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* T A Y L O R O L O G Y *
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* A Continuing Exploration of the Life and Death of William Desmond Taylor *
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* *
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* Issue 50 -- February 1997 Editor: Bruce Long bruce@asu.edu *
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* TAYLOROLOGY may be freely distributed *
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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE:
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"I Know Who Killed Desmond Taylor"
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What is TAYLOROLOGY?
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TAYLOROLOGY is a newsletter focusing on the life and death of William Desmond
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Taylor, a top Paramount film director in early Hollywood who was shot to
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death on February 1, 1922. His unsolved murder was one of Hollywood's major
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scandals. This newsletter will deal with: (a) The facts of Taylor's life;
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(b) The facts and rumors of Taylor's murder; (c) The impact of the Taylor
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murder on Hollywood and the nation; (d) Taylor's associates and the Hollywood
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silent film industry in which Taylor worked. Primary emphasis will be given
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toward reprinting, referencing and analyzing source material, and sifting it
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for accuracy.
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This is the 50th issue of TAYLOROLOGY. Truthfully, we never thought we would
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make it this far--here's to the next 50 issues!! For this landmark issue we
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are reprinting Ed King's classic article "I Know Who Killed Desmond Taylor."
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The article was originally published in 1930 and was reprinted in WILLIAM
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DESMOND TAYLOR: A DOSSIER (Scarecrow Press, 1991). Since both those sources
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are out of print, reprinting it again in TAYLOROLOGY will hopefully keep the
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article available to the public for many years to come.
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"I Know Who Killed Desmond Taylor," by Ed King, was the best recap of the
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murder written within a decade of Taylor's death, and is the only substantial
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magazine article on the case ever written by one of the detectives who was
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actually involved in the investigation. (Detective King is also mentioned in
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contemporary items reprinted in TAYLOROLOGY 8, 14, 17 and 19.) Some of the
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information in the article had not been revealed to the public prior to the
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article's original publication in 1930. The article does contain some errors
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which are indicated in the notes--unfortunately King relied too much on his
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memory and newspaper clippings, and spent too little time reviewing the
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official file on the case prior to doing the article.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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I Know Who Killed Desmond Taylor
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by Ed. C. King
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Special Investigator, District Attorney's Office,
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Los Angeles, California
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as told to Alberta Livingston
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Originally published in TRUE DETECTIVE MYSTERIES
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October and November 1930
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The "bumping off" of a famous person like William Desmond Taylor is the
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sort of oyster that any detective delights to open, so you can just bet the
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family jewels that I was pretty much elated when my "Chief," the late Thomas
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Lee Woolwine, District Attorney of Los Angeles County, called me into his
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private office on the morning of February 3rd, 1922, and assigned me to
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represent his office in the investigation of this greatest of all murder
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mysteries.
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And, almost from the very first hour of my investigations, I have KNOWN
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who committed this murder. Yet, at the present time, the evidence is so
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limited that were the guilty person to come forward and confess the murder,
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"he" would have to produce corroborative testimony before "his" confession
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could be accepted. "He" would be compelled to substantiate "his" confession
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by other credible testimony in order to prove "his" guilt and secure "his"
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own conviction!
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And that includes even Edward F. Sands--the one person who practically
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every investigator in Los Angeles believes was the slayer.
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With this knowledge locked in my heart for the past eight years, my
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position has forced me to carry on a nation-wide investigation, reaching from
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the Pacific to the Atlantic seaboard, from the race tracks of Agua Caliente,
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to the frozen depths of the Alaskan goldfields, knowing full well that each
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new clue would lead me just where I expected it to lead--nowhere.
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During these eight years the case has been revived for discussion more
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times than I can remember. Always there has been a repetition of old
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stories--a dressing up in new garb of the figures in this murder mystery.
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Many times the murderer of Taylor has been reported discovered. The
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report has always created the greatest sensationalism. And, each time the
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story has proved to be pure fiction. Each time the guilty person has been
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some unnamed ghostly personage, designated by the press by blanks and
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asterisks, or referred to only as "that film celebrity," or "this noted
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actress."
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At the time William Desmond Taylor met his tragic death, he resided in
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the exclusive Alvarado Court Apartments on South Alvarado Street, Los
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Angeles.
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This court is composed of sixteen apartments, housed in eight two-story
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white stucco buildings, overlooking beautiful Westlake Park.
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In 1922 the Westlake Park district was the favorite residential
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neighborhood for motion picture people, who have since emigrated to the
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Hollywood and Beverly Hills sections.
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In the apartment adjoining Taylor's on the west, in the same building,
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lived Edna Purviance, leading lady for Charlie Chaplin. [1] Directly to the
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east, the buildings separated by an eight-foot parkway, lived Mr. and Mrs.
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Douglas MacLean. Mr. MacLean has long been considered one of the foremost
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movie comedians.
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William Desmond Taylor was at once the favorite and the mystery of the
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motion picture colony. A cultured, dignified gentleman with a charming
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personality and considerable magnetism, the men with whom he worked were
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devoted to him, and most of the women fell in love with him.
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He never blazoned his good deeds from the housetops, but "Bill" Taylor
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and his charities were household words in the motion picture profession.
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On February 2nd, 1922, about 7:00 o'clock in the morning, Henry Peavey,
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colored valet-servant, arrived at Taylor's home to prepare breakfast, as
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usual. [2]
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He picked up the milk bottle which stood on the front doorstep, inserted
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the key in the lock, pushed open the door, but did not enter. [3] Instead, he
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uttered a piercing shriek that aroused all the neighbors. Someone called the
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police and Detective Lieutenant Tom Ziegler, from Central Detective Bureau,
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was detailed to the scene.
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Lieutenant Ziegler found William Desmond Taylor lying stretched full
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length on the living room floor, stone dead.
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He was fully clothed. His head was towards the east wall, feet near the
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door, legs outstretched. An overturned chair lay nearby. [4]
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A large crowd of people were milling in and out of the apartment and
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about the body, which Ziegler did not touch. He requested everyone to leave
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the house.
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A doctor, whose name was never learned but who was in the crowd when
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Lieutenant Ziegler arrived, made a preliminary examination of the body
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without moving it from its original position. He gave as his opinion that
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death was due to natural causes, possibly heart trouble.
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A few moments afterward, while Ziegler was awaiting the arrival of the
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Coroner, Mr. Charles Eyton, prominent member of the Los Angeles Athletic
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Club, husband of Kathlyn Williams, movie actress, and a close personal friend
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of Mr. Taylor during his lifetime, arrived upon the scene.
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Mr. Eyton went directly to the upper floor, to the bedroom of Taylor,
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where he collected many letters and personal belongings of Taylor, among
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which may have been much documentary evidence in this murder mystery.
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Lieutenant Ziegler did not interfere with Mr. Eyton, knowing him
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personally and also knowing him to have been a close friend of Mr. Taylor's.
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Eyton carried this collection of letters and other evidence away with him,
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and later destroyed them.
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When questioned regarding his motive, he stated that among Taylor's
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possessions were many love letters from married women, and that he did it
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merely to protect "Bill," as he called Taylor, from becoming involved in any
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scandal and not with a desire to obstruct any investigation into the matter
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of Mr. Taylor's death.
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Before Mr. Eyton left the apartment, he returned to the body, talking to
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Lieutenant Ziegler, who repeated the opinion expressed by the unknown doctor.
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Not satisfied that death was due to natural causes, Eyton turned the body
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over. It was then discovered that the deceased was lying in a pool of blood.
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The pool had not spread to such an extent that it was exposed to view as the
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body lay upon the floor.
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Lieutenant Ziegler saw at once that it was a case for the Homicide
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Squad, and telephoned headquarters. The Flying Squad, which at that time
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consisted of H. H. Cline, Ray Cato, Wiley Murphy, "Billy" Cahill, and Jesse
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A. Winn, responded.
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Investigation disclosed that Taylor had been shot in the back, the
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bullet ranging from the right side of the spine rather low in the torso,
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upward through the left breast, where the bullet had lodged in the muscles
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near the left shoulder. [5]
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The bullet hole in the coat did not correspond exactly with the one in
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the vest, which indicated that Taylor had been standing with his arms above
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his head when shot.
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The first theory advanced was that Taylor was holding his arms above his
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head in response to the command of the intruder to "stick 'em up!" A second
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theory was to the effect that he was reaching for the chair which was found
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overturned near the body.
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If reaching for the chair, it would seem that a controversy had taken
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place and that, in all probability, Taylor knew his attacker. But, if holding
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up his hands, he was more than likely taken by surprise.
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My theory was, and always has been, that when Taylor returned to his
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apartment, after having escorted Miss Mabel Normand to her automobile, he
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seated himself at his desk, and his assailant, hiding in the room, stepped
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out and fired. Taylor died instantly, pitched forward, and in falling upset
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the chair.
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Due to the prominence of the victim, the news of the murder was flashed
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all over the city, extras appearing upon the city streets in an almost
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unbelievably short space of time.
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Hollywood, ordinarily serene, playful and carefree, was no longer calm.
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The atmosphere of make-believe that has always seemed to hover over that
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portion of Los Angeles, where lived and worked so many of those whose careers
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and fortunes were centered in the world of finer arts, was gone.
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One of its most dearly loved members had been brutally done to death--
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not a man with a past--not one at whom a finger of even the remotest
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suspicion had ever been cast. Rather, one who represented the very highest in
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the manly types of manhood.
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The coroner arrived, the body was removed, and the detectives, hot after
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a motive, began a thorough search of Taylor's living quarters.
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The apartment, which consisted of five rooms, was tastefully furnished.
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A baby grand piano occupied one corner of the living room. [6] The small desk
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stood directly in front of the door. There were books in profusion, mostly
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philosophical and sociological. Relics of war and much expensive bric-a-brac
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occupied prominent places throughout the house. Around the wall of the living
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room was a solid border of autographed and framed photographs.
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Among them was one of Mary Pickford, which bore the inscription, "To my
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nice director, William Desmond Taylor, the most patient man I have ever known
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--Mary Pickford."
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In a prominent place on the piano stood a picture of another Mary. On
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this photograph was inscribed: "For William Desmond Taylor--artist and
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gentleman. Mary Miles Minter." [7]
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On the desk in the living room lay an open check book, a pen nearby. In
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the drawer of the desk was a half-completed income tax report.
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In Mr. Taylor's pockets was found $78.00 cash. A two-karat diamond ring
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and a platinum watch were found on his person. The finding of the articles
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eliminated the robbery motive almost immediately. [8]
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The check book and the half-completed income tax report were seized upon
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as important clues. The bank book showed a balance of only $6,000.00. All
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other assets that could be found amounted to only about $25,000.00.
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The income tax blank showed Taylor's income to have been in the
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neighborhood of $40,000.00 per year.
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What had he done with all his money? He lived very simply, made no
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important investments, yet he had drawn large checks of which there was no
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record. Among the cancelled checks was found one for $2500.00 made out to
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cash. This amount had been withdrawn the latter part of January. The pass
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book showed this same amount deposited a few hours before his death. [9]
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To the minds of the detectives, this could have but one explanation--
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blackmail.
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The money had been withdrawn to pay some person--a person who would not
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accept a check. Taylor, deciding not to be the victim of this plot, returned
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the money to the bank. The blackmailer called, was met with refusal and ended
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the argument with a bullet.
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But who? And WHY?
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Soon after the news spread, friends came rushing to the apartment. From
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all quarters they came. Mary Miles Minter rushed into the house in a tempest
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of hysterics.
