Petitioner's~. girlfriend, Sharon
Briscoe, to the residence of Averil Bourque, Robert Swinford, and
Julie Lovejoy in search of valuable gold jewelry they believed
belonged to Ms. Bourque. Entering the house, the trio found Ms.
Lovejoy, at whom Petitioner fired a single shot in the head,
killing her instantly. Petitioner then went to a room occupied by
Ms. Bourque and Mr. Swinford where he gained entry by smashing a
locked door. Petitioner encountered Ms. Bourque and fired shots
into her body and head. These wounds were not immediately fatal,
because Petitioner later told a friend that one of his accomplices
"finished her off" with two bullets between the eyes. Mr.
Swinford, in an apparent effort to avert death, grasped Petitioner
from behind in a "bear-hug," but Petitioner was able to fire a
mortal shot into Mr. Swinford's side. After Mr. Swinford
collapsed, Petitioner fired another’ shot into Mr. Swinford's
prostrate body.

Petitioner and his accomplices then ransacked the house but
failed to find several items of gold jewelry hidden under Ms.
Bourque's’' body. Nonetheless, they took other items, including
photographs of Ms. Bourque and Mr. Swinford.

Returning to Ms. Briscoe's car, the trio started to back onto
the roadway only to find another car bearing down upon them. The
driver of that car, Terry Henderson, later identified the Briscoe

car and testified defendant was riding in the front passenger

-3-

In this -second phase, neither side called witnesses. 2
Nevertheless, upon the prosecution's motion, the trial court

admitted all the evidence from the first phase for consideration

“by the jury.- Counsel for both sides made their summations, and
the jury retired to deliberate. In accordance with state
procedure, the jury was called upon to make findings of

aggravating and mitigating circumstances. The jury found the
existence of three aggravating circumstances which applied to all
three killings: (1) Petitioner was previously convicted of a
felony involving the use or threat of violence to a person; (2)
Petitioner knowingly created a risk of death to more than one
person; and (3) Petitioner probably would commit criminal acts of
violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society. In
the case of Ms. Bourque, the jury also found the killing was
"especially heinous, atrocious or cruel." No mitigating
circumstances were found to exist. Upon these specific findings,

the jury returned death verdicts on all three counts.

If.

During an en camera discussion with the state trial judge

prior to the sentencing phase of the trial, the district attorney
moved for an order instructing witnesses "not to express any kind
of an opinion, to be asked any kind of a question or express any
kind of opinion as to whether or not they feel the death penalty

should be imposed." Chief defense counsel responded that he was

3The State did introduce a copy of a judgment of conviction
indicating Petitioner's prior conviction of the crime of armed
robbery.

-5-

86-2087
Filed 9/25/87 by Judge Moore

11 Appellate counsel was not

From the judgment of conviction.
called at the state postconviction hearing, and the habeas court's
treatment of the issue eliminated the possibility of calling him
in the federal court. Yet, the issue still nags, and it does not
appear frivolous. Second, perhaps appellate counsel believed
trial counsel's failure to object and thus preserve the issue was
a compelling reason for not challenging the prosecutor's conduct.
We cannot, however, ignore the fact that this same prosecutor
engaged in substantially the same conduct after the Oklahoma state
courts had specifically determined that the conduct was infirm.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals said on July 20, 1982:
The vindication of community outrage has_ been
criticized by this Court recently in Franks v. State,
636 P.2d 361 (1981). The statements now before us are
reprehensible for the reason that the prosecutor has
attempted to cast himself in a light which is
inaccurate. He does not represent the victim, the
jurors, nor the interests of society. His duty is to
prosecute the defendant for a crime against the victim,

in violation of society's laws, and in which the jurors
are the determiners of fact.

Scott, 649 P.2d at 564. In this case Prosecutor Burns repeated
the tactics denounced months before in Scott, saying:

I asked you in the beginning of this trial to turn that
coin over and you think about the three victims in this
Crime; when he says Randle Robison, I hope that you
remember the names of Averil Bourque, Robert Leon
Swinford and Sheila Julie Lovejoy. Thank you. (Tr.
1206)

lie note here that Respondent argues Petitioner did not raise the
issue of the adequacy of his appellate counsel in the appeal from
the state denial of postconviction relief. That argument is not
Supported by the record. The copy of the "Petition in Error"
filed with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, which is
appended to the amended petition for a writ of habeas corpus,
contains a claim that the state court erred in failing to grant
relief on the ground "that petitioner was denied his right to
effective assistance of counsel on appeal."

—-2?6-

including that given by defendant's witnesses who testified about
his lack of. sobriety on the-night of the. crime and the physical
effects that alcohol and chemical ingestion had on his ability to
function, was admitted in the-.second phase. It was defense
counsel's sf€rategic~ choice to predicate his plea for mitigation
upon Petitioner's diminished capacity, and evidence in support of
that plea was admitted, allowing counsel to make the argument to
the jury.

Petitioner now claims other witnesses who would have
testified to his -loving and peaceful nature could have been
called. Yet, during the state postconviction proceedings, trial
counsel testified he did not want the jury to know of Petitioner's
criminal history; therefore, he eschewed making Petitioner's
character an issue. In light of the cross-examination of those
suggested witnesses conducted at the postconviction hearing, the
stratagem was not unfounded. Those called to testify were cross-
examined about their knowledge of his criminal history, his
predilection for intoxicants, his apparent inability to hold
employment, and his failure to provide support for his’ minor
children. All claimed a general lack of knowledge of those facts,
even though they are evident in the testimony of others. In
short, it is evident the mitigating value of this line of
testimony . would have been substantially, if not altogether,
diminished through impeachment. Accordingly, we cannot say trial
counsel was inept because he failed to call Petitioner's family

members and friends. Cf.-Coleman, 802 F.2d at 1235.

—-23-

Trial counsel also testified that he did not object to the
tactics of the district attorney for two reasons. First, he did

not think the ‘prosecutor was helping his -case by his actions.

Indeed, he thought to the contrary. .Second, he believed the jury

would not look favorably on objections. Whether this reasoning
was valid is largely problematical at this juncture, but looking
at the situation at the time it was faced by counsel, the reasons
for his failure to object are not unfounded.

Despite Petitioner's arguments, we are unable to say that

even if trial counsel had made the suggested objections, had

called the suggested witnesses, and had done those things
hindsight suggests he should have done, the jury would have
entertained a reasonable doubt regarding Petitioner's guilt.
Accordingly, we cannot conclude he was deprived of adequate

representation by his trial counsel. Cartwright v. Maynard, 802

F.2d 1203 (10th Cir. 1986), on rehearing en banc, 822 F.2d 1477.

Petitioner also raises the lack of effectiveness of his
state-appointed appellate counsel. The federal district court
found “appellate counsel's failure to raise every non-frivolous
ground for relief does not, in itself, constitute ineffective
assistance of appellate counsel." With that general proposition
we agree, but there is a nagging circumstance involved here that
makes the habeas court's conclusion unsatisfying.

We have already stated the antics of the prosecutor did not

rise to the dimensions of constitutional error. Nevertheless, it

-24-

is. unassailable that similar antics, indeed. even those previously
performed by the same prosecutor, have been held by the Oklahoma
Court of Criminal Appeals to warrant appellate relief as a matter

of state law. -In Scott v. State, 649 P.2d 561 (Okla. Cr. 1982),

district attorney Burns (the prosecutor here) was chided for
improperly appealing to the sympathies of the jury and
representing himself as the spokesman for the deceased in a manner
Similar to his conduct in this case. Acting in its supervisory
Capacity over the conduct of state trials, the court granted
relief to the defendant, even though objections to the arguments

were sustained by the trial court, because the Court of Criminal

Appeals refused to "close our eyes to such behavior." Scott, 649

P.2d at 564. In Tobler v. State, 688 P.2d 350 (Okla. Cr. 1984),

again, acting in its supervisory capacity, the court granted a new
trial because Mr. Burn's pleas for sympathy through the use of his
“turn of the coin" argument so infected the fairness of the first

trial reversal was mandated as a matter of fundamental error!

"The behavior of District Retarney Tony R. Burns can only be
termed outrageous." Tobler, 688 P.2d at 353. While we cannot and
would not put ourselves in the position of an Oklahoma court
ruling on this issue, nor can we hypothesize the outcome in this
instance, it would nevertheless facially appear a reversal is
conceivable, had Petitioner's appellate counsel raised the issue.
Two circumstances persist as further concerns, however.

First, we do not know why the issue was not raised on the appeal

-25-

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We gave him a real swell funeral.”

That seemed plausible. Still .and
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James Thomas “Flophouse” Kelly,
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dog would spurn, who slept in lice-
infested beds and who would haggle
for an hour over five cents, had no
less than ten fat bank accounts
amounting to more than $140,000!

One of these accounts, in the First
National Bank, showed a balance to
his credit of $30,000, another, in the
Continental Illinois Bank, was for half
that amount, and he had upward of
$6,000 in the Northern Trust Com-
pany.

The man who couldn’t afford more
than a nickel for a bed!

It was one of these bank books, of
course, which Bella Butman had
quickly spotted on that Christmas
night when he tried to chisel her out
of ten cents.

With these facts disclosed, the six
conspirators were rounded up and
brought into court.

The whole plot was quickly ex-
posed. Bella Butman had enlisted the
aid of Attorney Waitches in drawing
up a fraudulent will, offering him six
percent of the loot. Bagdonas was
offered four percent, plus his funeral
fee, and the others were given small-
er amounts.

All were jailed.

Bella, Bagdonas. and Waitches, un-
der indictment for conspiracy and
forgery, were brought before Chief
Justice Dennis E. Sullivan of_ the
Cook County Criminal Court, and the

-mortician and the lawyer not only

were sentenced to five years in the
state penitentiary but were barred
from ever again engaging in the
practice of undertaking or the law
in the state of Illinois. The others were
sentenced to one year each in the
Cook County jail.

HILE these matters were being

washed up in the Criminal Court,
other law agencies were looking into
the affairs of the late Mr. Kelly. For
one, the U. S. Department of Internal
Revenue wanted to know how come
Mr. Kelly never paid any income tax.

prowler was surprised and had to
fight his way out.”

The body was removed to the
morgue and at 2:30, a little more
than two hours after the crime—
November 16, 1934— bloodhounds
were set to work at the task of try-
ing to trail the fleeing killer. The of-
ficers were elated when the animals

And where did he get his money?

With so many investigators digging
into his past, some curious things came
to light. His life, far from being the
- drab, colorless thing it appeared to
be, really was crowded with spectacu-
lar events.

He was born in Charlestown, Massa-
chusetts, on Christmas Day, 1873, son
of Elizabeth and Edward Kelly, came
to Chicago as a boy, engaged in petty
thievery and went to jail. Released,
he killed a man in a drunken brawl
and went straight back to jail, later to
“college” at Joliet.

His “college” course taught him
much in the ways of crime and how
to evade the clutch of the law, and
after his graduation he never was
jailed again.

It was reasonably believed that his
entire life was devoted to crime, in
one form or another, but just what
could never be definitely established,
and to this day the source of his $140,-
000 cash remains a mystery.

In life, Flophouse Kelly lived in ab-
ject obscurity, ignored or scorned by
all who knew him. In death, it de-
veloped he had an astonishing num-

ber of friends and relatives. More
than a hundred turned up to claim his
fortune, among them several women,
each claiming to be his widow.

The only one whose claim seemed
convincing was a woman whose ap-
proach to the jackpot differed from
all the rest.

“T was the wife of Jim Kelly,” she
told Investigator Rubens, “and I bore
him two children, but I want no part
of his estate. It would be a disgrace
to accept any money_he left. I just
want you to know I’m his rightful
heir and widow.”

Her claim was as phony as the rest,
a careful check-up proved, and she
was told to be on her way.

The Probate Court ground away in
its ponderous manner, seeking legiti-
mate heirs to the miser’s estate, and
eventually eighteen were found, most-
ly New England _ cousins, who were
rightfully entitled to it.

By now, what with the tax collec-
tors and administration fees taking
generous bites at it, the estate had
shrunk to about one-fourth its original
size. This was distributed equally
among the lucky eighteen.

So ended the saga of Flophouse
Kelly, who suffered hell to save a
nickel and hoarded a fortune he never
could spend.

And what became of buxom Bella
Butman, who was so wonderfully
kind to him? ;

Early last year Bella was killed in
an automobile accident in Chicago, on
January 2, 1941.

GORY RIDDLE OF THE

FROZEN SWEATER

(Continued from page 39)

immediately struck a scent, leading
north from the Gentry house

into a field. . ee
A half mile away, directly i

path taken by the killer, the posse
came across a cotton sa empty,
lying on the groups The ws
ated a furor.

the sack and examin

n Oi it, “the killer ae

ey? :
| digging
ngs came

eing the
eal; ce)
ped -

1, Massa-
1873, son
lly, came
in petty
Released,
en brawl
|, later to

ght him
and how
law, and
ver was

that his
‘rime, in
ust what
ablished,
his $140,-

ed in ab-
orned by
h, it de-
ng num-
s. More
claim his
| women,
W..

1 seemed
hose ap-
red from

lly,” she
id I bore
t no part

disgrace
b. st
raul

the rest,
and she

away in
ng legiti-
tate, and
nd, most-
yho were

ix collec-
2s taking
state had
s original
1 equally

“lophouse
Oo save a
he never

om Bella
nderfully

killed in
1icago, on

FROM AUTHENTIC POLICE RECORDS

had this,” he commented. “I’ve seen
the same kind of a sack used when
a guy was stealing chickens—but
he’d hardly. have broken into the
house, if he was just a chicken thief.”
He folded the sack up and tucked it
beneath his arm. “We’ll take it
along—maybe it'll add up to some-
thing later.”

Twice the dogs lost the trail. The
posse split into two groups, each
working with hounds, and presently
the scent was found again. The trail
led continually toward the northeast.
_As dawn broke drearily over the
timber land, members of the search-
ing party made another discovery.
Near a stock tank, owned by a
prominent farmer, they found a red
sweater, lying in a half-frozen pool
of water. The sweater was frozen
stiff with what appeared to be blood.
The sheriff exclaimed, triumphantly,
“Looks like he got himself cut up
pretty bad. He’s lost a lot of blood,
too. If has much farther to go, he’ll
never make it!”

Rollins grumbled, “I hope it didn’t
occur to him to steal a horse from
some of these farms he passed. We’ve
got a lot better chance of catching
him if he stays afoot.”

The sheriff grinned. “His mind
can’t be working too fast, or he
wouldn’t have shed this sweater
right where it was sure to be found.”
He examined the garment critically.
“It’s a rather unusual sweater, too.
Heavy knit, and this bright red yarn
looks like it might be homemade. If
our man lives around here, I'll bet
you a month’s pay someone will re-
member this sweater and be able to
identify it. We may have a good
ose of tracing the guy through
it.

At the nearby farmhouse, Savage
questioned the farmer and his fam-
ily. They were prominent, well-to-
do people, utterly above suspicion.
They had neither seen nor . heard
anything unusual, they declared,
and they were shocked at the dis-
covery of the bloodstained frozen
sweater almost in their yard.

“He might have been heading for
the highway,” the farmer suggested.
“Could be he was going to try to
catch a ride. The main road runs
right. by our house. Maybe he wanted
to get rid of the sweater so whoever
picked him up wouldn’t be so apt to
notice that he’d been hurt, and be
able to remember him afterward.”

His suggestion seemed a_ logical
one, for nearby the trail ended. The
dogs milled about, baying dismally,
at a spot not far from the highway,
and could not pick up the scent
again.

Savage’s mind was alive with

questions. What nature of man
would break into a home in the dead
of night, attack and literally hack
to pieces a defenseless man?

“We've got to have some kind of a
motive, in this instance, before we’ll
have a lot of luck finding the killer,”
the sheriff declared. ‘“Offhand, I fail
to see how it could have been rob-
bery. What then? If it was revenge,
we’ve got to know who hated Gentry.
It could have been a casual ac-
quaintance, a neighbor we’d never
suspect in a thousand years unless
we happened to stumble onto the
fact that he’d had some sort of a
grudge against Gentry. There are
other possible angles, too. Maybe it
was a transient—a hobo Gentry had
refused to feed. Or it may have been
a drunk or maniac.” He shrugged,
wearily. “Our best chance is to find
someone who’s been injured. In that
case,” he added, tersely, “I want to
see every man you find who has even
a scratch on him and who can’t give
an airtight alibi for all night.”

In the meantime, searchers about
the Gentry home had made a start-
ling discovery. In the shrubbery at
the edge of the clearing, and over-
looked in the darkness, were four
guns, apparently tossed away by the
killer as he fled. A shotgun, two pis-
tols and a revolver. These were taken
to town, and the shotgun promptly
identified by the coroner as the same
calibre weapon which had been used
to shoot Gentry.

“We'll send the slug from his body
and one from this weapon to the
ballistics expert,’ he said. “If they
are the same, at least we’ve got one
of the weapons used to attack Gentry
with.”

A ballistics report came _ back
promptly. The bullet taken from the
body of Gentry and the one fired
from the shotgun taken near the
Gentry home were identical! Savage
commented, “Well, now we have the
murder weapon. From the looks of
that stuff we found in the yard, the
killer was packing a regular arsenal.
What I can’t understand is why he
wanted to throw them away so close
to the scene of the crime. At any
rate—our next job is to find out whom
the gun belongs to, and that isn’t go-
ing to be any cinch. Offhand, I'd say
there were 40 or 50 shotguns in this
immediate neck of the woods. About
every other farmer has one. They go
in for a lot of hunting.”

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “A
big percentage of hunting licenses in
this area are issued from M ’s store
in town. They’d have a record—it’s
as good a way as any to get a line on
who owns shotguns. It’s a cinch our
killer isn’t going to identify the mur-

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PHOTO Rig

to | from por mouth-impression! Mere —

der weapon as his own, or probably
even admit he owns one. Were going
to have to try to slip up on him.”

N the next few days, Savage and

his officers made an exhaustive
search for the owners of all shotguns
in the vicinity. One by one all of the
names on the list were checked and
questioned, asked to attempt to iden-
tify the gun found in the murdered
man’s yard—to no avail. All produced
their own gun and prov to the
satisfaction of the officers that neither
they nor their weapons had been in
any way connected with the crime.

The first break came when Savage
went to question a river farmer.

The farmer told the _ officers
promptly, “I have a hunting license
but I don’t own a gun. I’ve been
aiming to get me one, but I’ve never

done it, yet. I usually borrow a
neighbor’s.”
Further questioning elicited the

, information that this gentleman had
not been acquainted with Gentry,
that he had been entertaining friends
on the night of the crime, and had
not been in possession of a gun at
that time. Mentally, Savage scratched
him from the list. Before he left, he
produced the mystery weapon and
asked, “Ever see this before?”

The farmer glanced at the gun.
“Can’t say that I have. All shotguns
look pretty much alike—”’ He added
suddenly, on a changed note, “Say,
wait a minute. Maybe I do know the
gun, at that!” He lifted one end of
it, peered at the stock. “Why—that’s
Hugh Rode’s gun.” He pointed to a
dull spot on the varnished wood.
“See that spot? I spilled some shellac
there. I had the gun over here one
time—I was cementing some gaskets
on my car and I knocked the bottle
of shellac over and it spilled on the
gun. When I wiped it off, somé of the
finish came off, too.”

Savage reached into his car and
brought forth the other guns. “Then
~how about these? Ever see them be-
fore?”

The farmer frowned. “They look
like some of Rode’s, too—you see, he
has quite a collection.”

“Who is this Rode?” .

_ The farmer gestured. “He has a
place down the road a couple of
miles from here—”

Savage hurried at once to the Rode
home. Rode was there, and when he
viewed the shotgun he said, in
amazement, “Why, that’s mine!” He
added, eagerly, “Where did you get
them? Did you find the others, too?”

Savage countered, “Did you lose
them?”

“My house was ransacked last
week,” Rode replied. “I had several
guns taken, among other things.”

The sheriff showed him the other
guns which had been found in the
yard of the Gentry home. “Are these
the*ones?”

“Those are mine—all of them!
There was a .410, too. It isn’t there.
Where did you get them?”

“Did you know Roy Gentry, the
fellow over toward town who was
murdered?”

“No, not personally. Of course, I
heard about the murder.”

Savage said, slowly, “The ballistics
experts say that Gentry was mur-
dered with this gun.” He indicated
the shotgun. “At least, he was shot
with it. He was stabbed, too—”

Rode exclaimed, in consternation,
“Then the fellow who robbed my
house must be the same one who

ERAALAGAAAWNA Ads dae AAW de Wh bee

murdered poor Roy Gentry!”

“It certainly looks that way. Tell
me—did you have any idea at all who
might have broken into your place?”

For a moment the farmer did not
answer. He shifted his feet ner-
vously, evaded the officer’s glance.
“I don’t like to say,” he said hesi-
tantly, “this is pretty serious and if
I said I thought any certain persons
Swiped those guns—”

The sheriff leaned forward. “Listen,
he said, “you let me worry about
that. Just tell us who you thought
might have stolen the stuff and why
you thought so. We’ll check him and
if he is in the clear, he has nothing
to be afraid of, so far as this investi-
gation is concerned.”

“Well—not very long ago I had a
guy working for me. Name of Alfred
Rowan. Him and his wife lived on
my place. I fired him and made him
get out, and he was pretty sore about
it. When my house was broken into
and this stuff stolen, I kind of figured
maybe he’d come back and done it
for spite. He knew where the guns
and things were kept. But then I
couldn’t be sure. Lots of transients
go by my place—and we were all
away. It might have been anybody.”

Savage nodded. “I agree with you
that your suspicion of this fellow you
fired doesn’t mean he actually did it,
by a long shot. But it won’t hurt to
check him.” He turned to Rollins.
“Bring out that sweater we found—”
When the deputy complied, Savage
held the bloodstained garment up for
Rode to view. “Ever see this before?”

Rode considered, carefully. ‘No.”

“This Rowan didn’t have one like
it?’

“No, I’m sure he didn’t. If he did,
he never wore it around my place.”

When officers went to Alfred
Rowan’s place, he was not at home.
His wife told them, “He’s in Texas,
working. He has been there ever
since the day Mr. Rode let him go.”

Under continued questioning, Mrs.
Rowan insisted that her husband had
been in Texas for weeks and in veri-
fication she produced letters he had
written her from Dallas.

The sheriff told Deputy Rollins,
privately, “I’m afraid that Rode’s
hunch was wrong. Mrs. Rowan
seems to be telling the truth but just
to be on the safe side, I’m going to
ask the authorities down there to
pick him up for questioning. I’m
afraid we don’t have anything there,
though—as far as Mrs. Rowan
knows, he wasn’t acquainted with
Gentry, either.”

Obtaining a description of the
missin farmhand—six feet tall,
powerfully built, gold front tooth,
about 30 years of age—Savage sent
out a pickup request.

“I want to have a talk with him,”
he told the others, “because I think
it would be a good idea if we gave
him a chance to prove exactly where
he was the night Rode’s guns were
stolen. In the meantime, we’d better
bear down as hard as we can on all
the other angles. We _ certainly
haven’t much to go on, yet.”

To all who came into the office the
red sweater was shown, and at length
a farmer residing near the Gentry
home handed Savage a_= surprise.
“Sure,” he said, “I know that sweater.
Seen it plenty of times. It’s Gentry’s
—his wife knit it for him, for a pres-
ent, I think it was.”

The officers stared at each other.
Savage said, softly, “Then he was
prowling, all right. At least he

found the sweater and put it on, be-
fore he shot Gentry. If it was the
same guy who robbed Rode, could be
he was just after guns and such
things, that he could pawn. He may
have gotten into the house unnoticed,
and then got panicky when the kid
wanted a drink of water. Gentry
had to go to the kitchen to get the
water—and that’s where the prowler
was.” He i, a his fingers. “That
sack we found—a man could carry
almost anything in it. Guns, clothing,
foodstuffs—looks like maybe we’ve
got just a petty prowler out to steal
anything he could use!”

N the farm district, where th«

young husband had been sx
brutally murdered, public sentimen:
was running high. Lynch fever wa:
riot among the neighbors of Roy
Gentry, and Savage cautioned his
men not to let it be known if they
had any leads, even as to who might
have stolen the guns. “If we get a
guy for questioning and those farm-
ers find it out, they’ll do their best
to take him away from us, before we
even have a chance to determine his
innocence or guilt. We’ve got to be
careful. As far as we know, the
killer may be right here—he may
even be sitting in on the search. I’ve
known it to happen.”

Motorists were questioned, and
filling station attendants along the
highway which ran near the farm
where the bloodstained sweater had
been located. No one could recall
having picked up a hitch-hiker, nor
seen one who acted strangely, or bore
any cuts or scratches.

The first definite break came when,
two mornings after Savage had issued
the pickup order on Alfred Rowan,
he received an unexpected visit from
the young farm wife. She was ner-
vous and disturbed and the sheriff
sensed that she was badly frightened.
He greeted her kindly, attempting to
put her at her ease.

She went straight to the point,
talking in a low, strained voice.
‘I’ve got something to tell you. It
may mean a lot of trouble but I’ve
got to get it off my mind and help
clear is brutal slaying. Alfred
went to Texas, all right, right after
Mr. Rode let him go, but he came
back again. He said he couldn’t find
work down there. He was here for
several days, but he told me not to
let anyone know that he was home.
He left again last Sunday afternoon.”

The sheriff leaned forward. “Why
didn’t you tell us about that before,
Mrs. Rowan?”

She shrank back in her chair and
there was no mistaking the fear in
her eyes. “I’m afraid of Alfred,” she
whispered, “you don’t know him, Mr.
Savage. When he gets mad, he’d do
anything. Lots of times he beats me.
I'd have left him a long time ago,
but I was afraid.”

“But you’re sure, now, that he was
here on Sunday afternoon?”

Savage asked Mrs. Rowan to stay
in case she might be wanted for fur-
ther questioning. Jubilantly he re-
peaes to his officers what the woman

ad told him. “That puts a different
light on the whole affair,” he de-
clared. “It puts him in the area at
the time of the crime! Mrs. Gentry
is sure the man who killed her hus-
band was a big man—and the coroner
says that the knife blows were struck
with wicked stren Gentry was
no: weakling himself. Of course, he
was shot in the side, and that would

| it on, be-
it was the
e, could be
and such

n. may
ced,
en kid

rr. Gentry
to get the
he prowler
ers. ‘““That
ould carry
is, clothing,
ybe we've
yut to steal

where __ the

been s<
- sentimen!
fever was
rs of Roy
itioned his
wn if they
who might
f we get a
those farm-
» their best
, before we
termine his
2 got to be
know, the
e—he may
search. I’ve

ioned, and
along the
- the farm
weater had
ould recall
-hiker, nor
ely, or bore

cairn,
ha@issued

red Rowan,
i visit from
e was ner-
the sheriff
frightened.
tempting to

the point,
ined voice.
ell you. It
ale but I’ve
id and help
ng. Alfred
right after
ut he came
‘ouldn’t find
as here for
i me not to
was home.
afternoon.”
vard. “Why
that before,

r chair and
the fear in
Alfred,” she
ow him, Mr.
iad, he’d do
1e beats me.
g time ago,

that he was

mn?”
wan to stay
ited for fur-

nt e re-
t 7oman
s a wilferent

ir,” he de-

the area at

Mrs. Gentry.

led her hus-
| the coroner
were stru

Gentry ‘was

f course, he =" 4x-

| that would

slow him down, but even so, it took
a pretty stout man to inflict the
wounds Gentry had. If we can
learn that it was Rowan who stole
those guns, then we've got a pretty
strong motive against him—just plain
prowling.”

A report from the ballistics expert
seemed to strengthen the case. Roy
Gentry, the report said, was _ shot
with the shotgun which had been
abandoned in the Gentry yard—the
same weapon which had been stolen
from Rode.

Pawn and loan shops in all the
surrounding towns were canvassed.
It appeared a futile search at first,
but in a little shop at Frederick,
Oklahoma, the officers got results. A
.410 had been pawned there by a
farmer. Rode promptly identified the
weapon as the remaining gun in the
collection which. had been stolen
from him. ’

“Have you the farmer’s name?”
Savage asked the pawnbroker.

The proprietor admitted that he
did not have the name, but the de-
scription he gave tallied perfectly
with the description of Rowan, to
the gold front tooth! —

Back in Altus, Savage exclaimed,
with elation, “We’ve got him. Rowan
is going to have to do some tall talk-
ing: to explain the evidence against
him. I’ve a hunch we’ve got every-

oe we need to convict him—but

right now, more than anything else,
we need Rowan.” He added, thought-
fully, “It may be that we’re taking a
lot for granted, concentrating on
Rowan on the strength of Rode’s sus-
picion and his wife’s story that he
was mean, but he had to have some
reason’ for not wanting anyone to
know that he was here and I want
to know what it was. Rode must
have had good grounds for believing
it might have been Rowan who
ransacked his house. He isn’t the
sort to make hysterical accusations.”

The appeal to officers of sur-
rounding counties, and in Texas,
was renewed, and the web about
main highways and railway stations
doubled. A description of Rowan
was broadcast, with a request to of-
ficers and civilians to report his ap-
pearance at once. :

Apparently Rowan had no close
friends, but persons knowing him
casually said that he was not well
liked; that he was surly-tempered
and inclined toward trouble-making.

“The sort to carry a grudge?”
Savage asked.

‘Yes,” was the answer. “If he got
it in for a man, he’d do him dirt, if
the chance came.”

Rowan’s relatives were questioned,
and they corroborated the story told
by Mrs. Rowan that she was afraid
of her husband. They made no secret
of the fact that they would not be
surprised, “if he turns out to be the
one that shot that poor Mr. Gentry.”

HE final break came when of-

ficials in Granfield, Texas, alertly
on the watch for Rowan, went to in-
vesuaate a report that a man re-
sembling his description had been
seen walking through the edge of
town. They overtook Rowan on the
outskirts of the city. They asked
him, “Are you Alfred Rowan?”’

He stared at them, sullenly. “No.
You got the wrong guy. My name’s
Brown.”

They looked at him. There were
deep, poorly healed cuts on his face
and hands. “Where’d you get those?”

“In a fight,” he muttered. “A guy
slugged me with a beer bottle.” _

“Are you sure,” they asked him,
“that it wasn’t a window he slugged
you with?” Then they ushered him
into the car. “The sheriff over at
Altus would like to talk to you,”
they told him. “You come along with
us +B] ob

he said. “I never been over there.”

Savage was notified of the sus-

ect’s apprehension. With deputies
be started for Granfield. In Altus,
news leaked out, in some way, that
Rowan had been picked up. As the
officers returned with their captive,
they learned_that a huge mob of
irate citizens awaited them at the
Red River bridge, intent on taking
Rowan from the law and lynching
him.

“We'll wait,” Savage decided. “If
we don’t show up, they'll get tired
and go home, after a while. We've
got to cross that bridge, but I don’t
want to have to shoot it out with
them. Those guys are friends of
Gentry’s, and they’re pretty worked
up over his death—I’d hate for any
of them to get hurt.”

“JT. don’t know anything about
Gentry,” Rowan mumbled. “How did
he get killed?”

“He was either stabbed or shot,”
Savage retorted. “You got any idea
which it was?”

The fargnhand evaded his stare.
“No,” he mumbled, “I don’t know
anything about it.”

At the bridge the crowd waited
for hours, muttering ominously
among themselves. The law out-
waited them less than a mile on the
opposite side. At length a rumor
grew up that the report of Rowan’s
arrest had been a false alarm, and
slowly the lynch-party drifted away.

Rowan was taken to the state re-
formatory at Granite for safekeep-
ing. He loudly denied all implica-
tion in the crime, and scoffed at the
assertion that he had broken into
Rode’s home.

“Then suppose you explain,”
Savage suggested, suddenly, “how
come you took Rode’s .410 to Fred-
erick and hocked it?”

Rowan was taken unawares. He
jumped as if he had been shot and
demanded, “How did you know
that?”

“We knew it all right,” the sheriff
retorted, “just like we know you
stole those guns from Rode—and
that you broke into Gentry’s house
and killed him!’

Rowan twisted in his chair, staring
from face to face. The officers’ ex-
pressions were blank, and he could
read nothing there of hope, or of
their “bluffing”. At last the heavy
silence weighed unbearably on his
nerves, atid he wilted, muttering,
wa what’s the use? I did it—I killed

im.” :

“Why?” asked Savage. “Were you
prowling? Like you did at Rode’s?”

Rowan’s face twisted contemptu-
ously. “Naw—he didn’t have nothing
I’d steal—”

“You took his sweater.”

“Yeah—but that ain’t what I went
there for. Gentry and me had some
trouble before. Down on the rail-
road track—we had words over
something—”

“Over what?”

After a moment, Rowan muttered,
“I disremember. Anyhow, I went up
ne to his house that night to have
it out.” :

“I don’t know no sheriff at Altus,”

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REAL DETECTIVE

REAL

DETECTIVE

McCarty rushed outside and leaped into
the car purring at the curb with Bailey at
the wheel. He realized the bandits might
fail to continue east through Sterling, but
whip back south on one of the country
roads near Denton to the south. This
would give them a clean avenue of escape
through the edge of Stevens and Com-
manche counties since they naturally would
expect the Lawton officers to speed im-
mediately northward to the scene of the
crime,

Therefore, McCarty ordered Bailey to
drive east from Lawton on the main high-
way which intersected U. S. 81 at a point
13 miles south of Rush Springs, Under-
sheriff Wilson’s objective:

At Emerson Center on the county line,
they then cut northward on a country road
which would take them to Denton, and, they
hoped, into the path of the bank-robbing
quartet.

They drove swiftly but cautiously, pausing
only to make inquiries from farmers along
the way. But it was not until they neared
a point where the Sterling Road approached
the county line that their questioning pro-
duced results.

The farmer looked amazed when the
sheriff gave him a description of the car and
the quartet who had pulled the Elgin bank
job.
“They passed here less than 30 minutes
ago, headed east,” he exclaimed. “They
were traveling fast. Then pretty soon the
same car came back by, headed west, and
cut off northwest of here toward the Little
Beaver Creek bottoms.”

The sheriff whirled to Bailey. “They
must have run into Pete Wilson’s posse
working east of here, and doubled back,”
he shouted jubilantly. Already his quick

‘action had kayoed the four’s plan of escape.

“If we can keep them from crossing
the Little Beaver and breaking through
on the highway that runs north through
Apache,” added Bailey, “we’ve got them
trapped right in here!”

Deciding that a half hour start was too
much of a lead for direct pursuit, the
officers drove to the nearest telephone at
Sterling. From there, the sheriff spread the
alarm to Caddo County officers at Ana-
darko. Immediately, deputy sheriffs and

city officers headed south for Apache, cov-:

ering the territory west in the direction the
fugitives had last been seen traveling.

Lawton police patrolled north to meet
them, covering the avenue of escape to the
southwest. Wilson and his posse met Mc-
Carty at Sterling and spread out to the
northeast to meet’ Caddo County officers,
and to the southeast to close the gap be-
tween Chickasha and Duncan. .In a short
while more than 50 officers, fully armed
and ready for. action, had closed in on an
area about 40 miles long and 30 miles
wide.

From Oklahoma City, Sheriff Stanley
Rogers dispatched his two-way radio
equipped crime plane, piloted by Deputy
Sheriff Clint Johnson. He also sent radio
cars into the area under the command of
Criminal Deputies George Catron, Tom
Miller and W. E. Agee. From the air,
Johnson began circling the surrounded
territory, to notify officers on the ground
of the location of the bandit machine the
instant he spotted the car’s hiding place.

Only now did McCarty leave the field.
Desiring more evidence which might lead
to the identification of the bandits, he drove

HOT SEAT

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35)

to Elgin while Deputy Bailey joined Pete
Wilson’s party.

Tt Exern, the sheriff found a crowd

still milling about the bank. Constable
Deeds met him. After turning in the alarm,
he had pursued the bandits uselessly, and
returned with Stephens to the city. He
gave the sheriff a detailed description of
the bandits he had obtained from Stephens
and Miss Ezell. The banker also gave Mc-
Carty a description of the two girls.

