Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1915-01-04
INSANE MAN WOULD
CLEAR PENDER OF
WEHRMAN MURDER
Continued on Page Three.)


the circumstances leading up to it,
whiea, those conversant with the his
tory Of the case, say fits in to letter
with tho facts. Siercks also, in his con
fcssion, states that after shooting Mrs.
Wehrman and her little son, he replac.
ed the revolvcd which he had taken
from trunk in the house, back in the
trunk and had buried the revolver VITA
which he had done the shooting in the
yard. II appears now that this re.
vover was dug up from the yard be
fore Siercks confession was made.
An effort was made to see Pender
at the pcnitcntiary this morning but he
refused to be interviewed by the news.
paper men because he stated that he
had been advised not to talk upon tae
subject md had no statement to make.
When informed of the confession of
Siercks by the prison authorities this
morning he seemed agreeably surprised
and stated that, if the confession prov.
ed to be the truth, that he hoped to be
given his liberty very soon. He mas
been incarcerated in Jail and the peni.
tontary for about three years.
Governor Calls It Vindication.
" If the confession of Slercks pru,es
TO be the genuine article" said Cover
nor West this morning, in discussing
the case with the newspaper represen.
tatives, "it means that one life of an
innocent man has been saved as the
result Of the abolshment Of capital
punishment in this state, and / have
been fully yindicated in my fight for
the light in my struggle for bringing
about this reform, even though have
been abused most numerically by bota
the press and public opinion in the
state There seems no question as to
the confession of Siercks being gen.
uine, according to the officials who
were responsible for having secured it.,
and it seems that he is sane enough to
know what he ia doing and what he is
talking about So far as granting Pen.
der pardon is concerned that will be
a matter for the courts to decide as 10
his complete exoneration before this of-
flee can take formal knowledge OF the
ease
Even though Pender was convicted
OF the crime, purely upon circumstantial
evidence, his friends and some of those
well versed in criminology, among the
latter being George A. Thatcher OF
Portland, were convinced of his limo
cence and have been working hard
ever since the conviction to establish
the identity Of the murderer. Sierk
who was known as q moral degenerate
and an imbecile, has long beer
suspected of connection with the crime
and this suspicion was strengthened
when about year ago and about {
year after the murder Of Mrs. Wehr
man and her little son he committed
an attemut to ravish his own mother
and was adiudged insnne ana ccm
mitted to the insane asylum.
Mr. Thatcher, with the aid Of Snper
intcndent Steiner, of the insane asylum
and Chaplain MacLaren of the peni
tentiary, has been laboring hard will
Sierk in trying to clear up the lnyster,
but he has always, while at times Sp
parently on the verge Of making cleal
breast Of the crime, maintained that h
was innocent. Last nigh. however, a
? specially arranged interview, he wa
taken to the office of Dr. Steiner il
the presence Of DR.. Steiner, Chaplain
MacLaren and Assistant Superintend
ent l.. +. Griffith, Of the asylum. bu
he declined to make n statement unit
Drs. Steiner and Griffith left, he an,
Rev MacLaren alone, when Sicrk fin
ally consented after the fear Of pun
ishment by hanging had been removed
, to make a full confession Of the Grim
/ which he did to Rev, MacLaren, an,
! later in the presence Of the others I'm
, before n stenographcr
Sierk, young mun of hut % year
OF age is confirmed lmbeeile bat
capable Of good reasoning powers an
understood what it mean, TO take tn
oath, and he signed the confrssio
without hesitation after he had NJ
burdened his mind und conscience o
the recital Of the dcteils Of his move
; ment up to, including and after tn
commission Of the decd. Sicrk's cor
fession covers every detail Of the con
mission Of the crime and fits in pei
fectly with the stories he told to Re'
, MacLaren and Drs. Steiuer aud GTii
fifth before the confession was reduce
- TO writing. Governor West gave OF
}, the following statement ronecrain
8 sicrk g confession and the ststus of th
|. Fender case, this morning:
b The Confession.
G The complete confession Of Sierks IL
}. al, John G. II. Sierks, say that o
{ Labor day, September 4, 1911, ! ha
/. been drinking with some men on I'll
/. farm Of j. l.. Smith, about five mile
/, from IIillsboro, and went to bed abol
t z o clock; tnen got up about 1880 an
walked over to Vale Vista, station q
the United Railways, and took Il
X electric car for Burlington. There
II got off and stole speeder from Il
.,, Burlington carshop section boss AZ
b, went down to Scappoose on Il
Northern Pacific liue, there cross,
over and went on the electric trai
d which crossed over to this woman
al place-crossed at Parsons static
n, There ditched II and went and sto
It n revolver out of a trunk In HansC
'e and Riley's cabin, broke II open vii
i, clawhammer In Hanson and Riley
n. cabin. This clawhammer had on
" one claw. | took the clawhammer AZ
threw 10 in Pender's tent, then wei
up TO this woman y cabin. ] found Nh
" Wehrman coming from the cabin wi
Q. a lantern. This was about 10 o'cloc
Dr. saw her 20 in tho house.
II She objected and spoke to me harshl
m "She went into the house and got
=, gun and shot at me. The bullet we
on into the cabin az the right. Az ] we