The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-02-22
Murder Trial Ends ]: With Manslaughter
tContinued from Page D


 the back and received the condo lepces of friends with broad smiles
 A. Flint Moss, chief defense at- torney, will file motion for a new tNlal and also start appeal steps when Kennamer is sentenced. AS 111hnslaughter is bailable of- fshse. 1t is possible Judge Hurst will admit Kennamer to ball un- tib the case is decided.
 mThe verdict brought to an end q. case that stirred and shocked Tulsa and left many mysteries and Unanswered questions.
 Admitted the Murder
 Kennamer admitted he killed ea physician. Gorrel was home from a Kansas City Dental College fer the Thanksgiving holiday when Hennamer met him, drove to a lonely suburb and then shot him. He said Gorrell tried to shoot him when he told Gorrell he intended to block a scheme to kidnap Miss Virginia Wilcox, daughter of a rich oil man.
 yTulsa police called 1t suicide although it later developed that Kennamer had told several friends he intended to kill Gorrell. A few days after Kennamer's confession Sidney Born, son of a college pro- lessor, was found dying in his car. He was a Kennamer intimate. Po- lice said he was suicide. Ken Tiamer, testffying at his trial, said Born was murdered. No arrests l1avo been made.
 Stories of a crime school in which Tulsa society youths were involved then were circulated. Po- lice hinted there was evidence that such a ring existed, but their in- vestigation was not brought into the trial. TDr. J. F. Gorrell, who employed special counsel to assist the pro- secution, said he and Mrs Gorrell were satisfied with the verdict, Judge and Mrs Kennamer, he said, md their sympathy.
 History of the Crime
 eQorrell was killed last Thanks stving night at Tulsa. His body was found in his automobile on ar dimly lighted street. He had been shot twice in the head, with his own pistol. This precluded suicide, authorities said, and they set out to find the killer.
 yTwo days later Kennamer, ac- cpmpanied by A. Flint Moss, his attorney, walked into the Sheriffs office, surrendered and admitted the killing.
 "He said he had to do it in self-defense," Moss explained.
 -Even then the police were hunt fig the youth, Floyd J. Huff, a Kansas City aviator, had told how Eennamer had come to Kansas City for the avowed purpose of destroying Gorrell, Dental stu dent there.
 ..He said Kennamer revealed fam t4stic plots to kill Gorrell and make his death appear an acci- dent. One was that Kennamer. at student flier, was to charter plane, take Gorrell aloft, stab him tv death, bale out and let the IStane crash and burn, thus de- sfroying evidence of murder.
 - His Claimed Motive
 ~Kennamer's motive, he said, was ty thwart the kidnap extortion plot against Wilcox because he 1Uved the oil mans daughter, Eir- Gnia. He quoted Kennzner as saying Gorrell had written the ex- tortion note and was insistent on Involving Kennamer in the scheme. ~The youths arrest reacted like DmbshelI among some of TuIsa's 8 first families. It revealed e1is- tance of what authorities termed a. High Hat Crime Club.
 @There were tales of how the members, drawn from the younger Mcial strata, engaged in drunken &gies, Marihuana Smoke" par ties; of how they planned crimes ranging from narcotic running to abduction and extortion, the lat ter to be accomplished by obtain iug compromising photograhps of debutantes.
 = Rich Families Left Homes
 M Several wealthy families closed their homes and left the state. The Wilcox family went Christmas shopping in New York City. Sev- eral socially prominent boys were known to have left hastily. advis- ing only their families where they had gone.
 = The uneasiness became even more pronounced when Sidney Born, Jr., who had driven Kenna- mer to hotel to keep a rendez- vOus with Gorrell, was shot to death in his car not far from Where Gorrell met his end.
 % A suicide verdict was returned hut murder theories are still held. Born is known to have attempted to call Kennamer in jail only a short time before he was killed. He was to have been a witness at Kennamer's trial and Kennamer, Himself, charged Born had been murdered to 'shut his mouth. V The uneasiness persisted and it was on this ground-that preju- dice had been aroused-that the trial was brought to Pawnee an a charge of venue.
 Put Up Dual Plea
 v Kennamer put up a dual plea Of insanity and self-defense. He testified that while he and Gorrell sat in the latter's car arguing over the extortion plot Gorrell tried to shoot him but the gun failed to discharge. They grappled, he said. and Gorrell was shot.
 ' His attorneys sought to show he had been precocious and irrational nince boyhood. His irrationalism burst it's bounds, and defense con- tended, when Gorrell proposed the Wilcox plot Kennamer possessed 2. burning, though unrequited love, Tor the girl the defense claimed,