State v. Broadhurst

This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the circuit court based upon a verdict which found her guilty of the crime of first degree murder and which, pursuant to the recommendation of the jury (see Constitution of Oregon, Art. I, § 37, and § 23-411 O. C. L. A.), sentenced her to life imprisonment. The *183 victim of the alleged homicide was one W. D. Broad-burst, to whom the witnesses referred as Dr. Broadhurst. He met his death October 14, 1946, at about 3:30 p. m. on the Idaho-Oregon-Nevada highway, several miles north of Jordan Valley. The death, according to the State, resulted from wounds inflicted feloniously by a heavy wrench and a shotgun. One Alvin Lee Williams struck the blows and fired the gun. The State does not claim that the defendant was present when the crime was committed, but contends that Williams was her proxy and that she was a principal within the purview of § 23-207, O. C. L. A.

The appellant presents 24 assignments of error which her brief groups for the purpose of presentation into 12 contentions. We shall now state five of them. They require a summary of the evidence. The first; is:

“Alvin Lee Williams was not competent to testify.” Williams and the defendant were separately, not jointly, indicted. The appellant contends that since Williams had neither plead guilty nor been adjudged guilty or innocent, he was not a competent witness. The third contention is:

“The Court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial because of improper remarks of the district attorney.”

The attack remarks Avere a part of the district attorney’s opening statement. The defendant contends that they were not justified by the evidence which was later produced. The fifth is: ...

“The Court erred in not granting appellant’s motion for á directed verdict.”

The motion Avas based principally upon a claim that Williams’ testimony that he and the appellant coii *184 spired to kill Dr. Broadhurst was not corroborated. The sixth is:

“The Court erred in refusing to grant the defendant- a new trial.”

The chief basis of that contention are arguments (a) that the State presented no evidence of a conspiracy between the appellant and Williams except the testimony of the latter; (b) that Williams shot in self-defense; and (c) that Williams’ testimony disproved that Dr. Broadhurst was murdered. The twelfth is:

“The verdict is against the weight and preponderance of the evidence.”

A disposition of the foregoing five contentions requires mention of some of the evidence. The latter is extensive. The trial began February 24, 1947, and was not concluded until March 14, 1947. Our review of the evidence will be confined to essentials. The State contends that the defendant married Dr. Broadhurst for his wealth;. that three months later she won- the affection of Williams and then used hirn as her instrument in the killing. A few days .before the homicide Dr. Broadhurst executed a will which bequeathed his. entire estate to the defendant. The latter neither testified nor called a witness, and, hence,-the testimony came exclusively from the State’s witnesses.

Dr. Broadhurst lived upon a ranch which he owned, three miles from Caldwell, Idaho. Caldwell is 15' miles or so east of Oregon. Dr. Broadhurst, in addition to owning the Caldwell raneh, owned another near Jordan Valley, Oregon, which is south and west of Caldwell. He was 51 years of age, unmarried and worth about $200,000. Upon the Caldwell ranch was a house in which Dr. Broadhurst had made his home. About a year prior to his death he gave the use of the home to Dr. *185 and Mrs. F. L. Adams and lived with them. Dr. Adams was a nephew of Dr. Broadhurst.

In the early 1920s Dr. Broadhurst and the defendant lived in Burley, Idaho, and became acquainted. How long they lived there and to what extent they saw anything of each other is not disclosed by the record, but Dr. Broadhurst found the defendant attractive. In 1942 she' gave her age as 32; in May of 1946 she represented it as 35; four months later she reported it as 30. Each occasion was an application for a marriage license.

When Dr. Broadhurst left Burley is not disclosed by the' record and likewise we do not know when the defendant left there. We know nothing about what either did after leaving Burley until we reach the summer of 1945. However, on January 28, 1942, the defendant was married to Leslie M. Lincoln who, in 1941, was commissioned a lieutenant in the Army. Lieutenant Lincoln was discharged in 1944. In the summer of 1945 the defendant was living in Taft, California, with her husband, and Dr. Broadhurst was upon his ranches. About that time the two occasionally communicated with each other. A telegram which Dr. Broadhurst sent to the defendant August 25,1945, said:

“Same address Dr. W. D. Broadhurst, Caldwell, Idaho. Best wishes.”

In the same month he wrote to her, according to a witness’s recollection of the letter:

“In answer to your question, I am not married; therefore I have no heirs and no dependents.”

The contents of other communications which were exchanged before marriage were excluded by adverse rulings.

