The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-03-18

After efforts OF three years, the man
who is charged with the fiendish ans
brutal mf,r -er of two Ogden men in
July Of Is 'ar De Lamar. New. viii
likely be orar yht back to trial at Pr
oche. District Attorney NcNamee Of
Lincoln county, Nevada, returned YES
terday from a visit to Governor Gage
Of California, with whom he practical
ly arranged for the eXtraditiOn of John
Hancock, who has been wanted for tb.
murder Of DR.. George Engelke. a VET
Urinary surgeon, and George Edmund
son of Ogden. He was at the Cullen
hotel yesterday and he went on home
during the afternoon.
Hancock is now in the San Quinte1
penitentiary under sentence Of ten
years for burglary committed at Santa
Anna, Cal, three years ago. This
murder and the way in which the evi-
dence against Hancock has been Sc
cured, make a story of love and blood
and crime lifting it into the field Of re
markable tragedy. The evidence
against him, according TO District At
torney AcNamee, rests upon the state
ment or the confession of a woman who
once thought much Of Hancock, who
Travelled with him as his wife, now Mrs.
George D. Cross, living near Phoebe.
Murders Are Committed.
In the spring of 1897 she and Hancock
set out from Santa Anna for Nevada,
across country. At the PahrumD
ranch, near the CalifOTnia-NeV ada
boundary line, they fell in with Dr.
Engelke and EdmundSOn, with whom
they Travelled for 100 miles, or until
within thirty-five miles of De Lamar
There, she says, early one morning.
Hancock, thinking the two men had
valuables and money secreted about
their clothing, killed them with an axe
He crushed in their heads and beat
them to death.
Mr.. McNamee says that she helped
him to secrete the bodies after d search
had been made and it was found they
possessed few valuables. Then she
aided him to burn the wagons and 9TH
er of their belongings. They Travelled
on to the Pacific northwest and then
south to Santa Anna again, where she
met Cross and soon cared more for him
than for Hancock.
The rejected lover, fierce in jealousy,
attempted to kill her and Cross with
a knife. Then, fearing for her life, she
confessed. She drew a map Of the
ground of the murder, which was SEM
TO De Lamar, and by it the scene Of
the tragedy was found and the bodies
discovered.
Hancock Goes to Prison.
In the meantime Hancock had con-
fessed to a burglary committed in San
ia Anna some time before. He was
indicted, tried and he pleaded guilty
to escape eXtradition on the murder
charge. He was sentenced to ten years
in San Quinten two years ago. Tha
woman, who has since married Cross
given her story before the grand jury
and pointed out corrOborating evidence
on which an Indictment was found.
She has repented Of her association
with Hancock and has come to a re-
alization of his enOrmities. In addi-
ton. it is said that Hancock has made
sons in California, though it is doubt
full if this is in such form that it could
be introduced as evidence against him
in a trial.
District Attorney McNamee said yes
terday that there is a federal statute
which provides that governors may,
when they see fit, give up convicts who
are wanted for crimes in other states.
The sentences against them run dur
ing the time they are without the
state, and in case Of failure to convict,
they must be returned to serve the re-
mainder of their time. The district at
torney said that Governor Gage was
so satisfied with the evidence against
Hancock that he will undoubtedly per
nit the extradition for the purpose Of
trial for murder at Phoebe.