Amador ledger., 1905-07-14
An Outside Account
OF Ldnlha Pldnd Crimes

The Stockton Record sent a report
er over the scenes of the Lancha
Plana murder, to get at the facts as
far as possible from those living in
the vicinity. In that paper of the
9Th instant the account of the crimes
and the hunting for the criminals is
related at length. The report is no
doubt as correct as it could be made
from infoI nation culled from un-
official sources. As there is so much
interest attaching to these tragedies,
We give the following from the Re-
cord account, without vouohing for
the correctness OF the narrative.
Lee Maker the father of Chester
Maker, arrived in Lancha Plana
June 18th, and that night he dreamed
that he had seen the body of his boy
lying on the hillside to the east and
south OF the town. All OF the search
ing had been to the west. Maker told
his dream to Norman Friday morning
and the sheriff, accompanied by Mr..
Sheldon, at once started to 60 over
the section indicated by Mr.. Makers
dream. The town dog, greyhound,
followed them. Norman worked like
beaver. He crawled into deserted
tunnels, searching the ground for
tracks, and even shifted the air in
the hopes of detecting the odor from
what he expected to find. Finally the
dog began scratching and shifting.
"He smells something dead," said
Norman. He ooaxed the dog to go on,
and the animal quickly led the
searchers to the body of Chester
Maker. 1t was lying in little trail
that led down comparatively open
hillside to the river. The body was
on its back, the hat some little dis
tance away, and the lad g throat had
been cut as had his grandmother s.
There were signs OF struggle. Blood
was scattered over quite an area, and
the grass was trampled down and
blood stained. The boy had evidently
made fight for his life. The ground
was too hard, however, for the mur-
der's tracks to show. Some little
time was spent in searching for the
tracks of young Makers tennis shoes,
Norman reasoning that they would
be easy to distinguish and that the
murderer's tracks should be found
alongside them; but the hend has
been clever enough to avoid all damp
places and not track was to be found
between the body and the William g
house,
Norman found little new in the
Williams house, except that the cow
bell was lying under the locust tree
in its accustomed place.
The night of the murder an enter
tainment had been held in the school
house few miles below Lancha
Plana. Mrs. Arthur Adams and her
daughter attended the literary. Her
road home followed the bank of the
Mokelumne river. just between the
road and the river ditch has been
cut into the pank. 1t was at this
place and about 1130 O'CLOCK that
night that Mrs Adams met man com
ing up the road from the direction
of Lancha Plana. THE man was walk
ing very fast, almost running, and
carrying bundle in his hand. On
noticing Mrs Adams rig he sprang
from the road down to the ditch and
ran along the bank OF that to where
the pipe line crosses the river. This
pipe line is of fourteen or sixteen
inch pipe, and pedestrians frequent
ly cross the river ON it. This man
was seen by Mrs Adams to climb to
the pipe line, but he had given her
such fright by his strange actions
that she did not look back to see
whether or not he crossed the river.
In passing her the mali had pulled his
hat down over his face. Undoubtedly
this man was the murderer.
That pipe line was his only means
of crossing the river unless he was
mounted. Mrs Adams says that she
could not identify the man, but that
he was abont Harry Loves size and
build. That set Norman to look up
Loves record.
Love under Suspicion.
. He found that Love had come to
Lancha Plana early last spring with
some wood cutters. They had camped
in house there and Love had become
quite familiar with the boys of the
town, especially with Chester Maker
Then it was learned that Love had
come from Indian Territory, and that
there was considerable mystery about
his past life. Norman determined to
find Love and question him. He
learned that Love was employed on
the Murphy ranch, about three miles
east of Clements. Norman went out
there and had talk with Love out
in the field, where the man was at
work with a team. When Norman
went to the Murphy house Love drove
his team in and put the horses in the
| barn.
The Photos Discovered.
Norman, accompanied by Clarence
Murphy, soon went to the barn. Muir
ply picked up two photographs out of
the manger in front of the horses
Love had been driving. The photo