The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-10-09
RICE MYSTERY PROBED
More Suspicious Facts Learned
as to MiIliOnaire'S Death.
RUSH MADE TO EMBALM
VALET AND ATTORNEY IN A
TANGLED WEB.

New York, Oct. S--DlSCrlcJ AIOOrASy
Gardiner made statement today con-
corning the work done by his office to
solve the mystery surrounding the
death of William r. Rice and the
checks with his name
This matter" said the district at
torney. was first brought to my at
tention by the banking house Of Sven
son & Sons, through their counsel, Mr..
Gerard.
From the information received from
Mr.. Gerard it appeared that Patrick,
Rice's attorney, had presented a check
for s25. 900 knowing Mr.. Rice TO be dead
and concealed the fact from the bank
ms house, and when they tried to
communicate with Mr.. Rice, owing to
the suspicious aroused by the check it
self they were met by evaSive answers
over the telephone by the valet, Jones,
who at first concealed the fact OF the
decease of Mr.. Rice. Then they made
further inquiries and ascertained that
the body had been promptly embalmed
with arSenOUS fluid, though Mr.. Rice
had in his lifetime said he was op-
posed to anything of that sort, and the
funeral was being FASTENED with intent
to cremate the body. The situation
seemed to be one which required
prompt action, and the detective force
was Immediately communicated with
by telephone and Mr.. Gerard was sent
for to give all necessary information
Coroner Hart was called into the case
and requested to prevent the funeral.
Meanwhile the brother of the deceased
was Fastening from Texas.
Patrick on the Rack.
Last week Patrick called upon me
with his private counsel Assistant
District Attorney Unger was also pres
! ent and the conference lasted nearly
an hour. In that time PatrickS atJen-
ton was called to number of very
/ as to the embalming of the body with
arSenOuS fluid when it was about to be
! cremated- He gave no explanation of
/ this, but admitted that all or nearly all
( of Mr.. Rice's property had been as
| signed TO him. The object of such as
/ signment he did rot disclose.
THE question asked seemed to cause
/ him some agitation, as his hand shook
! perceptibly, which was noticed by both
/ Mr.. Unger and myself.
/ Il have seen a number of checks of
/ Mr. Rice drawn to the order of Pat
rick, the defendant, and two of them
appear to me to be clumsy fOrgeries.
! THE whole subject will be thorough
/ ~ investigated, not only as to the cause
! of the death of Mr.. Rice. but also as to
| this remarkable series of proceedings
| ITO me it seems that there has been
! a conspiracy to obtain possession of the
| bulk OF Mr. Rice's property"
The hearing on the charges of forgery
! against Patrick and Jones, which was
| to have been held this afternoon, was
| adjourned until Monday next on the
request OF counsel for the prisoners
! Late this afternoon formal complaint
against Patrick and Jones was made
/ by a detective, who accused the defend
ants of having forged the signature Of
/ w NJ Rice to a check for $25, 900 on
| Swenson &: Sons
Tell of Signing Will.
! Captain McCIuskey, speaking of what
he had learned from David l. Short
and Morris Meyers, whose signatures as
witnesses appear on the various alleged
assignments to Patrick, and on the al
legged will made by Mr.. Rice, said:
Both Short and Meyers talked to
me fully and with seeming frankneSS.
Both were witnesses to the will, which
gives practically everything to Patrick
! This will was dated and executed in Mr..
Rice's apartments on June 80 last
have not seen the original, as it is in
Patricks possession
According to the statements of
Short and Meyers relative TO the sign
ing Of this will, they had both gone to
Rice's fiat to take ACCOMPLISHMENTS of
certain other papers. They had finished
this work and were talking with Mr..
Rice when he said:
Wait a minute. I have got some
thing else for YOU to do He
Meyers to have said, This is my will
and want to execute it
They said he signed the document
in their presence and they made the
customary acknowledgement of the
signature.
Both said that they did not know
the contents of the will Patrick was
not present, they declared, az the time
the will waa signed.
! I said TO Short. This is a most pc
cUliar state OF affairs all around and
he replied, You must remember that
this old man was most peculiar and his
affairs are bound to be peculiar
They declared that he knew per
fectly we'll what he was doing all the
time and dominated and directed his
own business affairs
Assistant District Attorney Osborne
who has charge of the prosecution OF
Patrick and Jones, said:
mo complete report has as yet beer
made by the handwriting experts, but
as far as they have gone they are OF
the opinion that the Valet Jones wrote
: the writing on the face of the two
checks Patrick is connected with the
matter, as he had possession of the
checks and they were both drawn tC
his order. That is sufficient TO show
he was a party to the alleged cOnspir-
. ace.
There will be no trouble about the
forgery phase of the case At the
proper time evidence will be produced
} to show that these men engaged il
similar transactions
: