The Washington times., 1931-09-16
KEY WITNESSES
IN DROWNING
HUNTED
Tennessee Professor Held
On Murder Charge While
Jury Probes Love TangIe

Jury FTODeS Love angie
HAMPTON, Va, Sept. 16 G.N.
SO.-With rumors of love
tangle undenied, two witnesses are
awaited by authorities today as
possible keys in the battling case
Of DR.. Elisha Kent Kane, Uni
verSity of Tennessee professor,
held on a charge Of murder in
connection with the mysterious
drowning last Friday of his wife,
Jenny.
Identity Kept Secret
Authorities refused to reveal
the identity of the two witnesses
whom they are seeking. They
admitted they did not know their
whereabouts.
Mrs. Kane was drowned while
she and her husband were swim
ming at Grand View Beach, sew
eral miles south Of Hampton.
Officials have been sitting
charges by fishermen that Kane
made no effort to revive his wife
when he pulled her out Of the
water.
Testimony Of the fishermen be-
fore the coroner's inquest begun
Monday and still in progress eS-
tablished nothing conclusive but
they continued to hold the univer'
sity professor.
Letters Missing
Officials refused to affirm or
deny reports Of another woman"
in the case, but indicated such
reports were being thoroughly in
vestigated.
Coroner Vanderslice, Common
wealth Attorney Roland ID. Cook
and T. S. Curtis, deputy sheriff,
in charge of the investigation,
refused to reveal whether GER
tain letters which VanderSlice
previously said might have a
bearing on the case, and which
subsequently he reported miss
ing" have as yet be.n discovered.
Curtis revealed that "a woman
named Dodd" had been men
toned to him in connection with
the case, but said he had not
heard the name in the official
| inquiry"
Inquest Is Secret
Inquiry into the circumstances
of Mrs. Kane's death has been
conducted entirely inSecret. Those
present include Vanderslice, Cur
tis, E. Kent Kane, of Bradford,
Pa, an attorney and cousin of
the professor, who came here to
join in the defense of the &C.
| cused; Percy Carme, Hampton
attorney engaged for the defense,
and stenographer.
DR.. Howe before going into
the hearing room advised DR..
Evan O'Neill Kane, father of the
professor and a prominent phySi-
clan of Kane, Pa, who gained
fame by operating on himself for
appendicitis, that when he exam
ined the body on Sunday he saw
nothing to indicate that Mrs.
Kane had been forced into the
water or held there after falling.
He said he saw no evidence of
heart disease, either.
The elder DR.. Kane has not yet
been called in as witness, but if
he is, he intends telling authori-
ties his daughter-in-law suffered
from heart trouble for years, and
that he was often called to her
from distant point to treat a
heart attack. He said it is his
theory that Mrs. Kane died from
heart disease when she fell into
the water.
Wants to Forgive
The father, a little. aged man
who came to Hampton by plane to
Nc ACoA A1lS sui, was SO1AAOCAlG VA
vindication. He said:
"Of course my son is innO-
cent. This is all lot of damn
fOOliShneSs, holding him here.
I'm going to stay here until it
is all cleared up, and 1 can tell
you this thing has given an old
man ready to die a new reason
to desire longer life.
II want to be able to forget
and forgive these people, and it
will take me q long time to do
that"
Regarding rumors of another
girl'' in the case, DR.. Kane said:
my son has always led an
exemplary life, so far as 1 know.
/ have not seen much of him
for some years, but he has al
ways been q clean liver.
you hear anything in a case
like this. It's ridiculous to be-
lieve for q moment that Elisha
killed his wife. They were on
the best of terms, So far as
know. They both loved each