Evening star., 1932-04-21
W|MBLEY'S WIFE
WASAS SWIMMER,
WITNESS SWEARS
Father of Her First Husband
Says He Frequently Saw
Her in Creeks.
SIGNATURE ON INSURANCE
POLICY CALLED FORGERY
Confession of Crowder That He
Caused Deaths Is Presented
to Jurors.

Testimony that Mrs. Elizabeth Tray
| lor Wimbley could swim was offered
today by her father -in-law in the trial
! of her husband and John M. CroWder
on charges of numbering her.
william Traylor Of Stony Creek. Va,
| father Of Mrs. WimoleyS nrst nusoano'
| testified in Criminal Division l, Dis
| trict Supreme Court, that he had seen
her swim frequently in creeks 10 and
| IL feet deep near his home.
Mrs. Wimbley and her daughter,
| Wilma Traylor, were drowned when the
canoe in which they were sitting was
overturned in the Chesapeake & Ohio
canal last September. An alleged con-
fession made by Crowder to police
shortly afterward, and introduced IN
evidence yesterday, stated that the boat
was upset as he was stepping into IT..
| He said he did all in his power to save
| the pair, and failing in this effort, ran
for help.
Says Signature Forged.
Previously Traylor testified the sig
nature on a $4,000 accident insurance
! policy which Harry c. Wimbley took
| out on the life of his wife less than two
! months before her death was forgery
/ Showed the application for the in
| surance which already had been said
| in court to have been filled out by
Wimbley. and asked by Assistant United
States Attorney William C. Collins II
it was Mrs. Wimbleys handwriting,
Traylor replied:
mo, sir; it is not"
Michael Klachko, an insurance broker
who sold the insurance to Wimbley, tes-
titled Tuesday that Wimbley had taken
the completed application from his Of
fee last July 81 and said he would
have his wife sign it.
Two gasoline station employees from
Richmond, William H. Gillie and Will
liam M. Powell, testified that Crowder
and Wimbley stopped at their stations
to buy five gallons of gasoline in can.
Gillie told the jury he had no five-gal-
Ion cans. and Powell testified the two
men came to his station across the
road from that of Gillie and bought
| the gasoline. The Government con-
tends it was this gasoline with which
| Wimbley plotted to burn to death his
wife at Dendron, Va, two days before
she and her 3-year-old daughter were
| drowned.
Crowder's confession that he upset
the canoe in the canal and caused the
deaths of Mrs. Wimbley and her daugh-
ter, was presented to the jury late yes
| terday by Assistant United States At
torney Collins.
| 1t was admitted in evidence and read
! by Collins over the strenuous objection
| of Defense Counsel WhiteStone and
johnson. who cited an Appeals Court
! ruling that confession not made In
! the codefendant's presence and which
| he did not agree to Is inadmisslble. At
torney Whitestone argued Wimbley was
not with CroWder when the confession
was made to police and that when IT
l III, ~ ban Gill
The signed confession, covering Is
pages and known as Government Ex-
hibit No. 49," stated:
IA I went to step in the canoe my
knee struck it and it turned over.
throwing Mrs. Wimbley and the child
and me into the water.
with all the strength God gave me,
I tried to save those people"
Alleged Plot Disclosed.
It was on the way down to Dendron,
Va to the home of Mrs. Wimbley'S
parents. that Wimbley disclosed to
Crowder his plot to kill his wife to COL
lect the $4,000 insurance which he had
placed on her less than two months be-
fore according to the confession.
He told me that his idea was to 60
in after dark, burn the place and leave
Immediately afterward" CroWder'S con-
fession stated In the meantime, he
would knock them in the head: then
we would get back to Washington be-
fore anybody knew anything about ii"
Between Richmond. where Crowder' S
confession said Wimbley bought five
gallons of gasoline with which to set
fire to his wife's family's home, and
Dendron, Wimbley ordered CroWder to
stop the automobile on a sandy road.
"Wimbly got out of the car" the con-
! fesSion continued "and tore two strips
from a cloth which covered the seat
Then he scooped up handful of sand
| and put it in the cloths and twirled
them around and made sandbags.
He said he was going to use them
," to knock the people out and pour
gas on them and burn them"
| After they had arrived at the home of
Mr.. and Mrs. Patrick H. Tench, Mrs
Wimbley's parents, and every one had
retired, Wimbley came to his room,
Crowder stated, and asked If I was
! going to do it,
it,"
Declares Plan Dropped.
The plan was dropped, thereupon, and
| the next day he and Wimbley, Mrs
Wimbley and the child started out for
| Washington. On the way here, the
CONFESSION asserted, MIS-. W1mDley ex
pressed a desire to go fishing the next
| day-her 26th birthday anniversary
and on the following morning the four
| went up the canal.
while I was out padding" stated
the confession. "Wimbley (who was on
the bank made funny motion. See
! ing this motion I went ashore. Then
Wimbley said to me:
why didn't you turn the dam canoe
! over?'
| He looked pitchforks and knives and
| everything else at me and was scared
| Then Mrs. Wimbley said she wanted to
| go out again." 1t was then that he
! struck the canoe with his knee and up
set it, according to the confession.
Testimony that no threats or promises
were made to Crowder to obtain the
confession was given by Detective Sergt.
Floyd Truscott of the homicide squad.
who was on the stand for more than
three hours yesterday. Truscott covered
the whole investigation into the double
drowning in his testimony.
Capt Edward ]. Kelly, at that time
acting chief of detectives, followed Trus-
colt and told the jury he had read the
confession to Wimbley the morning of
the inquest and that Wimbley buried
his head in his arms and said nothing "
Truscott told Of Wimbley admitting he
forged his wife's name to the $4,000
accident insurance policy. which would
have paid double indemnity for death
by burning.
" ~