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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