The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1895-08-16
Frank Milestone and kid"
Moore Arrested.
CHARGED WITH FOUL MURDER.
George h. Clacking, Burned in the
PendletOn Fire the SuppOs-
ed Victim:
STRUNG UP AT ELLENsBuRe.
The Fire Bell kang and the Steel Gage
Was Battered Down.

There are many reasons to
think that some one was murdered
before the Transfer house burned,
and the hotel was burned to wipe out
the evidences ofguilt. A woman
who was carried out during the fire
said she cav man lying in a pool
of blood. The story was at first
discredited, but now ii is again be-
ing made the subject of inquiry,
and the opinion is general that
she was right, and there is much
evidence to prove the statement
true. Officers are making a quiet
search, and are neglecting no means
that may lead to ferreting out the
fiends who are responsible for this
terrible calamity.
A formal charge ofmurder in the
first degree was entered Monday
against Frank MILESTONE and
;. Moore, called "Kid" Moore, in
connection with the Transfer house
fire. These two were arrested on
a charge of larceny last Thursday
night. The case was dismissed
next morning and the more serious
one begun in which the promise Of
sensational developments was made
good. This opens up the case in
q new light, and the announcement
in the evening East Oregonlan
no doubt threw the community
in state of excitement. Ever since
the fire the officers have been
working quietly. They said little
but did much. Clues were follow
ed, persons were shadowed and
evidence weighed. Gradually the
conviction was reached that some
awful crime had been committed
before the fire begun. The same
impression was created in the
minds Of many citizens. The in.
vestigations finally reached such a
stage as, in the opinion Of the Off
ciais, to warrant holding Whet-
stone and Moore. And SO they
were docketed as prisoners charged
with murder after having robbed
or attempted to rob George H.
Clacking, one of the guests who
was burned in the fire.
The complaint as drawn by
District Attorney Lawrey charges
that the defendants entered the
hotel, feloniously and burglarious-
ly, in which George Fl. Clacking
was at the time, with intent to
commit the crime of larceny, and
while engaged in the commission
of this crime, "did kill and MUIR
der George H, Clacking by means
unknown TO this afliant."
w. M. Pierce appeared Monday
for the two accused men in the
larceny case, which was dismissed
and now has two clients with the
black charge If murder entered
against them.
CORA oLsEN's STORY.
Cora Olsen, the chambermaid at
the Transfer house, was seen on
Sunday, says Rees Heycock, and
she asserts that in the waste room
there was no gasoline as alleged by
others at the time of the fire. She
will so swear on the witness stand,
SHOULD it be necessary,
THE EXAMINATION.
The preliminary examination OIL
Milestone and Moore was held
before Justice Parks. John H,
Lawrey and j. Fl. Raley appeared
for the state. w. NJ. Pierce and
G. P. Rosenburg represented the
accused.
The most important testimony
given was that of e. J. Bebb a Pen
dleton merchant He overheard a
conversation between two railroad
men the second morning after the
fire, in which one of them said;
I'VE were in bed and had braced
q chair against the door before re-
tiring. When the fire alarm was
sounded, we sprang from the bed
and | yanked the chair
from the door and hurried
the woman out into the hallway
She broke loose from me and rushed
back into the room to get her watch
and some money. / and the other
fellow went after her, and together
we grabbed her and pulled along
to the stairs and out onto the
street. As we passed along the
upper hallway, We saw him lying
about here, and his body ought to
have been found on this spot.o
Mrs. Baisley, or Mollie Combs,
as she is called in Athena, was a
witness. She said under oath that
she heard Mrs. Halsell say as soon
as she came from the burning
building that she saw a man in the
hallway hurt and saw some blood
near him, and wondered if they
could get him out, the sensation