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Following closely came Mabel Normand [10]--beautiful, impulsive,
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unfortunate Miss Normand, who succumbed Sunday, February 23rd, 1930, to
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tuberculosis in the Pottenger Sanitarium, at Monrovia, California. And,
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almost her last words were, "I hope before I die that they find the slayer of
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William Desmond Taylor."
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Miss Minter, at the present time, is ill in a sanitarium near Santa
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Barbara, California, being treated by Doctor Sansum, a leading dietician.
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Miss Minter told detectives that Miss Normand and Mr. Taylor were
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engaged at the time of his death. [11]
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Miss Normand admitted that she had called on Mr. Taylor a few hours
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before he was shot, but denied the engagement.
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"There was no affair of the heart between Taylor and myself," sobbed
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Miss Normand. "His feeling for me was that of an older man for a girl who
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admired him, and who was not afraid to show her admiration.
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"I was eager to glean a little knowledge from the vast storehouse which
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he possessed. He was a man who knew everything. Besides having the education
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and instinct of an artist, he was a deep student of science and of philosophy
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as well."
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Future references to Miss Normand are made only that the reader may have
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full details of the story. While she became the central figure in the
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sensational investigations, I do not hesitate to say that all suspicion cast
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upon her was unjust.
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Miss Minter said that she had not seen Mr. Taylor for some time, nor had
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she been to his apartment recently.
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"He was one of my best friends," she cried. "His death is a great shock
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to me. I cannot conceive of the character of a person who would voluntarily
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wrong him or cause his death. There is no personal or financial sacrifice
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that I would not make to bring the slayer to justice."
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Among Taylor's effects were found a woman's pink silk nightgown and a
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lace handkerchief, both with the initials, "M. M. M." [12]
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In the toe of a riding boot in the closet were found many letters,
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written in code, signed, "Mary." These letters were ardent love letters and
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received a great deal of publicity, but knowing the author as I afterward
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learned to know her, well, I wouldn't say they were so hot--just a young girl
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unshamedly confessing her love for the man she loved. [13]
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"What shall I call, you wonderful man?" began one of these letters. "I
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want to go away with you--up in the hills--anywhere--just so we can be alone.
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"Wouldn't it be glorious to sit in a big comfy couch by a cozy warm fire
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with the wind whistling outside, trying to harmonize with the faint strains
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of music coming from the Victrola?
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"I would sweep and dust (they make the sweetest dust caps, you know).
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Oh, yes, and fix the table and help you wash the dishes, and then, in my
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spare time, darn your socks.
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"I'd go to my room and put on something scant and flowing; then I would
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lie on the couch and wait for you. I might fall asleep, for a fire makes me
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drowsy. Then I would awake and find two strong arms around me and two dear
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lips pressed to mine in a long, sweet kiss..."
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Another letter, written in the same code, simply said: "I love you--Oh,
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I love you so. God, I love you so. I love you--I love you--I love you."
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These letters, along with the nightgown and handkerchief, were taken to
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the police station and booked as evidence in the event the murderer should
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ever be apprehended.
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Early in the morning, February 3rd, 1922, District Attorney Woolwine
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called me into his office where he handed me a letter--an anonymous letter in
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a woman's handwriting, evidently written by a lady of refinement.
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This letter said that if Mr. Woolwine would send a detective to Mabel
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Normand's apartment, located at Seventh Street and Vermont Avenue, a careful
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search of the basement would reveal a .38 caliber pearl-handled revolver.
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This was the gun with which the murder had been committed.
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Mr. Taylor had been murdered with a .38 caliber revolver. The bullet
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taken from the body indicated this very clearly.
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Mr. Woolwine explained to me that he wanted me to enter the
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investigation alone, independent of all officers of the Police Department,
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but this I found impossible. The officers from the Police Department had a
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day's start on me. My investigations led directly into theirs, so Lieutenant
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Jesse Winn and myself joined up as a team, and have continued so throughout
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the entire period of the investigation. (Winn, like myself, after more than
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twenty years' service on the Police Department, retired therefrom and
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accepted a position as special investigator in the D.A.'s office.)
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I went to Miss Normand's apartment, accompanied by Lieutenants Winn,
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Murphy and Cline, where we made a thorough search of the house, including the
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basement. From cellar to attic we went, devoting a great length of time to
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turning over everything where it would be possible to hide a gun. In a
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dresser drawer in Miss Normand's bedroom we found two .25 caliber revolvers,
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neither of which could have had any connection with the murder. No other gun
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was found.
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Miss Normand had been the last person to see William Desmond Taylor
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alive, with the exception, of course, of the murderer. She had been with Mr.
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Taylor in his apartment up to a very few minutes of the time that he was
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murdered.
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Her statement, substantiated by the statement of her chauffeur, William
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Davis, was to the effect that she had spent the afternoon in the shopping
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district of Los Angeles. Around 6:00 o'clock in the evening she went to the
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Hellman Bank, at the corner of 6th and Main Streets, where she placed some
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very valuable Christmas gifts in her safety deposit box.
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While in the bank she called up her home. In answer to her questions as
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to whether or not anyone had called her, the maid replied: "Mr. Taylor has
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been trying to get you all afternoon. He left word that he has a good book
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for you; wants you to stop for it this evening."
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Miss Normand returned to her limousine, parked at the curb, and said,
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"Well, William, we will stop by Mr. Taylor's on the way home."
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At Seventh and Broadway Miss Normand purchased some peanuts and a number
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of magazines, including a Police Gazette. She munched peanuts and read this
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Gazette on the way out, strewing the shells on the floor of the car.
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Some time between six and seven o'clock they reached the Alvarado Street
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address.
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Miss Normand stepped from the machine. As she started toward the house,
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Davis asked, "Shall I go get my dinner?" To this Miss Normand replied, "No--I
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am tired and have an early call to the studio. I will be right out."
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||
When Miss Normand entered the apartment, Mr. Taylor was in a closet
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||
telephoning to Antonio Moreno, a close personal friend of his, and a well
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||
known movie actor. Henry Peavey, colored valet, was preparing the evening
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meal. [14]
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||
Miss Normand, waiting for Mr. Taylor to finished his conversation with
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||
Mr. Moreno, paced up and down the living room, and as Henry Peavey afterward
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||
related to us, was continually eating peanuts and throwing the shells on the
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floor, much to Peavey's disgust, as it was his job to keep the apartment
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clean. [15]
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Her attention seemed focused upon two photographs on the piano--one of
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Mary Miles Minter and one of herself.
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When Mr. Taylor had finished his conversation, he came out of the
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alcove, greeted her cordially, and gave her the book he had mentioned. This
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book proved to be a heavy tome on German philosophy. Taylor and Miss Normand
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were among the very few in Hollywood who did any heavy reading.
|
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While these two sat on the davenport in the living room and discussed
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this book, Davis, the chauffeur, swept the peanuts shells from the car, then
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picked up the Police Gazette which Miss Normand had left lying on the seat.
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Henry Peavey came out on his way home, kidded Davis about the magazine
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and the peanut shells, then went on down the street towards Sixth and
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Alvarado.
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||
Miss Normand remained in the house about thirty-five minutes in all,
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||
then came out, accompanied by Mr. Taylor. The chauffeur and the director
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||
exchanged friendly greetings. A general conversation ensued, Taylor chiding
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||
Miss Normand good-naturedly about the Police Gazette.
|
||
It was quite dark. Miss Normand noticed a light burning in the apartment
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||
of Edna Purviance, and knowing that Miss Purviance had been ill for several
|
||
days, suggested to Mr. Taylor that they go up and see her. Mr. Taylor
|
||
insisted that she go home, as she was extremely nervous, and they could call
|
||
upon Miss Purviance some other time. [16]
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||
Miss Normand stepped into her limousine, and as it rolled away from the
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||
curb, she blew a kiss to Taylor. It was an eternal farewell. Mr. Taylor
|
||
entered the apartment through the door which he had left open. It is presumed
|
||
that he sat down at his desk to work--the murderer, hiding in the room,
|
||
stepped out and fired. Taylor died instantly, and in falling pitched forward,
|
||
overturning his chair. The murderer then hurried from the house and
|
||
disappeared through the alley. [17]
|
||
Mrs. Douglas MacLean, in the adjoining apartment, heard the shot. The
|
||
MacLeans were at their evening meal. Mr. MacLean had just finished eating and
|
||
had gone upstairs for a cribbage board. Miss Jewett, servant girl, had been
|
||
serving dinner. At about the time Mr. MacLean reached the bedroom upstairs,
|
||
and while Mrs. MacLean was still seated at the table, the shot was fired.
|
||
Mrs. MacLean spoke to Miss Jewett, asking if that noise had not sounded
|
||
like a shot nearby. She rose from the table and walked to her living room
|
||
door. The figure of what appeared to be a man had just emerged from
|
||
Mr. Taylor's door. The person was not hurrying out but was coming out
|
||
backwards. [18]
|
||
The thought suggested itself to Mrs. MacLean that he was talking to Mr.
|
||
Taylor, who was possibly seated at his desk directly in front of the door.
|
||
The figure turned, closed the door, faced Mrs. MacLean as it came down the
|
||
steps, and made a turn eastward, then to the north, passing between the
|
||
Taylor Apartment and the garage, going towards Fourth Street, where it
|
||
disappeared in the dark. [19]
|
||
This person did not hurry at any time, but walked very leisurely and
|
||
looked full at Mrs. MacLean standing in her doorway. Her suspicions were not
|
||
aroused, and she attributed the report she had heard to the backfire of a
|
||
passing automobile rather than a shot from a gun.
|
||
Later, in describing this person in the office of Mr. Woolwine, she
|
||
stated that the figure had worn a heavy coat of the mackinaw type, a cap, and
|
||
a muffler about the neck.
|
||
She further stated that this person appeared to be a man, but if it was
|
||
a man, it was a "funny looking" man. When pressed as to just what she meant
|
||
by "funny looking," she explained that she had been on the movie lot a great
|
||
many times with her husband during the filming of pictures and had seen many
|
||
actors and actresses in make-up and they were "funny looking." The person
|
||
emerging from Mr. Taylor's apartment had this same appearance.
|
||
Arthur Hoyt, a motion picture actor, close personal friend of the
|
||
deceased director, was living at the time of Taylor's death, at the Los
|
||
Angeles Athletic Club, Seventh and Olive Streets. On account of his close
|
||
friendship with Mr. Taylor, Lieutenant Winn and myself felt that he
|
||
undoubtedly would be able to give us valuable information concerning the
|
||
habits and past life of the director.
|
||
We visited Mr. Hoyt in his room on several occasions, and one night,
|
||
possibly a week and a half after the murder, Detectives Cato, Cahill, Winn
|
||
and myself, decided to question him more closely than we had on previous
|
||
occasions.
|
||
After about two hours' grilling Hoyt broke down and wept. He told us
|
||
that it was not his desire to break confidence with his dead pal and friend,
|
||
but that he believed he would have to do so if it would help to unravel the
|
||
mystery surrounding the murder.
|
||
He then told us that on the evening of the last day of January--the
|
||
evening before the murder--he had arrived at his apartment at the Athletic
|
||
Club, and had partaken of several drinks, after which he started out, as was
|
||
his custom, to visit his friend, William Desmond Taylor.
|
||
When he arrived at Taylor's residence, somewhere in the neighborhood of
|
||
6:00 o'clock, he found Mr. Taylor seated at his desk, nervously running his
|
||
fingers through his hair, preoccupied and worried.
|
||
Feeling in the mood for another drink, Hoyt went straight past Taylor,
|
||
and on into the closet where the telephone was located, and where he knew
|
||
Taylor kept his liquor supply. Hoyt took from the closet two bottles, one
|
||
containing whiskey and the other seltzer, and started mixing a couple of
|
||
cocktails.
