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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 1915)
TTTF MOftNING OREGOSTIAX FTtrDAT. OCTOBER 15. T9I3. fill KILLS WOMEN THEM SLAYS SELF Divorced Wife and Sister-in-Law Victims of W. E. Stout, Who Also Fires Home. SHOTS FIRED AT MARSHAL Visit to iet Belongings Made - at Invitation of ox-Husband, Who IiOcks Friends Outside . After Admitting Kelatlvcs. ST. HELEN'S, Or.. Oct. 14. (Special.) William Stout, aged 50, shot and killed his divorced wife, aged 45 years, and his sleter-in-law. Mrs. Todd, who was 50 years old, at the noon hour today. Then, atcr setting fire to the house he fcdt himself. Stout and his wife had been separ ated tor- about a year, she having: ob .tajned a divorre on the grounds of drunkenness. This morning he re quested his wife and sister-in-law to come to his place to take- their per sonal belongings. They requested Mar shal Ohittim and his wife, who were near nfclEhbors.-. to accompany them. Marnhal Is Threatened. When . they . reached the residence. Stout invited Mrs. Stout and Mrs. Todd to come in. but requested Mr. and Mrs. Chittim to take seats On the porch, as he wanted a private conversation with Mrs. Stout and Mr.s. Todd. As soon as they entered. Stout closed and locked the door. The Marshal commanded him to open, but he refused and cautioned the Marshal -to. go about his business or It would be the worse for him. Shortly thereafter a shot was hpard and Mrs.. Chit-ten rushed to aneighbor's telephone to' notify the Sheriff. The .Marshal endeavored to. fraln entrance, but Stout ordered him off the premises, and as he left fired two shots at him. Shot Klred mm Kntrance tialned. Sheriff Stanwood, in company with Deputy Sheriff Brown and ex-Sheriff Martin White, commandeered an auto and made haute to reach the premises. They were unable to gain entrance until a pass key was procured, and then they heard a shot In the second story. It was "with difficulty that anything could be distinguished as the officers made their way through the premises on account of smoke. Mrs. Stout was found on the floor dead. Kvidently she attempted to make her escape through the door, as she was shot through the back, the bullet passing through iho body and lodging In the wall. Murderer Ircumall j- Drunk. The body of Mrs. Todd was found in an adjoining room near a door, where she had made an effort to escape. . She was shot through the head and died instantly. The officers proceeded cautiously up stairs with their guns ready for action. They groped their way through the smoke and finally found the body of Stout lying on the floor dead with the top of his head blown off. The shooting was done with a Win chester. Stout was a hard drlser, and was supposed to have been drunk when he committed the deeds. The-only-relative he has here is a nephew. Mrs. Todd has a daughter living" at Turner and a son In the vicinity of iliarlbaldi. traded the attention of the -dog whose barking was noticed by Mrs. Yates, according to the state. And it is the belief of the District Attorney that Branson and Mrs. Booth had seen him and that they caused the crashing in the brush heard by Mrs. Yates as they attempted to flee. Whoever the murderer. "Billy" Booth was shot down as he was leaping the fence or just afterward. Ills body was later found Just outside the edge of the brush. He was shot either while he was looking in another di rection, or. perhaps, as he raised his arm to fend off the fatal bullet. At any rate, the bullet was fired at him from the left. The leaden pellet struck him first In the upper fore arm of his left arm as it was stretched out straight, sideways. Glancing from the ulna bone It ranged through, the flesh outward below the elbow and then plowed its way, the soft lead mushrooming as it went between the fourth and fifth ribs and through the heart. -' . Discovery Made by Cousin. His body lay there behind the fence for five and one-half hours before It was removed. It was two hours be fore It was found and it was left on the spot, then until the Coroner arrived from McMinnville, impaneled a Jury and took them to view the corpse. One fact that has not yet been explained is that it was found by G. D. Carter, another " cousin of .Branson. Carter walked out front Willamina ' shortly after Branson was seen to return, went to the exact spot in the road where the shooting occurred, climbed the fence and discovered the body. Questioned by the District Attorney, he has been unable to give any reason for having climbed- the fence at- this spot other than to say that he wanted to wasn his feet in the river.