The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-10-26
Mrs. Judd Describes Killings
and Remembering of VIC
Tins Bodies

! AA4ACOs IA " WY AASSN oVOA oeA~
Mrs. Winnie Ruth Judd, in a signed,
detailed statement, had confessed she
shot and killed Hedvig Samuelson and
Mrs. Agnes Anne Leroi at Phoenix
October II and sent their bodies, one
dismembered, to Los Angeles IN two
trunks and q suitcase.
The statement, a narrative given to
her husband, DR.. w. c. Judd. plead
ed self-defense after a quarrel among
tn three women because Mrs. Judd
had introduced j.. H. Halloran.
wealthy Phoenix lumberman, to a girl
Of whom Miss Samuelson and Mrs.
Leroi disapproved.
It denied Mrs. Judd was aided by
anyone.
The statement said she spent Mon
day night concealed by curtains IN
the drapery department OF a down.
town department store. 1t tells OF
suburban wanderings in her stockings
because her shoes went to pieces; OF
hiding in a vacant cottage at a Pasa-
dena sanitarium, of writing a letter
to her husband, which she later trled
to destroy; of her purchase OF a news
paper in which she read that d.. judd
had engaged counsel for her and was
pleading that she surrender n o
Telephone calls which, finally led TO
her delivery to the authorities.
Find Letter In Drain
The letter to DR.. Judd was found,
torn and water-soaked In the drains
of the women's rest room OF the oe-
partment store after an attendant
had noticed a stray fragment on the
floor and called the police.
"It has been charged that I had an
accomplish, either before, during OF
after the actual tragedy" n account
began, this Is not true.
II alone shot and killed both tnese
women who we're once my ien !
did It in self defense, to save my own
life. and for no other reason.
II alone disposed of the bodies. l
had no help of any kind from anyone.
Il caused the r~eceptacles containing
them to be shipped from Phoenix 10
Los Angeles, expecting in some 1asn-
ion ia. dispose of them here"
The statement said Mrs. Judd a
,xed She may have weakened her SELL
defense plea by attempts at conceai-
ment. but, lin my dazed 1rlens ~
seemed to me the only thing to 90
was to hide-hide everything and my
self. I was mistaken, but that Is wnat
! did" -
The statement said Mrs. Judd spent
the night of Friday, Oct. Is, at the
aamuelson-Lero apartment. ).
I'VE had breakfast In our paJamas'
It related. ANNE and I were prepar-
ing to 70 to our positions at the Louis
Cr,,now Memorial clinic. It was about
ago. Sammy was standing In front
of her dresser, ccmbing out her hair.
I'VE had been chatting ABOUT TIL
vialities. Then the conversation Turn
ed to Jack Halloran.
Friend Became Jealous
Some days before Jack q
dropped in at the clinic and asked me
to Introduce him to q new nurse
whom he had wished to meet Wnat
her name is doesn't matter. So I
shall call her Miss x. 80. l was sure
the acquaintance never would oe-
yelop to a stage Of intimacy. Jack
Halloran was only a good, true 1rleno
to us all, including Anne.
"But. although Anne was not. nor
had been. in love with Jack, nor ne
with her, she was extremely jealous.
But, as we talked, last SATURDAY
morning, about Jack and MISS 4,
Anne suddenly reached the breaking
noint." She declared that Mrs. lie no
threatened to tell Halloran q pro.
fessional secret" concerning Miss f.,
Mrs. Judd threatened professionals
reprisals against Mrs. Leroi.
The statement went on:
Sammy. as I have said. was
standinp at her dresser. She stopped
comhine her hair and turned around
to face me.
".Ruth,, she said, If you ever say
ANYTHING about Anne and u nel
to lose her job, I'll shoot you as sure
AZ your name Is Ruth judd.
Mrs. Judd declared she then re-
called that her rs calibre pistol was
In a drawer of the bureau.
"There." the recital went on. was
that gun. loaded, where Sammy coulo
rrab It up in a flash II she chose, ano
there was the memory Of her EN-
per. SO I walked away ana wehe v
the kitchen. .u.o1
ard saw Sammy standing IN INT
doorway between the kitchen and Inv
dining room. She was aiming ths
spdtol at me.
II made q lunge tor her.
Shot In Finger
"with one blow I tried to strike tnt
r,.tnl from her hand. but she 1iree
and the bullet hit my finger. l strucl
again and this time the gun clattefee
to the floor. - NJ,
swayed. then we both Tell 10 tn,
Moor. both clutching at the plstoi
Anne came screaming into the kltcn'
: She seized an ironing board tina
had been standing against n wall
and AZ she did so I grapsed the gun.
sFrom my half-prone position OF
h floor I fired. The bullet strucl
sammy in the head may v ire
another-I am not u
II got to my feet, as Anne came a
me With the ironing board I fired a
her. I fired again-1 don't know nov
many times.
"Anne dropped, not far from Sam
my.
.Then everything went blank. tn
place was deathly still as I recovere'
and slowly realized the enormity o
what had taken place. It broke upol
me like a thunderclap."
Mrs. Judd said that with trem
bling hands she placed the bodies o.
beds and washed away the blood stain
from the floor. Then she went to tn
clinic. and. she declared, did her typ
ing with her right hand. In mid
afternoon, it is stated, she returned t
the house. dragged Mrs. LIE Roi's larg
trunk from the garage and placed tn
two bodies into it.
II spent the rest Of the day." sh
said. "tidying up the place as best
Aoa11Av