Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-11
GREWSOME RELICS
TO Be EXHIBITED
WILL DIG UP MRS. BES0LD'S
REMAINS
Butcher Says If Body Is That Of His
Wife a Scar on Bone viii Show
Where It Was scraped
for tuberculosis

Not content with the CHASTITY display
of exhibits now in evidence in the
Besold case the attorneys for the de-
fense have demanded that the bones
of the unfortunate woman be exhumed
and brought into court so that certain
distinguishing marks about them can
be Identified
From the earliest history of Los An
geles county ghastly relics have figured
prominently I'm all tragedy cases of the
criminal court, as the dlngy old room of
exhibits In the basement of the build
ing can readily attest.
A dirt-covered skull, bearing q huge
bullet wound over the right temple,
Is one of these exhibits. A whitened
old skull with the top crushed in was
used as an exhibit in a case where
an old man met death from the blow
of a hammer. Bottles Of poison, blood
crusted knives and revolvers lie about
galore in that old room, reeking with
germs of crime and Transforming one
from the sweet air of nature to the
atmosphere Of crimes at which the
inmates of the inferno might blush be-
fore enacting.
Exhibit Nauseating
To that list of exhibits, more hor-
rible than amy of the rest, will be
added the exhibits of the Besold case.
Already exhibits have been entered Of
such character as to cause those in
the court room to turn sick at the
sight and faint at the odor.
When the body of Mrs. Claddie Be
sold was found in the Temescal can
yon several months ago there was
practically nothing left but the skel-
eton with covering of parchment-like
skin stretched over the frame of bones.
At the first touch of the hands of
the discoverers the mass of matted
yellow hair dropped from the whitened
skull to the lap of the figure. That
in itself is terrible enough to behold
and it formed the first exhibit of the
trial after being properly handled ard
examined in court.
The clothes worn by the unfortunate
woman at the time Of the murder are
also on exhibition. These garments
have been packed in disinfectant for
several months, but the odor of the
decaying body, an odor which is unlike
any other in the world, is still there and
when the garments were produced in
court last week many of the spectators
fairly staggered from the room.
To Dig UP Bones
Now, according to the demands of the
attorneys, a desecrated skull will be
taken from an obscure little grave in
the potter's field of Santa Monica.
That skull and an arm bone will be
taken into court for proof in an effort
to prove an alibi for Besold
From the time of his arrest Besold
has alleged that the body found in
the Temescal canyon was not that OF
his wife. He asserts that his wife
had left him on that fatal day of July
IL and had told him that she was goinG
to live with friends in a distant city
He further alleges that the body il
the Temescal canyon would not have
reached the stage of decomposition IL
which it was found had it been ex'
posed to the elements for only tht
thirty days which the state alleges
elapsed between the time of the murdel
and the discovery of the body
Mrs. Besold in her life was troubled
with tuberculosis, which settled in hel
right arm Some time ago the ply
sicians of Seattle operated upon the
woman and scraped the bone of tha
arm.
viii Hunt for Scar
They allege that the scar on thu
bone will still show and offer almos
complete evidence that the body wa'
that of Mrs. Besold. 1t has beer
turtnef auegeQ Dy BeSold Inat Ine nOl'
in the skull of the body found in tn,
Temescal canyon was not made by {
bullet wound, but that it was simpl,
the ear cavity from which the ear hat
fallen and which the deputy under
taker, who attended the body, mistool
for gunshot wound.
1t is for these reasons that the at
torneys for Besold want the skull ant
arm bone taken from the grave ant
thoroughly examined by experts in the
hope that there will be some doub
about the identity of the body, al
though the identifications of the gar
ments found on the body has beer
complete.
Besold in the meantime scoffs II
public at the idea that he should bt
suspected Of numbering his wife. bu
when he is returned to his cell ht
mopes a good deal and does not ap'
pear so cheerful.
If the body is eXhumed it will prob
ably be done during the early part o.
the week and the greWsome relics ell
tered as evidence before the close o
the preliminary examination which i,