CONTENTS He n r . G d d ar In troducti on by Dr . y H o d I . Chapter , The Delinquent Moron Chapter II . , Psychology of Confessions of Crime Chapter III The Murder of William Booth and the Convie tion of William Branson and Mrs . Booth Chapter IV William Biggin Shows Warden Murphy Where He Concealed the Revolver a Chapter V . , Appe l to the Public for the Release of Wil liam Branson and Mrs . Booth . a an d He r Chapter VI . , The Murder of Mrs Daisy Wehrm n Child VII a . Ch pter , The Crime Indicates the Criminal ’ We h rm a n s D e a d Chapter VIII The Hair Found in Mrs . Hands IX ’ Chapter . , John Sierks Letters About the Murder ’ th e X . Chapter , Confirmation of John Sierks Confession of Murder Chapter XI Circumstantial Evidence XL ’ Supplement to Chapter , Containing Judge Pipes Brief II X . Chapter , Characteristics of Sadism . X e Chapter III Personal Character of Mr . Pend r Chapter XIV The Sadistic Murder of the Hill Family ’ B n Chapter XV . , William iggins Confessio Chapter XVI The Murder of Mary Spina XV Chapter II . , Conclusion f Pre ss o Pa ci$ c Coas t Res cue a nd Prot e ct ive Socie ty o n N G . mx s J . H S n a , medium grade w h o moron , confessed to kill ing Mrs . Wehrma n and her child i n Columbia S 1 91 1 County , Oregon , in eptember , , and a then repudi ted his confession . Chap 6 - 1 3 ters . JOH N RT H UR FE N DER A , who was wrong of r s ful l y convicted the murder of M . Wehrman and her child . Mr . Pender has been in different j ail s and the peniten ti a r S 1 5 1 91 1 y since eptember , . PREFACE Some years ago I spent a Sunday afternoon at the Oregon State Penitenti ary in Salem with one of the officers of the insti $ tuti on and a trusty. The latter was a very intelligent man , who had received a college education . The conversation turned to the questi on of mental defect among the inmates of the insti ti n 340 . tu o , who at that time numbered about Neither of my companions was an alienist nor a psychologist but they both knew the men in the institution, and referring to the prison records they named about 70 men who were (in their opinion) defective . The deputy warden, to whom I mentioned the sub $ ect j of our conversation , said, Yes, and I could add some to $ your list . I did not feel confident that the list was entirely accurate, but I realized that every day association with the prisoners prob a bly made the designation of defective by these men worthy of t w m thoughtful considera ion at least . In jotting do n the na es of these prisoners I asked what offenses they had committed . In this list approximating 70 defective prisoners 36 were serving s entences for rape and of the 36 there were 13 who had raped r their own daughters . One prisoner was serving his third te m for this same offense . Seventeen of these prisoners were guilty of the offense which has made ancient Sodom a byw ord through the centuries . Six of these men had committed murder and all of the six were sex perverts. Naturally th ese defective beings often have a defective moral sense . My observation has often confirmed that fact . Kraft $ Ebing remarks that this psychic degeneration, however, has a o more pr found pathological foundation , because often it can be i - referred to dist nct cerebro pathologic conditions, and often i enough is associated with anatom c signs of degeneration . $ The sexual instinct in particular is very frequently m $ abnor al . It is my purpose in presenting the facts contained in this s hort volume to bring the matter before the people of the nation, or, at least, before those interested in criminal problems and in social service work . I also wish to point out the vagaries of the average trial jury in the matter of so-called circumstanti al evidence in cases where some terrible crime has be en committed and where th e evidence Pr ace ii . ef s a th against the accused per on is purely inferenti l, or, to use e al legal term , circumstanti . The investigation of these cases has come to me as president ’ of the Oregon Prisoners Aid Society . I have also had a commis sion as Special Agent of the State of Oregon for the past four t . years, hough serving without salary Governor James b S Withycom e, who appointed me as pecial Agent, had taken a great interest in the Wehrman murder, the Hill sadistic murder, and the Booth murder. He