The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1931-12-23
Fello,o To,vnsfolk Forget Winnie Ruth Judd
is She A,Uaits Trunk Murder Trial Alone
Parents, Attorney and
Husband Are Her
Only Visitors
Defense Is to Be Built
Around Plea of
Insanity
By RALPH O. BROWN

I1lOI54NlA, ALI ICC- Do IA
ME Ruth Judd, whose name was
blazoned across front pages OF
newspapers from coast to coast a
few weeks ago, no longer is even
a topic of conversation among her
fellow townspeople.
The slight, blond slayer of Agnes
LIE Roi and Hedvig Samuelson, sits
alone in her Jail cell here as the
time nears when she will face a
jury and hear the state of Arizona
ask that she be adjudged muir
derer and hanged within the adobe
walls of the state prison at Flor
ence.
Killed During Quarrel
She has said she killed in self
defense during a quarrel Her only
visitors are her attorney and par
ents, the Rev. and Mrs. H. j. Nc
Kinnell of Darlington, Ind, here
to be near her until the trial is
over, and her husband, DR.. w. C.
Judd.
She has no other visitors be-
cause her fellow townsfolk are in
different about her. THE Judd
woman" as she became known to
Phoenix, was a sensation, the chief
topic of conversation for two weeks.
Courtrooms were jammed at her
preliminary appearanceS-but now
her name is seldom mentioned. In
the women's Jail ward, the accused
slayer of her two friends is just
another girl waiting for trial." but
folded away in her cell is a roll of
newspaper clippings that have
proved to Ruth Judd that SHE is
not just another girl"
Daily Records
These carefully preserved daily
records tell the story in words and
pictures of how she shot and killed
Mrs. LIE Roi and Miss Samuelson,
dismembered the latter's body,
packed them in two trunks and sent
them to Los Angeles.
For a time Herman Lewkowitz
and Paul Schenck, defense attor-
neys, considered taking a change
of venue. That idea was abandoned
weeks ago-there was not enough
interest here to justify it.
Instead, they will plead that their
client was insane when she killed
that she must have been insane to
kill her two best friends and cut
up the body ct one.
Some time on the night of Oc-
tober Is or early on the morning of
the 10th the two women were shot
to death in a duplex apartment
Mrs. Judd formerly shared with
them
County Attorney Lloyd j. An
drews contends they were killed
while asleep The slayer declares
she shot in self defense during a
quarrel in which both she and the
girls threatened to tell certain
things" to a mutual man friend.
Bodies In Trunks
A day and half later the bodies
were sent in the trunks to Los
Angeles Mrs. Judd, accompanied
by her brother, a Los Angeles stu
dent, appeared at the railroad sta
ton and claimed the baggage. They
were asked to permit inspection OF
the trunks, which had aroused
MY husband has the keys" Mrs.
Judd replied. She and her brother
left. Failure to return caused
officials to open the trunks
Police were called and a search
was started for the woman Four
days later after an extensive hunt
an attorney led the officers to an
establishment within
a stones throw of the Los Angeles
hall of justice.
Mrs. Judd had taken refuge there
after going to Los Angeles from
a suburban hiding place, while her
attorney made arrangements for
her surrender.
She readily admitted the shoot
ing and said she had planned to
dump the trunks in the ocean. Her
not knowing the contents,
he said, had agreed to assist her.