The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-28
(special 10 The Heraldl

4 RAND hAt1DS,' Mich. July 70
III Mrs. Hodge. the self-confessed
murderess. is closely guarded in the
woman's dOrmitory a police headquar-
/ ters awaiting the arrival of officers
/ from Utah to take her back to answer
/ for her crime. Not until tonight was a
/ reporter admitted to see her. The Her
/ aids representative was permitted an
/ interview in the presence of Superin-
/ tendent Carr.
The Woman's Story.
She talked freely, entering into the
/ details Of the crime and explaining the
! circumstance which led up 30 it. She
/ denied having any accOmplice. I was
| alone with Ryan. He had my money
/ and was threatening me with assault"
! she said. Il told him to keep away
and retreated 70 a fence. I could go
| no further and when ne approached me
! with an open knife in hand. I fired I
/ did not know then that I had killed
I him. but I am not sorry he is dead
Pitts5urg Man Involved.
He got just what he deserved: he
| was a brute" she said. Mrs Hodge is
/ about 20 years old, slender and has a
/ baby face. Under normal conditions
she might be pretty. but she shows the
/ effect of the ordeal through which she
| has passed. Her story of the crime be
/ gan at a summer visit near Los An
( ge!es, Cal, where she was employed
with her husband She became
acquainted with a wealthy Pittsburg
man and he promised to assist her any
| time she needed IL. His name she viii
not tell, nor will she tell how she came
to leave Los Angeles.
She Met Ryan.
| den. where she entered a sanitariUm,
cuss. When ready to leave she wrote
to her PittsbuTg friend to send her S45
| to Salt Lake city. She did this. she
says. because had the money been sent
( to ogden the sanitariUm people would
! have demanded il. She started for Salt
Lake City on foot. On the way she met
Ryan, whom she confesses to have
killed. Ryan was travelling across
country with a team selling small ar
ticles by the way.
Money at Salt Lake.
She told him of money expected at
Salt Lake and when near the city Ryan
] went TO the postofice and got the let
/ ter with the money in currency en-
closed. He refused to give her the
money. but pat IL in trunk. VI HIGH
he kept locked He also took her re-
volver from her. On Monday night be-
fore the shooting he attempted to as
sault her. This much she tells. but
no more. except that she would have
killed him then had not the revolver
been taken from her.
Four days and nights following she
Travelled with Ryan. She is reticent as
to what her life was during this period,
but intimates that it was awful. T
begged him to give me my money and
let me CO. she said but he laughed
at me and made threats. A cOnstruc-
ticn gang was working on Ghe railroad
where the wagon halted Monday night.
I talked some with the cook, but did
not tell my troubles. How could I tell
stranger" she said when ques-
toned. The wagon passed people on
the highway. but she told no one. Il
did net want folks to see me-" she ex-
planned. She could not leave Ryan I'M
til she secured her money and she
could not get it. She wanted to return
to her people N iowa.
How She Killed Ryan.
"On the Saturday night Of the shoot
ing I talked with Ryan as to posi-
biiities of tying a man so that he
could not get away she introduces
the subject. she says, intiraating that
IL she could have tied Ryan. she would
1
same night she bantered Ryan about
shooting at a target. and in this man
ner she secured the revolver. Later
he used q knife about some work and
had this in his hand when he ap
preached her.
when he came toward me 1 had the
revolver in nv hand" she said. I
begged him 10 stop but he came on.
NV back was gainSt the fence and ]
could go no further. / fired without
aiming and he fell. 1 did not go near
him after that. was afraid.
thought him only stunned. l dropped
the revolver and could not ind It
again. I took what money there was
In one part Of his wallet and Went
away. That night I slept in a wheat
field"
Mrs. Hodges reached home in Iowa,
but gives no details of the trip. She
insists she did not know he was dead
until she reached home. She refuses
to tell of her husband or why she left
him when she went to Ogden. From
Iowa she went 10 Chicago and thence
to Spring Lake TO work in a resort no.
tel, and then came here to give herself
up. She said her husband would turn
up at the proper time if alive. She
denied emphatically that there was an
other man with her in the wheat held
IIIer the SnOOInBs anu tlAtAt was ALo
tremor in her voice when she reiterated
that Ryan was a brute and that he de-
served death. IF Ryan's head was bat
tered with a stone il was done by 9TH
ers. for. she said, she ha0 nothing TO
do with it and knew nothing of it. She
shot him and escaped. and that was all
she did and was not sorry. The dog
was tied under the wagon, its usual
place. when she left.
A few DAYS before the shooting the
couple visited a gypsy camp. 1t was
supposed Ryan had a large sum o.
money in his Outfit. and if he was TIED
hand and foot and his head battered
the crime must have been committed
by others. who may have found him
stunned or unconscious from her shot
The only money she took was what she
found in his wallet. about $40
Mrs. Hodge answered questions free
~ and told her story in straight
forward way, and apparently told the
truth.
BODY WILL BE ExHUMED.