Evening star., 1936-05-08

bureaus technical laboratory here for
examination by experts who detected
alterations in other WeyerhAHuser
ransom bills and who fSss5red
the original numbers by scientific
processes.
Did Mahan confess?" a reporter
asked.
He didn't have to-" Hoover said
with a smile. We've got too much on
him already"
Many of the altered bills had turned
up recently in the San Francisco area,
and Hoover's men have been concen-
trated there in an effort to trap Mahan
in the act of passing one of the bills.
Hoover declined to disclose details of
the plans which led to the apprehen-
sion of Mahan.
Topnotchers Checked Off.
Publication in coast newspapers sew
eral weeks ago of the fact that Weyer-
haeuser ransom bills had been turned
over to Federal agents by banks and
other institutions, which had been
supplied with list of the serial num-
bers, spoiled plans for an earlier cap
. ture of Mahan, it was learned.
Yesterdays arrests at Dayton and
San Francisco wiped the bureaus
slate clean of the last two front-rank
public enemies" and completed the
sensational roundup of principal sus-
poets in the Hamm, Bremen and
Weyerhaeuser kidnapings.
Thomas H. Robinson, jr., wanted
for the kidnapping of Mrs. Berry
Stoll, of Louisville, KY, is rated
neither by the Department of Justice
nor the underworld as public
enemy" in the sense that Karpis, the
Barker brothers, Dillinger, Mahan and
others of this stripe were thus rated.
Robinson Is lone wolf" not con-
nected with any gang, and is believed
to be masquerading as a woman.
Surprise Announcement.
Hoover,s announcement of Mahan's
arrest came almost as an after thought
at the press conference in his office
yesterday afternoon. Reporters had
piled him with questions for half an
hour about the Campbell raid when
one of them, as the news men started
to pocket their pencils and paper,
asked:
when are you going to capture
Mahan and Robinson, Mr.. Hoover?"
Hoover started and said: "Oh, yes.
I almost forgot to tell you about
Mahan. Our men got him in San
Francisco at 1890 pm.!"
Mahan had been implicated in the
Tacoma crime by Harmon Metz
valley, who was arrested in Salk Lake
City nearly year ago and who
pleaded guilty in court to the kid
naping. He is serving As years in
Mcneil Island penitentiary. Valleys
wife, Margaret, previously had been
arrested by Salt Lake City police
as she sought to pass ransom bill
In q store there. She, too, pleaded
guilty, but the court refused to ac-
cept her plea and ordered her tried.
She was convicted and is serving 20
years at the Federal Detention Farm,
Milan, Mich.
VALLEY confessed that he and Mahan
plotted and executed the kidnapping,
which occurred May "a, of last year.
rs the 9-year-old timber fortune heir
was returning from school for lunch.
VALLEY said he and Mahan put the
boy In the trunk of car, in which
holes had been drilled so he could
breathe, and they drove him to a
lonely woods near Issaquah, Wash.
about 43 miles from Tacoma, where
they chained him in a hole dug In
the ground. Later they moved him
to . second dugout near Kanaskat,
, Wash, and finally took him to a
house in Spokane, Wash. These hide
outs later were found by the G-men
and were identified by the boy.
100000 Demanded.
A few hours after the boys dis
appearance the father, j. 3. Weyer-
haeuser, jr. received by special de-
livery q demand for 100000 ransom,
TO be paid in used Federal Reserve
notes. The boy was forced to sign
his name on the back Of the envelope
In accordance with instructions in
the letter, the parents negotiated for
the ransom payment through the
columns Of Seattle newspaper. A
second letter from the kidnapers
sent the father to designated Seattle
hotel, but he failed to receive promised
instructions.
A final letter gave detailed instruc-
tions. Following directions closely,
while Federal agents stood by help
lessly in fear Of causing harm to the
child II their activities became kown,
the father drove to a spot between
Tacoma and Seattle with the $780,
600 beside him. Parking the car. as
Instructed to do, he left the machine
and started walking back down the