The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-04-30
"BLUEBE6ikL> HURT
NFESSES MURDER
OF SEVERAL WIVES
Cannot Remember What Be-
came of Some Spouses, Man
Observation-Disclosures With
Twenty-Five Marriages.

Los ANGELES, April 3o.--At least
two Of the numerous women James r.
HURT Is alleged to nave married in Vari-
Gus parts OF the country were murdered
by him, two others met accidental
deaths while with him, and he might
have murdered more" according to an
alleged confession made public today
by j. Morgan Marmaduke, his attorney,
and county officials. HURT said he
could not remember" what happened
to some of the women because OF his
stili weakened condition resulting from
two attempts to commit suicide, the
reputed confession said. He lay on a
cot at the county hospital as he talked,
HURT has been held here several days
while officers Investigated reports OF
numerous marriages,
NDe married az or IS women, prob
ably more" HURT was quoted as say
Ing. A desire to kill obsessed him four
years ago, HURT was alleged to have
said, and women were his especial VIC
tins, there being no direct motive for
their deaths, and no desire to kill men,
children or animals.
Nina Lee Oeloney, killed with ham,
ner at Long Beach, CAL, and Elizabeth
Pryor, whose head was crushed with
a sledge hammer near Plum, Wash.
were the wives" whose murders, the
officers said, HURT confessed.
The partial confession" said the Of
fcGrs, related to the deaths of Bertha
Goodnich and Alice Ludvlgson. Miss
Goodnich was tipped out Of a boat In
Lake Washington, near Seattle, and
Miss Ludvigson was drowned In a river
In dahqAthey said. A party immedl-
ately IefeNor the place near san Diego,
where HURT said he buried Miss De.
loney's body.
More than 25 marriages have been
attributed by officers to HURT Seven
women are listed as missing. They in
clude besides the four named in the al
legged confession, Mrs. Gertrude Wilson,
Seattle; Beatrice NJ. Andrews, Of Can
ada and England, and Agnes wilson,
Alberta, Canada.
The first to die, according to the
alleged confession, was Miss Ludvigson,
HURT was quoted as saying he was In
a boat with her, fishing in river in
Idaho. His memory was weak as to
exact time and location. The boat. he
stated, jammed against logs which were
dashed to the bank Of the river and he
and Miss Ludvigson tried with their
arms to free the craft When it broke
away, he said, the woman lost her bal
ance and fell into the river and was
He said Miss GoodnIch died when
she fen from q launch in(o Lake Wash
ington, while trying TO go from the
stern to the center. Later on, the Of
| ficers said HURT referred to this death
as a murder"
In the Pryor case, the officers said
he asserted the woman attacked him
with a hat pin and he showed her 50
violently that she fell and struck her
head against Il box. He believed she
was dead he was said to have declared
but to make certain, struck her with
a hammer.
Miss Deloney, he was quoted as say.
| ing, he killed at a camp near Signal
| Hill, at the edge of Long Beach, last
Jan. 26, after they quarreled about let.
| ters he had received from other We
The officers said HURT told III
did not know his right namJ. out ad-
mitted having used many alias He
| said he knew nothing Of his parents
but did know he was born somewhere
| in the South. He said he had little
| education. He admitted, according tc
| the officers, that he had no direct mo-
| tive in keeling his victims, some of the
| Sayings following violent quarrels. He
said, they declared, he had killed some
women who had no money"
Something just told me to do it,
| he was quoted as saying He told then
| he obtained a certain satisfaction In
| II very act of murder, the officers
| said, and experienced a sense of relief
that the woman in each case was dead
Attorney Marmaduke, representing
| HURT. stated that the alleged confession
had been given to the district attorney
''in the best interests of his client"