Murphy Givens Corpus Christi History Caller-Times

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

Corpus Christi History by Murphy Givens

Corpus Christi History is published Wednesdays. Murphy Givens also sits on the Caller-Times editorial board and can be contacted at givensm@caller.com

Wednesday, June 9, 1999

FIRST PERSON: Ike Elliff

The skeleton that testified

   Ike Elliff, a deputy sheriff in Nueces County in the 1930s, was a descendant of the Elliffs who settled in the Banquete area. Ike's brother Mike was also a deputy sheriff. The second part of two columns. The first part ran last Wednesday.
   The case of the Oso skeleton was taking shape. We believed the murdered man was Alfred J. Steinbach, a young man writing a book who roomed with V. Don Carlis.
   We went to see Fred Sinclair, but didn't tell him about the skeleton. Sinclair said Carlis worked for him in 1927 and 1928 then again in 1931. We went to the Binz Garage on Water Street and asked for Carlis.
   "I am Carlis,'' said a tall, sad-faced man who carried himself with an aloofness hardly to be expected of a garage mechanic. We told him we were looking for a young man named Steinbach. I watched his reaction closely. He revealed no more surprise at my question than if I had asked for a match.
   "I am looking for him too. He owes me $125. I've been trying to collect from his father in Cincinnati, but I am not having much luck.''
   He said he had last seen Al on July 7. He said he thought he had left for Canada. I told Carlis that he would have to go with us for further questioning.
   It was night now. Deputy Shaw and I had been working fast since we found the bleached bones that morning. We had Carlis in jail, but no evidence against him. If we told him about finding the skeleton and accused him of murdering Steinbach before we had any evidence, we would probably get nowhere with this quiet, stoical man.
   The undertaker called Steinbach's father, who said he would bring his son's dental chart.
   Deputy Shaw and I went back to the Binz Garage. Frank Binz's son, Henry, said he went with Carlis to the Don Patricio Causeway to put an axle on a car. He said Carlis told him he had been hunting near the causeway and found a human skeleton.
   Shaw and I were startled. We had kept the news of the skeleton quiet, yet here was a statement that Carlis knew of bleached human bones in the patch of mesquite where the man we believed to be Steinbach had been found. The case was taking shape. We knew that Carlis roomed with Steinbach. He had worked for Sinclair and an envelope addressed to Sinclair was found by the bones. _And Carlis had told about seeing a skeleton in that very area.
   In the meantime, Dunne the undertaker got permission at Binz Garage to inspect Carlis's tools. He found a ballpeen hammer that fitted perfectly into the hole in the skull. There were bloodstains and a strand of blond hair on the hammer.
   We went back to talk to Carlis. We learned he had been prison, that he used several aliases. After a time, we told him that Steinbach was dead and accused him of killing him. Carlis, still calm, said he had something to say. He said he and Al were out riding when his car broke down and another car came along, three men jumped out, and one of them shot Al, and they took off. He said he didn't think anyone would believe his story, so he hid Steinbach's body in the brush.
   The body was found on Tuesday. Carlis was interviewed on Wednesday. The father arrived on Thursday and the dental chart positively showed the body was his son's.
   V. Don Carlis was charged with murder. When the trial date came, Nov. 9, there was widespread interest in the case and the courtroom was packed. Halfway through the trial, there was a scream and spectators rose from their seats. Maxwell P. Dunne was wheeling the skeleton into the courtroom.
   District Attorney D.S. Purl said young Alfred Steinbach had returned from the dead to tell the jury of his fate.
   "Look at my teeth. Look at my left arm. Now, look at these pictures. You see, I'm Alfred Steinbach," the bones of the dead man seemed to be saying. "Now look at these nicks in my ribs. That's where I was shot. Here, see this round hole in my skull, that's where the murderer hit me with a hammer.''
   The district attorney did his work too well. The jury found Carlis guilty and he was sentenced to 99 years in prison. But the precedent of bringing the corpus delicti into the courtroom attracted national attention and cries of that the trial was unfair, that the bones of the dead man had prejudiced the jury. The case was reversed and remanded for retrial. There was no skeleton in the second trial and Carlis, though he was found guilty, was sentenced to only eight years in prison.
   Sources are Caller-Times' accounts of the arrest and trial of V. Don Carlis and Ike Elliff's personal account of the investigation, as told to Forrest H. Beck, and included in the manuscript of "Pathfinders of Texas" by Mrs. Frank DeGarmo. For brevity, Elliff's account was rewritten and condensed.
   (Murphy Givens can be reached by e-mail at givensm caller.com or at 886-4315. Previous columns can be found on-line at www.caller.com/mgivens.)