“One of them was awfully young, not
more than 15. She was about five and a
half feet tall and slender, with brown hair
and blue eyes, and a heavily freckled face.

“The other girl was older, around 20.
She was taller and weighed more. She was
freckled, too, not as much as the other girl,
and had thick lips.”

He added that he had never seen any of
the quartet before. He had also had time
to make a quick survey of his losses, and
told McCarty that approximately $600 in
cash was missing.

The sheriff asked Miss Ezell and Stephens
to re-enact every detail of the crime as
nearly as they could remember, in order
that he could have every piece of evidence
available. He soon learned that the man
with the shotgun had handled nothing.
The one who had obtained the sack of
money had not touched the counter or the
cash drawers in scooping up the cash.
And inside the vault he had forced Stephens

Is there a Real Life
SHERLOCK
HOLMES

in your neighborhood?

The editors of Real Detective
believe there are unheralded
sleuths throughout America—
manhunters as brilliant as the
G-men and the T-men, Wash-
ington’s Luke §S. May, Cali-
fornia’s Sheriff E. W. Biscailuz
and Criminologist Edward O.
Heinrich. Their true stories of
famous detective cases have
thrilled readers everywhere.
Your local detective can do the
same. Talk to him today and
then write to the Editor, Hillman
Periodicals, stating names,
dates and facts of the case. And
don’t forget to tell us whether
or not pictures of characters and
scenes in the story are avail-
able. Your detective deserves
this recognition—and you will
be well paid for the story you
write. Address:

THE EDITOR,
Hillman Periodicals,
1476Broadway, NewYorkCity

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“Actual "pei
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REAL DETECTIVE

TRAPPED BY A HAT

Assuming a “tough guy” pose, Morris Molinsky sits in a New York
police station after his arrest in connection with the murder of
a policeman nearly two years ago. The chief clue was a hat which
was traced to England and Hawaii and then finally to Molinsky.

“If the four are in that house, they’ve
got those people afraid to say anything,”
decided Catron.

Wilson agreed with a grim nod. “I think
that’s why Ambrose acted so funny when he
told us the bandits had been there. Let’s go
back and look the place over.”

Catron removed a machine gun from his
sedan. The others inspected their rifles
and revolvers. Then the grim-faced party
tramped back through the wheat field to
the house.

Catron, Miller and Agee deployed in
front of the building. Deeds and Stephens
moved in to cover the sides. Bailey and
Wilson took the rear and approached the
back door.

Mrs. Medrano was sweeping off the steps.
She turned back to the screen door at the
sight of the officers and opened it half-
way. Then she paused as Wilson called
out to her.

“T wonder, Mrs. Medrano, if we could
come inside and get a drink of water?”

The woman’s heart pounded in her throat.
Wilson saw her face pale. “I’lI—T’ll hand
you a glass of water,” she stammered, and
stepped inside the screen.

But before she could close it, Wilson
stepped quickly forward and pushed
through behind her into the kitchen. The
same instant he saw Medrano lunge from
the bedroom doorway. He knocked his
wife to the floor, and yelled to Wilson:

“Look out!”

His warning was drowned in the roar of
a gun from behind the kitchen door beside
Wilson’s face. The undersheriff felt the
slug cut through his right upper ribs and
tear out below his right shoulder, spin-
ning him completely around.

He had one glimpse of the snarling youth
who leaped from behind the panel with his
pistol roaring. He heard Abe Medrano
scream as a slug plumped into his body.

Wilson tried to get out his gun, but his right
arm was useless. Then the second bandit
showed in the bedroom doorway and a blast
from his shotgun tore into Wilson’s left
side. Wilson staggered backward and col-
lapsed. From the recesses of the bedroom
came the terrified screams of women and
children.

Deputy Bailey dropped flat on the porch
outside the screen, and dpened up through
the door with his own revolver. With
machine gun and rifles, Catron, Miller and
Agee rushed the front of the house at an
angle. Deeds and Stephens rushed the
side window. The next instant the kitchen
was filled with the mad cacophony of roar-
ing guns and whining lead.

One bandit went down on the floor,
throwing away his revolver and clutching
his riddled right leg and trying in pain.
The second youth dropped his shotgun and
held up his hands as officers poured into the
house. In the bedroom, the two girls sur-
rendered and produced the bank loot.

Stephens had a bullet in his left shoulder,
and Deeds had been shot through the hand.
Wilson lay dead in a pool of blood which
widened across the floor. A quick exam-
ination told Catron that Medrano was still
alive, but in critical condition. He sent an
officer for the nearest radio car, and a half
hour later the farmer lay in the emergency
room of a Lawton hospital. But it was
no use. Medrano was dead.

CCARTY AND THE others rushed the
four to the Lawton county jail. When
news of the murder of Wilson and Medra-
no spread, a large crowd of angry citizens
immediately gathered about the courthouse.
Fearing mob violence, McCarty and _ his
deputies slipped the bandits out the back
way and rushed them to the State Reform-
atory at Granite for safe-keeping.
Here fingerprint records identified the

Indian bandit as Charley Sands, who had
been sentenced to the State Reformatory
in 1932 to a five year term for car theft,
and later was transferred to the State
Penitentiary at McAlester.

The shotgun bandit was identified as
Leon Siler who had gone to McAlester
penitentiary in 1932, also on a five-year
rap for car theft, and escaped from the
Atoka sub-prison in 1933.

The 20-year-old girl bandit was iden-
tified as the sweetheart of Charley Sands.
Her name was Ruby Herring. The younger
girl admitted her name was Phyllis Siler,
wife of the bandit Leon Siler since March
25, two months before.

At midnight, Claude Seymour, Sheriff
of Garvin County, arrived from Pauls
Valley with George Longacre. Longacre
looked once at Sands and Siler and iden-
tified them as the pair who kidnaped him
the night of May 27, and shot George Loper
to death.

On Saturday morning Bob McCaleb,
brought from Holdenville by Sheriff Harve
Ball of Hughes County, also identified them
as the pair who had robbed him and left
him tied to the tree near Seminole. The
court officers came from Kansas to iden-
tify them as the bandits who had robbed
them near Davis.

At Pauls Valley, Sheriff Seymour asked
the Garvin County attorney to file charges
against Siler and Sands in the Loper death.

At Lawton, Commanche County Attorney
Dwight Malcolm charged the pair with
murder, and charged their girl companions
with complicity in the crime.

“Absolutely the State will demand the
death penalty for Siler and Sands,” he told
the press. “I will not recommend leniency
or mercy, under any condition!”

On September 21, 1935, the two bandits
and Ruby Herring went on trial in the
Commanche County district court, with
District Judge Henry W. Hoel of Payne
County presiding.

Found guilty as charged by the district
court jury, Judge Hoel sentenced Siler
and Sands to death by electrocution. Ruby
Herrington was found guilty of man-
slaughter and sentenced to serve 10 years
in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at
McAlester.

Because of her youth, Phyllis Siler was
not brought to trial until February, 1936.
Found guilty of assault with intent to kill,
she was sentenced to serve five years in the
State Penitentiary.

Siler and Sands appealed their case, but
the State Court of Appeals upheld the
findings of the Commanche County district
court, and termed the pair “characters of
the vilest kind, guilty of cold-blooded mur-
der.”

In a last desperate attempt to win recom-
mendations for executive clemency, their
last bulwark against the seven fatal steps
from their cells to the death chair, the mur-
derers poured out their stories to Governor
E. W. Marland’s pardon and parole board.
The board remained silent on their cases.

On Friday, June 11, 1937, at 12:13 A.M.,
Leon Siler, chalky white and grinning,
was strapped in the chair. Three minutes
later, three physicians pronounced him
dead.

A minute after Siler’s body was re-
moved, Sands, stolid and surly, walked into
the death chamber. The executioner swung
the switch. At 12:30, Charley Sands had
also paid for one week of robberies and
bloodshed which they had written into the
annals of Oklahoma crime.

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REAL DETECTIVE

to handle the money containers. There was
no chance of obtaining any fingerprints.

The sheriff said disgustedly: “Just like
all the other jobs. All we've got to go on
are their descriptions.”

Stephens and Miss Ezell quickly assured
him that they could identify the bandits if
they were caught, and McCarty knew that
this was the immediate problem. This time
they had a chance to bag the bandits be-
fore they made a complete getaway. Sur-
rounded in every direction, the four
couldn’t slip out of the area until darkness.
In the meantime they would be forced to lay
low in the. heavily wooded sanctuary of
Little Beaver Creek in order to stay out of
sight of the ever circling radio plane piloted
by Deputy Johnson. The quartet had to
be ferreted out before nightfall.

Constable Deeds and Stephens, who now
armed himself with a rifle, accompanied the
sheriff back to the area where the bandits
had last been seen.

A dragnet composed of officers and grim-
faced farmers under the command of Wil-
son had spread through the entire section.
McCarty, Deeds and Stephens joined them.
On the surrounding highways officers were
closing in, narrowing down the area. Over-
head, the crime plane zoomed low, its
flight concentrated on the wooded course
of the creek, while Johnson studied every
nook and cranny through his glasses.

In this way he finally got a glimpse of the
bandit machine parked in a thicket on the
Little Beaver near the farm home of C. L.
Ambrose.

Notified of the discovery in their radio
cruisers, Catron, Miller and Agee were
first to reach the spot. They did not dis-
turb the machine for fear of destroying
any possible fingerprints or other evidence
the quartet might have left behind. It was
apparent that the bandits had completely
abandoned their hope of escape from the
area by automobile, for the bank loot was
gone. However, the officers disabled the
machine, lest the bandits, hard pressed, sud-
denly took a chance of returning for it.

As other officers arrived at the scene, a
search was immediately instituted for the
fugitives who were now on foot.

Wiser TOOK SOME men and hurried
to the Ambrose place. He found the
farmer and his wife there, along with their
20-year-old son, Hank, and two smaller
children, ages 10 and 12. The family ap-
parently had not been disturbed by the
search, but they had noticed the plane
circling about the area.

Questioned by Wilson, they stated that
the bandits had not visited them, that they
had seen no one in the vicinity. Ambrose
said he would borrow a gun and join the
hunt, that he and Hank would go to the
home of Abe Medrano a quarter of a mile
east and also enlist him in the search.

Wilson and his party returned to the
machine. Sheriff McCarty and Catron
had picked up the bandits’ trail leading from
the abandoned car down to the bank of
Beaver Creek and into the water.

A search of the opposite bank revealed
that the four had not come out of the creek
at this spot. Apparently they had turned
up or down stream,

Quickly the posse split into four groups
under the command of Sheriff McCarty,
Deputy Bailey, Catron and Wilson. With
two groups covering a side of the creek,
they moved in opposite directions in an
effort to determine where the fugitives had
left the water.

Deputy Johnson took to the air again,
making another survey to detect any slight
movements in the undergrowth below or
in the heavy lines of willows overhanging
the creek banks.

In the meantime, Ambrose and, his son
Hank arrived at the house of Abe Medrano.

Ambrose didn’t see Medrano in the field.
He did not see Mrs. Medrano or her 18-
month-old son Kit about. He thought
things were very quiet for this time of day.
He noted also that the front door was
closed, which was rather unusual for a
warm evening like this one.

“T wonder if the Medranos are at home,”
he puzzled to Hank as they stepped onto the
porch.

He lifted his fist to knock. Then the
front door was jerked wide with a squeal of
hinges, and a slender, bearded youth faced
Ambrose through the screen. His lanky
frame was jerked to a crouch, and a sawed-
off shotgun rode his right hip.

“You and the boy step inside quick,”
snarled the gunman. “The Medranos didn’t
say they were expecting company. Get
your hands up!”

Ambrose and his son complied. An
Indian-looking youth armed with a revolver
stepped quickly from behind the door,
and frisked them for weapons. Then he
shoved Ambrose and the boy into the bed-
room, where Medrano, his wife, and their
small child cowered before pistols held in
the hands of two hard-faced girls.

“Tt’s like I told Medrano here,” said the
Indian-looking bandit. “We got to hang
out from the law until it’s dark enough to
travel. Do what we say, and you wont get
hurt.” ,

Then he returned to the front of the
house where he set up his watch on the yard
again. It was only a short while later that
Mrs. Ambrose and her two other children
came up the road. Fearing a visit from
the bandits while her older son and husband
were away, the woman had decided to come
to the Medrano home to stay. When she
knocked at the door, she too was ordered
inside. She faced the bandits and their
guns and clutched the children close to her
in terror. ‘

“Just like we told the others,” sneered
the bandit with the pistol. “Don’t sound
any alarm, and do what we tell you. If
you don’t, your husband or maybe one of
those kids will get hurt.”

Mrs. Ambrose trembled at the thought of
it. Her knuckles gleaming white as she
gripped the arms of a chair, she took her
place with the other hostages in the bed-
room.

More tense minutes passed. Twice dif-
ferent searching parties came to the house
to inquire if the bandits had been seen in
the vicinity. Once the bandits ordered
Ambrose to go to the door, and the next
time, Medrano.

“Tell them we haven't been here, or we'll
kill you!” they ordered each time. The
farmers complied, and the searchers hurried
on.

N THE MEANTIME Wilson and his men
found the tracks of the quartet where
they had come out of the creek. The
trail of the four led them straight across
a soft wheat field to the Medrano home.
Ambrose. met the party on the porch.
This time he informed them that the bandits
had been there and departed. Wilson and
his men circled the house for several hun-
dred yards, and finally ended up at the car
to which Catron, Miller and Agee had

returned to radio Johnson for any results. |

Bailey came in from his search along
the creek as soon as he got the word that
Wilson had discovered the bandits’ trail.
Constable Deeds, Stephens and Bailey
came up together. The group of officers
held a quick conference.

“T believe those four are right over there
in that house,” Wilson told them. “The
trail took them there, and there’s not a
trace of them beyond the place. Besides,
Ambrose is still there, and he told me he
was going to get Medrano and join the
chase. Why hasn’t he?”

*
O HEI
his Wi

Other depe;
POSE Of the
Organize,
after the Na
“a Navy Mme
ASSiSts in em,
man’s depen
of dependent
For the fir
St
through its Cit

Charley Sands (above) helped to
write a bloody chapter into the
annals of outlawry in Oklahoma.

The other bandit and the two girls soon came ont with their hands

in the air after surrendering their guns.

The bank loot was found

in the bedroom where the girls had held their prisoners for hours.

turned his hard, evil eyes upon the
woman.

“Look, sister,” he snarled, “I’m tak-

ing your boss for a little ride into the
country. If you know what’s good for
him, you won’t notify the law until you
see him coming back.”
Transferring the loot to his gun hand,
he clutched Stephens’ arm in a vise-like
grip and shoved him toward the front
door where the second bandit poked the
Shotgun in his back. Using him as a
shield lest townsmen had sighted some-
thing wrong, the pair hurried him before
them outside to the small, black sedan
waiting at the curb with motor running.
Two girls occupied the front seat, one
behind the wheel.

wvith the

oan stuff-

cack and be

tacked about the
oin ste

wd scooped .

The bandits shoved Stephens into the
back and climbed in on each side. With
A roar, the car sped out of the little
own in northern Commanche County.

jean the minute later it ducked off the main

cc yunter-

je him int

ns to
forces

yr ecet
4 the

he
ri eran )

ntly satisfied, h
-k into the ca

e shov

ge, 4
\y bac

panker hee,
, close to $400 } hey dumped their hostage out. Soiled

Then he ighway onto a rural graveled road lead-

he eastward toward Sterling at a dizzy

Halfway between the two towns,

€Wnd shaken from his experience, the
n

banker stood helplessly and watched the
machine race from sight, unable to get
the numerals of the rag-covered license
plate.

By the time he could get to a tele-
phone to notify officers, the bandits
would have made a perfect getaway into
the Indian brush and hill country flank-
ing the Commanche-Grady county line.

This had been part of the bandits’
plan, but something had happened this
time which they had not counted on.
R. B. Deeds, Elgin constable, had seen
the bandit machine leaving town fast.
He wouldn’t have thought much about it
since Elgin was on the main highway
and cars usually came through there at
a pretty fair clip. But when he saw the
banker in the back seat between two
strangers, he hadn’t believed his eyes.
Rushing to the bank to make sure, he
had found Miss Ezell who excitedly
gasped out details of the raid to him.

. % Lawton, the Commanche County
seat 18 miles southwest, Sheriff
Charles F. McCarty was already taking
down Deeds’ report over the telephone.

Ruby Herring (above), sweetheart
of Charley Sands, wielded a gun
during the bandits’ last stand.

He got a bare description of the un-
masked bandits, of the getaway car, and
the direction they were traveling.

Deputy Sheriff J. E. Bailey was also
in the office, and when McCarty hung
up, he whirled to the deputy with a wor-
ried frown.

“The Elgin bank has just been held
up by that same pair of hoodlums,” he
said tensely, “but this time they had two
girls with them. They headed east!”

While Bailey unracked rifles and shot-
guns and carried them to the car, Mc-
Carty began the task of blockading roads
in the territory through which the es-
caping bandits had to pass. On receipt
of the alarm, police and sheriff cars from
Duncan, 35 miles southeast, were dis-
patched to cover the northwestern sec-
tion of Stephens County.

Next, the sheriff contacted the Grady
County sheriff's office at Chickasha, Un-
dersheriff Pete Wilson answered the
phone and took his message.

“We'll cut them off at Rush Springs
and circle in from the east,” said Wilson,
and hung up.

(Continued on page 82)

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Execution Is Set in Texas for Teenaged Killer,

By CLAUDIA KOLKER
: TIMES STAFF WRITER

HOUSTON—Oklahoma inmate

Sean Sellers, scheduled this morn-
ing to become the first U.S. resi-
' dent in 40 years to die for crimes
committed as a 16-year-old, never
stopped insisting he had changed
. from ‘the confused Satan wor-
‘ shiper who murdered his mother,
. stepfather and a shop clerk.
- The planned execution of Sell-
. ers, now 29, has drawn interna-
' tional protest and debate over the
‘ age at which a criminal should be
: @ligible for the death penalty.

But neither the state parole
board nor family members of Sell-
ers’ victims who attended his
clemency hearing last week found
reason to challenge the sentence.
A motion for a new clemency
hearing failed in U.S. District
Court on Wednesday.

Sixteen other inmates across
the country await execution for

crimes committed when they °

were 16, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center in
Washington.

After eating a Chinese dinner,

Sellers spent Wednesday bidding
farewell to friends and relatives,
his lawyer, Steve Presson, said.

Kevin Acers, president of Okla-
homa City’s Amnesty Interna-
tional chapter, called the execu-
tion a violation of accepted moral

» standards throughout the.world.

“Even for those who are not op-
posed to the death penalty in gen-
eral, we draw the line at killing
people for what they did as chil-
dren.”

But Thomas Bellofatto, whose
brother was killed by Sellers, said
he supported the execution as

adamantly as he did 13 years ago.

“T can tell you that my grand-
son, who’s 7 years old, surely
understands what’s right and
wrong,” Bellofatto said. “So
where do you want to put a cutoff
date? I think 16 is too high of an
age limit.”

Sellers was an avowed Satanist
when he shot convenience store
clerk Robert Paul Bower in 1985
and his own mother, Vonda Bello-
fatto, and stepfather, Paul Bello-
fatto, in 1986 in Oklahoma City.
After his conviction, Sellers ar-
gued that he had been diagnosed

neers

{ ‘

NA/ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4,199 AQ.

Now 29

with multiple personality disor-
der.

Former juror Dianna Craun was
one of those who spoke on Sellers’
behalf at his clemency hearing.
Craun said the 12 jurors had re-
jected a life sentence for Sellers
only because they feared he
would be paroled after 15 years or
less.

The U.S. Supreme Court desig-
nation of 16 as the minimum age
for the death sentence stemmed
from another Oklahoma killing
that occurred two years before
Sellers committed his first mur-

der. Overturning the death sen-
tence for a crime committed by
15-year-old William Wayne
Thompson, the court declared: “It
would offend civilized standards
of decency to execute a person
who was less than 16 years-old at
the time of his or her offense.”

Sellers became a Christian
while in prison.

“I want to make a good differ-
ence in this world to make up for
my evil past,” he wrote on his
Web page. “But the law isn’t cog-
nizant of spiritual realities. .
How can a judge look into a man’s
heart and see what is really
there?”

=
Germany pleads for clemency for brothers

ASSOCIATED PRESS :

-BONN — Germany has asked
the U.S. government to try to stop
the execution of two German
brothers sentenced to death for
killing a bank manager in Arizona
in 1982.

The letter to Attorney Gerieral:

Janet Reno said they would be the
first German nationals to be exe-
cuted in the United States this cen-

German Justice Minister Herta
Daeubler-Gmelin urged Reno to

‘ make a plea for clemency to Arizo-

na Gov. Jane Dee Hull, according
to a copy of her letter obtained
Thursday by the Associated Press.

Germany has no death penalty.

Karl LaGrand, 35, is scheduled.
to be executed Feb. 24 and Walter

LaGrand, 36, is scheduled to die
March 3. Their mother was Ger-
man and their father was a U.S.

serviceman. ya Py D fy

9 Ba

San FRANCIS

EXAMINER]

brain damage as a result of an injury as a child. The U.S.
Court of Appeal, noting that M.P.D. was “virtually unknown
at the time of Sellers’ trial,” stated that his “illness is such
that he may be able to prove his factual innocence.” But
the federal court couldn't overturn the state judgment.
Sean expressed deep remorse about his crime. He min-
istered to thousands of teenagers to help them find-the
right path. His execution denies the possibility that a per-
son—a child of 16—can be rehabilitated and redeemed. It
is the potential for change and redemption that motivates
us all to be better people. Killing the light of that redemption in Sean
has killed some of that light in all of us. —By Bianca Jagger

Last week the state of Oklahoma killed SEAN SELLERS.
He was the first person in 40 years executed for a crime
committed at age 16, and the 10th juvenile offender exe-
cuted in the U.S. this decade, more than in Saudi Arabia,
Nigeria, Pakistan and lran—the only other countries that
are known to execute child offenders—combined.

Not only was he a child offender; Sean also suffered
from a mental disorder. He was tried for three murders
that took place in 1985 and ’86: his mother Vonda, his
stepfather Paul Bellofatto and Robert Bower. At trial, the <
jury was unaware that he suffered from multiple-personality disor-
der. Three mental-health experts established that Sean had severe

TIME, FEBRUARY 15, 1999

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500 miles west of Lawton. Spence ad-
mitted that it was he who shot the help-
less pair in the closet. Both were ar-
raigned in Lawton on April 8th, on
murder charges.

At the conclusion of their trial, which
began on May 18th, Judge Luther Eu-
banks instructed the all-male jury that
when one or more persons enter a con-
spiracy to commit a felony which re-
sults in the death of another person, all

nts | parties are guilty of homicide. And after
deliberating for one hour and 42 minutes
| the jury returned a guilty verdict with-
out recommendation for mercy. This
made the death penalty mandatory.

THE GHOUL OF GLASGOW

(TD May, 1958)

In Lanarkshire, Scotland, several com-

, munities in the Glasgow area were ter-
rorized by a series of savage slayings,

| covering a period of less than two years.
ath penalty in Comanche The victims were Ann Kneilands, 17,
oma, since 1935 was de+ slain January 2nd, 1956; Mrs. Marian

defendants in a murdet Watt, her daughter Vivian, 16, and her
ton district court on ten Mrs. Margaret Brown, slain Sep-

JLLETS FOR THE
UNG MOTHER

rp July, 1958)

ey were James Spence, 29\tember 17th, 1956; Isabelle Cooke, 17,
<endine, 26, both of North slain December 28th, 1957; Mr. and Mrs.
vieted of the brutal murdel Peter Smart and their 11-year-old son

“Zimmerman, 19, of Lawton Michael, slain January Ist, 1958.
ht of March 31st, 1958, th¢ After intensive detective work a Scot-
~sorced their way into thttish woodcutter, Peter Thomas Anthony
22-year-old Reggie Zim{Manuel, 31, born in New York City,
ove the surplus store Owas arrested on January 18th, 1958, and
as the manager. While onlcharged with the murders of these eight
~ed in the apartment eh evar Other slayings that had been
+man ahd her 5-month-olgttributed to him were not included in
. gorced Reggie, at 8ulthe charge. His trial began on May 12th,
a0en to the store and opel958, in the Scottish high court in Glas-
Jxing its contents, $450, Ngow. Manuel pleaded innocent to the

reggie back upstairs. Therpharges.
nace pound and gagse! The prosecution presented 280 wit-
\ his wife and thrust thehhesses and on May 29th the jury found
et. Then, before leaving, °Peter Manuel guilty of seven of the
turned and fired six bulletight murders. By court order he was
wjoset. Reggie tried to coV4cquitted of the charge of murdering
4 his body. Four of the bulle&\nn Kneilands. The judge, Lord Cam-
m, but two pierced his youliron, then sentenced Manuel to die on
est and she died instantly. he gallows June 19th. Although Britain
wo bandits were captured Gas abolished the death penalty in most
, in Albuquerque, New Mexichurder cases, the penalty still is hang-
ng if a person is convicted of two or
hore murders.

| FOUGHT OFF A PACK
OF TEENAGE WOLVES

(TD June, 1958)

Carolyn Joyce Scott, 19, a Hollywood
odel, told how on her way home the
ght of March Ist, 1958, she was at-
cked by 8 teenagers who tried to pull
r into their car and beat and choked
r. She was able to lead police to them
d they were arrested.

In court on April 2nd Municipal
dge Vernon W. Hunt dismissed the
arges against the six teenagers for
k of evidence involving them. Billy
vin Williams, 22, of Van Nuys, was
nd guilty of disturbing the peace, a
isdemeanor, and was sentenced to
days or $100 fine. The judge then

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MURDER FOR BREAKFAST

(TD May, 1958)

On January 20th, 1958, Beverly Jean
McCormick, 19, obtained a divorce from
her husband, Sidney James McCormick,
25. Taking her two small children she
went to live with her grandmother, Mrs.
Alma Walton Davis, 66, in Lynchburg,
Virginia. Her aunt, Mrs. Alma Powell,
33, also lived there.

At 1:30 a.m. Sidney McCormick in-
vaded the house. He was beating and
pistol-whipping his wife when Mrs.
Davis and Mrs. Powell rushed into the
room. He shot Mrs. Davis to death and
shot, but not fatally, his wife and Mrs.
Powell. After further terrorizing the two
women, he fied in Mrs. Powell’s car,
taking his wounded wife with him.

For 24 hours police and a_ posse
searched Lynchburg and surrounding
counties, finally catching up with Mc-
Cormick after he had deposited his wife
on the porch of a house in Parkersburg,
West Viriginia. Returned to Lynchburg,
he was charged with murder, burglary,
robbery, and two counts of malicious
wounding.

On May 15th an all-male jury found
Sidney McCormick guilty of murder in
the first degree and guilty of each of the
other four counts charged against him.

Mrs. Beverly Jean McCormick

The jury fixed his punishment, sentenc~-
ing him to a total of 85 years in the
state penitentiary—45 years for the mur-
der of his wife’s grandmother, plus 10
years each for burglary, robbery, and two
counts of malicious wounding—the sen-
tences to run consecutively. Common-
wealth’s Attorney Royston Jester 3rd
had asked for the death penalty, saying,
“This man should be permanently eradi-
cated from society.”

TOO LATE TO SAVE HER

(TD March, 1958)

A chance remark by Ann Garrison, 34,
waitress in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
cafe owned by Vincent “Rags” Scatena,
triggered a murder. Ann was repeating
a bit of gossip to the effect that Mrs.
Elizabeth Ensinger, 84, affectionately
known to her neighbors as “Old Mom,”
had a sizable fortune tucked away in
the 3-story frame house where she
lived alone—money collected from rents
on property she owned in Pittsburgh.
On November 17th, 1957, Old Mom was
found on the floor of her living room,
dead from shock and hemorrhage fol-
lowing a savage beating and a stab
wound in her face.

Careful sifting of evidence presently
resulted in the arrest of William “Tex”
Garrison, 37, Ann’s husband, together
with “Rags” Scatena, 31, Frank Daniel
Zaffina, 29, and Michael Popovich, 36,
all of whom had criminal records. All
four confessed to a part in the crime,
each blaming one of the others for the
actual murder. The four men were
charged with first-degree murder and
pleaded guilty. Ann Garrison pleaded
guilty to being accessory before and after
the fact of murder. The pleas made a
jury trial ummecessary. The four men
were found guilty of first-degree mur-
der and received life sentences. Ann
Garrison was found guilty of second-
degree murder. The judges were Loran
L. Lewis and Frank E, Reed, of Beaver
County.

Judge Lewis said Mrs. Garrison “in-
tentionally dropped the seed which trig-
gered the criminal brain of Vincent
Scatena,” who was regarded as the
mastermind of the plot. The judge then
sentenced Ann Garrison to an indeter-
minate term in the State Industrial
Home at Muncy. Unless paroled or par-
doned, she must serve at least 10 years.

Be Cee
a

Report of latest legal developments
on cases published by TD

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coverl:

The first death penalty in Comanche The
County, Oklahoma, since 1935 was de- slain
creed for two defendants in a murde! Watt
trial in a Lawton district court on Majsiste:
20th, 1958. They were James Spence, 29 temb:
and Eddie Oxendine, 26, both of Nortfslain |
Carolina, convicted of the brutal murde!Pete;
of Mrs. Ruth Zimmerman, 19, of LawtonMich:

On the night of March 31st, 1958, the Aft
two bandits forced their way into thtish «
apartment of 22-year-old Reggie ZimManur
merman, above the surplus store Owas a:
which he was the manager. While ONncharg:
bandit remained in the apartment witperso:
Mrs. Zimmerman and her 5-month-Olattribu:
baby, the other forced Reggie, at 8Uthe ch:
point, to go down to the store and ope[g58, i;
the safe. Taking its contents, $450, hkow. M
marched Reggie back upstairs. Thersharg¢
the two gunmen bound and gagge The
Reggie and his wife and thrust thehesses
into a closet. Then, before leaving, 0Mete;
bandit returned and fired six bulleight
into the closet. Reggie tried to COV(equitt.
Ruth with his body. Four of the bulleann
struck him, but two pierced his youlron
wife’s chest and she died instantly. he ga

The two bandits were captured (as a}
April 4th in Albuquerque, New MexiQurde)

SIX BULLETS FOR THE
YOUNG MOTHER

(TD July, 1958)

ag if
lore

James Spence (I.), Eddie Oxendine ...,,

the girl had owned a knife. He was sur-

prised by their affirmative answer. : ’
Margaret’s mother took the prober into |
the girl’s bedroom and showed him the
knife hanging on the wall. The woman
said her daughter had carried it in
Queens for protection, but had found no
need to do so here in Eldred.

Another investigator went to Tony’s
Log Cabin Bar and asked the owner if
there had been any exchange of words ©
between Margaret and Rhoades before
she giggled at him. The man insisted
that there had been no conversation be-
tween them. ;

‘On Saturday, September 22nd,
Coroner Dr. Sydney Schiff completed
his autopsy on Margaret Polizzi. His re-
port stated that the girl had been stab-
bed twice, once in the abdomen and once
in the heart. There were bruises on her
neck and chest as well as her face, indi-
cating that she had put up a terrific
struggle with her killer.

Autopsy evidence also revealed that
the girl had been raped and sodomized.

The report stated that both knife
thrusts had been clean and forceful,
with no evidence of tearing or bruising.
Both wounds were about seven inches
deep and both had reached the girl’s
backbone. The thrust that went through
Margaret’s heart had gone through her
quarter-inch breastbone first. The tip of
the blade then lodge itself in a spinal
bone. The doctor said the wounds had
been made within 15 to 20 minutes o
each other.

He added: “In my opinion, it was
a sharp forceful thrust without hesita-
tion or wobbling of the knife or the body
of the subject. The wound could only be
created with the back and trunk of the |
subject immobile against a hard or very
firm surface.”

Investigators concluded from that
statement that the girl had been sitting

‘down in a car, hers or his, when she was
stabbed. The autospy report negated>
Rhodes’ statement that he had turned
her knife-hand around so that she had

_ stabbed herself. In that event the blade

would not have penetrated the body so
‘deeply.

Based on the autopsy report, Fre-
derick Rhoades was now charged with
second degree murder, first degree rape,
first degree sodomy and sexual abuse.

On Tuesday, September 25th, Mar-
garet Polizzi’s funeral service was held

_ in St. Anthony’s Church. The arrange-

ments for “Alleluia,” “Lamb of God,”

_ and “Holy, Holy, Holy,” all written by

Margaret, were sung over her coffin by
12 young voices. The body was taken to
Long Island Cemetery in Pine Lawn
and buried near the girl’s father. The
hearse had passed through Queens, the
borough she had so desperately wanted
to leave because of violence there.
Frederick Rhoades was indicted on
five counts on October 24, 1979:.The

58 True Detective ,

doing any of those things. —

counts were second degree murder, kid-

-ovand that:she would not permit anybody

naping, rape, sodomy and sexual abuse. .to take her and do anything they |
‘\He continued'to deny all of the charges, “wanted to her without resisting. It’s my

saying that he had‘no recollection of _ belief she was struggling for her life—
ih - and she lost.”
The’lab reports were not conclusive. ‘Frederick Rhoades’ trial opened on

Chemists who examined the blood January 26, 1981 and lasted until

found on'the victim’s car seat and side March 5th, when ajury of eight men and
window determined that it was human | four women retired to deliberate the de-
but could not say whether it belonged to ‘fendant’s'guilt or innocence.

the victim or the suspect. The blood on _» The panel returned to the courtroom

the hunting knife was human, said the _ three hours later to hand up the harsh-
lab ‘technicians, but there was not” est verdict possible. It’ found Rhoades

enough of it to determine where it had guilty of intentional murder, felony

come from. The same fate fell to the murder for killing Miss Polizzi while
hairs found on Margaret’s car and hairs raping or attempting to rape her, and
found in Rhoades’ cabin. * felony murder for killing her while

The lawmen had no doubts about sodomizing her or attempting to
Rhoades’ guilt. They felt that the evi- sodomize her.

dence they had had been strong enough Each count carries a maximum sen- >

for an indictment'and would be strong — tence of 25 years to life in prison.

enough for a conviction in court. After | On April 24, 1981 Frederick Rhoades
reading the autopsy report, Senior In- was sentenced to 25 years to life in
vestigator Thomas Starace said, “We prison. He is now serving that sentence.
knew that Margie Polizzi was a fighter ooo

his face. He also had a mustache. Asked -
if the man she saw was in the court-
room, she pointed to Robison. :
d The brother.of Robert Swinford told of.
(Continued from page 39) . finding the bodies and said that a gun he
| had given to his brother was missing
Preliminary hearings for two of the from the house the day after the triple
suspects, Gillam and Robison, began slayings.

Killer Left 3 Dead:
In Oklahoma Home.

Dec. 2, 1980, in Duncan before Special Sheriff Alexander related details of °

District Judge Mike Reynolds. The his investigation at the murder scene.
other suspect, Jordan, still wasinjailin He said that he found a woman’s purse
Wichita Falls, Texas, fighting extradi- underneath the bedspread, shielded by
tion to Oklahoma. the legs of one of the women victims. He

Because of reported threats on the displayed two bracelets, a necklace, a
lives of the defendants and’ their watch and a neckchain which were,

families, security wastightinthecourt- found in the .purse—the gold jewelry.

house: as the hearings got underway. later appraised at about $6,000.
Highway patrol troopers with metal de- Next, the state unveiled a series of
tectors searched every spectator enter- women witnesses who testified they had
ing the courtroom, and hallways inthe been present at party in the town of
courtroom were blocked off by deputies Healdton, about a 25-minute drive from
and troopers. Velma on the night of Thursday, June
_ One of the key witnesses for the state 12th. The three murder suspects, Robi-
on the opening day of the hearing was a ‘ son, Gillum and Jordan, were at the
young woman who lived at Pernell, a party; the witnesses said.

