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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 23, 1922)
4 THE MORNING OREGONIAN, SATURDAY, DECE3IBER 23, 1922 WEIRS TO FACE i E Woman's Story of Girl's Death Now Believed." BODY WILL BE SOUGHT Formal Complaint to Be Filed To day, Says Deputy District Attorney on Case. (Continued From First Page.) made them and was afraid to back down for fear that the police would send her to the Cedars. ''As a result of that conversation," eaid Mr. Mowery, "I am absolutely convinced that the Leary woman is speaking the truth and that a young E'.rl was murdered in old Weir'B cow the night of September 3. We vill proceed with formal murder charges- this morning. . Official Is Confident.' "I have no doubt but In a few weeks the full details will be re vealed and that when the time for t'-ial arrives, that the state will be able to prove that the charges made by the woman are true. "It has been suggested that we cannot proceed with a murder charge recause of the inability to find the body. We will have a surprise in store for Mr. Weir on that score In a few days. Mrs. Leary will be able to show us, withia a few hundred yards, the spot pointed to by Earl Weir as the place where the little girl's body was dumped in the river." Weir's mania for women, rumors of: which have been in the hands of the authorities, was disclosed when an elderly woman, whose name the officials declined to disclose, called at police headquarters and identi fied the aged prisoner as the man who had followed and accosted her young daughter on several occasions. Innocence Is Maintained. The strange story of the .murder of the unidentified girl occupied the entire time of Portland's inspectors yesterday. "All other crimes, major and minor, were relegated to the background of official Interest. Earl Weir, 26-year-old eon of the aged principal, who is accused of helping his father dispose of the little victim's body, was brought' to police headquarters yesterday after . he had been arrested when the steamer Cowlitz, on Which he is pilot, docked at Rainier at 10:30 o'clock Thursday night. Weir steadfastly maintained his innocence of the charge. During the long ride from St. Helens to Portland, rendered very slow and tiresome by the dense fog banks which obscured the roadway. Weir declined to discuss his troubles with the sleuths, but maintained a steady conversation regarding river matters. Surprise Met at City Jnll. At the city jail, though, a sur prise awaited him.' . Helen Leary, the accuser, was routed from her Jail bunk, ordered to dress and come before an official party composed of Deputy District Attorney Mowry and Detectives Tackaberry and Phillips. For a full minute the pair faced each other the accuser and the accused. "I've told the whole truth, Earl Weir," dramatically declared the woman. "My conscience is clear now and I don't care what they do to me." With that remark the woman turned and, at the motion of a guard, walked back to her cell. Mrs. Leary was subjected to the same series of cross-examinations yesterday-the same gruellings that she has undergone for the past two days and nights. But not in the slightest degree did her story vary. Vixit to Scow Is Related. She told of meeting Weir in the little restaurant on the east ap proach of the Morrison bridge she told how the old man had told her that he wanted her to meet his son. She told of visiting the Weir scow at the foot of East Taylor street, of the attachment formed for the younger Weir. She told of the aged river man's proposals to her. She related in minute detail her visit ta- the lair of the waterfront character on the afternoon of Sep tember 23; Bhe told -of the strange young girl who was in the house at the time. And, though it was ihe seventh time that she had been called on for a similar recital, she described the mysterious child ex actly as she had done before. Mrs. Leary left the boathouse, she aid. She returned about dusk, she told her questioners, and, peeking through a knothole on the side of the scowboat, saw the aged man at tempting to attack the child. .The details of the revolting scenn were described exactly as they had been described at the six other cross-examinations. She told of the girl s losing consciousness of life, if Weir's attempts to revive her with water, of young Weir's arrival and of the loading of the body of the little victim into the launch. She told the story of her exile, of how Weir forced her aboard the scowboat and then moved it to an isolated Bpot on the banks of Ross island. She told of being left with-. out food or a skiff with which to reach the mainland; she told every thing told it word for word as she has told it a half dozen times. Innocence Is Maintained. The two Weirs were also sub jected to endless investigation, quizzing and cross-examination, Both doggedly proclaimed their in nocence. The elder man's air of bravado, his manner of treating his arrest and the murder charge as a fine joke, disappeared yesterday. instead of the "hard-boiled" old Cash Weir, river rat and object of police wrath on account of his many depredations and crimes against property, he developed into a cring ing, pitiful little old fellow, who continually turned to his investi gators and begged: "You boys don't think Td do any thing like that, do you?" The young Weir, true to his call ing as a buckoo mate and river pilot, has assumed an air of defiance. "I'll tell my story when my time comes," he told Detective Tacka berry yesterday morning. Scores of theories some of them as wild and as strange as the orig inal murder story told by Mrs. Leary have been advanced by official and unofficial investigators of the case. Medical science even came to the aid of the investigators with the pro nouncement that Mrs. Leary is not lying. "I do not care to nana any defi nite statements regarding the truth cf this woman's story," said Dr. S. E. Josephi, celebrated mental spe cialist, "because I have not exam ined her or formed any estimate of MURE cue there are few persons, and they are only person of the highest .type of mentality, who could tell a detailed story of such length as is credited to this woman; tell it over and over under such condition apolice in vestigations impose, and not trip up in some .misstatement. "When persons tell the truth they can repeat the same facts innumer able times without variation. And when a person is suffering from a fixed hallucination that hallucina tion becomes fact to the person af flicted and is treated by them as the truth. I have only seen newspaper accounts, but I believe that it would be almost Impossible ior a person to stick to the story as this woman has unless it were the absolute truth or an hallucination." Another theory, based In part on Dr. Josephi's statement and sub- Earl Weir, 20-year-old river cap tain, who, with his father. Cask Weir, In a central figure la n frroffnlni? river murder mystery. stantiated by investigation, is that the story is true up to the point where the woman, peeping through the knot hole, saw the child in the clutches of the aged Weir. Then, it is argued, reason left the wom an, her imagination, goaded on by fiction -and film plots, pictured the father . and son loading the body into the launch and disposing of it somewhere in the Columbia or Wil lamette rivers. The woman talked, supporters of this theory argue, Weir, fearing punishment for mis treating the child, bundled her into the houseboat and hid her along the deserted shores of Ross island. No murder was committed, the advo cates of this theory claim, the child, on recovering, having been spirited away from the shack. ' Weir, the central' figure In" this engrossing drama of real life, is one of the pioneer boatmen of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, who has fallen from high estate as owner of steamers to the position of the most notorious "river rat" from Youngs bay to Oregon city. Weir is 61 years of age. He came to the west with his father in 1872. The senior Weir was one ot the most respected rlvermen of the northwest, operating the Lucy Moore on the Lewis river run. Cash Weir took to the river, at one time owned and operated the Hazel Weir on a run between Portland and St. Helens. He has been pilot and cap tain of numerous steamers, but has gradually drifted down, until at the time of his arrest, he was consid ered as one of the most notoriffus characters of the waterfront. Weir was once accused of robbing all of the local harbor lights of their oil, thereby endaugering navigation. He has been arrested, according to po lice -records, on four previous occa sions, on charges ranging from theft to drunkenness. Young " Weir, despite his some what disreputable sire, seems to have struck off on an opposite tack, and last February won mas ter's papers and the distinction of being the youngest river captain on the Columbia, or" Willamette' rivers. Woman Relative Arrested. , VANCOUVER, Wash.) Dec. 22. (Special.) Mrs. D. R. Weir, sister- in-law of Cash Weir, accused of a murder in Portland, passed eight months in the Clarke county jail for moonshinlng. She was par doned last July by Governor Hart and released. Her husband, who is Cash Weir's brother, offered to eerve the sentence, but his wife Insisted on "laying out" the fine, and Weir did not persist in his attempt to bear the blame. The Weirs live in a houseboat near Ridgefield. Mrs. Weir was arrested November 19 and pleaded guilty to the moonshine charge. Station to Be Repaired. CHICAGO, Dec. 22. The Dearborn- street railroad Btation, partly de stroyed by fire yesterday, will be repaired and will be used again by all eight roads which have made it their terminal for years past, Presi dent H. G. Hetzler of the Chicago & Western Indiana railroad, owners of the property announced today. The repair work will ba started at once, it was said. Hazelwood Orchestra J. F. N. COLBURN, Director. TONIGHTS PROGRAMME 6 to 8 and 9:30 to 11:30 1. "La Sorella," March. . . . BorelsjClerc 2. "Pierrot etPierette," Waltz P. Lehar 3. "Songs of Scotland," Se- ' lection J. B. L'ampe 4. "Every Day," Fox Trot W.Daly 5. "Three Spanish Dances" ..M. Moszlcouski 6. "Song to the Evening Star". ..... .R. Wagner 7. "The Glad Girl," Idyll.. . ...Motzan and Jerome 8. "Troubles," Fox Trot.. . L. Reynolds Washington St. Hazelwood CONFECTIONERY AND RESTAURANT 388 Washington Street Near Tenth RAILROAD RATE CUT MIOTH PROTEST Lines Said to Be Already Losing Millions. EARNINGS SHOW DECLINE Committee on Public Relations Says Reductions Past