Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1960-02-26
MotherweII Jury Will Get Report
On Mrs. Putney's Skull and Bones
BY RICHARD OLONE
Star stan Writer

@A SNeA "ANNNA
BONNEVILLE, Calf, Feb.
ga grim discussion of a
skull and bones is to dominate
the murder trial of Larry Lord
Motherwell today.
The State is to present two
expert witnesses to give their
opinions about all that is left
Of Mrs. Pearl Putney, the r.
year-old Washington widow
Motherwell is accused of MUIR
dering.
This may be the day when
the celebrated bones, found last
August Is in desolate Yuba
Pass 81 miles east of here, are
laid out for the jury to see
but not without strong objec-
ton by the defense.
Special Prosecutor Lynn D.
Compton said that Roger
Green, a State criminologist.
and DR.. Gerald Ridge, a pa
biologist with the Los Angeles
County coroner'S Office, will re-
veal what they learned from
examining the bones.
DR.. Ridge is the man who
performed the autopsy in an
other murder case now max
ing headlines-the Finch-Treg-
off trial in Los Angeles.
He is expected to state that,
although no cause of death can
be established, the conditions
of the remains indicate vio-
lence. Mr.. Greene is expected
to testify that damage to the
widows upper plate probably
occurred while she was alive.
The subject of the bones
came up yesterday, when Mrs.
Alma Freeman Of Rio OSo.
Calf, told of finding a skull
while hunting pine cones with
friends in the vicinity Of an
old logging road of Route 40 in
Yuba Pass.
She had noticed the whitiSh
object but thought it was a
puffball, Mrs. Freeman testi-
fed. She did not realize differ
emily until a l2-year-old girl
picked it up and said, This
isn't a puffball; it's bone of
some sort"
James F. Hill, the tall I'M
dersheriff of Sierra County,
told the jury how he was sum-
rnoned to the scene and was
handed the skull, a lower jaw,
an upper denture plate and
piece of cloth collected by a
highway patrolman.
He wrapped the grisly OBJ
jects and put them in a canvas
bag. the officer said, and then
the patrolman, Officer Warren
F. Sanders, pointed to a big
log and said:
Il think this is where we will
find our trouble, jim"
Pushing aside a "lean-to"-
like accumulation of bark,
branches and rocks, the under
sheriff said he found some hu-
man hair, grayish in color, and
the outline of human body.
During that and subsequent
trips to the scene, the under
sheriff said, he picked up many
more bones. pieces of cloth and
a f1ngernail.
Curved Metal Found
In the remains of a camp
fire near the log, he testified,
he found what appeared to be
charred leather. a piece of
cloth, and a curved piece of
metal, shaped like a woman's
heel"
During cross-eXamination by
Defense Attorney John T.
Reyes of Washington, the Off
Ger said the bones were prob
ably scattered by hungry forest
animals.
About the only point scored
by the defense yesterday oc-
CURED when Undersheriff Hill
could not explain how animals
could have torn the body apart
without disturbing the debris
the State claims was piled over
Mrs. Putney's body.
The State introduced a vital
piece of evidence when Miss
Janice Hampton. a Western
Union agent at the San Fran
cisco International Airport
told of a long telegram Moth.
orwell sent from there the eve
ming of August 16, 1858.
The message, addressed to
Mrs. Putney's half-brother
Castro M. Dabrohua of Chi
cago. was signed Pearl and
said she was going to Mexico
to be married and then take a
yacht trip.
Denied He was Bridegroom
Motherwell, Miss Hampton
said, handed her the message
on three hand written tele-
gram blanks, and she re-
marked: Are you the man to
be congratulated"
He said, No, I'm sending
this for my aunt, and gestureo
IN the direction of the south
east area of the building" Miss
Hampton said.
he definitely In d Tic a t
someone was over there wait
ing for him." she said.
Motherwell's story is that he
sent the telegram at Mrs. Put
ney'S request. Miss Hampton
testified he had copied the
message from another piece oil
paper.
However, Motherwell, who
admits he is a chronic liar. has
said he left Mrs. Putney in Las
Vegas, New, the day after they
checked out of a motel il
Marysville, Calf, on August Is
The telegram aroused MI
Babrohua'S suspicious, becaus,