Imperial Valley press., 1933-02-10

| perties.
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 10. u.p>--
A young woman music teacher and
an ex-convict who wanted to get
married." confessed today, accord
ing to police, that they plotted the
abduction of two women promln-
emily identified with local musical
circles.
Breaking after a long and ex-
haustive siege of questioning, Miss
Luella Pearl Hammer and w. P.
Howard, were quoted as admitting
they engineered the kidnaplng OF
Mrs. Mary 3. Skeele after falling
in their attempts to lure a min
ister's daughter into a trap.
Mrs. Skeele, the 65-year -old wife
Of Dean Walter F. Skeele of the
University of Southern California
college of music, was set free last
Monday night after her captors
had failed in "a hour endeavor
to collect $4,000 ransom money.
| The pair collapsed before a
growing mass of evidence, includ-
ing the ransom note" typewriter,
] detectives claimed they had un-
earthed in their investigation The
two were questioned separately
through the long ordeal that last
ed through two nights and a day.
Howard broke first, the victim of
an old police ruse, the questioners
said. The 28-year-old music teach
er was then confronted by her fl
ance's statements. For the first
time she lost her stoical calm.
"Yes, we did it." she was quoted
as saying. I'VE needed the money.
I'm sorry we did it. we should
never have picked on woman as
old and as pleasant as Mrs. Skeele."
She was quoted as confessing she
and Howard wanted money SO they
could be married, and so she could
meet certain pressing financial OBJ
legations.
She asked that she be allowed to
see Mrs. Skeele and tell her how
sorry am
Both denied, according to detec-
| tives, they had accomplices, al
though Mrs. Skeele had said there
were four men and a woman in
| the band
! First Attempt Fails
| Howard suggested a kidnaping
after they had discussed various
means of raising money, Miss Ham
mer said, according to officers.
They finally decided on Miss Iso-
! bel Smith, daughter of DR.. Merle
Smith, Pasadena minister and
member of the U. s. c. board OF
| trustees. Miss Hammer and Miss
Smith were slight acquaintances
when both attended U. S. G. They
sought to lure her into an automo-
bile.
But Miss Smith proved diff
cult person" Miss Hammer was
quoted. "She became suspicious
and when she began to protest we
cleared out as fast as we could"
The music teacher. who herself
once studied under DR.. Skeele at
U. S. c., was quoted as saying they
then decided on the deans wife,
| feeling certain the dean would raise
$4,000 ransom. When they learned
he could not, Mrs. Skeele was set
| free
| Howard, a paroled convict from
San Quentin, fell into trap when
questioners accused him of beating
the elderly woman.
II didn't beat her." he snapped,
according to detectives. "She
scratched herself when she tried to
remove the blindfold
! The two were booked on suspi-
cion of kidnapping, pending grand
| jury action.
Miss Hammer assertedly revealed
to officers that third person,
Agnes Norcross, formerly student
at U. C. L. A and u. S. c., had
been considered as victim for a
time.
"We planned to kidnap Agnes
Miss Hammer was quoted as hav-
ing said. "But we gave it up be-
cause we decided we could not get
sufficient ransom from her people.
Besides her mother was so nice to
me-"
The Norcrosses live near the
Montscito Drive home of Miss
| Hammer.
Police said today they were at
tempting to learn exact details OF
Howard's life in Kansas City.
They reported that he once told
them he was not married but that
later he said his wife and daugh-
ter had died Of influenza in Kan