Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-10
MURDER MYSTERY
STILL UNSOLVED
CORONER AND OFFICERS AT
SEA
Homicide Verdict Returned by Jury.
Police Unearth Case Of Missing
Los Angeles Woman, Whose
Description TalIles

deputy coroner of Santa Monica. There
was but one witness, II. W.. Finch. an
undertakers assistant. who brought the
body to the morgue. Finch, on hearing
of the murder. drove back to the
canyon with Thomas (better known as
Posey) Horton, storelCeeper at Gala
basas, who was the first to make the
grewsone find.
The testimony indicated that the body
was found in half sitting. half stoop-
ing posture under some foliage on the
banks of a wash or creek. It's position
was such as to point to the fact that 1t
had been carried while dead and rigid
out of a carriage or automobile and
placed on the ground in the most
natural position an inanimate form
wcudl take.
A trail, made perhaps by rabbits and
SQUIRRELS in going to a little stream to
drink. ran toward the clump of bushes.
From third parties it was gathered
that Horton was accompanied by q
woman wlnen in driving his buggy and
looking for a place to water his horse
he came across the murdered woman.
He first notified some graders working
on the Malitzl railroad in camp mile
or two away and then drove into Santa
Monica and gave the alarm.
The Verdict
The verdict rendered by the coroner's
jury, cCnyisting of John e. Hackett,
w. b Goetz, G4 T. Page, q. Gamberie,
J. F.. Wilson, Thomas Demmett and B.
Behrems ms, was as follows:
I'VE, the jurors Sworn to inquire into
the cause of the death of this uniden
titled woman, find that she came to
her death from a gu7lshot wound in the
head inIit.ec by person or persons
unknown to this jury
Sheriff william A. White and Deputy
Charles s. Gilbert toohi up the threads
of evidence at this point and carefully
respecting the scene of the find formed
theories OF their own concerning the
case.
The Description
Al SSlealiber' bullet had entered near
the left ear and passed out at the right
side Of the head The body had wasted
almost to skeleton, the fingers and
arms having been scraped as though by
the teeth of squirrels or dogs.
The hair. had become loo6ened from
the scalp, but it was brown and had
been worn pompadour style with a
rat" There were no gray flairs, lead
ing 10 the belief that the woman was
under 80. One imitation tortokse shell
comb fastened the hair in the back.
She wore, as printed yesterday,
chengeable red skirt with two rows of
embroidery down the front; also a
heavy back wooIen underskirT 1t is
argued that because of this heavy skirt
the time of the murder must have been
in colder weather or else tl1e woman
came from the north or from colder
Cline. The underwear was white linen.
Black elastic garters without buckles
or ornaments were worn. The: shoes
We're high top, width A and length 315.
The stockings were plain black. The
waist was white, with white embroidery
and belt of the same material
The. woman was about % yeaz-s old,
about feet inches and weighed about
lis pounds.
Bushes Are Biood-Splashed
There were traces of blood where the
woman sat and on the nearby under
brush These bloodstains offer new
phase and were discovered by Deputy
Gilbert.
They may indicate that struggle
took place, that the man who carried
the limp form stumbled with his burden
or brushed against the foliage at night
in finding place to deposit the form
VI ludL lne WOiIldtl SlaSSerSQ. IL as
some surmise. she shot herself
The chief argument against the theory
of suicide is the utter absence of any
weapons Horton says he saw none
near the body and none has been
under 80. one imitation tortoise shell
found. Besides. she would not have
fired with her left hand
Marks of footprints lead to the niche
in the foliage where the body lay. and
here the grass was still green, fIIdfcat-
ing that but few persons passed over
that way. The canyon is visited prin-
cipally by Sunday and Saturday pic
nickers and others who go farther
inland. There is a wagon road off
from the cIunnp where the body lay,
which is about 100 yards from the ocean
and beyond the great pier at Port Los
Angeles.
Cigar Salesman Disappears
The nearest roadhouse to Temescal
canyon is in Santa Monica canyon. At
taches there do not recouect any wo-
man Of that description having been
there within tie last two months.
A waiter named johnson at the ship
motel at Venice told friends that about
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