Amador ledger., 1905-06-23
LANCHA PLANA MURDERS.

This crime of crimes continues tt
be the leading topic of conversation
throughout the county.
The body of the boy, Chester Maker,
was found about buarter a mile from
the house where his grandmother, Mrs
Phoebe Williams. was killed, and
some fifty yards from the Mokelumne
river. He was lying face downward
with one arm under his head, as if 1t
had been raised to protect his face.
The body was in terrible state OF
decomposition. 1t had laid there ex-
posed to the sun from Sunday night
till Friday morning. Sheriff Norman
on finding the body, did not attempt
to shift it in any way, but allowed
it to remain undisturbed until the
coroner and other officials reached
the scene. The boys hat was few
feet from the body, as though it had
fallen from his head in scuffie. The
inI Dads of decomposition had broken
the scalp on the back of the head, ex-
posing the skull, and the natural di-
vision of the skull. To the onlooker
this seemed like fracture, and hence
it was at first thought that the back of
his head had been crushed in with a
blow. There were two pools OF blood
near the body, and 1t is supposed that
he did not yield his life without a
struggle with his murderer. When the
doetoss arrived a critical examination
was made. The body was turned, or
rather rolled over, and it then became
apparent how he came by his death.
A savage thrust in the throat with a
sharp instrument, had severed the
windpipe and artery and penetrated
to the spinal column, as in the case
of Mrs Williams. There is scarcely a
doubt that the same instrument and
same hand inflicted the wounds in
each case. The eyeballs we're project
ing, and the tongue was protruding,
the teeth having punctured 1t in the
death agonies. In the opinion of the
physicians, the victim had been
strangled into inconsistencies before
the cash in the throat had been in
tiicted. The body was dressed in q
pair of overalls, and the tennis shoes
purchased in lone the day before the
murder were on his feet. Although
decay had made his features unrecog
nizable, there was not the least ques-
tion of his identity. The father, Lee
Maker, was present and identified the
boy, as we'll as others who knew him
we'll. The spot where he lay was
covered with the refuse from mining,
without vegetation. There was no
trail, and no dust or soft ground tc
reveal the imprints of human feet. II
was some 80 yards from the river, and
it is surmised that the murderers con
Quoted the boy thither with the inten-
tion of throwing his body in the river
1t was moonlight, and near by is a
point trequented by fishing parties.
A fishing party was there that night,
and this fact it is thought frustrated
the designs OF the perpetrators in this
direction.
There is little doubt that two men
we're involved in the murders. How
young Maker was persuaded to accom-;
pany his slayers to the spot where his
body was found is matter of copjec-
ture, To get to that place from the
house of horror, it was not necessary
to pass over or near any travelled road.
They went away from the town, and
as the Williams house is the first
dwelling on entering the village from
the north east, they took south east
erly direction toward the river, over
the land belonging to j. II. Moore,
and would not pass any human habi-
tation. A trail leads to the Williams
house a short distance in this direc-
tion, and is then lost in the mass of
stones and tailings.
The suspicion that the grandson was
implicated in the killing of Mrs
Williams never had anything to rest
upon beyond the mere fact of the
boys disappearance. The residents
of Lancha Plana and vicinity never
believed it for a moment. He was
not that kind of boy. He was un-
used to the ways of the world, mex
peIienced, had never visited a city
until last October, when he went to
see his father in Sacramento. Be-
sides there was nothing vicious about
him; he had never shifted for him
self, and would naturally shrink from
facing the world as an outcast.
Coroner Huberty held an inquest
Friday afternoon before the follow
ing named jurors: John V. Rodgers,
A. A. Demars, Henry A. Cavagnaro,
John L. Lucas, j. r. Mulgrew, Phil
lip j. Sheridan, Chas. W. Maroon, G.
w. Humphreys, N. j. Diebold, j. G..
Diebold.
A. F. Adams, postmaster at Lancha
Plana, identified the body as that of
Chester Maker.
Lee w Maker father Of deceased