|
||
"Don't mix me any," said Taylor. "I do not care for it."
|
||
Noting his depression. Hoyt went over to him and questioned him as to
|
||
why he was worried. Taylor swore Hoyt to secrecy, saying that if he would
|
||
promise not to breathe it to a living soul, he would tell him something that
|
||
was causing him a great deal of worry.
|
||
Mr. Taylor then told Mr. Hoyt that the dearest, sweetest little girl in
|
||
the world was in love with him, and that he was old enough to be her father.
|
||
This little girl was madly in love with him--had been to his apartment the
|
||
night before, coming at nearly 3:00 o'clock in the morning. She had insisted
|
||
on remaining. He had insisted on her going home, whereupon this little girl
|
||
had cried and threatened that if he tried to put her out, she would scream
|
||
and cause a scene.
|
||
This, of course, Mr. Taylor wanted to avoid, as he had many friends in
|
||
the neighborhood. He finally persuaded her to leave, driving her to her home.
|
||
Mr. Taylor stated to his friend Hoyt that this little girl had become so
|
||
infatuated with him that it was really becoming serious. He was worried--
|
||
didn't know what to do about it.
|
||
Mr. Hoyt then said, "Bill, I know who you mean. It is ---"
|
||
And Taylor admitted that it was. [20]
|
||
The beautiful young girl named by Hoyt was interviewed by Winn and
|
||
myself at her home. She stated that she had not seen Mr. Taylor for a long
|
||
time, the last time being on the streets of Los Angeles. Mr. Taylor was in
|
||
his own car and she in hers. They merely waved to each other.
|
||
This statement was not true. We were able to prove that she had been in
|
||
his apartment many times, and had actually been there the night of the
|
||
murder.
|
||
We had never been satisfied that the person seen by Mrs. MacLean,
|
||
emerging from the Taylor residence, was not a woman in disguise as a man,
|
||
inasmuch as Mrs. MacLean had stated that it was a "funny looking" man.
|
||
Winn and myself thought out a plan whereby we might learn something
|
||
definite regarding this matter.
|
||
We went to the office of Nick Harris, private detective, and explained
|
||
to him what we had in mind, knowing that he carried a standing with the daily
|
||
press which would enable him to get almost any story run.
|
||
We explained to Mr. Harris that we wanted him to call the editor of a
|
||
daily paper and tell him that a funny thing had just occurred; that Winn and
|
||
myself had just called at his office and that while we were seated there in
|
||
conversation with him, the telephone bell rang, and a woman was on the other
|
||
end of the wire, who stated she was a spiritualist.
|
||
This woman stated that the night before she had had a vision in which
|
||
the murderer of William Desmond Taylor appeared; that the murderer was a
|
||
woman with a very beautiful daughter; that Taylor had been too familiar with
|
||
the daughter; that the mother in desperation had shot and killed Taylor, and
|
||
that, in her estimation, the mother was justified.
|
||
The spiritualist continued that she thought it was the mother's duty to
|
||
come out and tell the truth--tell the authorities that she had committed the
|
||
murder and why she did it; that she was going to give the mother two weeks'
|
||
time in which to explain to the public that she was the murderer of Taylor,
|
||
and why she had committed the murder. That, at the end of that time, if the
|
||
mother hadn't come forward and told the truth, she, the spiritualist,
|
||
intended to make it public.
|
||
He concocted this story merely for the purpose of seeing what the result
|
||
might be. The evening paper ate it up and ran almost a column story about it.
|
||
[21]
|
||
The following morning an attorney visited the District Attorney's office
|
||
with the clipping from the newspaper. He wanted to know the name of the
|
||
spiritualist, where she was located, if she had mentioned in her conversation
|
||
the name of the woman with the beautiful daughter, and many similar
|
||
questions.
|
||
I explained to him that all I knew about it was merely what had happened
|
||
while we were in Mr. Harris' office. This attorney returned on the second day
|
||
and made further inquiry. There was no one else who every made inquiry about
|
||
this news item.
|
||
Secret investigation revealed this man to be the personal attorney for
|
||
the mother of the beautiful girl whom Taylor had told Mr. Hoyt was madly in
|
||
love with him.
|
||
Lieutenant Winn and myself next went to the property room at police
|
||
headquarters and endeavored to secure the clothing worn by Mr. Taylor at the
|
||
time of his death. We found that this wearing apparel was still at the
|
||
undertakers. When we arrived at the Ivy Overholtzer mortuary, we were just in
|
||
time. They were about to burn the clothing, as it was covered with blood, and
|
||
they considered it of no value.
|
||
Under the collar of the coat and extending possibly from one-half to one
|
||
inch, were three long, blond hairs. These were compared by an expert with
|
||
combings taken from the dressing room of Mary Miles Minter, and pronounced to
|
||
be the same. At this period women were wearing long hair, it being before the
|
||
days of the bob.
|
||
These hairs were placed in an envelope and left with the property clerk
|
||
at Central Police Station for safe keeping.
|
||
After finding these hairs, Miss Minter was called into the D.A.'s office
|
||
and requestioned. She could add nothing to her previous statements.
|
||
After questioning Miss Minter, we went to the home of her mother, Mrs.
|
||
Charlotte Shelby, to question her regarding any knowledge she might have of
|
||
the mystery.
|
||
Mrs. Shelby was preparing to leave for New York on the 6:00 o'clock
|
||
train. When I requested an interview, she came to the door, fastening her
|
||
dress. She informed me coldly that her attorneys, Mr. Mott and Mr. Cassill,
|
||
were in the house for the purpose of answering questions, and that she was in
|
||
too much of a hurry to reach New York to devote any time to an investigation
|
||
about which she knew nothing.
|
||
We next questioned Mary [Julia] Miles, mother of Mrs. Shelby, and
|
||
grandmother of Mary Miles Minter. Mrs. Miles stated to us that Mrs. Shelby
|
||
was out on the evening of the murder until about 9:00 o'clock: that she had
|
||
been shopping during the day and visiting friends early in the evening.
|
||
About this time District Attorney Woolwine ordered all the evidence in
|
||
the case transferred from the Police Station to his office, where it was
|
||
placed in a cabinet. All this evidence later disappeared, and in a
|
||
conversation with Robert Herron, of this office, I learned that he was
|
||
ordered by Woolwine to take the articles, except the coat and vest, to
|
||
Woolwine's home. Possibly the letters, the hairs, the handkerchief and the
|
||
nightgown were turned over to Miss Minter, Woolwine being a close personal
|
||
friend of both Miss Minter and her mother, Mrs. Shelby.
|
||
While we had been working on the case from the love, revenge and
|
||
jealousy motive, other detectives, working on the blackmail theory, had dug
|
||
deep into Taylor's past life. [22]
|
||
Born in 1877 [1872], in Ireland, Malloss [Carlow], County Cork, he was
|
||
the son of a British Colonel and an Irish gentlewoman. His upbringing was one
|
||
of every advantage, with special attention paid to his education along
|
||
military lines.
|
||
His father desired him to follow in his footsteps in the British army,
|
||
and with this purpose in view of becoming an engineering in the King's army,
|
||
he studied in a number of European colleges and universities.
|
||
Because of poor eyesight, however, he was a failure in the army, and at
|
||
the age of eighteen he made his first contact with the stage, becoming
|
||
secretary to the famous Charles Hawtrey Company.
|
||
This was not satisfactory to his father, the stern British Colonel, who
|
||
objected to everything connected with the stage, so he purchased for his son
|
||
a ranch in Harper, Kansas.
|
||
Taylor spent two years on this ranch, but the stage had gotten into his
|
||
blood. Fanny Davenport came along, invited him to play juvenile parts in her
|
||
company, and, armed with a three-year contract, Taylor left the ranch in
|
||
Kansas.
|
||
On the stage he met with varying success. When the famous Klondike gold
|
||
strike occurred, the spirit of adventure in his Irish veins evidently, for
|
||
the moment, crushed out the stage from his desires, and he joined other
|
||
daring souls in Alaskan lore.
|
||
The year 1914 found him in Hollywood. Like scores of his former friends,
|
||
actors and actresses, he left the stage for the silent drama--the footlights
|
||
for the Kleigs.
|
||
After making several pictures for Vitagraph, Kay Bee, and other
|
||
companies, these pictures including "Captain Alvarez" and "The Iconoclast,"
|
||
he turned from his place in front of the camera to the more important one
|
||
behind, took up directing, and in 1922, he was looked upon as one of the
|
||
greatest directors who ever shouted, "Camera."
|
||
At the outbreak of the World War Taylor enlisted as a private in the
|
||
Canadian Army. He was one of the first 100,000 to sail overseas from Quebec
|
||
[sic]. He soon rose from private to the rank of Captain, commanding a truck
|
||
train running from Dunkirk to the British front.
|
||
This much of Taylor's life was known to his friends of the motion
|
||
picture world. Unfeigned astonishment was felt by all when we dug still
|
||
deeper and found that he had actually lived a dual existence.
|
||
In 1901 he had married one Ethel May Harrison, a member of the original
|
||
Floradora Company. They had one child, Ethel Daisy, who was found in an
|
||
exclusive girls' school at Mamoroneck, Long Island.
|
||
Prior to 1908 he was known in New York as William Cunningham Deane-
|
||
Tanner, a cultured art connoisseur. He had one brother, Denis Gage Deane-
|
||
Tanner. One day in 1908 friends and business associates were startled by his
|
||
sudden and mysterious disappearance. His wife could give no clue to his
|
||
whereabouts and could ascribe no reason for his action.
|
||
An examination of his books showed everything in perfect shape. After an
|
||
extensive search, the family and friends set it down as an unsolved mystery.
|
||
His wife divorced him and later remarried.
|
||
Further investigation disclosed that four years after Taylor disappeared
|
||
from his home in New York, his brother, Denis Gage Deane-Tanner, disappeared
|
||
from his home in New York under similar circumstances. He, too, had married
|
||
and was head of a family. That any domestic difficulties were responsible for
|
||
his disappearance was denied by his wife.
|
||
Mrs. Ada Deane-Tanner had suffered a nervous breakdown and went into the
|
||
Adirondacks to recuperate. When she returned with her two small daughters,
|
||
her husband was missing.
|
||
The books of the firm by whom he had been employed disclosed the fact
|
||
that he was in no way involved in financial difficulties. Detectives scoured
|
||
the world for a trace of this missing brother, but from the day he
|
||
disappeared no trace of him was ever found.
|
||
Six years before the death of William Desmond Taylor, Mrs. Ada Deane-
|
||
Tanner had recognized a picture of him, and appealed to him for aid. He, at
|
||
first, denied his identity, but later sent her an allowance of $50.00 per
|
||
month, which had continued during the entire six years. Mrs. Tanner could
|
||
give us little information regarding Taylor, as she had seen him but
|
||
once. [23]
|
||
Inquiry in New York showed that Taylor's wife had learned his identity
|
||
when she and her daughter, Ethel Daisy Tanner, attended a picture show.
|
||
Taylor's image was flashed upon the screen.
|
||
"That's your father!" exclaimed the mother.
|
||
The daughter sought his address and wrote to him. Afterward letters were
|
||
frequently exchanged. When Taylor returned from a trip to Europe, he revealed
|
||
himself to her, and stated that he would make her his heir.