- small community not far from Velma’ ‘One woman testified that the three -

and the site of the slayings. She iden- suspects left the party later that night -
tified Robison as a passenger in a car to “go get rich.” She related that Robi-

she saw in front of the farmhouse where son and Jordan had gotten “very drunk”

the three victims were killed. that day, and when they returned to the
The woman testified she'was on her party in Healdton that night, Robison
way home from a relative’s house in _ called Gillum in Texas. She said Gillum
Velma on the night of the slayings, June was told by Robison to drive to Ok-
13th. She said she habitually looked at lahoma. Healdton is only about 25 miles
the house when she passed it because from the Texas border. A
her sister-in-law used to live there. She She quoted Robison as saying,
related that as she drove by about 10:20 “Brother, man, I need your help; Get
that night, “a car started to back out ' over here.”

onto the highway. When it (the driver). \ Before the three men left the party,

saw me coming, it pulled back\in and Robison and Jordan started loading
shut its lights off,” . . guns—two chrome pistols,‘a rifle and a
The witness said that.with her bright shotgun. She said-that Robison re-.

headlights turned on, she saw a pas- marked as the trio left, “Tm going to get

senger in’ the car>who) was slim-faced _rich.””.") |. «

)
wy, i h iui bine

v i / vA a Caan ety : : be

and had dark hair brushed'away from | She said it was “late” when the three *

LIK!
EVER

Truly increc
barrier to ge
thought comn
could befor:
tricks, perfor:
defies explan

Actually vi
and words frc
in your own
reading the p

Forget abo.
be in the sam:
telephone wi
out of sight
can still do it.
proposal—an

1 know exactly

. how.

You believe th
That you cannot
miles away? Neve

You have eve
‘*Mind-reading”’

» TV or in.a club

ment—it’s still a
not the rea/ thing

The real thing-
I’m talking abou

’ that it could ever t

ly by the average

THIS Ri
TECHNIQL
INTO

Then somethin
hard cynic into a
Read”’ Manuscri;

It caught my e:
the author—a hig
pioneering in the

His manuscript
ever had about th:
mind communica

' dow.

Here it was in s
understand. The
read any girl’s m
will!

IMAGIN!
INSTA!

GIRL'S HI!

This technique i
even be forbidden
mediate entry into
even if she is a per
Like it or not,
direct personal d:
exactly what she
No one, not eve

‘

-d. Both victims
n shot several
‘e immediately
e woman in the

blood that had ~

.d to the officers
een shot in the

to the medical
ahoma City, re-
dical examiner
» near Velma to
lies before they

.d in the house,
y ruled out the
iicide in the tri-

-xaminations of
d shells found at
s if two different
1 in the killings.
discharged .380
room where the
, but the size of
Bourque’s body
\ler caliber gun
hots.
‘other and from
id papers in the
rs identified the
edroom as Julie
ondon, England.
», 42, was from
bert Leon Swin-
e Oklahoma area

sorted had been

investigators
had been a friend
| had come to Ok-
nd, who had jour-

(yD

Sau ae Sarthe

‘

Police and ambulance attendants rémove body of vi

Bourque, 42, and her frie

She ce Fe, GS

months earlier to make her home near a
sister.
The two British women and Swinford,

- whom Averil Bourque had met after her

arrival in Oklahoma, had. rented the
house near Velma about two months
prior to their violent deaths. The three
had been well received and apparently
were well-liked in the small commun-
ity.

Several theories were being consi-
dered regarding a motive for the triple
slaying, including robbery, Sheriff Ale-
xander told reporters who flocked to the
scene.

As the investigation progressed, the
sheriff and OSBI agents working on the
case would be besieged by reporters
from all over the world, particularly a
large number from England, where the
murders of the two British women and
their American male friend would
create a sensation in the press.

The OSBI lab technicians and agents,
working with the sheriffs officers, took
photographs, made measurements and
crime scene drawings, dusted surfaces

/for possible fingerprints and searched

for other clues throughout the house as

the hours passed on this unlucky Friday
the 13th. After the medical examiner
had examined the bodies, they were re-

moved from the house and taken by am- -

bulance to Oklahoma City, where au-
topsies would be performed on them.
OSBI Agent Ernest Lovett told
newsmen that the investigators at this
point were trying to piece together the
events that culminated with the
bullet-riddled bodies. >

“How the bodies got there, when they .

nd, Julie Lovejoy, 38, were

neyed to the Sooner State about 18 -

got there, and why they got there, is
what we'd like to know,” Agent Lovett
said. pie

The lawmen hoped that the autopsies
would disclose how Julie Lovejoy had
died and also recover from the bodies
the fatal slugs that could be used later
for comparison purposes if ‘and when a
weapon was found. At least, the autop-
sies would disclose the caliber of the gun
or guns used.

While searching the house, Sheriff
Alexander discovered a woman’s purse
containing items that could have pro-
vided a motive for a would-be robber.

The purse had been overlooked for
some time by the officers who searched
the house. Obviously, the purse also had
been missed by the killer or killers, be-
cause it was underneath the bedspread
at the end of the bed on which Averil
Bourque was found. Besides being co-
vered by the bedspread, the purse also
was shielded by the legs of the dead
woman. Her legs were hanging off the
end of the bed.

The purse contained five pieces of
gold jewelry which—when appraised
later by a Duncan, Okla. jeweler—was
found to be worth about $6,000..

Since the bedroom and other rooms in
the house had been ransacked exten-
sively, the investigators believed the
killer or killers might have been some-
one who knew the woman had the valu-
able jewelry ‘and had made an unsuc-
cessful search after the killings to find
the valuable gold items. |

The officers canvassed the sparsely
settled area for anyone who might have
noticed something ‘unusual at the yel-
low farmhouse on the night of June 12th

sat : oy :
ctim from farmhouse where Bob Swinford, 41, his fiancee, Averil
found shot to death in their beds, with robbery as the motive

or early the morning of June 13th. One
neighbor told the deputies and state
agents that he had washed his car on
Thursday evening, June 12th, in view of
the house where the victims lived but
hadn’t noticed anything strange. He
added that he had heard no screams or
gunshots or any disturbance later that
night.

Interviewing friends and acquain-
tances of the slain trio, officers were told
the three acted normal on the afternoon
before their deaths.

Aco-worker of Swinford’s said that on
Thursday afternoon they had quit work
and gone to a convenience store to buy
gas and food. They had run into a
mutual acquaintance at the store who
invited them toa partythat night, but
Swinford had turned down the invita-
tion “because he had worked all day and
was tired.”

A 17-year-old relative of Sheila
Lovejoy’s recalled he had given her a
ride to her house earlier on the night of
the slaying and visited a short time. He
said that she appeared to be “the same
as usual” the last time he saw her.

As far as the investigators could de-
termine, Swinford and the two women
seemed unworried on the evening be-
fore they were shot to death, and their
activities—from all information the of-
ficers could come up with—had been
routine. During the process of seeking
witnesses who might have seen or heard
something unusual at the residence, the
deputies and OSBI agents came up with
a young woman who furnished the first
tangible lead in the slayings.

The woman related that she had dri-
ven past the house in Velma where

True Detective 37

Dapper Olan Robison and long-haired Bill Jordan (photo r.) were’ two of three suspects nabbed in probe. Witness told
Police that on night of murders, suspect trio left party armed with guns, and one stated, “I’m going to get rich!”

Swinford and the two women lived
about 10:15 p.m. on Thursday, June
12th. The witness said she had a habit of
glancing at the house because she had a
relative who formerly lived there.
This time she noticed a white Old-
smobile Cutlass about to back onto
State Highway 7 from the residence.
But as she approached, the woman
said, the driver of the white car turned
off his lights and pulled back into the
yard. The woman had her own car lights

on high beam, and she saw the driver -

looking at her. She was able to observe
that the man had a thin face and a mus-
tache.

- The witness thought she would know
the-Oldsmobile driver if she saw him
again, She could not say for sure
whether he was alone in the car.,

Another neighbor told officers that a
dog began barking loudly near the yel-
low farmhouse about midnight and kept
it up for some time. Based on the pre-

liminary examination of the bodies by
the medical examiner and the informa-
tion of the area residents about the
white Oldsmobile and the barking dog,
the investigators believed the slayings
had occurred between 10 p.m. and mid-
night Thursday.

Studying the physical evidence in the
house—the fact that the television set

38 True Detective

was on and that: the one bedroom door

apparently had been kicked in—the of- '

ficers surmised that the gunman or
gunmen had entered through the un-
locked front door, chased Sheila Lovejoy
from the living room, where she was
watching TV, into the bedroom where
she was shot down near the doorway.
Then the killer or:killers had burst into
the other bedroom and fired a fusillade

‘ of shots into Swinford and Averil Bour-
que.

,bodies performed by the state medical
‘examiner’s office in Oklahoma City
bore out the theory of investigators that
more than one gun was used in the slay-
ings and that probably more than one
killer was involved. The medical
examiner's report disclosed that Swin-
ford had been shot twice—one wound in
his right back near the armpit and the
other in the center of his back near the
neck.

The post mortem showed that Averil
Bourque had been shot four times: twice
between the eyes, once in the right ear,
and once in the breast. Bullets of two

- different caliber were removed from the
body; they were .22 and .380 caliber.

Sheila Lovejoy had been shot .once,
just above the left:side of her mouth. The
autopsy report said there was: no evi-

Yiu

Meanwhile, autopsies on the three

dence that any of the shooting victims F

had engaged recently in sexual inter-
course. Tests showed there was no al-
cohol present in Swinford’s blood, but

the blood of the two women had alcohol”

percentages consistent with having
drunk several cans of beer, the
pathologist reported.

Investigators learned from Swin-
ford’s relatives that a .22 caliber pistol
he had owned apparently was missing
from the house, but no other item of any
value was reported missing, as nearly
as the officers could determine frdm
talking to persons who were familiar
with the victims’ belongings. But
Sheriff Alexander said that robbery had
not been ruled out as a motive in the
triple homicide.

He said the killers may have over-
looked what they were looking for, such
as the purse containing the gold jewelry
that had been covered by the bedspread
and the legs of one of the women vic-
tims.

Eleven days after the man gnd two

women were found shot to death in the .

farmhouse, Stephens County Under-
sheriff Beldon Stewart told reporters, “I
feel like there’s progress being made,
(We're still working on it.” Stewart said

that investigators weré continuing to: -

‘Interview persons who knew the ' vic-

Third suspect
shootings, de

tims. Officers
living in the <
crimes—might
ings.

The investig
police charact:
victims. Ther:
agents workin
been looking a
the early stag

But the offic
were checking
specific inform

There was tI
ity to a heinous

of intensive in

“People are |
a long time,” c

Another wor
that the two w
she thought th
adding, “I don’

But Unders
change in the |
haven't noticec
and in five yea)
at.

It was on Jt
announced the
degree murder
son, 34 years o

Actually, St:
since July Ist,

2. Witness told
3 to get rich!”

1e shooting victims
ly in sexual inter-
d there was no al-
inford’s blood, but
women had alcohol “
tent with having
ns of beer, the

irned from Swin-
a .22 caliber pistol
‘ently was missing
.0 other item of any
missing, as nearly
d determine from
who were familiar
belongings. But
id that robbery had
iS a motive in the

‘s may have over-
ce looking for, such
ng the gold jewelry
d by the bedspread
of the women vic-

the man gnd two

hot to death in the.

is County Under-
rt told reporters, “I
gress being made,
n it.” Stewart said

eré continuing to-

‘ho knew the 'vic-

Third suspect, Johnny Gillum, insisted he took no part in
' shootings, declaring that Robison “went crazy’’-at scene

tims. Officers also were busy checking on known offenders
living in the area who—because of past records of violent
crimes—might be considered as possible suspects in the slay-
ings.

The investigation centered especially on any such known
police characters who also: might have known any of the
victims. There were indications the deputies and OSBI
agents working almost around-the-clock on the case had
been looking at one or two persons with keen interest since
the early stages of the multiple murder probe.

But the officers remained tight-lipped on the leads they

were checking out, realing fully that “going public” with

specific information prematurely could blow a good case.

There was the usual reaction by résidents of the commun- ;
ity to a heinous murder that remained as a mystery in spite
of intensive investigative work by the authorities.

“People are locking their doors that haven’t locked them in
a long time,” one woman told reporters.

Another woman resident—apparently alluding to the fact
that the two women victims were fron Great Britain—said :

she thought the’slayings might have “international” links;
adding, “I don’t believe we'll hear any more of it, either.”

But Undersheriff Stewart said he hadn’t noticed any
change in the lifestyle of the town because of the murders. “I
haven’t noticed any difference,” he said. “Oh, they discuss it,
and in five years, when it’s all over, they’l] still be discussing
it.” ;

It was on July 11, 1980, that Stephens County officials
announced the Hirst break in the case. On that day first
degree murder charges were filed against Olan Randle Robi-
son, 34 years old, of Wichita Falls, Texas.

Actually, Stephens County had ‘had custody of Robison

since July Ist, after he was arrested in Wichita Falls on'a

ita warrant in a motion by Jefferson County, Oklahoma to re-
} ‘yoke a probated sentence given to Robison earlier in that

county. Robison had been held in jail in Stephens County,

_ which is in the same judicial district as Jefferson County.

Sheriff Alexander told reporters that the suspect had been
an acquaintance of the three victims.
District Attorney Tony Burns, who filed the charge
Sigg Robison, said additional charges in the case might be
iled.
“This investigation was coordinated by Sheriff Alexander,
and through the efforts of the sheriffs office and the state

‘bureau of investigation, has: led to filing of this charge,

‘

Burns said.
The district attorney said that Robison had been a prime

‘Suspect within a week after the triple slayings. The charge
. alleged that Robison “did . . . effect the death of Averil Joan

Bourque, Julie Sheila Lovejoy and Robert Swinford by

. Shooting the said Averil Joan Bourque once in the right ear,

once in the left breast, and twice between the eyes; by shoot-

: ing the said Julie Sheila Lovejoy once in the head; and by

shooting the said Robert Leon Swinford once in the body
under the right arm and once in the back, causing mortal
wounds.” ;

The complaint further alleged that Robison committed the
murders “while engaged in the commission of robbery with a
dangerous weapon.” ~

. Burns also filed a bill of particulars in the case, in which he

| said he would seek the death penalty.

District Judge George Lindley denied bond on the murder
charge against the Texas suspect.

On July 24, 1980, a second suspect was charged with first

degree murder in the slayings. He was William Starr Jordan,

25, also of Wichita Falls. Officers said had been arrested in

San Bernardino, Calif., on felony charges pending in Wichita
‘Falls, Texas. :

He was charged in Wichita Falls with three counts of

armed robbery and two counts of theft over $200, the Ok-

lahoma investigators said. Stephens County Deputy Leon
Shultz and Deputy Buck Buckmaster, along with OSBI
Agent Richard Philpott, went to California to grill the sus-
pect and talk to possible witnesses.

Jordan refused to make any statement, investigators said.

_ The Oklahoma authorities filed the first degree murder

complaint that alleged Jordan and Robison acted together
“with malice aforethought” to kill the man and two women.

Later, Jordan waived extradition to Texas to face the five
felony charges there, and was transferred to the county jail
in Wichita Falls. Stephens County, Okla. placed a hold order
on him on the murder charge.

The following month, on Aug. 12, 1980, it was revealed
that a third suspect had been charged with first degree mur-
der in the three slayings. He was identified as Johnny Glen
Gillum, 29, also of Wichita Falls, who was arrested in Asotin,
Wash. Sheriff Alexander said Gillum was working ata ranch
there and had been going by the name of Johnny Wayne
Gilliam. The sheriff said that Gillum was wanted for escape
in 1975 from the Lexington Community Treatment Center

in Oklahoma, where he had been serving a sentence for -
_ armed robbery from Carter County, Okla.

A deputy was sent to Washington to return:the third mur-
der.suspect to Oklahoma.

District Attorney Burns explained that the three suspects
had been arrested several weeks apart because of the diffi-
culty in locating witnesses who had talked with the suspects
about the slayings. The prosecutor didn’t elaborate at this
point.

The district attorney said that officers had obtained
statements from three key witnesses and more physical evi-
dence had been obtained “relating to some of the firearms

-involved.” He said that specific information would come out
during preliminary hearings for the suspects.

(Continued on page 58)
: True Detective 39

eerie ntsc cane

an agitated state attired in a -bloodstained shirt and boot
possessing pictures of two of the victims; his precipitous flight
to Texas; and his possession and disposal of the murder weapon
were strong circumstances of his guilt. We therefore find no

grounds for relief on this issue.

The testimony of Ms. Higdon represents a different problem,
however. The trial testimony did not disclose the fact of her
pretrial hypnosis, although defense counsel was in possession of a
report indicating the fact of the hypnotic session. Thus, the
testimony of Ms. Higdon at least nominally did not violate
Oklahoma's exclusionary rule. |

Prior to the hypnotic session, Ms. Higdon had _ been
interviewed and had described a number of details surrounding the
night of the crime and subsequent events. In part, she told of
being in a car with Petitioner and one of his accomplices when
Petitioner disposed of the murder weapon. Ms. Higdon was able to
give only a general description of the locale where the gun _ was
thrown away; therefore, interrogators attempted to enhance her
recall of that place through the medium of hypnosis.

The results of that session were at best equivocal because
her statement did not vary materially from the statement she had
given previously. Moreover, the habeas court found that the mere
fact Ms. Higdon was hypnotized did not’ render her testimony
prejudicial to Petitioner because she attempted to "slant" her

testimony at trial to favor Petitioner. There is ample support in

-15-

the record for this conclusion. Indeed, other than the academic
argument that admission of the testimony of one exposed to
hypnosis- is per se harmful, Petitioner has failed to demonstrate
prejudice resulting from Ms. Higdon's posthypnotic testimony.

While Petitioner's arguments regarding the forensic use of
hypnosis have some appeal, we cannot accept the Suggestion that
constitutional error arises from the very fact a person testifies
after a hypnotic session in which the person's recall is examined.
Indeed, in a case decided in the recently concluded term, the
Supreme Court leads us to that conclusion.

In Rock v. Arkansas, U.S. , 107 S. Ct. 2704 (1987), in

which a defendant's use of her own posthypnotic testimony was
prevented by a state's gros ition of hypneticaliy refreshed
recollection, the Supreme Court considered the per se _ rule
Petitioner advocates here. Although the issue before the Court
was predicated on a defendant's constitutional right to testify in
her own defense, the Court noted the state followed a rule which
makes inadmissible any posthypnotic testimony. The Court stated:

In establishing its per se rule, the Arkansas
Supreme Court simply followed the approach taken by a
number of States that have decided that hypnotically
enhanced testimony should be excluded at trial on the
ground that it tends to be unreliable. ...

We are not now prepared to endorse without
qualifications the use of hypnosis as an investigative
tool; scientific understanding of the phenomenon and of
the means to control the effect of hypnosis is still in
its infancy. ... A State's legitimate interest in
barring unreliable evidence [however] does not extend to
per se exclusions that may be reliable in an individual
case.

Rock, 107 S. Ct. at 2712, 2714.

"=1L6-

~We-thus conclude that use of any: posthypnotic testimony is
not per se a constitutional error. A reviewing court must
determine whether safeguards have been.. employed to insure
reliability of the testimony to make it admissible. Id. The
‘State court found the existence of the safeguards in the _ state-
mandated procedure under which Ms. Higdon was examined.® In the
absence of contrary evidence (and we find none here), this finding

is entitled to a presumption of correctness. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d);

Sumner v. Mata, 455 U.S. 591 (1982).

It is noteworthy that the testimony of Ms. Higdon which
Petitioner counts as “extremely damaging" was not the subject of
the hypnotic session. There is no evidence to even suggest that
this testimony was made unreliable by hypnosis; therefore, in

light of Rock v. Arkansas, we cannot accept Petitioner's

hypothesis that the introduction of her testimony resulted in

constitutional error.

IV.

Petitioner contends that the courtroom conduct of the state
district attorney deprived him of a fair trial. He maintains the
prosecutor “repeatedly engaged in outrageously improper argument
and conduct" throughout his remarks to the jury in both phases of

the trial. Petitioner states the prosecutor improperly attempted

8the state judge found that (1) there was a written record of the
"substance" of Ms. Higdon's prehypnotic recall; (2) that record
was preserved; (3) the trial testimony did not vary from the
prehypnotic statement; (4) the hypnosis was “performed in a manner
designed to minimize danger of contamination"; (5) a written
record of the hypnotic session was made and maintained.

-l7-

to provoke the jury's sympathy for. the victims.? Included in the
conduct cited are references to the district attorney's suggestion
that the jury “turn the coin" on the Petitioner so that every time
the defense mentioned the Petitioner, the jury would think of the
victims. Petitioner argues the prosecutor attempted to blunt the
jury's responsibility by arguing Petitioner had "punched his. own
ticket."

The standard upon which we are to judge the issue of

prosecutorial misconduct is set forth in Donnelly v.

DeChristoforo, 416 U.S. 637 (1974).19 In that case, the Court

held that prosecutorial misconduct in a state court violates a
criminal defendant's federal constitutional rights only if the
prosecutor's actions so infect the trial with unfairness as to
make the resulting conviction a denial of due process. Viewing
the Petitioner's contention in the light of this standard, the
federal district court concluded that even if the prosecutor's
actions, which were indeed questionable, had been halted by the
trial court, there is no reasonable probability the outcome of the

trial would have been different. We agree, and therefore

9we note in passing that one example of allegedly shameless
theatrics appears at least justifiable by the record. In the
closing argument in phase two, the district attorney threw himself
on his knees before the jury to illustrate the attitude of one of
the victims at the time of her death. It is suggested that he was
trying to indicate she was pleading for her life, but the record
indicates he was trying to demonstrate her posture at the time the
bullet entered her body. This demonstration is supported by the
testimony of the prosecution's pathologist who indicated the
course of the bullet through the victim's body suggested she might
have been postured on her knees when shot.

10see also Darden v. Wainwright, U.S. , 106 S. Ct. 2464
(1986).

-18-

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No Way To Treat A British Lad

(continued from page 19)

Texas to see whether they will want him
first."*

On Tuesday, August 13, 29-year-old
Johnny GlenGillum, a former resident of
Healdton and a fugitive since his 1975
escape from a state treatment center, was
charged with three counts of first-degree
murder in the triple slaying. According to
Sheriff Alexander, Gillum was a nephew
to the first suspect charged in the case —
Randle Robison. Authorities were still

. searching for Gillum.

Finally, through an informant in
Wichita Falls, authorities traced Gillum
to a ranch near Clarkston, Washington.
He was working there under an alias
when he was arrested by local law en-
forcement officers on a fugitive warrant
charge, on August 20th.

OSBI agent Art Linville and a Stephens
County deputy sheriff flew out to
Washington and interviewed Gillum in
his cell. Later, agent Linville said Gillum
“appeared to be very concerned as to
what kind of a deal he could make if he
turned state's evidence in the Velma
murder case."" j

Gillum waived extradition and the of-
ficers returned him to Duncan, where he
was arraigned in District Court on the
three murder charges. He was then in-
carcerated in the the county jail, where
his Uncle Randle was already locked up.

Jordan was still sitting in a Wichita
Falls jail fighting extradition to Oklahoma
when a three-day preliminary was held
for Robison and Gillum on December
2-3-4. After listening to testimony and
seeing the evidence presented in the
case, Special Stephens County Judge
Mike Reynolds ordered the two men
bound over for trial. He set arraignment
for the pair on December 18.

Testimony in the hearing indicated that
Robison was the actual triggerman in the
slayings, while Gillum stayed in the car
most of the time.

The judge refused the request of
Gillum's attorney, Tom Bolt, to reduce
the charge against his client to that of
being an accessory after the fact.

After much legal wranglings and vari-
ous hearings, the two men were
scheduled for separate trials. The first
was set to begin on March 23 for Robison,
the alleged triggerman. During the first
part of March, Jordan was extradited
from Texas, arraigned, and was
scheduled for a preliminary hearing on
April 13. Meantime, he was with the other
two men in the county jail.

Security was tight during the jury selec-
tion process on Monday, March 13, 1981,
that lasted until almost midnight in Pres-

iding District Judge George Lindley’s
courtroom. About a dozen highway pat-
rolmen and several county deputies were
posted around the crowded courtroom
and spectators were subjected to screen-
ings by metal detectors before being al-
lowed to enter.

From 500 Stephens County residents
called as prospective jurors, a panel of
eight men and four women was selected.
Prosecuting attorney Tony Burns de-
clared the state would seek the death
penalty, if the jurors found the defendant
guilty in the slayings.

Law enforcement officers testified on
Tuesday on the appearance of the ran-
sacked house and condition of the bodies
when they arrived on the scene for the
first time. There was also testimony from
crime lab experts who discussed the
pieces of evidence found at the scene, and
a medical examiner described the nature
of the wounds on each body. From the
testimony it was believed by inves-
tigators that two firearms were used — a
.38-caliber and a .22-caliber. |

Sheriff Alexander testified that the kil-
lers had missed the treasure they were
seeking and had wound up with a few
pieces of costume jewelry that they later
sold in a beer joint for five bucks.

**On the day following the discovery of
the bodies, | was conducting another
thorough search of the house,"’ Sheriff
Alexander testified. *‘That was when [
discovered the expensive jewelry in Mrs.
Bourque’s purse.

**It was at the foot of the bed, with the
bedspread over it where it couldn’t be
seen. The purse was also concealed by
the dead woman's legs. They were hang-
ing off the bed.”

“Did you have the jewelry evaluated?”
asked the prosecutor.

‘Yes, sir,”’ answered Sheriff Alexan-
der. ‘‘It was valued in excess of $6,000."'

Late Tuesday afternoon, Karen White,
a former girlfriend of Robison, testified
that all three suspects were at a beer and
pot party at her Healdton apartment on
June 12, 1980. She testified the three men
left the party after loading guns in her
white Oldsmobile, explaining they were
“going after some gold.”’

They returned two hours later. He told
Ms. White, according to her testimony,
that he ‘‘shot two people in Velma be-
cause he didn’t have a choice.”’

At this time, Ms. White testified, Robi-

son and some of her other friends were |

involved in trying to set up an am-
phetamine laboratory.

Another ex-girlfriend, who had been
dating Robison at the time of the party,

testified on Wednesday. Betty DeJohn
was one of the state’s star witnesses. She
had been with Robison at the party and ,
left with him after he returned from
Velma.

Ms. DeJohn testified that Robison, Gil-
lum and Jordan loaded up about a half-
dozen pistols and rifles into a car at the
party in Healdton. The men then left and
returned | 1/2 hours later, very excited.
Robison “‘had some blood on one of his
boots.”’

The three men had about four photo-
graphs, she testified, that were ‘‘nude
pictures.’’ Later, Robison told her about
the slayings.

*“We talked about what happened and
he (Robison) said they went to this house
and kicked down the door and this lady
was there pointing a gun at them... she
was shot to keep from being shot.

‘‘A man came up behind him and

Squeezed him real tight in a bear hug and
the man got shot.”’ .
_ After arriving in Wichita Falls in a
caravan of three cars, Ms. DeJohn said,
she, Robison and Gillum drove to Lake
Arrowhead, located near the city.

‘We stopped at this bridge — they both
got out of the car. I saw a gun flying
through the air and I heard it splash in the
water. All the time they were driving
around the lake, they were drinking beer
and smoking pot."

While being questioned by the pro-
secutor, Ms. DeJohn said she still cared
for Robison; more so, in fact, than the
three victims of the shooting.

District Attorney Burns asked her if
she had been cooperative from the begin-
ning of the case.

‘“No, I haven’t,’’ Ms. DeJohn replied.
‘At first, I told several different stories.
After they threatened to file charges
against me as an accessory, | finally de-
cided to tell the truth."

A niece of Robison, who was at the
party, testified that her uncle returned to
the party with what appeared to be blood
on a boot and he ordered her to clean the
boot. The niece also testified she burned
the nude photographs at the request of
her uncle.

Sandra Morrison, another young
woman who had been at the party at the
White apartment, testified that the three
men left the party for about two hours
that evening after loading guns into a car.

That afternoon before the party, she
said, Robison told her that ‘the was going
to get rich.”’ After the trio returned to the
party, Ms. Morrison testified, she heard
Karen White ‘‘tell Randle to take that
T-shirt off because there was blood all
over it.”’

One of Thursday's witnesses was a
20-year-old man from Texas, who is now

(continued on next page)

No Way To Treat A British Lady

(continued from page 53)

serving a seven-year prison sentence. He
testified that he was staying with friends
of Robison in Wichita Falls, when the
defendant told him some people were kil-
led while he and others ‘‘were trying to
obtain some gold.”’

He testified Robison gave him a box of
.380-caliber shells in mid-June and told
him — ‘‘Get rid of these for me — don’t
let anybody see them. I'll be in big trouble
if anybody finds them.”’

‘**He said he couldn't be charged with
nothing, because there weren't any wit-
nesses around anymore.”’

The witness from Texas said that in
early July 1980, he turned the box of am-
munition over to OSBI agents.

Late Thursday, the last prosecution
witness took the stand. OSBI firearms
expert James Looney testified the ammo
given to the OSBI by the Texas man was
the same type as the bullets found at the
slaying scene.

Looney positively identified a
.380-caliber automatic pistol as being the
gun from which bullets found at the mur-
der site had been fired. Earlier testimony
had identified the gun as the same one
that had been recovered by divers from
Lake Arrowhead in February, 1981.

That gun, Looney testified, fired five
bullets that made two wounds in Joan
Bourque, two in Swinford and one in
Lovejoy. In addition, Mrs. Bourque had
sustained two .22-caliber shots between
the eyes.

He said that .22-caliber bullets found at
the murder site by investigators could
have been fired from a dismantled
.22-caliber pistol recovered from the
Wichita River in July, 1980.

On Friday morning, defense attorney
Russell Bills called Dr. Thomas L. Whit-
sett, of the University of Oklahoma Col-
lege of Medicine, to testify about reac-
tions from ingesting quantities of am-
phetamines, barbiturates and alcohol.

Earlier testimony from persons who
had been with Robison off-and-on the
night of the slayings, had revealed that he
had been smoking marijuana, using other
narcotics and drinking heavily.

Using a hypothetical example, Dr.
Whitsett testified that such a combination
of drugs and alcohol would impair judg-
ment and coordination.

In closing arguments, defense attorney
Bills contended Robison was so intoxi-
cated by drugs and alcohol that he was
‘‘passed out on the back seat’’ of the
white Oldsmobile while it was driven
from the party at Healdton to Velma on
the night of June 12, 1980.

During his closing statements, Dist.
Atty. Burns characterized the three men

accused of the triple slayings as ‘‘a bunch
of television desperados.’’ He contended
they had been looking for expensive
jewelry, but only found a few pieces of
costume jewelry they later sold in a beer
joint for $5... ‘three people’s lives in ex-
change for a lousy five bucks of costume
jewelry.”

Several witnesses had testified that
Robison had told them about killing some
people near Velma. The prosecutor told
the jurors that Robison ‘‘can’t blame
anyone but himself for running his
mouth.,"’

The jury deliberated for four hours on
Friday to reach a verdict of guilty on the
three counts of first-degree murder. Then
on Saturday, they deliberated another
1 1/2 hours following arguments by the
prosecution and defense in the punish-
ment hearing. They recommended that
Robison be sentenced to death by drug
injection for the heinous crimes.

In the punishment hearing, Dist. Atty.
Burns maintained that Robison was the
leader of a group attempting to find gold
jewelry owned by Joan Bourque. He
claimed evidence showed Mrs. Bourque
was holding a .22-caliber pistol when the
robbers kicked in the bedroom door.

He told the jury the robbers shot her
when Mrs. Bourque, apparently embar-
rassed about not being dressed, hesitated
to shoot them.

Defense attorney Bills appealed to the
jury to give Robison a life.sentence.

The jury determined the punishment
based on aggravating circumstances of a
previous armed-robbery conviction of
Robison, the prosecutor's argument that
Ms. Lovejoy was killed to eliminate wit-
nesses and probability of continuing acts
of violence by Robison.

On the following Monday, March 30,
another jury was selected for the trial of
the second man, 29-year-old Johnny Gil-
lum. On Tuesday, defense attorney John
Skaggs was turned down by Judge Lind-
ley on a request to dismiss the case be-
cause of publicity during the Robison trial
the previous week. in the same court-
room.

After a day and a half of jury selection,
opening statements began on Tuesday af-
ternoon following the motion hearing re-
garding the defense attorney's request.

In his opening statement, the pro-
secutor said that Gillum made statements
to investigators about being at the scene,
but denied shooting any of the people. He
told the jurors that the defendant had in-
formed his sister and brother-in-law that
his job was to stand guard outside the
home.

During 3 1/2 hours of testimony, Gil-

}
'

4 | ly .

lum denied knowing where he was going
or why he was asked to accompany his
uncle and William Starr Jordan after load-
ing guns in a car at a party in Healdton.
He testified he was instructed by Robison
to stay in the car when they reached the
rural home.

After knocking on the door, Gillum tes-
tified, his uncle and Jordan received a
‘friendly greeting’’ and entered the
house.

Shortly afterward, Gillum said he was
startled by the sound of a gunshot and,
disregarding his instructions, he went
running into the house.

He said he ‘‘saw the legs of a body”
near his uncle and described Robison as
having a ‘‘red face and wild-eyed look.””
He held a pistol in his left hand and was
kicking in a bedroom door.

‘*I was scared to death,”’ testified Gil-
lum. ‘‘I said, ‘Randle, please stop this.
Let's go out of here.""

Instead, Robison turned the gun on
him, said Gillum, and ordered him to re-
turn to the car. He said he went back to
the car and the other men came out of the
house three or four minutes later.

Early Saturday morning, April 4, the
second of the three-man murder-robbery
team was convicted by a jury on the three
murder charges. Gillum appeared startled
and disbelieving as the verdicts were read
a few minutes after 10 a.m. They had
deliberated less than two hours.

About noon the jury resumed delibera-
tions on the punishment sentence and re-
turned four hours later with a recommen-
dation of life in prison for Gillum on each
count. The defendant wept as the re-
commendation was read. Again, as with
Robison, the state had sought the death
penalty.

Meanwhile, proceedings for Jordan,
the 25-year-old third defendant in the
case, had been moving along and he was
scheduled for a trial to begin on July 20.

In a surprise move, Jordan was taken
before Judge Lindley in the Stephens Dis-
‘rict Court on Friday, May 22, where he
pleaded guilty to the three counts of mur-
jer. Asst. Dist. Atty. Enos said Jordan
was promised in exchange for the guilty
dlea that the state would not seek the
Jeath penalty,

‘‘The only thing that hasn't been de-
termined in the Jordan case,"* Enos said,
‘‘is whether he will get consecutive or
concurrent sentences. That will be left up
to the court.”

’ In formal sentencing, Olan Randle
Robison was sentenced to die by lethal
drug injection and Johnny Gillum was
sentenced to three consecutive life terms.

(Editor's note: The names Polly Upton, Sandra
Morrison, Karen White, and Betty DeJohn are
fictitious. Use of the real names would serve no
public interest.)

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Deputy Sheriff ‘Buck’ Buckmaster escorts elusive
murder suspect Johnny Gillum to his arraignment.
Suspect said he was only along for the ride.

Meanwhile, the investigation went
down other avenues, with deputies and
OSBI agents following other leads. Talk-
ing, talking, always talking to people...
looking for that clue or lead to the identity
of the slayer and the motive. By now, the
ivnestigators had about made up their
minds that it had been robbery. They had
reason to believe it had not been too suc-
cessful.

According to communication from En-
gland, the families of both women had
expected them to return to their homes

there. At the time of their deaths, the two -

women had already extended their visit-
ing time. There had been talk of Bob

Swintord and Joan Bourque being en-
gaged to marry, but there had also been
talk that she was about to return home —
so you took your pick.

For a short time, the thought was that
either Joan or Sheila Lovejoy’s ex-
husband had followed them here and
committed the murders. However, the
British authorities had located both men
and checked them out.

Mrs. Bourque was survived by four
children, ages 9 to 21. Mrs. Lovejoy was
survived by five teenage children.

As time slipped by with no apparent
results, relatives of both Swinford and the
British women became impatient with the

progress of the case.

Irritating the law officers working on
the case, a private detective from London
offered to travel to Oklahoma and work
on the case in order to get some results
started. The private detective had offered
his services at no charge to Philip Bour-
que, Joan’s husband.

