Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-18

able strength. We then turned our
attention to Mrs. scheck. who stead
fastly denied any other facts than the
ones she testified to at tho coroner's
inquest. excepting she admitted the
Intimacy between herself and Stack
pole. This added Il strong suspicion
| to the case
This relation was further confirmed
Iby a eomplctc search Of StaCkpole and
his belongings. which developed a num-
| Der of pictures of Mrs. Scheck, which
showed conclusvey their relations
This. and the fact that light was
found IN Stackpolc's room shortly after
! the murder, was absolute ely all we had
| to found the case on, wh iCh, Of course
was not sufficient to more than create
a suspicion This situation, toget her
with the fact that Stackpoles friends
| had sought habeas corpus In ordcr
! to permit them TO get Into communi
cation with Mrs. Scheck. made II ncces-
sary that decisive action should be
taken at once.
Promised IMMUNITY
Mrs. SchcCk was again put through
| a long course of investi cation with out
success Even the revolver with which
the deed was done could not be found
| With this situation I'm mind we de-
termined to resort TO that section of the
sta tutes which exists not only i'm this
state, but In every other state in the
Union, permitting the district attor.
ncy. where two people are implicated
i'm a crime to promise immunity to ono
in consideration of that ones testi-
mony in the case.
"This was done and we got thereby
Mrs. SCheCk's story and oven with
that we would have had abso-
lutely no case. she being an accom-
plice had it not been for the alacrity
4 .,f Af,. 1
Captain Flammer in searching for and
seizing the letters which Mrs Sch eek
had written to Stackpolc, and which
he had preserved in n safety deposit
box for the purpose of using them as
u bludgeon to compel her to assist
in carrying out their diabollcal plan,
and stand by him in the event of dis
covery and trial
with this situation we are prepared
to- go to trial. Mrs. Scheck in the mean
time having secured able counsel her
counsel demanded that we make a
specific promise of immunity from
punishment. Prior to that our promise
to -her had been not of total immunity
but of partial immunity. But, with the
necessity for her testimony at the trial
and the demand of her attorneys for
promise of immunity our course was
very plain, and the promise was made
not to Mrs. Scheck but to her attorneys.
Promise for Public Good
This promise we believed to be for
the best interests ef the public i'm the
premises believing it better to secure
the conviction of the man who actually |
committed the deed, who was the strong
and dominant character in the trans
action, rather than that both should go
unpunshed for such an atrocious Of
fGnse
In all of my experience in the prose-
Cutior of crime ! know of no case pre- |
Senting such meager clews to start
with which has been so rapidly and
properly handled and ] desire in this
connection to give full credit for this
exceptional achievement to Capt. F'lam-
mer and Mr.. Fleming of this Office,
who worked on this case night and day
during its pendelcy.
Matters of pending appeal. investi
cation of the record of the Stackpole
case with a view TO ascertaiuing its
freedom from rcvocable error and the
absence of Mr.. Fleming from the city
on vacation has delayed a disposition
Of the Scheck case until now.
Will Push Perjury Case
after a careful con sideration of the
entire premises and desiring that the
word and promise of the district attor-
ney Of Los Angeles county should al |
ways be fulfilled to the letter, and
further feeling that Mrs. Scheck' $ COM
plicity In this affair merits some pun
ishment, there being no promise made
OF immunity fro any other Offense
W hch she had or might have cons
mitted, / determined to file a charge
against her OF perjury committed by
her at the coroner's inquest an Il 1t is
our hope and belief that she shall be
properly punished in the premises.
1T is A matter OF regret that the /
district att orney, who is acting for the
whole people, cannot at all times take H
them into his confidenc during the
progress of a trial. but the reason for
this will be apparent. Those who are
interested in the defense being a part
OF the public would naturally take ad-
vantage of any knowledge they might
thereby gain, and 1 have no doubt the
public will, when entirely Informed in
the premises, approve of our course
throughout, regretting as We do the
necessity which impells us to forbear
from infiicting upon Mrs. Scheck the
full penalty of the law"