MURDER AND FORGERY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 252, 15 June 1932, Page 8

MURDER AND FORGERY

WIDOW MURDERED AND HER ESTATE WELL PLUNDERED. BENEFICIARY CHARGED. SAN FRANCISCO, June 9. Frank J. Egan, admired and trusted public defender before his arrest on a charge of murdering a 57-year-old widow, who named him the beneficiary of 12,000 dollars life insurance, was accused to-day of getting possession of the 8000 dollar estate of another woman. The charge that Egan took 8000 dollars from the estate of the late Katie Webber was made in a suit by eight heirs to remove Louis M. Hofeler as administrator. The heirs charged that Hofeler failed to eollect 8120 dollars Egan allegedly had taken and not repaid. A bank passbook forgery of 5000 dollars and a cheque for 3000 dollars made out to one Minnie Peyster, the heirs charged, was the means used to remove money from Mrs. Webber 's bank account. While the suit was being filed, Egan was taken into Court to hear demands that he reveal what happened to the will and insurance policies of Jessie Scott Hughes, the woman he and two convicts are accused of murdering. On advice of counsel, Egan later refused to answer questions regarding the missing papers in the Hughes case. He was adjudged guilty of contempt of court. The offence carries a gaol sentence, but Egan already is a prisoner on the murder charge. Cruslued to Death. An eai-lier message stated that the tall, gaunt man with the piercing eyes, trusted by the public and admired by the unprivileged and helpless poor he defended before the law, ordered that 66-year-old Jessie Scott Hughes, a widow who called him "my boy" and carried life insurance payable to him, be crushed to death beneath the wheels of an automobile. The police claimed that Yerne Doran, a convict, had told them this. Doran was promised partial immunity to talk, it was reported. Egan, who showed himself a- master of strategy, dropped from sight shortly before Doran's alleged eonfession was made, and continued to elude the city and State police. The document that the police claimed was Doran's eonfession was a recital of a callous murder, ghastly in its very casualness. It claimed that Egan ordered the death of his friend. In detail-it purported to reveal how Doran drove a heavy automobije back and forth over the crushed body, while Tinnen, an accomplice, used arm signals to direct the movements of the car. The alleged eonfession said that after the body had been thrown out Doran and Tinnen went to an hotel and calmly played ping pong until Egan met them.