The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-03-25
BY w. A. WELLS

Oakland, Calf, March 25.-R-
When scientific crime detection meth
ods fail, slime" becomes the chief
ally of the detective. On this belief
District Attorney Earl Warren rests
his chief hope of solving the myster-
ious murder of Bessie Ferguson.
Although it has been nearly six
years since the comely San Francisco
nurses dissected body was found,
scarcely a month has passed without
bringing some new clue, false or 9TH
erwise, to keep alive official interest
in the case.
In a legal sense the case Is unique
In many ways.
Whereas many murder cases fail OF
successful court prosecution for lack
of a corpus delicti," Alameda county
finds itself in possession Of the body
Of the crime" without official recog-
milton that a murder has been COM
mitted.
District Attorney Warren declares
it has been definitely established that
the Ferguson woman was slain, her
identity has been proved beyond dis
pute, and the insurance company has
paid the policy on her life, yet no
coroner's inquest has been held and
no court or other official action ever
has been taken to indicate officially
that a crime has been committed.
Body Still Held
Neither has there been a funeral.
The body is retained by the authori-
ties of Alameda county. and from
time to time expenditures are au-
thorized TO defray the cost OF pre-
serving it.
When the authenticated nurse left
her hotel in San Francisco on the
August evening in 1925 when she was
last seen alive, she told her mother
she was going across the bay to Oak
land to meet Sheriff Frank Barnet,
Alameda county's veteran peace off,
Ger.
Subsequently the names Of four
other more or less prominent resi-
dents of bay cities were brought into
the investigation.
The killing-almost In the back
yards of two widely-famous criminol-
ogists, Chief Of Police August Voll-
mer of Berkeley and E. o. Heinrich.
consulting acknowledgements
perhaps the greatest array OF police
talent ever employed on a California
case.
Vollmer's newly developed lie-de-
tector was credited with eliciting adj
ditional pertinent information from
questioned witnesses, but no arrests
u,oro avor made
Grain OF Earth Is Clue
Heinrich, examining in his labora-
tory a tiny grain Of earth found In
the dead woman's hair, declared his
opinion that the Staying and dis
memberment may have taken place
not where parts Of her body were
first found, northwest OF Berkeley.
but on Bay Farm Island, several
miles southeast of Oakland. He based
his conclusions on the character OF
the soil.
A few days after his announcement,
additional portions Of the body were
found in the estuary near Bay Farm
Island.
Parts of the body having been
found at widely-separated points IN
Contra Costa and Alameda counties
the coroner Of each county declined
to assume there was sufficient eV-
dence to show the killing had taken
place in his jurisdiction. Both de-
clined to hold inquests.
Piece by piece the body was reas-
sembled, and custody Of 1t was as
sumed by District Attorney Warren.
Deputies Clear Sheriff
Several deputy sheriffs corroborat-
ed the declaration Of Sheriff Barnet
that on the night Of the Staying he
was in his private office.
The hunting lodge which Barnet
frequently occupied and his home
were raided and searched, but no EVIL
dence against him was disclosed. At
the next election he was defeated for
office after many years OF tenure.
1.-The ~atrocious nature Of the
crime" he says, makes 1t morally
certain that some ones conscience
will eventually cause q breakdown
and insanity or a confession result"
He believes he has sufficient evt-
dence to prove the motive for the