Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-30
CHARGED WITH
KILLING WIFE
ANTON 5ES0LD HAS FIRST Ex'
ANIMATION
Woman's Garments and Other Grew.
some Evidence introduced but
Prisoner Takes All Tes-
tlmony StoIidly


court room, his head slouched forward
to his knees and his hands hanging
limp before him, f. J. Finch, deputy
coroner at Santa Monica, yesterday at
tempted to explain to the satisfa ction
Of Judge and attorneys the exact posi-
tion in which the body of Mrs. Claddie
Besold rested at the time Of the grew
some discovery in the deep recesses of
the Temescal canyon.
And throughout the whole day with
head erect and small gray eyes snap.
ping angrily at every sentence uttered,
Anton Besold, the Bavarian butcher,
charged with the murder of his
wife, listened with unconcern to the
evidence, looked with an expression of
contempt at the pile of foul smelling
garments taken from the decomposed
body and fairly snorted with disgust at
the pitiful mass of hair which had
once adorned the head of the woman.
The preliminary examination of the
butcher began early yesterday and
throughout the session there were
barely a dozen people in the court room,
as the witnesses were excluded before
the beginning Of the proceedings.
Chained to Deputy
Besold appeared at the court room
early yesterday morning. He was
handcuffed to Deputy Sheriff Gilbert
the officer who tracked him and caused
his arrest, and he seemed in the best
of health and spirits. 1t has been said
that Besold had to be constantly
watched while in Jail to prevent him
from committing suicide, but if any
melancholia had ever affected him no
trace OF 1t appeared yesterday and the
prisoner laughed and chatted with his
attorneys, LIE Compte Davis and Fred
Thompson and seemed to make light
of the trial.
Posey Horton, the grover of Gala
bassas who discovered the decomposed
body in the canyon and reported the
find to Deputy Coroner Finch at Santa
Monica, was the first witness called for
the prosecution.
BY staetment of attorneys at the
very beginning of the preliminary ex-
animation it was intimated that the
defense will deny that the body found
in the canyon was the body of Mrs
Besold, they will deny that Mrs. Besold
is dead and that if dead that Besold
knows nothing of her death. But the
prosecution has a strong chain of evil
dence substantiating the identity of the
pitiful little figure found in the can
yon.
Found Dead Body
Horizons testimony was direct and
concise. He stated that he and his
cousin, Mrs. ]. G.. De Turk, had been
driving along the ocean front road
near the Temescal canyon on the day
of the finding of the body; that the
horses had become thirsty and that he
had driven up into the canyon for a
purpose which he satisfactorily ex-
I1l1 ff1e al IN h.
yards from the mouth of the canyon
the wagon track swerves out around the
base of small hillock so that no view
of the upper canyon can be secured
from the ocean front. He stated that
after driving about that turn in the
track Mrs. De Terk had noticed a small
piece of silk cloth in the road and had
called his attention to it,
A moment later and the odor from a
clump of brush about ten feet to the
side of the road attracted his attention
and he had remarked that there must
be some dead animal in the brush. At
the suggestion of his companion he left
the wagon and went over to the brush
and returned with the notice that it
was the decompoSed body of a man.
His companion then joined him and
the two approached the brush and in
vestigated. The body was bent low
under the branches of scrub and the
woman, in order to gain better view
picked up stick to poke the branches
aside. AS she did so the stick caught
in the hair Of the figure and it dropped
from the fieshleSs skull, causing The
man and woman to shudder with
horror.
Bring Officer
Then both returned to Santa Monica
and with the deputy coroner returned
to the spot of the grewsome discovery
The testimony given by Finch, the
deputy, yesterday was horribly real.
AS soon as l was notified of the find
l went back to the spot" said Finch
Horton and the woman went with me
to show where the body rested, while
l and one helper went In a light road
wagon.
AS we approached the spot the odor
was enough to make an ordinary per-
son sick, The skeleton, for such it was
was lying in a L4nch Of brush lust
about ten feet to the north of the road
| parted the scrub and looked in. The
body was in sitting posture, facing
the east, with head bowed forward
almost to the knees, and hands crossed
before 1t.
"It appeared as though someone had
picked the body up and dropped it
into the brush. The mass of hair had
dropped forward into its lap and the
skull and face, with the exception of
one or two places, was bare of flesh"
AT that point in the testimony Finch
was asked to illustrate and while the
attorneys gathered about to study the
exact position and while Besold, the
accused, craned his neck so that he
might see the deputy coroner sat down
on the floor OF the court room, raised
his knees ever so slightly and dropped
his head forward. The effect at that
point of the evidence caused many in
the court room to Chudder, but Besold
showed no emotio
Took Body In Arms
81 lifted the body out in my arms"
testified Finch. 1.-The only way the
body could be identified as that of
female was from the hair and clothing,
and even that was in bad shape.
II removed the shoes. and, aside from
the oil of the body soaked into them.
they were in good shape. L removed
the garments, and the skin was like
parchment. There was practically no
flesh on the bones and In places the skin