The Washington times., 1921-09-13
DENIES HE
CONFESSED
T0k|[LINC
Lie Cries Buroh, When Con-
frontsd With Reporters State
ment In Kennedy Case.
ny international News Service.

ny Inter nat tiOu8l NSWa Service.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 18.-"It
is an internal lie from beginning
to end" ..-
Speaking in a clear, firm voice
and looking the interviewer squarely
in the face rs he pressed his
cheek close to the bars of his cell
in the county jail today, Arthur
Burch branded q statement Of
Chandler Sprague, a reporter of
the Los Angeles Examiner, that
Burch had confessed to the muir
der Of j. Belton Kennedy. as q
Tissue of falsehoods.D
), murch Denies stsf,t
f"Thers isn't word OF truth N It."
said Burch, Of sprague's copyrighted
article printed In this mornings Los
Angeles Examiner. In which Spragu>
claims Burch confessed to him that he
slew Kennedy with the knowledge OF
Mrs. Obenchain as the only means OF
ending an intolerabie situation.
1T II q complete fabrication and
tissue Of falsehoods from the first 10
the last word" Burch continued. II
have talked with Chandler Sprague.
but have never uttered a word TO
him that would warrant his writing
such completely unjustified and
untruthful statement"
Burch had been sleeping soundly
and arose from his cot to talk to
the International News Service repre-
sentative. He appeared to be as
founded when told of Sprasue's reve-
lations.
Mrs. obenchain also firmly denied
at the county Jail that there is a
word Of truth in Burch's purported
statement in 80 far as she Is con-
cerned.
BY International News Service.
CHICAGO, Sept. .13.-Arthur c..
Burch, Of Evanston, H., has con-
fessed the murder of J. Bolton Ken
nedy at Los Angeles more than q
month ago to Chandler Sprague, q
Los Angeles newspaper man. accord
ing to q dispatch received here today
by the Chicago Evening American.
Mrs. Obcncbain Knew.
The dispatch came In the form Of
signed story by Sprague. which
was copyrighted by the Los Angeles
Examiner. The story asserted Burch
had admitted killing Kennedy with
the knowledge Of Mrs. Madelynne
Obenchain.
Burch and Mrs. Obenchain have
been under arrest In Los Angeles
since n few days after the murder
Of Kennedy on August last.
Kennedy was slain at his summer
cabin in Beverly Glen, near Los An.
geles. He 10 supposed to have been
shot from ambush as he approached
the cabin after motor ride with
Mrs. Obenchain. a.H
Confession on August II.
According to sprague's story, the
confession was made while the two
conversed in the Los Angeles county
jail on August IL, ten days after Ken
nedy's murder. He killed Kennedy,
Sprague alleges Burch told him. be-
cause II was the only way to free
Mrs. Obenchain from Kennedy's
malign influence. Burch, Sprague de-
clared, regarded himself as q knight
errant rather than q murderer, and
believed the killing justified.
Burch came West, he Is alleged by
Sprague to have said, to help Mrs
Obenchain solve the problem into
which her relations with Kennedy
had plunged her. She was unable
to free herself through her own ef-
forts.
81 shot him and ! have never felt
a single regret, a single tinge Of con-
science" Sprague quotes Burch as
saying.
- Pledge Of Silence.
Sprague says that at the time
Burch told his story to him he gave
the prisoner a pledge not to reveal
the secret until Burch had given him
unless he should be
forced to reveal II under oath.
Sprague has been served with a sub
poena by the Los Angeles county
grand jury and will be called as
witness today, according to the dis
patch to the American.
He told me-" Sprague says In a
sworn statement, that II I ever was
forced TO print II by contingency
such as has now arisen, be would
deny Il and would claim the entire
story was q fabrication,