Arizona republican., 1910-06-07
HAD COMPASSION ON HER CHILD
Otherwise the Mother Would Have
 Been Jailed for Larceny.

Were it not for the 2-year-old chilC ! of woman giving her name as Vera i Riel or Rich, the mother would in al
 probability be at the present time in the county jail awaiting the action oi
 the next session of the grand jury on
 charge of grand larceny.
 The woman came to Mesa Friday about noon bringing her little daugh-
 ter with her and registered at the
 Palm House, but 'later told Mrs. L. A.
 Smith, the landlady, that her name
 was Riel. The name on the register,
 however, was very illegibly written and
 it is possible that an attempt was
 made to write the name Riel. The
 woman remained at the Palm House
 until Sunday morning about o'clock
 when she paid her bill and taking her
 daughter went to the Mesa feed yards
 and there secured a rig from w E.
 Smith, stating that she was going to
 Tempe. She left the stables and start
 ed in the opposite direction. MT Smith
 thought very little of this, as he sup
 posed that she was going to drive
 around town possibly for the purpose
 of getting some friend living in the
 east end who would accompany her to Tempe. The young son of Mir Smith, who had an errand a mile or two east of town, reported to his father that he had met the woman and child in one of the buggies belonging to the sta ble on the Roosevelt road going east. This aroused the suspicion of MT. Smith somewhat, but he did not re- port the affair until the information reached this place that the woman had been seen several miles out on the road in company with a man. The horse and buggy did not put in it's appear ance at o'clock as the said that 1t would, and at dark Sunday evening MT. Smith became more suspicious and placed the matter in the hands of an officer. Information was finally had from Tortilla Flat that the outfit was in that vicinity and the w. A. Coffman car with MT. Coffman as driver ac- by MT. Smith and Officer Peterson started in pursuit They came upon the parties yesterday morning about 2:3O o'clock at Mesquite Flat. approximately thirty-nine miles east of Mesa. It developed that the informa- ton which had reached Mesa early in the day that there was a man travel ing with the woman had some ground. | 1t is not believed that the man IS at all regular companion of the | woman or that he had ever seen her previous to the commencement of their | Journey at some point east of the East | ,rn canal However, according to the | officer, the two had made camp rather Hose together, giving evidence that hey possibly expected to become tray ling companions for the remainder of he trip to Roosevelt if no farther. The nan offered a number of explanations | m his. side of the affair, but in his xcitement he probably talked too much. for his statements became some what tangled and in vital instances otally at variance with the woman's ersion of the affair. However. it was he opinion of the officers that the nan did not have nor could not have ad anything to do with the hiring of he livery rig nor could they find any vidence that he was in any way re- ponsible for the attempt to get the rig ut of the country, the only thing be- lg that the man might have been held nder another charge. but under the
 circumstances 1t was decided to allow i'm to go.
 The woman stated that she had never { zen the man until after they had {