PUZZLING MURDERS

Hokitika Guardian, 14 October 1930, Page 7

PUZZLING MURDERS

RIDDLE FOR TJ.S. POLICE.

VANCOUVER, September 30. Two double murders, done with widely-varying motives, have challenged police solutions. Washington was the scene of a hatchet and gun tragedy, the victims being Colonel Richard Creecv and his wife. Wealthy and socially prominent, 49 years old, Creecy was found shot dead iti the Mayflower Hotel, while his wife had been fatally hacked with a hatchet. This weapon and the revolver, , both newly purchased, were lying alongside the bodies. Diamonds,' jewellery and a considerable sum in cash were undisturbed, width gave colour to a theory that Creecy killed his wife and then, committed suicide. Second in command of the! Hay ti constabulary, he .was home on leave. On the other hand, the absence of a motive and some other factors suggested assault by a clever outside assassin. Arthur Morris, the father of three children, was found in a suburban field at Stockton, California, lying dead alongside Gertie Chambers, an 18-yeai-old girl, Both were evidently the victims of a petting party killing. The girl’s head had been smashed with a wrench; Morris was killed by a rifle bullet which penetrated the eowj of the motor car. His body was carefully braced to a sitting position alongside a rock, so that the passerby saw nothing alarming in what appeared to be a picnic party until close investigation disclosed the tragedy.