The Gruesome Caples Murder of 1934

Columbian, 3/12/34

Clues Lacking in Police Hunt for Caples Slayers

21-Year-Old Vancouver Youth Shot Down and Robbed

With definite clues apparently still lacking but with the list of possibilities gradually narrowing down, two men were being sought by deputy sheriffs and police today for one of the most cold-blooded murders in the recent history of this county -- the robbery killing of Herbert Lee Caples, 21, who was shot down in the back yard of his home at 3108 R St. a few minutes before midnight Saturday.

The victim, a youth of small stature, was shot four times -- in one thigh, in the lower part of his chest, at the base of the neck, and through the face. At least one shot, that through the face, because of the course the bullet took, is believed to have been fired into him as he lay dying upon the earth. The murderer apparently shot him at point-blank range; and in fact the fatal wound, that in the chest was said to have been fired with the pistol muzzle pressed against his body, because of the powder burn the explosion left.

Large Sum Missing

Robbery is regarded as the primary cause for the tragedy, though the subsequent steps that culminated in the shooting itself are uncertain. A billfold which is supposed to have contained between $500 and $700, representing collections upon a business route young Caples covered, cannot be found; and when officers arrived a few minutes after the shooting the body was discovered with one pocket of the breeches the victim wore pulled completely inside out, indicating that the killers had yanked the fat leather folder from it either before the shooting or afterward.

What happened may never be known in full As reconstructed from the accounts of neighbors who heard the shooting and relatives who were with the young man during the day and night, the story has two major features -- a pair of unidentified individuals burglarized Caples’ house during his absence, and either by intent or accident they were present when the owner returned.

Had Wife and Baby

The young man, a native of Clark County, was a member of the firm of Caples Brothers, wholesale tobacconists and candy dealers. He was he delivery man and collector of the firm, and drove a fast delivery wagon over a considerable route in southwestern Washington.

Saturday he had taken his young wife and their year-old son to Ostrander, between Kelso and Castle Rock, to visit her mother, and then he had collected back along his route. He was accompanied by his father-in-law, A.J. Erickson, who had merely come down for a trip and planned to go back the next day. According to Erickson the young man was carrying a billfold but was not carrying either the money sack of the heavy leather coat that usually accompanied him on the trips. These two items subsequently were found in the kitchen of the house, thrown over a chair. Neighbors Hear Shooting

Upon their arrival in Vancouver they went to the home of another son-in-law of Erickson’s and discovered that relative was having a birthday party; so Erickson stayed thee while Caples drove home. He said he was going to turn over the money to his older brother, change from his working clothes, and return to the party. He left the relative’s house about 11:35pm as nearly as could be determined.

Police were summoned at 1:55 p.m. by Mr. and Mrs. A.J. Cook of 3100 R St., who had heard the shooting, had dressed and had run four blocks to a store on S St. where they aroused the proprietor and telephoned. A police prowler responded at once and Patrolman Reuben Barney made the discovery.

He said that the body was lying face down beside a narrow concrete walk that connected the back steps of the house with a door in the garage, which sits some 15 feet directly west of the house and opens on an alley. He found the back door of the house open and found that the house had been ransacked, the criminals having torn a screen off a bedroom window n the northeast corner and having crawled in through the window.

Find Candy Box

Caples was lying near the southeast corner of the garage. His cap was some 12 to 15 feet away near the northeast corner of the garage. An aluminum-backed order book was on the earth a few feet east of the body toward R St. between the Caples house and the Cook house. Still farther toward the street was a candy box, dropped or thrown by the murderers in flight, with a few pieces of candy still in it and with wrappers nearby while similar wrappers were in the kitchen.

The truck which the victim drove was in the garage and the door on the driver’s side stood open, as did the back doors through which the machine had entered.

Lights On In House

Mrs. Cook, recounting her story to officers that night and again today to a Columbian representative, said that she and her husband had retired about 11:30. Their bedroom is in a corner nearest to the Caples garage, and a window on that side was open with the blind up and only a screen covering it. They had noticed, she said, that lights were on in the Caples house but thought nothing of it. As she was about to drowse she heard someone say "Hello" outside, but paid no attention. A brief time later shots rang out. They were so fast, she said, that she had no accurate count of them, but does not remember more than three.

The explosions were followed almost immediately by a voice obviously in terrible anguish. She believes the victim was trying to call for help, but she was not certain whether or not he actually called their name, although it sounded like that.

Saw Two Men Running

She sprang out of bed and to the window. From the darkened room, looking across to the lights of the Caples house on the next lot, she saw two men run from the rear of the Caples house out between that place and hers toward R St. They were running fast, she said, and she had only a momentary glimpse of them before a garage that sits between the two houses near the street cut off her view. There is no street light anywhere in that locality and she could not identify them in any way other than to be sure that they were medium-sized individuals.

