East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1912-03-20
HUMPHREYS CONFESS
TO ANOTHER MURDER
TWO BROTHERS ASSAULTED
AND SLEW LONELY WIDOW
Younger Man Now Charges That His
Brother Murdered George Selby
Who Was Thought to Have Suicid-
cd -Four Years Ago.

cd Four Years Ago.
Hillsboro, Ore, March 2O.-Follow-
ing his confession that he aided his
older brother in a double criminal
assault on and the murder of Mrs.
Ella Griffith, widow Charles r.
Humphrey has revealed another chap
ter to the brutal career of himself
and his brother George, who con-
fessed to the murder of the woman
The first of the week, by now charg-
ing that his brother George killed
George Selby in October, 1908, who
was supposed to have committed sui
eide and robbed him of fifty dollars.
The Humphreys lived In Hayhurst
valley, about five miles north of Yon-
Gala, at the time Selby was killed. 1t
was just at the close of hop picking,
and Charles Humphrey had done his
turn in the hop fields and in hay
harvesting.
The family funds were running low
and George Humphrey suggested go
ing over to the Selby place and get
ting Selby's money. Selby owned
dDOul DU dCIeS Vi ldHu ana was huOM IL
as a hard money man. He kept
coin about the cabin all the time.
| Neighbors knew this, and Charley
Humphrey especially knew it, for he
| had worked for Selby and had been
| apid in coin from the tin can kept
on the top of the cupboard out or
| sight of visitors, few of whom ever
I entered the mountain cabin.
George Humphrey told Charley of
! the plan to get Selby's money and
of the need of it. Early one morning
in the late fall George Humphrey left
the home bound for Dallas. From
Dallas he walked over to the Selby
place arriving at about the right
! tine to get an invitation to stay over
light. The next morning the nearest
neighbor discovered that the Selby
house and barn were on fire. When
help arrived the buildings We're a mass
| of smOuldering ashes. In the debris
was found the charred body of Selby
and near it was the wreck of a Marlin
rifle. a $50 gold piece was also found
in the ashes. In the afternoon about
A o'clock George Humphrey returned
| porting that he had gotten about $50
| in the trick. Charley Humphrey
says that he never received his cut
out of the money-that George was
| disappointed in not getting at least
$500, and kept the cash for immedi-
ate needs.
Charley Humphrey told the story
| of the crime in minute detail as told
| him by his brother at the time. The
story was told in the county Jail to
w. j. Mitchell, a detective of Port
| land, and A. II. Harris, a newspaper
man, with no apparent effort to
shield himself or anyone connected
with the affair. He did not deny
that his mother knew of the Selby
crime, as well as of the Griffith mur-
der.
| George Selby was a bachelor liv-
ing about six miles from Dallas. Dur
ing haying and at other busy times
Selby employed neighbors to help him
with his work. At one time he en-
ployed Charley Humphrey. so Hum
phrey says, and for six days the two
men worked together. At the week
end Selby took the tin can from its
hiding place and counted out 80 in
silver, being payment at the rate of
$3.50 per day for the time Humphrey
had been employed, giving the mon
ey to Humphrey. The knowledge of
the hiding place of Selby's money led
the two brothers to plan the robbery
of Selby's house. But the time was
delayed until the family had remov-
ed from the neighborhood to the
Yoncalla valley before the trick
should be turned, in an effort to
throw off suspicion. At the time
Selby employed Humphrey the two
men lived within two miles of each
other.
Humphreys version of the Selby
killing is clearly the truth. His story
told in fragmentary form, is about as
follows:
I'VE knew that Selby had money
about the house and thought he had
several thousand dollars in the bank
l knew he kept coin in tin can on
{ top of the cupboard. George told
me of the plan to get it. one morn
t ing early he left for Dallas to do the
job. The next afternoon about 4
! o'clock he came home, walking from
e Yoncalla, and said he had only got
] ten about $50 in coin. He could not
find the $500 that we thought was
}, about the house.
e George said he stayed all nigh
= with Selby. In the morning he tried
:. to get the money, and killed Selby b!
l. shooting him in the forehead will
Selby's rifle, a Marlin. He said h,
}, shot him suarely in the forehead
Then in order to show suicide h
|. lplaced the gun beside the body an
set the building on fire.