The Savannah morning news., 1903-04-08
WILL TRY TO FIND
BURDICK'S MURDERER.
Will Be the Object of COatswOrth
in the PenneII Inquest.


in the PenneH Inquest.
Buffalo, n. Y, April THE inquest
into the death of A. r. Pennell, which
is scheduled to begin next Friday be-
fore Judge Murphy, will be more in
the nature of a reopening of the In
quiry into the Burdick murder mystery
than to determine whether Pencils
death was due to accident or a de1iber-
ate suicide
District Attorney Coatsworth has an
nounced that he will subpoena j. Fred
erick Pennell, administrator of the
Pencil estate. and brother of the
dead man; Thomas Penny, attorney
for the estate, and Wallace Thayer,
who was Pennelrs confidential friend
and legal adviser for years.
Il intend at the Pennell inquest to
virtually reopen the Burdick inquest.
During that inquiry 1 shall endeavor
with the consent of the court
to bring out as much information as
possible tending to clear up the Bur
dick mystery. / believe that the evil
dence brought out on the Pennell in
quest will be of value as bearing on
the murder" said District Attorney
Coatsworth. IF the court permits me
| shall place Mr.. Pennel the admin
istrator on the stand and demand of
him that he produce the dead man S
papers.
Il shall examine Mr. Pencil with
the idea in mind of securing any in
formation he may possess bearing on
the Burdick case. Mr.. Thayer, who
was Mr.. Pencils attorney, prior to
his death, may be privileged under
the law to withhold information 1t
Will rest with him as to whether he
will consent to divulge what he may
know. He undoubtedly ought to be in
possession of considerable informa-
ton"
DO you consider that the revela-
lions just made concerning Pencils
alleged swnidles substantiate the YER
dict in the Burdick case, pointing to
Pennell as the murderer%"
Yes. 1t is impossible to arrive at
any other conclusion"
Wallace Thayer, who was Ar
thur R. PennelPs friend and
legal adviser in his lifetime,
when seen to-day relative to a
published statement, quoting him as
saying that there was no doubt that
the story of Interpretations was true
and that Pennell's brother, ]. Freder-
lex Pencil, had pleaded with him to
destroy the trust papers, repudiated
much that was attributed to him, and
made a brief statement which en-
bodied, he said, all that he cared to
state at the present time Mr.. Thayer
said:
y. Frederick Pennell brother to A.
K. Pennell, came to me last Friday and
told me that Arthur had left large
debts to friends in the East. These
debts, he said, werS large enough
practically to consume ali the insur-
ance, and he advanced that as a rea-
son why l should turn over to him $685.
900 insurance which A. r. Pennell left
in trust with me-
He said: Unless you do this, there
will be practically nothing left for
me, Then Mr.. Turner made this
statement:
II drew the inference from ]. F. Pen
nelPs statements that his brother must
have made misappropriations of money.
There is a vast amount of debts
against the estate, some 5000, 900, and
l can't see how he could have got into
debt to that amount unless he spent
money belonging to others"
District Attorney Coatsworth said
to-day that he had known of the al
legged swindling operations of Arthur
B. Pencil for weeks.
81 was informed" he said, chat Pen
nell had been inducing his wife's fam
lily and friends in Wayne to allow him
to invest their money for them. |
was also informed that he gave them
fake mortgages on property and kept
up the interest payments in order to
cover up his dishonest transactions. 1
have not Investigated the report in
detail. but it came to me on such good
authority that 1 am satified of it's
genuineneSS.
MY policy in the Pennell inquest will
be to bring to light every scintilla of
evidence which will or may throw light
on the murder of Edwin L. Burdick.
The inquest will not be in reality to
determine how A. r. Pennell came to
his death. 1t is not of any great i'm
portance to know if he committed sui
eide or not. but 1t is of the greatest
Importance to discover the murderer of
Burdick."