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THE OREGON - SUNDAY JOURNAL; PORT-LAND, SUNDAY .MORNING, SEPTEMBER ; 12, 1920.
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DRIVER WHOSE CAR
KILLED INFANT IS
FREED FROM JAIL
John Rile to Face Trial on Charge
of Cutting Corner; No Inquest
Held on Chamberlain's Death.
John A. Riley. S02 North Willam
ette boulevard, was released late
(Saturday on his own recognizance by
' Chief of Police Jenkins, after having
spent 24 hours In jail in connection
with a fatal automobile accident.
Riley's machine killed Harry Strom-
.feaugh, 3-year-old son of Mr. and
Mrs. Tony Strombaugh of 226 Jefferson-
etreet, at Jersey and Alta
streets Friday afternoon.
Statements made by Harry B. Hunter.
tZi North KelloRs street, grandfather
' of the child, who witnessed the acci
dent, caused the chief to release Riley.
Hunter told the chief that the driver
could not see the lad and that the auto
mobile was promptly stopped when he
screamed.
Riley will be tried Monday morning
In the municipal court on a charge of
' cutting- a corner, which w placed
against him by Lieutenant Frank Ervln.
Riley was arrested Thursday for a sim
ilar offense, but the court let him go
without punishment Friday momlnjt.
rollce nay the offense was being re
peated Friday at the time of the acci
dent Deputy Coroner Leo Ooetsch,
who conducted a thorough Investigation,
said ther was no need of holding an
Inquest.
No Inquest will be held Into Friday's
other fatAl accident In which Benjamin
Chamberlain, ID, 1400 Lenora street,
was killed as he fell beneath a furni
ture truck In charge of Frank Love, 88
Tenth street Love Is at liberty under
11000 bonds and faces a reckless driv
ing charge. This accident was at Union
avenue and East Durnslde street.
Uoetsrh had an autopxy performed
Saturday to determine the cause of
Chamberlain's death and, according to
the doctor's report death was due to
the crushing of the skull. The physi
cian also (found that the youth had
symptoms of being subject to fainting
spells. The coroner believes that Cham
berlain fell beneath the truck wheels
while he was in one of these spells. The
body was removed to Greaham Saturday
right where funeral arrangements will
be made. The parents are Mr. and Mrs.
A. V.. Chamberlain of Trowtdale.
PENDER AND BRANSON
GIVEN FULL PARDONS
(Continued From Tit One)
ed the highest respect from prison of
ficials. Efforts have been made at various
times to secure the release of the two
men. these efforts at all times being
vigorously opposed by those who be-
believed In the guilt of the prisoners.
GOTERXOR KNOWS CASES
"When I first entered the executive.;
offices aa governor the cases of John ,
Arthur I'encjer and William Branson
were brought to my attention," ex
plained Governor Olcott tonight in com
menting upon his action in pardoning
the two men. "In fact, I was fairly fa
miliar with these cases some time be
fore becoming governor, gaining my
knowledge through the medium of the
press and aa member of the board Of
control, wtitch, for a period, had charge
of the Rffalrs at the penitentiary. After
becoming governor I determined that
the status of tjies cases should be sift
ed as nearly to the bottom as human
limitations would permit Investiga
tions were started through every avail
able channel, including the state parole
board.
KVIDESCE IS SIFTED
"It must be remembered that In the
-case of Pender he was at the peni
tentiary under two administrations
prior to mine. Both of these governors
themselves made investigations. Gov-
- ernor West caused an investigation to
be mads before he commuted his sen
tence . to life imprisonment, while Gov
ernor Wlthyeombe made very exten
lee Investigations through the medium
Of special agents and otherwise tn both
cases. I, naturally, through the files
Tin our office, bad advantage of all the
Information thus gathered, and In ad
dltlon to that conducted through vari
ous channels some independent invest!
gatlons which I think have given me
all the Information It would ever be
possible for me to attain In regard to
these two cases.
