I believe that the solution to the William Desmond Taylor murder case can be found within the Mary Miles Minter-Charlotte Shelby-Carl Stockdale triangle. Here are my findings.
Bullets
An unfired bullet, removed from Charlotte Shelby’s gun, and hidden by her chauffeur Chauncey Eaton, was recovered by investigators in 1937.
Quoting from Taylorology: According to Detective Lieutenant Sanderson, that soft-nosed lead bullet “was the same type and weight as the fatal bullet, which was extracted from Taylor’s body.” Press reports at the time of the murder indicated: “The weapon used was probably a revolver, the police said, since ammunition of this type is not suitable for an automatic pistol. The soft lead point becomes battered in the magazine of an automatic frequently causing it to jam. The ammunition used was an old-style, rimmed cartridge. Automatic cartridges are rimless.” According to the LOS ANGELES EXAMINER (Feb. 18-19, 1922): “It has been generally known that Captain Adams early last week called into consultation one of the best known gunsmiths in America, a man past 60 who has devoted his life to a study of firearms and explosives .. .This expert declared. . .that the bullet from the wound… was .38 caliber, short, soft-nosed, single-rim, made for a Smith & Wesson .38 short barrel revolver. …As a matter of fact, say the firearms experts, there perhaps cannot be found one pistol in thousands in Los Angeles loaded with the ancient brand of ammunition which was taken from Taylor’s body.” Elsewhere it was stated that this type of bullet had not been manufactured for 12 or 15 years. The circumstantial fact that Shelby’s gun was evidently loaded with the same type of old ammunition that killed Taylor, is the strongest bit of physical evidence against her.
The following information is from Taylorology, and it adds to my belief that Charlotte’s gun was the murder weapon. Charlotte appears to have lied about the gun. She appears to have lied frequently when discussing the Taylor case. I think she lied in an attempt to cover the murder trail. The Taylorology quote: Shelby says her gun was given to her by a man in Santa Barbara, but he (Harry Harris) denied giving it to her. It appears the gun was given to her in 1920 by Frank Brown, a night watchman, while the family was living in the mansion on Fremont.
From Taylorology, more on Charlotte Shelby’s gun and why I believe that her gun was the murder weapon. The quote: Shelby says the last time she saw the gun was on the day of Mary’s “fake suicide scene” which took place in 1920 while the family was living on Fremont. But the chauffeur, Chauncey Eaton, stated that Shelby unloaded the gun and gave the bullets to him several months after the murder–when Shelby was living at Casa de Marguerita on New Hampshire–and that he placed the bullets on a rafter in the basement at that time. Since a bullet was indeed located on the Casa de Marguerita rafter, it indicates that Shelby was lying about never having seen the gun again after living on Fremont.
Hannah Howe 