|
||
About this time we received a letter from a man in Denver, Colorado, who
|
||
claimed that he had known the Tanner brothers intimately. This letter stated
|
||
that one Edward F. Sands, former secretary to Taylor, was none other than the
|
||
missing Denis Gage Deane-Tanner; that at one time William, the older boy, had
|
||
won the love of his brother's fiancee, and for many years the younger brother
|
||
had hunted the older, swearing vengeance. [24]
|
||
The finger of suspicion had been pointed at Sands early in our
|
||
investigations. He had first become involved in the meshes of the law after
|
||
Taylor had returned from a trip to England about a year before.
|
||
Taylor reported to the police that Sands had robbed him of money,
|
||
jewels, clothing and a costly car. He claimed that there were many
|
||
discrepancies in his accounts upon his return. Before going he had signed a
|
||
great many checks to be used for current expenses. These checks had been used
|
||
by Sands for other purposes, and Taylor's name forged to many others.
|
||
Twice Taylor's home had been burglarized. In the first burglary the
|
||
place had been thoroughly ransacked, clothing and much valuable jewelry
|
||
taken. The expensive automobile also disappeared at this time, but was later
|
||
found in a badly damaged condition.
|
||
Then came a second burglary about two weeks before the murder. At this
|
||
time the rear door was smashed in, the place ransacked, but nothing except
|
||
jewels and a stock of distinctive cigarettes was taken. [25]
|
||
A week after this burglary Henry Peavey, colored servant, found a gold-
|
||
tipped cigarette of this distinctive brand on the front doorstep. He took
|
||
this to Mr. Taylor and asked him if he had purchased more of them. Taylor
|
||
replied that he had not. The cigarette was undoubtedly some of the stolen
|
||
stock.
|
||
Shortly thereafter Taylor received a mysterious letter signed, "Alias
|
||
Jimmy Valentine." enclosed in this letter were two pawn-tickets for two
|
||
suits, silver plate, jewels and household goods.
|
||
The letter read: "Sorry to inconvenience you, even temporarily. Also
|
||
observe the lesson of the forced sale of assets. A Merry Xmas and Happy New
|
||
Year. Alias Jimmy Valentine."
|
||
The stolen articles had been pawned under the name of William Deane-
|
||
Tanner, showing that the one who had pawned them was familiar with Taylor's
|
||
true history. Then penmanship was compared with the handwriting of Sands and
|
||
declared by experts to be the same.
|
||
Taylor then swore to a warrant for Sands' arrest, charging him with two
|
||
counts of Grand Larceny. [26]
|
||
Could this warrant be construed as a possible motive for the murder? Was
|
||
the story of the two brothers true? Surely Sands must have had some hold upon
|
||
Taylor. Why the insolent assurance in pawning Taylor's stolen things in the
|
||
name of Deane-Tanner and sending the pawn-tickets with the "alias Jimmy
|
||
Valentine" letter?
|
||
Was there a skeleton in the family closet? Some dark and secret feud in
|
||
the family that could account for the fatal shot?
|
||
The interval elapsing since Taylor's disappearance in 1908 and his
|
||
appearance in Hollywood in 1914 had been made the subject of exhaustive
|
||
inquiry, but had remained veiled in a cloak of secrecy. [27] What about those
|
||
hidden years in Alaska and elsewhere? Had the long arm of the past reached
|
||
forth and stricken him down?
|
||
A hot search was then started for Sands. Every police officer and law
|
||
enforcing agent in the United States was furnished with a description and a
|
||
picture and told to arrest him on sight.
|
||
Records disclosed that Sands had enlisted twice in the United States
|
||
Navy, once under the name of Edward F. Sands and again under the name of
|
||
Edward F. Strathmore, deserting both times. This was established by
|
||
fingerprints on record in the Navy Department, Washington, D. C. [28]
|
||
About this time "dope" was injected into our investigations. Taylor,
|
||
himself, was not an addict, but it was rumored that he had attended several
|
||
"hop" parties to get atmosphere and local color for his pictures. A number of
|
||
his friends, however, including several women, were known drug addicts.
|
||
Taylor was reported as having fought the narcotic ring for some time,
|
||
but there was no tangible evidence to connect him in any way until Tom Green,
|
||
Assistant United States Attorney, in charge of drug prosecutions, made a
|
||
statement to the effect that Taylor had appealed to him for help to effect
|
||
the eradication of the "dope ring" which was supplying narcotics to a certain
|
||
actress. At that time, according to Taylor, this actress was paying in the
|
||
neighborhood of $2,000 a week for narcotics.
|
||
From Chicago came a report that a Chinese dope peddler had murdered
|
||
Taylor. Investigation of this report was soon ended when the Chinaman, Harry
|
||
Young, alias Harry Lee, was located in Folsom prison. [29]
|
||
One John Narizara was arrested in Toledo, Ohio, and while in jail stated
|
||
that he knew who killed Taylor; that it was one Jack Kramer, a Los Angeles
|
||
dope peddler. Kramer had confessed the murder to him and when Narizara had
|
||
said he was going to tell the police, Kramer and another peddler had
|
||
threatened to frame evidence against him as being the slayer. Narizara was
|
||
examined by the Lunacy Commission and sent to the Psychopathic Ward. [30]
|
||
One "Red" Kirby was arrested by police officers in a rooming house on
|
||
West Washington Street, in Los Angeles, he being a "hophead," and having made
|
||
certain remarks, overhead by tenants of the house, these remarks being in
|
||
regard to the murder of Taylor, and that Taylor "got what was coming to him."
|
||
Kirby was released when the officers were satisfied that he could not
|
||
possibly have had any connection with the murder.
|
||
We delved deep into this phase of the matter, thinking the whole scheme
|
||
of the crime might be laid in a setting in which the sale of drugs was the
|
||
mainspring.
|
||
Early one morning Captain David Adams, of Central Police Station,
|
||
received a telephone call from the editor of a newspaper in the City of Santa
|
||
Ana, advising him that if he would send some of his men to Santa Ana, and to
|
||
his office, he would give them some information that appeared to be extremely
|
||
valuable in connection with the murder of Mr. Taylor.
|
||
Captain Adams called Lieutenant Winn and myself and gave us this
|
||
information. Winn was detained in the city on another portion of the
|
||
investigation, so Captain Adams and I proceeded to Santa Ana, and to the
|
||
office of the editor, who told us the following story:
|
||
On the day prior to our visit, one Andrew Cock, a rancher living near
|
||
Santa Ana, came to the newspaper office and reported that on the day before
|
||
Taylor was murdered, he, Cock, was going through the town of Tustin,
|
||
adjoining Santa Ana, late in the evening. It was raining. Two roughly dressed
|
||
men stepped out into the road directly in front of his car, and demanded a
|
||
ride. [31]
|
||
Mr. Cock permitted these two men to get into the front seat of the
|
||
machine with him, as he was driving a Dodge touring and the rain was beating
|
||
into the rear seat of the car.
|
||
On the way from Tustin to Santa Ana these men inquired regarding stages
|
||
running between Los Angeles and the Mexican border, especially those leaving
|
||
Los Angeles. One of the men, who referred to the other one as "Shorty," began
|
||
a conversation concerning a Canadian captain in the World War. He did not
|
||
mention any names but stated that this captain had been extremely severe in
|
||
discipline, and that they were members of a company in the regiment commanded
|
||
by this captain.
|
||
He stated that they were going to Los Angeles to kill this captain,
|
||
whereupon "Shorty" told the other man to keep his mouth shut.
|
||
Mr. Cock had been afraid of these men and not wishing to carry them any
|
||
farther then he had to, stopped in the main street of Santa Ana and told them
|
||
he was not going any farther.
|
||
As the two men left the automobile, "Shorty" dropped a pocket gun which
|
||
Mr. Cock described as a short .38 caliber revolver. Mr. Cock started to drive
|
||
away. Shorty said, "Wait a minute."
|
||
He then stopped and picked up the gun which had fallen into the muddy
|
||
street, took a red bandana handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped the gun
|
||
off by the light on the cowl board of the machine. It was then that Mr. Cock
|
||
had an opportunity to see the gun and determine the caliber.
|
||
Mr. Cock was called to the newspaper office by the editor and again
|
||
related the story to us in detail. We made arrangements for him to accompany
|
||
us to the border--to Tia Juana and Mexicali--and if possible, to point out
|
||
the men, if they still remained in either of the border towns.
|
||
Mr. Cock explained that he had delayed reporting this matter for the
|
||
reason that his wife was afraid of what might happen. But, after reading the
|
||
story of the murder and that Mr. Taylor had been a Captain in the Canadian
|
||
Army during the World War, he felt sure it was Taylor to whom the men had
|
||
referred. [32]
|
||
The following day Lieutenant Winn, Cock and myself went to Mexico in
|
||
search of these two men. We went to the Chief of Police of Mexicali, who,
|
||
after hearing our story, detailed Detective Mendoza, of the Mexicali Police
|
||
Force, to accompany us on a round of the saloons, dance halls and other
|
||
resorts.
|
||
The Chief informed Mendoza that if Mr. Cock succeeded in locating these
|
||
men, or either one of them, he, Mendoza, was to escort us to the border and
|
||
put them over as undesirable citizens of Mexicali, and that once across the
|
||
border, we could take charge of them.
|
||
We made the rounds of these resorts during the early hours of the
|
||
evening. Into one saloon and out, into the dance halls and into gambling
|
||
houses--into all sorts of resorts--we went. At last, about 11:00 o'clock, in
|
||
a saloon near the famous Owl Resort, Mr. Cock pointed out a young man
|
||
standing at the bar with several men and women who were drinking. He stated
|
||
that it was his belief that this young man was one of the men that was in the
|
||
automobile with him, and who had discussed the killing of the Canadian
|
||
captain.
|
||
This man proved to be none other than "Red" Kirby, who had formerly been
|
||
arrested by police officers and released.
|
||
Detective Mendoza brought Kirby to the street from the bar room, where
|
||
Winn and I started following them towards the line fence between Calexico and
|
||
Mexicali. Mendoza finally stopped Kirby and informed him that he was on
|
||
Mexican soil; that he did not have to go over the line if he did not wish to
|
||
go; that we were detectives from Los Angeles; and that if he went over the
|
||
line we would undoubtedly arrest him and take him to Los Angeles. Mendoza
|
||
then proceeded to ask Kirby if he wished an attorney to represent him,
|
||
stating that if so he would procure one.
|
||
Winn and I then talked for what seemed to be hours with Kirby, trying to
|
||
induce him to cross the line to his room in a rooming house in Calexico, not
|
||
referring to the Taylor murder, but leading him to believe that we desired to
|
||
search his effects in his room, thinking him to have been connected with some
|
||
of the numerous burglaries that had been committed in Los Angeles.
|
||
After a great length of time we finally persuaded him to cross the line.
|
||
"Come on, you guys!" he exclaimed, exasperated. "You've got nothing on
|
||
me. I'll take you to my room and show you what I got!"
|
||
He then took us to a rooming house where we went through the suitcase
|
||
which we found in a closet, and found only a very few articles of wearing
|
||
apparel--soiled shirts, ties, a shaving outfit, and other articles of this
|
||
nature. No pictures or letters were found.
|
||
We then told Kirby what we really wanted, and turning to Mr. Cock we
|
||
asked him if he were positive in his identification of Kirby as being one of
|
||
the two men he had picked up in Tustin and carried to Santa Ana.
