Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-07-08
Los ANGELES SEEKS SOLUTION.

i Los ANGELES, July 7.-An atmos-
phere of tense expectancy pervaded the
! entire community tonight as city, coun-
ty and federal officers threw their
combined weight behind the efforts to
solve the mystery surrounding the. ac-
count given by Aimee Semple McPher-
son of her five weeks absence from her
Angelus Temple pulpit here. Bolster
ed up by the action Of the United States
attorneys office in placing the case
before the federal grand jury district
attorneys officers were putting forth
: renewed efforts to confirm or discredit
! the evangelist's assertion that she was
! kidnapped from one of southern Cali
fornia's most popular beaches in broad
daylight, spirited away to the desert
wastes of Mexico, tortured, threatened
with mutilation and held for a half
million dollars ransom
If her story of abduction is substan-
tiated, officials declare no effort would
be spared to run down her kidnapers,
from whom the famous Four Square
Gospel exponent declared she escaped
after she had cut the threads which
held her wrists climbed out of win
dow in shack and made her way by
foot for nearly 20 miles through vir-
tually unchartered stretches of cactus
and mesquite to the Arizona border
tale after having been mourned as dead
by thousands of her followers.
Federal interest in the case was be-
lieved to hinge about the alleged tam
pering with a letter received by Mrs.
Minnie Kennedy, mother of the evange-
list, supposedly from the kidnapers, de-
manding the sum of half million dol
lars for Mrs. McPhersons safe return.
The United States attorneys office de-
clined to divulge the nature of its in
formation, but Assistant Attorney
OHannesian declared two important
leads had been unearthed in quiet in
vestigation conducted over a three
weeks period.
The ransom letter. post office records
! showed, was delivered to Angelus
Temple prior 10 memorial services held
there for the evangelist, during which
a considerable sum of money is said to
have been raised and pledged with
which to complete a Bible school prof.
ect launched by Mrs. Mcpherson.
the letter TO Detective Captain Cline
of the police department, declared she
received it after the memorial serv-
ice. Postal inspectors declared the or
iginal registry stamp had been re-
moved and cancelled two-cent stamp
substituted.
Mrs. Mcpherson requested the sher-
ifs office today to provide guard
when she appears tomorrow before the
county grand jury in answer to a sub
poena from District Attorney Asa
Keyes Numerous attaches of Angelus
Temple likewise were subpoenaed to
assist the county bodyl in its an
nounced purpose to sift the entire af-
fair. The interest with which the COM
munity awaited the major moves to-
morrow was indicated by bid of $40
received from a citizen not familiar
with the secrecy surrounding grand
jury Investigations for a seat in the
hall of justice chamber when the
evangelist tells her story anew to the
10 jurors.
The Los Angeles Examiner says that
TO- e. Pape, Tucson automobile man,
who yesterday told officers that he had
seen Mrs. Mcpherson, another woman
and two men in Aqua Prieta three days
before the evangelist appeared there,
today said that one of the men close
! ly resembled photographs of H. D. Hal
lenbeck of Yuma, Ariz who has been
subponaedl as witness in the county
grand jury investigation. Hallepbeck,
friend of Mrs. Minnie Kennedy, the
evangelist's mother, was building in
spector at the time the Angelus Tenn
pie Bible school was built, and is now
! a rancher near Yuma.
| Located on his ranch, Hallenbeck ex-
pressed his willingness to come to Los
(, Angeles to testify concerning the case.
/ x7ruNEss mo EInNApTNG