The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1935-06-13
MAHAN BLAMED
BY MRS. VALLEY
FORK|DNAP|NG
By MARGARET VALLEY
As Told to International News
Service.

l AS 1OIu TO lnCeTnaLlOHdI NEWS
Service.
kCopyriEht, 1885, by International News
Service)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June
n3.-Willia m Mahan was the
''brains" of the kidnapping gang
and had plotted the Weyerhae.
user abduction for five years to
make it the perfect crime
Mahan got Harmon and me
into this mess. But I'll be game
and face the music like a lady.
He kept telling me after the kid.
mapping we were in it and had to
go through as we were just as
guilty as he was in the case.
a didn't know a thing about
the kidnapping until I read about
it in the papers Saturday morn.
ing, May IS. Sunday morning
Harmon told me we had the boy
in the other part of the house.
Even then Mahan and my hus,
band didn't allow me to see him.
They took all the food to him
and said he was being treated
fine.
Too Late to Tell
I would have liked to give the
thing away, but it was too late
I was told I was in on it and
it would go hard on me If ]
said anything. The CHEEKY laugh
ter George heard in the other
room might have been mine or
it might have been Mrs. Mahan's
She was there all the time.
George was there several days,
but I never saw him. I really
felt sorry for the little fellow.
only saw the part of the ran
som money Harmon gave me. But
! knew what it was and where it
. came from. I don't know where
it was split. I didn't go with
Harmon when he cached his
share in Emigration Canyon.
You know Mahan had planned
q kidnapping for a long time. He
studied all the cases: the Bremen,
the Lindbergh one and all of
them. He said he had corrected
all the mistakes other abductors
had made and intended to make
his the perfect crime. He said
he wasn't leaving any loopholes
to get caught.
Only Mahan, Mrs. Mahan, Har.
mon and myself are connected
with the case - there are no
others.
We left Salt Lake City around
April /, and went to the North.
west when Mahan promised Har.
mon a job. When we arrived we
waited and waited. but Harmon
never got any work. Then ]
learned of the affair.
I do not know who wrote the
ransom note. I didn't learn a
word about the case until the Sat
urday morning I told you about.
After that Mahan and Harmon
kept pretty quiet around me.
There was a lot of things I've
learned later that were things
done didn't know about.
I left Spokane, Wash, on the
train around June / and arrived
in Ogden, Utah, on June 3, when
went to see my grandfather. !
was terribly frightened and I re.
member I put my arms around
him and said:
"Granddaddy, I'm scared, so
&wfully scared"
BOUGHT TOYS
Harmon met me later and we
we're around Ogden and Salt Lake
City until they detained me in
the store. I had bought a lot of
things during those few days.
dresses and trinkets for the kids
you know, mother has IA chill
dren and I wanted them all to
have something.
Well, I guess I'm in for it and
will have to face the music. If I
could have stopped Harmon be-
fore he got into it would have,
but it was too late when I found
out about the kidnapping.
I love that man Cher husband.
I will stick by him now that he is
in trouble.
I have not read the papers while
held by the Federal agents in Salt
Lake City.