Arizona silver belt., 1886-05-22
uAxwrLr coSFrssEs.

AN ave AANNAN A N't tF'iasNtNNt l .i'AAAfhN tho statement made by H M, Brooks, llllas Maxwell, now on trial for the murder of c. Arthur Preller which will constitute his only defense, and which will be urged by hls attorneys in the trlal. In word he will con l'ess to the killing of Preller by acci- dent while acting as his physician and that frightened and excited he con. cealed the body instead of making known the fact of his death. He de. ulares he has always wanted to tell the facts and only reGrained by the advice of his attorneys, The follow ing is Brooks statement: "Mr PrelIer was suffering from private diseases for which had previously prescribed; mixing medicines myself from bot ties in a medicine chest carried with me, but his allment had reached a stage when 1t was necessary to make certain investigations, 1 was obliged to use 0 catheter, and in using it where parts were inhamed I had pre- viously applied chlOroform in order to produce a condition of narcotismi l explained the process to Preller and told him what l should have to do; he was not only willing, but was very anxious for me to treat him in this manner" Brooks then tells of the purchase of chloroform which was spilled in the sink on Sunday after noon while he was washing instru- mentS, preparatory to the operation, and of his going to Ferrous drug store and buying more, denying incl dentally statements that he then showed evidences of hurry and ex- citement; and continues about 3 o'clock p. ID. administered the chlo- roform in the usual way, holding sat urated cloth to his nose, Mir. Preller passed through the first stage all right, it took several moments; don't know exactly how long; then he en- tered in the second stage, and here the terrible result came; l discovered too late that he was dying imagine my horror when this fact dawned upon me; was wild with fright, but had presence of mind enough to cut the shirt and under shirt from the body, and getting wet towel beat him around the neck and shoulders for half an hour or more. dld not give up until was ready to drop from exhaustion and my efforts were not relaxed until he had been dead some time. All the clothes he had on at the time were his shirt and under shirt He had stripped for the opera ton. What did l do when I saw my friend dying? What could 1 do? I didn't know what to do except drink, and l drank freely, l drank every thing could get, wine, whisky, ev- erythiug. What were my thoughts? I had not any. All l remember is that l drew on a pair of drawers, the first that fell in my hands, and put : the body into my trunk from which 1 had removed everything. What was done besides this l have no recollec- ton of. Liquor and consteruation had possession of me and knew only that my feelings were those of the ut. most horror. | remained in my room that night, the same room Tn which the remains were, and it would be a 1 lie for me to say l slept, for l did not and was glad when morning came
 What I did after leaving my room, you know, for it all has been printed. He says he supposed the postmortem when the body was found would de- clare the nature of the operation and the cause of death. According to his own story the cutting off of Preller's moustache, the inscription about traitor" found in the trunk, and all the other queer incidents connected with the tragedy are attributed to his hquor and fear crazed condition after the fatality.
 -