*186 In January, 1946, Dr. Broadhurst and his sister, Mrs. Sarah Allen, made a trip into Arizona, California and Mexico. He returned February 28. In its course he and the defendant communicated with each other. May 19, 1946, the two met at Reno, Nevada, and were married. The next day Dr. Broadhurst returned to his Caldwell ranch. The defendant did not accompany him.. The application for the marriage license, which was.signed by both, contained the following questions concerning the defendant: “Previously married?” “Husband deceased?” Both questions were answered in the affirmative, but the answer to the second question was false. No one claims that Dr. Broadhurst knew that it was false. Lt. Lincoln was alive when that answer was made and when this case was tried. Dr. Broadhurst did not know, when death overtook him, that the woman whom he deemed his wife was in truth the wife of another man. May 20, 1946, when Dr. Broadhurst returned to Caldwell, the defendant returned to Lt. Lincoln and resumed her conjugal relatiohs with him. April 24, 1946, 26 days prior to her return to him, Lincoln had filed a suit against the defendant for a divorce in which he charged cruel treatment. ' Five days after the suit was filed a reconciliation occurred and was still in effect on May 19, 1946, when the defendant and Dr. Broadhurst were married. June 2, 1946, Lincoln discovered that his wife and Dr. Broadhurst were married on May 19 and thereupon separated from her. July 8,1946, he filed an amended complaint in which he alleged the bigamous marriage. October 25,1946, 11 days after the death of Dr. Broadhurst, an interlocutory decree was entered in the divorce suit in favor of Lincoln. The decree did not become final until one year after that date.

*187 The defendant had an aunt, Mary Johnson, who lived in the Hawaiian Islands. In August of 1945, about the same time that Dr. Broadhurst sent the defendant the aforementioned telegram, the defendant claimed that her aunt had died and left her three million dollars. Later she repeated that statement many times. When the trial occurred Mary Johnson was alive.

About the time of her marriage to Dr. Broadhurst the defendant began to assert that Lt. Lincoln was killed in England while in the military service and that he had a twin brother who was identical in appearance to him, with the exception that the twin had a birthmark over the left ear. Lt. Lincoln’s given name was Leslie. The defendant claimed that the purported twin’s name was Lester. According to her, Lester had also served as a lieutenant in the Army and, whereas her purported deceased husband had a good disposition, Lester was vicious, brutal and psychopathic. She said that the twin had repeatedly threatened her, had beaten her upon more than one occasion and that, upon learning that the defendant had inherited three million dollars, wanted to take the place of Leslie who, as we have seen, she claimed was dead.

The mother and sister of Lt. Leslie Lincoln swore that he was alive, that he never had a brother, twin or otherwise, and that he had a birthmark over his left ear. From the record, the jury was warranted in believing that Dr. Broadhurst was deceived by the twin brother story and that he feared that the purported Lester would harm the woman whom he deemed his wife. It will be recalled that immediately after the marriage to the defendant May 19, 1946, Dr. Broadhurst returned to Caldwell. A few days thereafter he wrote a letter to the defendant, who. was then in *188 Sacramento, in which he referred to the purported twin brother as “that brute.” We now quote from the letter:

“I bet you had another mix-up with that brute. I want you to get out of that town. I had thought you could go to Long Beach down to your cousins for a time and surely you could find a room eventually there. Now pack what you have, you leave no forwarding address, buy your ticket part way and then rebuy another. By no means leave any clue as to your whereabouts and by no means have any correspondence to Sacramento . . . give them the slip until I can get some place for us to live, better get out as soon as possible . . .. please honey, get away from there . . . get away’ from all that fear ... I want you to get away as soon as possible, change address at postoffice and do not allow any mail to go out to 2228% H Street. Should have been a detective. I wonder if I could get Sacramento to deputize me this fall and I’ll get that dirty brute.”

As we said, the defendant did not accompany Dr. Broadhurst when, following the marriage of May 19, he returned to Caldwell. June 20 she wrote a letter addressed to “Dear Dr. Adams and Family”:in which she referred to Dr. Broadhurst as Dr. Broady, and said: .

“Doc, I have a serious problem, I must get word to my husband Dr. Broady at once, that I. am seriously ill with blood poisoning in my left leg and before the decision is made to take off said foot I feel that my husband Dr. Broady should be here to say yes or no * * '* I know he is busy'and on roundup but if I die he wouldn’t be able to stand J-j. # =* #

“Did Dr. Broady tell you about my Aunt Mary Ralphs Johnson who died last August in Honolulu, T. H. She left Dr. and I nearly three. million dollars plus my own departed parents estate now *189 in probation. The Hawaiian estate will be through probation about 1st of the year, so you can see Broady need not work himself to death.”

From that letter and other evidence the jury could reasonably have inferred that before Dr. Broadhurst and the defendant were married the defendant told him the false Aunt Mary story.

