The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-12-27
many days Of confinement had upon his
phlegmatic brother.
ANOTHER TRIP TO PROVO
MADE BY THE OFFICERS

Provo was the scene of activity last
night in the work Of unraveling the
elements of mystery that still envelope
me murder of James r. Hay in haze.
Couceaung their intentions by every
possible Fuqe, Sheriff Haylor and Coun-
~ Attorney Christensen, the two Off
] Gals upon whose efforts the case now
rests, set out for the little city TO follow
up the clues brought back by the for
mer Monday. when he made q flying
trip 10 Provo, resulting in the an
nOuncementthat Mrs MOrtensen. had
revealed the details of her husbands
movements on the night of the murder
onerlH Naylor made the trip last
evening ostensibly Cor the purpose of
removing Neis YoungsdeIl to the in
sane asylum. Although the unfortu-
nate man was rendered harmless and
deprived OF the use of his arms by a
leather muff tightly strapped about his
body, Sheriff Naylor found if advisa hle
20 have Deputy Raleigh, the Good
Man Friday" of the sheriff's Office
when detective work is necessary. &C
company him. County Attorney Farley
Christensen left the jail at the same
time to go uptown" When the train
for Provo pulled out the trio as well
as the insane man was safely on board.
Rumors Of More Developments.
Speculation was rife last night cor
c-rning the hunCh" that lead the off,
cla TO 90 to Provo. It is generally
be Geved that something Of an import
ant nature developed there and reached
the ears Of the sheriff. There are four
known sources of information at Provo
Mrs. MOTtensen. her two brothers
ard a person in whom she confided and
whose identity has not been revealed,
although il was through that person
that her fears and doubts and the de-
tal's Of MOrtensen's movements On the
night of the murder became known In
addition, Sheriff StOrrs, accredited with
being accredited with being one Of the
most vigilant officers in the state, re-
sides there, and it is a known fact that
StOrrs is in possession Of considerable
inside information.
When Sheriff Naylor made his first
trip to Provo in connection with the
Hay murder he obtained two separate.
independent items Of information. One
was the statement Of Mrs. MOrtensen,
given him by a third party. the details
OF which have been published in The
Herald. The nature of the evidence Sc
cured elsewhere and the identity Of the
lie. It is this clue that the officers are
believed TO be following up, as Mrs.
Mortensens evidence at best is Of no
value beyond establishing I'm the minds
Of the officers the certainty Of her hus-
bands guilt.
Seek Direct Evidence.
Mrs Mortensen gave no information
direct to the officers, and it is extreme
~ doubtful if she would ever consent
to aid in the prosecution of her hus-
band. Unless she was seen last night,
she has never talked with a public Off
cial since the day Of her husbands ar
rest. However damaging her informa-
ton may be, she cannot be introduced
as a witness for the prosecution for the
reason that under the laws of Utah
she cannot be put on the witness stand
without her husbands consent
At the same time she cannot appear
as a witness in Mortensen's behalf in
view Of the statement she has made
without probably injuring his case
when subjected TO cross examination
by the state MOrtensen, too. is re-
garded as an impOssibility as a witness
for the same reason. The state is only
known to have two items of direct evil
dence that can be introduced-the cor
pUs deficit (the body that is Left and
the results OF the postmortem exam
inatiOn, which revealed the cause Of
death. Everything else is circumstan-
tial.
Nothing Direct From Wife.
It is direct evidence that is being
sought and it is believed that both
Mrs MOrtensen and the unknown in
fOrmant of Sheriff Naylor were sub
jected 10 a searching inquiry last night
in the hope Of furnishing this
Word reached Salt Lake City last
evening that Mrs. Mortensen had re-
covered to a large extent from the state
OF collapse in which she had fallen, al
though she is still in a delicate condi-
tiOn. 1t is known that the officers have
been only waiting for her to secure suf- [
fcient strength in order to try to learn
from her whether or not Mortensen de- |
stroyed a hat in his kitchen stove that
fateful Monday night
If that and whatever else Mrs. Nor
Jensen may know, is learned. it will
only be Of value in convincing the off,
GERS Of the justice Of their prosecution. I
What the mysterious unknown inform
ant at Provo may know, may be Of far
greater value from a legal standpoint,
although less convincing, and it is there
that the officers are believed to have
spent most Of their time