Still wanting to question the ex-convict
who had overheard the remark about
Joan Bourque having expensive jewelry,
OSBI agents went to Healdton again and
questioned relatives and friends of the
ex-con. From a former girlfriend of the
man they learned enough to start concen-
trating all their efforts on the ex-con, an
escapee from the Lexington Community
Treatment Center since 1975, and a
Wichita Falls, Texas, man.

On July 1, the ex-con was arrested in
Wichita Falls, where he had been living,
on a warrant for failing to appear in court
June 19 in Ardmore, Oklahoma, the
county seat of Carter County. Ina regular
game of Shuffleboard, the prisoner was
transferred to Jefferson County, where
he had violated a suspended sentence.
After a steady stream of complaints about
the jail not being air-conditioned, he was
transferred to Stephens County. The
midwest was suffering from a record heat
wave that summer.

While he was still confined in the
Stephens County jail, Olan Randle Robi-
son, the 34-year-old ex-con, was taken
before District Judge George Lindley on
July 11, and arraigned on three charges of
first-degree murder. He ordered him held
for preliminary hearing on August 13.

‘*Robbery was the apparent motive,”’
Sheriff Bill Alexander said.

In answer to a question if the rumor
about narcotics was true, the sheriff ans-
wered, *‘No, I'm sure no narcotics were
involved.”’

Both Sheriff Alexander and OSBI
agent Paul Renfro said the investigation
was continuing.

‘Yes, it is possible that there are some
additional potential suspects,’’ said Ren-
fro, ‘‘but we don’t know at this time.”’

Two weeks later, on Thursday, July 24,
a second suspect was charged in Duncan,
on three charges of first-degree murder:
William Starr Jordan, 25, of Wichita
Falls, Texas, was arrested in San Ber-
nardino, California, on other Texas
charges the previous week. The charges
were filed at Duncan in connection with
the Oklahoma triple slayings after
Stephens County authorities conferred
with Texas officials.

Stephens County Asst. Dist. Atty. Joe
Enos said it was not determined when
Jordan would be brought to Oklahoma to
face the charges.

‘*We will determine first if he will
waive extradition to Oklahoma,”’ said
Enos, ‘‘and we will talk to the people in

(continued on page 53)

—?

9-20-1935.

weer at

a
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ye os oe

ofan ee

Feo ae?

The home of the Gentrys bore th

unmistakable stamp of hardship.
That's what made the police won-
der what sinister motive prompted
the murderous marauder to break in.

; PIR ar ieee

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When this picture was taken the é
GENTRYS had no premonition that &
tragedy would enter their lives

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ipparentivo en the Parsons free to negotiate directly Fort Sill since Wednesday. ete : i T + a Siler, Semino!
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Sa . eeeo00 rans elals announced Friday providing LION SILER Z '
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Fass GS uid Reclamation Work Speeded | throughout the problem—first } r aesnee ‘ y | switch sealer al
In 17 Counties; Some when lightning set fire to an ob- : |
, servation balloon Monday, causing if . | Dr. Taylor, D
une 11 ‘UP) ont Crops Helped it to burn, and the other @ slight : f a from McAlest or
| New York col-| —— truck accident, in which the crank- Brees 4 a hte ead. als mh
ay Te elected pres- ae CITY, June 11.—]| case was broken. ee Aiea ee oe | Smoke throw
eriean Newspaper (UP)---Authorities Friday spe ed oti i ; :
Beco Scsivu‘tiaen Hb} rentagcetion. hauls tat Bi 2 teen The officers of the wegen and “PHYLLIS SILER from the leg elec
wag é€lected eXecu- counties struck the last two weeks areas satieinetion brie ie em The 250 peep
“nt, a new otfice, by floods, tornadoes, hailstorms tba mote ain TBey geting, OS" mg Sands was oreee
ion, end cloudbursts which killed four Loses hgpored vga dere a, A Fayllis Siler,
~ persons injured at ‘least 26 and tion of niet cote Leyte nen : if met. mised pore: ul
ere seuss Results u ferrini
LL YOU nai damage of more than $2,-] pegpite the handicap for pba A sisiewsa”
1 The fj 3:9 nmak ; erg, only the one truck was dum- | Both Phyllis
3 BURNS dian ae ee any aid aged, and it was In operation again yt lin the robbery of
iat the lowlands south of Eufaula. eas tse ee { | il | Officials said
ick city) sulesme he river was risi api / : at . t . Chats Se
ates Bou thin, i remained within rei Teta a cere. including cab. Birnie, and ! | ing the evening,
what subje t the, ‘The North Canadian surged to a local ranking officers, were sched- ° | ; from the govern
interested in eave! height of 9.8 feet at the Yukon- bce je raagerenr’ ere te ste hip a
» tatthin' ahont § Ptedn ; ka sults : . atholic faith
rhe genre incl ae pala during the night|.w. Parker, instructor in the FA A prlest rea
vhen they try to stream at Woodward the river a deste nn pis oe delet Unionists Are More Bitter As} counins throng
to hes cave turk ct ; 5 aa i : ’ ey were
see fog Arie ' Sees telling eee awsday ee the Picineeinines had been adverss Forces Are Routed At Catholic faith. T
‘take me long to! Fields cried sufficiently in some causing heavy mud cous’ which Monroe, Mich. | Judge Hoel,
ratch ‘om if. sections to permit farmers to re- coctarteed ee bate hao 99 —_—_ in which is my
»y're c te e harves sir 49 - S ‘ , witnesses, and s
re a neue hn fhe aa | avr ear re a 3 | A eat a
subject I'm upin.: running in’ Jackson county and been so successfully used in fie! : pone government and the} farmer, of Wash
~ It's like the | binders took the fields in Garfield problems as this year, aoany. eft eT iis of three states attempt-| Leo Wilson, nep,
\ime my Uncle | county. cers believed. ed Friday to hold the steel strike | formed.
Alonzu Hink Despite the storm damage, most out airplanes from atiaaes ie chek while unionists became |
j cried ty zet a job} Oklahoma furmers were pleased Field, San Antonio, which pare helen tani . bitter following the! D. Arthur W
~in a utore down | with the outlook. Dozens of small been used with her four. reguis® re oh Mgnt Farge AS TROND | Beas Ves, The ve
nome. He knew) crops were helped by the rains planes stationed at Fort Sill, were ED ae ; a (to say.”
the store-keeper | that damaged some wheat fields, to -returs £0 thele ba’ deans Oh Tins Le Smashed | Dunn, who!
wag a very relig- (See Page 7, No. 3) “| The commencement exercises ee developments, which crowd-: taken to the de
jous man su Un- : : = will open with a concert by tne ed swiftly one on the other, in-! halls to the chai
dQ tellin’ about whe ; ist F. A. band. The invocation will | cluded: ; | He: recente
io was He “aye y MARKETS AT A GLANCE | follow. : 1 Monroe, where 300 special] before the exect
Ponduy ut. church.” Band To Play : vigilante’ police smashed the pic- | “This is alm
4 ane General Birnie will deliver the|ket line in a tear gas battle, was| which were iss!

(By United Press)

Stocks 1 to 4 points lower in
light trading.
Zonds lower; U. S. government

plomas, and the jquiet after a night of alarm.! Dunn. He said 1
lose the formal | Threatened invasion of the city hy | At 11 p.m
thousands of CIO automobile work- |} Sands and Siler

ers from Pontiac, Mich. was; pe cheerful and

address and the di
benediction will ¢

program,
The ist F. A. band will play

through, the store
hat church do you

looked puzzied and |.

sputter, he says issues irregularly lower. : :
sell, now, Jeva], Curb - stocks lower; industrial} 48a!n as the exercises are com-javerted by the plea of the auto | The attemp!
dt at tire “tore | tading. pleted. union president Homer Martin. at the floor, say
4 “Just mame off a Forvign exchange irregular; i Republic Steel corporation's sub- | They answe
other. pound sterling easy. emetd Rieke . Monroe, reopened | geeasional, “n0,'

Y eoltan stead - lous S Of K \ vy workmen who streamed into it 2 tire
ak. 1 steady uround previous on emper in the wake of yesterday's Po ee —e
oR. Grains: wheat 1% to 1% lower; Militar School gas claimed to be Operating ale | Last minute
Ae Ae tiew corn Jy higher to %& lower; y | most normally. (to clear up the
1930 by Kesqulee old corn 4 higher; outs % to 1% H d | Killed . 2. Gov. Martin L. Davey of Ohi0 veno was shot t
res, Inc.) Miawer, rye Loto 3% lower, ea S | neld the first joint conference of | A word, am
as ag : a ; both sides since the strike began tye press hid '
: BOONVILL, Mo. June 11, (UP)}16 days ago. Steel companies ant avyias pret
STA t IDARD | --Jimmy Kralovee, 4, son of Capt,| iterated they would not sign the : TT ee age vo
AVN ATS FOOD STORE i John G. Kralovee, teacher and bis- contract: proposed by the striking | sands, Shiawnec
y Aweiue Phe , 568 ‘etball coach at Kemper Military ClO steel workers organizing, cont: | - Siler’s word
1One OY ‘weademy, died in a hospital late mittee, Facell renvarks te
. oc Thursday night from injuries re- Sheriffs Called In bow: settabs? yh’
. oo. ‘

’ hie powsas or : a 3. Seeretary of 1, r Fr re
' ss orum aver by ry f ot uber Ir Line's Tonttina. which

oes bbe Ob

i CPSC US Tek
vhes, reportedly planned by both men, were not

Last minute apeu
ade,’ ¥
Siler,

= ie, bankine: walked into the over-crowded death chamber first,
stoly

shaken but grinning broadly. He shook hands with Warden
ss Dunn, and others, and murmured a few words very low.

He smiled as the electrode wus adjusted. He glanced ‘a moment at
e witnesses before the mask was put over his ‘nead,

Switch Thrown At 12:14 a. ne.

At 12:14 a. m, Executioner Rich Owen threw the switch, adminis-
ring a 2,200-yolt shock, which threw Siler’s body rigidly forward, The
rent was turned off at 12:15.

Three physici
tnessed all
ad,” at 12336, ;

Quickly, Siler’s body was removed from tne chair, and Sands was
ought into the chamber, He shook Jiands with prison officials, but
is not siniling.

He said only & few words, and dropped into the chair, With his
ad shaven, and his face drawn, the young Indian loked the part he
hs playing in the true-life arama,

Sands was quickly strapped to the chair, and Owen threw the
itech ugain al 12:19, and cut it off at 12:20.

ApPoctors Repeat Death Words

Dr. Taylor, Dr. C. EB. Lively, and Dr. F. 'P. Bartheld, the latter two
om McAlester, after an examination, repeated the words, “This man
dead.” Fagg

Smoke, throwning an acrid odor over the death chamber, arose
liom the leg electrode.

The 250 people in the room moved quickly toward the exit when
nds wus pronounced dead. The heat in the small room was terrific.

Fayllis Siler, made a widow by Leon's execution, “broke down” in
br cell before the execution, prison officials said. Phyllis is 16.

Ruby Herring, 17, sweetheart of Sands, also was said to be “grief-
ricken.”

Both Phyllis and the Herring girl we
the robbery of the Elgin State Bank, and the murder of Mr.

Wife Is Reconciled to Fate ,

Officials said Phyllis became reconciled to her husband's fate dur-
g the evening, but paced her cell, asking of every guard, “Any word
om the governor?”

Deputy Warden Bob West said both Siler and Sands professed the
atholic faith Wednesday nig’nt.

A priest read from a Bible while the curren
ufsing through their lithe, young bodies.

They were the second and third to die in the chair professing the
atholiec faith. The only other man was Earl Quinn.

Judge Hoel, walking into the room, was motioned toward the cage

wich is situated the chair. He shook his head, nodding toward the
itnesses, and said, “I prefer to stand, thank you.” \

D. Arthur ilson, state crime bureau operative and Tom Wilson,
irmer, of Washington, Okla., brothers of the slain deputy sheriff, and
eo Wilson, nephew, were near the chair as the executions were per-

ormed. wa telat

1s, including Dr. W. L. Taylor, Holdenville, who has
executions since statehood, pronounced “This) man is

re convicted for participation
Wilson.

ts of electricity were

‘Got What They Deserved’

D. Arthur Wilson, speaking for the three, said “They got what they
esgerved, The verdict of a jury has been obeyed. We ‘nave nothing else
b say.” i

Dunn, who made a short speech
tken to the death chamber, led the way through
alls to the chair. ‘

He recently refused a request for Sands to marry the
efore the execution.

“Thig is almost tne first time I have seen sO near all the passes
thich were issued come back on the night of the execution,” said
unn, He said requests for 2,000 passes had been made to his office.

At 11 pom, when Dunn allowed a group of newspapermen to visit
ands and Siler at their cells, the doomed men made wan attempts to
e cheerful and polite.

The attempt to appear nonchalant failed, as both looked fixedly
t the floor, saying nothing, unless asked w question, ‘

They answered uniinportant questions
ecasional, “no,” or “yes”. Plainly they did not
1en retired.

to the witnesses before they were
the underground

Herring girl

want to talk, and news-

Seck To Clear Loper Slaying
jt minute attempts were made by state crime bureau operatives
ear up the ‘slaying of Night Marshal George Loper, Pauls Valley,
us shot to death a weck before Wilson was killed.

A word, among Sinds’ last, which sounded like “Pauls Valley” to
he press, did not have any connection with the investigation of the
laying, prison official said,

Neither: youth ow isited by his father, Sands’
Shawnee, and Siler’s family lives. at Seminole,
“pood-bye™, “thanks”
He spoke very low. / :
jo feet away, partially because of the
wihjoining room, and partially because

Vater,

father is Scott

pan.
Siler'y words were made up of
yell) remuritn Loo pt
Sands’
PY Name,
veedid

on_ottidialy
nite was to radible,
an

jriss

which Ruataed in

sthepeapel bo pivrse
wo

and other fare- |

by the newsmen with an|

CHARLIE

VOWS REFUSED

SANDS

RUBY HERRING

MN OGHOUL
TON
BILL

Jed Johnson Puts $73,000
And $20,000 In U. S.
Measuré

Through the efforts of Cong. Jed
Johnson an appropriation of $73,-
000 for a school building at the
Fort Sill Indian school here has
been included in tne Indian de-
partmental bill, despite the failure

of the budget officer to approve | (UP)—Tw
the expenditure. An item of $20,000 | as suspects
here sas

for construction of sewers
was also written into the bill by
Congressman Johnson.

Riverside Included

A similar ‘appropriation for a
dormitory at Riverside school at
Anadarko has also been included
in the bill.

Congresman Johnson in
house and Sen. Elmer Thomas in
the senate will attempt to secure
approval of the measure by con-
gress despite the lack of endorse-

|
|

{ment by the director of the bud- |

get.

darko ageney, expects to leave

Saturday for Wasiaington to attend

a conference on Indian affairs,
An addition to-the nurses’ hon

and several other additional facili-

tiey are needed at the Kiowa In-
dian hospital and Fort Sill Indian
school, necording:, to Cc. Db. Camp-
bell, chairman of the chamber of

, ’ ev ' cypppevedl

Supt. W. B. McCown of the Ana- |

|
|
(
|
|
!
|

Sands,

Sands, with Leon Siler, 21, also «+
electrocuted, held up the Elgin
State bank, and killed J, B. “Pete”
Wilson, Grady county deputy sher-
iff, May 31, 1935,

Sands will be buried within a few
miles of the scene of the crime
which led to his downfall,

Services will be held in the Ana-
darko Funeral. home. Funeral
home directors said Sands’ body
was not burned as a result of the
electrocution, except on one leg.

Where Kin Lives

After tine services, the body will
be tuken to Fletcher, where the
casket will again be opened. ™
services will be held at the #
tery, the funeral home tole |
Constitution Friday, yn,

Me-ah-ko, aged grandmother ui”

lives at Fletcher, and It
is at her request that he will be
buried there.

Me-ah-ko made several pleas to
Gov. E. W. Marland in atternpt to
gave her grandson from the chair,
She attended t'ne murder trial
here every day until it’ was com-
pleted.

Must Have Guard

Meanwhile, according to reports
from the penitentiary, Ruby Her-
ring, his 17-year-old sweetheart, .
sought permission of Warden Jess
Dunn to attend Sands’ funeral.

Clemency Attorney Fred Cun-
ningham said he would not ap-
prove the Herring girl attending
the Sands rites, unless she went
under armed guard.

But, 16-year-old Phyllis Siler, wi-
dow of one of the executed men,
will be permitted to attend her
husband's. funeral Saturday at
Seminole, it was revealed by Unit-
ed Press dispatches. ‘

Warden Quotes Siler

State officials decided that Phyl-

lis may attend the funeral witn-

(See page two No. 2)

Negroes Held In
Death Of Kansas
Railroad Agent

BROWNELL, Kan., June 11.--
o negroes arrested here
in the slaying of 9. Kan-
railroad special agent,
were taken to Hoisington and Great
Bend Friday and lodged in the
jails, one prisoner in each,

The two gave the names of “Shor-
» Harris and “Oklahoma Slim.”
They were held for questioning
in the fatal stabbing of Harold T.

City

the | Woolery, a special agent for the

acifie railroad, Who was
killed in a refrigerator ear in the
Kansas City railroad yards June 1,

Missouri P

CALITHE.
ot

etn ter
Sul

baw Ge

LUTION, LAWTON, OKTATIONTA’ ‘

Sa.

FRIDAY EVESING, JUNE 1 3
ipa ibid nceleinteminas
for. execulive clemency—their last | ih Which se iucht ci the stocks /
bulwark against the seven fatal) the station, Seok ee) Peer se

steps from their calls tothe chair } Tt will bes Bait
Tae. bourd returned to Oklahome | Station,” +
City and was silent on their cases. :

Stitt Pair Opens

Service Station)

be Ree) 26 ; éd in-a gunfight.
Cr ve Ae SE eG e Surrendered After Fight

The two couples surrendered,
Sands shot Wilson as the officer
entered the house to get a drini
of water, and Siler fired into his
body with a sawed-off shotgun.
Constable Ralph Deeds and B. Kh.
Stephens, bunk cashier whom the
bandits had kidnaped, were
wounded slightly.

“ROM PAGE ONE

‘d by. his respective mother.
her son's body to Seminole for burial,
esnadarko. .

; rn farm house east of Lawton, when

se people: who lived there had seen

he house, was killed in the gun-figint
-cipating. He was lying on the floor

od. They were Bailey Stephens, pres-
1 Deeds, Elgin constable, and Sands.
aud Irom County :

Sands and Siler were given the
death penalty in a district court
trial at Lawton, ‘Their appeals
were decided last April 9 by the
state criminal court of appeals,
whieh termed them “characters of
the vilest kind” and “guilty of cold
pluoded murder.”,

Stitt Pair has opened a service
Station for business at 1201 South
Sixth street. Pair bulli the buildinss

They made no effort to appeal |

= to try the case, whieh lasted a week, ; A
United Slutes supreme

“Ssly served terms in the penitentiary, to the

x .
Syne execution from Comanche county court,

= Wayne Gilley, Eddie Gaskins, Homer
ey, P. R. Ramey, John Kidd, Alvin
eoung, Bil) Harned and the, writer.

under the federal Lindbergh kid-
nap law, on June 19, 1930.
Sands and Siler died for the
slaying of Wilson after they had
robbed the bank of Elgin, Coman-
che vounty, of $500 and sought
vainly to elude pursuers.
Served Theft Sentences

Sands and Siler had just been
released from the penitentiary af-
ter serving five years each ‘for car
theft. |

The two girls were with them
when they robbed ‘the bank and
fled, finally, to the farm home of
Abe Medrano, Mexican, to hide.

Wilson ‘was shot to death as he
entered the ‘nome after a posse
had traced the fugitives near
there. Medrano was fatally wound-

Staged. Wild Ride

Before the Elgin robbery, they
hud staged a wild rush through
the state, marked by stolen cars,
kidnapings, and imprisonment of
three people who were trussed up
and left in a scnoolhouse cellar.

In their first prison terms, both
meti had bad records. Their rec-
ords, listed striking guards, refusal
to work, being caught with liquor,
and use of narcotics.

‘The ‘Herring gir) is
yeurs seltence,

A week from friday, Leland J.
Lakes, sentenced from Oklahoma
county to die in the hold-up mur-
der of Arthur Heenan, oil man,
is scheduled to die in the chair.

Two weeks azo Sands and Siler
poured out their stories to Gov. E.
W. Marland’s unofficial pardon
and parole board, in a desperate
attempt to win recommendations

under 10

PF je West of Courthouse

PF vscornennaen

» HOME
Operated

aay

Merthem
Lewis

WTA

pice. vet

ee A>

Pay Cash
Pay Less
421-423

ARRY

SO Te Pipe oe te be tate rr,
Aidan a be se nb sa A

SELF-SERVING

Ober aiid

CAve. QE

CASH & C
SUP Seca

Matuger

Our EVERYDAY PRICES Are Other Stores’
a0 Saturday Specials!

CRACKERS

Fresh
Crisp

2-1b. box ide

NAVY BEANS. . >.

3 ths. Me

DRIED.

Peaches

Heinz »

or"
Libby's

POWDERED :
or BROWN

Susar
bo G4

3
pounds

: 186

Tomatoes, [rs
¢ '

° n

- Pa bd

"The Lawhs Cons Lutron ; June \,

1H LAWEON CONSTE

Se lae |

PAGE BIX- SECTION A

| | Nw
|

CON TINTED

ee \Pair Executed |
Bt uot | Without Last (iene: ss

£ nce . e Mrs, Maudie Siler, was to taice
eg Nia. . : en wae ; 3 WV t H Liz while Sands “as lo be burned at
ears , q | A 2 The youths killed Wilson in
{ - of .
d ; J a Inu e ¢ SO Wilson walked in to inquire if t
; anything of tie Migin bank rob
, Adrian Medrano, who lived in

| ‘ oer #
Nephew And Two Brothers Of Victim: which followed, He was not pur

‘& x ? Average Bushel Yield Of 13.7 ae Neigh Saharan HS
P 3 Per Acre Predicted; 77.5) Watch Gunmen Put To Death | ae Se hain ps gise and vite
Per Cent Normal In State Prison Fourteen Att

| Judye Eloel was sent to Lawto
ape Sands and Siler had previo
|
’

LARGEST SINCE 1931 . By FRANK M\NAUGH TON Amony those Whe attended
: te Beacl Poe ge \ United Press Correspondent steak Blunt Zorger. John McCabe
« bs te ans - : % . Hedyes, Ralph Deeds, Pon tt
a eaches Are 654, None te M’ALESTER, Okla., June 11—(UP)—Charley Sands, Kidd, pata Wath Coon iee

And Apples, 76.6 in the state prisen electric ehair for the slaying of Deputy] Two dead omen -executed int

t MeAlester prison electric chai

x ee: 4
; Oats, 82.3; Batley, 79.7; | 22, and Leon Siler, 21, early Friday paid with their lives) Reyrets Pleas

: : Sheriff J. &. Wilson of Grady county, as two of Wilsou’s
WASHINGTON, June 11.| brothers and his nephew, tense-faced and grin, witehedl MO eee is <4

(UP) —The department of | hem die, a te Pu

agriculture Thursday fore- 2,300 Volt Shock rn Wee

east a winter wheat crop of Both died without making planned last minute speeches.| Charlie Sands left bebind Rt

649,008,000 bushels, a Ge-| A 2,300° volt shock administered for a full minute by Executioner; Herring, ju. sweetheart
| Warden Ditan, who Ww

"ei * 6 994,808 els:| Rich Owen killed each man. 1, .. She.
deat es he : 24S Over in the women’s ward, Silert left a widow, Phyllis Siler, 16; | Siler and Sands walised his 3:
eae ay : Tt Sands, a Kiowa Indian, left a sweetheart, Ruby Herring, 1%, whose | and 34th men Co the electric chi
Averuge Predicted plea for a death row wedding was denied by Warden Jess Dunn. trejected pleas of Sands and
cS j The department’s | crop report- Both girls paced their cells disconsolately, as the hour of mid-! Herring girl that they be pero
ing board predicted an average | night urrived and no commutation came from Gov. E. Wi Marland ; ted to mary before the executi
yield of 13.7 busnels per acre ob ‘in unswer to piteous pleas address to him by therm. | sath and S6th kxecutions
the estimated all-time record of! giler, chalky-white and grinning, was first to die. He was strapped | Their executions were the 5
47,410,000 acres to be harvested. |into the chair at 12:13. a, m. smiling at the 250 wilnesses as the !and 56th performed by Rich Ow
The condition on June 1 was 77.5 | electrude wus adjusted. | veteran prison executioner. All
per cent of normal. | Dead At 12:16 | Owen's executions but one
The report forecast a rye CrOP | Owen threw the switch at 12:14, played with the rheostat a full in the chair. He hanged one 1
of 46,000,08¢ — busthels, compared | minute and turned off the current at 12:15. Arthur. Gooch, first, man to
with 25,600,000 bushels last year.| Dr, W. L. Taylor, Holdenville, who has ‘witnessed every execution) “4 A a 4 4 :
Yield on the 4,092,000 acres to be | Fontater ». Bs $x LR LOLF
harvested was estimated at an

since statehood, and Dr. C. E. Lively, and Dr. F, T. Bartheld, both |
of McAlester, pronounced Siler dead at 12:16. >
average of 1.2 bushels per acre.| A minute after Siler’s body was removed, Sands, stolid and almost! &, 7
The board reported condition of " surly, walked into the death chamber. He, like Siler, shook hands South 6th
spring wheat at 68.7 per cent Of with prison officials, sat down in the chair.
normal, Based on the expected| Quickly, Owen adjusted the electrodes and straps and swung the
acreage reported ‘in| March, the | switch at 12:19. An acrid, burning odor rose as the leg electrode smok- |
board estimated unofficially that | 2g, Owen cut off the current at 12:20 and Sands also was pronounced |
spring wheat production would | gead. $
range between 175,000,000 and 200,-| Both youths died in the Catholic faith, which they accepted Wed- |
000,000 pushels. Production last nesday night. - '
year was 107,448,000 bushels, sm sey aes Wilson, sate: ereubheemrmer sr | aw
> fi ‘ear average was - sty? iis |
. or seks Aa rs ” ‘Lenshares operative, and Tom Wilson, | make @ speech,” in death chamber. | Roy
: | Washington, Okla, farmer, and] gijer’s only speech was & muffled i
Largest Since 1931 _ this son, Leo, brothers and nephew | «farewell” to the officials and al Alston cw»
Tg present expectations materi-|of¢ the slain deputy, were gTim-| “thanks” to Warden ahd cand a %
alize wheat are will harvest | faced as they watched the twol curt “that’s all.” : i
the largest crop this year since | youths die. . pie
4931. If prices are maintained, a8} “They got what they deserved,” hiner soa ge ash: —:
agriculture officials predict, the| the bureau operative said. ae : a
value of the crop probably will) Another witness was District | Will Go to New Mexico
exceed $1,000,000,000 for the first’ Judge Henry Hoel, Stillwater, who] yyve minutes siphon he put the’
time since 1027, conducted the Sands and Siler) men to death Owen the execution-
The board forecast @ peach croP| murder trial at Lawton, and in| oy yevealed that New Mexico avis!
of $6,100,000 bushels and pear| conformance with @ jury verdict, | thorities had asked him to come
crop of 31,508,000 bushels, Condi- | sentenced them to die. there in about a month and exe-
tion of peaches.on June 1 was 65.7, Slain After Robbery cate Hollis Martin Altus okl
per cent en pears 68.8 per cent| ‘Wilson was slain after ago youth facing death. "sh hark saitel LIBBY’S FANCY FI
of normal, of the Elgin State bank on Ma : iit Naka!
The June 1 condition of other | 25, 1935. . ¥ cons gicttongey sore killing sal | aes
, erry © . ‘ ‘ oh . <i , ~ .

eee Oe
| sf
ware claimed by the “tT told them I would be there. ! | Ne hee '

7
av
ae,

; ait

— he ‘ be 4 “4 ‘ fy ae

ALONG...

OKLAHOMA OFFICERS KNEW
TWO GUNMEN AND THEIR
GIRLS AIMED TO STAGE A
BIG JOB. BUT WHEN WAS
IT SCHEDULED TO HAPPEN
—AND WHERE AND HOW?

By HUGH V. HADDOCK

Vin warning you that you're going to have a bank robbers
down in your cdunty, And in my book that might mean
murder !”

Waldron could still hardly believe his ears.
questioned tautly. '

“How do | know?” Simms retorted. “Pick any bank in the
county and you may have the place. All | can tell you is that
a car was stolen in Seminole three nights ago. ‘The under:
world says two young fellows just out of McAlester Peniten-
tiary took it and headed your way to rob some bank close to
Lawton. They’re broke and girl crazy and plenty bad. This
morning we picked up their trail in Healdton, but that’s all
the good it did us. They left their old car there and_ stole
another one. Not a fingerprint on the one they left, either.”

Waldron’s lean, tanned face grew even longer as he tried to
marshal his thoughts. The story could be just a hoax of the
underworld. On the other hand, Chief Sins was certain of
his information and such tips did occasionally come through
to officers in advance of crimes. This one had the ring of
truth. More, Healdton, although well to the south, was almost
midway east and west between Seminole and Lawton.

“Where 2" he

“TI don’t get the idea of their detour, though,” Waldron
puzzled.
“Girls,” Simms replied tersely. “My dope is that they

intended to pick up a couple somewhere, One girl's named
Ruby. I've got Healdton officers checking that angle.”

There was little chance, however, that the Healdton officers
would learn anything before it was too late to block the crime
which the two desperados were plotting. Deeply alarmed, the
tall, white-hatted undersheriff strode into the adjoining office

- and laid the story before Sheriff Charles McCarty, who listened
with an uneasiness that matched his own.

“It sounds like the McCoy, all right !” the sheriff said finally.
“If that robbery goes through, it probably means somebody
in this county has only hours to live. But how are we going
to stop it? There are anyhow 15 banks in this county !”

Waldron sensed his superior’s meaning. With only a half
dozen deputies and as many constables, it was impossible to
guard them all. For anything less than suicide, the job
demanded a hundred men.

“Guarding won’t work, in any case.” The undersheriff
frowned. “These fellows are clever planners. What's more,
they'll have their girls along and want to show how smart
they are.”

“Maybe you've got an idea, then,” McCarty said.

Waldron thoughtfully lighted a cigarette. “Il have, and I

only hope to heaven it works. Look. We can tip the
Lawton police and they'll watch the banks here in the city.
Then notify all the county banks. Tell them, whatever hap-
peiis, not to start shooting unless they have every advantage,
but to keep as little cash on hand as possible. Then get a
check on everybody released from prison lately who might
be planning such a crime. If we learn, we can grab the boys
off on a stolen car charge.”

Simple on the face of it, but Waldron fully realized the
size of the task he had outlined. The officers needed two or
three weeks. At best, they had only days—maybe hours.

CHARLIE SANDS' GUN—when he was cornered, the desperado
ditched it for a shotgun, killing a deputy and wounding two
others before he was overpowered by officers and quelled.

ey
eo
,

$ 35.7 vy bie hg é Rs
Std 8 eee 48
Eek aul he

THE ADRIAN MEDRANO FARM (above) near Lawton—here
“the desperadoes holed in. keeping two families terrorized while
they fought a bloody battle with courageous lawmen.

A NEIGHBOR GIRL (right) points to bullet hole in the Medrano
bedroom floor. Most of the householders hid under the bed
to get out of range while the shooting went on.

the evening before to stay overnight.

“Bill wouldn’t be Charlie Sands, would he?” Waldron asked.

The girl stiffened, her eyes widening. “No, sir!” she said
emphatically. “Charlie—well, we haven’t seen Charlie in
quite a while.” .

Waldron nodded and left. But when he stopped a half mile
down the road to ask questions of a neighbor, his suspicions
flared again. The man was certain that two couples, not one,
had been at the Sands home and had stayed there nearly 18
hours longer than the girl had admitted. What was more,
they had arrived in a good-looking black sedan.

“Then who was that cute little trick of a girl I talked to?”

That’s his

~ Waldron demanded.

The farmer smiled. “Ever hear of Leon Siler?
wife, Phyllis Siler.” .

HAT WAS Phyllis Siler doing at the Sands home? Did

her husband fit into the robbery plot? If so, was he
one of the mysterious guests who had visited the Sands home ?
And how about Park and Peters? The questions assumed
ominous importance when Waldron stopped in Fletcher a little
later to talk with the town marshal,

“One of those fellows could have been Siler,” the wind-
tanned officer confirmed as he thoughtfully rolled a cigarette.
“And the other could have been Charlie Sands.”

“Charlie Sands?” Waldron exploded. “My figures show
he’s not due for release for two weeks yet.”

“Then you misfigured,” the officer said. “Charlie Sands
has been on the ground since May 25, and I’ve been watching
like a hawk for him to turn up. Especially since the sheriff’s
warning this morning.”

“Then keep on watching!” Waldron exclaimed. “If he.

shows up, arrest him for questioning. The same goes for
Siler, Peters and Park. But watch yourself. They’re dan-
gerous men.”

The car had been stolen in Seminole the night of May 25,
soon after Charlie Sands’ release. But Sands didn’t seem to

ene

‘

fit into the picture. The plotters were supposed to be two
men just out of McAlester Penitentiary on the east side of
the state. Sands had been committed to Granite Reformatory
on the west side. If nothing else, how had the swarthy convict
covered so many miles in so few hours? A scrap of informa-
tion he picked up in Elgin a few minutes later further increased
Waldron’s perplexity. A citizen there was positive be had
seen Leland Park in the village within the past two weeks. °
“A few days of this and we'll be cutting out paper dolls,”
McCarty snapped as Waldron went over what he had learned
in the sheriff’s office that evening. The sheriff, however, had
taken an extra measure. He had called every surrounding
county and a hundred sharp-eyed peace officers with guns
slung low on their hips were scrutinizing every unfamiliar face
and checking on every suspicious (Continued on page 50)

ecuted Oklahoma

ANT Cs mat 4 ana STTER r) 3"
ANDS, Charlie, and SILER, Leon, ex

(Cr manche ) on June its 19376

i THE BELLOW of a shotgun cut off Deputy Wilson's
words. He pitched forward on the threshold as
portrayed below (posed by professional model).

sees

UNDERSHERIFF Otis Waldron (above)—he
‘felt like a man sitting in the dark, waiting
to get hit. Could he forestall the plot?

INGSTHE DETRCTTVE. OOetah
nde, 6 } KT

fy Hs 2 ee Be be GS a Ha and 9 ae act bP

, UTSIDE, the raucous oilfield boom town of Seminole,
Oklahoma, had finally quieted except for an occasional
shrill laugh from a honky-tonk down the street.

The stocky young man with the slicked hair softly closed
the bedroom door behind himseli, then pressed his ear against
it, listening. Satisfied that nobody was following, he turned,
his gray eyes brittle as chilled steel in his pasty face.

‘We'll probably have to bump some guy off,” he rasped
from the corner of his mouth. His glance. flickered callously
to the man in the tawdry overstuffed chair, then to the swarthy
young fellow who sat hunched on the edge of the bed. “My
dame will string along with anything I do. How about yours ?”

The swarthy man glanced up, his brown eyes cynical,

“She'll play, too, if I say so,” he boasted. “She’s nuts about
me. If you don’t believe it, ask her when we get down to—”

“Shut up! You talk too much!” The gray-eyed desperado
swung to face their visitor. “I don’t trust you finger men.
Are you sure about ‘that car?”

The man in the chair shrugged. “It’s parked every might
right where I said.”

“Okay. But if there’s a double-cross in your system, fellow,
you'd better get it out or start praying—now. One more dead
guy won’t worry us any, if you know what I mean,”

* oe *

In the Comanche County courthouse at Lawton, Oklahoma,
140 miles southwest of Seminole, Undersheriff Otis Waldron
stiffened and jerked the telephone nearer, all thoughts of the
spring morning driven from his head by the ominous words
which had come over the wire.

“Is this a joke?” he barked.

“Tf you think funerals are funny, you can call it that!” the,
voice snapped. “This is Jake Simms, police chief at Seminole.

released four weeks ago.”

rested on the last two.