"I have been Informed on authority
which to me is unimpeachable that Gov
ernor Wlthyeombe was thoroughly sat
isfied aa to the lnnocense of John Ar-
" thur Pender, and he so expressed him
self. Tor reasons which I do e
know no pardon waa granted by that
ihorlty mentioned that hi expressed
himself as being satisfied or nis inno
cence after conducting the Investigation
mentioned at a Urns fairly early tn his
administration, and arte confessions
had been made by Sierks tn the case
of Pender, and Biggin In the case of
Branson, and after all the . evidence
which is now available bad been ob
tained. -
CALLS IT INJUSTICE
"My investigations, coupled with
everything I could gather from all
sources, including investigations made
by the state parole board, led me to
believe many month ago that a
gross injustice was being done to both
these men In allowing them to continue
confined In the state penitentiary. -In
fact,, last November my mind had be
come definitely made up that I would
unconditionally pardon both John A.
Pender and William Branson. The pa
role board bad been requested to make
Investigations and had made these in
vestigaUons. and had orally reported
thereon. Later, the parole board, as
a result of its Investigations and upop
Its own Initiative, followed its oral re
port by written recoromedatlons in
these cases that pardons be granted to
both men.
ACTIO IS DILATED
"By a strange coincidence, n the
night of November 22, the time when
but a few days would have elapsed
when I would have Issued pardons for
both of these men. the horribly atro
cious Claremont tavern murders were
committed near Portland, in. which N.
J. Burgees and George Perringer, two
of the most prominent men in Eastern
Oregon, lost their lives at the hands of
bandits and highwaymen. The public
mind became highly lnflxmod. For many
months it continued so and resulted in
the restoration of capital punishment In
this state. I saw at the time of those
murders that for the benefit of the prison
system, for the benefit of Pender and
Branson themselves, and for the benefit
of everyone concerned It would be a
sorry mistake to grant them executive
clemency at that , time, but upon the
return of the public mind o a normal
state I would exercise clemency in these
casea I deemed it better that these
two men should make vicarious sacri
fices for a time for the benefit of the
large .number of men Involved.
BELIEVES THEM IX50CE5T
The public mind has reached that
stage where every individual can calmly
and dispassionately consider circum
stances In each 'individual case. These
men I believe to be Innocent It was
to cover Just such cases as these that
It was written In the constitution that
the executive shall have power to grant
pardons. I have weighed every circum
stance and to grant these men anything
but complete and unconditional pardons
I believe would be travesty. They are
either guilty or Innocent If they are
guilty they should serve out their sen
tences. If they are innocent as I be
lieve them' to be. the state should re
store to them as nearly as possible all
the rights of which they have been so
long deprived.
CASES ARE SIMILAR
"There Is a strange similarity In the
status of Pender and Branson. These
two men have consistently-Tnaintained
their Innocence from the start Since
the Incarceration of both of these men
others have confessed to being guilty of
the crimes for which they were con
victed. Both were convicted ' on the
sheerest kind of 'circumstantial evidence
and In both Instances the men who con
fessed to having perpetrated these mur
ders were exactly the type of men who
would be fully capable of such crimes
and both are now held in the insane
asylum as being dangerous and homi
cidal criminals, and in the case of both
Vender and Branson, It is the universal
belief of officials who have been In
close contact with them that they are
not the type of men whowoaid or
could commit the crimes with.' which
they are charged.
"In passing, I wish to say, for the
benefit of the public, that I have en
deavored in the exercise of executive
clemency to be ultra conservative. I
hold rather old-fashioned ideas. Shortly
after becoming governor, I inaugurated
a policy In connection with applications
for pardons and conditional pardons in
which I required that before giving
consideration to applications of this
kind they must be accompanied by the
specific, affirmative and voluntary rec
ommendations of the trial Judge and the
district attorney who acted on the case.
This ruio has been deviated from In
only a very few instances, these being
cases where there were extraordinary
circumstances attending."