- Further testimony tending to connect Branson and Mrs. Booth with the murder was also given at the hearing.- - Branson Seen on Return. Mrs. Eggen. who, with Mr. Nelson, saw both pass her house going out the road, saw Branson pass by on his bicy cle on the way back to town about an hour later, although Mr. Nelson did not pass either of the two when he fol lowed with his team in their direction, Mrs. Booth was seen by two persons. Not long after the shooting. Mrs. Yates saw Mrs. Booth in the road at -the turn, beside which Mr. Booth was killed, coming past her house. She testified positively that this was after the shooting, which all witnesses have agreed - was about 1:30. o clock. Mrs, Booth has declared since her arrest that she was going out the plank road to- visit her mother. Mrs. Harrington: and that she arrived there at 1:30 o'clock. These witnesses all dispute the time. C. H. Speaker! a creamery agent, has established another link in the prose cutlon'a case by testifying that he saw Branson return to town on his bicycle nt 2:80 or 2:40 o'clock. He set the time because he was testing cream and doing It by the clock. Mrs. Booth shows signs. of the srreat strain she has been under since her husband's death and her own arrest Wednesday. She denies any knowledge of the circumstances of the murder or of meeting- Branson, and de clare3 that she was walking out the road on her way to her mother's house, Womnn May Be Brought to Portland- Mrs. Booth is being kept by Sheriff Henderson at his own home, because the jail here is not fitted up for women prisoners. She probably will be taken to Portland tomorrow and placed in the County Jail there. Branson has insisted doggedly since his arrest that he did not go out the plank road by bicycle at all. The 38-caliber revolver he borrowed from his cousin has not yet been found. His first comment when arrested was that he could never be proved guilty of the murder, be cause he had no gun but a shotgun. Congregationalists Decide to Hold Next Year's Session at The Dalles. CHAIN IS BEING FORGED (t'ontinuerl From first Pase) Nelson whipped up his horse and drove on. He went up the road at good speed, but according to his testimony at the liearing. he did not pass either Mrs. Booth or Branson and thought no more about them until after the' murder. Mr. Booth Appeared in Pursuit. Shortly after he left, Mrs. Egg-en testified at the hearing, she -was sur prised to see Mr. Booth appear. Ho was not on the road. but was going at a pace that she de scribed as "half walk and half run" in the same direction taken by Branson and Mrs. Booth. He was cross ing through a grain field. He was evidently taking a short cut through the field, for he was going at an angle that would meet the road farther on. In addition to the "half walk and half run." or Mr. Booth's stride, Mrs. Kjrgen also noticed that he was In his shirt sleeves, as if he had coma in r. great hurry. He wore a blue Bhlrt. About 10 minutes after Mr. Booth had passed Mrs. Eggen heard the sound of a gun from up the Toad. She said that this wa about 1:30 o'clock. All the witnesses have agreed on this detail. Mrs. Anna B. Yates lives in the house next beyond that of Mrs. Eggen on the plank road. . Fleclns: Man' Discovered Her house is about a mile and a half from the town of AVillamina. She was in the house when her attention was at tracted to the vigorous barking of her dopr. As she went on the porch to see what was the matter, she heard n crashing as of someone running in the