Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-09
Rented Roadster
Latest Clue in
Kennedy Murder
Tire Treads on Car Believed
To Have Been Used by
Burch Correspond With
Marks in Road.

Los Angeles, Aug. Submissions
made by Arthur c. Burch, retained
here today in custody in connection
with the Staying last Friday of ].
Bolton Kennedy, led today to the
discovery OF rented roadster equip
ped with tires Of peculiar tread,
which made an impress that fitted
the marks left in a lane last Fri
day night by a car supposed to
have been driven by the slayer. OF
hcers uncovered evidence tending to
indicate Burch rented a car that
night
Burch and Madelynne Obenchain.
the young woman held as material
witness, were returned to their cells
in the county Jail today after they
had separately faced interviewers
from the district attorneys office
and after each had, according to the
interviewers, made statements that
failed to correspond with those OF
the other.
Burch Taken from Train.
Kennedy was shot on the steps of
his little summer cottage in Beverly
Glen while Mrs. Obenchain. young
divorced woman, awaited him at the
top of the flight of steps leading
to his door. Burch was taken from
a train at Las Vegas, New, and
returned here in custody after It had
been shown that he and Mrs. Oben-
chain were childhood friends, college
mates and had been in correspond,
cnce recently and that Burch had
sat in a hotel room across Broad.
way from Kennedy's office Tor III
days before the staying, had been
absent from his room when it oc-
cured. and had left for his home IN
Evanston, Ill.,, the following morn
ing. ..a..
Today, aided by guarded state
ments from Burch, deputies from the
sheriff's office found that man CIV
ing the name Of Jones and the ad-
dress of an uncle and aunt OF Burch,
his only relatives here, had rented
an automobile here from an agency
on the night of the killing.
Stood in Ambush.
The automobile agency records did
not disclose any rental to anyone
giving the name of Burch. mere
was a rental to a man giving his
name as 81. w. Jones" and giving an
address that the officers said was
that of an uncle and an aunt OF
Burch, his only relatives here.
A reconstruction of the killing by
officers developed that the man v no
killed Kennedy stood in ambush alter
placing his car in an unused road
leading to a gravel pit not far from /,
the Kennedy cottage. Marks OF the
tires were found in this road and !
elsewhere. Today officers drove the
roadster that had been taken by
Zones" to the scene of the shooting
and compared the tires with the I'M
prints there. They corresponded.
Tho tire design was unusual, the off, :, !,
GERS said. .sy....s a4.s.s z4- -. l
Denies Visit to Rooms.
Mrs. Obenchain denied, according
TO the officers, that she had ever
visited Burch's room across the street
from Kennedys Office. A photograph,
Of the woman was shown the hotel
proprietor shortly after her detention
and he said she was not TIE visitor.
Today. after seeing her IN person a.
the iail, he changed his statement
and identified her positively as the
woman who had frequently visited
Burchs room and whose calls had !
been explained by the statement that
she was cousin" and called on
business.
Officers were engaged tonight IN
irving to trace the shotgun with
which Kennedy was killed. 1t was
a l2-gauge gun, they knew, for the !
empty shells were picked up at the
cottage. But thorough search OF !
the vicinity failed to bring it to light
and they believed that it had either
been rented and returned to the own
ers or else placed in pawn after the
shooting. They sent out a request
to all gunsmiths and pawnorokers 70
hello them in their search. /
Mrs. Obenchain was not permitted
to see visitors today. She was re-
ported to be too nervous to meet
them. Burch, on the contrary. ap-
neared collected and self-contalned.
Roth announced that they had ar
ranged for counsel, but no attorneys
anpeared formally to represent or
II