Show ranchers rancher body bo d found in in well discovery climaxes weird mystery more baffling than fiction san francisco calif As a climax to one oie of the weirdest weir dest murder mysteries teries tb that a t ever baffled fiction detectives te tec c ives tives 0 or r flashed on t the 1 ie movie thriller screen the body of 0 frank roderick forty year old prosperous rancher tt of san mateo county has been removed from tile the bottom of a well 20 26 feet deep on his ranch on tile the alpine road one mile south of la hondo As a result of oc the discovery of pol 1101 eric k 8 body his crushed skull showing how his life had been ended by a powerful blow from behind the a ranchers wife minnie roderick thir ty ti three and the hired hand of the ranch william woodring forty four were in jail at redwood city A red haired gal 11 although the roderick ranch Is only a few minutes by automobile from the heart of sophisticated san francisco find and in the center of a vacation and summer lummer home territory the history of the disappearance of roderick and the events preceding nod and following it ere are such as might be expected of the days dais of GO 50 years bears ago when california was frontier land and life was held cheaply cattle rustling in which a nine year 3 earold of d son of rodericks helped him drive oft off steers from neighboring ran ranches clies jealousy of a wife over a red haired gal glances of affection exchanged between the boss wife and the cowboy from distant parts batus battle to the dertil death betrayal by confederates in crime t the ie astute sheriff who s solves 0 ive 8 the mastery all the requirements quire ments of the western thriller are present in copious quantity I 1 cattle rustling hinted the story dates back eight months when sheriff james J mcgrath went into the alpine country to investigate reports of cattle rustling there had bad been complaints from the gallagher zink ranch and the ranch near the roderick ranch that cows and steers had find mysteriously disappeared on dark nights A dozen head were missing altogether the sIer bh erlof lff was unable to pin anything on anybody but lie closely questioned roderick and woodring at that time the next chapter came may 20 last when sirs airs roderick came to visit district attorney franklin D swart at redwood city she said tier her husband had bad beaten her severely hud had dressed up in ills his store clothes had put 2800 in iiii his pockets ets and had dis lipp eared with a redheaded red headed gal swore out complaint on swarts aft arts advice site she iwori snore out a warrant for tier husband on a buttery charge hut but sheriff mcgrath BIc Grath remembering mem bering his suspicions of a few months before questioned mrs roderick closely when site she asked him to se berve rye the N warrant arrant mcgrath finally elicited information from the wife which led him to visit the All indigo ranch also in the alpine district burled under tinder the floor boards of a ranch outhouse he found many steer bides unmistakable signs sign of D f cattle rustlers who mho had run olt off at steers ee rs lad had to butchered ute hered them had told sold the beet beef and had hidden the evidence of the branded hides again the sheriff questioned woodring roderick of course was missing but again he was baffled sheriff mcgrath SIc Grath continued to brood over the story 11 he was nonplus ed and mcgrath Is a man who likes things open and above board so he returned to the roderick ranch end and found young filbert roderick nine year old sw son of the rancher alone ile he adroitly engaged the lad in conversation A few minutes later inter the sheriff had drawn from the boy the information that he had accompanied his father and another rancher when they drove off a big raan roan steer from tile the gallagher and zink one dark night father killed steer they had bad taken the steer to the ranch where the father had killed it with a 22 rifle left it to dry in the ranch house and tile the next nest day had bad sold the beef after his talk with nith the boy mcgrath arrested ornest ernest hildebrand owner of a nearby ranch and took him to redwood city for questioning Ll ildebrand was not charged and was released after a few hours but that afternoon the slier sheriff lff confided t to 0 iler der sheriff edward farrell that lie he had a ti tip P I 1 roderick had been murdered and his body burled in a well near his home the two went to the roderick ranch and found woodring busy in n the vicinity of the ranch house with a borrowed scraper lie he bad been plowing and scraping several acres of land near the h house 0 use which was not used for agri agriculture culture although grain in the fields according to the sheriff was in need of attention the sheriff looked for the well it was As nowhere to be seen all the land inc near or the ranch house had been plowed and and scraped and showed no signs of a well ever eer having existed but mcgrath was determined to find the well by searching through county records he discovered that roderick had purchased the ranch several years yeara ngo ago from george steinberg now nov a road superintendent with the county 11 lie took steinberg out t to the ranch in hla his automobile and asked askea cl where the veil had been steinberg stood at a corner coiner of house squinted a sight on alignment with w ith a tall tree and walked ards from the he house the well veil should be right litre h be said mcgrath returned to the ganeb bringing with him farrell deputy clarence wyckoff Wyc kofT constable F IS grill eddy chalmers almere Cli and charles roberts armed with shovels tibey attacked the spot were steinberg said the well ft ell had been at dusk they had dug duff down six feet tind and there they found unmistakable evidence the earth had been freshly disturbed pieces of iron bits of tires i and tin cans showed that anything and everything had been used to fill in abole ahole a hole find mans foot they again attacked tile the job the next mornin morning gm down and down they went chalmers and roberts were nt at ta the e bottom of the alie hole while mcgrath and parrel farrel were at the top lifting out tile the earth suddenly come came a shout from the bottom weve found a mans foot 1 11 the two diggers were just twenty six feet in the earth come coine up a minute ordered mcgrath when tile the two men gladly enough had arrived atthe surface mcgrath BIc Grath went to the ranch house and placed woodring and mrs roderick under arrest then they retura returned id to the well it was 8 past dusk when the body had finally been freed fro from ra tile the soil soft and brought brou glit to the surface it was that of roderick it was plain enough how he had come to his death A heavy blow from a bludgeon had crushed his skull from the back ile he dressed in his store clothes as his wife had said lie he wits wib wearing his overalls and rough shirt and shoes there any 2800 in his pocket and the red beaded gal also remained a mystery questioned long hours hour sheriff mcgrath took the body to redwood city for a postmortem investigation vesti gation in another car e or came woodring and mrs lira roderick guarded by the guns of the deputies in a third car rode mr and mrs P F 12 anderson neighbors of the rodericks who volunteered to take care of little filbert tile the boy rustler rustier and fisl his ill alc year ar old brother donald until the children could be turned over to their grandfather john fayall redwood city rancher at whose home roderick roderic k courted and won minnie fayall there was no charge placed against mrs roderick and woodring at the county jail deputy district attorney richard cell bell and ed edmund mund scott questioned them into the small hours in the morning but volunteered no in information f or mation as to what their Indu inquiries indulges ldes had disclosed |