The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-06-27
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.
HAD CHASTTNE cox ESCAPED, WOULD
DR.. NULL HAVE BEEN TRIED?


Murder Supplied and the Opportunity aud
Manner Thereof Piausibiy Accounted For.
In Yesterdays SUN Capt Williams was
quoted as saying to a reporter: For days
we have had our minds on a man who has
offered to testify under oath that DR.. Hull
spoke to him three different times about
numbering his wife; talked to him about the
easiest way OF committing murder and talked
at length about the Nathan murder and other
mysterious murders. No; l can't give you the
mans name. but he proiessed himself willing TO
go on the witness stand at the inquest and swear
to these things. and ifthis man Cox hadn't been
found. the man would have been put on the
stand. and his testimony would have sent DR..
Hull to the Tombs. and. likely enough. would
have hanged him. Now. l am convinced that
| the rascal was lying to us. can't tell you any
more now We haven't decided what to do with
this fellow"
At the Hull inquest yesterday Mr.. Townsend.
| referring to this statement, put this question to
Capt. Willams
o.Isn true that some person told you that Dr.. Hun
had talked TO him regarding killing his wife A.-Not in
regard to killing his WIFE exactly but Of doing job OF
thakin lie did not speak to me about it but knew
what he had said-the who made those representa-
tons mean lie Is here.
| Q-How long after the murder did that come TO your
knowiedgei Al think 1t was the second day.
|
Coroner woltman-rhe news was brought to the coro-
ners office that such statements had been made The
man sent for and his asked lie
related his story and listened to- and the testimony
produced here for well known those
iny sgaung tins do not think IL any part VI this
at all. II not brought here and cannot be
! brought here. as testimony. or any part Of IT.
Mr.. Townscnd-I only asked the question as matter
OF information. would like to know ourselves
Coroner wotman tnterrupungi-i heard his story two
/ mr. three nj n for
| not inquiring his name.
Dr. Hull has certainly had n narrow escape
from being tried for the murder OF his wife.
| Had Chastine Cox not been captured. ii is now
acknowledged that such testimony against DIR.
Hull had been collated by the police for the
Grand Jury that his indictment would have
followed as a matter Of course. At 9 O'Clock on
Monday night. a few minutes before Cox was
arrested. an Influential police official said, " We
have news from Boston that may shake our be-
lief in Dr. Hulrs guilt" At IL o'clock on the
same night the same official and all his asso-
cates at work on the case were aware that
negro OF whom they knew nothing. but who
had actually jostled them on the streets
again while they built up their wall Of proof
! around tho Doctor. was without doubt the
guilty. self i-coniessed murderer.
The evidence which tue police expected TO
show was substantially this: DR.. Hull and his
wife lived unhappily together. For eighteen
| years ne ana sue nhu occupied separate apart
ments For many years she had received ut
tentions from Mr.. Hyde; their relations uD to
Ia" date OF her death were peculiar. TO the eX-
tent that. although her rooms were the means
OF her support. he occupied An apartment for
which he paid rrrgularly. and not always with
money. A Mr.. Chittcnden made the Hull mnn-
sion. to all intents and purposes. his home. DR..
Hull was suubbed by his wife, who did not ad-
init him to her confidence did not take him on
her travels. did not consult him about her own
| or her household affairs. She lived in bazs
OF light. went out TO entertainments and gave
| entertainments Mt home. her husband having
but little part in her life. and mono whatever in
her business or social affairs. At one time,
when he prospered and was rich. she aided
him socially. ana he overlooked her pecuiari-
ties. But at the time of the murder he was
without business. money. or friends and thus
was nneiy wrought up 10 point that led him
The police found letters in the house by
which they expected 70 prove that there was
jealousy and probably hatred ana misery, in
the Hun household In one letter the police
say that Mrs. Hull wrote that her husbands
unkindnrss was such that she did not care II
she never SAW her nome again. In another she
defended her behavior while away She wrote
that the man she was with IN Saratoga lived in
"A separate house. aud was so absorbed in stock
| operato that she seldom saw him.
| II was sworn To on the stand that on the night
Of the murder the Old doctor overheard Chitten-
den and Mrs. Hull talk lng Of lHrge stock OPERA
tions. and heard Mrs. HUI talk Of putting aside
"a little for the old doctor In the shape Of fifty
shares Of "A certain stock II sne continued 10
| prosper in Wall street. Chitteuden stayed TIL
| half past 10 o'clock, and when he went away DIR.
Hull was work ing In his laboratory in the base
| mcnt Mrs. HUI prepared to retire. She shut
the front parlor door, threw her lawn dress on
chnir IN the front parlor. closed the sliding
doors that separated the front and back parlOrs,
continued her undressi ing in III" back parlOr and
in her bedroom. and finally shut the back parlor
windows and the door leading TO the hRN and
LETT hhlt open the window IN the little room SIX
feet IRON her bed. DIR. Hull, the police claimed.
murder. Nancy Francis heard him At work in
| his laboratory when she went to bed No one
heard him climb the stairs The last man in
Mr.. Coleman, Sr.-saw no light IN the Doctor s
room. which is next to his. Nancy slept with
her door open. and says that her sleep was more
sound that ever be ore. The Doctor knew. the
police claimed. that Nancy could hear footsteps
ia Mrs. HulPs room; He was sklliul chemist.
lief that DIR. Hull chlOrofurmed this woman.
He took his candle. they said different from
the others IN the housed crept up stairs. and
either killed his wife before she walked or en-
gagged in quarrel with her over "A disposition
OF her money. or expressed his suspicious
the quarrel with the crime.
II was considered by the police an established
fact that Mrs. Hull was rendered unconscious.
then Killed. A chemist not burglar would
do murder that way. The use OF cologne 10
kill the fumes Of the ether was the eXpedirnt OF
a skiiul chemist The Doctors mind could he
proven 10 be OF an inventive turn. Inventions
OF his had brought him 1925 900. which he had
since spent or lost. He employed his days and
evenings experimenting in his laboratory.
After Mrs. Hull died. said the police. 1t was
reasonable TO suppose that the murderer.
came TO his reason. He was alarmed. He
poured ice water on her chest and tace to re-
, Iive her H. was not even then sure she was
dead lie tried a surgeons last resort-the
fire test" Tho candlo that was held To the
eyes dripped. md drop Of its grease fell IN
, her sleeve. The ether famed up, ana burned
her eyebrows. Nobody but the master OF the
house would have known where to find
the ice water and the cologne. and after
ward the bandages or would have dared
to remain and look for them. The
strongest proof that the police considered TO be-
, against Dr.. Hull WIS that candle was found in
his room. the composition Of which WIS the
same as the drop on the sleeve of the murdered
woman. Its end had been burnt away on one
side ms il IL IN ight have been tipped up to apply
tho fire t'st.' According to tue police it was
, evident that the murderer. Ignorant OF the fact
that burglars bring their own ropes for .ying
people. used the material at hand and bHndaged
the woman as surgeons bandage patients when
they amputute limbs. He was too skilfu to
tie surgeons knots" but foolish enough
10 tie any other sort Of n knot, whereas a hur-
glar would have tied but one kind of knot. The
police were sure that II took an hour to bind the
woman. Who but a doctor would handle Il dead
body that length Of time, II was evident that
the murderer. desirous Of ventilnting the house
to drive away the smell of ether opened the
back paror windows. the sliding doors. the hail
doors ana the street doors. 1t was their theory
that the husband rfed the trunk and the
drawers to deceive the police, not TO gain plum
der. He knew her fortune would be his when
she died.
| Al.