The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 21

lyiim rni im rjgwarjmp'n The Sacramento Bee Thursday August 27 1381 A21 A i- p-' i II iM'S Old Case Continued From Page A29 with Purselley again McConkey further said that when Pursselley himself brought up the Oct 29 1969 telephone conversation McConkey pretended he did not remember It want a bullet or two in my head" McConkey told Brautovlch according to the report appears to this officer that he (McConkey) knows a lot more of the bombing than he is willing to talk about" Brautovlch wrote When McClatchy reporters located McConkey now 72 In a seedy Los Angeles apartment In the summer of 1980 he said he had no clear recollection of what Information about the Chartrand murder he had passed on to law enforcement officers years before "Too much time gone" be said simply Soper and Pursselley however were not as reticent Their basic position was that Chartrand was a friend Moreover In case Chartrand was a valuable business associate and neither had any reason to want him dead Soper has been an operator of gambling pmes for 30 years A native of Southern California be Is a tough-talking beefy gray-halred man who can be engagingly garrulous His steel-blue eyes remained steady when McGatchy reporters told him they had talked to persons who believe he was behind the Chartrand murder "I come out of the gutter in LA on my hands and knees runnln' sneak crap games" he said during an Interview last December "Didn't have two pennies to rub together But I can still shave without turning my head In my worst fit of anger never blow up a quarter of a million dollars" The latter remark was a reference to the value that Soper placed on the 5 percent Interest In he said he held at the time of Char death He had nothing to document that Interest Soper acknowledged and Elizabeth Chartrand the casino owner's mother and beneficiary was aware of It but refused to acknowledge 1L Chartrand's mother refused to talk to McGatchy reporters Asked whether he received a LOS Angeles GEORGE BRAUTOVICH share of the profits from commensurate with hts Interest Soper said he was paid "dividends" Soper dismissed as ridiculous reports that Chartrand had eased him out of "I had five points I could bounce Chartrand off a wall and get my stock I'm the last son of a bitch that wanted Dick Chartrand dead Alive he's worth a quarter of a million or better to me Dead he ain't worth a quarter" Soper said Chartrand was a smalltime operator In Fresno when he found him and showed him how to make big money as a gambler A different perspective came from Dean Lawrence an oldtime San Joaquin Valley bookmaker who now lives quietly and modestly In Fresno but who worked for Chartrand at "I think what dealings he (Chartrand) had with Bud were all bad as far as Dick was concerned" Lawrence told McGatchy reporters tried to put the arm around him for some points or In the club up there Whether he had It coming or not I know "He wanted to go to work up there and Dick said wouldn't trust you the money according to Lawrence Not so said Soper In fact It was the presence of Lawrence and attorney TodLsco at Barney's coupled with the fact that the club's receipts were being heavily skimmed after RAYMOND ROBERTS Chartrand took over Its management in 1966 that kept him away from the place Soper said explaining that he did not want to risk bis standing with Nevada gaming authorities Todlsco who by most accounts Including his own was a member of Chartrand's Inner circle of confidants and business associates told McGatchy reporters in a 1979 Interview that he held a 2 percent Interest In Barney's prior to the murder The Interest he said was hidden because his conviction for attempting to bribe an Internal Revenue Service agent precluded his being licensed as a casino owner In Nevada More recently Todlsco was not available to reporters for comment Soper acknowledged that he Pursselley and McConkey have known one another for many years but said he met Ballard only once or twice and knew nothing about him Pursselley who affects modishly-cut white hair and matching mustache set off by a tan complexion and dark horn rimmed glasses today looks like an aging movie extra In the face of persistent questioning about the murder Pursselley kept his poise described Chartrand Soper and McConkey as good friends of his and said he had no knowledge of the crime He pointed out that McClatchy reporters were the first to question him