Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-07
GARDENER'SSTORy
lis BEING. CHECKED.
Maryland Gardener Declares
Mrs. Mcpherson Visited His
Home on Death Night.
Continued From First Page)

IdentiRSd Mcpherson.
0authey was first interviewed by
Allen two weeks ago today who acted
on a tip that he had seen Mr.. and
Mrs. Mcpherson late on the night OF
September IL. In company with q Star
reporter Allen sought him out near Ard
more and Gauthey Immediately picked
identified him as his visitor OF the night
before.
Allen then brought 0authey to Wash.
ington and he identified q photograph
of Virginia Mcpherson as the woman
he had seen at his home on the night
of September IL.
But Gauthey, meeting Mcpherson ut
the bank where the latter is employed,
became positive that Mcpherson was
not the man who had been at his place.
Allen then sought q taxicab driver who
had taken a couple to Ardmore on the
night of September IL. The police
found this taxicab driver and they also
found a woman whom the taxicab driver
had taken to Ardmore. The cab driver
had not taken Mr.. Mcpherson to Ard
more, and the woman WAS, OF course.
not MRS. Mcpherson. So Qauthey's evil
dence was dropped.
It developed yesterday, however that
the woman whom Gauthey identifles as
Mrs Mcpherson, and her escort. did not
come to Ardmore In taxicab. They ar
rived in an expensive roadster. which
Gauthey describes. He points out that
neither the taxicab driver nor the wom-
an In the cab would have had any
knowledge, necessarily, OF Mrs. McPher-
sons visit.
Gauthey Gives Description.
Gauthey describes the woman's COM
panion as q blond man S feet nine
inches tall with curly hair, bald fore
in weight. He again positively identi-
fed Mrs. McPhersons photograph.
Gsuthey turned over to The Star a
fancy handkerchief with the initial
M" which he said had been left at his
home by the man. The handkerchief
was delivered to the Depa rtment OF Jus
tice end effort will pe made to ascer-
tain It's ownership In discussing the
man again ne said he particularly
noticed his perfect speech.
Department OF Justice investigators
who look into Gauthev's story will bear
In mind the fact t',~L Mrs Mcpherson
as late ps = .. lock on the night Of the
tragedy.
Woman Was SObbing.
About that hour q girl friend. Eleanor
Sheppard telephoned the Mcpherson
apartment and when Mrs. Mcpherson
answered, she was sobbing convuisively,
according to the testimony both OF Miss
Sheppard and the Park Lane telephone
operator. Mrs. Lillian Conway.
Mrs. Mcpherson told her friend she
could not talk to her at that time and
hung up the receiver.
Mrs. Conway says she was so i'm
pressed by what she had overheard
that she rang the Mcpherson apart
ment again several times, receiving no
response. This further aroused her
from the switchboard 20 minutes later
she took a pass key and went to the
apartment.
Mrs. Conway states she received no
answer to her knock, so used the key
and entered the apartment. She turn
ed on the light by a wall switch and
saw a black evening gown in the center
of the living room floor. The bedroom
door was closed and no light was
visible beneath 1t.
Leaves Apartment.
Deciding that Mrs. Mcpherson either
had gone TO bed or left the apartment,
she says she Investigated no further.
turned out the light and departed.
Not long before the telephone incl
dent Mrs. Mcpherson had called the
dered two packages o. cigarettes. ac-
cording to Howard Templeton, young
clerk in tho store and an old friend of
Mrs. Mcpherson. Tempieton says he
took the cigarettes to the apartment
and found Mrs. Mcpherson In black
dress, apparently ready to go out.
The clerk recalls he asked her IL she
was stepping out" and she replied she
was going to q dance In Georgetown.
Templeton asserts he asked with whom
she was going and the girl said: Boo
OF course. Who else would / 20 With?"
If Gauthey is not mistaken in his
Identification OF Mrs. Mcpherson as the
Miss Mcpherson" he saw at his place
on the night OF the tragedy. the theory
that Mrs. Mcpherson committed suicide
or was killed shortly after her tele-
phone conversation with Miss Sheppard
is, Of course, untenable.
Would Require Hour.
Mrs. MCPHERSON had she left
Gautheys house around midnight.
scarcely could have returned to her
apartment before l O'Clock, as the
Gauthey house Is about an hours drive
from the city.
Employees of the apartment house
have denied ing seen any one enter
or leave the Mcpherson apartment late
that night. Occupants Of nearby apart
ments have declared, however, they
heard q wOman's screams and q mas
culine voice between and 3 o'clock
in the morning, and one resident de-
clared the noises came from the Me-
Pherson apartment. and on reflection,
added she was, sure she heard the voices
of two men.
other witnesses have told OF the
alighting of a passenger from taxicab
near the rear Of the Park Lane about
1890 O'Clock on the fatal night. and
of the figure Of q man moving on low
roof outside the Mcpherson apartment
several hours after midnight.
Garnet Melvin Frye, driver Of the
cab, swore to an aff1davit identifying"
Mcpherson as the passenger he dis.
charged at the mouth OF an alley back
of the apartment house after picking
him up at Fifteenth street and New
Yore avenue. Frye's testimony before
the grand jury played an important
part In the decision to indict McPher-
son, 1t was said.
Called on Minister.
Eliot H. Thomson, the minister who
married the McPhersons, who Is pub
licity manager of the bank where the
young husband was employed, said to-
day that MRS. Mcpherson had sought
and received advice from him concern
ing her domestic difficulties on several
occasions. He would not say when he
last counseled her.
The marriage ceremony was per-
formed at the request Of the youths
parents, whom he has known for some
time, he said, and also because he knew
Mcpherson and his connection with the
bank.
Also q witness before the grand jury,
he testified briefly and the inquisitorial
hndv evidently did not affix much i'm.