Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-30
HERBERT NJ CAMPBELL TELLS OWN STORY IN MUH

| ~. Olu you take part III dHy uooduAt
| on any woman down there?
A. did not.
@. Did you ever choke any woman,
Mary Baker or anybody else?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you ever shoot Mary Baker or
anybody else?
A. No sir.
| q. Do you know anything about what
the witnesses testified Ct that point?
| A. don't know anything about 1t.
| y
Barrere?
| A. Yes, sir
@. How long had you known him?
A. I had not known Barrere well or
intimately at oil. He had come in to
my office, / guess on possibly two or
three occasions, no more than that.
Last Christmas he came down to the
house down to my home, and said
| that his father was very ill-he is an
old man-and asked me If mad any
wine. 1 told him that did He asked
me If would give him some for his
father, that he wanted to make him q
| present of 1t for Christmas, and ] gave
him some.
That was the only time up until the
time he came to paint the house that
he was ever inside of my home.
|
your house?
A. He started on April.12.
y
Then I come to the point where ]
turned the gun over. 1 had gone into
my off1ce-I am skipping a point there.
A reporter came out to my Office one
evening and said, What do you think
about Herman Barrere In this case?"
said, II don't know what to think"
said, "Barrere has an iror-clad alibi that
| 1 don't believe anybody can break" He
said, We'll, that's interesting" He
says, Miss Heiner and Mrs. Harrison
Smith, the same lady who has said that
he knew Mary Baker, say that Barrere
was with them on that afternoon"
Being under sthe impression that
was aiding the police at that time I
undertook to find out whether the alibi
was true or untrue. have sold quite
a bit of property for Miss Heiner. I
know that Barrere has lived there for
quite long while. And very shortly
after that, on a Sunday, Miss Heiner
called me on the phone and asked me
II / would talk to Mrs Barrere, Her.
man Barrere's wife; Mr.. and Mrs. Loen
Barrere of Richmond. his brother and
sister-in-law, and Miss Heiner, If they
came over. I told her would.
hung up the phone and called the
Arlington County court house. Told
them that this consultation was going
to take place and that didn't know
whether Barrere was going to be with
them or not, but that imagined that
he might be-
The call went from there, learned
later. to the trafic policeman, Ray
Cobean, who was on duty at Columbia
pike and Mount Vernon avenue.
A reporter went from the court house
| down IN lot him I,af
was going to take place, and accom-
panied him up to my Office.
While was waiting for them 20 come
over ! went down to my home, opened
the top drawer of my chiffonier, where
! have had this gun ever since I bought
it in 1926, put the gun in my hip peck
ct, went out and got in the automobile
and went back up to the Office.
Omcer Cobean came up just about
that time and came into the Office
took the gun out of my pocket at
that time in the view of both of them
they saw the gun-and put it in the
top drawer of my desk
Miss Heiner and the two Mrs. Bar
reres and Mr.. Barrere came out a short
while after that and the conversation
OF course was Immediately LAUNCHED on
Barreres alibi. Still with the idea that
| was working with the police I started
to attack the alibi by telling them that
Barrere was In my place at that time
That he had come there to aign the
contract in the late afternoon and that
he was there until late in the evening.
Miss Heiner said that she may bet
may be that she was mistaken about
the date that she thought he was with
her.
The gun laid in the desk drawer from
that time until the 5th of June. This
was about the 18th of May, as nearly as
l can recall, that this meeting took
place. The gun was in there for three
weeks,
am not real sure whether it was the
5th or 9th OF June that I went up to
my ONCE and opened the desk drawer
and was getting some papers out. In
the meantime the newspaper men were
there practically every minute that thev
could find me. They would play around
on the miniature golf course and at the
end OF each game they would come over
and talk some more about the Mary
Baker murder case.
In each article that they wrote on
this alibi Of Barrere's-on the article
OF the gloves they had given a great
miniature golf course that I had Just
built
Took Gun to Court House.
| Whatever possessed me to take the
gun out of the desk drawer and take
1t over to the court house on that day
! don't know. When I took the papers
out of the drawer saw the gun living
there. And 1t occurred to me that
there was an opportunity for another
| good story. They had made the propo-
sition to me right straight along that
anything that I would give them in
connection with the Mary Baker muir
der case they would see that I got
plenty Of publicity ON the miniature
golf course. and insisted each time that
tha' was advertising that couldn't be
bought
I took the gun out and wrapped 1t
up in piece of newspaper and decided
that I would take it over to the court
house. After I decided it didn't stop
! to think about 1t, didn't have even
the remotest idea that was letting my
self In for any such a mess as got into
over it. ] wrapped the gun in a news
paper and went over to the court house.
Up until that time there was no
thought in my mind about the fantas-
tic story that told about the man
with the wart on his nose. It was given
birth to on the trip between my Office
and MIR. Fields office. There was no
planning of the story. 1t simply came
into my head, and I went over and
handed him the gun and told him that
story.
| ~
| Commonwealth Attorney Cloth says,
Well, Herhie, you can see what
. bad Ak you would be in If we
did not know you as well as we do. I
said, Yes; I guess I would, If this is
the gun that killed Mary Baker" So
they laughed.
On the 4th of July-no; shortly after
| n I,o~l lna1 F,Aw
Bureau of Standards Mr.. Hardy of the
Department of Justice came to my home