HOLLYWOOD MURDER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 7 April 1926, Page 5

HOLLYWOOD MURDER

Fori: Yii.uts' old ciilmi

I i l’.N Ji W K 1) 1N V KST ICAT.IO N S

SAN FI!ANCISCO. March 25

That some definite developments have taken place in connection with the murder of William Desmond Taylor four ve.it,: ago is admitted by Asa Reyes, the List rie! Attorney for Eos Angeles. What lin* details of the mystery of the directors sensational death are. however, he refuses to disclose.

Upon lbs return from the East to-day ji c said: "My Inst business upon reaching home will he to interview .Mabel Normand. We shall call upon her and discuss the case with the greatest ’ireedom.

"1.0v.e or drugs. It was one of these .r a eombinat ion of the two which furnished toe basis of Taylor's death." added Mr Keyes lie admitted that In had trailed across the continent a certain lihu actress, whose name he declined to give.

'The next development, may conn slmriiv," he said, "bv an arrest, in Kan

.-as City. Our trip East lias been very successful. 1 interviewed Mary Miles M inter, who gave every assistance, but seme other people so far are declining to help. Mr Keyes said he wondered why Mabel Normand had slipped away from him in New York.

A message irom Los Angeles says that Mabel Normand complained to-day that her heart is being broken by the eon tinned publicity in regard to the Tnvlor

The police in Eastern cities are lonising for a rich young man who was dallying at Hollywood at the time of the murder, and for another individual whom Mr Keyes describes as a famous crincra i.xpert. Both are regarded ast matcrial wit nesses.

In the meantime. Mabel Normand very bitterly advises Mr Keyes to cease talking and do something. "1 do. not like the wav he drags my name into the newspaper headings." she said.

Six witnesses have been .summoned to tlic district attorney's office I’m' qliesl inning regarding tin; murder. It i.g oificially stated that- Edward Sands. Taylor's valet, is the only person who has not been aeeounted for in the i wived efforts to solve the mystery, lie is known to have quarrelled with his master, and he disappeared at the time of the murder.

The Ciiiengn Examiner says the cvi ilenre so far revealed in the ease has focussed attention upon a woman well Known in Hollywood, She is not. an actress and pioviously was not under suspicion. She is known to have* owned a small automatic pistol, and to have made threats against. Taylor.

William Desmond Taylor was found shot in his room at Hollywood on the morning of February 2, 1922. On the previous evening he had seen .Mabel Kormand to her ear, after she had had

an hour's conferenee with him concerning a forthcoming film production. Miss Normand and her chauffeur were the last persons known to have seen 'Taylor alive. The actress indignantly denied that she Had been engaged to Taylor, but .Mary .Miles Mi liter did not deny the authorship of a scented note the police found in one of the dead man's books. The. note concluded with "Dearest, I love you” these words being repeated many times. She said to the police. "1 did love. Taylor deeply and tenderly." Suhseuuciitlv it was staled that the police believed Dial jealousy, arising from me of Tavine's many armours, was responsible for the crime. .Mrs E. 1,, t'. Hob bins, who lived near New York, told tne police how 'her first husband, an Irishman named Tanner, dir.ipueaivd in 1908. leaving her with a five-year-old daughter. She obtained a divorce in 1912. Toward the cid of 1919 siie was. villi her daughter, in a cinema show in New York, when she recognised one of the plavers in a picture, who was billed as Tavlor. as her former husband. 'That's Uilll' father" she said to the girl, who afterwards wrote to him. care ol the him company. A regular correc poiidenee ensued, and once he visited New fork aid had a long conversation villi his daughter, telling her that he had never remarried and that lie would leave her all his money.