Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-14

how nice IL would be II my husband
should die and he could marry me.
Before he went away on trip to
Morenci, Ariz., he asked me II would
marry him If my husband was dead
A short time later he saw me wearing
hat that looked something like a
mourning bonnet and he asked me II
didn't want to be q widow. Then he
suggested that / run away and leave
Los Angeles with him.
'1 had q number of letters from him
In which he suggested poison for my
husband, but I have lost them. Time
after time he reminded me that II my
husband was dead I could go with
him. About two weeks before the
murder he wrote me and told me to
increase my husbands life insurance
policy and offered to lend me the
money. He also wanted me to increase
my policy.
Expected Good Time
"He told me OF the good times we
would have when Joel was out Of the
way. He told me how we could go to
q nearby town and be married and how
after that IL would be travel, travel
over the country, always having plenty
Of money and a good time. Then in
one of his letters he told me that IL
Joel could be induced to come to Ari-
zona he would meet with an accident
that would dispose Of him.
"Stackpole returned to Los Angeles
and sent for me and / went to see him
at his room at the Blaine apartments.
Yes, was his mistress. 1 went there
on several occasions and there was
criminally intimate with him.
"As soon as he saw me he began to
talk about getting Joel out of the way.
He talked about 1t many times, and
one time when L was going to his room
from my home l said, How can we
get rid of him., and he said, Leave
that to me. I'll get rid of him soon.'
well. we talked about ii some more
and then on the morning of June 1S
he came to my home and we were
looking over the morning papers and
he read in the Examiner about two
Mexicans robbing and shooting a man.
He told me that he was going to fix
Joel that night, and for me to remem-
ber that story and tell that two MeXi-
cans did the shooting; that they were
short and were burglars and tried to
rob the house.
Planned Burglar Story
THAT afternoon he came back to the
house and we talked some more. He
told me to take my jewelry out of my
trunks and put 1t somewhere else.
so that he would not have to take 1t.
1t was his plan for me to dump the
stuff out of my trunks, like someone
had been robbing them and he did not
want the jewelry to be there, for a
burglar would have taken the stuff
and he would be compelled to take 1t
and then it would look suspicious for
him to give it back to me.
'T promised to fix the trunks, but
refused to leave the back door open.
He then told me to leave it unlocked
and l consented. Then he said that
he did not know what he would do
with the gun, since that would be bad
evidence but he said he would have
to get rid of it someway.
There was a gun in our house, the
one presented in evidence here. That
was my husbands gun and he and l
used to go hunting with it. 1t is a
80 caliber, and my husband tried once
to fit a 3S cartridge in it, but failed. |
That gun could not have been the
one used, because my husband was
shot with 3S. Also he could not have
committed suicide with a SO gun when
a SS bullet was found in his body.
Ate Supper With Victim
After we had talked it over he told
me to remember about the burglar
story, and tell it to anyone who came in
that night after the shooting. He re-
minded me to be careful and fix things
to look like burglars had been there
and then he left.
"He returned that night and ate sup
per with my husband and 1 and then
he went away and Joel and 1 went to
bed.
1T was very dark and I lay there
with my eyes wide open, waiting for
the first sign of Stackpole's coming.
II guess L went to sleep, for / was
startled by the sound Of a noise at the
and 1 jumped out of bed and
got to the kitchen before / saw Stack |
pole He wore mask and carried a |
revolver, but. of course, I knew his
voice when he told me to throw UP my
hands.
II threw my arms across my face to |
hide what was coming, as / saw him
go past me and walk to the side of
my husbands bed just as Joel raised
up and said:
'"'Who is there? For Gods sake, who
Is it?'
Heard Two Shots
II had partly removed my arms from
my face as 1 saw Stackpole leaning
toward my husband and then 1 COW
cred my face again, for I heard click |
as the hammer missed fire on the cart
ridge. Then came two reports in quick
and heard a sort of sigh |
and the creak of the bed as though my
husband was sinking back to the pill |
lows
Then Stackpole said to me: Give
me ten or fifteen minutes to get back |
to my room, and then yell for help and |
tell of the burglars When he was gone
walked over to my husband and said !
Joel, for Gods sake. say something /
but he was quite dead with shot |