Evening star., 1953-08-16
He Plunged His Whe's Foot
Into q Box of RuttIesnukes

wife, enlisted Hope as accom-
plice, promising him a cut of
the insurance. Twice James
gave him money to get snakes
from reptile farms, but both
patches proved innocuous when
the pair tested them on rabbits.
Hope drove to Arizona and came
back with a bottle full of black
widow spiders. James looked
them over and said they weren't
potent enough.
Finally, James gave Hope 500
as a down payment for his help.
The latter went to a cabinet
maker and had a box made with
a sliding panel, large enough to
hold two big rattlesnakes.
On Saturday. August 3, 1885,
Hope went to j. c. (Snake Joe)
Houtenbrink's snake farm near
Pasadena and for SO rented two
rattlers uaranteed deadly.
Lightning" and "Lethal," as
they became known during the
subsequent trial, were both over
four feet long. and 312 inches
through the middle.
Hope put them in the box and
took them to James. That night
the men got drunk with Mrs.
James and drugged her with
sleeping pills. Early Sunday they
tied her to the breakfast nook
tahle. sealed her mouth with ad-
llesive tape. and thrust her left
foot into the box. One or both
rattlers plunged fangs deep into
her foot. .
But the bites did not kill her,
possibly because of the influence
of the drug, and later James car
ried her to the bathtub, drowned
her and put the body in the;
pond. Hope returned the snakes
and got back a $3.50 deposit.
Frankly incredulous, investiga-
tors exhumed Mrs. James body.
This time medical examiners
found "unmistakable" marks of
snake bite.
Confronted with all this,
James first confessed, then re-
pudiated his statement and
turned on Hope, accusing him
of being the prime mover in the
crime. James pleaded innocent
by reason of insanity; Hope
switched his plea to guilty and
turned states evidence.
Summer Sensation.
James f1ve-week trial was the
summer sensation of 1886 in
Southern California. Los Angeles
newspapers. accustomed to the
bizarre, had never seen anything
quite like this one. Most felt
compelled to use top-f1ight movie
writer's to help describe the weird
drama.
The snakes, "Lethal" and
Lightning" were exhibited in a
glass case. One day one of them
got loose in the courtroom and
slithered for five minutes among
the swiftly Lifted feet of specta-
tors before it was recaptured.
The prosecution climaxed its
case with Hope re-enacting the
horror scene. AS James laughed
derisively, Hope lay fiat on
counsel table and demonstrated
how they had pushed the victims
foot into the box.
Through most Of the trial
James remained debonair, even
when a Mrs. Madge Reed testi-
fled he had proposed to her only
six days after the Staying. The
snakes seemed to fascinate him;
he would stare at them for a
half hour at a time.
In his turn on the stand, James
claimed his confession was OBJ
tanned by force and said blandly
Hope must have committed the
murder, If it was a murder. Ali
he knew. he said, was Mary was
dead when he came home from
work.
Testimony and dispositions by
relatives and acquaintances filled
in the unsavory background OF
the beady-eyed barber. A boy
who stomped chickens to death
when they pecked him, young
James ran away from his home
near Birmingham. Ala, at the
age of 9. He was twice married
and divorced in Alabama; mar
ried again in Emporia. Kans.. IN
1920, and divorced six years later.
In 1882 he came to California
and married Winona Wallace.
She was driving down Pixies
Peak on a trip through Colo
RADIO when the steering knuckle
broke and the car plunged over
a cliff. James said he was thrown
clear; his wife suffered a frac-
tured skull. She barely had re-
covered when she was found
drowned in a motel at Manitou
Spring, Colo. James received
$4,000 insurance.
A fifth marriage in 1894 to
q New Orleans girl was annulled.
Early In 1885, James nephew.