The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1920-11-18
MAY
GET 70 YEARS
PLEADS GUILTY TO
KILLING LITTLE ONE
Blakely Coughlin's Abductor
Faced By Mother of VIC
tim for First Time

NorriStoWn Pa, Nov li.-SchteIce
will be imposed next Saturday Oh
August RASCAL. alias PasQuale. 'rhe
Crank" self-confesscd nbductor and
SLAYER of Blakely Coughlin, who pleaded
guilty today to second degree murder
and also to a charge Of kidnapping Tor
purposes of eXtortion. His trial was
held before Judge y. S. Swartz m lhe
Montgomery county court without
The maximum penalty for second de-
gree murder is twenty years "nue
that for kidnapping IS life Imprisonment.
Only eight witnesses were eAa'liiIs" :,
Four Of these Ga'e experl n,,in. arS,hr,0mJ ~
ths case, The others were George II;
Coughlin, father OF the l3-months olo
child; Captain S. w. Gearhart' OF tne
Pennsylvania state police pho.o-
grapcr and civil engineer. AZ tne Go, :.
clusion of the testimony Judge SwartZ
asked the prisoner IL he had any
statement TO make. ,, e., ros-
j. Aubrey Anderson. counsel Tor fas-
cal. responded. J., ,o,d
that he has no statement 10 lh"he anu
desires to make none.
Will Impose Sentence.
Judge Swartz then announced he
would Impose sentence Saturday morn
1Tascars arraignment lasted less tnaS
four hours. Mr.. CouShlin. VINO occupleu
detail of the discovery Of the loss OF
the child, which was stolen from us
crib on June .; the attempts ne anu
his wife had made to find It, the lonA.
series Of letters and tsep%nf prcsn,ed f"f in
his being swindled out Of $4,000 and
the final conviction that Pascal toa
the truth In his alleged confession anu
that their baby was dead. .,
Mrs. Coughlin sat In an aisle isle sea- sea-
time time she had seen the prisoner. and
she kept her eyes fixed upon him IN
swervlngly until the taking OF testi-
muny began. Then she paid strict at
band related the confession of Pascal
thai her baby was dead. Then her face
flushed and with lips tightly drawn
She glanced away from the witness
stand 10 look again at the prisoner.
The CRANK Letters.
Pascal. who was taken from his cell
In the county Jail earlier In the DAY 10
a room adjoining the court chamber 10
avoid demonstratiGn. listehea l9 NEW M Ny
Coughlin told of the disappearance OF
the child, his communication with Ine
Crank" and the events leading TO Ms
capture. 49,, ho,.
Eleven lelleTS dHebcu ~ Hh'S
written by Pascal to Mr. Coughiin IN
an effort to 'extort ransom for the re-
turn of the baby were offered IN eVi-
dence, Some Of them contained threats
II the money was not Forthcoming. Ihe
letters revealed that the title The
Crank" was adopted as result OF a
suggestion In one of Coughlins let,
ters that Pascal might not be the real
abductor, but a crank. In subsequent
letter Pascal. It was testified. wrote: %
you call me crank Well. I am The
Crank.
District Attorney r. x. Renninger said
the commonwealth accepted the plea OF
guilty of murder In tho second degree
because II was impossible to produce
the body Of the baby or to orinE d5;. f4Te 1Te
has only 1.-THE Crank's" confession. he
said. that he stole the child and that
after having accidentally smothereed
him beneath his coat. he threw the body
into the Schuylkill river. Under the
laws of the state the corpus del!cti
must he produced in order to obtain n
conviction of first degree murder. A.
spot where he said he threw tho body
tied to an iron bar. into the river. no
trace of II was found. Divers recovered
the iron bar. Pathologists said the
chemical action Of the water probably
DESTROYED the flesh and even the bones.
II was more than four months after the
child was stolen that Pascal in his. con-
frssion told of throwing the body in
the river tho same night.
Pascal was captured at Egg Harbor.
". J, August 2. by the Pennsylvania
state police Attempts to collect addi-
tionaI ransom money led to his appre-
henslon.