Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-22
FATHER CONFESSES
Staying CHILDREN
Martinsburg Man Re-Enacts
Crime at Pool Where Three
Bodies Were Found.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star
MARTINSBURG. w. va. July o.
Taylor Holt, IS, who yesterday con-
fessed to the Staying of his three chill
dren by drowning in a quarry hole near
here Sunday night, late last night was
taken to the scene by State officers and
reenacted the crime.
His acting tailed with his declara-
ton he caused death by drowning, al
though an autopsy showed all three
children to have been dead by suffo-
cation before they touched water
Holt reiterated at the scene that the
strips of flannel cloth found about the
neckS of the children were put on, as
he told the children, only to keep the
water from their mouths while he took
them for swim.
The States theory is that he strangl-
ed the children. the cloths being found
about the necks and according TO ply
sicians, being too tight to permit being
stretched to cover the mouth.
Hott's only motive, according to his
confession was that his wife was not
able to care for the children.
Motive Held Inadequate.
State officers are not satisfied with
the adequacy of the motive. It develop
ed today that Holt had also taken a
dog belonging to the children to the
drowning site and had half buried it
under stones on a ledge. The dog was
heard to bark Monday morning about
the time the bodies of the children
were discovered. and was rescued Marks
on 1t indicated some one had attempted
to kill the dog
Holt was formally arraigned this aft
ernoon accused of deliberate, wilful,
malicious and felonious Staying of the
three children and waived a hearing
He was held without bond for the
grand jury.
His only reply to a query as to
whether he wished a preliminary hear
ing was. II killed them" He was not
represented by counsel and was imme-
diatSly returned to Jail
The children were Gertrude Virginia,
Z: Calvin William, 6, and Floyd Pres
ton. 5. Hott's confession said he took
them TO the quarry hole on the edge
of the State read south of this city.
gagged them and pushed them into the
water.
Were Not Drowned.
An autopsy performed at the in
stance of Coroner H. G.. Tonkin by
three physicians indicated all had died
of suffocation No water was found
in any lung, contradicting Hott's story
that they died of drowning. The body
Vi lOSus LltC SOullECL bOys cllONOd a
penknife penetration al the foot of
the nose, a fractured skull, contracted
eyes He apparently had been mis-
treated the most seriously. Asked about
blood stains at the scene, Holt told
officers one child had cut its foot in
going down the slope to the water,
For several hours following discovery
of the bodies there was no identification
and officials began to suspect the bodies
had been brought from the outside or
dropped by tourist AS news of the
find spread. hundreds of persons called
to attempt identification, and a woman
finally said they were the Holt children.
The parents, summoned, identified them.
They set up an alibi. however. Holt
commended he had given his children
Sunday evening TO a mountain family,
friends, named Kidwell, who promisea
to keep them for a week Mrs Holt
said this was the story Holt told her
Sunday night. when he failed to bring
back the children after taking them
for walk She accepted the story in
good faith. Later when officers were
told a neighbor had seen Holt in the
quarry section about $50, his story
began to weaken, and confession fol-
lowed.
Holt later said he and his wife had