Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-10-24
TO EXHUME BODY
Of Miss ;L|NNEZ[
Defense Claims toiHaye Important
Developments Concerning the
''Other Man" in the Ease.
READY FOR TRIAL
p,oneson win Admit He Was Engaged
a. Roth Women Also that Miss Linneli
,ras seconciled to Breaking Engage
ment with Her-Denies Improper Re-
I ,ations with the Deceased.

's''sls e.ss.S.:yS
Boston. Oct. 24.-"I believe my
son is innocent. But if he is guilty,
he is no son Of mine. The law must
take it's course"
Erect as a soldier, and straighten-
ing even more as he spoke, Col. Thos.
Varland Richeson, Of Amherst, va,
father of Rev. C. v. T. Richeson, ac-
cused of the murder Of Avis Linnell,
who arrived today from his Southern
home, declared today that if his son
be proven guilty, he should go to
the electric chair.
The elder Richeson reached Bos-
ton today. He was accompanied by
his personal attorney, who Will as
sist the attorneys already engaged to
look after his sons defense
"I have been invited by the Ed
mands to stay at their house while |
am in the north" he said, "but /
have not made up my mind that that
would be the proper place for me to
CO."
DR.. Richeson will not resign from
the Emmanuel Baptist church. He did
write his resignation when first ar
rested, but withheld it from the mails
at the request of his attorneys. In
it's place. Richeson has written to the
church trustees, expressing his inno-
cence and leaving it to the church
members to take whatever action they
see fit.
DR.. Alfred w. Balch, an expert
toxicologist, has been retained by the
State to advise the prosecuting attor-
neys as an expert.
Boston, Oct. 24.-Representatives
from the district attorneys Office and
from police headquarters leave this
afternoon for Hyannis, to exhume
the body of Avis Linnell, for whose
murder Rev. Clarence v. T. Richie
son, Of the Emmanuel Baptist church
at Cambridge, is held a prisoner.
The police desire to secure from the
coffin of the dead girl the bath robe
she was wearing when she was found
dying in her bath room in the Y. W..
C. A. building. They wish to ascer-
tain If the pockets of this robe con-
tain the vial of poison that killed her.
hof IN hprria1
investigation at the time Of the girls
death, the police overlooked this
most important fact. If the poison
vial is found in one of the pockets,
as the police believe, it will either
materially strengthen the case against
Richeson, or will prove his innocence.
If a poison vial, containing cyan
ide of potassium, is found in the
girls bathrobe, the police declare
their case against Richeson will be
complete.
If vial is found containing some
slower and less deadly poison, the
police case against Richeson will fall
through.
The police surgeons who attend the
examination will atthe same time, re-
move the other organs Of the girl,
and these, with the stomach already
taken out, will be sent to the labor
atory at Harvard University, where
an effort will be made to collect ev-
cry particle of poison, so that if it be
cyanide, the chemists can tell wheth-
er it was the same grade of cyanide
as that bought by DR.. Richeson, from
William Hahn, the Newton Center
druggist.
Chief Police Inspector Dugan to-
day declared the private detectives
engaged by the defense still are
securing Boston's restaurants and
hotels in an effort to find some per-
son who had seen Avis Linnell with
some man other than DR.. Richeson.
The defense declares the search
for the ''other man" has developed
many points favorable to the accused
minister. What these points are, they
decline to divulge.
1t was learned authoritatively to-
day that the defense will be based
on the grounds of reasonable
doubt
Ten distinct grounds will be ad-
.~ranced. They are:
First. Richeson will admit that he
had been engaged to Avis Linnell at
the time he fell in love with Violet
Edmands, the heiress, and will admit
that he was in quandry as to just
how to break off the engagement with