Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-03-06
|D|VFESS|ON' NOTE
In Sands 5 WRITING
y ettsr From Connecticut Be-
'isved Penned by TayIor's
{ Missing Valet z
!! p!EEH IN HARTFORD, REPORT

Los Angeles, March 6.---The anony
,ous letter signed Slayer Of vii
Ham Desmond Taylor" written from
hartford. Conn. to the police here is
enquestionably in the handwriting cf
Eoward +. Sands. abscondlng butler.
valet of the slain film director. Captain
81 Detectives Adams asserts.
\ The letter. in which t.e writer says
my motive for killing Taylor was rs-
'vense for many wrongs" has been
eompared by experts with many scraps
!. Of writing, letters. entries in books and
Z sddressed envelopes known to be in
sands handwriting. and Captain
Aeams says they are identical.
Inc chirography Of the Letter is strik
insiy Ike that on piece of paper said
20 nave been written from Fresno by
sands to Taylor. and now held as a
murder exhibit. and also bears out the
autnenticity of the Confession Adams
said.
The writer of the letter indicated he
WAS an educated man. dec 'arcd he was
scont To start for Europe and did not
wisn TO see any innocent person suffer
ior the crime. Therefore. he wrote to
the authorities to explain the Staying.
According to the letter. the film direc-
TOR had IAN affair With th" writer's
wife. Later the director HAD "scorned'
, her. the wife confessed to her husband
and the two planned vengeance, the
letter recounted.
The confession stated that the
night of the murder. February /. the
writer and his wife drove in an auto
ior bungalow. There they parked their
car. From distance they saw Mabel
Normand. film actress. leaving the
apartment. escorted to her motorcar by
the director: and Henry Peavey, Tay-
lof's negro servant. talking with Will
Ham Davis, Miss Normand's chauffeur
While Taylor was talking with Miss
Norman. the Confession continued.
"the scorned wife" slipped through the
!, open front door of the Director bum
galow and unlocked the back door for
. her husband to enter.
When Taylor returned the wife and
!, husband confronted him.
! Portions of the letter concerning the
!. actual meeting and the killing were not
given out, but. according to other parts,
the wife. after Taylor had been slain
: left by the back door, which the hus-
band locked after her. Then the hus-
!. band left by the front door. joined his
wife and drove away with her.
The police say they place certain
amount Of credence in the confession. +"
Hartford. Conn, March 8.--,By A..
P.)-Edward +. Sands. missing secrc
tary in the Taylor murder mystery, is
believed by the Hartford Courant to
have been In this city two weeks ago
The newspaper this morning says that
It's investigation indicates that n man
who registered at a local hotel, giving
his address MS San Fransisco, was the
missing Sands.
y The man who was at the hotel two
weeks ago, the Courant says. is the
same man who deserted from the naval
I base at New London during the wal
and who served in the navy under the
name Of Schneider.
Superintendent Robert 7. Hurley. OF
the Connecticut State Police. said last
night that he had received no answe,
to q telegram he had sent to the police
Of Los Angeles. He said he was ready
to aid in an investigation of any Con :
Z uectiGAt clues in the Taylor case as
soen as he received any definite infor
1tion from the Los Angeles police.