Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-09-27


Many Of the tall tales wer
to track him down on vari-
Gus occasions when he has been
sought as a fugitive.
Some of the other tales re-
pose in court records here, in
the South and in the Midwest
where Motherwell's adventures
brought him to the attention Of
authorities.
Psychiatrists here, making a
study at the request of proba-
ton authorities, were so be-
unused by his storytelling pro-
clivities that they devoted
many pages to trying to explain
what prompted him to tell what
Motherwell himself describes as
his big hero" lies.
Called Pathological Liar"
Legal Psychiatric Services,
the clinic serving the court,
found no evidence Of pSychosis
but reported an emotional dis
turbance of long standing,
termed him a pathological
liar" and recommended pSy-
chiatric treatment.
Investigation has disclosed
that he has used his tales in
efforts to get in and out of
marriage. to explain the dis
appearance of his child, to
borrow money, to win sympathy
and just to make himself a big
shot.
He has posed as a wounded
veteran, an Army colonel, a
Navy admiral, a graduate of
NIT with an engineering de-
gree, a writer. an actor, a secret
agent and an expert on China.
He has claimed to be a vic
tim of radiation poisoning and
OF cancer. He has claimed to
have a pin in his knee, a dog
bone grated to his hip. a metal
plate in his head. He has
bandaged various parts of his
body and used clutches to make
a claim stick.
Said He Had "Atomic Cap"
He even said he had to wear
an atomic cap" to heal a brain
injury.
He went so far as to change
his name in court to give more
credence to his story of being
Lord Motherwell with a castle
in Scotland which he must visit
annually.
OF his daughter, he told in
laws in October, 1854, that the
Navy had flown him back from
Korea to attend the child's
funeral in Tallahassee, Fla.
But he told court officials here
in May, 1855, that he was pay
ing $l10 a month to support
his child in a Florida institu-
ton.
Actually. the mentally re-
tarded child had been dead
since June, 1854, when Mother
well buried her body in a pet
cemetery near Frederick, Md.
Posed as Navy Commander
The first of his many imper-
sonations to come to the at
tention Of authorities began in
late l945 when "Comdr. Larry
Motherwell" applied for a Job
with a Minneapolis manufac-
turing company.
Motherwell became friendly
with the personnel manager
and his wife-a friendship
which eliminated with Mother
we'll offering to get the couple
a job establishing public speak
ing courses in Chinese schools.
He carried this pose to the
point of executing a supposed
contract which was partially
written in what he claimed to
be Chinese characters.
Gets 5-MOnth Prison Term
When the victims suspicious
were finally aroused, Mother
well was convicted of Illegally
wearing a military discharge
button and sentenced to a FIVE
month prison term and a $3.50
fine.
His next known impersona-
ton came to official attention
in early 1851 when the FBI re-
ceived complaints that he was
posing as a Federal employee.
Investigation developed that
he had joined a Washington
church IN 1949, claiming to be
a Scottish lord. He walked
with a limp, saying he had been
a Seabee during World Was II,
had been captured by the Jap
anese and escaped from aupris-
oner-of-war camp. He also
said he had a head wound, re-
curing a metal plate in his
skull.
Tn Nouapohor 1060 he foId