brush that lines the bank of the little Willamina River, whix-h flows about 150 feet behind her house. As she looKea, sue saw a man running throuirh the clearing. He was running in the uirecuon ot town, and parallel to the brush. He ran until he came to where the river curves beside the road at the lower end of Mrs. Yates' clearing, when ' ne suaacniy jumped over the fence into the brush. He pressed so heavily on the fence as he did so that it broke. Mrs. Yates testified at the hearing that she could not identify the man, but she said that he was in his shirt sleeves and that he wore a. blue shirt. Just as he vaulted the fence and disappeared in the brush she heard a single shot.-then silence. There now seems no doubt that this man was Mr. Booth and that the shot was the one that killed him, for his body was round several , hours later Just over, the fence at the edge of the brush. . Crashing; Thought of Animal. Curiously, Mrs. Yates paid no atten tion to the shot, but she gave a very plausible reason for this at the hear ing. Shu said that a wild bull belong ing to a neighbor had been funning loose for several days and terrorizing the neighborhood. When she heard the crashing in the" brush, she thought it was the bull, and after she had seen the man and heard the shot, she testified, she thought he had shot at the bull. It is the theory of the state that Branson and Mrs. Booth had -pre-arranged a meeting at this spot in the brush and that-the reason Mr. Nelson did not pass either of -them- was that they had left the road and were at the time in the' brush. Based on the evidence- it is also the theory, of the state's attorney that Mr.. Booth ' had in some manner learned-of this 'sup posed tryst and had determined to break it up.. .. . . Drtonr to Surprise Purpose. . The evidence, is taken by the state to show that. Mjr. "Booth perceived his wife and Branson in the., brush and that he made a detour by way of Mrs. Yates" clearing to come down on thorn FEDERAL HUNTERS GIVE AID Fight Against Ravages of "Wolves on I'mpqua and Cascade Stock Begins SALEM, Or.. Oct. 14. Special.) Ravages of wolves among the stock in the Umnqua and Cascade National For ests are declared by E. F. Averill, of Pendleton,, to be severe. To aid stockmen in their extermina tion of the stock ravishers," Mr. Averill said today that ho had Just established hunters in the reserves. Mr. Averill is irr charge of the Government's cam paign in Oregon and Washington to ex terminate beasts of prey. CONFERENCE END AT OREGON CITY OFFICERS ARE ELECTED Rev. A. S. Roberts Is Sew Moderator. Women and Youn; People Are Prominent on JLast Day's Closing Programme. In ltw,l the first law was passed giving trio several states a share In the National forest income: The -first allotment made to Orenon under this law was $7oS.-: the last fist-a! year pave Oregon srtl..4r, as its share of this income. Washington's first allot ment under 'this law In UMiu was $1t)2:, while the state's share at tho end of thy ln.t Tuf-al - yc-A t was .",2.4 J;i. OREGON CITY. Or., Oct. 11. (Spe cial.) After a three days' session that was replete with many splendid, inter esting and inspiring addresses and re ports, the 67th annual meeting of the Congregational Conference of Oregon came to a close in the First Congre gational Church in Oregon City to night. The Ualles was unanimously chosen as the place of meeting for the 68th conference in 1916, and Rev. A. M. Sangler as the preacher. Rev. A, S. Roberts, of The Ualles, wae elected moderator, and Rev. A. C. Moses, of the Waverly Heights Church, was named assistant moderator. Nearly 100 delegates, comprising ministers, their wives, and laymen of the Congregational Church in Oregon, have been the guests of Oregon City nearly three days, being entertained by the members of the local federated churches. ' and they are returning to their homes enthusiastic and uplifted as a result of the annual meeting. Among the business matters attend ed to today was the election of the following: Home missionary board, term exDirinr. 