State v. Williams

• Citation: 46 Or. 287,80 P. 655
• Parties: STATE v. WILLIAMS. [*]
• Decision Date: 28 April 1905
• Court: Supreme Court of Oregon

80 P. 655

46 Or. 287

STATE v. WILLIAMS. ^[*]

Supreme Court of Oregon

April 28, 1905

Appeal from Circuit Court, Wasco County; W.L. Bradshaw, Judge.

Norman Williams, informed against as Daniel Norman Williams, was convicted of murder, and appeals. Affirmed.

Henry E. McGinn, for appellant.

A.M Crawford, Atty. Gen., Frank Menefee, Dist. Atty., and Fred W Wilson, Dep. Dist. Atty., for the State.

BEAN J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of death against the defendant for the murder of Alma Nesbitt. The only question is whether there was sufficient proof on the trial that she is dead. No evidence was offered by the defense. The facts, as shown by the prosecution, are that in May, 1899, Miss Nesbitt left her home and relatives in Iowa, and came, a stranger, to Oregon with the defendant, to whom she was then engaged, with the avowed purpose of taking up a homestead adjoining one belonging to him, with the understanding that they each should obtain title to their land, and then be married, thus consolidating the two homesteads. Arriving in Oregon about the last of May, Miss Nesbitt settled upon 160 acres of land adjoining that occupied by Williams in the mountains about 20 miles from Hood river, and he built, or caused to be built, for her a house thereon. She made her filing on the 10th of June, and, after remaining on the place a short time, went away, probably to Portland, where she remained until the 25th of July, when she and Williams were married at Vancouver, in the state of Washington. This marriage was kept secret, and not made known to the neighbors of the contracting parties, or to Miss Nesbitt's relatives. Soon thereafter she went to The Dalles, and worked as a domestic until early in October, when her mother, who was then about 69 years of age, came from Iowa to live with her daughter on her homestead. Williams met them at Hood river, and took them out to the place, where they remained during the winter living a part of the time on Miss Nesbitt's homestead and a part on Williams', until the 7th of February, 1900, when the two women went to Portland for some purpose, and took rooms at the Winters Lodging House on the East Side. About the 6th of March, Williams, who was working at a sawmill five or six miles from his homestead, hired a man to drive his team for a few days, saying that he had important business at The Dalles. He went to Portland, however, and had an interview with Miss Nesbitt and her mother at the rooming house, concerning her homestead. The proprietor of the house, who overheard the conversation, or a part of it, testified that he could not recall the exact words used, but it was either that Williams wanted to buy Miss Nesbitt's homestead, or some one was about to jump it. At all events, the three parties left the rooming house together, probably as a result of this conversation, on Thursday, the 8th of March. They were next seen at Hood river soon after the arrival of the train from Portland on that day, where Williams applied to a livery stable for a span of horses and a wagon, to take, as he said, some passengers to his homestead that night. As the night was dark and stormy, and the roads heavy, the livery stable proprietor hesitated to send a team out for such a trip, and suggested to Williams that he wait until morning; but he said it was absolutely necessary for him to go that night, and arrangements were thereupon made for the team. Williams started with the two women in the wagon about 7:30 in the evening, declining to take a lantern or carriage lamp, although the night was dark. He returned to Hood river about 8 o'clock next morning, without the women, and neither of them has been seen or heard of since. The team was covered with mud, and in answer to questions from the owner Williams said that he arrived at his homestead about 1 o'clock in the night and remained until about 3. After paying the bill he went to another livery stable in the town, hired a horse, and rode out to Leasure's place, about six miles from his homestead, where he left the horse, with directions to send it back next day by the mail carrier, and went on to his homestead, and remained until the following Monday, when he resumed the work at the sawmill in which he was engaged before going to Portland. He continued such work for a day or two, and then returned to his homestead, taking his team and a load of sacked oats or grain. On June 23d following he filed in the United States Land Office an application to amend his homestead entry so as to include a part of the land embraced in that of Miss Nesbitt, accompanying it by what purported to be a relinquishment by her of her homestead, dated the same day, the signature to which, however, was forged by him. The land department, without knowledge of this forgery, and supposing the