Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-10
MYSTERY .BUR|ALS
BY CULT PROBED
California Officials Investi-
pate Reports of Woman Be.
1 ing Roasted to Death.
4 N. As.neistsd Prsss.

q
4 LOS ANGELES, October 10.-Evi.
dence that the strange burial of q
Youthful "priestess" of the religious
G.ilt known as 1.-The Divine Order of the
Royal Arm of the Great Eleven" may
have been preceded by ritualistic and
itnreDorted burials of other cult mem
bers, and that a woman may have been
literally roasted to death, sent investl-
gators today to widely separated spots
In the mountains of Southern Cali
tornia.
Police believed, from conversations
with members of the cult, that four
women, in addition to 16-year-old Villa
Rhoads, whose body was found beneath
the residence of her foster parents, may
have been privately buried.
Remarks about new floor being laid
In the cabin of cult leader, and an
other story of cofhnlike box having
been buried in the mountains sent the
authorities of on new trails.
Five Women Are Sought.
Among the missing cult members for
whom the police are conducting a
search in the mountain areas of Los
Angeles and Ventura Counties are Mrs.
Frances Turner, Mrs. Katherine Bolz,
Mrs. Harlene Sartoris and Mrs. Addie
McGufin.
Another woman, Mrs. Floyd Miller.
also is sought at the request of her
mother, Mrs. Mary Faist of Portland,
Greg. Mrs. Faist said her daughter
came to Los Angeles with her husband
about four years ago and was last heard
from soon after joining the cult. Miller,
who Is said to be in Los Angeles, is
known by investigators as o member
of the strange religious sect.
Ohicers were investigating further q
startling story told to Detective Lieut..
Frank Condaffer of the police homicide
squad by Arthur and Minnie Toy, men,
bers Of the cult, of ritualistic cere-
rnony wherein Mrs. Turner, one of the
missing women, was placed In an oven
filled with hot bricks. A woman OF
the same name was buried In Ventura
nearly two years ago, and alleged dis
crepancies In her death certificate are
being checked.
Mr.. and Mrs. Toy. Condaffer reported.
said they were present when Mrs.
Turner was placed In a specially con-
structed brick oven in the home OF
''Grandma" Jennie Blackburn, mother
Of Mrs. May Otis Blackburn, cult lead
er, now in jail on fraud charges. They
said Mrs. Turner was kept in the oven
all day, and that no one in the cult
serted that she had been buried near
the Golden Throne Temple" In. the
cults colony in the Santa susanna
Mountains.
Tells of Burying Box.
Police also were searching for a
coffinlike box which william RhoadS,
foster father of villa Rhoads, said he
buried near Big Bear Lake in the San
Bernardino Mountains. Rhoads said he
buried the box, the contents of which
he had not seen, four months ago at
his wtfe's command. Rhoads also told
police that, he had buried his step
daughters body under the house on
orders from his wife.
While Los Angeles County officers
were running down every fresh clue re-
garding the missing persons and the
activities of the cult, Ventura County
investigators were conducting q thor
ough search Of the Santa susanna Noun
tain settlement. One development was
the finding yesterday Of new floor
In q section of the cabin occupied by
Mrs. blackburn.
Questioned as to what might be
buried under the floor. David Thomp-
son, colored guard of the Golden
Temple" repeatedly said, Il daren't
tell" -