|
||
Cock looked Kirby over carefully and stated that since he had had an
|
||
opportunity to see Kirby under a good light and to hear his voice, he was
|
||
convinced that Kirby was not one of the men we were looking for. [33]
|
||
We returned to Los Angeles. Kirby remained in Mexicali where he
|
||
continued using "dope"--being a "hop" addict. Some time later his body was
|
||
found in what is known as Mexicali wash, back of the town of Mexicali. An
|
||
autopsy showed that he had died from an overdose of the narcotic he had been
|
||
using. [34]
|
||
When we arrived in Los Angeles we found a letter awaiting us from the
|
||
Warden at Folsom Prison, concerning two convicts confined there, who, in the
|
||
opinion of the Warden, had committed the murder of Taylor. The Warden had
|
||
intercepted notes written by these convicts to each other.
|
||
I was rushed to Folsom Prison.
|
||
When I arrived at Folsom Prison I had a long talk with these two men,
|
||
Charles Wadleigh, known as "Solly," and J. G. Barrett, alias "Black Buck" and
|
||
"Black Bart."
|
||
"Solly" Wadleigh was a shell shock victim of the World War. He was not
|
||
considered mentally responsible at the prison. He impressed me as being
|
||
sincere in his statements, however, and not mentally so unbalanced as some
|
||
might think. He had been received at Folsom as a recidivist, having been
|
||
sentenced to San Quentin from Sacramento to a term of five years to life on a
|
||
first degree robbery charge. During his trial he had attempted suicide.
|
||
Barrett, or "Black Bart," impressed me as a person who would stop at
|
||
nothing to gain his own ends. He had been badly shot up in attempted escapes,
|
||
and carried many ugly wounds to show for it. He appeared to be one of those
|
||
conceited, cock-sure individuals with an air that shouts at you, "Suppose I
|
||
did commit the crime. It is so well covered up that you will never be able to
|
||
prove it!"
|
||
Wadleigh stated that he and Black Bart had been engaged in narcotic
|
||
traffic in Los Angeles, and that among their many customers were many movie
|
||
stars. Taylor was trying to curb or break up the business of selling dope to
|
||
his friends in pictures, with as little notoriety as possible.
|
||
For this interference on the part of Taylor, there was an understanding
|
||
of some kind. Two well-known movie stars were in on the deal, and Taylor was
|
||
shot and killed by Black Bart after he had had trouble with Taylor.
|
||
Wadleigh stated that on the night of the murder he was ordered by Black
|
||
Bart to drive to within a short distance of Taylor's home. When they arrived
|
||
Black Bart went in, shot Taylor, and came back at once, picking up one of the
|
||
movie stars referred to above, a short distance from the house, and the other
|
||
about a block farther on. They drove to 5th and Spring Streets, and on the
|
||
way one of the movie stars passed a large roll of money to Black Bart. The
|
||
two women then left the car at the corner.
|
||
Wadleigh further stated that Black Bart was getting money from someone
|
||
outside the prison all the time--in his opinion from one or both of the two
|
||
women--that he had bought his way into the prison hospital for $45.00, which
|
||
had been paid to a crooked official, in the hope of escaping.
|
||
Black Bart, according to Wadleigh, was urging him to escape with him for
|
||
the reason that he was afraid he would talk if left behind, but Wadleigh felt
|
||
sure that once they escaped, Black Bart would murder him to silence him.
|
||
After talking with Wadleigh, I called Black Bart out and had a long talk
|
||
with him. At first he was not inclined to talk about the Taylor case, and
|
||
appeared greatly frightened at the mention of it. Finally, after much
|
||
persuasion, he admitted that he had had a man driving for him, who was in the
|
||
same prison, but he would not mention his name as "I never squeal on a
|
||
buddy."
|
||
He then admitted that he was near Taylor's home on the night of the
|
||
murder; that he did pick up the two movie stars referred to, and that there
|
||
was a large sum of money passed between one of them and himself, but he would
|
||
not say that he had killed Taylor. He denied that he had killed him, but when
|
||
I asked him to be a good fellow and tell me what he had done with the gun, he
|
||
said, we could never prove him to be the murderer, and that he would be a
|
||
fool to tell us anything or admit his connections with the case.
|
||
He would discuss his life in Los Angeles rather guardedly, and when I
|
||
told him he could talk freely of his business, even if it were unlawful, as
|
||
there was a statute of limitation, he laughed and replied, "But there is no
|
||
statute of limitation for murder."
|
||
He told me that he and Taylor had had trouble on three occasions; that
|
||
Taylor was interfering in his business, which was narcotics; that he brought
|
||
the stuff into the country from Mexico by airplane; that he did not make
|
||
deliveries personally but had others in his employ who did.
|
||
I have neglected to mention that "Solly" Wadleigh had stated that Henry
|
||
Peavey could verify his statements as he knew that Black Bart killed Taylor;
|
||
that Sands was in on the job and that Bart had killed Sands to silence him
|
||
and that he had buried the body, but where he could not say.
|
||
After listening to both stories, which sounded very fishy to me, I
|
||
decided to follow them up and make a complete investigation in an effort to
|
||
prove or disprove their statements. At the end of my investigations, which
|
||
consumed days and days, I was firmly convinced that the one and only
|
||
underlying motive behind the whole affair was the desire for escape.
|
||
These two men had been much in each other's company. There was no need
|
||
of their writing the notes to each other. Therefore, they had been written
|
||
with the expressed purpose in mind that the officials would intercept them.
|
||
Both were serving life sentences. A trip to Los Angeles meant an opportunity
|
||
to escape. Even if they were not successful, they would have had the trip,
|
||
and to a lifer, that much time spent outside the prison walls means much.
|
||
From time to time information regarding the whereabouts of Sands reached
|
||
our office. Each clue was followed through to its source.
|
||
A man answering his description had joined an expedition to the Cocos
|
||
Island, acting in the capacity of cook. A man of his description committed
|
||
suicide in a small town in Kansas. He was seen here, there and everywhere.
|
||
An appeal was made to him through the press to come forward and clear
|
||
himself of the murder charge, the D.A.'s office promising not to prosecute on
|
||
the various other charges they had against him.
|
||
But Sands never showed up, which is not surprising. A man with a
|
||
deserter's record, facing State's prison for forgery, burglary, and grand
|
||
larceny, is not anxious to meet up with the police, notwithstanding any
|
||
promise of immunity made by the District Attorney.
|
||
On March 16th, 1922, Mary Miles Minter sailed from San Francisco for
|
||
Honolulu on the liner Wilhelmina under the name of Miss Juliet Shelby. In
|
||
August [May] she returned and there were rumors of a break between her
|
||
mother, Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, and herself.
|
||
On August 10th [1923] Miss Minter gave a statement to the press which
|
||
confirmed these rumors and revealed her intentions of bringing court action
|
||
against her mother in an effort to gain possession of the fortune she had
|
||
made while in pictures.
|
||
"The gauntlet is down," Miss Minter is quoted as saying. "I want no
|
||
reconciliation with mother. I most assuredly am going to file a legal suit
|
||
against her for the return of at least a million dollars which I feel is
|
||
rightfully mine. My salary while in motion pictures was more than a million
|
||
dollars. Mother has handled all my money, made wise investments and
|
||
prospered.
|
||
"I have been the wage earner--the family meal ticket ever since I was
|
||
five years old. I wasn't given a chance to get more than three or four years
|
||
of actual schooling. Mother was ambitious socially and financially, and I had
|
||
to turn beauty and talents into cash.
|
||
"My last contract called for eighteen pictures for which I was to
|
||
receive one million, three hundred thousand dollars. When I asked mother for
|
||
an accounting, she showed me figures--one hundred and seventy-five thousand
|
||
credited to her; one hundred and sixty-five thousand credited to me; all
|
||
household expenses for the three of us, mother, my sister Margaret, any
|
||
myself, had been deducted from my share.
|
||
"If I wanted ten dollars I had to ask mother for it. I am determined to
|
||
live like other people--to live a life unhampered by maternal restrictions. I
|
||
am sure there is no real love in my mother's heart for me. I have attained my
|
||
majority now, and have reached a point where I am willing to lay my case
|
||
before the public to gain my rights."
|
||
When this announcement was made, it was learned that Mrs. Shelby was ill
|
||
at the Good Samaritan Hospital. When Mary heard of her mother's illness, she
|
||
said, "Just an old ruse of hers. Whenever I have tried to secure a little
|
||
freedom, she always flies into hysterics and becomes ill."
|
||
Mrs. Shelby declared that Mary was not capable of handling her own
|
||
finances and that she must be protected from herself.
|
||
"Why, Mary cashed her last pay check, one hundred thousand dollars, and
|
||
in three months it was all gone!"
|
||
Mary came back with the reply that the pay check only amounted to
|
||
$63,000.00; that no sooner had she received it than she invested in Hollywood
|
||
real estate which increased in value from $37,000.00 to $65,000.00; that she
|
||
paid $7,000 income tax, all her living expenses, and still had some of the
|
||
original amount left in the bank.
|
||
To this Mrs. Shelby only replied, "The greatest gift God gave me, I gave
|
||
the world--and it devoured her."
|
||
Matters quieted down, Mary saying that she would wait until she was sure
|
||
her mother had recovered before she brought suit.
|
||
On Tuesday, August 14th, the name of Miss Minter and her mother, Mrs.
|
||
Charlotte Shelby, again occupied the front pages. Mary, for the first time,
|
||
bared details of her romance with William Desmond Taylor, stating that they
|
||
had, at the time of his death, been engaged. [35]
|
||
"For more than a year and a half I have kept this secret. My love for
|
||
William Desmond Taylor was the sweetest and holiest thing in my life," she
|
||
said.
|
||
"Any girl would have been proud to be engaged to him as I was. I longed
|
||
to tell the truth to the world. There was nothing to be ashamed of in my
|
||
love. But, on the advice of my mother, I kept still. I wanted every one to
|
||
know that I loved Mr. Taylor with the pure, wholesome love of a young girl.
|
||
But the influence of my mother prevented me from making it known at the time
|
||
of his death.
|
||
"I loved him the first moment I saw him. Today that love is as strong as
|
||
ever--but the continual bitter opposition--he was too old--he was too this--
|
||
and he was too that.
|
||
"Even he thought at first that there was too great a difference in our
|
||
ages. 'You have brought me the greatest happiness of my life, but you have
|
||
come at the time of the setting of the sun, while you are in the glory of
|
||
your youth. I cannot allow you to sacrifice yourself to a man of my age,' he
|
||
said one night when we were planning our future life together.
|
||
"When I was eighteen we were to be married. [36] Then came his death. It
|
||
stunned me. At that time all the pressure possible was brought to bear by
|
||
those under whose influence I was to see that my engagement was kept secret.
|
||
I mustn't talk--it would hurt my career--the same old story of hushing and
|
||
shushing. The public must not know that I was engaged. I must be a little
|
||
girl with long golden curls. It would never do for them to know that I was a
|
||
human being."
|
||
If Miss Minter was stunned by the death of Taylor, her mother was
|
||
knocked off her feet by Mary's story. When she read it in the morning paper,
|
||
she was overcome--prostrated with grief. Rather than have the family history
|
||
aired in court, she announced that she was ready to compromise with her
|
||
daughter. Financial matters were adjusted and the two become reconciled.
|
||
Their names disappeared from the front pages. Mrs. Shelby went abroad and
|
||
Mary went into seclusion.
|
||
District Attorney Woolwine resigned from his office and some time later
|
||
passed away. He was succeeded by Asa Keyes, and the investigation continued
|
||
in a haphazard sort of way for the next four years. As many as a dozen
|
||
persons "confessed" the murder, none of whom could have had anything whatever
|
||
to do with it.
|
||
Mr. Keyes finally marked the case closed, and thus it remained until
|
||
December 21st, 1929, when Ex-Governor Friend W. Richardson, in an exclusive
|
||
interview with a representative of the San Francisco Call-Bulletin, exploded
|
||
what the newspapers later referred to as a "detonating political bombshell,"
|
||
and dragged the 8-year-old Taylor mystery from the records once more.