The car had been stolen in Seminole the night of May 25,
1935. This was May 28. With three days already in which
to “case” the bank to be robbed and pick up their girl friends,
the criminals surely were almost ready to strike.

McCarty wheeled to the telephone and began calling the
county banks, giving them terse instructions. Waldron dis-
patched a telegram to Warden hae Dunn of McAlester Peni-
tentiary, asking a list of recently released convicts. ‘Then he
summoned a deputy sheriff and began a feverish check of the
files in the sheriff’s office. At noon he had compiled a list of
five Comanche County men who had been released within the
past three months.

“That doesn’t necessarily spell anything,” McCarty pointed
out as he studied the list. “The men we’re thinking of may be
from other counties and simply have finger men around here.”

“That’s true,” Waldron admitted. “But with people’s sav-
ings, and maybe even life and death hanging on it, we can’t
wait. Look. Here’s Pete Cram, sentenced for cattle theft,

McCarty shook his head. ‘Count Pete out. I know where
he is and what he’s doing.”

“All right. Leon Siler is next. Car theft.
March. Don’t forget the car theft in this case.”

The sheriff frowned. “Right. But my dope is that Siler
is out of the county—somewhere in Missouri. He never did
come back here. But he used to buddy around with Charlie
Sands, who lived up near Fletcher. We sent Sands up for
something.”

“Armed robbery.” Waldron swung back to the file and
consulted a card. “But we sent him to Granite Reformatory
and broke up that partnership.” The undersheriff figured a
moment on the card. “According to my arithmetic, he won’t
be out for a couple of weeks, so I don’t see how he and Siler
could have gotten “together a week ago.”

“Any other ideas?” McCarty questioned,

Waldron’s finger skipped the third name on the list and
“Look at these. Hank Peters -and
Leland Park were released on parole nine weeks ago. Both
were sent up for car theft. Both are young. Park’s married.
Peters at least has a common law wife.”

McCarty nodded. “You’ve got something there,” he snapped.
“Take two of the boys and check up on those lads as fast
as you can.”

Released in

Pausing only for a hurried sandwich, Waldron summoned .

NO SOONER were they out of prison than
Charlie Sands and Leon Siler (left to right be-
low) planned a daring holdup. They had yet
to learn the axiom that crime does nol pay.

_the undersheriff drove on back toward the highway. Was

two deputies and roared northeast out of Lawton in his cat,(4
headed for the section where the two ex-convicts had lived”
at last accounts. Seven miles out he turned due north and

followed a dirt road until it came to an end at a tumbledown’—

farmstead on the crest of a prairie rise. Drawing to a stop,

he pointed to the house and its staring, uncurtained windows,

“This was where Park lived!’ he exclaimed,
gone. Look at those weeds. Nobody's been around here.
for a month!”

A quick inspection of the premises confirmed his guess,
What did it mean?
for his criminal operations?
close-mouthed.
been hard-hit by drouth and that the couple had loaded what
they had into an old car and driven away late in April.

“They're just lettin’ the bank down at Lawton take the place
on the mortgage, I reckon,” the man who lived on the adjoining
farm speculated.

“Where does Hank Peters live?” one of the deputies ‘ques-
tioned from the car, .

The farmer shrugged. “Out west by this time, I reckon.
He pulled out about a week before Park and his woman. Said

he was taking his girl and going out to Washington or —

Oregon.”

So that was that. With the sense of facing a stone wall,
the story of the western trip genuine, or had Park and Peters
planted it for their own protection? Somebody was planning
to rob a bank. Suddenly into Waldron’s mind popped the
wiry-haired image of Charlie Sands, still supposedly in prison.
Swinging northeast again, he sped through the village of
Elgin, then on to the Sands home two miles east of Fletcher,
There a young woman with round blue eyes, blond hair and
a piquant mouth answered his knock and told him that none
of the Sands family was at home.

“They drove into Chickasha to take some company to the
bus,” she explained.

Waldron studied the girl’s fair complexion and soft curves
for a moment and realized that she was none of the family.
“You're just keeping house for them?” he questioned.

The girl nodded. “I’ve been visiting off and on. I expect
to leave in another day or two.”

The guests, she said in reply to Waldron’s queries, had
been a young couple called Bill and Marge who had arrived

INFLUENCED by the mobsters they loved,
Phyllis Siler (left} and Ruby Herring
launched into an enterprise which was
fated to get them in trouble with the law.

“But he's

Had the ex-convict found a better base —
Park and his wife had been. ~
All the neighbors knew was that the farm had

CA.

SPENCE, Jia

“
in Surplus City

Surplus Life

The money was gone, they were bound and gagged and helpless—then
why were they shot down by a complete stranger in Lawton, Oklahoma?

scratching at his door to Patrol-
man James Blackburn of Lawton,
Oklahoma.

But a moment later he heard the
faint, wavering cry of a human.

“Help!” he heard in more of a gasp
than a word. “Help!” -

Blackburn, at home and off duty that
evening of March 31, 1958, rushed to
the door and flung it open. A man was >
there, bent over almost double, his legs
wobbling, blood streaming from his right
side, his hands behind his back.

Despite the drawn lines on the man’s
face, his disheveled hair and his pallor, '
Blackburn. recognized him.

“Reggie!” he cried. “What's the mat-
ter? What happened?”

Reggie Zimmerman, the man at the

T= noise first, sounded like a dog

door, slumped forward slowly into the '
Officer’s arms.

“Ruth!” he whispered. “Get -Ruth!
Hurry! Please hurry!”

Then his full weight sagged against
Blackburn. He was unconscious.

Officer Blackburn’s wife had followed
him to the door. ;

“Get the ambulance,” Blackburn told
ae: ae And ‘get a squad car out

ere!”

He carried Zimmerman into the front
room. The man had been shot twice, he
saw, and his hands were tied behind
his back. Blackburn did what he could
to stop the immediate rush of blood,
cut the cord that bound the wrists, then
left the house on the run.

Twenty-two-year-old Reggie Zim-
merman, the officer knew, was manager

is: Surplus’ City’ and ‘

blood-tracked

d stairs to

of a’store called Surplus City a few
hundred yards from Blackburn’s home
in the sparsely settled outskirts of Law-
ton. Zimmerman, his wife, Ruth, and
their four-month-old baby lived in an
apartment above the store. What had
happened there? Where was Ruth Zim-
merman? And the baby?

As he ran through the darkness,
Blackburn could see the stark outlines
of the white stucco building. An exterior
stairway led to the apartment on the
second floor. The door to that apartment
was standing wide open, light blazing
from it like a beacon.

Blackburn pounded up the stairs. His
foot slipped once and he saw that he
was following a trail of fresh, wet blood.

Inside the apartment, Blackburn
stopped. There, across the room from

him and in front of an open closet, lay
Ruth Zimmerman in a pool of blood.
She was dead. ‘ .

Crumpled near the body were several
strands of cord of the same kind he had
cut from Reggie Zimmerman’s wrists.
On the floor were strips of white cloth.

Blackburn found the baby boy sound

asleep in his crib. Awkwardly, he
wrapped the infant in a blanket. Then
he strode back to his home. :

Ruth Zimmerman had been killed,
Reggie Zimmerman critically wounded.
Why? What had happened? Who could
have done this?

At his home, he turned the baby over
to his wife. Reggie, he saw, was semi-
conscious now, the bleeding apparently
stopped. ’

“What happened to you, Reggie?” the

Five of the seven young men charged
in the murder of Mrs. Roseann Beckman
have been convicted and sentenced:
Donald Lee Coglan, 20, life imprisonment;
Roy McGovern, 20, life imprisonment;
James Bracken, 20, 25 years; Philip Kolep,
26, 14 years; Eugene Avery, 19, 14 years,
Leroy Buick, 20, was disqualified for trial
after being found insane by a jury; Dennis
Doherty, 21, was granted a separate trial,
which was scheduled to begin shortly after
the conclusion of the trial of the other
five (Goodnight, Roseann, From the Un-

death of’ a young woman. Spence has
already been electrocuted for the crime
that took the life of Mrs. Ruth Zimmer-

the store the Zimmermans ran in Lawton.
Okla. The governor therefore recommend-
ed that Oxendine be confined for life in
lieu of execution (My God, He’s Emptied
The Whole Clip, July FRONT PAGE, 1958).

nell

James Howlett pleaded guilty to a charge
of hiring a man to kill his wealthy, 78-
year-old-wife (You Can’t Hire Me For
Murder, February FRONT PAGE, 1961).

Joseph Corbett Jr., star figure in the
Search For America’s Most Wanted Man

was in- ~ ; tH
charge holy 7, October FRONT PAGE, 1960). (January FRONT PAGE, 1961) following the
hn Hunt kidnap murder of Adolph Coors III, is

Richard Seaver, 19-year-old Melrose,
Mass.. youth who killed his mother when
she refused to approve his marriage, then
told police / Want To Make A Confession
(April FRONT PAGE, 1960), has been sent to
prison for life. He had pleaded guilty in
Superior Court

Howard Stickney, under a sentence of
death for the murder of Mrs. Shirley
Barnes (Case Of The Missing Type O,
September FRONT PAGE, 1958), has been
granted a two-month stay of execution in
order to enable him to continue his appeal
in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in
Fort Worth, Tex.

Eddie Junior Oxendine’s life has been
spared by Governor Howard Edmondson,
following the confession of his partner
and brother-in-law, James Spence, that it
was he, Spence, who had done all the
shooting in the holdup that resulted in the

EppIE OXENDINE
Only one life—not his—for a life.

man, but before his electrocution, Spence
assumed full blame for the murder as well
as for the attempted murder of Mrs. Zim-
merman’s husband during the holdup of

scheduled to go on trial March 13. He
pleaded innocent at his arraignment.

Thomas Whitaker, the wife-swapping
truck driver sentenced after his first trial
to die in the electric chair, entered a sur-
prise plea of guilty to three charges of
second-degree murder and thus avoided
a second first-degree murder trial and its
accompanying risk of another death pen-
alty. Second-degree murder carries a
mandatory life prison term. Whitaker,
whose agreement that /’/l Swup You My
Wife For Yours (October FRONT PAGE,
1957) ended in the deaths of his former
wife and his two children, was given two
and a half weeks to think over his guilty
plea before a pre-sentence investigation
was to be started. Whitaker had origi-
nally won his appeal for a second trial on
the grounds that the jurors had been per-
mitted to separate before reaching their
verdict of guilty.

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Ruth and Reggie Zimmerman were shoved in this closet and shot while their baby slept nearby. Left,

Kenny Keiningham, manager of Surplus City; right, Reggie Zimmerman,

officer asked. “You'll have to tell me.”

Faintly, the wounded man whispered,
“Where's Ruth? Is she all right?”

“She's all right,” the patrolman an-
swered. “But what happened?”

Again and again Reggie Zimmerman
asked about his wife. Between his ques-
tions, in barely audible gasps, he man-
aged to give Officer Blackburn a sparse
account of what had happened.

At 9:30 that night two men had burst
into their apartment. With a gun, one
of them had forced Zimmerman down-
stairs into the store to open the safe;
the bandit had emptied it. Upstairs.
again, both Zimmerman and his wife
had. been bound hand and foot and
placed in a bedroom closet, with ‘the
sliding door closed on them.

A moment later, while Reggie was
straining at his bonds, the’sliding door
opened. One of the bandits stood there,
his gun in his hands.

HE HAD fired, at point-blank range
Again and again and again. Reggie
had felt the blow of a bullet entering his
right side, then another, then the sting-
ing, numbing pain of the wound,

He had felt, rather than seen, the
bandit leave. Somehow he managed to

free his ankles but, losing blood rap-

idly, weak from shock and loss of blood,
he could not loosen the cord around
his wrist; he could not help his wife,
who had slumped to the floor of the
closet. All he could do was go for help,
and he had managed to stagger the few
hundred yards to Blackburn’s home be-
fore he had collapsed.

The ambulance came soon, and before
they took Reggie Zimmerman to the
hospital, he provided a vague. descrip-
tion of the two men. They’d been about
30 years old, not very tall, both dark and

‘enough for any classification.

sroeky; wearing dark trousers and jack-
ets. :

“Had you ever seen them before, Reg-
gie?” Blackburn asked him.

The wounded man shook his head.

“Then why did they shoot you?”

Zimmerman closed his eyes, and his
face contorted with pain. Then he
opened his eyes again as if he’d awak-
ened from a short sleep.

“Where’s Ruth?” he demanded.
“Where is she? Is she all right?”

Officers soon were swarming over Sur-
plus City—Night Police Chief Pete Ful-

ler, Detective Lieutenant Cleo Stout,.

Detectives R. A. Davis and Johnny West
and Alfred Hennesee, head of the iden-
tification bureau. They found the door
of the safe standing open in the store,
and from Kenneth Keiningham, the
owner, they learned that between $300
and $500 in cash was missing.

Upstairs they picked up half a dozen
cartridges from a .25 automatic and
two slugs that had ripped into the closet
wall. The strips of cloth had been torn
from a diaper; the cord used on both
Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman’s wrists had
been cut from their own Venetian blinds.
On the bureau was Ruth’s handbag, un-
opened, several dollars still in it.
The rough gravel of the parking lot
showed no tire tracks. Hennesee found
fingerprints in several places but not

And that was all.

‘T don’t figure: it,” Lieutenant Stou
said. “They must be someone the Zim-
‘mermans might recognize; otherwise,
why would they shoot?”

“Zimmerman says he never saw them
before,” Chief Fuller put in.

Patrolman Blackburn said, “The poor
guy hardly knows what he is saying.
Maybe if he recovers_——””

recovering in the hospital

Detective West already had been sent
to the hospital on the chance Zimmer-
man might become more lucid. But
meanwhile, the officers knew, they
couldn’t afford to wait. Somehow they
had to find a trace of these killers and
round them up.

“They must have had a car,” Stout

‘pointed out. “And they probably cased

this place before they hit it. Somebody
might have seen them,”

A NUMBER of gas stations and cafes
were nearby, and the officers de-
cided to begin by asking the employes if
anybody had seen the two men in the
area.

And at the third gas station the at-
tendant told Davis, “Yeah, sure, I seen
them. tonight. They stopped here for
gas.”

Ai “What kind of a car?” asked Davis.

“A beat-up old forty-one Chevy that
stalled on them—a black sedan with
Oklahoma plates. They said they were
going to take it back to the dealer in
Tulsa who sold it to them.”

Davis and Stout rushed to the phone.

“We might be able to get a line on
them through that used car if. they
just bought it,” Davis told Chief Fuller.
“I don’t imagine many dealers in Tulsa
have sold an old crate like that one re-
cently.” \

Fuller advised the detectives that the
hospital report was in. Ruth Zimmer-
man had been struck by two bullets
that lodged near her heart. She had
died within five minutes of being hit,
Reggie had two slugs in his right side,
but no vital organ had been injured.

The police now had a description of
the car as well as the men in it. Road
blocks were thrown up on all highways
leading from Lawton, and city officers

patroled the streets looking for the an-
cient automobile. But the night went by
with no sign of it.

The next morning, when Stout and
Davis reported for duty, they learned
that Reggie Zimmerman was considered
out of danger but still was not allowed
to talk to anyone. He had not yet been
told that his wife was dead.

Officers who were searching the city
had found no trace of the men or their
old car. They did locate three 1941
Chevrolets, but the owners could not
have been involved in the crime. One
was an 80-year-old Indian, another a
blond high-school boy who accounted
for his whereabouts and that of his car
the previous evening. The third car
would not run at all and had been
parked for several months.

Then, early in the afternoon, Tulsa
Police found a dealer who had sold such
a Chevrolet. The buyer had been a
young man named Jose Manuel. His ad-
dress turned out to be a rooming house,
and the landlady there told detectives
he had moved out March 30, when he
was laid off from his job in a local pack-
ing house. He had told her he was going
back to his home in Kansas City, Kan-
sas, but left no forwarding address.

Detective Captain Otis Waldron shot :
a wire to police in Kansas City. Three
hours later a Kansas City detective
called back, Through the records of the
packing-house union Manuel belonged
to, they had found a trace of him. He
was not in Kansas City, but the records
showed his next of kin was a sister
living in Lawton.

Within five minutes Waldron, Stout
and Davis were on their way to the ad-
dress, which is only a few blocks from
headquarters. A young woman answered
their knock. Yes, she was Jose Manuel’s

_ A dying wife, a baby in danger—yet he couldn't move

he actual
been sen-

executed
.. for the
. Leggett,
ingulation
. boy on
His exe-
ils to the
the U.S.
to hear
Governor
tion, Leg-
S. Circuit
chief Jus-
o justices
val appeal
1 into

1 stay
wvasted

s For Me

rut Ridge,
ear prison
of a Wa-
> for the
ie holdup,
ickford. A
ian found
it to the
s 23-year-
‘eived two
the same
it to death
nes. John
wn to kill
aid of his
: “T asked

:d,” James °

old. (Case
une FRONT

- has been
_it. without
slaying of
‘he child’s
_ in Ervin’s
scribed by
ble to con-
stified that

“|e commit-

rgive (Oc-

tive Who’s
¥ GE, 1960)
f cheating
of more
along
3irrell,
cgou' With
take over
1953, and
f high in-
white, the

state contends, by continual transferring
of its funds to other Birrell enterprises.
The former president of Equitable was

the first to surrender of the even dozen ,

indicted. Birrell, to date, is still living it

up in, Brazil, which has no. extradition _

treaty. with the U.S. “

Lorraine Clark, given 2 life sentence in}

the mate-swapping murder that rocked
Amesbury, Mass., six years ago (Hey,
Honey, I Drew Your Key, October FRON'
PAGE, 1954), has petitioned for shortenin;
of her sentence. The factor that made
her petition garner headlines was that the.
parents of her murdered husband joined
her in petitioning the governor. Serving

Petitions for shorter term

her life sentence at the Woman’s Reform-
atory at Framingham, Mass., some offi-

cials feel, has not been too severe a pun- .

ishment. Two years ago, a Massachusetts

state senator charged that she had bene-
- fited ‘from extreme favoritism at. the

reformatory. He said that she had been
allowed to go on Sunday drives with her

family, had been given a set of master ~

keys to the jail, had been allowed to eat
with the prison staff rather than with
other inmates and had wielded such. in-
fluence in the administration. of the re-
formatory that she could belittle guards
in front of important: visitors. She is now
seeking commutation of her life sentence
because otherwise she must serve 15
years before being paroled. If she. is
granted this commutation, she would be
eligible for parole immediately. She had
been charged with murdering. her husband
after falling in love with another man,

who was also a participant in her. set’s
social practice of swapping-house |keys—
and wives—as the fillip to their parties.

James Spence has been ‘executed for the
murder of 19-year-old Mrs, Ruth Zimmer-.
man, during the commission of.a burglary,
and his brother-in-law Eddie Oxendine, who
did not do the actual shooting, faced: the
same punishment ...,..if clemency was
not granted in ‘the form of a reduction of
his death, sentence to life imprisonment.
Spence showed no. emotion as. he was
strapped into the McAlester, Okla.,' elec-’
tric chair. “I’m guilty of the crime,” he’d
said earlier in the day,.“and we have to
live by man-made ‘laws or pay.” He was
“bitter at no one” save himself, he added.

His victim and her husband lived above
- the surplus store they managed in‘ Law-

"ton, Okla.’ They’d been bound ‘and’ tossed

in a closet, then shot. Zimmerman. sur-
‘yived (My God, He’s Emptied The Whole
Clip, July. FRONT PAGE, 1958). Two years

ago, when the,two gunmen were apprehend--

ed, Oxendine was quoted as. saying, “Where

and seeing that they were’ both dead. If
we had, -we would: have.still been loose.”
That may ‘or may not’ be the case, but at
least Oxendine wouldn’t have had the gov-
-ernor being swayed by. a vehement. ad-
“vocate of his.execution if Zimmerman had
_- died instead of surviving the spray. of bul-
Jets: following ‘a recommendation of the
. pardon and parole boards that Oxendine’s
sentence be reduced to : life, Governor

~Howard Edmondson was told by the sur-

: viving Zimmerman, ‘He’ deserves to die!”
Later’ the young widower told newsmen,
-“T asked him (the governor) and begged
him not to’sign an order commuting the
_~gentence. They. were the coldest-blooded
- murderers,” After his interview with Zim-
merman, the governor stated he wished to
study further into the facts of the case
before following the recommendation .of
the board .that had: advocated. leniency.
The board’s recommendation, incidentally,
was partially the result of the statements
‘made to it by Spence shortly before
Spence’s execution that he, Spence, had
been the triggerman, not Oxendine, and
that “Eddie was broke. paid all the bills
for him and I think that whatever I said
he would ‘agree to. whether or not he
thought it was right.” At the time of the
killing. Oxendine and Spence were “work-
ing” their way west from Oklahoma to
California. /

Spence’s humanitarian ‘role as a medical

inea pig during the last days of his life
was distlosed. .;. . and. that. the role he
played in testing a new drug may have
been directly instrumental in saving a
woman’s life. Spence, awaiting death, was
approached with an. offer of $250 to be
the guinea pig in 2 drug investigation pro-
gram that is in its sixth year at the prison.

The doomed. man agreed because, he told

the warden, he wanted-to see his wife be-

_ fore he died and he had no. funds to bring

cher to McAlester from. North Carolina.

The doctors proceeded with the test, and

it had just proved successful when a

» McAlester woman’ was’ stricken . with a

rare malady. The drug, able to be used as

a result of the successful test on‘ Spence,
saved her life... aa ‘

we made our bad mistake was not staying .-

Tt was after his execution that James’

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ROBISON, Olin R., white, LI OK (Stephens) March 13, 1992.

by BRAD COCHRAN

RIDAY, June 13, 1980, already
was a sweltering hot day in
south central Oklahoma, even
though it was only 7:30 a.m. The manon
a mission was sweating as he got out of
his pickup and strode to the yellow
frame house located on State Highway 7
about three miles east of Velma, Okla.

Velma is on a line due south of Ok-

lahoma City.

The early caller’s mission was to find
out why his brother, Bob Swinford,
hadn’t reported for work on his job with
a sand blasting company in Velma.
Now, the brother rapped impatiently on
the front door, but received no answer.
He tried the door and found it was un-
locked.

He pushed open the door and entered,
calling his brother’s name, and walked
into a scene of carnage straight out of a
nightmare. The interior of the house
looked like it had been tossed by an Ok-
lahoma tornado. Drawers were pulled
out and their contents scattered all over
the floor. :

But the discoveries that shocked the
brother nearly out of his senses were in
two bedrooms. He first saw the body of a
woman on the floor in one bedroom, her
hair matted with blood.

Next, he looked jnto the bedroom he
knew that his brother, Robert Swinford,
occupied, and saw another tableau of
horror there. The nude body of Swinford
was sprawled face down on the bedroom
floor. The stunned brother could see
what looked like a bullet wound in one

‘

shoulder. The body of a woman who the
brother recognized as Averil. Joan

Bourque was on the bed toward the foot, .

partially propped against the wall in a
sitting position,

There was blood everywhere—on the
bodies, on the bed, on the floor. The
brother could see immediately that
Swinford, Averil Bourque and the
woman in the other bedroom were obvi-
ously dead. \

A television set that, was blaring in
the living room added a bizarre note to
the grisly scene. No one was watching or
listening as the TV voices chattere
away in the house of-death.

The distraught brother dashed next
door to a radio communications shop,

-where he asked the employes to call the

authorities. ,

Police Chief Dennis Rue of Velma was
the first officer to arrive at the house.
He was met by the white-faced brother,
who told him excitedly, “He’s in the
house! It’s in a mess!” The police chief

hurried inside. After a quick look at the,

bloody scene, he radioed his dispatcher
to call the Stephens County Sheriffs
Department. Within a short time, Chief
Rue was joined by sheriffs officers
under the direction of Sheriff Bill Ale-
xander. The sheriff, after viewing the
bodies, placed a call for assistance trom
the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investi-
gation. That agency dispatched a
mobile crime lab and crime scene tech-
nicians from Oklahoma City to process

_the rural home.for possible evidence.

The county and state investigators
saw that the door of the bedroom in
which the bodies of Swinford and Averil

Bourque had been found had been.

smashed or kicked inward. Both victims
appeared to have been shot several
times. No wounds were immediately
visible on the body ofthe woman in the

other bedroom, but the blood that had °

matted her hair indicated to the officers
that she probably had been shot in the
head.

A call was placed to the medical
examiner’s office in Oklahoma City, re-
questing that the medical examiner
come to the farm house near Velma to

“examine the three bodies before they

were moved.

No weapon was found in the house,
and the officers quickly ruled out the
possibility of murder-suicide in the tri-
ple shootings.

From preliminary examinations of
the bodies and expended shells found at
the scene, it appeared as if two different
weapons had been used in the killings.
Officers recovered two discharged .380
caliber shells from the room where the
two bodies were found, but the size of
the wounds in Averil Bourque’s body
indicated that a smaller caliber gun
might have fired the shots.

From Swinford’s brother and from
identification cards and papers in the
house, the investigators identified the
woman in the other bedroom as Julie
Sheila Lovejoy, 38, of London, England.
Averil Joan Bourque, 42, was from
South Wales, and Robert Leon Swin-
ford, 41, had lived in the Oklahoma area
fora number of years. °

Averil Bourque reported had been
Swinford’s fiancee, investigators
learned. Julie Joyejoy had been a friend
of Averil Bourque, and had come to Ok-
lahoma to join her friend, who had jour-

At the outset, stunned investigators —

could be certain of only one thing—the

KILLER LEFT
3 DEAD IN THE

OKLAHOM

36 True: Detective

Fi s
f ks
ij /. A is

aeeeemamen

orbs

Police and i
Bourque, 4:

oe yt

\ neyed to the Sc

months earlier to
sister.
The two Britis!

_ whom Averil Bou

arrival in Okla}
house near Velr
prior to their vio
had been well re:
were well-liked ;
ity.

Several theori
dered regarding :
slaying, includin;
xander told repor
scene.

As the investis
sheriff and OSBI.

‘ case would be b

from all over the
large number fro:
murders of the tv
their American
create a sensatio:
The OSBI lab te
working with the
photographs, mac
crime scene draw
for possible finge
for other clues th:
the hours passed o
the 13th. After t
had examined the
moved from the hx
bulance to Oklah
topsies would be |
OSBI Agent
newsmen that the
point were trying
events that cul
bullet-riddled bod
“How the bodies

TRUE DETECTIVE,

October, 1981

, down an appeal by an inmate on death

Justices Reject Plea

By LINDA GREENHOUSE
~~” Special to The New York Times :

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 — When the

on the victim’s family, the Court did
the defense also introduce evidence of

family if those might help avoid the
death penalty? — .

If there is another side to the coin of
such evidence,. called victim-impact
statements, the Court indicated today
that it is not interested in examining it.
Without comment, the Justices turned

row in Oklahoma who sought the right
to present evidence that his victim’s

The inmate, Olan Robison, was con-

co-defendants received life sentences.
He was sentenced to death, after the

tion to prevent.a sister of one of the

derer should be. permitted to live.

According to’ Mr.: Robison’s appeal,

‘the and the sister had known each other
before the murder, and she would have
testified that he was ‘‘a unique human
being who should not be executed.”

To Permit Evidence |
Favoring Defendant|

Supreme Court; ruled last June that]
prosecutors in murder cases could ar- |,
gue for the death penalty by introduc-/
ing evidence of the effect of the murder |
not address a corollary question: Can}:

the thoughts and feelings of a victim’s}, .

family did not want him to be executed. }

| victed of a 1980 triple murder. His two},

victims ‘from testifying that the mur-|

oe ae rs

trial judge granted a prosecution mo-| —

Waiting for Justices - )

Mr. Robison had lost earlier state
and Federal court appeals of his con-

United States Court of Appeals for the
10th’ Circuit, in Denver, also ruled}:
against him. But the appeals court de-
layed issuing the opinion to ‘await the
Supreme Court’s decision in the case,
Payne v. Tennessee, which was then}.
scheduled for decision. ._.,

‘After the Supreme Court issued its
decision, the appeals court said that the
ability of prosecutors to use such evi-
dence from. victims: gave no. corre-
sponding right to defendants. ‘The de-
sire of the victim’s:relative in;no way
constitutes’ relevant evidence ‘because

In his Supreme, Court appeal, Robi-
son v. Maynard, No. 91-5897, the inmate

the death penalty, he afgued; but a
jury should not impose retribution that
| the victim’s family does not seek. |

fice urged the Court not to hear the

criminal law exists on behalf of society
as embodied in the state, not on behalf

of the victim’s family,” the state said.

. 7

viction and sentence. Last April, the |”

it does not relate'to the harm caused by |,
-|the defendant,” the appeals court said. |,

argued that the, desire of a’ murder |’
-\victim’s family to spare the ;»murder-

er’s life should be considered:relevant.
| Retribution is: one of the rationales for

The Oklahoma attorney general’s of-|

appeal. ‘‘The retributive function of the |.

—T TI :

{ '
|

_ )

9, 1991 pF

THE NEW-YORK TIMES NATIONAL TvEsDay, NOVEMBER 1

of-his shoulder, the way he was turned it blocked that
part of the face off. He had a slender face.

Q. All right. Do you remember how you described the
passenger at the-hypnosis session?

A. ~- Yes. The same way I've described him to you here.
Defense objections to the testimony of Ms. Henderson were
overruled, and testimony was resumed before the jury. In the
course of direct examination, Ms. Henderson described the
passenger in the car in the same way she had earlier in her voir
dire. She then identified Petitioner as that passenger. Cross-—
examination on her identification took this course:

Q. Can you tell this jury, Miss Henderson, with all

certainty that you can muster that Olan Randle Robison

is the guy you saw in that car on the night of June the

12th?

A. At this time there is no doubt in my mind.

Q. All right. Do you recall me asking you that
question at Preliminary Hearing about whether you can
say for (sic) positive that--

A. Yes, I do.

° Do you remember the answer that you gave?

A. Yes, I do.

on And what did you say?

A. I said that -- well, I'm not for (sic) sure of the
exact words I used, I said that he resembled him, but I
wasn't for (Sic) positive, and the reason I said that
was because I had a question about the beard.

Q. And what question did you have about the beard?

A. Because I couldn't figure out why if I could tell
there was a mustache, why I couldn't tell there was a
beard, since it would be so noticeable, but now I know
why.

-13-

Q. Do you know the person -- but you still don't know
whether that person had a beard or not do you?

A. No, because you couldn't see that part of his face.
It was covered by his shoulder.

As we now perceive this record, Ms. Henderson's testimony was
confusing, but not confused. In her mind, she recalled the person
she saw in the passenger seat of the vehicle, and she was hesitant
only about whether he was bearded. When she realized the person's
shoulder hid his entire face from view, she understood and
resolved the cause of her perplexity. We find nothing in the
record indicating that Ms. Henderson's resolution was a
consequence of hypnosis or that her identification of the
Petitioner was the product of the hypnotic session.

Nonetheless, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals decided
as a matter of state law that the admission of her testimony was
erroneous, holding that statements made under hypnosis are
inadmissible when offered as the truth. Robison, 677 P.2d at
1085. Yet, viewing the entirety of the evidence, the court
concluded the admission of Ms. Henderson's in-court testimony was
harmless. With that conclusion we agree beyond a_ reasonable

doubt, Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18 (1967); Wiley v. Rayl,

767 F.2d 679 (10th Cir. 1985).

If one considers the direct and inferential evidence of
Petitioner's guilt, one must conclude that at best the testimony
of Ms. Henderson was cumulative. Indeed, her identification even
pales in contrast with Petitioner's incriminating admissions to
his friends detailing the crime and his participation. Those
admissions, together with his appearance in Ms. Briscoe's home in

-14-

-- Terry Henderson was. hypnotized to aid _in her recall of
precisely what she observed as she drove. past the victims' house
on the night of the murder. At.trial,. Ms. Henderson was examined
by both sides about the hypnotic session, and the jury was given
the opportunity to assess her credibility as a consequence.
Nonetheless, on appeal, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals
determined that her in-court identification of Petitioner was
inadmissible, but due to the overwhelming evidence against him,
the court concluded the error was not grave enough to require

reversal. Robison v. State, 677 P.2d 1080 (Okla. Cr. 1984).

Petitioner contests this result, claiming that Ms. Henderson was
the only eyewitness who placed him at the scene of the murder;
hence, her testimony could not be considered harmless.

To properly understand this issue, one must put Ms.
Henderson's testimony in context. Petitioner suggests in his
brief that Ms. Henderson was unable to identify him until she was
hypnotized. The record indicates otherwise.

Before Ms. Henderson made any in-court identifications,
defense counsel asked for a bench conference. That conference was
not reported, but because the trial judge immediately convened a
chambers hearing at which defense counsel conducted voir dire of
Ms. Henderson, we must assume Petitioner's trial counsel
anticipated and objected to the identification.

During the ensuing examination, Ms. Henderson related that
she had contacted the sheriff's office and reported she had seen a
vehicle emerging from the driveway of the victims' home. During

an interrogation which followed, she described "the kind of car it

-li-

was" and its “actions" in the driveway. She added, "also I told
them that I had a brief glance of the man on the passenger side."
When asked why she was placed under hypnosis, she stated, "Well,
-they just said they might -- that I might-could (sic) remember a
few details about possibly the vehicle and such that I had. seen
that night."

Ms. Henderson also stated that she could remember what she
was asked under hypnosis, and she recalled, "They told me most --
most of the things they said was to tell what you saw and then
they asked me some brief questions about the vehicle and such, but
mostly it was telling what I seen, the actions and the car I had
seen."’ Then the following occurred:

Q. While under hypnosis do you recall what description
of any individuals you gave?

A. Yes. I -- the same description that I've had all
along was that he was dark hair, mustache. Possibly a
beard. I didn't know at the time whether he had a
beard.

Q. Miss Henderson, it's very important that you try to
recall whether or not you -- how you described the
individuals in this vehicle ... ?

A. Well, as I say (sic) before, I cannot describe the
driver because it was dark that night, and my lights did
not catch the driver but I did see the view of the man
on the passenger side of the car and he had shoulder --

a little bit around the shoulder length hair, dark,
brushed back from the face, and mustache and sideburns,
some sideburns and I'm not for (sic) sure about’ the
beard. And the reason I'm not for (sic) sure is because

7Petitioner suggests this answer indicates the possibility
officers prompted Ms. Henderson's’ recall. We do not agree.
Taking the statement in context, we conclude it was an
inarticulate reference to instructions given by the interrogator
to recall her observations.

-12-

It is personal between Randle Robison and those three
dead people, and I speak for those three dead people
right now because there is nobody else to speak for
them, and I want you to remember their names. When you
go into that jury room, and if you can vote not for the
death penalty, then I want you to remember the names of
those three people because there is [sic] three lives to
weigh against one, and there is not just three lives,
its the way their were taken. (Tr. 1218)

The last thing I will say to you in this trial, because

this case is yours right now, the last thing I'll say to

you in this trial are the names of those three people.

This is not my case. It's not the case of the police

officers who worked so hard in it. Robert Leon

Swinford, Sheila Julie Lovejoy, and Averil Borque.

Thank you your Honor. (Tr. 1219)

Under these circumstances -- rare in the sequence of
litigation -- where the Oklahoma court had granted other
defendants relief from the same kind of conduct by the same
district attorney, we must inquire why appellate counsel chose not
to raise the issue of prosecutorial misconduct. Even though trial
counsel did not object to that conduct, similar behavior was
regarded as plain error by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.
Tobler, 688 P.2d at 353. Indeed, it is almost inconceivable to
assume an appellate court's willingness to stand upon a
mechanistic application of a procedural rule to thwart
consideration of a legitimate appellate issue in a death penalty

case. Without an answer to our inquiry, we deem it impossible to

perform an adequate Strickland test.

At this juncture, it is important to interject consideration
of the issue of procedural bypass. We originally have noted our
conclusion that Respondents have not preserved the issue for this
case by failure to appeal the district court's adverse ruling.

Nonetheless, we would simply note here even were the defense

-27-

Properly before us, we would maintain our concern over the issue
of appellate counsel's representation based on the present record.
Because an exegesis on the subject is presently unnecessary, we
Simply state that it is our belief that Petitioner has met the

cause and actual prejudice test established in Wainwright v.

