identify the body. A few days later,
the preliminary hearing was taken at
Pouce Coupe, B.C., before Mr. Mor-
rell, sitting as Stipendiary Magistrate.
Dr. G. N. Cormack of Fort St. John

told of having made an autopsy on
the dead man, and finding a bullet
in the skull which had been shat-
tered, particles being revealed by x-
ray throughout the brain tissue.
While the tissue had been too decom-
posed to trace the course of the bullet,
there was evidence to show that it
had been deflected downwards at an
angle of about 30° to where it pene-
trated the base of the skull. The doc-
tor testified that the deceased had
come to his death through a gun shot
wound, and that the bullet had en-
tered the head at a point about two
inches from the right ear. In other
words, he had been shot from the
back. Nine witnesses in all were
heard, including Inspector Duncan,
Constable Lumsden of Fort St. John,
Photographer Rudolph Shubert of
Fort St. John, Alfred McComas who
told about his brother leaving Day-
ton with from $1,000 to $1,500 on
his person. Nelson Reed of Hythe;
Alta., County Prosecutor Fritzler,
and Sub-Inspector Ledoux. How-
ever, the most startling piece of evi-
dence came when Louise McComas
took the stand. Shortly before the
preliminary hearing was to com-
mence, Mrs. Fritzler advised the po-
lice that Louise wanted to see Wieg-
ner to be released from a promise
she had made to him. Her request
was granted, and Wiegner was
brought before the child. With tears
streaming down her face, she told
Wiegner that he had lied to her, that
he had not been overseas. This he
admitted, and lamely said that it was
only because he wanted to appear as
a man in her eyes. It appears that
Wiegner had told the child he had
been a prisoner of war, and had his
teeth knocked out in a German prison
camp. ‘Terminating the tense little
scene, Louise told Wiegner that she
would now go into court and tell
the whole truth as she was released
from her promise because he had lied
to her. Wiegner bowed his head and
told her that if she felt she had to
do so, she should.

SAYS WIEGNER DID “INSULTING
THINGS”

Louise told her story in a very
straight-forward manner. Up to the

point where she had heard the shots
in the woods, the story was the same
as previously in this narrative. But
When she came to the point where
Wiegner had come out of the woods,
her story changed. Instead of the
remorseful and broken man who had
killed her father it was a very differ-
ent individual. Wiegner had come to
the car and seized her wrist. He took

NINETEENTH EDITION

her into the woods and taking a
piece of string from his pocket, tied
her wrists. He had then partially dis-
robed her. She tried to get away but
was unable. He had struck her once.
Pleading that she had her whole life
ahead of her, Wiegner then had done
“insulting things.’’ Later he sat down
and told her he had sent her father
along another trail, finally admitting
that he had shot her father accident-

Provincial Government Courthouse at Pouce
Coupe where preliminary hearing was held.

ally. The rest of the story followed
her former statement closely. On
cross-examination by the accused she
admitted that she had not been mo-
lested by Wiegner on the trip, and
that he had asked her ““Why don’t
you shoot me too?”

At the conclusion of the Crown
case, the court committed the accused
to stand trial at the next court of
competent jurisdiction. During fur-
ther investigation in the area, the tree
was located upon which Louise stated
she had carved her initials, a small
piece of rope was found, and also a
spot where some hair embedded in soil
appeared to indicate where the corpse
had originally lain before being pulled
away by animals.

The trial began on October 6,
1948, at Prince George, B.C., and
lasted through to October 7, 1948,
when the jury brought in a verdict
of “guilty of manslaughter.”’ G. F.
Gregory, an energetic and able young
lawyer of Victoria, B.C., had vol-
unteered his services to defend Wieg-
ner. He made every point of benefit
to the accused count to the fullest
degree. He accentuated the doctrine
of ‘‘a reasonable doubt,”’ and pointed
out that the accused had co-operated
fully with the authorities in locating
the deceased. It was also indicated
to the jury that they were not trying
a man on a morals charge, but on a
charge of deliberate murder. At the
trial, the youthful witness Louise ex-
plained the “‘insulting things’’ which
the defendant had done, which while
of a revolting nature, were not phys-
ically harmful to herself. Apparently
her plea had stopped him from any
other thought he might have had in
mind.

At the conclusion of the trial and
verdict the court imposed a sentence

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Page One Hundred and One