|
||
"I know who killed William Desmond Taylor," said the former governor.
|
||
"A motion picture actress killed this director, and I have positive proof to
|
||
this effect."
|
||
After going into the history of his differences with Asa Keyes, in 1926,
|
||
Richardson said, "About that time, I heard that a prisoner in Folsom knew all
|
||
about this murder.
|
||
"I went to Folsom and investigated the case, then went to Los Angeles
|
||
where I told the foreman of the Grand Jury and the chairman of the Jury's
|
||
criminal committee that I had the solution of the Taylor murder mystery.
|
||
"I asked them whether the facts should be presented to the Grand Jury
|
||
and if so, if there was any chance for an indictment. The answer was, 'No.'
|
||
They explained that either Keyes or one of his deputies would be in the Grand
|
||
Jury room and that before any person could be brought to trial for murder,
|
||
the important witnesses would be spirited away, bribed or murdered.
|
||
"I returned to Sacramento, called the Prison Board and explained the
|
||
situation. I told them that already the word was around that I had the
|
||
solution of the murder, and that unless we took quick action the convict in
|
||
Folsom Prison would be murdered.
|
||
"The convict was pardoned by me and the last I heard of him he was in
|
||
Vera Cruz, Mexico."
|
||
When asked why he had not presented the facts to Buron Fitts, who
|
||
eventually succeeded Asa Keyes as District Attorney, Richardson was quoted as
|
||
saying that he "left the Governor's office before Fitts became D.A. Anyway,
|
||
the witnesses we had then probably we could not get together now."
|
||
Governor Richardson further claimed that Asa Keyes, who is even now in
|
||
the County Jail awaiting the outcome of his appeal on a conviction of
|
||
bribery, had "stepped on the case."
|
||
This Keyes from his cell denied, declaring that he was being used as a
|
||
political football. He issued a formal statement in which he said:
|
||
"If Richardson has the proof why doesn't he produce his evidence now?
|
||
Murder never outlaws. [Murder does not have a statute of limitations.] The
|
||
murder happened in nineteen twenty-two when Thomas Lee Woolwine was District
|
||
Attorney, and while Buron Fitts and I were both deputies in his office. No
|
||
stone was left unturned then or since to uncover the secret of the murder."
|
||
When questioned by representatives of the press regarding this new
|
||
development, the present D.A., Buron Fitts, refused to comment other than to
|
||
say that he might question Mrs. Charlotte Shelby regarding the matter, as, so
|
||
far as he could learn, she was the only one who had never been subjected to a
|
||
thorough grilling.
|
||
This remark drew a bitter condemnation from Mrs. Shelby, who, in a
|
||
signed statement, asked that she be cleared of all suspicion in connection
|
||
with Taylor's death. She said, in part: "After seven years of silence I now
|
||
unsolicited give my first published statement regarding reference made to me
|
||
in connection with the death of William Desmond Taylor.
|
||
"I feel in justice to myself, my name, my integrity and my rights as a
|
||
citizen of the United States, that I must express my indignation at the
|
||
injustice done me. I returned from Europe, after three and a half years spent
|
||
in search of health, on November seventeenth of this year.
|
||
"I have been maligned, and by innuendo, directly or indirectly,
|
||
implicated in connection with the tragedy.
|
||
"There is not a single word of truth in anything that has been said
|
||
connecting me with the case, nor has any public official the slightest
|
||
evidence which would serve in any way to prove, or even indicate, that I ever
|
||
did have, or know information which would lead to the arrest of the person
|
||
responsible for Mr. Taylor's death.
|
||
"I have nothing to conceal. I am willing, and have always been, to talk
|
||
to any authorized person from the District Attorney's office, and will repeat
|
||
to the District Attorney what I am saying now if he wishes to see me.
|
||
"I appeal as a woman of honor and integrity, one who never wronged
|
||
anyone, contrary to all reports to the public, for justice and to clear my
|
||
name of slander and misrepresentation.
|
||
"I am now establishing my home in Los Angeles.
|
||
"I feel I have a right to live peacefully and enjoy the confidence and
|
||
respect of my fellow men." Thus she ended her statement.
|
||
Neither Mrs. Charlotte Shelby, nor her daughter, Mary Miles Minter, have
|
||
ever been accused of anything by the District Attorney's office.
|
||
The ex-convict to whom Governor Richardson referred was known to be one
|
||
Otis Hefner. Hefner's complete statement was as follows:
|
||
"I came out of Texas, a green and uneducated young fellow in my
|
||
twenties, and got in with a bad bunch in Southern California. They were
|
||
smarter than I was, and altogether too fast company for me, but I was useful
|
||
to them in doing odd jobs, and I can see now they carried me along to make me
|
||
the goat.
|
||
"This clique was primarily engaged in the dope racket. There was a lot
|
||
of money in it. They got the stuff off the boats at San Pedro and cleared it
|
||
through a pharmacy in Los Angeles.
|
||
"One of these crooks was Edward Sands, who had ostensibly worked as a
|
||
chauffeur and valet for William Desmond Taylor. Actually, Taylor was
|
||
distributing a lot of 'hype' to people in the movie business, including the
|
||
actress who committed the murder.
|
||
"Taylor and Sands had a falling out. Taylor left on a trip and when he
|
||
returned he publicly accused Sands of robbing his home of clothing and
|
||
jewelry. Sands didn't make any pretense of working for Taylor after that, but
|
||
I think the robbery was all the bunk, for Sands continued to deliver dope to
|
||
Taylor and get his money for it.
|
||
"Sands must have been about forty years old. He was a pretty good sort
|
||
of a guy, for a crook. He always treated me square and I always got my money
|
||
on time.
|
||
"I met him about six months previous to the murder on a movie location
|
||
in Santa Ana Canyon. I was doing some electrical work for the company, and he
|
||
drove Taylor out in Taylor's car. We got talking and became friends.
|
||
"Word was passed around in this dope ring that Taylor had turned 'rat'
|
||
and was tipping us off to Federal officials. I heard several conversations in
|
||
which it was remarked that Taylor would be 'bumped' off if he didn't play
|
||
square. At first I paid no attention, as a lot of that sort of talk was going
|
||
around; but they kept repeating it and pretty soon I got really interested
|
||
and began to think they meant business.
|
||
"On the evening of February 1st, 1922, Sands and I were out at Redondo
|
||
Beach on a job and saw Taylor and two motion picture actresses having dinner
|
||
at a cafe.
|
||
"We went back to town and Sands went to his apartment for a few minutes,
|
||
while I waited outside. He told me when he came down that he had just talked
|
||
with Taylor on the telephone, at Taylor's home, and that we were to deliver
|
||
some 'hype' to the latter.
|
||
"Sands went and got a big limousine, which he said was Taylor's and had
|
||
been loaned to him. He picked up his stuff at the pharmacy, and we drove out
|
||
to Alvarado Street.
|
||
"This was about two o'clock in the morning. We parked the car across the
|
||
street from Taylor's bungalow court. Sands and I left it and crossed Alvarado
|
||
Street. There was another limousine at the opposite curb, with a driver at
|
||
the wheel and the motor going. A woman was coming down the short steps from
|
||
the entrance to the bungalow court. She was wrapped in a fur coat, either
|
||
black or dark brown. I recognized her.
|
||
"She passed Sands and me and got into the limousine hurriedly, and drove
|
||
away. [37]
|
||
"Sands told me to wait for him on the sidewalk, while he went in with
|
||
the bundle. He came back almost immediately and hurriedly crossed the street
|
||
to our car, motioning me to step lively with him. As we left the curb I
|
||
noticed a man in the bungalow court at the rear, adjoining Taylor's home, but
|
||
directly facing Alvarado Street, open the shutters of a window and look out.
|
||
I read in the papers afterward that this was Douglas MacLean's home.
|
||
"When we were in the car, Sands said to me: 'It's time to be going. The
|
||
old man's got his. He's stretched out deader than a mackerel.'
|
||
"We went downtown and separated. I went to Santa Ana and later to San
|
||
Pedro. I went back to Los Angeles next Saturday evening to find out what was
|
||
going on and ran into Sands. I saw him next day, too. He was leaving for San
|
||
Pedro to take a boat for Mexico, and told me where to reach him at Vera Cruz.
|
||
"I exchanged several letters with him at Vera Cruz after that. He kept
|
||
telling me to keep my mouth shut and not to mention his name.
|
||
"Sands did not kill Taylor; I'm sure of that. I don't think he meant to
|
||
run away when he started to Mexico; I understand he was going to arrange for
|
||
more narcotic shipments.
|
||
"It think Taylor was shot down between about 1:45 a.m. when Sands and he
|
||
talked together on the telephone, and 2:30 a.m. when we beat it from the
|
||
Alvarado Street address. "I did not travel with the gang after that, and,
|
||
having lost the guiding hand of Sands, I got into several jams and was sent
|
||
to Folsom. At the prison I told something of this to Buck Cook, who squealed
|
||
to the prison officials.
|
||
"Thomas Gannon of the prison board then called me and asked me what I
|
||
knew about the Taylor murder."
|
||
Shortly after Governor Richardson made his startling charges, Otis
|
||
Hefner was found by a newspaper reporter, living under the name of Arthur
|
||
Nelson, in Redwood City, California. Hefner repeated his story as told above,
|
||
stating that both he and Sands had positively identified the motion picture
|
||
actress seen rushing from the apartment.
|
||
No sooner had the Taylor case resumed its place on the front pages than
|
||
Henry Peavey, ex-servant and valet of Taylor, was located in Sacramento.
|
||
While Hefner's story covered events immediately after the murder. Peavey told
|
||
a story purporting to reveal what had happened the preceding evening while
|
||
Taylor was still alive.
|
||
"I went to [sic] Taylor's home about 7:00 o'clock in the evening. I
|
||
wanted to check out for the day. When I got to the door of the room I heard
|
||
loud talking inside and hesitated to go in.
|
||
"I recognized the voice of the girl, who was a prominent motion picture
|
||
actress and who had formerly been on much more friendly terms with Mr.
|
||
Taylor.
|
||
"I had an appointment downtown, so after waiting for about ten minutes,
|
||
I knocked on the door and opened it. I saw Taylor and the actress. I told
|
||
Taylor I was leaving, closed the door, and went out, leaving them together.
|
||
"I learned later from Taylor's chauffeur that he phoned the house at
|
||
7:20 and got no response, and when he found the place dark later, he went on
|
||
home.
|
||
"The murder was evidently committed then, between 7:10 and 7:20 p.m. and
|
||
Taylor's body was found next morning in the room where I left him with the
|
||
actress. [38]
|
||
"I know she was very angry with him because he did not care so much for
|
||
her as he once did, and was paying attention to another motion picture
|
||
actress."
|
||
When Peavey had finished his story he assured his questioners that he
|
||
was eager to come to Los Angeles and tell his story to the Grand Jury.
|
||
"You didn't tell this same story at the Coroner's inquest?"
|
||
"No, they wouldn't let me. They tried to shake my story. They threatened
|
||
me. I didn't change my story, but I left out the part about the row at Mr.
|
||
Taylor's."
|
||
"What do you mean by 'they'?"
|
||
"The District Attorney's office."
|
||
We placed no stock in Peavey's statements. We had questioned him
|
||
thoroughly a number of times immediately following the murder, and he had
|
||
never told us any story that would indicate that Taylor had been murdered by
|
||
a motion picture actress.