Sykes, 433 U.S. 72 (1977), and reiterated in Reed v. Ross, 468

U.S. 1 (1984). The allegation of inadequacy meets the cause test,
and the facial probability of a reversal meets the actual
prejudice test with, at least, a degree of sufficiency to mandate

further inquiry in the context of this case. Compare Andrews v.

Shulsen, 802 F.2d 1256 (10th Cir. 1986).

Because of our concern, we believe the federal district court
should have made a factual inquiry into the reasons behind
appellate counsel's failure to raise what might be viewed a
forgone ground upon which a new trial could have been obtained.
At the same time, we have examined the remaining issues raised by
the Petitioner and conclude they were properly decided by the
district court for the reasons expressed in its opinion.

The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED IN ‘PART and
REVERSED IN PART and REMANDED for the purpose of conducting an
evidentiary hearing into the reasons why Petitioner's’ state
appellate counsel did not raise the issue of prosecutorial
misconduct in the state appeal and for further determination of

the issue of adequate representation in light of the evidence

produced. In addition, the district court shall enter a
declaratory judgment that the death sentence on the count relating

to Ms. Bourque is invalid and unenforceable. Cf. Chaney v. Brown,

730 F.2d 1334, 1358 (10th Cir. 1984).

-28-

87th Year—No. 120

TULSA WORLD

Final Edition

Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tuesday, January 14, 1992

35 Cents

High Court Rejects Plea by State Death Row Inmate

By Jim Myers
World Washington Bureau

“WASHINGTON — The USS.
Supreme Court Monday denied
a request for a rehearing on
Oklahoma death row inmate
Olan Randle Robison’s appeal,
apparently removing the last
obstacle to the state’s setting
an execution date for him.

The execution date for Robi-
son, 43, could be set in late

March or early April.

If so, the state would have al-
most back-to-back executions.

Robyn Leroy Parks is sched-
uled to die March 10.

In 1981, Robison was convicted
and sentenced to die for the shoot-
ing deaths of Averil Joan Bour-
que, 42, Julie Sheila Lovejoy, 38,
and Robert Leon Swinford, 41,
during a robbery of a Stephens
County farmhouse in 1980.

In mid-November, the Supreme
Court ended a decade-long ap-
peals process for Robison when it
refused to hear his appeal in

which his attorney argued Robi-
son had been wronged because
members of at least one of his
victim’s families were barred
from testifying at his trial that
they did not want the death penal-
ty imposed.

State officials could not techni-
cally set a new execution date
until the court ruled on the rou-
tine rehearing request.

Following Monday's court ac-
tion, Gerald Adams, spokesman
for Oklahoma Attorney General
Susan Loving, said the state will
join with the Stephens County dis-
trict attorney and ask for an exe-

cution date to be scheduled within
60 days. Adams did not believe a
separate appeal filed by Robi-
son’s attorney for post-conviction
relief would result in another
delay. :

Loving and other state officials
have been preparing for weeks
for the pussibility of back-to-back
executions for Parks and Robi-
son. Attorneys for Parks and Ro-
bison are expected to seek last-
minute delays, but state officials
believe it is possible the two exe-
cutions could take place in the
next two months.

If that proves true, Parks and

Robison could become the second
and third men put to death in
Oklahoma by lethal injection
Since the death penalty was rein-
stated in the state in 1976.

The first was Charles Troy
Colernan, who was executed in
September 1990.

In other actions, the Supreme
Court also refused to hear appeals
filed by two other death row in-
mates from Oklahoma, both from
the Tulsa area.

The appeal] by Anthony Banks,
sentenced in 1981 to die for the
1978 slaying of Tulsa convenience
clerk David Fremin, focused on

the trial judge’s failure to instruct .

the jury on sentencing for a lesser
offense.

filed by Derrell
ceived the death k pone in 1987
for the beating and stabbing death

of Janie Powell at her home near

Sapulpa earlier that year.

Thomas based his appeal on
hearsay testimony that was deli-
vered in court before being ruled
out of order by the judge.

Neither Thomas nor Banks is
near the end of their appeals pro-
cess.

1°) TO

o-
ree

y tae |

(©uau

2661 /AL/<

~
,

Tr ve

Ot =o

-|he and the sister had known each other

TT”

Justices Reject Plea
To Permit Evidence

By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Special to The New York Times /

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 — When the

ing evidence of the effect of the murder
on the victim’s family, the Court did
not address a corollary question: Can
the defense also introduce evidence of

the thoughts and feelings of a victim’s |.

family if those might help avoid the
death penalty?

If there is another side to the coin of
such evidence, called victim-impact
statements, the Court indicated today
that it is not interested in examining it.
Without comment, the Justices turned
down an appeal by an inmate on death
row in Oklahoma who sought the right
to present evidence that his victim’s
family did not want him to be executed.

The inmate, Olan Robison, was con-

‘! victed of a 1980 triple murder. His two}.

co-defendants received life sentences.
He was sentenced to death, after the
trial judge granted a prosecution mo-
tion to prevent a sister of one of the

victims from testifying that the mur-|

derer should be permitted to live.

According to Mr. Robison’s appeal,

before the murder, and she would have
testified that he was ‘‘a unique human
being who should not be executed.”’

Favoring Defendant|

Supreme Court ruled last June that}
prosecutors in murder cases could ar-|
gue for the death penalty by introduc-}

oe ae

‘ler’s life should be considered relevant.
|} Retribution is one of the rationales for

ata Ce Unt in
pele Fobisom's

(i kel, .

Waiting for Justices

Mr. Robison had lost earlier state
and Federal court appeals of his con-
viction and sentence. Last April, the
United States Court of Appeals for the
10th Circuit, in Denver, also ruled}-
against him. But the appeals court de-
layed issuing the opinion to await the
Supreme Court’s decision in the case,
Payne v. Tennessee, which was then}.
scheduled for decision.

“After the Supreme Court issued its
decision, the appeals court said that the
ability of prosecutors to use such evi-
dence from victims gave no corre-
sponding right to defendants. ‘The de-
sire of the Victim’s relative in no way
constitutes relevant evidence because
it does not relate to the harm caused by |,

In his Supreme Court appeal, Robi-
son v. Maynard, No. 91-5897, the inmate

victim’s family to spare the murder-

the death penalty, he argued; but a
jury should not impose retribution that
the victim’s family does not seek.

The Oklahoma attorney general’s of-*

fice urged the Court not to hear the

criminal law exists on behalf of society
as embodied in the state, not on behalf

of the victim’s family,” the state said.

—- -

the defendant,”’ the appeals court said. |,

argued that the desire of a murder |

appeal. ‘‘The retributive function of the |.

, 1991 eh

THE NEW- YORK TIMES NATIONAL TUVESDay, NOVEMBER 19

JO as C1rce pe

De VM Ca
Ae ast

lan Men a alz, 2

Da vial

z “4
aoe et RY oe et
Oz HW qo OU ae
Rue e RS att
RP Ree eS Hite
Eat oF o erat
yn & me Qn = oy 502
; ~ fe = oy n = see
oor en cts
a Ae - = ae
~~ ce A yf28
pp & Ze Ame Fiz
m= hd Aok
i =
-

(SINISTER MOTIVE FOR THIS

THE BRUTAL KILLER
who savagely stab-
bed ROY GENTRY
fourteen times after
having shot him.

she sobbed, “answer me. How badly
are you hurt?”

There was no answer. She felt for
the man’s pulse, his heartbeat. There
was not the faintest throb and on her
hand she felt the warm wetness of his

shirt front. She moaned in terror,
“Roy, what shall I do?”
Presently she arose and went back to

kup a quilt.” She'spread |.
the. silent figure ‘on the -__
ee cesta found a coat...

A recent picture
of MRS. GENTRY
and her children
who were made
fatherless by
the tragedy. Roy
Gentry did not
live to see his son.

Her husband still lay on the floor, his motionless
form covered by the quilt. As Savage entered a
neighbor glanced up at him and said, grimly,
“He’s dead, Sheriff.”

The officer knelt beside the figure and an
exclamation of horror escaped him. Across
Gentry’s forehead was an ugly, gaping wound.
Two more deep slashes ran diagonally across his
chest, and there was a frightful wound in the side
of his head. Further examination showed that
he had been slashed several times across the

eee

ta om b RETR ALS

SHERIFF H. A.
SAVAGE: "The
viciousness of the
attack makes it
look more like a
grudge than a
murder where a
prowler was sur-
prised and had to
fight his way out.”

Darkness helped hi

de the shadowy figure of the killer as he

trudged down these railroad tracks toward his victim's home.

my
, a

66h t.

eee hs ve 8 ee

If present expeeuitions mater:
“tine Whrtat farmers will harvest
qe Jargest crop this year since
1031. 1f prices are maintained, as}
agriculture officials predict, the |
value of the crop probably will
exceed — $1,000,000,000 for the first
time since 1927. |
The hoard foreeast a peach crop
of 55,100,000 bushels and a pear
crop of 31,508,000 bushels. Condi-
tion of peaches on June 1 was 65.7
per cent and pears 68.8 per cent
of normal.

The June 1 condition of other)
crops. was reported as follows:
oats, §2.3; barley 719.7; hay, all, |

nay, all tame, 78.4; hay, wild ;

all clover and timothy,

- hay, alfalfa 79.2: and apples
“per cent of normal,

ii reported 21,353,008 busnels ae

riley stocks June 1, 1937, com-

dg with 64,369,000 on June 1

lust year and 4,595,000 bushels of

rye on furms, compared with 15,-

y20,000 bushels @ year ugo.

Shidler Doctor
~ Must Face Trial
In Operation Case}

PAWHUSKA, Okla, June 10.—-
(UP) Pesce Justice H. H. Spick-
elinier ‘Tharsday ordered De, W. R.
Mitchell, Shidler physicrain eharg-

“ed with pertorming a fatal illegal

Operativl of Georgia MeGill, Wy-
nona, in 1935, pound. over for trial
in) district court,

Mitchell is at liberty on $7,500)
bond, ’

Rites Thursday
For City Woman)

Funeral ser -s were held at
Oey pom. Thurs ay at the
Funeral heme for Mrs. , Ida
liimson, Well known Lawton resi-

t and former civil service em |i

toye, who died at her home,
Bel} avenne, at 5

The services, conducted by
Oren Cy Weld, pastor of the fir
Jsaptiot church, were well attended
and the floral offerings were benu-

tiful. |
|
\
|

Funeral selections were sung by
@ quartet composed of Mrs. G EB.
Meyer, Mrs. oO, C. Reid, Charles |
King and Rev. Reid

—

of the slain deputy, were Finis
faced as they watched the two
youths die.

“They got what they deserved,”
the bureau operative said.

Another witness was District Syed Go to New Mexico |

Judge Henry Hoel, Stillwater, who
conducted the Sands and Siler
murder trial at Lawton, and in
conformance with a jury verdict,

; sentenced them to die.

Slain After Robbery

Wilson was slain after robbery
of the Elgin State bank on May
25, 1935.

Both bodies were claimed by the
youths’ mothers, Mrs. Maudie Si-
ler of Seminole and Mrs. Lizzie
Hopkins of San Antonio, Tex.

Siler will be buried at Seminole,
and Sands at his home at Ana-
darko, Okla.

Turns Down 2,00 Requests

“Warden Jess Dunn, who refused
to permit Sands to marry the Her-
ring girl, turned down 2,000 re-
quests for passess to witness the
double execution, he said. |

Prison’ officials were keeping &
‘close watch over the two girly to
prevent any suicide attempts.

Father Refuses to Visit

Scott Sands, Shawnee, father of
Charlie, and Siler’s father at Sem-
inole did not visit their condemned
sons, prison officials said.

The two youths were accompan-
ied into the death chamber by the
Rev. Father Joe Higgins, who con-
verted them into the Catholic faith,
and Rev. A. R. Garrett, the prison
chaplain.

State crime ‘bureau officials
sought to question Sands and Siler
and clear up the slaying of Night
Marshal George (Loper, Pauls Val-
ley, who was shot to death a week
before the Elgin robbery.

Deny Loper Killing

Both youths maintained they had
nothing to do with the Loper slay-
i but said they. were “going to

“thanks” to Warden Dunn, and &
curt “that’s all.”

Sands merely told the officials! <&
goodbye, and then sat into the! #

Five minutes before he put the &

men to death, Owen, the execution- | }

er, revealed that New Mexico au-;

thorities had asked him to come;

there in about a month and exe-! # :

cute Hollis Martin, Altus Okla.,: B

youth facing death’ in that state | 2 LIBBY’S FANCY FR
in the electric chair for killing his, @

aunt, uncle and cousin. | @ ar ) » ra
*{ told them I would be there,’ aren aac ee A
and unless they grant them com- | cane 2a 4
mutation, I will handle it,” Owen) & Lj arse: © pam
said. |

Both Sands and Siler walked to! <
the chair, about seven steps, with- :
assistance. Neither broke in the! CLOTH BAGS (Lim
Jeast despite listening to the angry)
hum of the generating plant which |
was started at 12:02 a. m. to pro-}
vide the current. '

Three Sisters Visit |

Giler was visited late ‘Thursday |
by three sisters, and @ brother. |
They were Ada Mae: Hughes, Sem-
inole; Leatha Henry, a

Mrs. Lillian Bronson, Seminole, and | .
Leo Siler, Seminole. \ Clabber Gi

Sands’ last visitors were his mo-

ther, his half-sister, Ruby May .
Hopkins, ‘San Antonio; and another | A scat J , } A
sister, Mrs, Frances Coffey, Okla-! J ak
jyhoma City; and a brother, Jim, of |

Meeker, officials said.

|
———— |
'

Barrel cactus is a native of mele 6)-02 C
dry areas of southwestern United | 4 .
ze

States, and, because it eannot de-|
pend upon ruinfall dor a regular) &
supply of moisture, It has learned |
to store up its own reserve supply. i
pai alae eles Se BEECH-NUT—12-0
Desert animals and birds, as well
as humans, often quench their
thirst by tapping barrel cactus, |
natural water barrels.

RICE

MAY BEIT PAYS TO BUY

HONE BAKERY f

|
a)

Learers were A. P, Galyon, HGH

rayne, G. W. Lowe
Oscar Pendleton a
Buriat was made in

cometel ith Rev, Reid in charge ‘|

of thes mrnittal service

No Evidence To
Warrant Hearing
In Taylor Case

Re June 10,.—CUP)
trormey Huron Fitts told
5 county prand jury

For Complete Satis-
faction Buy Our

Selected \

ORANGES...
POTATOES

LINES .....

FIRM HEAD

R QUALITY

a Ms pate trad hratrde y
ws Lg PLKA

ie ie a i i i

| Citisctne Gomeinl

So uno

struc

\, th

few

k the
min-

btru-
youth
e “cash-

The gang was ready to greet any
who approached the house with a
barrage from a battery of guns.

pulled felt hat, and the muzzle of a pis-
tol that gaped back at her over the edge
of the marble counter.

“Do as I tell you, sister, and you won't
get hurt. This is a holdup!”

The command rang cold and clear in
the single room, and it brotight the bank

a} president, W. B. Stephens, rushing from

-| where he had been working in the vault.

Leon Siler and his young bride, Phyllis, carved a career of crime
that was destined to end abruptly in an embattled farmhouse where
they and their companions were trapped by relentless forces of law.

333
ope

One bandit went down, throwing

riddled right leg and ¢
In an instant the kitchen was

eau before his eyes,

Startled at the tabl
ht to sound

he attempted to duck from sig
the alarm.

“Stay where you are,’
snarled off from the right.
use for you.”

Then Stephens saw
standing just inside the f
ring the entire scene wit

> a sudden voice
“We've got

the second bandit
ront door, cov-

e h a shotgun.

rying in pain as
filled with the mad roar 0

Iver, clutching his
s barked.
f gunfire.

away his revo
the officers’ gun

The bandit at the cage produced a
cloth sack and tossed it on the counter.

“Fill it,’ he snarled, “and make it
snappy.”
But Miss Ezell didn’t move. She

he position in which
ding when she first
fiendish face through

seemed frozen in t
she had been stan
looked up into the
the grill work.

ae Other pa
m the air ote

in the be ari,

droo

turned his
woman,
é
eo sister,
your boss
country, [Ff y-c:;
him, you won't :
See him coming
Transferring
he clutched Ste,
grip and shoved
Oor where the <
Shotgun in his ba
shield lest einen
thing wrong, the ; ‘
them outside t, i.
The bandit spat a curse and roe at th
bered over the top of the cage. Keep- b wo girls
ing the two covered with the revolver, ehind the
he grabbed up the sack and began stuff- b
ing it with money. °
He took all the coin st

cashier’s window, and scoo

1e curt}
occupk
Ww <j
The bende, -
' a climbed
acked about the own ts aan

IN northern (

ped clean thea minute later

drawers under the counter. Then he; ,
ughwa It dy
Y onto a rural]

ordered Stephens to precede him into,

the vault, where he forced the banker tom rward toward
open the box and cram close to $400 hey d Halfway bet,
the bag. Apparently satisfied, he shovehg Lae their h
Stephens rudely back into the cage, ant shaken

clam-

)

trom) h;

Teall
Rn

kill-crazy gun pair struck again!

; They had first startled Oklahoma.
officers by robbing Bob McCaleb of

t Holdenville and leaving him tied to a

ae tree near Seminole. On May 21, before

hd the heat of their first foray had: cooled,

j they had held up Tom Childreth and Lee

' McGlynn, Kansas court officers, near

guns and $119 in cash, and headed for.
the Texas border. ke

ficient opportunity to study thesfeatures

wore. They all agreed that the pair were
young, between 20: and 25, roughly
dressed in work trousers and felt hats,
that one was tall and slender and’ ap-

a ge

Radios ‘and telephones had hummed
j as their descriptions were spread to law
24, enforcement agencies throughout the
ad (ee State. The highways swarmed with po-
me lice, deputies and State -investigators
who cooperated in the. search for. the
bandits, But as days passed it had be-

a a :

aa (1 was also slender but of shorter stature.
t

all pursuers. : a

Officers had devoted themselves, to the
fo ae. routine task of identification. Hundreds
Bell: of photographs were examined by the
Same bi victims, but without success. The search

ee W they had actually fled. across the Red
i} River.
opinion that they were concealed.in the
close vicinity of their second foray, and
had ducked from sight before, officers
had got strung out. ae
This had been verified six nights later
when two youths in a small black Ford

sedan appeared at a service station in

purchased gasoline, and inquired about
the number of places which were still
open. Peel

REAL DETECTIVE,
January, 1943

OR THE FOURTH time in one week the .

' In both cases the victims had had suf- »

So '2 ie peared to be part Indian, while the other

come apparent that the pair had evaded

As they drove away, the station at-.

By GLENN SHIRLEY

“ment,

tendant “had noticed that the license
plates were coyered with rags, and had
immediately | summoned George Long-
acre of the Pauls Valley police depart-

The officer had approached the car in

front of a Main Street cafe and found

Davis. They had robbed them of their .

' of the bandits and the clothing they

himself looking into the gaping muzzles
of pistols in the hands of two youths who
fitted the descriptions of the pair sought

in the utwo~previous robberies. They, _

had forced him into the car, driyen him
into\a dark ‘alley, and deftly possessed

themselves of his gun, whistle and some

chang ene na es as Sc
Then they had demanded the where--
abouts® of the other» night _ policeman,

_ George Loper: When Longacre refused

to tell them, they had. held him hostage
and drove around the town until they

“sighted the officer walking about two

Both of them had looked “plenty tough.” -

had accosted them.

blocks south-of the cafe where Longacre

__ The bandits swung to the curb along-

side -Loper and. summoned him, to the »

‘car. Thinking it-was someone wanting
- information, “the “officer “ approached.

widened to Texas, with the belief that

But it became the eoncensus ‘of

Then: he ‘had seen the rag-covered li-”

cense plates and-Longacre sitting in the
seat. Too late, he had tried to withdraw,
reaching for-his gun. - es

_ The bandit in. the back seat pointed
his pistol and fired once: Loper. dropped

witha bullet under his heart.’ Franti-

cally meshed’ gears clashed, and the se-

dan roared out of town. On the high-°

way south of Pauls Valley, they had
dumped Longacre to the pavement and

sped on. 5

Loper was ‘dead when Longacre finally

_ reached him. Obviously the bandits had

planned to kidnap the two officers and

_ then stage’a series of raids on the 12

’ filling stations and restaurants still open

Pauls Valley shortly before midnight, !

at that time of night.

Longacre had spread the alarm.» Ok-
lahoma officers again had conducted a
widespread search, but too much time

~ had elapsed, and again the pair had made

comp

‘a r “ky

HIS FOURTH TIME they struck the |
Bank of. Elgin, It was a few min-
utes past noon of May 31: So unobtru-
sively did the tall, Indian-looking youth —
enter that Miss Evelyn Ezell, the cash-
ier, did not notice him until he paused
directly in front of the cage. The next
moment she turned as white as the paper
on which she had been writing, and her
mouth dropped open with a startled
gasp.
She looked through the wicket into a
dark, thick-lipped face under a low-

4 ‘he Sang w
‘who appro;
Brrage fr«

Pulled felt ha;

ol that aped
0 pthe Marble C
Do as I tel]
£ et hurt, This
he comman
Single room
phesident, W. B
mere he had bx

~_®

ae 5 ‘ F ae . -
Dower” ® Tl tend motel

@ ‘ULE, SATURDAY MORNING, : JUNE ii 1936. ¥ ea Oe —

Nedirate hones 1

SE emma amas ae a:
ETENTION; LE Ok a ana _ OF BANK BANDIT Gana]. YOunde i

a ee n

at 4 { hurt

| ee |“ The fugitives invaded the Med-! Frj i
“ee Wuee ta Abele! 4 j rano home after abandoning their for as killed a ec
motor and warned Medrano and J plol del iy a ii ee
his wife to “keep your mouths Clare the suspects hog
shut.” Their 18-month old son} Mr. The Prisoness. or), t
was in the house. The child was Manced, were LOU acy
jnot harmed, although -first re-/ Cratnole, Ola, and pis...
ports said he was wounded. the, 20, of Fletcher.
| C. L. Ambrose, a neighbor, his! ¢ SO
wife and son were taken prisoner Rieas, president of the Pai
@ ‘when they went to Medrano’s! anng B. Deeds, Con. Voting
house. nomand A. J. Medrano, td.
Ambrose said Wilson, who with sionhouse the shooting Van ur
# other officers had been guided | unsithe others wound- »* «:
. to the Spot by a two-way radio: 192g—_ rStores
equipped airplane owned by Sher-; ——=% om Page 7.) school.
iff Stanley Rogers of Oklahoma gum
ANS City, exchanged shots at hardly
ys More than arm's length with &
Sands.

ee Siler and Sands surrendered

EDs lanes to ors ae when three other deputies rushed

terms of the con-! VO

- we, inte. the house’ ine
e. Locally elected (Associated Press Wirephoto, he cad Lees with a machine
mes Seainetl Wage Holland, alias “Irish” Stephens had joined a search-
the agreement, on O'Malley, held as one of the kid-!,

In osse after th ‘obber d
SrA Mpen Ne: Viet igaue ae August Luer, in Alton, ("8 P es oe

{

Sentiment.
‘tors’ campaign, it!
tiday by David Rif
ter of the Loulsville' &
: Associated Gener-
» has been in proc-.
‘Sing for several
e court decision,” |
al, Vas /Tapidly |
atiment for such a

Ny contractors and.
have already signed

cement, Which ap-
interstate and jn-
actions, the con-

" Was wounded during the fight. be
¢ caused other con- Ill, in December, 1933. ee ae ieee
he ld to the agree- ——_ a eee | The loot Was recoy | ed. if :

: : i : cae
htion, violators are ommended “that no reduction in Bandit Cleanup Claimed, _
pay thee employes: | i ON A Res DRE PW peel ld

My Dame Will
String Along

(Continued from page 39)

character.

Nevertheless, both men felt as if they
were sitting in the dark, waiting for a blow.
Slipping from cover to cover and making
the first move in every case, the criminals
had all the advantage. For the next two
days the officers worked feverishly, check-
ing out every possible angle, but without
any result.

The Bank of Elgin had been open only
15 minutes the morning of May 31, 1935,
when Cashier Bailey R. Stephens glanced
up at the sound of footsteps. Two young
men had entered the door. Almost as soon
aS Stephens caught the cold gleam in their
eyes his glance flashed to their hands. The
pasty-faced man was walking toward him
with a sawed-off shotgun levelled in
deadly menace while the other guarded the
door with drawn pistol.

“One sound and I’ll splatter you all over

this room!” snarled the man with the shot-
gun. “This is a heist! Get your hands
high!”

Stephens obeyed. His eyes, however,
flashed past both bandits and saw a gray
sedan at the curb before the bank. A young
woman sat tensely at the wheel.

The shrilling telephone brought the news

in the Comanche County sheriff’s office
just after 9:30. Waldron, in conference
with McCarty, answered with a presenti-
ment of the news.
- “They took us for nearly $700!” Bailey
Stephens shouted over the wire. “Then they
headed out of town to the north in a gray
sedan.”

“Anybody hurt?” Waldroi snapped.

“No, but I’ve got a gun and I’m ready to
help start hurting somebody.”

“Hold everything!” Waldron ordered.
“You can be of more help right there in
town for the time being. How many in the
gang?”

“Two men and at least one girl. Maybe
two.”

Waldron wheeled from the telephone and
relayed the report to McCarty. Now that
the showdown had come, it, was a relief.
Instantly the two men swung into action,
hurriedly dispatching posses by telephone
and notifying surrounding towns. At
. Chickasha, the seat of Grady County, 50

miles north, Sheriff Wilson promised to

block all highways.

“What's more,” he promised, “I’ll. send
you a couple of my best deputies !”

Within half an hour nearly 100 stern-
faced officers were searching the highways
and back roads of northern Comanche
County and the surrounding area. But the
rolling prairie often cut visibility to a mile
or two at the most and there were dozens
of places where the desperado quartet could
hide for the time being. Unless the officers
were lucky, there was less than even chance
of intercepting the fugitive sedan. Waldron
swung. back to the telephone in an effort to
identify: the criminals. He already had an
idea, but his first call, to McAlester Peni-
tentiary, brought him up with a shock.

He learned that Charlie Sands had been
transferred to the penitentiary to serve the
fag end of his sentence and had there re-
newed his old friendship with Leon Siler!
What was more, while in prison, he had
been visited by a young woman named Ruby
Herring, black-haired, blue-eyed and red-
lipped who had first come to see her
brother, Arch Herring, who was doing a
25-year stretch for armed robbery. And
Arch Herring had been sentenced from

Healdton!

A hurried call to Healdton brought the
information that Ruby Herring and two
young men were already being sought in
connection with the car theft Simms had
reported, but that all had disappeared.

“What kind of a car was it?” Waldron
demanded.

“A black Chevrolet sedan,” the Heald-
ton officer replied.

Hardly had Waldron hung up from that
call when his telephone shrilled with a mes-
sage from the marshal at Fletcher.

“Say!” the marshal shouted excitedly. .

“Everybody’s cleared out from the Sands
house this morning. There were two
couples there last night. As near as I
can make it, they were Leon and Phyllis
Siler, Charlie Sands and some other girl.”

“Her name’s Ruby Herring,” Waldron
broke in.

“All right. They drove in and threw a
party that must have been a dilly and slept
fairly late this morning, the neighbors say.”

Waldron knew the orgy of drinking that
probably had gone on, but for the moment
he was not interested in that.

“What kind of a car did they have?” he
questioned. ,

“A black Chevrolet sedan. Not the——”

“Did you ever notice Leland Park’s car?

The Fletcher marshal caught his breath.
“By George!” he exclaimed. “It was
gray! A gray Ford sedan like the one
used in the holdup!”

HAT WAS PLENTY for Waldron.

Ascertaining that none of the posses had
yet made contact with the desperadoes, he
took Constable John Deeds and Deputy
Joe Bailey, raced out to his car, then sped
northeast toward Elgin once more. Two
miles outside of town he slid to a halt before
a farmhouse and beckoned to the man in
the vard.

“You're a relative of Mrs. Park’s” Wal-
dron snapped. “I want to know where
Park and Peters are.”

“The boys and their wives had gone to
the Yakima Valley in Washington to get a
new start,” the man said.

but they had bad names here.”

Waldron eyed the man, “Well, some-
hody tried to make it pay this morning and
the evidence points toward Park.”

The man shrugged. “Then maybe you
can tell me where they are,” he challenged.

“T hope for their sakes and yours they’re
where you say,” Waldron returned.

There was no immediate, way of being
sure, but with a definite pair of suspects,
the three officers raced on into Elgin.
Cashier Stephens, however, was certain
that the men were not Park and Peters. “I
think I know them,” he frowned. “One of
these fellows had wiry black hair.”

Waldron stared. “That’s Charlie Sands !”
he exclaimed. “But the car, man! Sands
and Siler have a black sedan!”

A posse, storming in from east of Elgin a
few minutes later, quickly straightened that
out. They had found the black sedan from
Healdton stuck in the mud of a side road
and had picked up a young couple who told
a bitter story. Their gray Ford sedan had
been the one used to rob the bank and had
been taken from them when they stopped
and offered to help the four young people
in the black car.

“What time was that?” Waldron ques-
tioned closely.

“Just a little before 9 a.m.,” the young ..

man replied. “I think I saw our car again
about an hour ago, though. It crossed the
road we were on, headed south about a mile
away.”

The officers exchanged worried glances.
That was a district ten miles square or
better of rolling prairie cut by deep streams
whose timbered, brush-covered — banks

“They finally’
tumbled to the fact that crime don’t pay, .

. Carty

offered a hundred avenues of escape or cons
cealment. With the recent rains, the roads
were all but impassable, red streaks of
axle-deep mud. But without a doubt the
fugitives were heading into it.
turned to the bank cashier.

“All right, Stephens, now’s your chance. _

Come with us. You other fellows swing
south about a mile and close in.”

While the: second car sped away, Wale

dron dashed to a telephone and notified
Sheriff McCarty at: Lawton,
into the driver’s seat and plowed eastward
out of the village. Hopeful that McCarty

could contact other posses and start them

closing in from different directions, he fol-

lowed the road for. six miles, then pbull- a
dogged the slithering car southward as he as

picked up fresh tire tracks in the red mud,
Three miles south, a small stream with

heavily wooded banks cut across the road, »

Waldron crossed the bridge and started up
the hill beyond. Suddenly he realized that

he was no longer following the other car's”

tracks. Stopping at the first house, he
learned that a gray sedan had cut off the
road near the creek and had plunged into.
the brush about an hour before. In their
haste Waldron and the others had missed
seeing the place.

“Those are our outlaws!" the under-
sheriff snapped. “And we're
after them!”

As he wheeled the car around and rolled

back down the hill, though, Waldron re-~
alized what Chief Simms had meant when:

he forecast a murder. Unless the women’
had guns also, the officers were four to two.
But the desperados had the concealment
that made the difference.

The timber along the creek was not more

than 100 yards wide, but it was grown up.

with brush until a man could scarcely force
his way through.
banks dropped a good ten feet, affording

shelter to a gunman, and making him in- |”

visible 50 feet away. More, the stream
angled across the prairies for more than a
mile, then entered a wider patch of wood-
land from which the outlaws could hope
to slip almost unseen in the late afternoon.

Expecting a shot every second, the four
men slid from their car and dashed for the

edge of the brush, their weapons ready,

. Reaching it, Waldron jerked his head.

“Spread out,” he said tensely. “Take no
chances. When you shoot, shoot to kill.
It’s them or us. Let’s go!”

Bending, he led the way into the under-
growth, creeping ahead for nearly 100
yards. The tension was worse than fight-

ing. Suddenly Waldron glimpsed a gray °

automobile body a short distance ahead
through the bushes. At the same moment
he realized that the timber, noisy with birds
at the start, was deadly quiet here. He
signaled the others to halt, he crept forward
on hands and knees.

The hoarse bellow of a shotgun halted
him as shot clipped leaves and twigs a foot
from his head. Dropping to. the ground,
he steadied his pistol ‘and fired blindly
while the other three spread out behind
him and pumped lead in the same direction.
Revolver shots and another hail of death
from the shotgun told them they were miss-
ing. But it was suicide to advance.

Presently Waldron caught the sound of
other car motors as racing posses plowed
through the mud from the north and east.
Giving them time to get into position, he
again began his advance. This time there
were no shots. Surrounding the cat cau-
tiously, the four men studied the interior.
The bandits had taken everything and fled.

Waldron and his men pushed on down the ~

stream until they met Sheriff McCarty with
another posse coming from the east. The
desperados had made a clean getaway.
“Then they can’t have gone far,” Mc-
snapped. “They’re afoot. That

In the center, the creek

Waldron ©

Then he slid.

going in.

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means, they've taken relage ii one of those
houses over there.” Ele pointed to three
houses which topped the prairie’s rise to the
south,

An unpainted three-room house slightly
to the left was the most likely since it lay
closer to the shelter of the woods. With
weapons ready, the officers spread out,
approaching it ina semi-circle, at the same
time keeping an eye on the small barn a few
yards to the east of it. “Everything's too
quiet,” Waldron muttered. *

Almost as he spoke, a pretty, dark-
complexioned young woman, obviously
an expectant mother, opened the screen
door.

“What do you all want?” she demanded
tensely. Her face was drawn and terrified
as if she had seen a ghost.

“Bank robbers, ma’am!” McCarty roared.
“Two men and two girls. Where are they?”

The woman’s eyes widened. “I ain’t seen
‘em!" she cried hysterically. “There ain't
nobody here but me and my baby!”

Waldron nudged the sheriff. “Take it
easy a minute,” he clipped in an undertone.
Then he called to the woman. “Can we
have a drink of water, Mrs. 7

“Mrs. Medrano,” she prompted nervously.
“Mrs. Adrian Medrano. Yes, you can have
a drink if you want to draw it. There’s the
well. I’ll get you the bucket.”

ITH EVERY NERVE alert, Wal-
dron holstered his gun and _ strolled
forward, feigning casualness as he lighted
a cigarette. His eyes, however, were boring
through the rusty screen door and into the
kitchen. He took the bucket as the woman
brought it out and led the way to the well.
“Draw water and act natural,” he cau-
tioned the others in an undertone. “They're
in the house. Mrs. Medrano said she was
alone. But the. place is packed
people!”

One thing was sure. The outlaws had
threatened the woman with death if she
talked. Thought of it made the officers’
blood run cold.

“Then we daren’t shoot into the house,
men.” McCarty said. “We've got to go in
there after them!”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Deputy
Sheriff J. E. Wilson of Grady County,
brother of that county’s sheriff, swung” on
his heel and strode forward. Constable John
Deeds was at his heels. Before anyone could
stop them, they were on the stoop at the
kitchen door and Wilson opened the screen.

“Come out of there, you he
shouted. The bellow of a shotgun from
back of the kitchen stove drowned his
words. He pitched forward across the
threshold, his body riddled with shot.

At Wilson’s side, Deeds whipped up his
revolver and fired blindly. In an instant
the house was a blazing inferno of gunfire.
Deeds staggered back, shot through the

chest. Cashier Bailey Stephens was
wounded in the face. As he stumbled
back, blood streaming over his mouth,
Waldron raced up.

Through the smoke, the undersheriff

saw Charlie Sands standing back of the
kitchen stove hastily reloading a shotgun.
Firing from the hip he squeezed the trigger
of his revolver again and again until Sands
crumpled and fell.

And now from all sides bullets began to
thud into the house. Brushing past the
officers at the door, Mrs. Medrano fled
screaming to the barn clutching her baby
to her breast. Screams of fright and the
roar of gunshots mingled terrifyingly from
the bedroom. Before Waldron could reload,
Leon Siler burSt through the doorway into
the kitchen, his smoking pistol raised. Sud-
denly he dropped it and crumpled as a
slug plowed into his body.

