The San Francisco call., 1896-10-03
NAPA SUSPECTS TALE.
William Moore Says He Falsely
Confessed to a Murder in
Lieu of Suicide.
Sought Death by Lyuching Rather
Than Become His Own
Executioner.

NAPA, CAL, Oct 2.-WiIliam Moore,
the self-confessed murderer of Mrs. John
Q. Greenwood, now says that he did not
commit the crime with which he is
charged. Moore made long rambling
statement to-day in court, claiming in
effect that he had said he was the MUIR
derer because of desire to die and be-
cause he did not want to commit suicide.
He thought that after an open confession
of the crime he would be brought to Napa
and speedily lynched. The court has ap-
pointed John ork and G. J. Beerstecher
as his attorneys. In his statement Moore
said:
have been troubled with not sleeping and
have been using drugs and l am broke up
otherwise, and hard times and everything put
together life became most unbeara BILE.
saw IN reading the papers and reading of
the trial prior 10 this, when the "otner man"
was arrested-this man Schmidt-that l was
the man that they were looking for-lookIng
1or man by the name OF Moore. Well, that
worried me some, but l never concealed N.Y.
self was always around; used 10 be n the
saloon business and driving over the city of
Los Angeles nearly every day. was in Los
Angeles, Santa Monica, San Fernando and
some other little towns, but 1 never came
here.
Well, in the last two years-here, it's serious
thing 10 speak of-the last two years | have
been contemplating suicide every day; had
been feel1ng like 1t and hard times ana
dependency, and everything like that was
new to me; | studied about it nights and
thought good deal about it and at times it
nearly drove me crazy, OF course thinking
about the means l would get shut off myself
with. Then started and wrote out history
OF myself to kill time of nights. L could not
sleep and so TO occupy myself some way
wrote out history; don't say whether it is
a fictitious history or not, perhaps it is
fictitious history, anyway wrote out a his
ftar Unf q 7
came 10 this conciusion-I believe l got that
wrote out in the history about some items in
it-then that came into my mind
Why not give myself up? Why not picture
myself as black as the walls of the lower
region; get all the punishment and take all
blame on mys.lf attached 10 II, 81 hich | uld
down in Los Angeles? l may have tried to
commit suicide with jug of poison-tnought
it was poison. told party that had com
mitted this deed, and along the road l made
your Sheriff think 1 had done it, too. and
everybody else.
The motive? 1 supposed when I got here
that they would get me out OF the way pretty
quick; get my body on the other side OF the
river and my soul al rest Like that reck-
oned, Dut reckoned TOO hasIy.
found the people OF Napa City-a people
that are educated and peop.e that reason and
people that would sooner settle things by arbi-
tratlon than the sword-not SO hasty as 1
wished them to be. May think l am insane /;
perhaps am insane; l can't be very much
because DON'T feel that way. They so call a
man that commits suicide-he is insane. You
pick up the papers and here to-day you see
three or tour people through the United States
committing suicide-sometimes men "well TO
do" commit suicide when they get cramped
for money. and l arn no exception. And /
thought about 1t and almost felt that way; but
/ says, was raised BIZ educated people. l was
raised by Christian parents, adopted parents,
who says that when man puts his hands on
his own lie had committed almost an unpar-
donable, sin; believe it is right; believe in
a he'll and q heaven and l believe in the re-
wards good and bad-owing to how you con-
duct yourself in this world.
Continuing Moore said that he had
met man resem bling him in San Fran
cisco, and afterward learned that it was
because of this resem blance that he him
self was suspected of the Greenwood
murder Meeting the fellow later, he
pIetented to know all about the killing.
ana his com panion, becoming intoxicated,
confessed that he had killed Mrs. Green
wood, and described the murder in detail.
The stranger said three men were I'm pill
Gated in the crime. Moore learned all of
the details, and when he had resolved
upon ending his life he wrote the confess
sion, believing that it would soon bring
him to the gallows.