The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-11-01
Laboratory Expert
 Supports Dr. DuvaI

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 31.-Dr. Hem ry M. Fontana, formerly techni- elan and laboratory expert at Chari- ty hospital here but now an attache of the United States Veterans hos pital at Algiers, today joined pr. Charles w. Duval and Dr. j. A. Lan- ford. pathologists. in deelaxng that the bodies found in Lake Lafourche last December and identified as those of Watt Daniels and T. F. Richard, could not have been in the water more than AS hours. Daniel and Richard were kidnapped by hooa- ed men near Bastrop the evening Of August 24, 1922, and the bodies were found in the lake December 22. The ku klux Klan' were held responsible for the Kidnapping and alleged mur- ders by Governor Parker and others but members of the organization in Moorehouse parish from the begin ming have charged that the bodies were planted" in the lake in order to tasten the crime on the l1lan. formed pr. Duval and pr. Lanford removed many of the fractured bones and sent them to New Or leans to Dr. Fontana. who scraped them, 1neasurc1 the fractures and put them together.
 Dr. Fontana declared today the bodies could not have been in the state Of preservation which existed when they were found had they been in the open air, in water or buried in the earth for four months. Be- cause the undertaken who took charge of them applied disinfectants before the autopsies he could not determine whether they had been em- balmed, he said, and the only other solution, in the absence of this, was that they might have been kept in an ice box.
 pr. Fontana had charge of the bones from the time of their receipt here until they were sent to Bastrop to be introduced as evidence at the open hearing. He kept them in a large suitcase, carrying it back and forth between his home and his of flee in order that they might be un- der his observation at all times.
 Dr. Fontana said there were many interesting features about the bodies which were not incorporated in the report of the pathologists, but he did Tot go into details.
 Interest In Case Crows.
 The statement last night by the pathologists that the bodies could not have been in the water more than few hours was the first intimation of the kind to reach the public and interest in. the case revived almost NO tuc Tt F. dlidllltu laSI winter during the open hearing.
 Attorney General A. " Coco, com menting today on the statement, said the state is not welded to the idea that the bodies were in the water any considerable time," and added he was of the opinion they were thrown into the lake the night before their discovery. A mysterious dynamite explosion at the waters edge during the night of December 21, he said he believed to have been for the pur- post of blowing up the bank so that the earth in falling would conceal them.
 Mir. Coco's first assistant, George Seth Guion, said the question as to the length of time the bodies re- mained in the lake was unimportant. Proof of death and identity were the important facts and these were es- tablished, he added.
 Both pr. Duval and Dr. Lanford said they were convinced the bodies were those of Daniel and Richard.
 The question now uppermost in the minds of those who have been in, terested in the case is what disposi- tion was made of the bodies between August 24 and December 22, a period of four months. Daniel and Richard 1t always has been believed by the authorities, were killed the night of the Kidnapping, but according to the pathologists the bodies had been only few hours where they were found, and for some time previously detec- tives, department of justice agents. troops and newspapermen had combed every nook and cranny of the parish for traces of them.