With Siler down, the mad melee ended
as suddenly as it had begun. While other

with’

. grasp.

officers stood guard over the
perados, and rounded up Ruby Herring and
Phyllis Siler, Waldron and McCarty turned
to the injured officers. Stephens and Deeds
were loaded into one car and sent racing
to a Lawton hospital. Wilson, his body
riddled from the shotgun blast, was almost
past help. But Waldron and two others
loaded him into Waldron'’s car as gently

as they could and Waldron roared away)

toward the hospital also.

Neither of the two bandits was badly’

wounded. Sands had been creased along
the head. Siler had been wounded in the
leg. But in the bedroom, surrounded by

hysterically weeping women and children,
Sheriff McCarty found Adrian Medrano
stretched on the floor, his jaw shot away
and two bullets in his chest. The sheriff.
put him in a newly arrived car with. Mrs.
Medrano and the baby and started him
also racing for Lawton, :

BY MIDNIGHT the officers pieced out
the story of what had happened. Shortly
after shooting at Waldron and his men,

the two bandits and their girls had slipped -

back along the creek bed, then raced for
the Medrano house while the officers sought
them in the timber. Seizing Medrano’s
shotgun, Sands had taken his station be-
hind the kitchen stove and threatened the
family with death if they summoned the
officers. He had kept the gun trained on
Mrs. Medrano while she brought the water
bucket to the door.

In the meantime, however, drawn by the
shooting in the brush and the sight of ar-
riving visitors, the family of John Ambrose,
across the road and about 300 yards west
of the Medranos, had drifted down to the
Medrano home, one by one. Ambrose, him-
self, had been the last. As each arrived,
he was made a hostage and sent into the
bedroom.

When the shooting started, all except
Medrano had sought safety under the bed.
Before anyone could divine his intentions,
Medrano had leaped at Siler and attempted
to wrest the pistol from the desperado’s
Siler had shot him down.

Deputy Sheriff Wilson, one of the south-
west'’s most courageous officers, died before
reaching the hospital. Medrano lived only
a few hours. Deeds hovered between life
and death for several days and finally re-
covered, as did Bailey Stephens.

Meantime, however, feeling in Lawton
and throughout Comanche County ran high.
As the news of the battle spread, talk of
lynch law sprang up. . The officers dared
not leave Sands and Siler in the local hos-
pital, but rushed them instead to Granite
Reformatory for safekeeping. Orderly
justice prevailed and moved at grim speed.

On June 3, 1935, a grand jury indicted
Leon Siler and Charlie Sands for bank
robberly and murder. Less inclined to be
severe on the girls, who were young and
who had apparently been involved largely
hecause of their blind love for the men, the
grand jury indicted both Ruby Herring and
Phyllis Siler for manslaughter.

Ruby Herring was convicted and sen-
tenced to ten years in McAlester peniten-
tiary, but the charge against Phyllis Siler
was ultimately reduced to assault with in-
tent to kill and she was sentenced to but
five years. Both served their terms and
are now free.

The two men, however, met grimmer
fates. Found guilty of Deputy Sheriff Wil-
son's murder on September 26, 1935, they
were sentenced to death and executed on
June 11, 1937, after every effort for clem-
ency had been denied. ~

For obvious reasons, the names "Pete
Cram,” “Leland Park” and “Hank Peters,”
as used in this narrative, are not real but
fichtious —Enitor.

fallen dea.”

Fa a

Fad or Bas ere

ae
—<.

,
oceans at wai

* Cy ane in| : g f(errioiw ia ns lintel ta eh oe
on ee ee ae gi cre She gets. fies les ea hoe:
mo te? as! a as But you Was no ammedrate thoupht of a
ee Oo pot tye rtcuntess: there
ime aoe aca WILT. ROCs ERS. ay (C ontinued on | Page v)

| Officer Is Killed, 5 Are Wounded |
Th Capture of Bank Bandit Gang

| Lawton, Okla, May 31 (#)—-A, idepuly sheriff, was killed in a
‘paaee affwer was killed and five close range pistol duel in a sinall aa
lorem persona were wounded in a:farm house where the suspects had

ofignt climaxing an airplane-; ought refuge. The prisoncis, ons ees
wounded, were Leon: ue
who lected the Bank of Elgin,;Siler, of Seminole, Okla, and jpic..

ted search for bank robbers | slightly
f of Fletcher,

Otile., of 8600 today. [Charles Sands, 20,

Twe suepecta were wounded and/Okla. Boke
enptured andl with their women| Bp Rp. Stephens, president of the - ee
compantons were taken to the!iooted bank; R. B. Deeds, Con- Yetne

Mate Reformatary at Granite for stable at Elgin, and A. J. Medrano, todiry
ealenerping sfter a large crowd|.+ whose farm house the shoo! ing’ ition i
ed tonight akout the Court occurred, were the others wound- »* *!
oe Wik “hog were Pook staees
(Continued em Page 7.)

County Laclheils:

LEMS OL tig 2G

ssess fines
the agreement,
‘ses Which the viola-
‘e caused other con-.

held to the agree-|

lition, violators are
pay their emploves:

¢:. Locally elected
against

on O'Malley, held as one of the kid

ARIA , .
— (Associated Press Wirephoto, |

Walter Holland, alias “Iris an NS and rifles.

Stephens hud joined

jmapers of August Luer, in Alton
TL, in December, 1933.

ee,

ommended “that no reduction Jn

Se il Pag ‘ < : te j
a ETT Ue sete ae ap ara Eve

“into the Nhe with a machine

Bandit Cleanup Claimed

es rusned'@ f

a@ search-

INS posse after the robbery and
n, was wounded during the fight.
The loot was recovered.

(oer e
JEG TT aump uo (£qun0 eyoueMog) BUOYeTHO peynooszoeTS “YMITS PUe SCNVS

eggie Zimmerman staggered to
tis front door for help despite
'e two bullet wounds in his side

*, She said. Jose and a friend of his,
cisco Velez, were there now. Why?
‘e two men were taken to the police
an. Both were in their late 20’s,
-complexioned and of medium
it and weight, just as Zimmerman
described the gunmen. Further-
. they were the men who had been
in the gas station near Surplus
they admitted it.

t they hadn’t harmed anyone,
jel insisted.

THER man had more than a dollar
1 his pockets. A search of the sis-
home turned up nothing. Manuel’s
Chevrolet was in the sister’s ga-
and it, too, revealed nothing,

wever, quite a bit of time had
d. Money could have been hidden;
uld guns, The questioning went on.
hen time did this happen?” Manuel

dron told him it had been about

20d! Good!” the young man cried.
a we can prove we didn’t do it.

nine o'clock until midnight we
in a gas station on the other side
wn. The car broke down, and the
’ at the station helped us fix it.
‘dn't get it started until after mid-

told the officers that after getting
t the station near Surplus City,
d his pal had driven through the
ess section and to the other side
m, where the car stalled again and
vere stuck for the rest of the eve-
Neither of the men could give
xact location of the gas station.
el, however, remembered the
of gas the station sold. Detectives
the place quickly, and the at-
nt who had helped get the car run-
confirmed Manuel's story.
‘y were in the clear.
: police had reached a dead end.
Zimmerman’s killer was still at
still unknown, possibly miles away
Ww.

descriptions he previously had given of
the gunmen and insisted he never had
seen either of them before.

. “I’m sure Ruth hadn't, either,” he
said. “I don’t know why that fellow
came back and shot us. I'don’t know ...”

New orders went out ‘telling all. offi-
cers to be on the lookout for a Pontiac
of about 1950 vintage.

Lawton’s law requires any dealer who
sells a hand gun at retail to file a report
with the police department, giving a de-
scription of the purchaser, the serial
numbers, name, caliber and description
of the weapon, the purchaser’s name,
address and signature. On the slim
chance that the bandits had purchased
their guns locally, Captain Waldron had
the reports brought in to him.

He found only one of any interest at
all. On March 24 @ man had bought a
new .25 automatic and a box of shells
from Luke’s Pawnshop. The seller had
made a notation that the man couldn’t
read or write and signed the card with
an X. On March 26 the same man had
bought another automatic, exactly like
the first one,

Waldron sent for Stout and Davis and
read aloud the description of the buyer:

Waldron, Davis, Lovett and
Stout, who found evidence
the two bandits overlooked

“We're worse off than we were when
we started,” Stout said.

The next development was a phone
call from Detective West. The wounded
man was now able to talk to the officers.

Davis and Stout hurried over to join
West at the bedside. Slowly, his voice at
times barely more than a whisper, Reg-
gie Zimmerman repeated virtually the
Same story he had told. Blackburn the
night of the shooting.

Then Davis asked, “Did you see a car
near the store when you locked up last
night?”

“Not when I locked up,” the young
man answered. “When they took me
back to the apartment after they looted
the safe. It was a black Pontiac, parked
around the corner of the building. A
nineteen-fifty.”

He was unable to add anything to the

Who was the gun buyer named X?

“Five feet, six; weight one forty; dark
eyes, black hair, twenty-six years old.”
Tossing the cards toward the detec-
tives, he said, “Those killers had auto-
matics, and we know at least one of
them was a twenty-five. Maybe you
should talk with Mr. X about his guns.
He told Luke his name was Donald Lock-
lear and gave his address as General
Delivery. Go out and see if the dealer
can tell you anything else about him.”

THE Pawnshop manager nodded
quickly when the detectives asked
him about the purchases. “Sure, I re-
member that guy. He was very dark—
looked like he could be Latin-American
or Indian. He was wearing a snap-brim
brown hat, a tan coat and gray trousers.
A very intelligent sort of fellow—I was
surprised when he said he couldn’t read
or write.”

“Did he say anything about himself?”
Davis asked. “Did he talk about any-
thing besides the guns?”

“No. He knew exactly what kind he
wanted and just asked for it and. an-
swered the questions I had to ask for
the report.” ee

“What did he say,when he came back
the second time?” Stout put in. :

“He’d given the first gun to his wife
and he wanted another one exactly like
it*

“Do you know if he .was driving a
car?” Lieutenant Stout asked.

“He wasn’t driving, but I saw him get
into one the second time. It was a black
Pontiac, maybe a forty-nine or fifty.”

The same kind of car Reggie Zimmer-
manhad seen. | {

“Could you see if it had Oklahoma
license plates?”

“TI didn’t even notice.”

Were they on the trail of the killers
at last?

Captain Waldron thought they might
be.

“Look, there’s a bunch of rooming
houses in that neighborhood near Luke’s
place,” he said. “How about canvassing
them to see if anyone knows anything
about this Locklear? Meanwhile we'll
intensify the hunt for an old black Pon-
tiac.”

Davis and Stout began a door-to-door

(Continued on Page 52)

Sheriff Everett Hale, at right,
explains Oklahoma law to the
North Carolina brothers-in-law

Regardless, with his trusted lleutene.
ants gone and his mouthpiece and ad-
visor slain, Mickey could feel the pres-
sure being put on by the national crime
syndicate. Cohen's friends felt that it
would be only a matter of time until
new hoods. came in from the East.
Cohen would be caught with his guard
down and soon there would be a big
funeral. ,

The police openly prophesied Mickey’s
death.

But Cohen fooled them.

He set the stage by announcing he
was broke. He sold out the stock of his,
haberdashery in a gigantic discount sale
and disposed of his lavish home.

HEN agents hauled him in on his
income tax for the years of 1946,

1947 and 1948, claiming he had neg-
lected to pay on $156,123, Cohen put up
what appeared to be a defense. Inti-
mates claim he welcomed the five-year
term handed him. .

Amid a great fanfare, Mickey kissed
his wife goodbye, handing her over to
the care of his trusted underling,
Johnny Stompanato, and went to Mc-
Neil Island. nue ae

While he was on‘ the island, Jack
Dragna died. He was one of the few
ranking members of the Mafia who ever -
succumbed to a natural death. 0

Joe Sica and his brother, Fred, took
over the crime syndicate for the West.

Cohen was overjoyed. He and Joe had
been friends. Joe was an ambitious guy,
too, and maybe a deal could be made.

All Mickey had to do was behave him-
self and wait for his Parole.

It came, finally, on October 9, 1955.

Mickey left prison with as much fan-
fare as he had entered. All of his old
friends were on hand to greet him and
the procession took on the proportions
-of a parade.

“I just wish people would forget about
the old Mickey Cohen,” the former
mobster told the reporters. “I want to
live quietly in some little business and
forget all about the past.”

H's idea of living quietly was to re-

turn to Hollywood and immediately
hit the night-club trail in the company
of beautiful starlets.

Lavonne, who had stood beside
Mickey through bombs and bullets,
finally declared she had had enough.
She filed suit for a divorce. “‘He’s still
the greatest little guy in the world, but
we just can’t get along,” she declared.
Later she withdrew the suit but she and
Mickey have been living apart ever
since.

Cohen, who went to the pen broke,
blossomed out in a new bullet-proof
Cadillac, plenty of folding money in his
Pockets, Los Angeles couldn’t get rid
of him—although Chicago police tossed
him and Stompanato in a cell and told

im to get out of town, and Texas
Rangers sent him Packing when he
tried to visit Houston. ;

In filmland Mickey was still welcome,
to almost everyone but the police. He
set up his tropical plants business and

A Surplus Life in Surplus City

canvass of the pawnshop area. ‘At place
after place they could find no one who'd
ever heard of a man named Donald
Locklear, no trace of the black Pontiac,
Until they reached a rooming house,
where instead of shaking her head, as
they had expected, the landlady replied,
“Locklear? Yes, he was here. But only
yn One night. I had to put them all
out.”

“All?” Davis repeated.

“Locklear and his wife and baby, and
another couple who had a baby and a
little boy about two. They made so
much noise I asked them to leave the
next morning.” .

“When was this?”

“A few days ago. I'l] look it up.” She
Picked up a notebook which she appar-
ently used to keep track of her roomers’
accounts. “Here it is. They came on
the twenty-fourth and left the next day.
The other family was named Spence—
James Spence, the man said.” ‘

“Do you have any idea where they
came from or where they went?”

“They said they were from North Car-
olina. I think they moved into a little
furnished place over on F Street.”

“Did they have a car?” Davis asked.

“Yes, they were all Piled into an old
black Pontiac. I think it was Spence’s.”

THE officers hurried to F Street. This

time it didn’t take long to find some-
one who remembered the group. About
halfway down the 500 block a landlord
replied in the affirmative when they
asked their usual question.

“Yes, those folks were here. They
rented a little cottage I have out back,
But they left about noon yesterday.”

Again the names were Donald Lock-
lear and James Spence, and again they
had mentioned they were from North
Carolina. ‘

When the officers asked about the
car, however, the landlord said, “They
had an old Pontiac, all right, and yester-
day Locklear showed up with a forty-
seven Plymouth, too. He must have just
bought it, because it had chalk marks
on the windshield like the dealers use.”

“Did they say where they were go-
ing?” Davis asked.

“No. They just took off.” He reached
in his pocket and pulled out ‘a key.

“Everything’s just as they left it; I
haven’t had a chance to clean up yet.
If you want to go in and look around,
go ahead.”

The detectives called Waldron, who
Was soon at the scene with Hennesee of
the identification bureau.

5 en Hennesee had finished dusting
for fingerprints, the others searched the
four rooms. It seemed that the tenants
had left nothing which could be traced
or be of any help to the investigation.

Then Davis climbed through a trap
door in the kitchen ceiling.

“Look what I found!” he called a mo-
ment later, and he dropped a pillow-
case into Stout’s hands,

Inside the pillowcase were three keys,
all with small white tags attached.
Inked on the tabs was the name, “Sur-
plus City,” and one key was marked
“register.” The pillowcase itself had two
holes cut in it, as if it had been intended
fora hood-mask.

THE elusive Locklear and Spence were
being tied more and more closely to
the case. :

But where were they? How could they
be found?

Back at headquarters Waldron sent

wire to the North Carolina motor ve-
hicle department, asking if a 1950 black
Pontiac was registered to. a James
Spence. Then he phoned Lawton used-
car dealers. He quickly found a dealer
who remembered Selling a 1947 Plym-
outh to a man named-Donald Locklear
for $90 cash. In Oklahoma the buyer of
& used car acquires the license plates if
the vehicle has been registered in the
state. The Plymouth was an Oklahoma
car, and the dealer told Waldron the
license number was 4-13533.

Why did the

took turns in escorting Liz Renay and
the movie starlet, beautiful Barbara
Darnell.

Mickey posed for the news photogra-
phers kissing Barbara at the airport as
he was taking off for Mexico to confer
with Ben Hecht on the preparation of
his life’s story.

Miss Darnell told the reporters,
“Mickey and I have dated steady for
eight months.” ‘

Liz Renay countered with a story that
she and Cohen were going steady.

When Cohen returned from Mexico,
he took both girls out on a party, along
with author-producer, Ben Hecht and
Private investigator Fred Otash ,

Reporters, cameramen and TV news-
men covered the party in force. On the
surface conviviality seemed to reign.
Aside, Barbara fold reporters:

“I can’t figure out why: Miss Renay
would say she and Mickey are going
steady. Mickey and I have been together
almost every night. I think he’s wonder-
ful, he’s the greatest.”

Liz Renay replied, “Mickey is the only
one I go out with, and I’m the only one
he goes out with.”

Thus Mickey continues on his loud,
brash way. In a telecast in February he
became vituperative and particularly
nasty in his remarks about reputable
Los Angeles police officers. He seems to
be riding high,’ closely associated with
the ruling Sica brothers.

The Lana Turner tragedy, however,
may well be a critical turning point in
the career of Mickey Cohen. His vicious

Soon word came from North Carolina
that a 1950 black Pontiac was registered
to a James Spence of Kinston. This li-
cense number was MT 586.

All-points bulletins were prepared,
giving descriptions of both cars and the
license numbers, together with the
names and descriptions of the occu-
Pants.

Captain Waldron telephoned the
sheriff in Kinston, North Carolina, for
further information about Spence. He
learned that Spence, his wife and two
children were en route to California
with Spence’s brother-in-law, Eddie
Oxendine, and Oxendine’s wife and
baby. The sheriff said that Oxendine
also used the name Don Locklear.

BoTH men were ex-convicts, having

Served time together in the federal
Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsyl-
vania. Spence had been sentenced for a
violation of the Dyer act, prohibiting
transportation of a stolen car over a
state line, and Oxendine for a liquor-law
infraction. They had become acquainted
in prison, and Spence-later had married
Oxendine’s sister. The sheriff said Ox-
endine was of Indian descent, which
could account for the Swarthy coloring.
mentioned by the witnesses,

With officers in every state west of
Oklahoma watching for the fugitives,
Waldron was hopeful they would soon
be in custody. They were. Just before
noon on Friday, April 4, Patrolmen Seth
Wyche and James Bundy saw the two

mero and Billy Zamora.
The men offered no resistance. They

desperadoes

- sharpen spoons into knives?

attempt to defame Miss Turner. and her
daughter, Cheryl, has turned both the
press and the public against the little
ex-mobster. At the moment, Cohen
stands almost alone, except for his con-
nections with the Sica brothers, How
long will that last? The Sicas have big
troubles of their own without inheriting
any from Cohen,

A gangland battle is shaping up for
control of Las Vegas, gambling. Mickey
Cohen, they say, will be the first to go.

In the next issue of OFFICIAL Detec-
Tive Stories Magazine. the background
of the national crime syndicate in Holly-
wood, Los Angeles and Las Vegas will be
explored. The inside story of the Abe
Davidian slaying will be revealed. Da-
vidian was one of three government wit-
nesses who were assassinated on the
eve of trials in which federal narcotics
agents believed they were within
striking distance of smashing the Mafia
narcotics racket in California. And Hol-
lywood names are involved in this dirty
business too.

Investigators for OFFIctAL DETECTIVE
Stories Magazine will go behind the
scene for the facts concerning the
deadly, silent battle being waged for
power within the national crime syndi-
cate by leaders of the West and East
Coast factions.

All this will be in the September issue
of OFFICIAL DETECTIVE Srorigs, on sale
Tuesday, July 29,

Read it first in

(Continued trom Page 43) OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

readily admitted their identities, ac-
cording to Sergeant Carins, turned over

$50 in bills which they said was part of »

the Surplus City loot and showed the
officers where the two -25-caliber auto-
matics were concealed under a mattress,

both men admitted the robbery, Oxen-
dine insisting he had no part in the
shooting.

They waived extradition, and on Sun-"

day morning Sheriff Everett Hale and
Oklahoma State Crime Bureau Agent
Ernest Lovett arrived to escort them
back to Lawton.

In Lawton officials announced that
Spence and Oxendine had signed con-
fessions to the robbery and that
Spence’s written statement had in-

sory Daa Saying, they had decided to
ro! .

Spence had no idea why he had fired
the shots and could not explain it even
to himself, the officers said.

“It was just an extra life to him,” one
of the officers said.

On April 9 Reggie Zimmerman was
released from the hospital, recovering
from his wounds. .

At A preliminary hearing on April 11,
Spence and Oxendine requested
mental examinations. On April 16 they
Were taken to Eastern State Hospital,
Vinita, Oklahoma, a maximum security
institution, for observation.

Upon their arrival at the institution,
both men were found to have spoon-
handles sharpened into knives con-
cealed in their shoes.

At the completion of the tests, the
two were judged dangerous, but men-
tally competent to stand trial.

They were returned to the Comanche
County jail in Lawton, and on May

10, Deputy Sheriff Benny Wallace suc-.

ceeded in foiling an escape attempt.
On May 20, a jury found both men

guilty of murder and sentenced them to .

death in the electric chair.

The names Jose Manuel, Francisco

Velez and Luke’s Pawnshop are fictitious
in this story.

irrelevant to the decision whether a defendant, who may merit the
death penalty, should live or die." Booth, 107 S. Ct. at 2534.
Even though expressed in a case in which the direction of the
evidence was favorable to the prosecution, we believe the lesson
taught in Booth is equally applicable here because the underlying
reasoning for limiting the scope of the evidence allows for no
distinction between misdirected evidence offered by either party.
Indeed, the Court stated, "“[n]lor is there any justification for
permitting such a decision [life or death] to turn on the
perception that the victim was a sterling member of the community
rather than someone of questionable character." Id.

In sum, the jury must be provided with evidence that will
lead it to-a principled determination without any hint of
arbitrariness. We conclude the testimony offered by the defense
in this instance was calculated to incite arbitrary response, thus
it was properly excluded, and the exclusion provides no basis for

granting relief.

os a
A.

Petitioner claims that the use of hypnosis by the State to
enhance the recall of two persons who later testified constitutes
"highly prejudicial constitutional error." Advocating a per se
harm rule for exclusion of such evidence, Petitioner maintains
that dangers inherent in the use of hypnosis as well as the denial

of the right of confrontation mandate relief from the judgment of

conviction.

-10-

imposed, thus reducing the trial to a- contest of irrelevant
opinions.

“Even though the ~ Oklahoma law mandates presentation of "any
mitigating circumstances" in the sentencing phase of a capital
trial, Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 701.10, our consideration of
the issue in the context of the federal constitution is
constrained by the limitation of relevance. In short, the
Petitioner's federal constitutional guarantees give him the right
to present “any aspect of [his] character or record and any of the
circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a

basis for a sentence less than death." Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S.

586, 604 (1978). Yet, the corollary to that rule is’ the

exhortation that the sentencer may not refuse to consider or be

precluded from considering “any relevant Mitigating evidence."

Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U.S. 104, 114 (emphasis added).

We are thus initially confronted with the question of whether
the testimony of a victim's relative who did not wish tthe death
sentence imposed is relevant to the issue of mitigation.? As
Petitioner acknowledges, relevant evidence is that which tends’ to

make the existence of a fact more probable or less probable than

“Petitioner suggests that because this witness testified in the
first phase, she must’ have known him well enough to testify to
mitigating circumstances beyond her personal desires. While the
record indicates Ms. Lovejoy's sister, Mary Bridget Davis,
testified in the first phase as a defense witness, she was not
identified as the witness defense counsel had planned to call in
the second phase. Moreover, the only testimony the state judge
precluded was that of an unidentified relative who was not
permitted to testify that the death penalty should not be invoked.
That witness was not otherwise prevented by the court's ruling
from testifying to any other mitigating circumstances.
Petitioner's argument is thus rendered conjectural.

-7-

the Eddings delineation of mitigating evidence must focus on the

persona of the defendant. or on the fabric of the crime of which he
has been convicted. We can find no justification for broadening
that focus. ®

Indeed, the Supreme Court has recently underscored the need
for narrowing the scope of the evidence affecting the sentencing

decision by preventing the state from disclosing the impact the

crime has on the victim's surviving relatives. In Booth v.

Maryland, U.S. , 1O7 S. Ct. 2529, 2533 (1987), the Court

declared that admissibility of sentencing evidence must be made to
depend upon whether it "has some bearing on the defendant's

"personal responsibility and moral guilt.'" Quoting Enmund v.

Florida, 458 U.S. 782, 801 (1982). The Court pointed out that the
jury's sentencing decision must be focused upon the defendant as a
“uniquely individual human bein{g]." Booth, 107 S. Ct. at 2533

(quoting Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 304 (1976)).

Hence, the Court added, factors which are unrelated to the
culpability of the defendant and which focus on the impact that
the defendant's crime has on others are irrelevant to the issue of
punishment and might result in the jury reaching its verdict in an
arbitrary manner.

More in point here, the Court also observed that "the degree

to which a family is willing and able to express its grief is

6petitioner also argues that proscription of the opinion evidence
was in violation of Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21, § 701.10; hence he
was denied due process. Oklahoma has interpreted the statute to
apply only to relevant evidence. Chaney v. State, 612 P.2d 269
(Okla. Cr. 1980). Since Petitioner's basic premise is invalid, we
will not give further consideration to the argument.

-9-—

it would: be without the evidence. Fed. R. Evid. 401. Translated
into -terms which relate to the issues before a sentencing jury,
relevant mitigating evidence is that which -suggests the penalty
should- not be imposed. Additionally, however, the universe of

that evidence is circumscribed by Lockett's holding that

mitigating evidence is that which applies to either the character
or record of the defendant or to any of the circumstances of the
offense.

Petitioner seeks to expand the universe with evidence which
the state judge correctly perceived to be misdirected. An
individual's personal opinion of how the sentencing jury should
acquit its responsibility, even though supported by _ reasons,
relates to neither the character or record of the defendant nor to
the circumstances of the offense. Such testimony, at best, would
be a gossamer veil which ould blur the jury's focus on the issue
it must decide.

Moreover, allowing any person to opine whether the death
penalty should be invoked would interfere with the jury's
performance of its duty to exercise the conscience of the
community. Because the offense was committed not against the
victim but against the community as a whole, in Oklahoma only the
community, speaking through the jury, has the right to determine
what punishment should be administered.

In short, we cannot agree with Petitioner's contention that
any testimony a defendant believes would make the jury less likely
to return a death verdict must be allowed to satisfy the dictates

of federal due process. The broad range of facts admissible under

-8-

Pee Wed, Feb. 12, 1992
Bid by Inmate
For Clemency
Hearing Mulled

By Don Mecoy
Staff Writer

State Pardon and Parole Board members next
week will discuss whether to grant condemned
killer Olan Randle Robison a special clemency
hearing prior to his scheduled execution on
March 13, officials said Tuesday. a

Board executive director Ray Page said inves-'
tigators were preparing a report on Robison for’
the board’s consideration at its regular meeting
Feb. 19 in Oklahoma City.

At that time, the five-member board will vote
on whether to convene a special meeting to
weigh clemency for Robison, Page said.

If approved by the board, a special meeting
would be convened at the state penitentiary in.
McAlester probably during the last week of Feb-
ruary, Page said. .
~ Robison’s attorney, Randy Bauman on Friday
submitted a request to the board for a special
shearing. e.g 2.0% 4
... Bauman: said he also plans to ask the state:
. Court of Criminal Appeals to set aside Robison’s

‘execution date.

_..The attorney said a Stephens County judge
acted prematurely in setting the March 13 exe-
cution date while Robison has appeals pending
in other courts.

Robyn Leroy Parks, scheduled to die March 10
for the 1977 shooting death of an Oklahoma City’
gas station attendant, was denied clemency by
the board during a special meeting in December.

The hearing for Parks was the first clemency
hearing for a death row inmate in 25 years in.
Oklahoma...

Robison, 46, was sentenced to die by lethal
- injection for.the shooting deaths of two women
and a man during a robbery near Velma in 1980.

Charles Troy Coleman, executed in September
1990, is the only convict put to death in Oklaho-
ma since 1966.

Judge's Order for

Pre-Dawn Execution

Causing Concern. _

i ; One of tiiose askin “questions, 4

By Wayne Greene ae? Sie:
World Capitol Bureau .—

OKLAHOMA CITY — A jud e’s
order to execute an inmate at Just
before sunrise Instead of just
after midnight is causing some
concerns for state officials.

Last week, District Judge
George Lindley ordered Stephens
County killer Olan Randle Robi-
son execiited at 6 a.m. March. 13
at the Oklahoma State Penitentia-
ry a McAlester.

With ajl normal appeals ex-
hausted, the execution date seems
likely to hold.

The traditional time for Okla-
homa executions is five minutes
after midnight, the time request-
ed by Assistant Attorney General

Robert Nance in his hearing nee:

fore Lindley.
But Lindley picked his own
time and has refused to say why.
Repeated phone calls to Lind-
ley’s Duncan and Waurika offices
were not returned by the judge. °

. Lindley's secretary called Mon-.
day at his request and said he’

could“not ethically answer ques-
tlons about the execution’s timing :

because of the possibility the case.

might come back before him.”

Many people have asked about '

the timing, and Lindley hasn't an-
swered any questions, the secre-'
tary said.

ee ee —e

was Stephens County District At-

torney Gene Christian. | ; | :

When the proposed order for'
the execution. was presented to
Lindley for signature, Christian
asked if the judge was certain
about the time, Nance sald, «+o!

The judge indicated he had se-
lected the time for reason and 6
a.m. was the time he wanted,,.
Nance said.

Trying to guess Lindley’s=ine;
tents, some people concentraté oni:
the execution set 43 minutes ‘be

fore sunrise, ery
Without saying so, corrections
‘officials imply they would prefer
the midnight for security reas
sons.
At midnight all prisoners are
locked down at the penitentiary
and at the Jackie Brannon Cor
rectional Center next door. 7: >
-The expected excitement: 0£
dozens of reporters and protesters
likely to show up at the event
would cause the least trouble for
the prisons at night. . |
‘At -6.a.m., the prisoners are;
likely to be ‘awake and starting,
their daily activities, °. ot). .
Another unspoken reason for,
midnight executions is the spectra

of a. botched. execution. If for ~—

some reason, an injection failed tq

’ be fatal, some have:said, the Gof ~’

rection department would “stily |
’ have 24‘hours to find a legal and”
effective way of carrying out. the
order,

Prison officials are quick to

point out they think the lethal
injection procedures are effec-

—7;, tive, quick and.Kumine, °° . 234
} Penitentiary spokesman Lee

Mann said the prison will operate
2D- —) 2-[ & U F338 normal.
Breakfast preparations will be

under way and “para are no plana
to shift any schedules, she sald, <

Bob Jameson, spokesman for
Brannon, said no significant.
changes are planned because of
the timing, although an extra shift
of prison employees may be
called in to maintain order.

Murdtrer’s Case Most

ter. Oklahoma City murderer
Robyn Parks is scheduled for exe-
cution March 10.

Although Parks has had a pub-
lic clemenc hearing before the

By Wayne Greene
World Capitol Bureau

OKLAHOMA CITY — Olan
Randle Robison has almost be-
come the forgotten killer.

But Tony Burns says he'll never
forget.

Robison, 46, goes before a Ste-
phens County iy Wola and
will likely again sentenced to
die for two 1980 murders.

Proseculors have asked for a
March 13 execution at the Oklaho-
ma State Penitentiary in McAles-

.. .Killer

Continued from A-13
Bourque’s body.

‘Robison and Gillum went to
trial. Jordan pleaded guilty. Gil-
lum and Jordan were sentenced to
three consecutive life sentences,
.-A jury convicted and con-
demned Robison, finding his
Crime was aggravated by a prior
violent felony conviction, by his
putting more than one person at
great risk of death, and by being
especially heinous, atrocious and
cruel in the killing of Bourque.

- The case was the first death
penalty decision by a Stephens
County jury in 50 years.
Higher courts overturned the
aggravating circumstances in the
urque case, but Robison stil!
faces two death sentences.

. Burns said it had been “very
frustrating” waiting for Robison’s
execution to be carried out.

- State and federal judges have
heard numerous appeals alleging
a-variety of failures in the Ste.
Phens County trial, but the .con-
victions have held up and the ap-
‘peals appear to be running out.
“: The U.S. Supreme Court re-
fused to rehear Robison’s case
Jan. 13,

'. His latest execution date, how-

_.ever; had already passed. This

‘meant that the state had to re-

“That's certainly not an accu-
rate description of the Randle Ro-
bison |

.
_

been flashin
bragging abo

A few days later, Burns said,
know," Bauman said. Robison gathered his gang tostcal
“He's one of the most pleasant: the jewelry and leave no wit-
individuals you're ever likely to nesses. The
. ford’s house about sundown.

Robison was convicted with
Johnny Gillum and William Starr the house while
Jordan of the June 12, 1980, mur- lookout, Burns said. z

quest a new execution date, which
the Stephens County judge will
determine Thursday.

Attorney Bauman maintains
Robison is innocent.

“It almost sounds like Ton
Burns was there,” Bauman said,
In fact, Robison was unconscious
in the back of the car when the
crimes occurred, Bauman said.

The only evidence tying Robi-
son to the crime is circumstantial,
confusing and tainted with prose-
Cutorial misconduct and Sloppy
police work, he said. :

One witness who claimed to put
Robison at the scene of the crime
only remembered what she saw
after being hypnotized, Bauman
said.

Robison’s trial attorney was in-
experienced and failed to put on

witnesses to try to mitigate the

death sentence attempt, although
such witnesses were available,
Bauman said. Fo oe.
Those witnesses, he said, could
have included relatives of the vic-
tims who were willing to say they

didn’t believe Robison was guilty -

and that he should not be execut-
ed

But Burns said Robison re-
ceived a fair trial, and was guilty.
“There's not any doubt about it in
my mind,” he said. - |

@
y Visible to Pro

With stecl-blue €yes and scrag- ders of Averil Joan Bourque, Julic
ely long brown hair, Robisoneven Sheila Lovejoy and Nobert Leon
resembled Manson at his trial, Swinford.

Burns said. : Robison had met Bourque in a
Unfair, says attorney Randy nearby bar about a month before.
parole board, a series of well-cov- Bauman, who represents Robi- Bourque, a nati
ered final-days court battles and son.
several interviews, Robison's
case has passed largely unnoted.

Burns remembers.

“I think he’s right there with
Charles Manson,” said Burns, the
Stephens County district attorney mect.”
who prosecuted Robison. “He was
really into manipulating and con-

trolling peopic.”

ve of England, had
E gold jewelry and

@ang arrived at Swin-

Robison and Gillum broke into

secutor, Defender

Robison killed Lovejoy with a
single shot to the head from a
-380-caliber pistol, Burns Said.

nouraee and Swinford tried to
barricade themselves In a bed-
room, but Robison and Gillum
broke in.

According to Robison’'s ac. -

counts, Bourque apparently had a
Small pistol pointed at the pair,
Burns said.

‘The bitch didn't have the
nerve to shoot,” Robison bragged,
Burns said testimony showed.

Swinford wrestled with Robi-
son, but the killer managed (o fire

, ro

7)
Fei

J»
o

a fatal shot into his side.

Robison apparently held ¢
to Bourque’s mouth and den
ed she tell him where the eis
was while Gillum ransacker
ouse,

Robison shot Bourque tr
head and body, Burns said
apparently sent Gillum inte
room later to finish off the ki
with a .22-caliber pistol, E
said.

