Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1923-01-20

men will be definitely accused this
week of having taken part In the kid
mapping and murder of Watt Daniei
and Thomas Richards, it was learned
here today. The names Of more than
forty men. said to have been in the
shlack-hooded band, are set forth in the
mass of evidence gathered by the At.
torney General and his aids.
The prosecution today concentrated
on wedding out the voluminous evi.
dence on hand, with the object of speci
fically charging the men accused with
being responsible for the torture which
ended in the deaths Of the two victims
without unnecessarily prolonging the
hearing.
One Of the chief subjects confront
ing the authorities is the torture ma
'chine that was used by the slayers. 1t
Is fntimated that the officials have a
knowledge Of the construction of this
machine beyond what has been public
sly announced and that they are hot ON
the trail of the men who constructed
1T. Members of the Attorney Generals
stan worked throughout Sunday to
try to deduce who conceived the rack
which slowly crushed the two men 10
death.
GIVES IDEA OF TORTURE
MACHINE.
George Seth Guion, Assistant Attor
ney General. gave his idea of the con-
struction Of the machine today He be-
'iieves it consisted of two boards, prob
ably eighteen inches wide, with teeth
in them which clenched together
against the bodies of the men, These
boards, he thinks. hinged at the bot
tom and mashed the feet of the vic
iIims first.
All the time, Mr.. Guion believes,
members of the hooded band stood at
the heads of the victims demanding
that they tell what you know about
the supposed attempt to assassinate
DR.. p. NJ McKoin who, with JEFF
Burnett still i'll with pneumonia in a
Shreveport Hospital. is accused of be
ing implicated in the murders.
"'It was one Of the most diabolical
devices known to history" added the
Assistant Attorney General. The old
time methods of torture were tame in
comparison to the machine these men
used. In Nero's time, victims were
~drawn and quartered. That was exceed
ingly mild, compared to tnis for the
victims died quickly. In this case, they
apparently were slowly crushed 10
death"
AGAIN SEARCH LAKE
LA FOURCHE
Tha
machine was constructed near Bastrop
and today they turned their attention
to a forest hut, not far from the scene
OF the kidnapping. Ii mile from Bas-
trop on the Mer Rouge road. In the
middle of a woods of old field pine,
we'll shielded by young pine, this hut
stands deserted. The authorities are
trying to learn when it was last occu.
pied.
The hut is constructed of pine sap
lings and has roof patched with pine
needles and twigs. Inside are what
remains of eight hunks. Assistant At.
torney General Walmsley believes it
possible that members Of the hooded
band camped out in the woods, con
-structing the torture machine out OF
pine timbers which they themselves
hewed. The device may have been
sunk N Lake La Fourche with the
bodies.
DR.. Charles w. Duvai and DR.. John
a Lanford, the pathologists who testi-
fled at the hearing yesterday, today
with T. Semmes Walmsley, Assistant
Attorney General, and four agents OF
the Dept. of Justice went to Lake La
Fourche from which the bodies
of the slain men were raised by mys-
FERROUS dynamite explosion. The party
went in boat to point where the
dynamite was exploded and after max
ing, sounding used graphing hooks in
an attempt to gather additional evi.
dence.
They hoped to get additional parts
of the bodies or parts of clothes. but
nothing was found after an hours
search. Drs. Duval and Lanford stud.
led the conditions around the shores
of the lake and various measurements
were taken at a point where presum
ably the bodies were cast into the lake
TEEGESTROM STILL MISSING
approximately $50 witnesses will be
called to testify ut the open hearing
Mr. Walmsley said today. About
weeks would be needed to hear the ties
timony. Neither DR.. B. M. McKoin MOI
JEFF Burnett will be called. Neither
can be made to testify, as both are
charged with murder" Mr.. WaImsley
said
A report current yesterday that
State officials know the whereabouts
of Harold l.. Teegestrom, the missing
timekeeper of the Souther Carbon Com
pany at Spyker, who was mysteriously
called from his bunk on night last
week and then disappeared, was
branded as untrue by Mr.. Walmsley.
1.-THE State does not know the where
abouts of Teegestrom, but we are very
anxious to locate him and bring hin
back here as witness" he said. "Tht
report that we know where he is an
will bring him back to testify at the
open hearing is without foundation. Il
he is found, however, and is within the
boundaries of Louisiana he will b.
subpoenaed as a witness. We are very
anxious to locate him."
Much significance is attached to 81