Long Murder Trail

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 910, 1 March 1930, Page 18

Long Murder Trail

Whole of United States Combed for New Clue to Eight-Year-Old Crime

Hggjra HE mystery of the murder 0 f jvir, William Desmond Taylor, the famous English film director, rsSQy who was found shot at his desk at Hollywood in January 1922, is again declared to be near solution after theories which have tried to throw the blame on theives, blackmailers, and jealous women admirers. The San Francisco, U.S.A., “Bulletin” publishes an interview with ex-Gpvernor F. W. Richardson, of California, who says he learned from a convict in Folsom Prison that the murder was committed by an actress. District Attorney Buron Fitts, of Los Angeles, admits that only one link is missing in the solution of the crime mystery. He declined to say whether he alluded to Taylor’s valet, Edward Sands, who disappeared soon after the murder, and has since been sought by the police. “Almost Perfect Case” “We have reconstructed the scene of the min-der,” he said, “and have built up.almost a perfect case. “The story behind it is most interesting, but cannot be told yet.. “My detectives have scoured the United States in efforts to supply the single missing connection. Tlie police

throughout the country know what | this link is.” Ex-Governor Richardson asserts I that if the sensational case was not { cleared up at the time, this was due j to Mr. Asa Keyes, then district j attorney of Los Angeles, Keyes is at present in gaol, appeal- i iug against his conviction for bribery j while in office. "I told the foreman of the grand jury at Los Angeles, and the chairman of the Jury’s Criminal Committee, I had a solution of the mystery, and askecl if there was any chance of an indictment,” the ex-governor is quoted as saying. “Bribed or Murdered” “The answer was, no. They ex- j plained that either Keyes, or one of his deputies, would be in the grand ; jury room, and that before any per- j son could be brought to trial the important, witnesses would be spirited j away, bribed or murdered.” Among the internationally-known movie actresses he questioned were, Miss Mary Miles Minter and the late Miss Mabel Normand. ‘Miss Normand was one of the last people to see Captain Taylor alive, while Miss Mary Miles Minter, formerly under his management, also figured in the investigation.