Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-05-29
THE ST. LOUIS SENSATION.
Story of the Great Murder as Told by
Brooks, Alias Maxwell, the
Perpetrator.
He Protests That 1t Was an Accident
While Trying to Serve His
Friend.
Complete History OF an Acquaintance
That Though Brief Resulted in
the Tragedy.

the defense in the Preller case commenced
his opening address to the Jury. Hestated
he wished to impress them with the fact
that no one knew how Preller came to his
death except the defendant. and he pro-
posed to disclose to the jury all the circum.
stances attending it After stating the
manner H. which Prel er and the defendant
became acquainted and the closeness OF
their friendship thereafter, he stated the
defense intended to prove that PrelIer was
suffering from a structure and that defend
ant fonlishly undertook to remove it. The
defendant was unwilling to perform the
operation alone but Preller did not wish
the nature of his ailment to be
known and insisted that Maxwell
should perform the operation. To
hut in too large quantity and death re-
suited. He cut the clothes from his friends
body and attempted to resusicitate him
Lut failed. He said the defense would
nroye that Preller knew Maxwell had no
money and had promised to pas his ex-
nenses to Auckland. Robbery, therefore,
roujd not have been the motive for causing
bis friends death which was at any rate
accidental. The remainder OF Fauntle- |
rows speech WAS devote 1 to description
Of his cliencs actions after the death OF
Preer and assigning reasons therefor all OF
which were contained in Maxwells conies- |
sion made days ago.
Maxwell was then placed on the stand. |
He showed little evidence OF feeling, though |
there was some little degree OF nervousness
both in his face and hands.
There was q rustic through the court
room and the Judge, in brief speech, de-
manded absolute quiet in the audience.
The witness then in reply to questions by
Fauntleroy, stated in substance as follows:
My,full name is Hugh NJ Brooks; / am 25
Years old; was born il Hyde, Chester,
England; commenced to study law with
Brown at Stockport, near Hyde, in 1878,
and remained there four years. am a
lawyer by profession; also studied medi-
cine and surgery at collegiate school al
Manchester, but | am not Il licensed physi-
clan. first met Preller at the Northwest
srn Hotel at Liverpool, but did not get
acquainted with him until went with him
on board the steamer 'Cepbalonia." l
also met Warren on the steamer. Mr.. Prel:
Ter and were both Englishmen, and COM
inc to a strange land our acquaintance
ripened. into friendship. We told much
about our plans and purposes for the fu-
ture and our acquaintance ana friendship
continued after our arrival.
In this country We reached Boston Febru- ,
Z. r
started on a business trip. | had conver. =
sation and correspondence with Prel er /,
about going to New I-a!and. We agre d to 7
meet ia St. Louis and 60 there together. )
told him about my fina ncial ''ndltiOn, tell /,
iop him in letter that had $ 100 all told.
treated PrelIer several times medically in r
Boston, and by letters he Acknowledged :
having received decided bsneft from y
the treatment. He knew that l never =
had practiced medicine regularly. I a
never used any deception with .
him in this regard. Witness then de- h
scribed the various events about Preller h
leaving Boston for Canada, about his own
and Preler's arrival in St. Louis and stop
ping at the Southern Hotel. He had from
$50 to $50 when he arrived here, how he il
tried to pawn some OF his things before a
Preller came, his V sits to FernOw's drug b
store and his conversation with Fernow. OF e.
his purchasin. various articles OF him a
among them chlorOform and carbolic acid n
which in combination he used himself in RI
treating bad tooth that troubled him. W
That Preller arrived on the Frinay prior "
to- Easter Sunday. How they went to- Il
gethsr to try to sell his magic lantern and
slides and various other occurrences which q
took place between Friday and Sunday, all b
(Which were familiar to nearly everybody. a
Aue VouEt Iucu UOOh u IcCCS6. ~
Alter recess the exami. alton OF defend t
ant was continued: I'VE (Mr. Preller and t
!, be said, "made two trips between the n
Southern Hotel and the Union Depot, r.
where we attempted to discover the cause y
OF the detention Of my trunk which con- s.
taned the lantern, and l was told by the Il
oaggageman that it was probably detained el
10 Port Huron car by the customs Off. N
GERS We visited also an optician in an el
endeavor to ascertain if he would purchase d
the lantern and slides when they should "
arrive. From the time that Preler ar ii
rived in St. Louis down to Easter Sunday tt
we saw great deal OF each other; we were, ir
as iormer witnesses have stated, almost "
lnseparable. We visited his room several d
fimes, but when we were not looking a
around the city or playing pool we spent CT
most oi our time in my room. We played a
pool great deal, and whoever lost the 81
game paid Tor it, We played about even, a
80 the expenses were equally divided. We d.
drank some, but not much. He paid for IL
most OF the drinks. p
The prisoner continued his testimony at d
great length, giving the minutest details OF a
us conduct, in administering chlorofOrm u
and Its fatal results. He described his SEN 81
sations when he iound that his friend was O
eead' how he decided to put the body in Al
tne trunk and mutilate it. That he tried W
10 drown his terror in drink and then de-
Uded to take the money and make his v
escape. He asserted firmly that he had no c'
mention OF harming Preler. The rest OF a
n.s testimony gave an account Of his subse- o
@ qpent wanderings. The Court adjourned p
until Tomorrow d