Tear Average 12 Per Cent. CHICAGO, Dec. 22. Reductions of railroad freight rates liave averaged 12 per cent within the last year and are costing the railroads $471,000,800 annually, the western railways' com mittee on public relations said in a statement tonight protesting against agitation for further reductions. Additional reductions would consti tute a "menace to the reviving prosperity of the country," the statement made public by S. M. Fel ton, chairman, aid. While railway rates and earnings have been reduced, the prices of other commodities have advanced, the statement eaid. Total .freight earnings of the country's roads for September alone declined $47,773,000 through the rate reduction Asserting the people In western territory ajid particularly farmers, were making the .loudest clamor for lower rates, the statement saia mai lariat paduMmnn have been made in western territory because rates on . grain, grain products and hay were reduced more in proportion. Weatern lines Rednee. On western lines the statement continued,1 the average rate of re duction from September, 1921, to September, 1922, was 13 per cent, western railways in September earn ing $22,00,000 less than they would if the reductions had not been made. 3ecause of rate reductions earnings of western lines have been reduced at an annual rate of about $265,000, 000, the statement said. The result of the reduction In railroad freight rates while prices of other commodities advanced, has been such that the average freight rate) per -ton mile for the. country is only 54 per cent higher than in 1913, the statement continued, adding that the average wholesale price ot all commodities other than farm products is 66 per -cent higher. The average price of farm products as compared with 1913, is now higher than the average rate of western railways; the average per ton mile for western roads in September be ing 38.6 per cent higher -.than in 1913, while the average -price of farm products for November was 43 per cent higher than for 1913, ac cording to the statement. . Materials an Increase. The railroads are not only suffer ing from rate reductions, but from increases in the prices of material they must buy, the statement said, explaining metal products increased 20 per cent in the last year, coal raised 40 per cent since the strike and lumber has increased) from 39 to more than 80 per cent. In .the four months following the reduction of rates, July 1, for which the figures are available, the rail roads of the country earned almost $87,000,000 less than in the same month of 1912, although 1912 was a poor year, said the statement, adding that the western roads had $38,000,000 less net return for the same period. The reduction was due partly to the shop craft strike, but mostly to rate decreases, the state ment' said. FIRES CHARGED TO ARSON Historic Notre Dame Church in Quebec Is Destroyed. QUEBEC, Dec. 22. Tlie series of fires, which have swept Catholic in stitutions on Canada recently, cul minating early today in destruc tion of the historic Jl.000,000 Notre Dame church, was brought to the ( : ,Crm : r II $" J ' berths '"'H.N CHILLS, Sy 3HRIUST- I i "ROMANCE in their Lfcei psikerBead Jr. has fwhiaattl. fsA f " 4 And : I VARIETIES 7 p attention of the provincial legisla ture this afternoon with the sug gestion that all might be the work of incendiaries. A short circuit In the electrical wiring first was held accountable for today's blaze, but later Moneig- nor La Flamme, cure of Notre. Dame, presented to Daniel Lorrain, chief of provincial police, the following letier postmarked in Montreal: "I will burn your church down on December 28." Suspicious strangers also were re ported to have been prowling around the church. SAFE FERRY SLIP URGED Police Captain Advises Installing f Islands and Semaphore. Safety islands and a semaphone at the approaches to the St. Joflns ferry slip, in the opinion of Captain Lewis of the police traffic bureau, will reduce accidents at that point and add to the safety factor there. He has suggested, in a letter to of ficials of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway company, that a block signal, similar to that in use of railroad lines, be installed, which would control both rail and automo mobile traffic In a letter to the city commis sioners, it was also suggested that safety islands for pedestrian traffic be placed at the intersection .of the Dinnton road and the ferry approach and near the crossing of the railway tracks. Airplane May Sow Grain. TULARE, Cal., Dec 22. Airplane sowing may be the very latest agri cultural "kink." Grain growers in the Tulare lake basin region, unable to reach their lands because of lake waters and wet condition of the soil, are contemplating the Innova tion, it ia declared. The farmers are reported to have grouped to gether and will send one of their members to San Francisco to de termine if it would be feasible to sow the large acreage from a plane. 