The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-08-17

IW IVY
II. N. Brooks, alias C. Arthur Preller.
| Mdr,celi.
Landgraf looked and moved like . log
with half smile and half sneer on hi
face. There was no time lost in reachins
| the scaffold which the condemned ascend
ed without assistance.
While his arms were being pinionet
Maxwell bit his lower lip and gulped sew
erai times.
There was an awful look of despair OF
MaxwelPs face as the cap hid it from view
and his knees showed weakness. The
nooses were adjusted quickly, and at s:5t
the drop fell.
Landgraf was pronounced dead in clever
and one-half minutes. Maxwell's struggle
continued for fourteen minutes, when he
too, was pronounced dead by the attending
physicians.
Landgraf was cut down at 9:12h, Max.
well at 9:15. The bodies were removed to
the mOrgue office and photographed, after
which the post norton was begun. II
was stated that the neck of each man was
broken.
NAXWBLLS CRIME
The crime for which Brooks. alias Maxwell
was hanged was the killing Of Charles Arthur
Preller at the Southern Hotel. 81. Louis April
d 1885. Hugh M0ttram Brooks. that is his true
name, Was born in the little village Of Pyde,
near Manchester, England, his father being
Samuel Norton Brooks. schoOlmaster, Of good
family. Young Brooks, shaped under the
parental discipline and quiet life ut Hyde. and
after twenty-three years under the distasteful
restraint, with only occasional glimpses of the
wider freedom he longed for. slipped away
from home to try life in America. His father
objected to his venturing into the great new
world. and so he got his trunks away by ste 18th
and left the parental roof at night. He made
his way to Liverpool, where he first met his
victim, Preller, and where he first changed
his name to Maxwell -, Walter Horace
Lennox Maxwell was the gaudy appella-
tion he fixed on. Charles Arthur Prel-
Ter was travelling man for London upholster-
ers-n man Of means. refined tastes and luxu-
rious habits He and Maxwell sailed together
from Liverpool on the steamer Cephalonia and
on the trip became fast friends. Arriving in
this country they separated, but continued to
correspond. Toward the end of March. 1885
the Hyde schuomaster's son arrived ut the
Southern Hotel in St. Louis, registered under
his assumed name and was assigned to room
H. Preller arrived shortly afterwards and the
two men. though they occupied separate rooms.
were continually together at meals, playing
pool IN the billiard room and lounging about
the corridors. They agreed to go to Australia
together, discussed the details OF the trip and
mapped out plans of life together when they
should reach there
On Sunday, April q they were seen together
in room IA by bell boy who was called there
by ring. w. X. Ross, . travelling salesman,
VINO occupied the next ROOM heard water run
ming IN No. IA that afternoon and several times
heard groans. Twice that day Brooks bought
chloroform Of a druggist named Fernon. The
second time he was excited and impatient and
said that he had spilled that first purchased.
That evening Brooks appeared in the dining
room. excited and distraught without his friend.
He ordered bountiful dinner. but ate very lit
tie. To the head waiter he talked wildly, told
OF being in Turkey: said he killed Q man there
once with his revolver and asked II one could
get on after killing man. for 500. why"
was the reply, this is Q civilized country. They
hang murderers here
Next dsv Brooks bought trunk handbag
and two straps. He went to Hart Dufi's and
asked for o hat that would make him look like
q Yankee. saying his name was Tewfik and he
was an ofiicer in the Turkish army. He got
SLOUGH hat. lie went to barber
shop and had his beard shaved OF and his sp-
pearance otherwise altered. Here he said his
name WAS Maxwell and that he had taken part
in the Russo-Turkish war.
The Saturday previous Brooks had tried to
raise money on his watch and two Woodbury.
lanterns. On this Monday morn
ing he had plenty OF money and after being
shaved he bought gold trimmed spectacles for
Y. pair OF field glasses for "a, set of mani
cure instruments for SIS. q diamond ring for Is
and flute for Is. He also purchased an un-
limited nrst class ticket to San Francisco for