Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1915-01-05
Would Have Him Dig Up Re-
VOlver He Claims Was
Buried in Yard
FATHER OF INSANE MAN
SAYS He is INNOCENT
Talks to Governor Over Long
Distance Telephone This
Morning

Whether or not John G. II. Siercks,
the imbecile, will be sent down to
Columbia county in the custody Of
Warden lawson of the penitentiary to
go over the ground and unearth the re.
volver which he claims he buried some
place in the yard after the shooting of
Mrs. Wehrman and child in order to
establish the authenticity of his con.
fessiOn as to the commission of the
crime, will be determined at meeting
Of the board Of control.
Governor West is inclined to the be-
lief that the board would be acting
within its jurisdiction in sending a
patient of the asylum or any other
ward Of the state out upon mission
Of this character when q man 8 liberty
is at stake, in the custody Of an officer
but Secretary of State Olcott believes
that matters of this kind rest solely
within the powers Of the courts and
that the board has no authority to re.
lease the patient from the asylum un.
less turned over to a duly authorized
officer of the court Of the county from
which the patient was committed.
The whole question of whether or not
Siercks is telling the truth or is merely
laboring under the delusion that he
has committed the crime from reading
the papers or has been coached rests
upon his ability to go over the grounds
at the scene of the crime and establish
his guilt by pointing out the details sur
rounding the facts Of the case and to
dig up the gun which he claims to have
buried in the yard. Superintendent
Steiner will present his views at the
meeting of the board which are to the
effect that the functions Of the asylum
authorities are purely eustOdial; that
they have no right to grant q parole to
any patient for any purpose and that
the civil authorities Of the county from
which the patient was committed should
order the temporary release and ap.
point an agent to take charge Of the
patient.
Father Calls Up Governor
Gustav H. siercks, the father of the
insane boy called up Governor West
this morning by long distance telephone
and informed him that he did not be-
licve word of the boys story but did
not have money enough to pay his ex-
penses Of coming 10 Salem to state the
case and Governor West informed him
that he would send Warden Lawson Of
the penitentiary down to go over the
ground and secure such facts as were
Obtainable concerning the case.
Frank Wehrman, husband Of the
murdered woman, Of Portland. called
Superintendent Steiner up by long dis
tance this morning and inquired why
he was not informed Of the proceedings
leading up to the obtaining Of the con
fession and why he was not notified in
order that he might be present when
the confession was made and DR.
Steiner told him that 1t came so quick
~ and happened so suddenly that nc
chance was given to notify anybody
Wehrman said that IL was strange that
the boy should tell such n straight
story but that he did not believe It OF
would not until the boy made good by
digging up the gun he claims to have
buried.
Those who are conversant with the
law are of the opinion however, thai
the whole thing is farce from star
70 finish and that. If a writ Of habeai
corpus were served upon the peniten
tiary officials to obtain the release Of
Pender, on the ground that the adop
ton of the constitutional amendment
abolishing capital punishment automat
ieally operates to liberate both Pen
der and wilkins convicted Of the muir
der Of Lou Winters, whose death pen
atty was commuted to life imprison
ment, that there would be no question
but that the supreme court would orde
their release and a pardon or any othe
action on the part Of the governor !
absolutely unnecessary. Peuder posi-
lively refuses to be interviewed upol
the subject and declines TO make an.
kind Of q statement in connection will
tde new sensational development, o