THE CASE OF FRED TRONSON

Our third case is that of Fred Tronson of Portland, Oregon. What we know of the history of Tronson is brief, but amply sufficient to prove that he belongs to the group that we are considering. He had lived in Portland for two years and in that time had held seven different positions as elevator man. He was twenty-four years of age, when, in August, 1914, he met and became infatuated with Emma Ulrich, a stenographer who worked in the same establishment where he ran the elevator. He asked her to marry him, but she refused. Later he was arrested for threatening her and was ordered to leave town and not to annoy her any further. On November 16th of the same year he waited for her outside of her home with two loaded revolvers. When she stepped off the street car, he again asked her to marry him. She became frightened and ran toward her home. He followed her, shooting as he went. He followed her into her own house and there shot her down. On Wednesday, December 9th, 1914, Tronson was tried and convicted of murder in the second degree. Oregon having abolished the death penalty on November 3d, only a second-degree verdict, which carries with it imprisonment for life, could be returned. The trial was very brief, and the jury returned within fifteen minutes. There was practically no defense, except the claim on the part of Tronson’s attorney that the man was weak-minded and, therefore, in strict justice, should be placed in custody, not in the penitentiary but in some other institution more suited to his condition. He had been examined by two alienists and pronounced sane, but of low mentality. He was also examined by a psychologist who used a modification of the Binet tests, which showed him to have a mentality of nine years.

Fred Tronson.

This rating obtained by the psychologist was confirmed in many ways. His mother said he had never been able to hold a job more than two or three months. He left school shortly before he was twenty, but we have no record of what success he had or what grade he was in. His conduct at the trial and before was that of an imbecile. When he was examined in the police station, he seemed to be in constant fear that some one outside would do him harm. When he had displayed uneasiness about an open window, the detectives told how they closed it and sat between him and the window to assure him that no one in the street would harm him. During the impaneling of the jury and the taking of the testimony, Tronson sat slouching in his chair, with sunken eyes, glaring at each witness, and with his mouth hanging half open as though he barely understood what was going on. The deep lines in his face and the dark circles beneath his eyes gave a vision of sleepless nights and haunting memories. Like the other two imbeciles whom we have discussed, he made a confession. The following is his statement:—

Statement of Fred Tronson taken in the office of Detective Captain Baty on Thursday, November 19th, 1914, in the presence of Deputy District Attorneys John A. Collier and Thomas G. Ryan, Detectives Pat Moloney and Tom Swennes.

Question. What is your name?

Answer. Fred Tronson.

Q. How old are you?

A. Twenty-four.

Q. How long have you lived in Portland?

A. One year and seven months.

Q. What have you been doing?

A. Running elevators.Q. Now, Fred, I am a deputy district attorney representing this state, Mr. Ryan here is a deputy district attorney, and these other men are officials and officers. You have been charged with a crime, and of course you have your rights. You have a right to make a statement here to me if you want to tell us what the facts are. You are not forced to make a statement, but you may do so if you want to. There isn’t any use of your getting nervous, and there is nobody going to bother you here. You needn’t be afraid. You cannot be forced or compelled to make a statement, and any statement you make must be voluntary. Do you want to make any statement about this shooting affair?

A. Yes.

Q. You may go ahead and just tell me what happened, commencing at the first of it, and tell me how it came about.

A. Well, that time I accosted the girl in the street, it was last August the 3d, I asked her if she would have me and she didn’t give me any satisfactory answer. She said she would wait outside at noon. In the meantime she had me arrested. Of course I threatened to shoot myself if she wouldn’t have me. She says, “No, don’t do that; I would rather have you leave town,” she says like that. She says, “I will write to you.” She says, “You are going to be a man, aren’t you?” I said, “Yes, if I can’t have you.” She said she would meet me out there at twelve, and before that she phoned the police or the other girl up there, I don’t know.

Q. That was last August?

A. Yes.

Q. You were arrested on that charge?

A. Yes.

Q. What did they do with you?

A. Well, they kept me here about a week and then let me go with the understanding that I go out of town. Judge Stevenson says go out in the harvest fields and take a good sweat and when you come back, look for some other job and you will be all right. Come back in the fall. So I went out next Monday and stayed a couple of days and couldn’t get anything and came back and waited about a week and stayed another week and then went to Hood River, and picked apples and stayed up there about ten days and then came back and I couldn’t get anything. I was hoping the girl would kind of come to me after awhile and I found after a few months that she wasn’t, so I thought I would get rid of her so somebody else wouldn’t have her.Q. When did you make up your mind to do that?

A. Last week.

Q. After you made up your mind to do that, what did you do?

A. I went off and got the guns.

Q. Where did you get the guns?

A. At Vancouver.

Q. What kind of a gun was it?

A. You got it there. That’s the one I shot her with (pointing to a gun on Captain Baty’s desk just opposite Mr. Ryan), but I had another one, too.