Ironically, the gold jewelr-
€ang wanted was found u

See Killer on A-20

Robison’s
Death Set
March 13

: By John Greiner
: Capitol Bureau
' A Stephens County
judge Thursday or-
dered Olan Randle
Robison to die on Fri-
day the 13th of March
for killing two women
and a man whose bod.
jes were discovered
Friday the 13th of
June 1980.
’ District Judge
George Lindley set the
execution for 6 a.m. at
the state penitentiary
at McAlester,
Robison, 46, was con-
victed of first-degree.
‘murder and sentenced
to die for the shooting
deaths of Averil Joan
Bourque, Julie Sheila
‘Lovejoy and Robert
Leon Swinford during
a robbery near Velma.
After the U.S. Su.
‘Preme Court rejected
Robison’s latest ap-
peal, an application to
Set a new execution
date was filed with
Lindley by Attorney
General Susan Loving
‘and District Attorney
Gene Christian.
+ They asked the Judge
to set the date on
March 13, which is 60
days from the time the
high court denied Rob.
Ison’s request to re-
id his case on ap-

peal.

When the application
to set the execution
date was filed Jan. 29,
Loving said Robison
brutally murdered two
women and a man.

“It was a ruthless
and senseless crime,
certainly one deserv-
ing of the death penal-
ty,” she said.

The presiding dis-
trict judge Thursday
morning rejected a de-
fense motion that
Lindley be removed
from the case, __.
- Although Robison’s
attorney has an.
nounced his intent to
file appeals to the
death sentence, Chris.
tian said the inmate is
entitled to no further
considerat}

LP: A / > THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONAL TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 1992
Y ; 33

a
f

Family Gives Up. Effort to Block Autopsy of Executed Killer |pisic meres in eration, he sé a
= Se Pega Ee eee ae eae x: ae. ie __ | the cause of death should be obvious. es
‘ = ; Fe ; nay - “It’s ludicrous to say we don’t know.

suit to stop the autopsy. in the new |Deen to spare his wife and three sons. | What the capse of death is,” Mr. Bau-
ky - After the autopsy, Mr. -Robison’s | Man said. \ aa
yody was taken.to a funeral.home in| Mr. Robison was executed for the

peep itn

Special to The New York Times Mr. Robison’s family filed a lawsuit to |>™" 0.

_ OKLAHOMA CITY, March 23 — The ber yap ese wen = odes Pon roaraday before action had been
ily 1 i -yn.| before the execution, a temporary re- , CTA 201 ‘ : , :
tom pap the scel pal Steen: straining. order bereing the “Autopsy taken-in the ‘second. suif;¢the family arlow, 77 miles away, for cremation. | slayings of two people in Velma, 90
ing an autopsy on his body last week was issued by Judge Robert Layden of decided to end the legal effort. A law- i ‘State law requires that the state | miles south of Oklahoma City, during:a
because of the turmoil it was causing | Pittsburg County District Ciiirt in Mc- |¥°e, 208 He family, Randy Bauman, }Medical examiner & office investigate | robbery he committed with two other
‘ 5 e |said:that the effort had:caused the eaths that occur inside prisons. Law- people. He also received a death*sen-

tam eee Olan Randle Robison, had Alester, site of the state:prison. | family to cancel a memorial service jyers for the Oklahoma Attorney Gen- |tence for the murder of a third person
initiated the effort because he scanned Second Suit Initiated and that the relatives wereipnous to |éral, Susan Loving, argued that no in-|in the same crime, but on appea]that
: After the execution, Mr. Robison’s. honor another ‘of Mr. Robison’s re- iestigation would be complete without sentence was commuted to life.in pris-

= SRS eee a pute death by |body. was put in refrigerated storage | quests, that his-body be cremated. in autopsy, and the Deputy Chief Medi- | OM oi is Saniisaies
lethal ‘injection. on March 13 for the | before the state moved it to Oklahoma | It was just taking too 46ng to get |! al Examiner,’ Robert Hemphill, said. Mr. ‘Robison ‘Said he was ‘“‘responsi-
slayings of two people in 1980:, He had City, site of-the medical examiner's |this resolved,” Mr.:Baumanjsaid. “The is office would not sign a death certifi- | ble,”” but not guilty of the killings. He
asked for an exception to Oklahoma’s. office. Judge Layden permitted the family needed to put this “behind |Cate without an autopsy... argued that while he may have told his
practice of ordering autopsies after Lmove on the condition that the state not them. ep: oBte pes? “Mr. Bauman argued that the law | two co-defendants how to get to -the
deatlis that occur in state prisons. proceed with the autopsy. But the Robi- | Mr. Bauman said Mr. Robigon’s pur- |Pequired capi patie segs abevrn needed to red 1 ee petro had not shot the
i The state. declined the request, and son family was forced to file a second | pose in trying/0 Stop the autopsy had Beermine ¢ ie caune of death and when |t <r Poe e who died.

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AMAZING DETECTIVE CASES

“To fight it out, man to man?”

“That’s right.”

“A mighty sneaking way you had,
going after midnight and breaking
into the house so quiet that he didn’t
even hear you. Then shooting him
in the dark, without giving him a
chance. Man to man, eh?’ Relent-
lessly, Savage was breaking down
any attempt on Rowan’s part to claim
self-defense.

Rowan made a complete statement.
He said that he had hidden the guns
he stole from Rode near the railroad
track, with tha exception of the ones
he pawned. Late on the night of the
killing, he took the other guns in a
sack—the one the posse had found
while trailing him—and had gone to
Gentry’s house.

“Vd got a dollar for the gun,” he
said, “and I bought some liquor with
it. I was pretty drunk when I went
to Gentry’s. I peeked in the window
but I couldn’t see anybody. I slipped
the lock on the door and went inside.
I felt bad and I laid down on the
floor and went to sleep. The kid
woke me up with its racket and it
scared me. I jumped up shooting.”

Mrs. Gentry branded as a flat lie
Rowan’s story of quarreling with
Gentry. ‘Roy never had any trouble

that Constable Pennecuick was espe-
cially assigned to the investigation. He
came to his new post with a reputa-
tion for tenacity and outstanding
ability to follow up the slightest clue.
Sergeant Holmes under whose charge
he was, explained that it would be
necessary to build up an airtight case
against O’Brien within the limited
time of six months, as they could
not possibly hold O’Brien longer than
that. Constable Pennecuick nodded
and went to work.

‘For the next few days, during every
hour of the daylight, Constable Pen-
necuick traveled the face of the river
in the vicinity of where the three
missing men had last been sighted,
scrutinizing both banks hard for signs
of tracks. One morning, at a point
about ‘six miles above Fussell’s road-
house, the last stopping place where
Relfe, Clayton and Olsen had stayed,
he thought he distinguished faint
footmarks leading up from the ice.
Several falls of snow had occurred
since the murders but still Constable
Pennecuick thought there were foot-
prints under the fresh white blanket
and started to follow them.

Once within the shelter of the trees
his hunch was rewarded. Here and
there where the trail was protected
by over-hanging branches he saw the
distinct footprints of a man, the
tracks both coming and going. He
climbed the small hill, following the
blurred tracks.

Reaching the crest of the hill he
discovered that he could get an un-
obstructed view of the Yukon in both
directions. And then he saw the rea-

son. Small trees had been deliber-
| ately cut down by someone so as to
' provide that unobstructed view. Why

936 W. 63rd Street, Dept. 43-D Chicago, Itiiots | WOUld anyone do that in such an out

with him,” she declared. “He would
have told® me. He was quiet and
peace loving, and it always worried
him if he thought he’d made someone
sore at him. He’d have said some-
thing.”

Later Rowan _ switched _ stories,
claiming that he used to sleep in the
house occupied by the Gentrys, when
it was empty. “I thought it was still
empty,” he declared. “It was cold
and I was drunk, and I just went in
there to sleep.”

The officers believed Rowan to be
lying, that he had simply been prowl-
ing at Gentry’s and fearing discovery
had murdered the popular young
farmer in cold blood, without giving
him a chance for his life.

The court believed the same, for
on January J, 1935, a jury found
Rowan guilty/ without recommenda-
tion of mercy and he was promptly
sentenced tg/die in the electric chair
March 15,/1935. An appeal failed,
and the ath sentence was upheld,
July 19, 1935. Late that same year,
at the Oklahoma State Prison, Mc-
Alester, Rowan was duly executed.

e
(The name Hugh Rode is fictitious
to save an innocent person embar-
rassment.)

BLOODY BOOTY OF THE

YUKON KILLER

(Continued from page 27)

of the way spot? The logical answer
was a holdup man watching for trav-

‘elers along the ice. Constable Pen-
necuick found further proof of this
conviction in that, .on carefully ex-
amining the recently-cut trees, he
noted that all had been felled with
the same axe, the marks in the wood
showing that in every case the blade
that did the work had three flaws in
it—two nicks at the top and one near
the bottom.

Standing there atop the hill, €on-
stable Pennecuick mentally pieced to-
gether his version of the case. It was
obvious that someone had used this
observation post in order to keep
track of the traffic along the river
trail. Relfe, Clayton and Olsen could
have been sighted a considerable dis-
tance away, allowing the murderer
plenty of time to hide himself on the
river bank.

But it was most unlikely, Penne-
cuick reasoned, that the killing took
place on the ice, where other travel-
lers were likely to come along. The
logical surmise was that the three
men had been driven into the shelter
of the woods and there shot.

Working on this theory, Pennecuick
began to search for traces of a track
leading from somewhere close by in
the direction of the river. It took

skilful work to discover this, the track
being by now so faint that it would
have been indiscernible to other than

a highly-trained tracker.

Once he had ascertained its general
direction it was not hard to follow,
for it led practically straight to the
the bank,
it disappeared beneath the storm-
Pennecuick,
now Satisfied that he was on the right
track, went back to the Tagish bar-

bend of the river., Reachin

piled snow on the ice.

racks for a |

The next |
the job. Re
he calculate
woods reac
menced to sj
away from
the hope th
stains or ot

missing me
And luck \
O’Brien hac
ried his vic
hole in the
crime, the
warm, and
O’Brien had
melted their

Before tl
followed, th
had frozen
necuick, af
dous amour
molds and }
had been lai
just as clea
been made.
necuick arr}
over hole i
theory as to

From the
other indica’
ice, he was
ever that th

lace on the

ad chosen
place for hi
to the top of
sweeping an
further clue;

For four 1
he swept an
ing any fur
dinary man
up as hopele
Pennecuick
of the word
that he wa:
kept on in
and aching
ward. As
covered a lz
Further swe
pool.

Dropping
dug down
frozen blood
gold-filled t
splintered b
covered a «
suggested to
victim had
one bullet a
bullet while
wounded.

Before he
stable Penne
other pools
accounting -
In each case
lets beneath
bits of smas!
matter.

But still «
ver bullets |
ishing shots,
had been :

were rewarc
feet from th

_ small brancl

nicked by a
have been :
killed Clayt
from the h
Pennecuick

opr
at, °
SABRA ieee Steve, white, elece Okla. (Coal) March 17, 1922 ..

mee its work 0: destrac: -
hone eat within .:
; seconds me

* ;
Ange! hae a r nat

THE LOS ANGELES EXAMINER, 20 September 1935, Friday, page 1.

TRIO ELECTROCUTED
Three Oklahoma Killers Executed

McALESTER, Okla. (Friday), Sept. 20.—(A.P.)—

capcnacicieipan:

were electrocuted at the state penitentiary here early today.
They were Chester | t, ac- 9°"

a ee ee ee to pus~jin a “crime ring,” and Alfred
affair with . “another ‘Rowan, a Negro, convicted of
leon’ Bum Eiley, who econ-.!slaying a relief worker.

Three convieted mufderers—two accused of triple killings— !

9 aoa

{ect De tecatis Die ties oh fessed he. killed. three partners |

| shots, and they’re
‘Y, afoot. They’re
sot them, now. Give
pty.”
iy shotgun into the
nd Cochran handed
we had with us.
“Guess what they
They were down
with a blanket
the bank money.
ht they’d given us
‘hey thought they
lowed.”
out and headed it
struck out across
posse. As we re-
ld see those afoot
ck bottom, drawn
tots exchanged by
“They can get
ug that draw, and
conjectured, “but
. they'll be in the
‘T, we’ve got them
way.”
‘small farmhouse,
“home of a Mexi-
‘rano, I saw Tete
1 Deeds, of Elgin,
ae banker, stand-
Joe Bailey, talk-
Tete called out,
‘wo men and two
z east, just a few

ze from here?”
ie tg

. “You ean see

es. They didn’t

they’d have run

far,” I assured

they had found

uiley found
laven when
both sides

STER DETECTIVE

some methoe"of disappearing, at least
temporarily. They might, Cochran
pointed out, be lying low in a ditch. We
joined other members of the posse and
resumed the search. For two hours we
continued to hunt, futilely, combing over
and over again the area from which it
seemed the quartet could not possibly
have escaped. At length, we met Wilson
and his party again, and Tete said, per-
plexedly, “It’s got me stopped. They
must have sprouted wings.”

“TT’S a mystery how they ever got past
that first farmhouse,” Cochran com-
mented.

Tete stared at him, his eyes narrowing.
“You mean the Medrano house? Say,
do you know, there might be something
funny there. That woman looked scared
to death. I thought it was because there
were so many officers around, but it
could have been something else. Come
to think of it, she kept the door closed,
and it’s pretty warm today. I’m going
back there.”

Cochran and I followed Wilson’s auto,
but we stopped for a moment to explain
to another carload of officers where we
were headed, and when we drew up on
the highway before the small farmhouse
again, Wilson was already in the yard.
He was talking to a slim, dark-complex-
ioned woman who held a baby in her
arms. Just behind him stood Deeds,
Bailey and Stephens. We could not hear
what they were saying, but I could see
the woman shaking her head, negatively.
Suddenly she gave a scream and darted
into the yard toward a small barn, carry-
ing the child.

“There’s something screwy going on
there,” I told Cochran.

As we climbed from the car, Wilson

acne EEL

When his brother was slain by the
bank bandits, D. Arthur Wilson
(above) joined the first posse out

yoveMBER, 1940

J. E. Tete Wilson (right) is shown
here with his son in a photo taken
shortly before his death

walked into the doorway of the house,
followed by Deeds. I shouted at them
to wait, but they apparently didn’t. hear
me. Bailey and Stephens went toward
the doorway, too, but then we heard a
rattling burst of gunfire from inside the
house, followed closely by another. Deeds
came staggering out, and half fell into
the shelter of a truck that stood in the
yard.

“They’re in there,” he gasped.

The firing continued, and a bullet whis-
tled past my head. I ducked behind the
open door of the ear. Tsaw Bailey drop
flat on the ground outside the house, and
the banker dashed for the shelter of the
truck. As he ran, a veritable hail of
fire began from the field behind the
house. I realized that the posse, con-
verging on the place, believed the bankex
to be one of the bandits, and were shoot-
ing at him.

1 climbed into my ear, started the mo-
tor, and with a quick twist of the sieer-
ing wheel shot (he machine into Che yor
and close to the house. 1 could see mem-
bers of the (Continued on page 70)

Partner in crime with Siler was

Charlie Sands, half breed) Tndian.

He knew penitentiaries and didn’t
want to go back to one

OUR customers moved leisurely

about in the lobby of the Bank of

Elgin, Oklahoma. Evelyn Ezell,

teller, smiled a cheery greeting at
a customer as she pushed greenbacks
through the wicket of her little cage.
The customer made a cordial reply, and
was picking up the bills, when a male
voice rasped harshly:

“All right, everybody, stand where you
are, and don’t move.”

They turned to face the speaker, a
dark, unshaven man of rough appear-
ance. Across his arm he held a sawed-
off shotgun, and the coldness of his eyes
warned that the vicious looking weapon
would spit leaden death at the slightest
move from any of them.

A second man, also roughly dressed,
and wearing a heavy growth of beard,
stood just behind him brandishing a pis-
tol. The bandit with the shotgun, ap-
parently the leader, commanded:

“You get the money. I’ll watch these
guys. All of you,” he motioned with the
gun, “get to the back of the room and
line up. Come on, move, or I'll start
shooting.”

It was just then that Bailey Stephens,
president of the little bank, entered by
the street door. He stopped short, star-
ing in amazement at the sinister scene
being enacted there. The bandit leader
snapped, “You, too, mister. Line up
over there with the rest of ’em.”

As Stephens obeyed, the second robber,
a slight, blond youth, darted forward in-
to the teller’s cage and began scooping
up silver and bills, stuffing them into a

ag.

“You fellows can’t get away with
this,” Stephens exclaimed angrily.

“Think we can’t?” The bandit smiled
grimly at him. “And just who are
you?”

“T’m the president of this bank.”

The dark outlaw chuckled, a laugh
that did not change the ugly expression
of his eyes. “That’s fine. You ought to
come in mighty handy.” He queried his
partner, “Got it all there? Then let’s
get out of here. Come on, Mister Bank
President, you can see us to our ear. If
any one tries to keep us from making a
getaway, we'll shoot you first. Has every-
one got that straight?”

The trio went out of the doorway, one
bandit clutching the bag with the money,

RIMSON TRAIL OF

Ma ste

the other keeping the deadly shotgun
trained on Bailey Stephens. A black car
was parked at the curb, the motor run-
ning. Two women sat inside. Quickly,
the thugs climbed in, leaving Stephens
in the dusty street.

“You'd better just stand here for a
few minutes,” ordered the spokesman.
“T can hit you as far as I.can see to
shoot at- you, so don’t try anything
funny.” The last words were shouted
at Stephens as the black car roared away
in a cloud of dust.

At nine-thirty on that same May
morning of 1935, in the County Sheriff’s
office at Lawton, we. had received an
urgent telephone message from Fletcher,
another small Comanche County town,

A?
t- A-C=

ec, OK (Comanche) on

By UNperRSHERIFF

OTIS
WALDRON

CoMANCHE COUNTY
OKLAHOMA
AAs TOLD To

Ae Le COVERT

near Elgi
had held
car after
daughter
of a schor
This in
taneously
and Char!
Kiowa In
tor questi:
Loper, p«
believed
had been
men, thot
convicts,

NOVEMBERL,

Koo. (71FO

MASTER DETECTIVE

‘SHERIFF
'§
20ON
CouNTy
MA
>TO.

VERT

STER DETECTIVE

Ruby Herring (opposite page) and Phyllis Siler (above) toyed with
manslaughter when they joined forces with two Oklahoma bad men

near Elgin. Two men and two women
had held up a motorist and stolen his
car after forcing him, his wife and small
daughter into a storm cellar in the yard
of a school building, and tying them.
This information came almost simul-
tuncously with a report that Leon Siler
and Charlie S.)s, the latter a half-breed
Kiowa Indias, ooh ex-convicts wanted
for questioning in the shooting of George
Loper, policeman, at Pauls Valley, were
believed to be in the vicinity. Loper
had been shot the night before by two
men, thought to have been the two ex-
convicts, as he approached the car in

NOVEMBER, 1940

which they sat, in an unlighted district
of the town. There had been no: ap-
parent motive for the shooting, and offi-
cers were working on the theory that the
car the killers had was a stolen one, and
that they feared Loper was approaching
to question them concerning it.

When we got the call from Fletcher,
Deputy Joe Bailey told me, “I’ll bet you
the two men who held up that fellow are
Siler, and Sands. That’s just about the
sort. of stunt.they used to pull.”

Sands’ home was at Fletcher, where
he resided with his mother, Mrs. Lizzie
Hopkins, a full-blooded Kiowa, and Me-

Usable

Ah-IXo, his grandmother. Leon Siler lived
at Seminole, where he had a young wife.
His mother and father also lived there.

We had been informed that the two
intended to go to their homes. “They
probably abandoned their own car for
fear it would link them with the Pauls
Valley killing,” commented the deputy.

Both men, we knew, had done time at
McAlester Penitentiary for grand. lar-
ceny, and their reputation among law
officers was bad.

“Tf this is Siler and Sands, they sure
aren’t losing any time,” Bailey added.
“They haven’t been out of the pen long.
Sands just got out day before yesterday.”

We were in Fletcher for perhaps an
hour, going out from the small town to
the highway where the bandits had aban-
doned their own car, stuck in a mud-
hole. Thus it was nearly noon when we
returned to Fletcher, to be greeted by
the news that the Elgin bank had been
robbed. Our informant said two men
and two women had been in the stickup.
About $600 had been taken.

“Looks as if we were right,” I ob-
served. “Our bad boys are on the job.
Well, we'd better head for Elgin. They
may be needing us there.”

As the car sped out of Fletcher, Bailey
commented, “This is Sands’ home
town, and Elgin is only four miles away.
If he is one of the bandits, he hasn’t
much regard for home-folks. You’d think
those boys would let well-enough alone.
Siler was doing a five-vear stretch and
got time off for good behavior, or some-
thing. Sands is a two-time loser down
there. They evidently didn’t learn much
In prison, or maybe they learned the
wrong things.”

We heard in Elgin that a general radio
alarm had been sent out from Lawton
by Chief of Police D. Moncrief, Jr., and
that already state roads were blocked
and word received that officers from
other counties, also on the lookout for
the Pauls Valley shivers, were converging
on the area. A plane from Lawton,
piloted by Douglas Soper, local flver, and
carrying a member of the Sheriff's force,
had arrived and was combing the vicin-
ity. A second plane, radio equipped, was
being sent down from Oklahoma County
by Sheriff Stanley Rogers.

We talked briefly with Miss Ezell, the

THE FATAL FOURSOME

Leon Siler was the blond

desperado about whom cen-

tered one of Oklahoma's
greatest manhunts

pretty teller. She described the bandits
intelligently, and from her description,
Bailey and I felt more certain than ever
that the outlaws were Siler and Sands.

“But who are the women?” Bailey
wondered. “The last reports we had of
them, there weren’t any women with
them.”

“Siler has a wife at Seminole,” I told
him, “and Sands probably has a girl-
friend here, although he isn’t married.”

“Well, whoever they are,” asserted
Bailey, “they couldn’t have got into
worse company. Those boys are plenty
tough.”

MSs EZELL pointed out the highway
taken by fugitives and pursuers, and
we set out in that direction. About eight
miles southeast of Elgin, we encountered
an automobile carrying W. E. Agee, Tom
Miller and George Catron, from the
Oklahoma County office, and C. D. Coch-
ran, Special Agent for the Frisco rail-
way. We greeted them with some sur-
prise, because the robbery was less than
three hours old, and they would have
had to travel at least sixty miles to reach
the seene. I said as much to Agee.

He told me, grinning, “Oh, we heard
the radio broadcast that Moncrief sent
out from Lawton. We knew they thought
it was those two fellows from Pauls
Valley, and we've been looking for them,
too. There’s officers from four counties
back there now.”

From the standpoint of a law officer,
that was a manhunt to remember. By
one o’clock in the afternoon the posse
included officers from eight counties. I
learned that among them was my own
good friend, J. E. “Tete” Wilson, under-
sheriff in Grady County. There were a
large number of farmers in the posse,
too, rallied by Conway Garner, member

of the Lawton patrol, who had gone
about the countryside, warning residents
of the section to watch their. cars, in the
event the bandits made an attempt to
exchange machines again.

My superior, Sheriff Fritz McCarty,
warned us, “Be careful if you come up
on these boys. They won’t stop at any-
thing, and if they are the Pauls Valley
murderers, they will be more dangerous
than ever.”

“They were sure in a hurry to get rid
of that ear,” remarked Cochran. “They
vot it before the bank robbery, so evi-
dently it was already hot.”

“Well, just be careful,” warned Sheriff
MeCarty again. “If they’ve already
killed one officer, they wouldn’t mind an-
other or two.”

Until about two o’clock, we cruised
section lines, questioning occupants of
the farmhouses we passed. Bailey had
vone with Garner, whom we had met
earlier in the afternoon, and Cochran,
the Frisco officer, was now riding in my
var. We had covered many square miles,
and had combed every inch of the land.

Cochran remarked, “Between the offi-
vers in ears, and the possemen working
the fields along the creek bottom, we’re
covering every square inch of the ground.
With the highways blocked for miles
around, it’s a cinch they ean’t even leave
the county, unless they fly.”

Suddenly, as we rode along, we heard
faint bursts of gunfire. “They must have
cornered them!” Cochran exclaimed.
“Those shots came from the east. Let’s
vet over there.”

We went racing back along the high-
way. Near the creek bridge, we met
Garner. He was running, and he waved
us down, shouting, “I ran into them,
down on the creek. They’ve abandoned

First to sight the fugitives after
their holdup of the Bank of Elgin
was Patrolman Conway Garner

their car. We traded shots, and they’re
trying for a getaway, afoot. “They’re
headed cast. We've got them, now. Give
me a gun, mine’s empty.”

He tossed his empty shotgun into the
rear seat of the car, and Cochran handed
him the machine-gun we had with us.
Garner grinned at me. “Guess what they
were doing down there. They were down
on the creek bank, with a blanket
spread out, counting the bank money.
Evidently they thought they’d given us
the shake, or else they thought they
weren’t even being followed.”

I swung the car about and headed it
east again, as Garner struck out across
the field to rejoin the posse. As we re-
traced our route, I could see those afoot
emerging from the creek bottom, drawn
by the sound of the shots exchanged by
Garner and the bandits. “They can get
out of the lowlands along that draw, and
may not be seen,” | conjectured, “but
after they top that-hill, they’ll be in the
clear. Garner was right, we’ve got them
now. They can’t get away.”

As we passed the first small farmhouse,
which I knew to be the home of a Mexi-
can family named Medrano, I saw Tete
Wilson, Constable Ralph Deeds, of Elgin,
and Bailey Stephens, the banker, stand-
ing near the road with Joe Bailey, talk-
ing. We stopped, and Tete called out,
“The woman here says two men and two
women passed here, going east, just a few
moments ago.”

“Where could they go from here?”
asked Cochran, puzzled. “You can see
in every direction for miles. They didn’t
go back to the ereek, or they’d have run
into the posse.”

“Well, they won’t go far,” I assured
him.

Apparently, however, they had found

Deputy Sheriff Joe Bailey found
a stone foundation no haven when
bullets whistled in from both sides

MASTER DETECTIVE

: _—

some methocs:
temporarily.
pointed out, b«
joined other
resumed the s
continued to hi
and over agal!
seemed the q!
have escaped.
and Iis party
plexedly, “1h
must have sp!

“TPS aamyst
that first
mented.

Tete stared
“You mean ?
do you know,
funny there.
to death. It
were so Miu
could have ty
to think of 1
and it’s pret!
back there.”

Cochran a
but we stop]
to another ¢.
were headed.
the highway
again, Wilso:
Ho was talk:
ioned wom
arms. Jus!

sailey and >
what they

the woman >

Suddenly =!

into the yar

ine the cli
“There's
there,’ I to
As we ¢

Whe
ban!
(ab

XOVEMP

to bullet hole in the
t and his wife killed.

irt went in the bedroom,
ith Ruth in front of him,
her robe. Her eyes. were
|. Reggie was afraid she’d
t they say,” he told her,
vt touch us. They just
wnstairs. It’ll be over in

one was poking his re-
e’s back. “Get the keys,

AN'S MEMORIES.

and.let’s go..I don’t wanna hang around.”
He put on his shoes, and got the store
keys, At the doorway, he’ glanced ‘back.
Ruth was sitting down and the fat man’s
gun was leveled on her. The gun looked
. like a twin to the one his partner used. °
Small caliber revolvers. He went down
the stairs and outside.
. He was alert, absorbing everything he
saw about the two men. He looked for
their car, knowing they wouldn’t have
walked out of town to commit a rob-
bery. They couldn’t get away on foot.
But he saw no vehicle parked on the lot:
in front of the store. A heavy south-
bound truck thundered along the high-
way past: them.
This was Route 277-281, the main
road south into Texas. With a fast car,
the thieves could’ be across Red River
and out of the state 45 minutes after
leaving the store. Reggie unlocked the
front door and the skinny stranger fol-
lowed him inside.

E moved quickly between the coun-
ters: of GI goods, leading the way

to the office in the southeast: corner of
the building, directly under the apart-
ment.—He-was..hurrying,-eager-to_hand__
over the money, because he didn’t want
Ruth alone up there with the fat gun-
man any longer than necessary. With a .
second key, he unlocked the office door.
Quickly, he opened the safe.

Keiningham had told him what to do
in case of a holdup. They’d worked out
a good plan. With a night deposit sys-
tem at a local. bank, they could deposit
large sums of money after the bank
closed. But some of the ‘surplus goods
were expensive and they had to keep
money for early morning purchases and
making change. Most of it was hidden
in the office. But to throw off thieves,
they’d put some money in the safe. That
was what Reggie was supposed to hand
over. He took a sack from the safe.

* “Put it on the table,” the skinny one
3 ordered.

ag Reggie emptied the safe of loose
Re change, small bills and rolls of half dol-
lars, quarters and dimes. It made an im-
posing pile on the table and the ginman’
aay seemed satisfied. He took Reggie’s keys
and dropped them in his pocket. Then
he ordered him outside and upstairs.

At the foot of the stairs, Reggie
glanced around the corner of the build-
r ing. The south side was empty but he
og could see the (Continued on page 80)

| OF A NIGHT OF HORROR

Hale and Jailor Bennie Wallis,

Captain Waldron holds keys recovered from Pillow ca
With him, 1. toir., Detective Davis,

Suspects, left, showed remorse when questioned by

right, in the Com

se in Lawton home.

Agent Lovett, Detective Stout.

Sheriff Everett R.
anche County Jail.

MART

RIL 8, 1958

den in the darkness
lock the store. For an
that he was not alone.
is shoulder, across the
: lot, but all he saw
f pavement: reflecting
ights. He checked the
g row of plate glass
r displays of military
ends. Ruth and the

for him upstairs. He-

way door at the south
g.

quiet. Highway traffic
re had dwindled to an

~ tits :§ * se én ey,

Tals eS

eae

+ Mattel ee,

* 4 anne

Spence, left, and Oxendine knew they needed money to keep moving, but sa

id they hadn’t planned to kill for it.

HE CRAWLED TO HIS WIFE'S BODY, THE ROAR OF SIX SHOTS STILL
RINGING IN HIS EARS AND A NUMBNESS MOVING INTO HIS CHEST

occasional night-driving truck. Huge
“Surplus City” reared its rectangular
shape on the flat, dark prairie like a mis-
placed elephant. North and east ofthe
building, the lights of Lawton, Okla.,
glowed in the misty sky. Assistant Man-
ager Reggi¢é Zimmerman climbed the
stairs to his living quarters.

His four-month-old son was asleep
and Ruth was getting ready for bed.
Reggie got a snack from the refrigerator
and Ruth joined him at the kitchen
table. They whispered so they wouldn’t
wake the baby.

“Mr. Keiningham left while I was

locking up,” Reggie said. ‘He checked
the lot and behind the building for
prowlers.”

“Why?” Her small face clouded.
“Have you seen prowlers?”

He shook his head and tried to laugh.
“No, of course not.” ;

He didn’t know why he’d: mentioned

it. Manager Kenny Keiningham always.

drove around the building before. going
home. There was nothing about this
night that was any different from other
nights, Reggie reminded himself. Except

that it was the evening before ‘April _

Fool’s Day, and you can’t tell.

For seven months, the young Zim-
mermans had lived in the apartment
over, Surplus City. Assistant manager
was an excellent position _for a 22-year-
old man and Reggie knew it. A lot of

‘men his age were out hunting jobs. But

he’d been lucky and quick to learn.
He’d married Ruth in Missouri 18
months ago, when:she was only 18 years
old. She still looked like a teenager who
belonged in a pony tail and bobby socks.
He knew he looked young, too, with his
full cheeks, curly dark hair and a dim-
ple in his chin. But the new baby and

‘ the new job with its responsibilities had

continued on next page

os ee

SPENCE, Jamés,

searched his memory for clues that led officers to the suspects.

wh, elec. OK® (Cotton) August 31, 1960

Eyes still reflecting the shock of Ruth’s senseless seurder, . Reggie

MY GOD,
HES

EMPTIED

THE
WHOLE
CUP

by JERRY SMART

LAWTON, OKLA., APRIL 8, 1958

@ Something hidden in the darkness
was watching him lock the store. For an
instant, he sensed that he was not alone.
_ He glanced over his shoulder, across the
customers’. parking lot, but all he saw
was the ribbon of pavement: reflecting
the store’s night lights. He checked the
locks and the long row of plate glass
windows with their displays of military
Surplus odds and ends. Ruth and the
baby were waiting for him upstairs. He-
: walked to the stairway door at the south
end. of the building.
The night was quiet. Highway traffic
in front of the store had dwindled to an

FRONT PAGE DETECTIVE,
July, 1958

HE CR
RINGII

occasional
“Surplus C
shape on th
placed elep
building, t!
glowed in t!
ager Reggi
stairs to hi:
. His four
and Ruth
Reggie got
and Ruth
table. They
wake the b
“Mr. Ke

matured both of them. Lately, they’d
talked in terms of coming years, about
their future as a settled family. At a lit-
tle past 9:30, they turned out the lights
and went to bed.
Between awareness and sleep, Reggie

heard a rapping sound. He hadn’t been °

asleep long enough to dream, yet he
wasn’t sure he’d really heard anything.
He opened his eyes and blinked in the
darkness. It came again, someone bang-
ing on the door between his living room
and the stairway.

He thought, “It’s Keiningham. I won-
der why he came back. Maybe he forgot
to tell me something he wants done
early tomorrow.”

He swung his legs out of bed and pad-
ded barefoot to the door. He turned on
the living room light, unlocked the door
and swung it open.

"THE stranger was thin, almost emaci-

ated; with the pale brown skin of an
Indian or a Spaniard. His brown sport
coat sagged from his bony shoulders, his
heavy-lidded black-brown eyes gleamed
from under his snap brim. brown hat.
His left hand, wrapped in a handker-
chief, held the door knob. His right
hand gripped a shiny revolver. .

Reggie Zimmerman stepped back.

“What’s the deal, here? What do you -

want?”

“Just be still. Be quiet. You won’t get'
hurt.”

He moved into the room, backing
Reggie to a wall. Reggie shook his head,
bewildered. “Is this your idea of a joke?
April Fool’s Day isn’t until tomorrow.”

“Shut up.” 5

Reggie persisted. “Look, boy, I don’t
know what your beef is, but I’ve got a
wife and baby up here. You can either

put down that gun or leave my house.” .

The stranger hesitated. He seemed
confused. He glanced out a window.
Reggie thought of jumping him, but he
looked at the revolver and decided the

- odds were too high ‘against him. He

heard footsteps on the stairs:
In a moment; a second man appeared

in the doorway. This one was as short |

as the first one, but much heavier, al-
most fat. He wore a bright yellow: shirt
and no hat. His skin was as white as the
Latin’s was dark. His receding dark hair
was combed straight back and oiled
slick against his head. His wide mouth
was set in a straight line and there was
no confusion or indecision in his eyes or

POLICE ONLY HAD SIX SLUGS TO GO ON, AND A MAN'S MEMORIES 2

Kenny Keiningham, Surplus City manager, points to bullet hole in the

wall of closet where Reggie Zimmerman was shot and his wife killed.

gun hand, He took over the command.
The skinny one whispered, “He says

his wife’s in there.”

Yellow shirt barked, “Okay. Take him

downstairs. I’ll bring her in here. He’ll

do what you tell him, because I’ll have
this gun on her all the time.”

Reggie choked back his anger. He
knew now that the only thing to do was

give them what they wanted. They had.

him, Yellow shirt went in the bedroom,

_and came out with Ruth in front of him.

She’d put on her robe. Her eyes were
wide and scared. Reggie was afraid she’d
faint. “Do what they say,” he told her,
“and they won’t touch us. They just
want what’s downstairs. It'll be over in
a few minutes.”

The skinny one was poking his re-
volver in Reggie’s back. “Get the keys,

and let
He ;
keys. /
Ruth v
gun we
like a
Small
the sta
He \
saw ab
their c
walked
bery. 1
But he
in fror
bound
way pa
This
road sc
the thi
and ou
leaving
front c
lowed |!

HE:

te:
to the
the bu

--» ment.

over th
Ruth a
man ar
second
Quickly

Kein
in case
a good
tem at
large s
closed.
were e
money
making
in the
they’d
was wi
over. F

“Put
orderec

Regg
change,
lars, qu
posing
seemed
and dr
he orde

At t

glanced

Metadata

Containers:: Box 32 (2-Documentation of Executions), Folder 16
Resource Type:: Document
Description:: Olan R. Robinson executed on 1992-03-13 in Oklahoma (OK)
Rights:: In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Date Uploaded:: July 3, 2019

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