Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-11

That Carl Sutherland, the man who
killed Capt. Walter Auble of the police
department and committed suicide
when hunted down, was weakling,
a youth inspired to evil deeds by read
ing wild border tales and by frequent
use of opiates, Is the belief of the au-
thorities To those yersed in criminal
ogy Capt. Auble's slayer presents an
interesting psychological study.
The police consider the character OF
Sutherland is a peculiar one. From
the number of letters left by the slayer
to his relatives and acquaintances the
workings of a strange mind are mani
tested. Almost all OF the letters were
written from one week to several weeks
prior to the tragedy of Wednesday.
One or two of the missives were type
written, while the others were written
in firm and neat style of penman-
ship, pen and ink being used to tram
scribe the last words to his friends.
From the wording of the letters, the
writer evidently was of the opinion
that he was thoroughly seasoned and
hardened criminal and that his past
was such a black one that there was no
use for him to try TO struggle against
fate and live an honest and upright
life.
Believed Himself Criminal
While it has not been revealed that
Sutherland was in the habit of read
ing yellow novels of the wild West"
kind. or that he ever associated with
bad or dangerous men, 1t is evident
his mind was filled with the stories OF
deeds of various border characters ana
that his imagination so fired him that
he became a criminal.
From his letters and habits 1t is GER
tain he was a person of vivid imag-
ination and that when he once read
tale of stirring adventure in which
midnight rides, daring battles and hair
breadth escapes figured he gloried in
the thrilling situations, brooded, kept
the circumstances fresh in his mind
until he became convinced he was one
of the persons participating in the
holdup. train robbery or deed of a like
nature Them 1t is believed, Suther-
lands Wonderful imagination was as
sisted by frequent injections of OPT
ates, to the use of which he was ad-
dicted.
If is now believed that he would. in
order to make his mind more active
and TO assist him in planning original
and daring adventures. dose himself
with drugs, in the manner of the fam
Gus detective of fiction, sherlock
Holmes, then sit down and write his
impressions, always imagining himself
to be the hero Of the story.
There may be several instances IN
which he told the truth, or part of the
truth, the police say, but it is believed
that these were few. The general ap-
pearance of the youthful slayer is not
that of a criminal. He has none OF
the characteristics that mark the man
of vicious and crafty personality
Worshiped His Wife
While there is tone of sadness to
his life story, it is believed most of
his troubles were imaginary. From
constant brooding his mind became>1n
such state that he convinced himselr
he was a much-abused man; that the
world had buffeted him about ana had
made a martyr of him by not creating
him Independently rich.
There is one thing certain, whatever
faults the man had: he loved and wor-
SHIPPED his wife. He brooded about los
ing his position at the University cluD
until his mind became imbued with but
one idea, and that was to perfect
plan for a daring kidnapping, whereby
he would obtain money enough to for
ever preclude the necessity for his
ever having to work.
With this one object in view he laid
his plans SO that in the event of his
kidnapping a wealthy person to hold
for ransom his intended course would
not be interfered with
To make this huge undertaking
complete success he realized he would
have to have sufficient funds to work
with. He was almost penniless, but
borrowed some money from his
brother-in-law. telling him he wanted
the money to buy a ticket to some
town in Arizona where he had posi-
tion. This money was not sufficient,
and 1t was decided to rob two houses
in order to secure loot enough to
finance his kidnapping scheme How
the enterprise would have resulted Is
not known. The finding of letter giv-
ing the details of the proposed burg
larry caused Capts. Auble and Flammer
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