JAP DECLARES HE SLEW WHITE GIRL

George Kodani, Photographer Under Arrest at Salinas, Cal., Tells Four Stories of Carmel Tragedy.

SALINAS, Cal., Monday, Aug. 24. -- George Kodani, a Japanese photographer under arrest here, confessed to Sheriff Nesbit today that he had murdered Helena Wood Smith, a New York artist who had been living in the colony of writers and painters at Carmel-by-the-Sea. He told four conflicting stories of the murder, none of which the sheriff believes.

The body of Miss Smith was found yesterday buried in a sand dune near Carmel by a party of searchers headed by Frederick R. Bechdolt, the novelist.

Before confessing Kodani admitted that he knew the young woman was dead, saying he had seen her jump into the bay. According to his inquisitors, he said that he had taken a moonlight walk on the beach with the young woman and that she had cried because the laws of California stood in the way of their marriage.

"We quarreled," he is said to have asserted. "She attacked me with a knife. She was crazy, and I guess I was crazy, too."

Kodani's statement is bitterly resented by friends of Miss Smith, who deny that she entertained any affection for the Japanese.

According to Sheriff Nesbit, the motive for the killing of Miss Smith was a check for $252, which she had in her purse at the time of her disappearance, August 12.

Physicians say Miss Smith was strangled in death with a cord.