Following the writing of the letter from which we just quoted Dr. Broadhurst went to Sacramento and brought the defendant to the Caldwell ranch June 27. The evidence indicates that when she reached the ranch she was .not afflicted with blood poisoning but was the victim of addiction to a nerve sedative known as nembutal, commonly called sleeping pills. Such was the testimony of Dr. Thomas A. Magnum, a physician who was called by Dr. Broadhurst to attend her after she reached Caldwell. The defendant and Dr. Broadhurst went to the Jordan Valley ranch June 29 and' while she was there the sheriff of Canyon County, Idaho, that being the county in which Caldwell is located, sought unsuccessfully to serve her with process in the divorce suit instituted by Lincoln. Evidently it was not known that she was in this state at the Jordan Valley ranch. August 3 the defendant announced that she had to return to California and explained that it was necessary for her to go there on account of probate proceedings. She told Dr. Adams that while in California she would purchase a ranch as a surprise gift for Dr. Broadhurst. She represented that she would be gone for about a week and not more than two. In order to facilitate the defendant’s trip, Dr. Broadhurst, who was puzzled over the situation, gave her. the use of an automobile and, since she was unable to drive, employed the aforementioned Williams to act as her *190 chauffeur. Williams was then 23 years of age and was in Dr. Broadhurst’s employ as a ranch hand. Dr. Broadhurst trusted him, and' each deemed the other a friend. The State claims that the defendant’s real reason for going to California was the suit for divorce and concern lest information about it would reach Dr. Broadhurst.

August 5, 1946, with Williams as chauffeur, the defendant left for California. The first night after she and Williams left Caldwell was spent by the two in the automobile in Reno, Nevada. While they were there in .the car at night the defendant, according to Williams, asked him if she might ldss him. His testimony continued:

“Q. What effect did that have upon you, Mr. Williams?

“A. That didn’t have much effect, but the next one did.”

The defendant had a brother who operated an automobile camp near Truekee, California, known as the Big Chief Auto Camp. The night of August 6 was spent by the defendant and Williams in that camp. The two were assigned to different cabins, but after Williams had gone to bed the defendant came to his cabin and asked him to secure for her some articles which were in the automobile. Shortly she told him that she was afraid to sleep alone and asked him to sleep with her in her bed. From that time on the two occupied the same bed every night during the trip. September 17, 1946, the two went to Reno and were married. For the purpose of that marriage the defendant assumed the false name of Elaine Hamilton. They did not return to Caldwell until September 22. In the meantime, they registered as husband and wife *191 in various hotels and automobile camps in several cities and places.

In the interval of August 5 to September 23 the defendant and "Williams drove around the country and amused themselves. The defendant, wrote Dr. Broadhurst several letters couched in endearing terms. In at least one of them she mentioned court appearances in such a way that her statement could readily be construed to mean that she was attending to the purported probating of the three million dollar estate. She promised that she would return home “as quickly as I get things straight here.”

While the defendant and Williams were in Sacramento they were encountered by a process server who sought to serve the summons in Lincoln’s divorce suit. Williams met the official’s inquiries with a statement that he was Dr. Broadhurst. But the service was made. While in Sacramento the defendant had a visit with her husband, Lt. Lincoln, and some communications with his attorney. She made a call upon an attorney whom she employed to represent her in the suit. She introduced Williams to Lt. Lincoln, but represented the latter as the twin of her purported deceased husband.

In the early part of September Dr. Broadhurst, upon her request, visited the defendant at the Big Chief Auto Camp for three days. When he returned to his ranch the defendant did not accompany him. The record contains no suggestion that Dr. Broadhurst knew of the defendant’s marriage to Williams nor of their meretricious relationship. One of the defendant’s letters to Dr. Broadhurst, which began with the salutation, “Darling Daddy Dearest,” said, concerning Williams, “He has been very nice to me. I’m glad you chose him as he is honest and decent.”

*192 The State contends that while the defendant and Williams were in California the two plotted the mnrder of Dr. Broadhurst and the manner in which Williams should execute the deed. It contends that the defendant was the instigator and took the lead throughout. Williams swore that he had no grievance against Dr. Broadhurst and that he regarded the latter as a friend. We shall now mention briefly the part of the evidence which concerns the alleged conspiracy. When the defendant and Williams were at the Big Chief Auto Camp they attended a motion picture performance which, as described by Williams, told the story of a married proprietor of a cafe who hired a young man to work for him and was killed by his employee after the latter had fallen in love with his wife. According to Williams, the defendant remarked as they left the show, “Too bad something like that can’t happen to the Doctor.” According to Williams, that was the first time, so he swore, the subject of the taking of Dr. Broadhurst’s life was mentioned. Continuing, Williams testified:

“She asked me if I had any idea of how the Doctor could be disposed of and I said no I hadn’t, didn’t have no definite ideas. I said, however, he might get lost while he was hunting for cattle, and, well, she said if he did get lost he would have to not never be found.”