on the subject although he admitted he has "heard the story" DICK WILLIAMS that Investigators suspect him He and Ballard were In the Sacramento and Lake Tahoe areas around the time of the bombing Pursselley said They were selling sweaters one of favorite fast buck schemes in those days he explained Told of the list of dynamite purveyors found where he had been living above McConkey's plumbing shop Pursselley responded "Man might want to blow open a safe mightn't he? That would be the only purpose I would have for dynamite" Purselley dented having dynamite at McConkey's shop The 11400 transaction between Soper and McConkey Involved some plumbing fixtures Soper bought for a motel he built at Mount Montgomery Pass according to Pursselley and Soper As for Ballard apparently the only time he was questioned about the Chartrand murder was on Jan 18 1970 when he was In jail In Burbank following an arrest on a robbery charge He was Interviewed by Harold Upset a well known San Francisco private Investigator hired In 1969 by Elizabeth Chartrand to look Into the death of her son Also present at the Interview were LAPD officers Williams and Roberts Ballard said then that he was too drunk during most of his trip to Northern California with In August of 1968 to have a clear recollection of where they were and what they were doing at any given la the meoth and a half befere Chartraad was alala Pursselley and Ballard traveled back aad fartb bet wee a Seutbera aad Norlhert Callferala ad aarthera Nevada ea U-V II! aad State Reute It attorned general's Investigator told a Douglas County grand Jury in 197(7 "Our problems to dale would be the lack of physical evidence tying the perpetrators with the eie-rutloners in the bombing itself "The way we reconstruct it at this time the bomb was made in McCotv-key plumbing house in Los Angeles transported up by Punvseiley pwlbly with Ballard and pmaifety with a third Individual who we have tentatively identified as Soper And there I) years to the day after the bomb evploded the matter officially rests time according to illiams "lie told 'em the truth" Pursnel-ley said last December when Informed by MrCLitcfty reporters of Ballard's claim When ail the Informaiion on the Chartrand murder was sifted Inves-ligating authorities in Nevada and California were convinced that Soper Purwedley and Ballard were their men but the tale John Christa then district attorney of loug-las County wanted physical evidence and the Investigators couldn't come up with any As Raymond Roberts the Nevada 3 IE Overnight Train Service To LA May Start Oct 1 8 IS pm arrive In Oakland at 6 50 a the next morning leave Oakland at 715 a and arrive tn Sacramento at 9 20 a Stops also are planned at Davis Suisun Fair-field Martinez Richmond San Jose Salinas San Luis Obispo Santa Barbara Oxnard and Glendale Lanza said the cost of operating the train is estimated at S10 million a year with Caltrans providing 12 million and Amtrak 8 million Although discussions between Caltrans and Amtrak are still under way Lanza Indicated the price of a round-trip ticket on the new overnight train should be about 970 Current cost of a round-trip ticket on the Coast Starlight between Davis and Los Angeles (s 190 which includes bus service from Sacramento to Davis where Sacramen-to-area residents board the train Passengers on the new train would board In Sacramento A one-way ticket on the Coast Starlight between Sacramento and Los Angeles now costs J53 Lanza said He Indicated the price would be the same on the new train The decision to establish the overnight rail service came four years after Caltrans asked Amtrak to start trains between Northern and Southern California Negotiations between Amtrak and Southern Pacific were deadlocked for many months when SP said passenger trains would Interfere with freight operations The state Department of Transportation said Wednesday overnight rail service between Sacramento and Los Angeles could begin as soon as Oct 1 Frank Lanza Caltrans spokesman said additions or terminations timetables and new rates for trains traditionally are made by Amtrak April 25 and Oct 25 each year "However If our current meetings with Amtrak representatives continue as expected" he said "thera Is a good possibility train service to and from Sacramento could start the first of October" The new overnight Sacra me nto-Los Angeles train would run seven days a week This contrasts with cutbacks of about 10 percent In