Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-01-09


The Coming Trial Of Maxwell, the
EnElishmau.
WITNESSES FROM ALL OVER rHB WoRLD-rHK
STORY A WOMAN WILL TllI-HIs STRANGE
CONDUCT IN HEB ooMPANY-TH POOR PEEL
LER FAMILY.
A telegram nom St. Louis SAYS: The attorneys
for the prosecution have discovered some start
ling evidence Ia the now famous Maxwell
Brooks-Preller murder. They have circled the
whole world In their efforts to obtain evidence
calculated to convict the defendant. From
Hong-Kong, China, they will bring as witness
girl named Grace, whom Maxwell knew in
San Francisco. Her evidence will be startling
and interesting. On the day Maxwell arrived
in San Francisco she was an inmate of a dis
reputable house. While the two were together
in the evening the girl had occasion to 60 down
stairs. When she returned Maxwell was hold
ing revolver, with the muzzle pointed at the
o os,d: Inc SRI sc screamed Thereupon Maxwell
Of a woman. I should have shot to XIII.
opened thought It was some one following
me-" The girl thought his conduct strange,
and. after he had drank considerable wine, she
The girl looked and saw the very ring Which
Ras been =: said tpi Msaya esr 6s
nom the hand of dead man, and every time
I look at it 1t makes me fee: nervous, and as
girl asked him who the man was, and he re-
whom shot and killed With this revolver in
ago this girl ran away with the first mate Of a
steamship bound for China. To secure her
have communicated With the American con.
There is one witness wanted by the prosecu-
mi n hoa mn Nfnsac In, ill.,, NIT
is the Southern hotel bell boy, Who, When taken
before the chief OF police, acted very suspici-
ously. and for one who claimed to know moth
cution to show that Preller had considerable
money about him. Maxwell has already ad-
When be arrived in Auckland he had only
$136. The prosecution have followed Max
wells steps from the moment he left here. They
San Francisco and s75 to pay bis passage from
San Francisco to Auckland. They tracked him
from the moment he arrived in San Francisco
They traced him from the Palace hotel to q
tobacconist's shop, where he spent thirty-five
cents for tobacco to shoeblacks, where he
spent sre ten lei scent cents for shine to BARRIERS
and to q place where He spent SIS for
wine. The detectives have even found the
keysmith who furnished him with keys just be-
fore his departure. All told, however, the de-
tectives who have followed Maxwells every
81 900. Now, the question is, what did he do
with the remainder? The mysterious disap-
pearance OF the Southern hotel bell-boy leads
the prosecution to ask, did Maxwell give him
part of the 81 900 to preserve silence, and was
that what made him so reticent. and caused
him to leave here so soon after the murder, and
depart so mysteriously without leaving his adj
dress or o word behind him?
Witnesses will be brought from New York to
prove that Preller had a certain amount of
money with him when he left that city for the
west The stateroom steward of the steamship
Britannia, on which Preller and Maxwell
crossed the ocean, is also to be brought here as a
witness. He will prove that Maxwell first
became acquainted with Preller when the Bril-
had been seasck. on the voyage, and had kept
his berth two days before they arrived in Bos-
ton: He had scarcely left his berth, when he
noticed Maxwells tricycle. in the latter's state
room. He asked the steward who owned it,
and when the steward replied CDR. MAXWELL y
he asked what kind of a fellow the latter was.
Soon after the steward introduced them to each
other.
The state will bring witness from Toronto,
in the person of photographer who took
Prelfer's photograph, and who subsequently
came here and positively identified the corpse
found in the Southern hotel as that of Preller.
They will bring witnesses from Boston who will
prove the acquaintance that existed there be-
tween Preller and Maxwell. They will bring
on from Boston the Barber who cut Prellers
bring d lady from Cincinnati, who will testify
that she dressed the wound for Preller while he
was in that city: Witnesses will be brought in
who Identified this scar and cut upon the body
found in the Southern hotel, who will testify
that on the night that Preller disappeared they
heard queer sounds coming from the room in
which Prelier and Maxwell were.
An important development that the trial will
bring to the surface will be the fact that the
Prelier family, instead of being well-to-do peo-
pie, are actually in INDECENT circumstances, and
this Is really the reason that none OF them have
yet made the long journey to ST. Louis. The
FAMILY now consists OF father and mother, son
and two daughters. Preller, senior, is keeping a
diminutive dry goods establishment In a small
town, near London. His son is the travelling
agent for London house. His two daughters
have to go out into the world to earn their lv-
ing. One of them Is a governess for q family in
nurse in hospital in that city. The latter
and her brother have promised to attend the
trial. The prosecution evidently believes that
their presence here will have its effect on the
jury. They can testify to nothing, except that
their brother has mysteriously disappeared,
and that his life was not insured, as has been
claimed.
The attorneys for the defense, when they
asked for continuance of the case, said they
wanted to take dispositions In Auckland, Eng
not served the circuit attorneys with notice,
SO that II looks as though they had concluded,
when the time came, TO let the case stand on
the general plea of not guilty. 1t would be
dangerous for them to set up the plea that
Maxwell killed Preller by accidentally admin
the way, has often suggested itself, for then
all the state would have to prove would be
that he was poisoned, and 1t would be left for
the jury to decide whether 1t was accidental
or not. Such plea would place Maxwell di-
rectiy on the defensive, as well in a bad
light before the jury, for then he would have to
explain why he robbed the corpse of his friend,
an explanation that would dOubly damn him
and prove him Immediately to be a thief and
adventurer.