(This gun, marked #5308 on gun itself and marked “Exhibit A—Ryan,” was thereupon handed to the prisoner.)

Q. This gun marked “Exhibit A,” here, is that the gun you shot her with?

A. Yes.

Q. Where did you get that gun?

A. Vancouver.

Q. For what purpose did you get it? What did you intend to do with it?

A. I intended to shoot her. I intended to hold on to it, but in my excitement I dropped it in the weeds there, I guess.Q. Where did you get the gun at Vancouver? Do you know the name of the store?

A. No, it was a hardware store.

Q. How long before you did the shooting did you get this gun?

A. About three hours, something like that.

Q. Do I understand that you went to Vancouver and got this gun and then came over to Portland, and did the shooting?

A. Yes.

Q. Where did you get this other gun? (Gun numbered 2506 was thereupon marked “Exhibit B” by Mr. Ryan, and handed to Mr. Tronson.)

A. This second-hand gun?

Q. At a second-hand store?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you buy that at the same time you bought the other gun?

A. Yes.

Q. Where did you buy this gun?

A. Well, I didn’t want to buy them both at the same place. I thought that they might get suspicious. I didn’t want to get two five-dollar guns. I bought that for three.

Q. What did you have in mind when you bought this?A. Well, if one didn’t work, the other would.

Q. Do I understand you to say that you bought this to kill her with?

A. Yes.

Q. If the new gun didn’t work, that would?

A. Yes.

Q. When you came over from Vancouver, did you have the guns loaded?

A. No.

Q. When did you first load the guns and prepare to do the shooting?

A. Down there along the river some place.

Q. Out in South Portland?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you load both of them?

A. Yes.

Q. You knew where Miss Ulrich lived, did you?

A. Yes.

Q. Had you ever visited at the house?

A. No.

Q. Had you ever kept company with her?

A. Yes, I walked around the streets with her once in awhile.

Q. You never went to her home?

A. No.Q. Did you know her folks?

A. No.

Q. Where did you stay out there until she came along?

A. I didn’t get out there any too soon. I didn’t stand round two minutes.

Q. What time did you leave town here to go out to the scene of the shooting?

A. I came right from Vancouver and went through.

Q. What time did you get over to Portland from Vancouver?

A. About five o’clock.

Q. After you got over to Portland what car did you take then?

A. I walked out.

Q. Which way did you go out?

A. First Street.

Q. How far out First Street did you go?

A. Until I struck some of those other streets down there, Front Street I guess, Water or Corbett.

Q. How long did you wait out there before you saw Miss Ulrich?

A. I didn’t wait at all, I just walked around the block and she got off the car.

Q. Did you see her get off the car?A. Yes.

Q. What time was it when she got off the car?

A. A little before six.

Q. What car did she get off?

A. North and South Portland.

Q. Did you speak to her when she got off?

A. Yes, I said, “Wait a minute.” I wanted to talk to her, and asked her for the last time; she started running, hollering.

Q. Just what did you say to her?

A. That’s all I said to her. I wanted to talk to her and she started running and hollered.

Q. Did you have the gun in your hand at that time?

A. No, in my pocket.

Q. All loaded and ready for action?

A. Yes.

Q. How far was her house from the car?

A. Not quite half a block.

Q. Was there any one else got off the car at that place?

A. No.

Q. What did you do next?

A. I followed her around the house.

Q. Did she run around the house?A. Yes.

Q. Did you run after her?

A. Yes.

Q. When did you commence shooting?

A. Just before she went in the door.

Q. What door did she go in?

A. The back door.

Q. How many shots did you fire?

A. One before she went in.

Q. How many after that?

A. Four; I think there are only five in the gun.

Q. Did you know that the last bullet struck her?

A. I knew one must because she fell down after I began firing the other bullets. She was in the bathroom; then she began to crunch down; then she fell on her face like a board and struck her head on the floor. I thought she must be dead or unconscious or something like that. I left then. I took it for granted she was dead.

Q. You didn’t leave or didn’t stop shooting until you thought she was dead?

A. No.

Q. You went out there for the purpose of killing her if she didn’t accede to your wishes?

A. Yes, I am sorry I had to do it.Q. Why did you feel that you had to do it?

A. I didn’t want anybody else to have her if I couldn’t. I thought I should have her. She told me once she liked me, and I didn’t see any reason for turning me down. I acted like a gentleman. I had given her one present already.

Q. After you thought she was dead and that you had completed your job, where did you go?

A. I ran down on Hamilton Street.

Q. This gun that you used to do the shooting, was this gun (marked “Exhibit A”) the new gun numbered 5308 (handing it to him for inspection)?

A. Yes.

Q. Where did you go?

A. I ran out of the way kind of on a trot down into Hawthorne Bridge and then North on Union Avenue and caught the Vancouver car and went to Vancouver.

