The San Francisco call., 1898-02-05
Murderer of John Ledrick Executed at Hills
 bOrO.
Insists on the Gallows That He Did Not Commit the
 Crime.
How an Old Rancher Was Slain by an Ex-Convict Whom He
 Had Prosecuted.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

wachline. the murderer of John Ledl rick. was hanged here at noon to-day When on the scaffold Wachline said:
 What I wish to say is that the statement I made is true statement. I am. innocent of the crime Of which I am convicted. I ask the Lord Jesus to take me as l a1n-
 Seventeen minutes after the trap was snr1,ne the body was cut down. h. vitations were sent out to about 150 nersons. but when the doors leadlng to the enclosure where the scaIIold Was erected were opened about 5OO people pushed their way in and witnessed the execution.
 John D. Ledrick, an aged German living about three miles south of Forest Grove, Washington County, was missed by his neighbors for several days in March, 1894, but as he led very retired life nothing was thought of it until one day some one called at his place and failed to bring him to the front door by the usual country greet ing of 'Halloa." Entrance was forced to the cabin, but no trace could be found of Ledrick, and in the dimly lighted place nothing that led to a sus- picion of foul play was discovered A few days later a friend of the old man, who knew that he had considerable money concealed about the cabin, made more careful investigation, and dis
 covered clots of blood in the cracks of the floor, and also indications that the floor had been recently mopped, which
 was in itself suspicious circumstance, as Ledrick had never been known to clean his shack since he had lived in it. After considerable searching about the place. without result, some one mo- ticed the peculiar tumbled appearance of a heap of refuse back of the house, and when the searching party started toward it dog belonging to one of the men began to sniff, and finally started to dig vigorously in the pile. The top straw was speedily removed, and the old mans body was found in it.
 At first the neighbors were inclined to suspect Robert Buck, churlish farmer, whose place adjoined Ledrick's, and who was known to have been his enemy. When it was learned, however that Gus Wachline an ex-convict and a hard character, had been seen in the neighborhood, Buck was freed, and all hands started on a search for Wach- line. He was traced to Portland, where suspicious were confirmed by the dis covery that he had driven Iedrick's horses in from Forest Grove and sold them. Ledrick's overcoat was found In a lodging house which had b9en occu- pied by Machine the night h4 reached Portland.
 No one was able to tell whither the fellow had gone, however, and for near ly four years the search for him was in vain. Several men were arrested in different parts of the State during this time, but on the arrival of an officer from Washington County they proved to be only the victims of resemblance to the fugitive.
 On September 1, 1897, the Sheriff of Morrow County wired the Washington County officials that he thought he had their man. So many false reports had been sent in that this was hardly cred- ited, but when a description was sent it was so accurate that Sheriff Brad ford boarded the first train for Morrow County, where he immediately recog- nized Wachline, and returned to Hills boro with him.
 The fellow had been working as a farmland under the names of Hanson and Brown, apparently confident that he was safe from further pursuit He had concealed on his person when arr rested a six-shooter and a wicked-look- ing dirk knife, and he made desperate resistance, but was quickly overpow- cred. Since then he had maintained a sullen silence up to few days after his sentence, when he made a state ment declaring that Buck was the mur- derer, and that he was bullied into burying the body and driving the mur- dered mans team to Portland. Buck convincing him that the. fact that he was an eX-convict would be sure to lead people to believe that he (Wachline) was the guilty one.
 Machine was tried in December, and the circumstantial evidence against him was such that a verdict of murder in the first degree was returned immedi- ately. Since his statement, however there are many who believk that he was only an accessory to theImurder.