The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-28
SHEPHERD BARES STRANGE HISTORY .0F RICH ORPHAN
McClintock Guardian Un- dergoes Chilling In
 Death Investigation
(By Associated Press.)


 \ CHICAGO, Dec. 27.-Circumstances ' attending the death of William Nelson { McClintock, millionaire orphan,' as : knew them, were laid bare tonight by : William Shepherd, into whose care the { boy was entrusted by Mrs. Emma Mel ' son McClintock, Williams mother, be- : fore she died in 1908.
 Shepherd, interrogated by George R. : German and Joseph F. Savage, assistant < district attorneys, denied that he was s aware of any unnatural circumstances : surrounding the boys death in the 2 Shepherds Wentworth nome Decem-, 7 Der 4, declaring empha tically that every \ possible effort had been made to save 2 him.
 The will, which gave him and his wife, legal guardians of the boy, the : bulk of the $1,OOO,00O McClintock g estate, was drawn entirely upon the { initiative and suggestion of Billy, \ Shepherd asserted.
 Denies Accusation : He and his wife had only the kind Hest feelings for Miss Isabelle Pope, { Williams finance, he declared in deny ] ing the statement attributed to him in :. which Miss Pope was described as "mercenary" Under the terms of the will Miss Pope was left an annuity of < $8,000, although no provision was made z for payment of this sum.
 z No further report by coroner's physi- ] clans concerning their autopsy, started z Christmas Eve when the body was e. s humed, was made public tonight, al- Al N1lf T an assistant, denied report which had { gained wide circulation that trace z of solid food had been found in the z stomach. Reception of solid foods by < typhoid patients usually proves fatal, I. the coroner's office had previously an < Iiounced. The death certificate gave typhoid fever as the cause of young . NcClintock's death.
 z Shepherd and his wife came to Chi z cago in 1907 at which time lie met 2 Mrs. McClintock had been schoolmates / in Kansas, he said.
 Leaves Estate to Billy. ' Mrs McClintock left the estate to < Billy, naming Mrs. Shepherd as execu- < trix and Mrs. Shepherd and 4. P. Reich ' man attorney, as guardians of the boy. ' The Shepherds then moved to Kenil- {, worth where their present home was : built by funds from the McClintock Z estate. The house was kept up by funds 7 from the same source, court having 7 allotted 1000 month for this pur : pose.
 Billy McClintock lived with them as their own son, Shepherd declared, , and a great affection sprung up be- 5 tween them, Billy always came to him 2 for advice, he said, and at Christmas, { 1923, he told Shepherd that he was z thinking of making will. He asked Z Shepherd how his estate would be dis ' posed of if he were to die interstate :. and when informed that the money and ' property would go to his next of kin, < he declared that he did not wish to leave
 anything to his cousins.
 Seven cousins recently engaged an
 attorney with the intention of taking 4 legal steps to test the will. % In their discussions of the estate, {. Shepherd said Billy asked if the will ] would be automatically annulled in the z event of his marriage and was told that < it would be.
 j Becomes HI T To the best of his information, Shep- < herd declared, Billy took sick at the & Dartmouth game this fall but did sl not take to his bed until ten days later. 4 . When he knew that he was seriously ' i'll and before he became delirious Billy z told him, Shepherd declared, that Miss 2. Pope had suggested that they get mar Sried. Billy was opposed to this but {. thought that they could get married < when he became convalescent, so that < Miss Pope could nurse him on trip x to the south which they had planned. < To carry this plan into effect they de g cided that Shepherd was to tell Miss S Pope that the presence of both contract n ing parties was necessary in this coun- F ty to obtain license to marry. In S conveying this information Shepherd gy also stressed the social distinction g which a church wedding could give her. z Miss Pope, however, determined to take :. matters into her own hands and pro- V cured license with which she waited, = at Billy's bedside in, what proved to
 be a vain hope that he would recover z consciousness long enough to marry
 her.
 r Denies Knowledge < Shepherd was vehement in his denial
 that he had ever studied chemistry
 or bacteriology or that he had ever Y been a registered pharmacist. He said
 that he had made frequent visits to a Chicago laboratory because Mrs. Me :, Clintock's physician, Dr. Oscar Olson, si brother of Chief Justice Harry Olson, had offices here. It was partly upon
 Judge Olsons suggestion that the M present investigation was begun.
 C1HOOTS RESTTNE