The Washington herald., 1914-10-19
.WIERD STORY in
MURDER MYSTERY
Lawyer and Wife Accused Of
Killing Sisters and Grind
ing Bodies to Bits.
ADMIT THEM TO BAIL
One Sister Was Going West to Marry
Married Man-Her Mother
Calls Him "Ghoul."
ci.l b rh. W..hinrtoa Herald.

SPECIAL to Ths Washinstoa Herald.
San Antonio. Tex, Oct. m-A strange
story Is told in the ofiicial documents
accusing Layourne Victor Z. Innes and
his wife Of the murder OF Mrs Eiois
Nelms Dennis and her sister. Miss
Beatrice Nelms. daughter Of q former
sheriff Of Atlanta. Ga.
The district attorneys allegations as 90
the case are as follows:
He says that having borrowed 10000
from Mrs. Dennis or false pretenses.
winning her affection and promising TO
marry her, Innes killed her and her sis
ter to prevent exposure for perhdy.
. Miss Beatrice Nelms was q successful
real estate operator in Atlantis and 1t is
declared that she came here with her
sister for the purpose Of bringing expert
knowledge to bear upon the loan trans
action.
Il is charged that Innes trapped the
sisters in a cottage he had rented In
San Antonio and, having fot them there,
murdered them. the method OF killing
not being specified.
Further, II is alleged that after kill
ing the sisters he used meat grinding
machine for making their flesh into pulp,
thus easily 10 be disposed Of. and that.
to rid himself OF the skeletons, he filed
a cesspool back of his home with sui
phuric acid and left the bones OF the
women 10 Dc eaten away
Couple out ON Bail.
Despite these accusations, Judge An
derson Of the District Court, at the move
Of District Attorney Linden. has ad-
mitted the Innes couple TO bail. The
bond for Innes was fixed at 1900 and
that of his wife at $500.
Mrs Nelms, the mother Of the missing
woman, pointed her finger at Innes In
c0Irt and cried.
There he goes, the old ghoul! He's
done that devilment and killed my two
daughters"
Marshall Nelms, brother of Mrs. Den
mis- and Miss Beatrice Nelms, was in
court Earlier in the day Deputy Sheriff
GaIbreath had searched Nelms and taken
a revolver from him.
Mrs. Dennis had employed Innes at
Carson City, New, as her lawyer to get
q divorce from Walter Dennis. now
New Yorker. She returned to Atlanta
with her decree, and, according to her
mother. was enthusiastic regarding the
personality and talents Of Innes. At that
time, 1879 he was assistant United States
district attorney at Carson.
Mrs. Nelms says her daughter told her
that she and Innes were to be married
and that she had loaned him $4,000 to
be invested.
Mrs. Nelmes states, too. that Mrs. Dem
mis- and Miss Beatrice had always been
more or less ION the outs" that Miss
Beatrice said Innes might be sfTindling
her sister and suggested she had better
90 West with Mrs. Dennis to see that
everything was all right. Mrs Dennis
challenged her sister TO accompany her
and prove anything wrong about Innes.
Left Home to Wed Innes.
with that understanding, their mother
says, they left Atlanta on June 10 to
meet Innes at Houston, Tex, where
Mrs. Dennis expected to marry him.
At that time Innes was living with
his present wife at Portland, Ore. The
Nelms family alleged TO the authorities
here that Mrs. Dennis had shipped to
Portland many of her valuable belong
inEs, including silver and cut glass gifts
which she had received on the occasion
Of her marriage to Dennis.
The two young women are known to
have gone to New Orleans, where Mrs
Dennis cashed a New York exchange
draft for s., ,Ooo They were traced to
San Francisco From there ensued their
utter disappearance. The Nelms family,
influential in Atlanta, stirred the po-
lice there to institute a national search.
Mrs Nelms, left a fortune of some
thing over $4,000 by her husband, finally
offered 5000 reward FOR the finding of
her, daughters dead or alive.