Williams swore that the defendant spoke to him frequently upon the subject of bringing about the death of Dr. Broadhurst: She told him, so he claimed, that Dr. Broadhurst was more animal than man and that he was cruel to her. She sought to justify the killing by resort to the Ten Commandments. If Dr. Broadhurst was cruel to the defendant or treated her in any manner except an affectionate and indulgent one, no' *193 one mentioned the fact, unless it can be gathered from the remark attributed by Williams to the defendant, of which we have taken note.

At first while their plot was forming the would-be partners in crime planned that Williams should accompany Dr. Broadhurst into a remote area in search of livestock and there kill him. Further discussions brought forth other ideas. The plan which Williams put into effect October 14 was not devised until after the two had returned to the Caldwell ranch. According to him:

“She asked me how I was going to — if the Doctor was going to ride for cattle, how I was going to get out in the hills in order for the Doctor to come up missing and I told her that I might ride for the Doctor, that I might get a job riding, and she says, ‘Well, we have got to go through with every — we have to go through everything and cheek and recheck on it.’ ”

The defendant asked Dr. Broadhurst to save a job for Williams upon the range.

. During the times mentioned in the language just quoted Williams was acting as chauffeur. H.e, however, told the defendant of his strong attachment for livestock and ranch life. While he was in the Big Chief Camp the defendant’s brother permitted him to participate in a rodeo and he was awarded a prize. While in California he wore the attire of a cowboy, including the large hat. He even acquired a mustache and a goatee. The defendant asked him, so Williams swore, if he could manage the Broadhurst ranches in the event Dr. Broadhurst “came up missing.” We quote from his testimony:

“We discussed if he were to come up missing that I could go on being the chauffeur for a certain *194 length of time and after that length of time, if he was not found, he would be pronounced dead and all of the estate would automatically change over to her and then after that her and I was to get married, and have a public marriage.”

It is apparent from the record that Williams was infatuated with the defendant. He said that he * ‘ would do pretty hear'anything to get her.” He realized that his marriage to her was not regular and was anxious that it should be valid. Referring to the defendant’s marriage to Dr. Broadhurst, he testified: “I thought eventually that she would have her freedom,” but added that Dr. Broadhurst would not give it to her. He believed that the murder of Dr. Broadhurst was the only solution, but had suggested to the defendant that they leave the Idaho country completely. He had even thought of' going away by himself. We now quote from his cross-examination:

“Q. What did you kill the Doctor for?

“A. I don’t know.”

The evidence warranted the inference, if the jury drew it, that it was Williams’ infatuation-with the defendant, whereby he became her pawn, which caused him to kill.

The final plan to kill Dr. Broadhurst had not taken shape when the defendant and Williams returned to Caldwell September 22. They were slow in returning to the Caldwell home. On the way north they made a visit to the home of an uncle of the defendant in Winnemucca, Nevada. Then they bypassed Caldwell and drove on beyond it--to Ontario, Oregon, where they spent two nights. While in Ontario they rode about the country attending dances and motion picture per *195 formances. However, they returned home September 22 at 11:30 p. m. •

September 23 when Dr. Broadhurst ate breakfast the defendant greeted him with a kiss but ate- her breakfast later with Williams. When the latter and the defendant went to California August 5 Williapis was a ranch hand temporarily working upon the Jordan Yalley ranch, but when he returned he took up his abode in the Broadhurst home and generally ate breakfast with Mrs. Broadhurst. It seems that he even slept with her many nights. He said: “I wasn’t complaining any.”

September 23, the day following the defendant’s tb turn, Dr. Broadhurst opened a joint bank account in the amount.of $1,000 in the name of himself and the-defendant. On September 24 the defendant spoke to Dr. Broadhurst about a will. At that time Dr: Broadhurst was planning to join a hunting expedition, and on the 24th,.scarcely a day after her return home, the defendant, so Dr. Adams swore, told Dr. Broadhurst that if his life should be lost while he was hunting she would' not have money with which to discharge the burial expenses. The next day she told Dr. Adams; according to his testimony: “I am afraid that lawyer isn’t going to get that will out before the Doctor goes' hunting.” September 25 Dr. Broadhurst executed.a: will which named as its executrix the defendant and gave- the entire estate to “my beloved wife, Grladys Blaine Broadhurst.” A paragraph follows:

“I do not intend to give anything from my said estate to any of my brothers or sisters or to any of my other relatives. It is my desire that they shall receive nothing from my estate.”

The evidence shows that Dr. Broadhurst and at least *196 one of Ms sisters deemed each other in affectionate regard. An attesting witness to the will was one Cleve Groome, an attorney who practices in Idaho and who represents the defendant upon this appeal.

