The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-17
RYAN MURDERED
FOR HIS MONEY
Victoria Alley Killing No Longer
a Mystery.
ONE OF TWO WOMEN GUILTY
EACH ACCUSES THE OTHER OF
THE oFFENsE.

/ The mystery of the death of Daniel
Ryan has been solved.
/ Two women, both now in the city Jail
are believed to be responsible for his
death, but it is doubtful if the state can
secure a conviction unless other evil
dence can be secured. At the present
time the women are engaged in accus-
/ ing each other. They are Mary Jane
Smith and Madge Ray, both colored.
They occupied the same room in Vic
torla alley, and it was to their room
that Daniel Ryan went on last Friday
afternoon, and il was in their room
that ne received a glass of beer con-
tanning morphine. which caused his
death.
Both women have been cross-exam-
ined by the police and each stoutlY
maintains that the other put the NOR
phine into the beer.
They admit that robbery was the mo-
tive, but each refuses TO admit the Of
tense. The Smith woman says that
Madge Ray put the poison into the
drink. and the latter, in turn, claims
that the Smith woman was RESPONSE
bic. In their stories of accusation, they
have admitted that morphine was
placed in the beer to render their vic
tim unconscious, and that afterward he
was robbed of such money as they had
not been able to steal before, and that
then, becoming frightened, his body
was conveyed to the closet where II was
found The question is, which woman
placed the poison in the beer? The
other can be tried as an accomplice, but
the state must first show by other evil
dence that a certain person was guilty
of the deed.
A Mutual Accusation.
Last night both women were Sweat
ed the operation taking over four
hours. 1t was attended by County At
torney Christensen, his assistant. F.
LOofbourow, and the chief of police.
The women were examined separately,
and their testimony made a matter of
record. Each accused the other, and as
they were both in the room together
with Ryan, the state will have to secure
other testimony, showing the guilt of
one or the other. The glass from which
the victim drank was found in the
room and contains a sediment, recog-
nized as morphine. This, together with
the fact that the women by accusing
each other admit that Ryan was
'doped," presents a strong enough
front, it is believed, to warrant their
being held for murder by the examin-
ing magistrate.
If Ryan was killed bySone of the wo-
men in question. it is believed the in
tentioT was not to end his existence,
but m 4rely to render him unconscious
so that the money which, while he vas
sensible, was inaccessible, might be
taken He was given too big a dose of
morphine and. alarmed at the effects
the women FASTENED to put him in the
clubhouse so that blame would not fall
on them. The next morning, frightened
and fearing the worst. they absented
themselves from their accustomed
place, and when Elliott, Ryan's friend,
visited the alley in company with Off
GERS, he was unable to locate the wo-
men for they were not there.
Secresy Preserved.
The police and the county attorneys
office refuse to make public the state
ments of the women, claiming that the
ends of justice can be better served by
keeping them a secret. They desire
cOrrobOrative evidence, and until this
is secured, say that nothing will be
given to the public. Meanwhile the
women will be held on the charge of
vagrancy.
It is understood that the information
which resulted in the arrest of the wo-
men was given to the police by a man
who learned it through investigation on
the day after the body was found.