Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-22
DOUBT THIRD HOLE
IS BULLET WOUND
BELIEVE BESoLD EXHIBIT WAS
TAMPERED WITH
District Attorney May Investigate in
Effort to Learn Who Handled
Skull Of Murdered
Woman

Investigation into the tampering with
one of the exhibits in the Besold muir
der trial is contemplated by the district
attorneys office, now that the details
of that strenuous trial have become a
matter of history and Besold is under
conviction of murder in the second de-
gree.
The first intimation that one of the
exhibits had been tampered with came
to light during the trial, when the skull
of Mrs. Besold was produced in court
for examination by DR.. Campbell. The
surgeon had assisted in saving the
skull from the body when it was eX-
humed. At that time he made careful
examination in the presence of wit
nesses and two holes were discovered in
the skull. One hole was a neat incis-
ion in the left temple where a bullet
had entered, and a corresponding hole
was in the right temple where the bull
let had broken through.
Those were the only two marks on the
skull and both were noted by DR..
Campbell. When the skull was pro-
duced in Justice Young's court during
the preliminary examination it was
again examined by the physician and
two holes were the only marks in the
skull Following the preliminary eX-
animation the skull and bones sawed
from the skeleton were left in the court
room, unguarded for about twenty min
utes while people passed in and out,
and some time later they were bundled
up and sent to Deputy County Clerk
Tom Shea. Captain Shea is one of the
most competent officers in the employ
of the county, and as soon as he re-
ceived the exhibits he put them under
lock and key without examining them.
Find Third Hole
Those exhibits never left the exhibit
room at the court house. They re-
mained wrapped in the cloths until they
were called for by the court officers, and
Captain Shea carried them to the court
room and helped to open them Then 1t
was discovered that there was a third
hole in the skull. The hole had been
punched in the back of the skull near
the base, and had evidently been done
with a file or thick awl
At any rate, DR.. Campbell called the
courts attention to it. Attorney Stur-
ges and his associates for the defense
Immediately arose in court and stated
that they had been called into the case
after the preliminary examination and
that they had never seen the exhibits
until they had been produced in court.
The hole in the back of the skull
could not be accounted for. 1t was
nearly like the break in the bone made
at the point of entry of the bullet but
marks at the side of the hole showed
that a file had probably been the in
strument used by some friend of Besold
to punch the hole through the bone.
The subject at that time was dropped
and the only witness used in Besold' s
defense was Captain Shea, who testi-
fled that neither Attorney Sturges nor
his associates had even looked at the
exhibits, much less handled them.
Believe Hole Punched In
1t is thought that the hole was
punched in the skull after the prelimin-
ary examination in Justice Young
court when the exhibits were left for
a period of time of about thirty minutes
without being guarded, and a man who
was in the court room at that time and
who is said to know something of the
affair is being searched for by sheriff. S
officers.
Besold will be taken before Judge
Smith Monday for sentence, but the
case will probably be appealed and mo-
ton for a new trial will be filed before
sentence can be given.