After their return to Caldwell the defendant, according to Williams, asked him to “stay around there and keep in touch with her.” September 27 Dr. Broadhurst, Dr. Adams and some friends left upon the hunting expedition and did not return for two weeks. The night before his departure the defendant told Williams of Dr. Broadhurst’s intentions and asked him to come to the house the next morning. He did so. Mrs. Adams swore that when "Williams entered the home the defendant put him in her (the defendant’s) bed, claiming that he had a cold. She then gave him a sponge bath and a pair of Dr. Broadhurst’s pajamas. From that day on until the hunters returned Williams occupied a bedroom in the Broadhurst home and the defendant used an adjacent connecting bedroom. The two kept their clothes in the defendant’s room and dressed and undressed in it. Mrs. Adams- testified that she saw the two kiss one another and saw the defendant sit in Williams ’ lap. The two ate breakfast’ together each day and then drove away in the Broadhurst car. They attended dances and motion picture performances. At least one call was made at Mr. Groome’s office. According to Mrs. Adams, it was the defendant who daily planned the activities which she and Williams pursued. Referring to the two, she said: “He always took her suggestions * * She always told him what clothes to wear, in fact, she told him everything he did.”

Williams testified that while Dr. Broadhurst was absent on the hunting expedition he and the. defendant *197 worked out the final plans of their murder compact. They believed that shortly after Dr. Broadhurst would return home he would go to the Jordan Valley ranch and in so doing travel upon the Oregon-Idaho-Nevada highway. They thought that at some spot along the highway Williams would be able to induce Dr. Broadhurst to stop and that the spot would provide Williams with opportunity to kill him. We quote from Williams ’ testimony:

“She asked me if I couldn’t wait along the road between Caldwell ranch and the Jordan Valley ranch and have him stop and I was to hit him, knock him unconscious and then destroy the body, move him away some place where he would never be found, and after I had moved him, I was to shoot him or plug him or anyway to make sure that he would never be, that he would never come back.”

In its final form the machination required Williams to station himself and a car at the junction of the highway and a road known as the Succor Creek road. The plan was that he should raise the hood of his car and pretend that his motor was disabled. It was thought' that when Dr. Broadhurst approached the place he would stop, offer assistance, and bend over the motor for the purpose of making adjustments. At that juncture, according to their plan, Williams should strike Dr. Broadhurst over the head with a wrench and then shoot him.

By the time Dr. Broadhurst had gone upon the hunting expedition, the defendant had made use of the twin-brother - story and, according to Williams, a- part of the conspiracy was to attribute the killing to the fictitious' scapegoat.

In order to reach the spot just mentioned and carry out the plan, Williams needed an automobile, but had *198 none. Throughout all of the above-mentioned time he drove a car which belonged to Dr. Broadhurst. About a week before the latter returned from the hunting trip Williams inquired of a dealer concerning a car. The purchase was not effected, but shortly he went to a friend who owned a green Model A Ford coupe for which he asked $200. Williams purchased it with money supplied by the defendant. It was in that car that Williams rode to the spot where he killed Dr. Broadhurst. He used its raised hood to lure Dr. Broadhurst to stop. At least two witnesses saw it at the death rendezvous. Williams’ testimony concerning the purchase of the ear with money given him by the defendant was corroborated, not only by the two car owners, but also by Mrs. Adams. The latter testified,- in part: ■ .

“They had gone to Boise to find a car for Williams and when they returned they hadn’t found anything suitable, so they went in to Caldwell and upon their return they said they had found two that he was interested in, so we had dinner and as soon as we had eaten, the defendant said that he had better go back and see about the car. She said: ‘You will need your wages, you know where the money is, go help yourself.’ He went into the bedroom and was gone for a few minutes and came out and went to town.”

Shortly he brought the Model A Ford to the house.

In the tool compartment' of the automobile which Williams purchased was a heavy wrench. That fact was mentioned, not only by Williams, but also by the former owner of the car. With that wrench Williams struck Dr. Broadhurst upon the head. A witness who saw Williams lying in wait for Dr. Broadhurst, with the hood of the car raised, saw the wrench. In order *199 to carry out the plan, a gun ,was needed. The home of Williams’ parents was near Parma, Idaho, and in it was a shotgun. October 6 Williams and the defendant drove to the parents’ home in Dr. Broadhurst’s car and the two entered. While there Williams got the shotgun and a bedroll. His testimony to that effect was corroborated by his father and sister who saw both the defendant and Williams enter the home and remain there thirty minutes. These witnesses swore that when the defendant and Williams left they had the gun and bedroll. After Williams had struck Dr. Broadhurst with the wrench he shot him in the chest with his shotgun. After the homicide the bedroll was found in Williams’ Ford auto. The shotgun was found in a gopher hole where Williams had concealed it. Williams slept upon the bedroll at the junction the night before the homicide.