LONG FIGHT FOR PARDON WON
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John Art hup Pender, convicted of the murder of Mrs. Daisy W'rhrman
and, small daughter tn 111 near St, Helens, who was uncondition
ally pardoned Saturday by Governor Oloott after serving six years
In the penitentiary.
be banged. November 28 was set as
the date of the execution, but plead
ings of Fenders mother, George A.
Thacher, president of the Prisoners'
Aid society, the Spanish-American War
veterans and others won from Gov
ernor Oswald West ' a stay of execu
tion, and finally a commutation of sen
tence to life Imprisonment
Thacher. tfll the time of his death,
stoutly maintained Pender's utter in
nocence and i made the case the sub
ject of several volumes of criminology.
It was largely through his efforts that
John G. H. Sierks, now an inmate of
the criminal ward of the state hospital
and known to have been in the neigh
borhood of the Wehrman home about
the time of the murder, confessed to
the killings and absolved Pender. Au
thorities then, however, declined to ac
cept Sierks' statements as cause for the
release of Pender.
Sheriff Tom Word was, at the time,
convinced of Pender's Innocence and
Deputy District Attorney Hammersley,
who officially reviewed the case, was
dubious as to Pender's guilt
JUEYMEJf FOB RELEASE
Pender came to Oregon from the fam
ily home at Ogden. Utah, where the
family was well known and highly re
spected, it is said. The murder, charge
against him U said to have been the
first shadow f cast over his life and the
nature of the purely circumstantial evi
dence against him brought concerted
interest from the Spanish-American war
veterans, of whom he was one, and
from prominent men . and women
throughout the state.
The chief element of evidence against
Pender was the fact that he had been
acting voluntarily as the community
mall carrier near his home and that mail
he had presumably delivered to the
Wehrman cabin on the day of the
tragedy had been unopened. The crime
Itself was peculiarly atrocious, it is said.
and aroused keen indignation generally.
killed Mr. Werhman and her child was
a pervert Pender was not that." j
TT. EVIDENCE TN BRAXSON
CASE WAS CirUTCMSTANTIAJj
William Branson was found guilty of
second degree murder by a Jury tn the
circuit court at McMinnvlIle on March 1.
HIT and wag sentenced to life impris
onment He was accused of the murder
of William Booth, who was found shot
to death near WUlamlna tn October,
191S. ' .
Mrs. Anna Booth, wife of the 'victim,
who was Jointly Indicted for the mur
der, was afterward tried and received a
life sentence, but was paroled a few
months ago.
Branson was tried three times for the
murder of Booth. The first Jury dis
agreed. The second trial resulted in a
conviction and appeal, was made to the
supreme court where a new trial was
ordered.' The evidence was purely cir
cumstantial, ' Branson and Mra Booth
having been seen lb the vicinity where
the murdered man was found shortly
before the discovery of the body. Bran
son was 23 years old at the time
sentence was imposed by the McMlnn
lvlle court '
Men's Club of Park
Rose Announces Sing
For September 21
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The Men's club of Park Rose will held
a community show on gground adjoining
Sandy boulevard In Park Rose addition
September St , There' are 1500 people
living ta Park Rose, according to Presi
dent Oodkinson of the Men's club, and
they are cooperating tn efforts to make
the community show the most successful
event of IU kind ever, staged In the
city.
The show will open in the afternoon
with a speech by. Mayor Baker. : Other
prominent speakers are scheduled to
participate in the event and a feature
of - the :. celebration will be community
singing under the leadership of well
known talent i
Members of the Men's club will fig
ure In a "wild animal" menagerie and
pillow fights, athletic- stunts and amuse
ment concessions of all kinds have been
secured for the program.
OY OVERCOMES MOTHER
OF PARDONED
MAN
(Continued Froa Ps One)
Members of the Jury that convicted
Pendet are said later to have doubted
the wisdom of their action and to have
signed petitions for his release.
MOTHER ASKS FREEDOM
Throughout Pender's nine years of In
carceration his aged mother and sis
ter were at hand, pleading at every op
portunity for his freedom, always con
vinced of his innocence.