paper to be genuine, permitted him to amend his homestead entry, and he continued to live on the claim until some time in the fall or winter of 1900-1901, when he left the neighborhood, and was soon thereafter living at Bellingham Bay, Wash., with a woman he claimed to be his wife, and had with him a young woman whom he introduced to his neighbors as Miss Nesbitt, but whom the testimony shows to have been another person. From the time Miss Nesbitt and her mother arrived in Oregon up to the time of their disappearance they had been in the habit of writing regularly to their relatives in Iowa and Nebraska as often as once or twice in every week or 10 days. Their mysterious and unexplained disappearance, as well as the cessation of these letters, naturally created great uneasiness among their relatives, and speculation by Williams' neighbors. Inquiry and search were thereupon made to ascertain their whereabouts, if possible. As was natural, inquiry was made of Williams. He made many inconsistent, contradictory, and false statements in regard to the matter. To one of the witnesses he said that he had received a letter from Miss Nesbitt after the time of her disappearance, and put his hand into his pocket as if to produce it, but suddenly discovered that he had left it in the pocket of another garment. To other witnesses he said that he did not know of her whereabouts, and that the last time he saw her or her mother was when he put them aboard the train at Hood river on the morning he returned the team to the livery stable, although the train passed that station two or three hours before his return to town. To others he said that the last time he saw either of the women was on the 28th of January, 1900, when they left the homestead with a man by the name of Edmunds or Edwards. To the United States District Attorney, after he was indicted for forging Miss Nesbitt's name to the homestead relinquishment, he produced what purported to be a clipping from a newspaper containing a notice of the marriage of a Miss Alma Nesbitt to a W.H. Edwards at North Yakima, Rev. Mr. Griggs officiating. The testimony of the county clerk and postmaster at North Yakima show that there was no record at that place of such a marriage, and that no such persons as the alleged contracting parties or officiating clergyman were known in that community. In a letter written in August, 1900, by the defendant, in answer to one from Mrs. Swift, a sister of Miss Nesbitt, he intimated that she was immoral, and had clandestinely gone away with another man, and suggested that further search for her and her mother be discontinued; for " long as we keep trying to find them they are bound to keep quiet, and I know now that there is nothing happened to them, so I shall spend no more money, or time either, for I know she has left me for good." In this same letter he inquired if there had not been trouble between Miss Nesbitt and her sister, saying that she and her mother had both told him that they would never write to Mrs. Swift again, or tell her anything. In the spring of 1901 he suggested to one of his neighbors, in a conversation concerning the disappearance of the two women, and the suspicion against him on that account, that "you and Doc Riggs can straighten this matter up for me if you will, and set everything right about it, and we could make everything right. If you and Doc Riggs could say you saw me taking these women to town, that would settle this matter, and straighten it up for me." The relatives of Miss Nesbitt and her mother being unable to obtain any satisfactory information by correspondence as to their disappearance or whereabouts, Mr. George R. Nesbitt, a son and brother, came to Oregon in February, 1904, and went out to Williams' homestead to make a personal examination of the surroundings. After an investigation, he and his companion noticed a depression in the ground in a building used as a henhouse about 30 feet distant from the dwelling on the Williams claim. On digging they discovered an excavation about six feet long by three feet wide and about six feet deep, which had been filled up at some time. Upon throwing out the dirt they found in the bottom a lot of gunny sacks, which had been soaked with some liquid, and two tufts of hair about eight or ten inches long, one very fine and partly gray and the other black, matted together, as if clotted with blood. The gunny sacks and hair were examined by an expert chemist, who testified that the sacks had been saturated with human blood, and that the hair was human hair, and that the black hair had been removed from the scalp before death. Mr. Nesbitt identified the fine gray hair as that of his mother, and a woman who lived near the Williams homestead, and who saw much of the two women during the winter they lived on the claim, also testified that she had combed the old lady's hair many times, and believed it to have belonged to her. When Williams was asked to explain the...