Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-02-15

received letters from him, coldly tell
ing her that he was through" Then
she decided to let him continue be-
lievinS she was in need of his pro-
lection.
That Orpet believed her is evident
from the letter he wrote her announc-
ing that he would visit Lake Forest
and meet her at THE Three Oaks. "
He wrote: IF everything is not all
right by the time / see you it will be
then. Leave it to me-"
John p. Taylor, coroner of Lake
county, said:
when / examined the body I
found no signs that there had been
an operation. If the girl told Orpet
she was in trouble, she was either
under a wrong impression or was de-
liberately trying that means to hold
club over his head. Since she
knew her condition was normal, sui
eide is not the normal conclusion
In his cell Orpet was nervous to-
day. He constantly asked for cigarets,
but his jailers permitted him to smoke
only a pipe. He greeted his visitor
with a smile, and was pleased when
told they We're sure he was innocent
of the charge of murder.
TN tell all there is to tell" he said.
81 am innocent of any crime in con-
nection with Marian's death, and
there is no reason why l should not
talk freely. I'll start right from the
beginning. l have lived in Lake For
est all my life. I first met Marian
at Deerfield High School in Highland
Park in 1918. 1 was a senior and she
was a freshman. That was merely an
acquaintanceship. We sometimes took
the same car to and from school, as
we both lived in Lake Forest.
1T was while I was home on my va
cation last summer that we grew tc
be close friends. That was about in
June. In July and until September
she was at the Association House in
West North avenue, and I called there
to see her several times. We were
never more than friends. I never told
her that 1 loved her, and never did
DO you suppose she thought you
loved her and would propose mar
riage later?"
Never Told Her He Loved Her
She should not have, but presum-
ably she did. / took her out several
times, but while the relationship be-
tween us was intimate, there was
never any real love as far as I know
, We were together frequently. / liked
her and told her that much. / don't
think ii shows anything that we were
often together il was like other boys
and girls. The girl was to blame as
much as / was.
| correspondent, and while our letters
were of an intimate nature they could
not be misconstrued as love letters
never had anything against her.
simply didn't consider our relation
ship in serious light.
Il had no reason to wish for the
death of Marian and / am absolutely
innocent of any part in her death
She wrote to me and told me she
thought she was in trouble and that
she was respondent. | tried to do all
that / could for her i'll the circum-
stances, and it was to see if / could
aid her that | made the appointment
with her and met her
Il thought then it would be a good
thing to establish an alibi,, because |
did not think we should be seen to-
gether while she was in trouble. |
realize now that it was the most
foolish thing I could have done. II
had to do the whole thing over
again would act quite differently.
] would be straight and honest in
everything.
"As far as there being any suicide
pact between us, that is untrue and
ridiculous. / didn't have the least
idea that suicide was even thought
of by her. l didn't take it as seriously
as that"