In that connection Former Governor
Oswald West Satarday, said :
"I commuted Pender's death sentence
to life imprisonment not so much be
cause I believed in Pender's innocence
as because, through the statements of
his very splendid mother and other well
wishers, I was convinced that the exe
cution of the man would be a doubtful
spore for Justice."
With the publication of the findings
of the last study made of the case by
the late George A, Thacher, then presi
dent of the Oregon Prisoners' Aid so
ciety, public Interest In the Pender case
was somewhat revived and has beeri
increasingly gaining attention until,
within the psst few weeks, the once
strong agencies friendly to Pender have
been fully revived.
Social organizations recently sent rep
resentatives to - Astoria to Interview
Judge Kakin. trial Judge at Pender's
conviction, who followed the "vilt with
a declaration that he would In no way
Interfere with Pender's unconditional
release.
The Ladies Auxiliary to the Spanish
American War Veterans aa well as state
and city federations of women's clubs,
united In an effort to obtain freedom
for Pender. a
William D. Wheelwright long a stu
dent of the Pender case and one of those
convinced of the guilt of the confessor,
John O. H. Sierks, Saturday said :
"Governor Olcott's action was sim
ply Justice to Pender. The man who
find out the truth finally and then he
would Come home to me.
"He doesn't hold any malice against
anybody, even though he has suffered
for nine years. I have often found it
hard to keep from saying something,
but Arthur would say. 'Now. mother,
don't say anything. As father used to
say.' right will come right sonietlme or
other.' So that is what I thought that
they would see they were wrong and it
would all come right.
FEELS NO BITTEBSESS-
"So I have nothing to say about any
thing that is bad, only praise for the
people who have helped me. I cannot
see them all, but I want to show appre
ciation for vfhat they have done for
me."
AH this Mrs. Pender told with no
visible signs of emotion. When asked
as to their immediate plans for the fu
ture, she said she would go to Salem
end purchase a suit for her son; that
although she had heard the prison gave
them a suit and $5 upon leaving, she
did not want Arthur to accept anything.
She discussed the occupation he would
take up and whether it would be better
for him to stay In Oregon or go away.
Her son-in-law had offered him a Job
at Valejo at S200 a month, she said,
and the chief of police In Qffden. Utah,
had told her that whenever she got
Arthur out he would put him to work
at good wagea She said wherever her
son went she also would go- She told
of the difficulty they would probably
have at first until be got upon his
feet, how she had expended all her
once snug fortune in the fight for his
freedom and how his wife wag working
so hard at nursing.
She said the little wife had been 111
tn the hospital for many months herself.
but that now she was making good
money and would probably continue to
work until her boy got started again
She told how kind her son had always
been, how he had been so fond of pets
when a child and reminisced on episodes
of his childhood and his service in- the
PhilloDines. where he had won the
hirhest esteem of his superior officers,
who felt toward him as towards a eon.
DOESN'T SEIfSE ME8SAGE
Thus far she had displayed 'a calm
fortitude and spoke In an even tone
of voice. Then she spoke about her
son not wanting to be paroled and
having to stay around for something
ne naa never a one, ana i senseo uui
she did not folly . understand the pur
port of the message.
When It finally dawned upon the
mother, then came the outburst of emo
tion. It was the first word Mra Pender
had of the action of Governor Olcott
"But he told me he would send me a
telegram the- very first one," she de
clared. "I haven't had It Do you really
suppose it is true? Can it be truer
Thus did doubts began to gather, as
the mother feared to believe, because of
fear of disappointment afterwards.
"Shall I go down to Salem in the
morning?" she asked. "What do you
think I had better do?" The little, aged
mother was In doubt
605 OIT WAT TO HER
Even as she doubted, the son was
speeding on his way. to Portland, a
free man. But the little gray-haired
mother, past TO years of age, did not
know, yet she fumbled the telephone
and tried to call all the friends who
had stood by her and, helped her
through the nine long years of her
constant fight for her son's freedom.