Eastern train service approved by the Amtrak board Wednesday In Washington DC Amtrak eliminated three of the 27 New York-Washington trains a New York-Boston run and five of the 12 trains between New Haven Conn and Springfield Mass In addition to the Sacramento-Los Angeles rail link only one other train was added to Amtrak's schedule That one also In the West would run between Spokane Wash and Portland Ore Tentative schedules call for the southbound train to depart Sacramento at 7 55 pm arrive tn Oakland at 950 pm depart Oakland at 10 IS pm and arrive In Los Angeles at 9 am the following morning Northbound trains would leave Los Angleles at cident Jallar- Ident irange home jrssel- Wil-ngeles itional identi-Cadll-t It he le car ied In ie offl- ond tigator neral phone wor-police op for i make which donkey how urned i from shop told had uld be iterial here" iulred stuff vsured ything earch 1 me if and ial or isked ey an said They ant to hide I you to me you ation ht and estiga- Nov itovlch who selley phone re onkey ear of ich he iubject ge A21 Divers Find Safe Of Andrea Doria CHOOSE FROM LEVI KENNINGTON A-SMILE PHUSH-BOTTOMS YOU-BABE AND MORE end because of high winds and huge waves but the divers were able to resume their work nearly 200 feet below the surface when the weather calmed Wednesday Pickard said Divers have lived under water tn a small capsule while they combed the silt-covered wreckage The operation has been run from an exploration vessel the Sea Level 1 1 Several weeks ago divers penetrated the Andrea Dorla's first-class lounge where they believed the Bank of Rome safes may be located The divers also found what they think Is the cage In the purser's office But the divers were forced to comb through the mass of debris using their hands and suction hoses before they found the safe "They are still looking for the other one Pickard said She said the safe could be hauled up to the Sea Level 1 1 but It will not be opened immediately Gimbel who first went to the wreckage the day after the Andrea Doria sank hopes to make a two-hour television documentary based on the expedition which is scheduled to end Monday BOSTON (UPI) Divers searching the murky Atlantic Ocean for the treasure of the Andrea Doria the Italian luxury liner that sank 25 years ago Wednesday located one of two safes believed to contain more than $1 million In Jewels and valuables "The first safe has been reached" said Lillian Pickard a New York-based spokesman for expedition organizer Peter Gimbel very The safe been rigged and Is almost ready to come said Pickard who spoke to Glmbel's wife Elga Andersen by marine-radio telephone The safes thought to contain between $1 million and $3 million in valuables have lured fortune hunters since the vessel sank July 25 1956 about 50 miles off the coast of Nantucket The liner went down after it was rammed In heavy fog by the Swedish liner Stockholm Fifty people died In the collision mostly from the Doria Gimbel a 53-year-old department-store heir organized the latest $30000-a-day venture that began fearlier this month Salvage operations were called off last week ALL FIRST QUALITY MERCHANDISE Victim Faked Death In Guyana Attack NOW THROUGH SUNDAY AUGUST 30ili LIMITED TO STOCK ON HAND 6934 65TH ST SACRAMENTO 10697 FOLSOM BLVD RANCHO CORDOVA 4728 MANZANITA CRESTVIEW SHOPPING CENTER CARMICHAEL 3441 WATT AVE SACRAMENTO ALSO STORES IN WOODLAND AUBURN AND NOW IN ROSEVILLE SQUARE tn the ambush Nov 1 8 1 978 yelled the and we fell to the ground and that's when we were shot" said Sung saw Bob Brown He was shot in the leg and was sitting up holding It He attracted a lot of attention and right away he was shot In the head felt a bullet go through my arm You believe the pain I had But somehow I managed to stay quiet My blood was splattered all over my head They must have thought I was SAN FRANGSCO (AP) An NBC-TV technician testifying at the trial of former Peoples Temple member Larry Layton said Wednesday he convinced attacking Temple members he was dead by lying on a Jungle airstrip while they pumped a bifllet Into him at point-blank range Network sound man Steve Sung told a federal Jury he and cameraman Robert Brown were filming the scene at Port Kaltuma Guyana when the attack began Rep Leo Ryan D-Calif Brown NBC reporter Don Harris San Francisco Examiner photogra pher Greg Robinson and a Temple defector died dead" Sung said a leather shoulder strap attached to some of his equipment saved his life.