Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-01-27
ARRESTED ON CHARGE
OF numbering WIFE
Potts, 1t is Alleged, Choked Helpmate
to Death, Hurried Funeral and
Went to California.
PARENTS OF WOMAN NOT
SATISFIED WITH STORY
Investigation Shows Women Has Marks
on Throat and Doctors Find Bone
In Neck Broken
UNITED PRESS LEASED WIRE ]

Canyon City, Ore, Jan. 27.-C. E.
Potts, formerly Of this place, was ar.
rested in Los Angeles, California, yes
terday on evidence adduced at the cor
oner's investigation held here last Sat
urday, resulting in finding that Mrs.
Potts had met death at the hands Of
her husband Oh the night of July 10
last at Mount Vernon, Oregon, 10 miles
from this place. The day following
she was buried there and the day after
the funeral, Potts, with his son, dis
appeared.
The coroner's jury brought in the fol-
lowing;
Husband Blamed for Death.
"The verdict of the coroner's jury
is that the deceased came to her death
by strangulation or suffocation at the
hands of her husband.'
The jury's findings were telegraphed
Immediately to Los Angeles.
Mr.. and Mrs. Potts left>here early in
July to visit with Mrs Potts parents,
Mr., and Mrs, McGarvin, owners of the
Mounty Vernon Hot Springs hotel,
about 10 miles from Canyon City.
The early evening of July 13 Mrs.
Potts passed, with two school teachers,
Misses Skinner and Daniels, and later
went to the hotel, where she passed the
night with her husband About 7
o'clock in the morning of July IA Mr..
Potts announced to Mrs. McGarvin that
he had found his wife dead in bed and
that he wanted her buried at once.
Suspicious Are Aroused,
Mrs. Potts parents were suspicious
and demanded an investigation, but, as
there was no coroner at Mount Vernon,
the undertaken there was called to act,
and though Mr.. and Mrs. McGarvin
wanted the body embalmed and buried
in California, the contention of Mr..
Potts won, and the funeral was held.
The teachers with whom Mrs. Potts
passed a part of the evening before
her death were called in to aid the un-
dertalier, and they testified that they
found black marks on Mrs. Potts neck.
This caused further suspicious, as the
young women said Mrs. Potts left them
in the best of health and spirits.
TO the burial at Mount Vernon Gem.
etery Mr.. Potts rode with the minister,
Rev. Mr.. McClelland, the Presbyterian
church pastor Of Mount Vernon, who
testified that Potts told him: "If ever
get into trouble will kill myself by
poisoning" He produced bottle he
then carried, says the minister
Grandparents Want Boy,
Following the funeral, Mr.. Potts told
his parents-in-law that he was going
away and intended to take his eight
yearold son With HIM To this the
grandparents objected, declaring that
Potts could not care for him. Potts,
however answered that Mrs Potts had
life insurance which he would get and
he was well able to care for the boy.
1t was William Robertson brother'in
law Of Mrs. Potts, who has carried the
case to prosecution, as his suspicious
were aroused from the first, reaching
the conclusion that his wife's sister had
met foul play, and he was determined
to prove # possible, his conclusions.
The body of Mrs. Potts was exhumed
here Saturday, and three physicians,
Drs. Chiffon and Ashford, Of Canyon
City, and DR., Belknap, of Prairie City,
made the examination. Their investi'
cations Of the black marks on the neck
revealed the fact that a bone had been
broken. The stomach was sent to the
state chemist at Corvallis for examin
alton
Sheriff Welsh win leave here today
for Portland and will take tho Shasta
Limited for the California city to re
turn Potts here for trial.
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