11 ECLIPSE PICTURES SAFE FUjMS to be studied by scientific experts. " Several Months Expected to Be Required for Test ot Ein- stein Theory. r SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 22. Huge photographic plates bearing pictures which may prove or disprove an an gle in the Einstein theory of rela tivity were found unbroken when opened today at the Lick observa tory on Mount Hamilton, near here, ty members of the W. H. Crocker expedition which took the pictures on a western Australia beach dur ing the September eclipse. Dr. W. W. Campbell, director of the ob servatory and head of the expedi tion, made the announcement in a lucheon address here. "Scientific men do hot care one way or the other regarding the find ings,'' Dr. Campbell said. "We only want to know the truth. It will be several months before we will be able to complete our measurements and comparisons and arrive at a conclusion regarding the Einstein theory." Pictures taken by the Crocker ex pedition are to be exchanged and compared with pictures taken dur ing the eclipse by the Adelaide ob servatory, which sent an expedition to central Australia- Both expedi tions, it is believed, obtained excel lent photographs, for weather con ditions were perfect. The pictures taken were of stars near the euh and they will be com pared with photographs of the same stars, taken at night from Tahiti, in an effort to prove the correctness of the Einstein theory that the sun's gravity attracts or. "bends" rays ot light traveling toward the earth from stars millions of miles beyond the sun. If the stars do not appear in the same positions on the night STARTS TODAY rA brilliant screen 'production of the play in which Alice Brady scored her greatest stage tri umph. The stirring story of a pretty Syrian girl's rise through exciting adventures and tempta- tions to happiness and love. With New York's picturesque under world and gilded society cabarets as the setting. In every way Miss Brady's most brilliant perform ance. The supporting , cast in cludes Nita Naldi, David Powell and Robert Ellis.; DIRECTOR KNOWLES OF THE COLUMBIA PICTURE PLAYERS has arranged one of the best programmes ever heard in the city as an accompaniment to "Anna Ascends," which includes for the first theme "Don't Say Good-bye," by Friedland. The second theme is "Mus terioso Infernale," by Borsch. During the picture the following numbers are cued gracefully into the action of the play: "Neapolitan Nights," by Zamecnik; "After Every Party," by Freed; "Petit Bijouterie," by Bohm; "Love and Laughter," by Cobb ; "La Lisonjera," by Victor Herbert; "Poem," by Fibich; "Mood Pensive," by Applefield. Intermission Number, "I'm Through" Norman SPECIAL ATTRACTION University Male Quartette BUY YOUR CHRISTMAS COUPON BOOKS HERE and day photographs, then the the ory is correct, it is claimed. RAIL HEARING TO RESUME Arguments on Merger to Be Given January 19 and 20. WASHINGTON, D. C, Dec. 22. Arguments before the interstate commerce commission on the appli cation of the Southern Pacific rail road to retain control of the Central Pacific will be heard, it was an nounced today, on January 19 and 20. Hearing of evidence was con cluded ten days ago. The Central Pacific, which has been .operated as a part of the Southern Pacific system for many years, was ordered separated by the supreme court. The Southern Pa cific has sought to have the inter state commerce commission use its power under the transportation act for general railroad consolidation to keep the twd lines together, not withstanding the court decree, while the Union Pacific has asked the commission to support the supreme court's decision and require the sep aration to proceed. Radio Aids in Operation. MINNEAPOLIS, Dec 22. Radio as an aid to surgical operations was employed yesterday when a radio re ceiving set was attached to the ears of a woman patient who underwent a Caesarian operation at a hospital here. The operation, which was performed at St. Barnabas' hospital, was a complete success, according to Miss Harriet T. Harty, superin tendent. Fog Nearly Halts Traffic. ASHLAND. Or., Dec. 22. .(Spe cial.) Traffic on the Pacific high way was almost paralyzed last night by a dense fog, the heaviest ever seen in this vicinity. The fog was particularly heavy between here and Medford. Machines on the highway moved at a 'slow speed, nearly stop ping when meeting. With a spot light and headlights on bright a driver was unable to see more than f.. -'fK f "f- '1 j rlffj y' V, MALLIA-SART COMPANY AESOFS FABLES -TOPICS BILLY DALE & CO. ft V-;? k' o MICNIOHT CI M Mr IMMEOIATL.Y AfTBi .ff EATS AAAT.NS.C OUlUy.U3i KfLGOLAH wight Show. NOW OM SALE. a few feet ahead of him. No acci dents were reported today, though several were narrowly averted. Contra Dand Arms Found. SEATTLE, Wash., Dec. 22. Gov ernment agrents1 nere, who yesterday sized 50 rifles and 15.000 cartridges if t'JiW i'viw:- m FAREWELL TOUR OF THE, COLOEN WEST 'THE. MINSTREL'S DELIGHT A.&SISTE.O ev STEWART a OLIVEL. WILLIAM HALLEN TREL. QUIXY QUICK-SEE? MA.ni ir RUSSELL THE. SERVICE. STATIONP" TUSCANO AraoP. SKILFUL WIEUPCRS Of OHN XM i rii fM.i a Carload aa l xxj . i. u WTtTktD -TH6..pA5fiAgE. SMASHER & OF THE PAY - PATHE. NEWS rvrx IY SILLY DALE. on the steamship Protesilaus, today took a shipment of 25 pistols for China from the shipping board liner President McKinley. Federal inves tigators assert that a ring exists to smuggle munitions from the United States to Chinese revolutionaries. Read The Oregonian classified ads. i milium hj-ihi.i. m H 'i a 1 m her mental capacity. -'But, ag physician, I tan eay