furnished me expense money in the Wehrman murder case and the Hill murder case to the amount 400 of approximately $ , and the vouchers for the itemized s S expense of my investigations are on file at the tate House . Governor Withycombe also paid a former newspaper man , Mr. Richard C . Lee, to make an independent investigation of the Wehrman murder. He also directed Warden Murphy to make an investigation of William Ri ggin ’ s confession in the Booth murder case , which was paid for by the state . I have given a great deal of my time for several years without any charge, as a matter of duty, because I was president of the ’ t Oregon Prisoners Aid Society, to the investiga ions of the Wehr B man murder, the Hill murder and the ooth murder, and I have contributed about $400 towards the expenses of these investiga ’ tions . The Oregon Prisoners Aid Society has also contributed 100 over $ to these investigations, because of the importance of the issues involved . The District Attorney of Multnomah County . 30 (Hon . Walter H Evans) contributed about $ to the latest phase of the investigation of the Hill murder case involving the confe s - sion of William Riggin . Attorney General Brown has given sev eral days of his time to the consideration of the confessions of William Riggin in the Booth murder case and the Hill murder. These three murders involved the killing of seven persons, and the mysterious circumstances . connected with all three cases - aroused state wide interest . In my personal investigations, the results of which are given in this volume, I have had the advantage of the valuable advice MacL are n and assistance of W . G . , general superintendent of the Pacific Coast Rescue and Protective Society with headquarters 19 . at 5 Burnside street, Portland, Oregon I have been so fortunate as to find many prominent citizens of the state interested in these murder cases, and men of the highest profe ssional and business standing have taken the time to read carefully the detailed report of the investigation of the Preface iii . Wehrman murder and to authorize th e use of their names to n Am e the secure the pardon of John Arthur Pe der. ong th se are hb Most Reverend Alexander Christie, Arc ishop of Oregon ; Hon or able Ben Selling, former Speaker of the House of Representa i v . t e s ; Dr . John H Boyd, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church rs hi k s of Portland ; M . Sc l e , pre ident of the Oregon Congress of Mothers ; C . Henri Labbe , lawyer ; Honorable Martin L . Pipes, lawyer ; H . E . Coolidge, banker of La Grande ; Will H . Daly, - K . w r ex City Commissioner of Portland ; Milo C ing, la ye , Gresham, Oregon ; Mark Woodruff, journalist, Portland ; J . D . ’ w ni . S Bro n, president Oregon Farmers U on ; Eugene E mith, for m er u president of labor organizations in Portland, and a n mber of others . f m Judge Pipes, as he is a iliarly known , voluntarily prepared a brief for submission to the Governor concerning a pardon for r . M . Pender Upon my solicitation he consented to its being m p rinted in this volu e, and it is to be found in a supplement to C hapter XI . Quite a large number of public spirited citizens have also s tudied the report of the investigation of the Booth murder and h ave authorized the use of their names to secure the pardon of William Branson and Anna Booth . William D . Wheelwright, president of the Pacific Export Lumber Company, with offices in the Chamber of Commerce, h as taken a very keen interest in securing pardons for John A rthur Pender and also for Willi am Branson and Anna Booth . ' In company with Judge Pipes, Mr . Wheelwright visited the peni ’ t e n ti ar y, with the Governor s consent, and held long inter r Mrs . v M . t iews with Pender, William Branson, Boo h and Wil li am Riggin after studying the briefs of the testimony in the m urder trials and the reports of the investigations . S . Hon Frank Grant, formerly City Attorney of Portland, has m ade a study of all the evidence given in the trials of Mr. Pender a n d of Mr . Branson and Mrs . Booth, and also has examined the r e ports of the investigations in both cases and expresses his con i ti v c on . that Mr Pender, Mr Branson and Mrs . Booth are innocent o f the crimes for which they are spending their lives in the i Oregon Penitent ary. I am indebted to Mr .