Her first thought was to rush out in a n effort to aid the dying man, but her husband restrained her, and after a moment’s consultation they threw on a few articles of clothing and ran together the four blocks to the store. Mrs. Cook’s story was corroborated generally by that of Mrs. A.H. Cupitt, who lives perhaps 150 feet away on the corner of thirty-second and R Sts., although Mrs. Cupitt believes she heard more.

Heard Angry Voices

The latter resident said she was in bed and awake at the time. Her bedroom is on the corner toward the Caples place, and the window was open. She said she heard voices in the direction of the Caples place, but thought nothing of it since the neighborhood was often noisy on Saturday nights. The voices grew angrier. Suddenly shots rang out. She thinks she heard five or three so close that they fairly blurred together, then two more a second or two later. Then she heard more sounds as of voices.

After the officers arrived, Clifford Marble, whose home adjoins the Caples residence on the other side, returned to his place and reported that it had been entered through the basement and that his watchdog had been brutally kicked, suffering a jaw fracture.

Subsequent investigation, it was said today, revealed that the prowlers in ransacking the Caples home, had taken a few trinkets of minor value, but also had especially investigated two places where the victim occasionally had stored money in the past -- a cigar box in a closet, and a small cedar chest in a bedroom. Contents of both were scattered.

Find .32 Shells

Deputies who scoured the vicinity after the discovery found two empty cartridges within three or four feet of the body, expelled from a .32 caliber automatic pistol. In the subsequent autopsy, only two of the four bullets wee found in the body, the others having passed through, and as they were of .32 caliber it was thought for a time that perhaps two weapons, one more powerful than the other, had been employed. Sunday, however, Deputy Charles Thurman found a third .32 cartridge in some grass near the garage, indicating that only the one weapon had been used.

Ben Pearson, chief criminal deputy, searched the house for fingerprints and took a number of prints at the window and other spots in the house. There wee being held for future reference.

Think Robbery Planned

Looking back on the crime, officers today wee inclined to believe that it was committed by someone familiar with the victim and his habits, but that the killing itself was not intended until a few moments before it was done. They thin that the criminals, cognizant of the fact that Caples usually collected on the tenth of the month and brought in considerable sums, intended to prowl through the vacant house in search of it. Not finding anything, they may have decided to await his return, brazenly turning on the lights and eating the while.

Caples, they believe, drove into his garage, got out on the driver’s side, and walked back out of the garage and around on the north side, that being easier than going out the small garage door because of the cramped quarters. At the corner where his cap was found he is believed to have been accosted by the murderers. They then attempted to hold him up, if this theory is correct, and perhaps endeavored to knock him unconscious, as there was a fresh bruise near one eye which might have been cause by a blow, although it may also have been due to the death fall.

Think Assailants Recognized

Either he resisted, grappled with them and finally was shot, or else -- a view which seemed to be in the majority today -- he recognized them and called them by name, and they, panic-stricken, suddenly decided to kill him to protect themselves. The billfold may have been yanked from his pocket during this scuffle, r else it may have been snatched hastily after he fell. At any rate the other front pocket contained $26.33 in silver, which weighted down the pocket so that it was difficult to extract.

Officers were following a number of leads today in the effort to trace the killers, and said they had no information to divulge but still had several avenues to follow.

Columbian, 5/29/36

G.R. Stringer Pays Penalty

Slayer of Vancouver Man Hanged Shortly After Midnight

Walla Walla, Wash., May 29 -- Glenn R. Stringer, 23, paid his debt to the state early this morning on the penitentiary gallows.

The young Vancouver holdup man dropped through the trap at 12:08 am. Fifteen minutes later a staff of physicians pronounced him dead.

Stringer left his death cell at midnight and walked calmly to the execution room. Warden McCauley asked if he had anything he would like to say.

"No, I don't think so," said Stringer. "I'll leave that to Mr. Schmidt." Rev. Peter Schmidt was Stringer’s spiritual advisor. He said after the hanging that Stringer had told him he was ready to die for his murder of Herbert Lee Caples, 21-year-old Vancouver tobacconist in a backyard holdup March 10, 1934, and said "he was old enough to know better."

Rev. Schmidt said Stringer felt quite bitter about the bad associates who led to his downfall, especially against Ralph Tremaine, his alleged accomplice in the holdup-murder, who he said fired two shots to his one at Caples. Tremaine is still at large.

Stringer left a letter for Beulah Wilcox, Grants Pass, Ore., who was with him through his trial and who sought permission to marry him after his conviction in Vancouver, March 26. Miss Wilcox visited Stringer in his death cell Wednesday.