The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1885-04-23
A HOTEL HORROR IN ST. LOUIS.
Finding d Dead Body Packed In n Trunk
The Room whence tho ;:ody was Taken
UUoccupled for a week.

Finding u Dead Body Packed In Trunk |
Tho Room whence tho ;:ody was Taken
UUoccupIed for a week.
ST. LOUIS, April II "A sensation
was caused at the Southern Hotel, be-
tween | and II o'clock to-day, bv the
discovery of the mutilatcd body of o
man packed in q trunk which was
taken out of room. The stencil from
the trunk caused the discovery. The
hotel register shows that on. March 80
a gentleman registered as Walter Ii.
Lcnnox Maxwell, Nj. D., from Lon
don and was assigned to that room.
On opening the trunk it was found
that the head of the man was severed
from his body, and written on the
paper inside the trunk were the words,
$50 perish all traitors to the great
cause" The trunk and its contents
were taken to the morgue.
Maxwell is described as vorv girl
ish-looking, blonde young man, wear
ing dark woollcn cut-away suit of
English stuff. His face was clean
siavcnNand he wore his hair bang fash
ion, not parting it at all. lie was seen in
company frequently with dark-look-
ing gentleman about five feet ten inchc
in height. This gentleman registered
as G.. Arthur Prellor, London, Eng
land.
n Telegram had previously been re-
ccivcd from Prcllor asking whether
| Maxwell was II guest at the house.
He was answered in the affirmative
| and he soon came on. Both occupied
| the same room. Maxwell left the
hotel ON Sunday night week ago,
but he had paid shis full weeks board
promptly, and it was supposed he
would return any day. No suspicion
attached to his absence until the hor-
riblc smell called attention to his room
and led to the opening of the trunk.
When the trunk was opened in the
hotel corridor to-day it was found to
contain the body Of a middlc-agcd
man, the face and breast up, and so
doubled about the hips and knees that
it filled the receptacle. On the side of
the trunk over the head of the corpse
was printed in large letters the words,
$50 perish all traitors to the great
cause" The trunk and its ghastly
contents were Immediately hurried to
the -Four Courts. In another trunk
was found MaXwcll's London address,
"l4 Paper Building, Temple, Lon
don," and an envelope addressed in
his handwriting to the "Rcv. b. G.. A.
Lewis, B. a., curator of st. Pauls,
Morley, Leeds, Yorkshire, England" :"
lie came over on tic steamer Cepha-
lOnia from England. Prellor had a
Russian passport vizcd by the Russian
ambassador in London in 1878, and q
passport Of 1888 for Spain and Mexico,
vizcd by the Spanish minister and
signcd Granville. Seven trunks, four
valiscs and Il llat-boX were left behind
at the hotel, and the contents, clothing,
etc, arc valued at hundreds of dollars.
| This is believed to make the theory of
a hoax mtcnablc, and the bclicfis that
the corpse is either that Of Maxwell
or Prcllor.
| ST.. Louis, April 15.-NYallcr II.
LcnnoN Maxwell, who is supposed to
have murdered G.. a. Pellor and packed
his body in trunk at the Southern
Hotel, April 5, purchased through
| Monday morning, April 6, and signed
his name to the ticket before leaving.
| lie left the same evening on the San
Francisco Railroad. lie was rccog-
nizcd on the train by two St. Louis
gentlemen, who talked with him as far
as Pierce City, Mo.
SAN FRANCIsCO, April 16.-Dctcc-
tivcs have discovered that Maxwell,
the murderer of Prcllcr at the South
crn Hotel, i'll st. Louis, arrived here
under an assumed name last Saturday,
and took stccragc passage on the steam
CT CiiY Of Sydney for New Zealand
via Honolulu. Thcstclcgraph has been
called inlo rcquisition to head him of
at Auckland, but it is feared that at
Honolulu he may leave the steamer
and take sailing vessel for China or
Japan. 1t has been discovered that
the baggage checks delivered by Max
we'll under an alias to the Pacific
Transfer Company, of this city, corrc-
spond with the numbers issued at St.
Louis by the st. Louis and San Fran
cisco Railroad to different alias.