|
||
I am sure that he told everything he knew at the beginning. He was the
|
||
pride of Central Avenue at the time (Los Angeles' Negro belt)--bought himself
|
||
a new pair of spats, and became the most important person in town in his own
|
||
estimation. If he had known more he would have sprung it for the added glory
|
||
and glamour.
|
||
There were those who thought he was concealing something at first. But,
|
||
after some newspaper boys took him to the cemetery and sweated him over a
|
||
gravestone, and couldn't get any more out of him, they were satisfied. [39]
|
||
As for the District Attorney's office not allowing him to testify to the
|
||
full facts at the coroner's inquest, I don't believe he could have testified
|
||
to anything correctly at the inquest. He took one look at Taylor's body,
|
||
became half hysterical, and his chin shook so that we could hear his teeth
|
||
chatter all the way across the inquest room.
|
||
We had no more confidence in the story told by Hefner than the one told
|
||
by Peavey. In my opinion he had concocted his story of events in the Taylor
|
||
mystery from reading newspapers and discussing the crime with other prisoners
|
||
for the sole purpose of effecting his release, and so successful had he been
|
||
in convincing Governor Richardson of the authenticity of his statements, that
|
||
the executive paroled him in 1925. Hefner violated this parole, was sent back
|
||
to prison, only to be re-paroled again in 1926.
|
||
But, not wishing to leave any stone unturned, my boss, District Attorney
|
||
Buron Fitts, ordered me to go north for an interview with Hefner.
|
||
On Friday afternoon, January 10th, 1930, I took the Owl train to San
|
||
Francisco, where I interviewed Mr. Crissey and Mr. George Powers, of the
|
||
Daily News, as it was they to whom Hefner had told his latest story.
|
||
Hefner, they stated, was living at 205 Redwood Avenue, Redwood City,
|
||
which is located on the peninsula some thirty-five miles south of San
|
||
Francisco.
|
||
Mr. Powers explained that one Tommy Jones, who had been living with
|
||
Hefner, and working with him at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, of San
|
||
Mateo, California, was thought to be the missing Edward F. Sands.
|
||
Jones, who, according to Mr. Powers, fitted the description of Sands,
|
||
had, within the last few days, disappeared from his hotel and his place of
|
||
employment. There was a portion of his salary due at the company office,
|
||
which Jones had failed to collect.
|
||
On Saturday afternoon, January 12th, I took a machine from San Francisco
|
||
and drove to San Mateo, then to Hefner's home in Redwood City. While in San
|
||
Mateo I went to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and talked with R. W.
|
||
Briggs, gang foreman of the electric lines, who explained to me that Tommy
|
||
Jones had been employed as a lineman and worked under his supervision.
|
||
Mr. Briggs produced his time book which showed Jones had not quit his
|
||
job within the last few days, but on December 6th, 1929; and stated that the
|
||
description of Sands did not fit the description of Jones in any way, Jones
|
||
being a much younger man.
|
||
I showed Mr. Briggs the picture I had of Edward F. Sands. Mr. Briggs
|
||
called several linemen who knew Tom Jones very well, and all stated that the
|
||
picture of Sands could not possibly be the picture of Jones.
|
||
Mr. Briggs also explained that Tom Jones was an extremely ignorant man;
|
||
that he could scarcely read or write, and had trouble signing his own name.
|
||
He was a Southerner and spoke with a distinct southern drawl, talking
|
||
continually of coon hunting and 'possum hunting in the South. Jones, when he
|
||
left the employ of the gas company, had stated that he was taking his wife
|
||
and two children to the vicinity of Phoenix, Arizona.
|
||
I then went to the St. James Hotel where Jones had formerly lived and
|
||
was told by the landlady and several of the roomers that Jones couldn't
|
||
possibly be Edward F. Sands.
|
||
Having established conclusively that there could be nothing to the Sands
|
||
story as concerned Tom Jones, I proceeded to the Hefner home in Redwood City,
|
||
where I found the house locked up with the curtains all pulled down. The mail
|
||
box contained mail from several days.
|
||
I returned to San Francisco for the night, but early the next morning I
|
||
again set out for Redwood City, determined to watch the house of Hefner for
|
||
his return. About 9:00 a.m. I telephoned Edward Whyte, State Parole Officer,
|
||
and he informed me that if I would come immediately to his office in the
|
||
Ferry Building, San Francisco, he would produce Hefner for me, as Hefner was
|
||
in hiding at Whyte's suggestion to keep away from newspaper men.
|
||
I went directly to Whyte's office and after a few moments' conversation
|
||
he brought Otis Hefner from an adjoining room.
|
||
Tall, lean and bronzed, there was little about Hefner to suggest the ex-
|
||
convict. No trace of prison pallor was left and the deep tan of his face gave
|
||
his eyes an intense appearance.
|
||
Hefner started to repeat the story he had told the newspapers, but
|
||
before he had talked two minutes, I was convinced that he couldn't possibly
|
||
know anything of the details of this murder.
|
||
"Hefner," I said, "you're lying to me. When you first told your famous
|
||
yarn to Ex-Governor Richardson, you lied. After you told your first lie,
|
||
you've been forced to tell a thousand others to cover up. Now, come clean. Am
|
||
I right?"
|
||
A broad smile--a sigh of relief--tears trickling down his cheeks--then
|
||
Hefner replied:
|
||
"Yes, King, you are right. I told a lie to get out of Folsom Prison and
|
||
I've been compelled to tell many others to keep out. I have been working hard
|
||
since my release to re-establish myself as a good citizen. My wife has been
|
||
sick. We are paying for our little home and it just about takes all I earn.
|
||
During the three years I have been out, I have never left home except during
|
||
working hours."
|
||
After several further remarks, I decided I did not wish to interview him
|
||
any further, but I wanted him to tell his story first-hand to Mr. Fitts. He
|
||
agreed to go to Los Angeles with me provided I would agree to keep the
|
||
newspaper men and cameras away from him.
|
||
He explained that he did not want his wife to know of his former prison
|
||
record. She was seated in his machine with their young baby out in front of
|
||
the Ferry Building. He wanted me to go down to the machine with him and
|
||
explain that he must go to Los Angeles with me, but merely as a witness in an
|
||
important matter. He asked me to avoid all mention of his past life.
|
||
This I did, meeting Mrs. Hefner and the baby. We made arrangements for
|
||
Hefner to take the wife and baby to the home of Mrs. Hefner's sister in
|
||
Oakland, there to remain until his return to San Francisco.
|
||
Mr. Whyte, parole officer, confirmed his statements, adding that Hefner
|
||
had accounted to him for every penny of the money he had earned at hard labor
|
||
for the past three years; had lived a straightforward and upright life ever
|
||
since his release on parole; and regardless of his fake story, he thought
|
||
justice could best be served by allowing him to return to his wife and baby,
|
||
so, after a talk with the District Attorney, we furnished him transportation
|
||
and allowed him to return home.
|
||
With the revivified search for a solution of the eight-year-old mystery
|
||
of who killed William Desmond Taylor, came other "confessions" from all over
|
||
the country.
|
||
A man in Birmingham, Alabama, confessed that he had been an eyewitness
|
||
to the murder. He claimed to have been hidden behind the piano in Taylor's
|
||
apartment where he had sought refuge, when Taylor and a woman whom he named
|
||
entered.
|
||
This woman soon left and a second woman entered, dressed as a man.
|
||
Taylor reprimanded her for masquerading and they argued over the woman's
|
||
demand for money. Taylor gave her a check which she tore to bits.
|
||
As she was about to leave, the "confession" continued, this woman drew a
|
||
gun and shot Taylor. By shifting his position, he could see Taylor as he
|
||
slumped down in his chair and crumpled to the floor.
|
||
This "confession" was highly imaginative, practically improbable and
|
||
undoubtedly false. The piano in Taylor's living room was a small baby grand
|
||
model and it would have been next to impossible for anyone to hide behind it
|
||
and escape detection. We examined the room for hiding-places and eliminated
|
||
the piano the first day of the inquiry. There was not a place in the room
|
||
where a man could possibly have remained hidden.
|
||
There were many other discrepancies in his story. He described a
|
||
vestibule and there was no vestibule. He described Taylor's desk as a
|
||
"colonial" style desk, while in reality it was a small roll top desk with
|
||
pigeonholes.
|
||
Whoever murdered Taylor slipped in through the front door when Taylor
|
||
accompanied Mabel Normand from his home to her waiting automobile.
|
||
When Taylor re-entered the house, his murderer stepped out from behind
|
||
the partially open front door and shot him from behind. This fact alone
|
||
proved the falsity of his story, which he had so constructed that the
|
||
assailant had to shoot from in front.
|
||
Since the re-opening of the case, we have been receiving as high as 100
|
||
letters a day, coming all the way from the Yukon on the North and Florida on
|
||
the South.
|
||
And, it is remarkable how many persons in the United States have vital
|
||
information concerning the murder. I don't understand how they've kept their
|
||
secrets locked up in the breasts for the past eight years.
|
||
All they need is an opportunity to come to Los Angeles, and according to
|
||
their letters, the mystery would be solved. I might add that we are expected
|
||
to pay the freight both ways.
|
||
Today the Taylor case is listed among the great unsolved crime mysteries
|
||
of the world, the chances being good that it will stay there.
|
||
Dope, love, jealousy, revenge, blackmail--all have entered into our
|
||
investigations.
|
||
There was never a particle of real evidence to connect Taylor with a
|
||
dope ring.
|
||
The only way love and jealousy entered into the case was through the
|
||
admission of Mary Miles Minter, who confessed unashamedly that she loved
|
||
William Desmond Taylor.
|
||
Never, for one moment, have I suspected Mabel Normand of knowing
|
||
anything about the murder. I questioned her many times when she was
|
||
completely off her guard. If she had known anything, the truth would have
|
||
come out.
|
||
The revenge motive was found only in connection with Sands. Taylor had
|
||
threatened his arrest and filed charges against him.
|
||
Taylor's unlocked home and his way of living without a retinue of
|
||
servants made it comparatively easy for his slayer to enter his bungalow,
|
||
shoot him and get away without leaving a single clue.
|
||
As stated in the opening paragraph of my story, almost from the first
|
||
hour of my investigation, I have known who committed this murder. But knowing
|
||
it and proving it are two separate things. However. I am a great believer in
|
||
the law of retribution, and I feel positive that some day this law will make
|
||
good in the case of William Desmond Taylor. [40]
|
||
*****************************************************************************
|
||
*****************************************************************************
|
||
NOTES:
|
||
[1] Edna Purviance did not live in the same building as Taylor. Taylor lived
|
||
in apartment 404B and the other unit in his building was 404A. Edna Purviance
|
||
lived in 402A, in the building directly to the west of Taylor. See LOS
|
||
ANGELES EXAMINER (February 12, 1922). Other early press reports also
|
||
indicated that she lived in the next building.
|
||
[2] According to Peavey's testimony at the coroner's inquest, he arrived at
|
||
Taylor's home at 7:30 a.m.
|
||
[3] According to Peavey's testimony at the coroner's inquest, he brought a
|
||
bottle of milk of magnesia which he had obtained at a drug store, and picked
|
||
up the newspaper (not milk bottle) from Taylor's doorstep before opening the
|
||
door.
|
||
[4] Peavey testified at the inquest that "a chair that was sitting next to
|
||
the wall had been pushed out a little bit and his feet was under this chair."