As the day drew near when he would be called upon to kill the man who had befriended him, Williams began to doubt his will power. He testified:

“Well, I had told.her (the defendant) that I didn’t know whether I could go through with that or not, that I couldn’t stand the sight of human blood and she asked me if whisky would help me. I said yes, that whisky would help settle my nerves and — but I told her I didn’t have any liquor permit for I had torn mine up, so she went and bought a permit for herself in Caldwell and she got me some whisky.”

According to an exhibit before us, the Idaho State Liquor Dispensary issued a permit to the defendant October 3, 1946, at its Caldwell office. On the same day, according to another exhibit, she purchased a quart of liquor. Liquor was found in the Williams car Avhen it was seized by the peace officers.

*200 October 11 tbe bunting party returned. Sunday, October 13, Dr; Broadhurst told tbe defendant that he would go to his Jordan Valley ranch Monday morning. According to Mrs. Adams, the defendant appeared perturbed and flustered when she received the information. About 11:00 p. m. the defendant gave the news to Williams and he then left the Broadhurst home. He swore that the defendant’s final plea to him was, ‘ ‘ Get up there, be there when he gets there, and for God sake don’t miss.”

When Williams left upon his sanguinary mission he drove away in the Model A Ford. In it was the shotgun, wrench, bedroll and a quart bottle and a half of-whisky. After he had visited a restaurant he drove to the Succor Creek junction, parked his car, spread out his bedroll and went to sleep. At six in the morning he awoke, raised the hood of his car and took up his vigil. Dr. Broadhurst, instead of leaving for the ranch in the morning as he had planned, did not depart until the early afternoon and did not reach the junction until 3:30 p. m. Williams remained there constantly.

Joseph Fenwick, owner óf a ranch which was about two. miles north of the junction, had an employee, Clifford Dickson, with whom he was burning sagebrush upon a tract a mile south of the junction. Monday, October 14, at 8:00 a. m., the two drove through the junction toward the place where they were burning the sagebrush and saw parked there a Model A Ford coupe in which a man was seated. The car was green in color and its hood was raised. At 11:45 a. m. they passed through the junction on their way to Fen-wick’s ranch to' get lunch. The car was still' there; the man was still seated in it, and the hood was still up. At' 1:00 p. m. Dickson again drove south through the junction on his way back to work and, seeing that the *201 ear was still there with its hood up, stopped for the purpose of offering assistance. When he spoke to Williams he saw a large wrench. Presently he drove on. At about 4:00 p. m. while we was working he heard a shot which he thought came from the vicinity of the junction. When he drove through the junction at 6:00 p. m. the car was gone.

About 3:30 Dr. Broadhurst approached the junction. He was driving a pick-up truck to which was attached a trailer containing his riding horse. When Williams observed the approaching car he busied himself about his motor.

As was anticipated, Dr. Broadhurst stopped and offered assistance. Williams explained to Dr. Broadliurst that the gas line of his car was clogged, with the result that Dr. Broadhurst obtained from his car a pair of pliers. When he bent over the motor, Williams saw that the moment had come for him to strike the lethal blow. His wrench was in his hands. At that juncture he looked up and down the road and saw-no one in sight, but his courage faltered. We now-quote from his testimony:

“I tried to quit then, and I seemed to hear a voice saying, ‘Don’t fail me! Don’t fail me! If you do, for God sakes don’t come back,’ and I hit him.”

The blow caused Dr. Broadhurst to stagger and blood to flow. Presently Dr. Broadhurst, according to Williams, seemed to recover himself, and asked, “What hit me, Al?” Williams replied, so he swore as a witness, “I don’t know Doc.” Then, according to him,

“I made up my mind I was going to get out of there just as quick as I could, and I went and got my shirt out of my car and I folded it up and *202 handed it to him, and told him to hold that on his head, maybe that would stop the flow of blood. * * * And I put the hood down on my car and I picked up the wrench, carried it around, started to get in the car.”

At that point Dr. Broadhurst recovered himself, if Williams told the truth, and exclaimed, “I am going to kill you” and, wielding a jackknife, approached Williams. We quote again from the latter:

“I reached in the car and grabbed my shotgun and it was loaded, and I pulled it out of the car, I just swung around, — the gun was right by my side —I hollered, ‘Don’t Doc’, and he didn’t stop. I couldn’t get away from him. I was standing right against the car and I shot.”

Dr. Broadhurst fell to the pavement and Williams dragged his body over the side of the road into a concealing thicket of sagebrush. He next drove Dr. Broadhurst’s pick-up truck with its attached trailer two or three miles into an unused side road. There he abandoned the truck, released the horse and rode bim part way back to his car. He hitched the horse to a clump of sagebrush in a remote spot and ran back to his car. Having done all of this, he drove away to await darkness. After nightfall he loaded Dr. Broadhurst’s body into his Ford and hauled it to an unfrequented area in Idaho where he dumped it in a lonely gulch. All of that having been done, he returned to the Broadhurst home and reported to the defendant, who greeted him with the inquiry as to whether he had disposed of the evidence. Pursuant to instructions she gave him, he took to the highway again, concealed his gun and burned his bloody clothing. Then he again returned to the Broadhurst home and went to bed.