Q. Did you take both of these guns with you?

A. No, just one. I dropped the other one.

Q. Which one did you drop?

A. The new gun.

Q. That is, you dropped that after all the bullets were fired out?

A. Yes.Q. After you got to Vancouver where did you go?

A. I went to a picture show over there and stayed about half an hour, and then I went to a rooming house.

Q. Stayed all night in Vancouver?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you feel pretty nervous, knowing that you killed her?

A. Yes, I sat up. I didn’t sit up; I laid awake. I didn’t sleep at all.

Q. Where did you go when you left Vancouver?

A. Went right out the next morning, went right out the Pacific Highway.

Q. Why did you run away?

A. Well, I wanted to get the papers and see if I had killed her and then I was going back and shoot myself at the same place I shot her. I didn’t want them to get me until after I went around another way and shot myself down there.

Q. Did you intend to come back?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you read the papers at Vancouver?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you see in the papers that Miss Ulrich was dead?

A. Yes.Q. Why did you keep going the other way?

A. Well, I didn’t want to come back this way and run into the police. I was going around Seattle and Tacoma and cross over and come back around.

Q. When you read in the papers that you had killed her, did you feel satisfied?

A. Well, yes, but I was afraid there would be bloodhounds after me, and I would get shot down in the road.

Q. You weren’t worrying so much about her as you were afraid somebody might do you an injury?

A. Well, I didn’t want them to get me until the job was completed and I had shot myself.

Q. Did you think there was somebody else interfering to keep her from marrying you?

A. I guess there was.

Q. Did you have in mind to shoot any one else?

A. No.

Q. You knew she was engaged to marry another fellow?

A. Yes.

Q. Was that what made you decide to kill her?

A. I thought she gave him up. Well in a way I did and in another way I thought it was a bluff.

Q. When did you make up your mind to get these guns—on the day of the killing?A. Yes.

Q. You knew at the time what you were doing,—what you were getting the guns for?

A. Yes.

Q. You got the guns with the idea that if she refused to marry you why, then, you would kill her?

A. Yes.

Q. You knew what you were doing at that time?

A. Yes,—I don’t think a man in his right mind would do it.

Q. You knew that it was wrong to kill her, didn’t you?

A. Yes, but all I was thinking was about her.

Q. You knew it would be wrong to kill her?

A. That’s what the law says.

Q. You realized that fact at the time?

A. Not as much as I do now.

Q. You were in possession of your senses and you knew it was wrong to kill her?

A. Oh, yes, it was wrong to kill her—take her life.

Q. You know it is wrong to take that which you cannot give, and you knew at the time that you were doing wrong, and you knew that when you went over there to get guns?

A. I didn’t take it very serious then like now.Q. Did you ever drink liquor to the extent of getting drunk?

A. No.

When this confession was read to the jury, Tronson leaned over and asked the clergyman, “Well, what do you think of it?” When the verdict of the jury was given, he did not understand what it meant and asked to be told. When he was answered, he showed no appreciation of its significance, but remarked that there wasn’t so much of a crowd out as at the trial.

This is the third case in which the Binet tests have been admitted in evidence and the findings in accordance with these tests practically accepted. No one seems to have denied that Tronson is an imbecile. He is of lower grade than the other two that we have discussed, and enough lower so that his defectiveness was much more apparent and easily admitted by all of the judges. As will be noted, there was no reasonable motive for the crime. In his own words: “She wouldn’t marry me. That’s why I killed her—so that no one else could have her.” In the case of Gianini we are possibly dealing with the sex impulse, perhaps hardly recognized even by the criminal himself. In Tronson’s case we have that impulse definitely recognized and asserting itself and, being uncontrolled, leading to an action of the crudest and most savage kind. Under other conditions, it would very likely have shown itself in a different way. If Tronson could have gotten the girl off by herself, it is very probable that he would have committed violence in the gratification of his sex impulse. But since she refused to marry him and kept out of his reach, he shot her down in order that “no one else could have her.”

It is unnecessary to discuss the case further. We need nothing more to convince us that the diagnosis of imbecility was correct. It remains only to point out two facts. First, that this man has been an imbecile at least since he was twelve years of age, that he could have been recognized as an imbecile and cared for, and thus this atrocious murder prevented. Second, that there are hundreds of just such persons, now in their youth, who are potential criminals. Unless their mental condition is recognized and they are cared for in such a way as to make crime impossible, many of them will repeat the career of Tronson.

Fred Tronson is in prison for life. He will in all probability never be pardoned. He will never have an opportunity to commit another murder. But that does not restore the life of Emma Ulrich and it is small comfort to her friends and relatives. It does not in the least remove the blot upon society, which has allowed such a murder to be committed. Society should have taken him in hand twelve years ago. It should be further noted that Tronson had been before the Court at least once before he committed this crime. At that time had the Judge realized that he was dealing with an imbecile he might have sent the boy to an institution for the feeble-minded instead of simply ordering him to leave the town. Shall we learn the lesson and take care of the other Fred Tronsons who are now in our public schools and on our streets?