"Oh. God be praised : sn murmured
over and over. "And God bless every
one who has helped ma This Is my
hour of Joy."
Thus did I leave the mother In the
furnished housekeeping house, where
the other tenants had all circled round
to extend their sympathy and their
thankfulness.
The young Mrs. Pender, wife f the
freed man, could not be found Satur
day night She is employed as a nurse
and rooms at 6 SI Hoyt street She
left Saturday night on a case and
neither her mother-in-law nor the peo
ple at her rooming bouse knew where
she could be found.
Mrs, Arthur Pender has been devoted
to eier husband during the enure time
of his Imprisonment according to the
mother, and will help him to get on his
feet again by continuing with her nurs
ing work. ;
PENDER ESCAl'KD GALLOWS
BY ACT OF GOVERNOR WEST
John Arthur Pender was arrested at
St. Helens, Columbia county, September
IS, 1911, by Sheriff Thompson and was
formally charged with the murder of
Mrs. Daisy Wehrman and her X-year-old
daughter on September 4, or about that
date. Pender's cabin was about a mile
from that occupied by the Wehrmana.
The husband of the slain woman was
a Portland baker, who: spent the week
ends at the Columbia county home.
The bodies of the mother and child
were found 72 hours after they were
murdered and after many days of per
sistent effort on the part of Sheriff
Thompson and others Pender was ar
rested on the strength fit circumstan
tial evidence. The evidence failed to
convince a jury at the first trial and
it disagreed.
Pender was convicted at the second
trial and ' sent to the state prison to
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Unota Cabinet and 12 records
Musicland Cabinet and 16 records
Domestic Cabinet and 12 records
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-A
The Cost of Shaving
Yourself
Here's an interesting fact: In spite of genera nigh-price conditions, the cost per
self-shave has advanced but a tiny fraction of a cent.
i.oo Safety Razors are still selling for jfo.oo and the 5.00 Gillettes and Auto
Strops for 5.00. The same is true of practically all necessary equipment.
Many of the shaving preparations did not advance in price, and those which
advanced a few cents during the war period are dropping back to the old prices.
Here are some of the outstanding features of present conditions:
Some Lowered Prices on "Safety" Blades
6 Gillette Blades for .43c
5 Durham Duplex Blades for 43c
7 Gem Blades for , 37c
3 Sextoblades for 29c
6 Pen Blades for 50c
6 Auto-Strop Blades for 40c
5 Enders Bladps for 27c
5 Keen Kutter Blades for 27c
6 Eveready 'Blades for 32c
1 Mark Cross Blade for 5c
Shaving
Williams' Mug Soap 5c; same
Soaps
Williams' Barber Bar... 8c
Colgate's Barber Soap 8c
Williams' ?Quick and Easy".. ...... 8c
Rexall Shaving Stick. ............ .25c
Cuticura Shaving Stick 25c
Resinol Shaving Stick 30c
Krank's Lather Cream. . . ... : . . .30c
Palmolive Shaving Cream r, . . . ,Vr . .33c
J1. & J. Shaving Cream. ........... .33c
old quality as well as price.
Rexall Shaving Powder 25c
Rexall Shaving Cream ..w..25c
Williams' Shaving Cream 35c
Colgate's Shaving Cream m35c
Lysol Shaving Cream 35c
Williams' Shaving Stick 35c
Colgate's Shaving Stick 35c
Williams' Shaving Powder 35c
Mennen's Shaving Cream.... 37c
Ezonall , 50c
A Splendid Talcum 18c
Red Feather Talcum in popular odors Violet, Rose and Lilac.
Colgate's Talcum 25c
Cuticura Talcum 25c
Mavis Talcum 25c
Djer-Kiss Talcum .25c
Mirimbi Lily Talcum 25c
Todco Rose Talcum 25c
BROADWAY AND WASHINGTON ST. JS'
w PORTLAND, OR.' i, Jiu
w. w. bbWb v: '
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