*203 An autopsy disclosed three1 severe head wounds and several bullet wounds in Dr. Broadhurst’s chest. A great deal of blood was found upon the pavement at the aforementioned intersection.

Monday, the day of the murder, was spent by the defendant in bed. She said that she had sinus trouble. In the afternoon she told Mrs. Adams that she had had “an argument or quarrel with á person in Caldwell named Red Wells and that she was afraid this Red Wells would follow him (Dr. Broadhurst) out to the range and do him some injury.” According to the record, Red Wells was a friend of Dr. Broadhurst and neither the latter nor the defendant had had any trouble with him.

Monday evening L. C. Krall, a friend of Dr. Broadhurst, while driving along the Idaho-Oregon-Nevada highway near the Succor Creek junction, encountered Dr. Broadhurst’s horse. Fearing that something untoward had happened, he telephoned to the defendant and told her what he had.found. She replied, “Well, I am worried,” and hung up the receiver. She did not relate the telephone conversation to the Adamses until they inquired of her. After the telephone conversation with the defendant, Krall instituted a search for Dr. Broadhurst and presently found the pick-up truck and trailer. Tuesday morning at seven he again telephoned to the defendant. Upon receiving his message, she replied^ “You found the pick-up truck?” and hung up the receiver.

Monday evening when Mrs. Adams went to the defendant’s room to call her to the telephone she found it almost impossible to arouse her. When she called the defendant to the telephone Tuesday morning she observed that the defendant seemed unable to hear, *204 and likewise she found it difficult to understand what the defendant was saying. The defendant, upon leaving her bed for the telephone, “seemed unable to walk by herself” according to Mrs. Adams. Tuesday morning Dr. Adams joined the searching party and Mrs. Adams went to Caldwell to take care of his office. Before going she asked Dr. Thomas A. Magnum, whom we have already mentioned, to visit the defendant. The physician described the defendant’s condition thus:

“Nervous and seemed to be somewhat anxious or worried, and she was lamenting, trying to tell me a story of Dr. Broadhurst being lost, a story which was incoherent, and I couldn’t bet much about it. * * * I immediately thought of her being a nembutal addict. ’ ’

Although Tuesday, October 15, many ranchers and peace officers searched the area around the junction for Dr. Broadhurst, neither the defendant nor Williams joined the parties. When the defendant went to bed Tuesday night at 10:00 p. m. she had requested no one to render assistance. She and Williams had spent most of the day together. Williams employed part of the time in painting his car, thereby changing its color from green to black. He traded its tires and wheels for a set of larger dimensions. The tires which had been upon it were small and had left distinct marks at the scene of the crime, thereby enabling the searchers to identify the car used by the murderer. He also removed the “turtle back” of his car. A part, at least, of these alterations were suggested by the defendant who told Williams, according to him, that the changes would render it more difficult to recognize his car. She supplied $30 with which he paid the difference in cost of the tires and wheels.

*205 Tuesday at 9:00 p. m. the aforementioned Bed Wells telephoned to the defendant arid said he would join the searching parties if she could get him to the junction. The défendant was uninterested and told Mrs. Adams that she did not trust Wells. When Mrs. Adams volunteered to drive Wells to the junction and asked for the car keys, the defendant demurred.

Dr. Adams returned home Wednesday morning after having spent all of Tuesday and Tuesday night with searching parties. The defendant did not ask him for news, but suggested to Williams that they ought to join the search in order to allay suspicion. About nine o’clock that morning she went with the Adamses to the scene of the search. Williams was not in the Broadhurst home at that moment but the defendant left for him a note reading:

“Dear Allen: Have gone with Doc and Lola. Here are the keys. Please bring the ear. Gladys.”

After the defendant and the Adamses reached the scene Williams came in the Broadhurst car. Shortly he entered the- automobile in which the defendant and Mrs. Adams were seated. According to Mrs. Adams, the defendant-told Williams: “They found a green Model A coupe Ford car out there ori Monday morning and had seen it sitting there nearly all day. * * * There wasn’t anything to it, there were a million cars that answer to that description. ’ ’ Presently, so Mrs. Adams swore, the defendant said to her: “He riiay have been kidnapped or he:may have given1 sóineone a ride.” She again mentioned Bed Wells and claimed that Dr. Broadhurst had had trouble with him over a mohey matter. About1 this time the defendant, according to Mrs. Adams, cautioned Williams that he ought' to *206 mingle with the searchers. . Mrs. Adams swore that the defendant told her:

“She knew A1 (Williams) couldn’t have done it, because she knew where he was every minute on Monday and she said anyway he isn’t strong enough.”

