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Show WOMAN KILLED RYAN MRS. AURORA HEDGES ADMITS KILLING PEDDLER. Declares Ryan Attacked Her and She Killed Him Unaided, After Which She Feared to Give Herself Up. On Sunday, Mrs, Aurora Hodge, a woman, 19 years of age, whose home is in Denison, Iowa, walked into the police station at Grand Rapids, Mich., and declared that she wished to givt herself up, saying that on July 11th, she had shot and killed William X. Ryan, a peddlar, near Salt Lake City. Mrs. Hodge, who claims to be 19 years of age, says that she had left her husband in California and came to Ogden. Here she met 'Ryan, who engaged her to accomDanv him in his travels over the country and act as his bookkeeper. When near Salt Lake City, she claims, he made an assault upon her, when she shot him in self-defense. self-defense. She intended to give herself up to the police, but her nerve failed her and she took what money she could find upon Ryan's person and bought a ticket for Denison, Iowa, where her brother and foster parents live. She claims she told her brother what she had' done and he advised her to surrender herself to the authorities au-thorities or he would tell them himself. him-self. She then left Denison and went to Chicago, . where, through an' employment em-ployment agency, she secured a position posi-tion as waitress at a hotel at Spring Lake, near Grand Rapids, Mich. Then sne made up her mind to surrender and went to Grand Rapids for that ! purpose. This is the woman's story, but it is not credited by the police, although they believe she was implicated in the murder. On the afternoon of Tuesdav. Julv 14th, the body of William X. Ryan, a spectacle vendor, was found in a willow wil-low thicket two miles east of Murray. The body was in advanced stages of decomposition, and presented a horrible horri-ble sight. It had been carefully wrapped in blankets, and investigation investiga-tion showed that death had resulted at least forty-eight hours before the discovery was made. That murder had been committed was apparent. Evidences of the crime wore found in profusion. The peddler's ped-dler's dog was fastened to the tongue - wagon; his horses were teth- |
