ALLEGED MURDER

Hokitika Guardian, 24 December 1932, Page 6

ALLEGED MURDER

STRANGE FEATURES,

OF SHOOTING 'MYSTERY

LOS ANGELES, December 12

''Airs Aloha Wanderwell, widow of Captain Walter Wanderwell, who was shot, in the back in his yacht Carina, took her husband’s body to sea to-day in thd vessel .aud held a sea funeral out of sight of land.

The, police are making intensive efforts to discover the murderer. Wanderwell was shot on the eve ,cf .his departure for a cruise ii) the South geas with a mixed party of photographers and wirters on board. ... Cables. from Buenos Aires! say that Wanderwell was, in reality, a Pole named Piec-zyuski, and his “work around the world educational club’’ was really a gigantic hoax. The organisation drew substantial subscriptions from emotional people at JJuonos Aires who were , impressed by ,his clever appeal to outlaw war by creating an ultra-powerful international .police force.. .About 20 premium,-paying volunteers from Argentina, who journeyed to the United States, and joined Wandorwell’s expedition, bitterly denounced bis desertion pf them.

Edwards, Eugene Montague, second •son oil the Duke, of Manchester, who •signed on as a member of the crew, and other members. of the crew of ■the Cm ,ma have been warned nob to leave.-Los Angeles until the police make further investigations of the shooting., , :

William James Guy, aged 24, lias ■been arrested oh suspicion of having murdered Captain. Wanderwell.

Guy is said to have been born at Cardiff, Wales, but lived mostly in Sydney and Melbourne. > “I. have been expecting you,” Guy hold the police. He denied the accusacition of murder and offered to produce ,’lialf a dozen -witnesses to prove that he could not have been near the yacht when the murder was committed. Guy met Wanderwell at Buenos Aires in September .last year. Recently he quarrelled with him about the .profits of. a tour to South America. The police have received', a number of complaints from young women who say that they Were duped by Wanderwell. .-

They soy that Wanderwell was Dying to turn bis ship into a travelling •matrimonial agency by encouraging men in bis crew to marry girls whom he took with him.

Apparently, 20 or 30 women, residing in San Francisco, signed up for the-tour of the jSoutli Sea and Austialian ports. Some of them cancelled their pas-' sage leariiecl that ganderwell' planned .-to engage in some kind of illegal “racket,” not clearly defined, while travelling between Pacific ports. Several witnesses say that', William James Guy was a man whom they eaw through the ship’s , porthole immediately before the shooting. -Guy denies the crime, although he admits that he cherished a personal hatred for the dead man.

Guy relies for his alibi on Edward Delaym, who says that Guy was in a house 30 miles away from the scene of the shooting jvhen the crime was committed.

- Delarin, an air pilot, took part in a certain South American revolution in 1930.' , •, .

■ Wander well was shot in-.the hack iri| ■Jns own cabin in. the yacht—those -aboard the ship were four seamen, two students, a camera in ah, two women short-story writers, Mrs WanderwelL and WanderweU’s two little daughters. Mrs Wanderwell told the police that a'-'.middle-aged stranger came aboard in. the .evening and accompanied her husband to his cabin. She said that Guy quarrelled with • her husband several weeks ago in a Los Angeles hotel, when the men came to blows about money matters.

* Tin; dead man, who was Polish-born, took the name of Wandenvell after having married a girl in Victoria (13. C.) ten--years-ago. -

They had,a motor caravan, in which they travelled about through the Western States and Canada, carrying passengers and special packages.

Me announced his intention of reorganising the expedition and going on to the (South Seas with the people already committed to the writing, and photographing project. Montague is wco kiiowii in Edmonton and Vancouver. Me is a musician,, iiilg'aist and ityer.