191S Rfevs. Ij. B. Dyott and D. Staver, S. C. Pier, c. H. Dye. To fill vacancy on board, term expiring 1017, H. G. Cotton. foreign missions Kev. Frank MaDles. Rev. A. 8. Uonat. Rev. C. S. Johnson. Fellowship Kev. James Elvln. Rev. o H- Holmos, Rev. E. T. Sherman. Temperance Rev. F. C. Butler. A. E. Wheeler, .Rev. H. N. Smith. Sunday school Rev. 43. V. Edwards. W. B. Bethune, Kev. J. M. Barber. Publication of 'tnlnutes Rev. Daniel Staver, Thomas Roberts, Rev. A. C. Moses. Local Federation of Churches Rev. H. N. Smith, Rev. O. H. Holmes, Rev. F. C. Butler. Christian Kndeavor Lloyd Carrick. C. H. Sprague, Miss Mollie Feeting. Apportionment Rev. D. Staver, Rev. E. Bollinger, Rev. G. E. Paddock. Rev. L. R. Dyott. Sirs. Belle Hoge. Church nroperty Rev. a. E. Paddock. B. S. Huntington, Rev. E. S. Bollinger. Paclflo University Rev. A. M. Spangler. Rev, F. J. Meyer, Rev. E. A. Harris. Auditing Rev. W. T. Upibav. Rev. R. M. Jones. Evanselism Rev. A. C. Moses, R. E. Mil lard, Rev. H. C. Stover. Committee Rev. J. J. Staub. Rev. R. W. Farquhar, Rev. W. H. Meyer. Anti-saloon trustees J. T. Wilson. M. E. Thompson, Rev. T. F. Murphy. Place and preacher Rev. J. G. Tate, Rev. John Foster, w. H. Dean. Programme pastor of entertaining church. Rev. W, C. Kantner, Mrs. Belle Hoge. - - Committer to raise ifSOOO to build Cor vnllls church Dr. I,. R. Dyott. A. S. Rob erts, B. S. Huntington, Leslie Butler, B. G. Pier. - Women Take Charge. Mrs. Philip Bauer, wife of the former chaplain of the State Penitentiary at Salem, spoke of "The Far North," per taining to the work of herself and hus band in Nome, Alaska, and Dr. Mary F. Farnham reported on the meeting of the woman's board of missions for -the Pacific, held recently at San Francisco. At the noon luncheon the toasts were responded to by the women delegates, the men being entirely relegated to the rear; and the toastmaster was a wom an. Dr. Mary Frances Farnham. Among the very interesting addresses of the day was that on "Training in Church Music, by Dr. A. S. Donat Hood River, who told of the remarkable success with which his efforts had met to have a girls' and boys' choir, as well as a large choir. The concluding ad dress of the afternoon was by Rev. John K. Browne, of the American board of minions of the Congregational Church, on "War. Missions and the Kingdom." At the Christian lindeavor supper, held nt ft' o'clock. Rev. K. T. Sherman; of Corvallis, was toastmaster, and the toasts were by the Christian Endeavor delegates. Youne People Give Programme. I Tonight the young people had charge of the chief portion of the closing pro gramme. It opened wita a 15-minute song service, in which a young. people's chorus and orchestra took part. . Alva Patten, of Portland, presided at the meeting that followed, the ad dresses being of ten minutes' duration, and those taking part and their sub jects were: "The Ch-llenge to Our Soeties." Lloyd R. Carrick, president of the Port land Christian Endeavor Union. "The Message to Oregon From the World's Christian Endeavor Conven tion," E. Earl Feike, state president of the Christian Endeavor. Rev. Howard C. stover, of Salem, favored the congregation with a vocal solo, after which an offering was taken for expenses, which met with hearty response. The various societies represented then rendered reports. The closing address of the conference was given by Rev. Otis H. Holmes, ot Forest Grove. Among the last matters of business disposed of was the passing of the reso lutions, as offered by the committee, of which Dr. L, R. Dyott, of Portland, was chairman, they being as follows: First Be it resolved. That we, the Con gregational. Conference of Orecon, do hereb record our conviction that the Coiffrega MnnBl rhiirrhei in the United States should have daily Bible readings In the homes of their members, ana that accoraingu, we oetition our present National council im mediately to mako provision for such read ings with suitable comments. Second Be it resolved. That It is th cmii a of this conference that two of our Na tional societies, the Education Society and the