Editing 14 Mar 1914 - Seattle Star (Seattle, Washington)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/146531247/?match=1&terms=Werner<b><center>Volume 16, No. 16</center></b>

<b><i>Page 1, Column 6,7,8</i></b>

<b><center>"I PAID $100 TO HAVE MY HUSBAND KILLED"</b>
- Reported Confession of Mrs. Werner</center>

<i>"How much would you want to put my husband away?"
"Oh, it ought to be worth $100"</i>

This conversation is alleged to have been held between [[Mary Magdalena Goebel|Mrs. Henry Werner]] and Frank Piconi, alias Roderigo Rocco, according to a confession said to have been made by the woman shortly after her arrest in connection with the murder of her husband, Henry Werner, a rancher near Issaquah, last week.  Piconi was lodged in the county jail this morning by Under Sheriff "Ted" McCormick, who brought him from Cle Elum, where he was arrested late yesterday afternoon.  He refuses to talk. The story, as told by Mrs. Werner to the officials, is alleged to contain the statement that she paid Rocco $100 to commit the murder.

<b><center>Admitted All to Star</center></b>
Efforts to secure the apprehension of Piconi were redoubled after Saturday nigth, when Mrs. Magdalina Werner, according to officials, confessed that he is the man responsible for the murder of her husband. In an exclusive interview with a Star reporter Mrs. Werner the next day admitted she had made a full confession to the authorities, and told the reporter that a man named Frank had killed her husband as protection to her.

<b><center>Hoped He Would Escape</b></center>
"It had to come," she said. "I asked for protection, but didn't dream it would come as it did. I didn't tell who did it at first, for I hoped he would escape." Eugene McGuire, a Milwaukee railroad conductor, recognized Piconi from pictures on posters distributed broadcast throughout the Northwest by orders from Sheriff Cudihee. Werner was found, with his head hacked by a score of wounds, in his barn on the lonely ranch near Issaquah.

<b><center>Slayer Used Mattock</center></b>
A mattock was used in the crime. It is being held by officials, who will attempt to connect Piconi with the crime by comparison of his finger prints with those on the blood-stained handle. When arrested Piconi is said to have had in his possession a bloodstained knife and a handkerchief with blood spots on it. He at first denied any knowledge of the Werners, but when an interpreter was secured, he finally admitted he knew them, but denied any knowledge of the crime, giving an apparently plausible story of his travels before and after the date of the crime.

<b><center>Question Him Today</center></b>
The Italian was questioned by Sheriff Cudihee, Deputy Prosecutor J. Edgar Wright and deputies today. Mrs. Werner has been in the county jail since the inquest at Issaquah a week ago Friday. With her is her little baby girl, Agnes. In a statement to The Star she declared that Werner had repeatedly threatened her, and that her life had been made miserable by the man who was so brutally murdered.