Amador ledger., 1905-06-16
MURDER AT LANCHA PLANA
Mrs Phoebe Williams found Dead.
A 17-Year Old Grandson Missing.


prising not over half score of dwell
ings, situated in the southwestern ex-
tremity of the county Oh the Mokel-
umne river, has furnished tragedy
in crime the past week without a par
allel in the history of the county
An old widow lady, named Mrs. Phoebe
Williams, Is years of age, occupied a
cottage of FIVE OF six rooms, the dwell
ing being the first house met with on
entering the village from the jackson
road. Here she bad lived for many
years, and since her husbands death
several years back, her only compan-
ion being grandson, Chester Maker,
now seventeen years old. This boy s
mother died when he was three years
of age, and since that event he has
made his home with his grandmother.
The boy was educated there, and did
the work about the place too as we'll
as could be expected of one of his
years. There is a small orchard con-
nected with the dwelling, and a few
COWS were kept, which were dependent
upon the grandson's care. On tract
OF 160 acres about half a mile away,
Mrs Williams raised a few head of
stock, eight or ten in the course of
year, and IN this way managed to
exc out livelihood, and with moth
ing to spare.
During Monday night the COWS and
calves set up an unusual believing,
which was continued Tuesday MORN
ing. This awakened a suspicion that
something was amiss. The cattle
plainly showed that they had been
neglected. So boy, Clarence Grail,
was sent to the Williams place to see
if the old lady was sick, and to enter
the house if necessary. The door was
unlocked, and no signs OF human life
were visible. Timidly the twelve
year old boy opened the door, and was
In the room used as the sleeping apart
ment of Mrs. Williams. He went up
to the bed, upon which Mrs. Williams
was apparently reclining. A pillow
was over the face. But on reaching
the bed he beheld great quantity of
blood, at the sight OF which he fled
terror stricken from the house, and
reported to the neighbors what he had
seen.
Then all was excitement in the COM
munity. 1t required little investiga-
tion to impress the belief that foul
murder had been committed, Mrs.
Williams being the victim. Remov-
ing the pillow from the face, the wom-
ans throat was cut, no doubt as she
lay upon the bed. There was no sign
of struggle. The body was badly
decomposed, indicating that death had
taken place thirty or forty hours be-
fore. Moreover the boy Maker was
missing. He had not been seen since
Sunday night. This deepened the
mystery, as he was looked upon as a
quiet ino6ensive young man. No one
thought that he vas implicated in
the crime.
The officers in Jackson we're notified
by telephone, and coroner Huberty
started early Tuesday afternoon to
hold an inquest. Sheriff Norman and
district attorney Vicini left for
the scene, and also Drs. Endicott
and Gall to make the postmortem ex-
animation.
Reaching the house of horror, the
officers made searching examina-
tion of the entire premises. The cir
cumstances left no other conclusion
than that terrible murder had been
perpetrated. Even admitting that
the death cuts might be eIf-lnflicted,
the other circumstances proved con-
clusively that it was not case of
suicide. But the possibility of the
slashes in the throat being self in
fieoted is disputed. There were three
distinct outs across the throat. One
reaching from the middle of the
throat, to the left ear Another par
allel slash, In the same direction. I
Both cuts severed the windpipe and
the artery. Another smaller cut, and
of superficial character, may have
been made as the sharp instrument
was withdrawn from one of the other
fatal wounds. The deceased was
dressed, all the clothing being
complete except the shoes and
overdress. The victim had evi-
IDENTIFY not retired for the night
when the murderous work was
accomplished. The pillow placed
over the face concealed the stabs. In
the opinion of the medical experts,
the knife was probably jabbed into
the throat with some force, and then
drawn to the left. One of the knife
thrusts penetrated to the roots of the
tongue. About all the blood in the
body had passed through the
wounds. The crimson fluid had.
soaked through the two mattresses,
and formed great pool of coagulated
blood on the -four under the bed.
The two front rooms were used as
bedrooms, one occupied by Mrs.
Williams and the other by her grand
son. From the room where the body
lay, blood spots on the floor led to
the other bedroom. These are sup