Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-08-11
PRIEST KILLED
BY KIDNAPERS
IN CALIFORNIA
Body of Father Heslin Found
in Cave on Sa1ada Beach
Cliffs.

SAN FRANCISCO. Cal, Aug. Ii
Father Patrick Heslin, kidnapped priest
of Colma, CAL has been found-murdered.
Six men today dug his crumpled body
from a rude grave IN q tiny cave on the
windswept cliffs of Salada Leach, some
thirty miles south Of San Francisco.
In addition to the two bullet wounds
noted in his head and heart when the
body was uncovered, Deputy Coroner
Laswell found that the body from the
thigh TO the chest had been punctured
with dozens of revolver bullets~. The
skull had been crushed, evidently from a
heavy blow, the forhead showed ugly
abrasions, apparently from blows, and
the rapidly decomposing body showed
evidences Of having been cruelty beaten.
That money alone was not the motive
for the killing was evident from the fact
that the priests wallet containing $S5
had not been taken Two Of the bullets
passed through this wallet. His valuable
| watch and chain also were on the body.
Not man in the party knew Father
Heslin in life, but Identification was GER
tain because:
The body was shrouded in a cossak Of
broadclOth.
On it was a medal bearing the ike
ness Of Christ on one side and on the
other the blessed Virgin image.
In a little velvet case was the sacred
host Father Heslin had taken from his
home in Colma a week ago Thursday
| night for use in the last sacrament he
had been called by bis kidnapers TO ad
minister Ito a dying friend"
PAPERS FOUND
on BODY.
Papers including a railway rate GER
tifcate, garage tiil bills of lsding for
furniture and similar articles also were
found
William Hightower, a mechanic, fur
nshed the clew that led to the discovery
and guided the searchers, composed of
| himself, Chief of Police O'Brien of san
| Francisco Constable Landini of Colma
and three newspaper men. to the grave.
| Hightower had found the grave first,
| through a story told him by woman
| known as Dolly Mason Of Salt Lake City,
whose suspicious had been aroused By
the disconnected statements of a drunken
foreigner who had called upon her.
You better be afraid of this gun
the foreigner had told her. has Killed
man"
"But he is not alone. Beside his grave
also sits man frying pancakes"
GRAVE NEAR
WESTERN SIGN.
Hightower round the grave within
sight Of a sign familiar in the West pic
turing an old desert rat" fryins pan
cakes over a little FIRE.
Hightower had found signs OF a grave
but investigated no further. He told a
newspaper reporter, and last night the
searching party wen. out and unearthed
the body Of the missing priest
PRIEST SHOT
THROUGH HEART.
Father Heslin had been shot through
the heart, probably at the brink of tbs
grave. Cartridges were scattered nearby
There was nothing to indicate how long
Father Heslin was held captive by his
kidnapeTs before he was murdered
Hightower was detained by the police
pending the Investigation OF the case
and search fox Dolly Mason was in
stltuted y
She was believed to have left San Fran.
cisco for Portland, Ore
Father Hesin was called away from
the little priest house at Colma on the
outskirts of San Francisco a week agt
Tuesday night when man described al
evidently d foreigner, greatly excited
his face half concealed by an upturneC
coat collar, asked the father to come witt
him to minister to a dying friend.
Father Heslin never returned.
The following day Archbishop Edward
Hanna. Of the San Francisco diocese re-
eeived letter. supposedly from the kid
napers, demanding 50, 500 ransom, Civ
ing instructions for its payment and
saying Father Hesln would be tortured
and killed if the ransom were not paid.