She described Williams as being afraid of the sight of blood and mentioned a purported instance when the appearance of it caused him to faint.

Wednesday evening and a part of Thursday morning were spent by the defendant upon old letters. She gathered them from three rooms in the house, re-read them and assorted them into piles. After her arrest, as we shall later indicate, they could not be found.

While the defendant was at the scene of the search the officers sought to keep her and Williams apart. Presently she asked that Williams be permitted to drive her in the Broadhurst car to the Jordan Valley ranch. This was denied, but one of the officers, R. W. O’Brien, drove her to the ranch. Upon the trip she told O’Brien that Williams and Dr. Broadhurst were like brothers. She accounted, so O’Brien swore, for Williams’ presence every hour of Sunday and Monday. She suggested kidnapping as a possible cause for Dr. Broadhurst’s disappearance, and in explanation, said: “It is rumored that I brought three million dollars back from California, but it wasn’t that much.” Then she related the twin brother story and described that purported scapegoat as evil minded and constantly seeking to substitute himself for her purportedly deceased husband. She told the officer that Dr. Broadhurst and Red Wells had had a serious argument and intimated that Wells may have ambushed Dr. Broadhurst.

*207 When O’Brien returned with the defendant from the Jordan Valley ranch he introduced her to Charles W. Glenn, sheriff of Malheur County, Oregon. According to Glenn, the defendant told him that she and Dr. Broadhurst had been in love with each other for more than twenty years before they were married; that she had recently inherited three million dollars; that her long stay in California was due to the probating of the estate; that she could account for all of Williams’ time on Sunday and Monday; that Dr. Broadhurst commonly carried large sums of money on his person and may have been kidnapped; and that Red Wells was indebted to Dr. Broadhurst on two transactions and that Dr. Broadhurst tried on Monday, the day of his disappearance, to make Wells pay.

Wednesday afternoon Sheriff Glenn took Williams into custody. Williams at once made use of the twin brother story and told it to Glenn. About that time the sheriff was encountered by the defendant, and we now quote from him:

“I had just purchased some gas there at the station, was on the inside paying for it, when the defendant walked in. She asked me if we were through with Mr. Williams. I told her no. She says, ‘Are you holding him as a suspect?’ And I says, ‘We are holding him for questioning.’ And she asked me again, said she had to have him to drive her car, said she also needed him for the cattle.”

Williams was not released, but was shortly lodged in the county jail at Vale. The homicide occurred in Malheur county, of which Vale is the county seat.

A neighbor, George Vogt, brought the defendant home Wednesday afternoon from the scene of the search: According to him, she inquired earnestly why *208 the officers had taken Williams into custody and depicted him as Dr. Broadhurst’s best friend. She blamed the killing upon the.fictitious twin brother,of her purportedly deceased husband and showed Vogt , a photograph of Leslie, claiming that it was of the purported twin. While she was . telling the twin brother story, she declared: “Ihave just been living in hell for fear,” and said that Lester threatened to kill her if she married Dr. Broadhurst. Mr. Vogt took her to Mr. A. A. Moline, sheriff of the county in which Caldwell is located, so that she could relate her story to him. She told Moline that Williams did not commit the crime and that he had no motive to take Dr. Broadhurst.’s life. Going on, she blamed the homicide upon the purported twin, Lester, and recounted threats which she claimed he had made. She told the sheriff that a two million dollar estáte had been bequeathed to her' aiid that Lester was trying to take the place of her purportedly deceased husband. According to what she told Mr. Moline, Lester, the purported twin, was in Caldwell shortly prior to the murder.

Mrs.- Grace Mowrey, a neighbor, who regarded Dr. Broadhurst “like a son,” called upon the defendant Wednesday evening, October 16, to offer. sympathy. Mrs. Mowrey described the manner in which the defendant kept busy during the visit sorting letters, and swore that the defendant displayed no emotion whatever until she (the defendant) presently declared: “What worries me the worst now is that they have arrested my very best friend.” The defendant told Mrs. Mowrey that Williams was “just as innocent as can be. * * * I could swear he worked right here around the barn all day Monday. * * * Al wouldn’t have killed the Doc, he just loved Dr, Broadhurst.”

*209 We have mentioned Dr. Broadhurst’s sister, Mrs. Allen. She lived in Eastern Idaho, but, upon receipt of information of her brother’s disappearance, rushed to his home and reached there Thursday. Upon her arrival she saw the defendant sort old letters. We quote from her testimony:

“When I asked her who could have done such a thing, she said it just laid between two people, ‘my dead husband’s twin brother, Lincoln, or the fellow at the stock ranch by the name of Bed Wells, because he and the Doctor had had a fight over some money Bed Wells owed the Doctor.’ ”

Thursday, the 17th, at 9:00 a. m. while the defendant was