Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-11-03
Action BY Sheriff Follows Ver-
dict of coroner's Jury Which
Casts Discredit on Earlier
Theory of Suicide
ALLOWED TO ATTEND
FUNERAL UNDER GUARC
Charges Made BY Mrs. Jeffs for
Use in Divorce Proceedings
She Purposed to Bring Had
She Lived Are Considered By
Police as Furnishing Motive
for Crime

III VI ttitC
Harold Jeffs, the barber, is under
arrest on suspicion of being respon
sible for the death OF his wife yes
ferday morning. He was taken into
custody by Deputy Sheriff Julius w
Asch Immediately following verdict
- the coroner's jury which discred
Ift% the suicide theory. Upon the
prisoners request the deputy prom
ises TO allow him to attend, under
guard, the wife's funeral this after
noon.
Following testimony of Jeffs' alleged
treatment of his wife for the last
year, which was such that the regular
police stenographer was excused from
the jury room and a man substituted
in her place, the arrest Of the hus
band was no surprise to those who
attended the trial, and from the lack
of surprise which he showed, Jeffs
himself apparently anticipated such
action.
Jury Renders Verdict
In part the jury's verdict was that
: IN Newport. England. came to her
death November 2, at her home, 1881
South Beretahia street, from bullet
wound OF the brain from % caliber
rife held in the hand or hands of some
person TO the jury unknown.
DIR. George Herbert told of being
called to the Jeffs home. of finding the
rifle in Mrs. Jefis' hands and of being
present when she died, and Jeffs re-
lated story similar to the one in
the Star Bulletin Thursday. Attorney
Leon M. Straus, however, who had
sbeen recently retained to prepare for
Mrs. Jeffs a divorce complaint, prov.
ed TO be the star witness, and
under command from Deputy Sheriff
Asch and Deputy Prosecuting Attor'
ney w. T. Garden, gave testimony
against Jeffs, so revolving as to be un'
believable.
LAWYER Reads Woman's Charges
"The inhuman, bestial and unnatur-
al crimes with which she charged her
husband when she asked me to pre-
pare divorce papers were so horrible,
said Stratus, prefacing the reading OF
the papers in question to the jury,
fkhat L required her to write them out
+lld swear to them before witness be-
fore / would take her case"
Straus then read to the jury the
statement which Mrs. Jeffs had writ
ten and signed, and the complaint
which he had drawn up and was en-
the point of filing in court when her
death took place. The attorney stat
ed that the acts alleged in the com
pIaint were so nauseating that a fore
warned woman stenographer who at
tempted TO take the dictation in the
presence OF Straus and Mrs. Jeffs
threw down her pencil and refused,
even though public stenographer. TO
continue. Tie stenographer was call
ed. with her notes. TO the inquest this
morning and corroborated Straus'
statement. She promises to trans
cribe the notes, as far as she then
took them.
Jeffs' story Changes Some
Although Jeifs' story this morning
was practically the same as the one
the deputy sheriff says Jeffs told yes
terday morning there was a slight but
material change The deputy says
Jeffs said yesterday that he could
have taken the gun away from the
woman before she fred had he tried,
hut at the inquest he said that the
fatal shot was fired almost instantly
after he had found his wife in his bed
with the gEn to her temple and before
he could make any move to take II
away from her. When asked by the
deputy why he made a different state
ment yesterday. Jeffs hesitated and
mumbled something to the effect that
A"she didn't have a desperate look on
! her face and didn't think she would
shoot"
Several startling statements which
Jeffs made today included one that
Mrs. Jeffs had threatened several
times to commit suicide, he having
taken the rife away from her when
she once attempted to do so; another
that she was addicted to the use OF in
toxicating liquors TO what he believed
10 be an excess, and also that she had
often told him the house in which
they lived was unlucky and that both
he and she were kahunaed.
When the verdict was received by
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Garden
he ordered Jeffs into custody to be
held for investigation.