Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1907-11-25
Confession OF
RALPH W.STEELE
GIVEN OUT BY W. H. ABEL, lMPLI.
eating MRS. TODD
Details Former Attempt by Mrs.
Todd on Life of Her Husband.
a Blood Curdiing Story. STRANGE
Apathy OF Officials Toward the
Accused Woman.

Apduny OF OFFICIALS Toward the
Accused Woman.
According to the promise made to
Ralph Steele, Attorney w. H. Abel.
| after satisfying himself that Mrs.
Todd had voluntarily made her So
called confession of the murder of
her husband to the Hoquiam police,
gave out last Thursday the following
statement to the press:
About an hour before Steele COM
mitted suicide, he made me promise
that l would go to Hoquiam, see Mrs.
Todd, ascertain whether the confess
sion made by her was voluntarily
made, then he wanted me to make a
statement of the case in his behalf,
but that If Mrs. Todd said the con-
fession was forced from her and in
voluntary, then he was willing to
die upon the gallows in silence. y
According to the promise made to
Steele, l saw Mrs. Todd. She nad a
few minutes before learned of
Steele's suicide. She stated that she
would not have made the confession
had it not been that, at her last meet
Ing with Steele, she saw that all he
wanted was her money, and that she
then decided to make her confession.
I'm view of Mrs. Todd's state
ment l now carry out the promise
which I made to Steele However, l
do not wish. to stand sponsor for the
truth of Steele's statements. l hope
they are not true.
"Steele stated that on a number
of occasions Mrs. Todd had tried to
kill her husband by administering
laudanum, by smothering him while
he was drunk, and administering
powdered glass. He also gave the
names OF drug stores in Hoquiam and
appropriate dates upon which she
purchased these poisons.
Steele further stated that this
was done to get rid of Todd, so that
he and Mrs. Todd could get married
That on the night of Todds death,
Mrs. Todd induced her husband to
drink beer, drugged with laudanum,
which made him sick, whereupon she
gave him some whiskey and had him
lie down and that he fell asleep. That
she then administered chloroform
| and when he was insensible, the two
| OF them carried him out of the house
into the wOodshed, and she struck
the blows which caused his DEATH
Since the date of the murder of
Frank Todd was discovered at Ho-
quiam, Sept. 1, the marshal of that
city, the county coroner and county
attorney have been handling Mrs.
Todd, widow of the murdered man,
very tenderly, and the press has, as
a rule done likewise, under the i'm
preston given out by the authorities
that she was being used to secure a
confession from Steele, although the
finger of suspicion has pointed to her
from the first, as at least having
guilty knowledge of the crime. When
Steele's confession was secured, by
her assistance, the press was told
to say nothing to incriminate the
woman, as she must not be Frustrated
until corroborative evidence was Sc
cured that would insure the hanging
of Steele.
Surely, with the death of Steele
by his own hand, those reasons ceased
to exist, yet no move is made to
charge the woman with the offense,
nor attempt made to have her ex-
plain the conflicting stories she has
told of the crime. On the contrary
she is allowed to leave Hoquiam last
week, ostensibly for Portland. 1t is
doubtful if similar apathy of Off
cials can be found in the criminal
history of the country, nor is there
any doubt in the minds of any who
have followed the case that, properly
handled, the guilt or innocence of
the woman could be established with
out great difficulty.
The Herald has no desire to con-
vict Mrs. Todd, or any other woman
would much prefer to assist in
proving her innocence-but the
blood of Frank Todd cries aloud for
vengeance, as does the outraged law
and his fatherless children. If in
nocent, it will require trial by jury
to convince the public of the fact, so,
in that event, proper action by the
authorities seems to be the only way