Church Bulldlnz Society, should spe cializc in and render extra assistance to our common work at the educational cen ters in Oreson and other states where necessity suggests. Third Be it resolved. That we renew our nledze of co-operation to tho Anti-Saloon League of Oregon and all similar organ izaliuns. F-f,rth Be It resolved. That being un alterably opposed to that wholesalo murder called war, we uo all In our power to causvs its end, and forever to prevent its renewal on earth. Filth Be It resolved. That we co-operate with Pacific University in its efforts to raise an additional endowment fund of Sixth Inasmuch as the united efforts or the Y. M. C. A. and tha T. W. C. A. of our ct. T-T,i,.-T-lfv ami our O. A. C. are such vital factors In the moral and religious life of these student' bodies, be it therefore Resolved, That we indorse their work and nntnitK-nii the same as worthy of the moral and material support of all good people ol Oreron; and be it further T?nlv-H That our ministers are request ed, in a public manner, to call the- attention nr thrlr rnnrr.-irstlons to the endeavors and needs of the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. of the State University and the Oregon Agricultural College. Seventh Be it resolved. That we, the an nual conference of the Congregational hurfhAfl und ministers of Oregon, do here by express our profound appreciation of the splendid hospitality and refined ministries of the First Church of .Oregon City and of ail others who have made our sojourn here never-to-be-forgotten occasion. v e are inn,-ht,.i1 nio. to the castor of this church. to the choir, tho usher, the janitor and the hnonltaiitv committee: we are grateful to all these. "and to the public press and to the representatives of our rsational societies in a. word, we are filled with unfeigueo zra.titud to all who have done what they could to make our U7th annual meeting; one nf the hi!t that we have ever had. Thai inasmuch, as many students or con gregational homes and churches In this state are attenolng our euucationai iniuuuuu - Eurrne. Corvallis and orest drove; And Inasmuch as many of these students are hpintr lost to the denominations and at times to all -churcn influence in tne iransicr from home to school life: therefore, be It Resolved. That each church of tnis con ference he reauested to anDolnt a committee of one or more to keep in touch with the pastors of the congregational cnurcnes at Eugene. Corvallis and Forest Grove and make every effort to keep such students re lated to their own denomination. TENT LIFE PROVES FATAL Prospective Mother Contracts Pneu monla at Pendleton. PENDLETON. Or., Oct. 14. (Special.) Moving to this city a few days ago from the country, where her husband had been working during the Summer, Mrs. Anna Grubb. 25 years old, found it Impossible to obtain a. vacant house. The only available accommodations for the family were provided. In a large tent, and, in occupying this, Mrs. Grubb contracted pneumonia. tohe was re moved vesterday morning to St. An thonv's Hospital. Yesterday afternoon a, daughter was born to her. This morning the mother died. The hospital physicians are hopeful that the child a sturdy youngrster. will live. Mrs. Grubb leaves, besides her hu band and the day-old daughter, throe other children, Hgfd 4, 3 an 2 years. "I Just Can't Get Enough!'''' i - t s I '"it fisTTTiiTsi' ffiftWrfrTWi'iil Does Your Mama Give You HOLSUM CAKE? My Mama says it is just as good as she could make, because it isimade from, the very finest materials and it is made in the lightest, cleanest bakery you every saw. There are five dee-licious varieties: Chocolate, Fruit, Gold, Silver and Nugget Your storekeeper can supply it. : ' . Baked by the Log Cabin Baking Company ?p- xw 5"" y .4 : Y-k Stw Mr- h iiiAfMf : - m WW- if Cl'.."?- - if' SvV f -n I ' 1 I ' " if; 1 " Copyright Hart Sch&frner & Man wr- s.it"iu 'flFv 4wr:. -- "" jT'SHFJt s52 i "'' - -t -y x K--'? t r it1 " W':;:-!J,N': jj-a Cyj . v Kir:::'- S-vrc- s:- ,t-n j. 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