|
||
The chair was not overturned. A diagram of the crime scene in the Los Angeles
|
||
Record (February 2, 1922) had the chair upright and astride one of Taylor's
|
||
legs. On February 10, District Attorney Woolwine returned to the crime scene
|
||
with E.C. Jessurun, the first person to actually enter the room that morning,
|
||
and a photo was posed in the exact same position as the body was originally
|
||
found; again, the chair is astride the left leg and not overturned. See LOS
|
||
ANGELES EXAMINER (February 11, 1922). Also see Sidney D. Kirkpatrick, A CAST
|
||
OF KILLERS (Dutton, 1986), p. 164.
|
||
[5] King's description of the path of the bullet is highly inaccurate.
|
||
According to the testimony of the coroner at the inquest, the bullet entered
|
||
Taylor's left side and travelled upward, lodging near the base of the right
|
||
side of his neck.
|
||
[6] Taylor's apartment was too small for a baby grand piano. Press reports,
|
||
diagrams, photos of the murder scene, and Taylor's probate documents all
|
||
agree that the piano was an upright.
|
||
[7] The actual inscription read: "For William Desmond Taylor-Artist,
|
||
Gentleman, Man. Sincere good wishes. Mary Miles Minter. -1920-". A
|
||
reproduction of the photo can be seen in the LOS ANGELES EXAMINER (February
|
||
4, 1937).
|
||
[8] Nevertheless, rumors of the robbery motive persisted. On the afternoon
|
||
before his death Taylor had met with his income tax advisor, J. Marjorie
|
||
Berger. She told reporters that Taylor had shown her a large roll of bills he
|
||
had with him at that time, a roll much larger than the <20>at $78.00 found on
|
||
his body the next morning. See LOS ANGELES RECORD (February 17, 1922).
|
||
[9] This rumor of a large withdrawal was reportedly discredited, and it was
|
||
found that the deposit was primarily Taylor's paychecks, and not cash. See
|
||
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER (February 15, 1922, reprinted in WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR:
|
||
A DOSSIER, pp. 380-1).
|
||
[10] Mabel Normand did not return to Taylor's apartment on the day the body
|
||
was found. She first returned there after the inquest on February 4, to show
|
||
the detectives how the furniture had been arranged during her last visit with
|
||
Taylor.
|
||
[11] Although there was a press report to this effect, there was also an
|
||
interview where Minter denied any knowledge of an engagement between Taylor
|
||
and Normand. See LOS ANGELES RECORD (February 3, 1922).
|
||
[12] There were also authoritative reports that the nightgown had no initials.
|
||
See LOS ANGELES TIMES (February 4, 1937, reprinted in WDT: DOSSIER, p. 369).
|
||
[13] Press reports of the time indicated that it was Mabel Normand's letters,
|
||
missing for the week following the murder, which were found in the toe of
|
||
Taylor's boot, having been planted there by Charles Eyton who had earlier
|
||
removed them from the apartment. Two coded love letters from Mary Miles
|
||
Minter were found earlier by reporters, and there was no indication that they
|
||
were signed. Photos of two of the letters were reproduced in the Hearst
|
||
press. Minter later admitted writing the letters to Taylor, during 1919.
|
||
See Minter's statement reprinted in TAYLOROLOGY 11.
|
||
[14] Taylor had eaten the evening meal at 6:30, and Peavey was just cleaning
|
||
up afterwards when Mabel Normand arrived.
|
||
[15] Most of Mabel Normand's own statements indicated that she did not enter
|
||
Taylor's apartment until after he had finished the telephone conversation.
|
||
There was no mention elsewhere of her dropping peanut shells on Taylor's
|
||
floor, and it seems doubtful based on other reporting of the scene. She did
|
||
drop peanut shells in her car while her chauffeur was driving her to
|
||
Taylor's, and perhaps King has confused the incidents.
|
||
[16] In her own statement to the press, Edna Purviance said she was not home
|
||
that evening, and did not come home until 11:45 p.m., when she noticed the
|
||
light burning in Taylor's apartment. See LOS ANGELES EXAMINER (February 12,
|
||
1922).
|
||
[17] Although King evidently believes Taylor was seated at his desk when the
|
||
shot was fired, other investigators concluded Taylor was standing when he was
|
||
shot. See A CAST OF KILLERS, p. 164, and LOS ANGELES RECORD (March 27, 1926,
|
||
reprinted in WDT: DOSSIER, p. 365).
|
||
[18] According to Mrs. MacLean's statements, when she first saw the man he was
|
||
standing outside of Taylor's door. See SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER (February 6,
|
||
1922, reprinted in WDT: DOSSIER, pp. 333-5).
|
||
[19] The man walked towards Maryland St., not Fourth Street.
|
||
[20] The preceding is undoubtedly a reference to Mary Miles Minter. Although
|
||
King indicates Minter's late-night visit to Taylor took place two days prior
|
||
to the murder, other statements in the police file indicate her visit took
|
||
place several days or weeks earlier; see WDT: DOSSIER, pp. 328-329 and
|
||
TAYLOROLOGY 7 (Robertson's statement indicates that Taylor related this
|
||
incident to Hoyt on the previous Saturday [January 28] which would mean that
|
||
the incident described took place earlier). It's possible that Minter's visit
|
||
took place in December 1921; see LOS ANGELES TIMES (August 15, 1925,
|
||
reprinted in WDT: DOSSIER, pp. 254-5).
|
||
[21] King gives the impression that this "psychic's phone call" story was
|
||
given to the press a few days after the murder, but it actually happened
|
||
eight months later. See LOS ANGELES TIMES (October 4, 1922). This was the
|
||
first rumor to appear in the newspapers implying Shelby had killed Taylor.
|
||
[22] The biography which follows is primarily from studio sources, and
|
||
contains various errors, including the wrong date for Taylor's birth. Taylor
|
||
was in the British, not Canadian, Army (see TAYLOROLOGY 40).
|
||
[23] Although Ada Tanner had seen Taylor but once in California, she
|
||
previously had seen him in New York.
|
||
[24] For the complete tale, see DENVER POST, (February 10, 1922). Denis Deane-
|
||
Tanner could not possibly be Edward Sands. See CHIGAGO HERALD-EXAMINER
|
||
(February 8, 1922) and LOS ANGELES TIMES (February 3, 1937, both reprinted in
|
||
WDT: DOSSIER pp. 392-393).
|
||
[25] This burglary was on December 4, two months before the murder.
|
||
[26] The warrant charging Sands with grand larceny was issued in July 1921,
|
||
after the first theft by Sands. See WDT: DOSSIER, p. 318, and TAYLOROLOGY 19.
|
||
[27] See TAYLOROLOGY 29 for information on Taylor's whereabouts between 1908
|
||
and 1912.
|
||
[28] The earlier Navy enlistment was reportedly under the name of Edward F.
|
||
Snyder, not Sands. Sands had also deserted from the U.S. Army under the name
|
||
of Strathmore, and also had enlisted in the U. S. Coast Guard. See
|
||
TAYLOROLOGY 19.
|
||
[29] Press reports indicate Harry Young, alias Harry Lee, was located in
|
||
Folsom prison in 1930 but that he had been in Los Angeles at the time of the
|
||
Taylor murder. Lee's 1922 cellmate reportedly said Lee had confessed killing
|
||
Taylor for $1000 on behalf of a drug gang. See LOS ANGELES RECORD (January 6,
|
||
1930). Lee was found at Folsom, denied killing Taylor, and said that he was
|
||
one of the first arrested as a suspect in the murder but was released after
|
||
three days. See SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (January 7, 1930). Lee's earlier
|
||
arrest was reported on March 3, 1922, indicating Lee had a quantity of
|
||
cocaine, opium and drug paraphernalia, plus a .38 caliber pistol; it was
|
||
reported that he was questioned about the Taylor murder but denied any
|
||
knowledge of it. See LOS ANGELES EXAMINER (March 4, 1922).
|
||
[30] The individual King calls "John Narizara" was referred to in the press as
|
||
"John Marazino." See LOS ANGELES EXPRESS (December 20, 1922).
|
||
[31] For the original newspaper account of this item, see SANTA ANA REGISTER
|
||
(February 17 and 18, 1922). Those press items say the incident took place on
|
||
January 30, which was two days prior to the murder.
|
||
[32] Of course, the reports that Taylor was a captain in the Canadian army,
|
||
were erroneous. He was in the British army.
|
||
[33] Upon his return, Andrew Cock was again interviewed by the SANTA ANA
|
||
REGISTER (March 18, 1922). He reportedly stated that he was uncertain as to
|
||
whether or not Kirby was the man he saw earlier.
|
||
[34] Walter Kirby's death was reported in the LOS ANGELES EXAMINER (May 3,
|
||
1922). Contemporary press articles refer to Kirby as having the nickname
|
||
"Whitey," not "Red."
|
||
[35] This interview revealing her "engagement" was from the LOS ANGELES
|
||
EXAMINER. But in her written statement to the LOS ANGELES TIMES (August 15,
|
||
1923), she wrote: "We were never engaged in the sense that he had asked me to
|
||
marry him and I had promised. I had always hoped that sometime we would be
|
||
married. But I had planned in my own mind-never with Mr. Taylor--that as soon
|
||
as I had made enough money so that mother and sister could be assured of a
|
||
comfortable income for the rest of their lives--that perhaps we would be
|
||
married. But not engaged in the sense of wearing a ring, or of telling one's
|
||
friends of an intention to marry or of telling my mother. Marrying Mr. Taylor
|
||
was just my dream--a dream which, voiced to film, always met with the answer
|
||
that it was impossible."
|
||
[36] Minter was nineteen when Taylor died, further indication that much of
|
||
this "interview" was probably fabricated by the reporter.
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||
[37] This obviously was supposed to be Mabel Normand.
|
||
[38] The time of 7:20 p.m. for the telephone call of Taylor's chauffeur was
|
||
given in a second-hand account. When Peavey was interviewed by reporters
|
||
directly he said the unanswered call was at 7:30. Peavey had stated at the
|
||
inquest that he left Taylor's apartment at about a quarter past seven, so
|
||
that would place the time of death between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m., if Peavey were
|
||
correct. The actress referred to by Peavey is obviously Mabel Normand.
|
||
King's account omits Peavey's statement that the woman and Taylor were loudly
|
||
arguing.
|
||
[39] King is wrong here, and his attempt to discredit Peavey does not stand up
|
||
to impartial examination. The 1922 press evidence clearly does show that
|
||
Peavey told the authorities he thought Normand killed Taylor. See LOS ANGELES
|
||
RECORD (February 20, 1922). Peavey expressed the same opinion to the Hearst
|
||
reporters who abducted him. See SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER (February 21, 1922),
|
||
and CHICAGO AMERICAN (February 20 and 21, 1922, reprinted in TAYLOROLOGY 22
|
||
and 23). During that abduction, he also told of the argument he witnessed
|
||
between Taylor and Normand. See LOS ANGELES HERALD (February 20, 1922). That
|
||
argument was hinted at in Mabel Normand's own statement to reporters. See LOS
|
||
ANGELES EXAMINER (February 15, 1922, reprinted in TAYLOROLOGY 6). In Peavey's
|
||
1930 statement to the press he said he had no knowledge as to what the
|
||
argument was about. See LOS ANGELES RECORD (January 7, 1930).
|
||
[40] From the context of the article it is clear King thought Charlotte
|
||
Shelby, dressed in man's clothing, was the person who murdered Taylor.
|
||
*****************************************************************************
|
||
*****************************************************************************
|
||
Back issues of Taylorology are available from the gopher server at
|
||
gopher.etext.org
|
||
in the directory Zines/Taylorology;
|
||
or on the Web at
|
||
http://www.angelfire.com/az/Taylorology
|
||
*****************************************************************************
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