Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-02-13
VICTOR |NNES SOON
To FACE j. 6. JURY;
To Be THIRD TRIAL
Now Held in Fulton County
Tower in Default Of Bond
Recently Completed Sen
tnnCn


will face jury on a charge grow
ing out of the disappearance seven
years ago of the Nelms sisters,' Mrs.
Eloise Nelms Dennis and Miss Be-
atrice helms, both of Atlanta, who
dropped out of sight in Texas in
June, 1915.
. Innes is confined in the Fulton
county Jail, a federal prisoner held
in default of $4,000 bond on an in
dictment charging misuse of the
mails. Only a few weeks ago be
was discharged from the Fulton
county chaingang, having served
out his sentence of seven years for
larceny after trust, that charge de-
veloping from his alleged connec-
ton with the disappearance of the
Nelms sisters.
The federal case also grows out
of the same circumstances 1t is
charged that Innes used the mails
to persuade Mrs. Eloise helms Den
mis- to fntrust to him large sums
of money which he misappropri9t-
ed.
Inncs never has made a public
statement before a jury in open
court, although he has been IN
jeopardy twice--once in San An
tonic, Texas, where he was placed
on trial charged with the murder OF
the Nelms sisters, and later in the
Fulton superior court, when he was
convicted of larceny after trust. His
story of the case, from his view
point. has never been given to the
public from his own lips in the
form of a connected narrative.
Discusses Principal Points
On saturday however, through Ms
attorney, Robert E. Church, he dio
make known some of the principal
points of his contentious regarding
the various phases of the famous
case.
In the first place, Innes denies
ca tegofically and in toto ali the va
rious charges that have been raised
agains thin. He admits his friend
ship zfprzFsf Dennis deelaHfHeg--eis
as herslawyer-hel is an ATTORNEY
by profession and was at one tl!ne
assistant United States district at
torney in Carson City, Nev.-he
made certain Investigations OF red
estate and other Investments IN ac
cordance with her request. He aiSt
represented her in her divorce cast
in Carson City, Waen she. ob;alh"-
final decree.
He steadfastly asserts, however
that he never saw her sister, Ms:
Beatrice Nelms, and never saw Mrs
Dennis after the spring of 1913
when she was in Carson City. Inc
helms, was that her daughters drop
1915, and the contention of thslt
mother, the late Mrs. John w
Nelms. was that her daughters drop
ped from sight in San Antonio; thl
they were last seen at 12O Wllkln!
avenue, where lines and his WIt'
were temporarily residing.
The theory 0f the state N the eros
ecution of Innes on a charge OF muir
der in Texas was that the Nelm'
sisters We're lured to the Wilkins
avenue house and there murdered o.
lines, their bodies dismembered am
disposed of by the use of strons
acids. TIE murder trial resulted j!
a verdict of acquittal directed by tn
nudge when the state failed to prov
the corpus delecti by producing pos
tive evidence that the NelmS sister
We're dead.
Innes, through his attorney, de
clare that he moved to San Antoni
because of his wifi IS health; that ST.
was suffering from tuberculosis, an
she was unable to find relief in til
climate of Los Angeles, San Fran
cisco, or even Atlanta, where tn
couple made brief visit. He say
he planned to purchase the house D
wilkins avenue and paid thre
months rent in advance with the oil
ticn of applying that sum on III
purchase price.
Important Facts
Denying that the helms sister
were ever at 120 Wilkins avenue
Tnnes asserts that the two Wome
seen at his home by witnesses a
the murder trial were Miss Wi
liams and her sister, owners of tn
property, with whom he was negC
tiating for purchase.
A man named Walter johnson
who for some time worked on tn
case as an operative of d privat
detective agency, has furnished II
mes with certain vital information
according to Attorney Churcf
Johnson, it is claimed, is ready
testify that he traced the Nelms 81
ters through San Antonio to LAREDO
Texas; that they purchased rallroa
tickets in San Antonio for Laredo,
company with another Woma
thought to be a Mexican; that tf
three women were seen by two
three persons in Laredo, where the
disappeared completely.
When Innes and his wife wei
brought to trial for murder in TeXS
and acquitted because of the failul
to prove the corpus deficit, the
were Immediately re-arrested on Il
dictments obtained in the Fulton 81
perior court, and were eXtradite
to Atlanta after resisting eXtraditio
to the United States supreme cour
They then were tried on q char&
p of larceny after trust and convicte
Innes was sentenced to serve seve
years; he served five and a ha
years, getting about IS months o
for good behavior. His wife serve
about two years and was parole
She is now in Oregon, said to !
in the last stages of tuberculosis.
This larceny after trust charg
Times denies categorically, declarir
that he received no money fro,
Mrs. Dennis except as fees for leg;
services he performed as her a
torney, and that he never handle
any funds for her, as she made h
own investments.
He also denies the existence
any letters such as those alleged /
Continued on Page 6, Column