The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1918-02-09
SOCIAL LEADER
FACES ORDEAL
BEFORE JURY
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VISALIA, Cal, Feb. S.-Mrs. Or
lean B. Howe, 30 years old, is to be
placed on trial for murder in this city
on March 18. She was arrested fol
lowing the shooting of viii H. Brooks,
a Porterville, Cal, grower, in the
lobby of Porterville hotel the after
noon of November 19, 1917. She was
charged with murder When ques-
toned Immediately after the shooting.
by the sheriff, into whose custody
Mrs Howe gave herself, she is al
legged to have said; He ruined my
life"
Brooks was seated in the lobby of
the hotel talking with several friends
and aCquaintances when shot. Three
bullets took effect, one of them pass
ing through his heart He fell for
ward from the chair dead.
The state will seek to show that
Mrs Howe left her apartments short
ly after noon on that day and went TO
a sporting goods store, where she pur-
chased a heavy caliber automatic re-
yolyer, which she asked the clerk to
load for her. 1t is cOntended that she
then went to the hotel, entered the
lobby and fired four shots at Brooks
from a distance of four feet.
After Mrs. Howe was put in Jail
she made a detailed statement in
/ which she dated the inception of her
alleged trouble with Brooks as eleven
years ago. At that time, she said,
/ Brooks and her husband, w. c. Howe,
were intimate friends. They had
/ grown up together. Shortly after her
marriage, Mrs. Howe said, she accept
ed a dinner invitation from Brooks.
/ They went to we'll known San Fran
cisco cafe. At the close Of the meal,
she declared, he insulted her. She re-
| fused his advances and, she said, a
! few days later Brooks went to her
husband with the first of a series of
! stories which reflected on her NOR
ality. These stories, she said, were
told by Brooks, not only in San Fran
cisco but in Los Angeles and other
parts of the state where she had ac
quaintances, with the result, accord
ing to the story, that she was Stunned
by former friends.
Mrs. Howe is the owner of an or
ange grove near Porterville, to which
property she gave her attention dur
ing a portion of the year She went
to Porterville from her home in Oak.
land early in October and shortly after
her arrival, according to her story
she found evidences that the malicious
stories reflecting on her character
were still being told. Her mind, she
! bought the revolver in a POrterviIle
store until the came to herself after
being lodged in Jail.
/ For some years Mrs. Howe was
prominent socially in Oakland Her
! husband, w. c. Howe, is representa-
tive of an Eastern manufacturing con-
Germ and for some time prior to the
tragedy had been stationed in South
America. At the time of the shooting
he was making his home in Buenos
Aires. He was notified of his wife's
arrest and the circumstances sur
rounding it and started Immediately
for the United States, arriving in
time to be with his wife when she was
arraigned on Jan. 16
viii H, Brooks, the victim of the
shooting, was so years old. He was
wealthy man and prominent in the
business and social life of the San
Joaquin valley and Southern Cali
fornia. He was a member of the jon
athan and Country clubs of Los An
geles, as we'll as of the Masonic, Elks,
and Mystic Shrine lodges
@s.s. HH-nEsA 4nAmAIKx H-E4ns