St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-21
"A Graphic Repetition of the
Surgical Operation and
chIoroform Story.
How the Homicide Felt and
Acted When His Vic
tim Expired.
The Grounds Upon Which the
Condemned Man Asks
for Mercy.

st. Louis Special: WITH the SHADOW
OF the moose resting on him, III. Nj.
Brooks, alias Maxwell, the Preller MUIR
derer, made to-day a Seven-column plea
10 the public for mercy. This plea is in
the form of a statement purporting to
be the true story of the great crime. He
begins with the day he left his English
home in Hyde, and describes the events
which led up TO the tragedy. He says:
Il had no fixed plans, no studied in
tentionS. Like many another young
man, was probably over-conident of
myself and imagined that all l had to
do was to walk from the steamer into
the arms of American people, who would
be waiting to welcome HE at the dock.
A pardonable vanity in a Yillage-bred
foreigner who had imbibed his ideas of
America from Dickens American
Notes" and bits of frontier literature.
and who, Just rs was the case with my
father when he came here, was sur
priSed To find brick houses in St.
Louis and to learn that the Indians
were not enCamped on the edge of
the city limits. had studied law and
dabbled in medicine. My visits to hos
pitfalls and medical colleges had familiar
lied me with surgical scenes, and with
out being able TO gage my ignorance L
soon began 20 flatter myself that L was
growing rs adept as the most skilled
practitioners OF the science, and even
In England | was Self-cOnfident enough
at times to write prescriptions"
After describing the meeting with
Preller IN Liverpool ami the intimacy
that Sprang up between them on ship
board, he outlines the malady from
which he alleges Preller suffered. The
young Traveller suggested that they go
together to New Zealand and Maxwell
consented. Preller believed he was a
physician. and twas decided to perform
the operation i'll st. Louis. Preller sug-
geSted that chlOrOfOrm be administered
and Maxwell bought four ounces of the
drug. Preller examined it and the
writer describes what took place:
HE asked me how much L thought he
could stand. and | told him that didn't
know, that it was never known how
much any man could stand until he had
taken it and demonstrated his capacity
Tor it. L again explained the manner of
administering chl0roform. 1t was be-
tween and + O'clock when MIR. Preller
stripped tor the operation. | must here
remind you that it is an established
fact, known to the entire medical fra
ternity and to many outside of it, that
chiOrofOrm can not be administered to
any one against his will. Even where
there Is Willingness on the part of the
patient TO receive the drug there is a
certain stage of its influence where the
individual fights against its effects, and
often stout men are required to hold
patient at this moment. 1t can not be
administered to Il sleeping person be-
cause it will awaken him. Supt.
Nalllng, OF the New York police, in his
recently published book on the GRIM
inalS of New York. laws it down as
a positive rule that when ANYBODY
tells story about being chlOrOformed
IL his sleep and robbed you may set him
down at once as Il fraud. In SAYING this
he simply clothed in popular terms an
axiom OF medical science. 1t is we'll
known tIlat you cannot chlOrOfOrm an
unwilling person, sleeping or waking.
This being the case, how. do you mag
Inc, could |, physically Mr.. Preller's in
ferlor, compel him to accept chlOroform
from my hand? 1t Is Self-eYident that
lie must have been a party to the pro-
ceeding, that he must have submitted TO
Its administration, and, more important
than ali else, that he must have had
an inducement or reason for taking the
chlOrofOrm. Thus, up to the moment
when my friend died, can Justify every
step took, every act of that day.
Maxwell next describes how he poured
the chlorofUrm on napkin and admin
istered it to Prelier. The bottle was ac-
cidentally overturned in the washstand.
and he was compelled to run out and
secure more chlOrOfOrm. He again sat
urated the napkin and doSed s'hiS
friend Then he began the operation.
While i'll the midst of it he was alarmed
by Prelier'S stentorious breathing. Max
well continues:
Taking small pair of curved sur
gical scissors out of my case, cut off
his shirt and undershirt, cutting the
garment as a surgeon would have done
so as to expose the largest possible sur
face of the skin to the action of the at
mOsphere. The cut garment shows
that did this. Then rubbed him Wig
brcusiy. and next took wet towel and
slapped his breast with it. | put forth
every effort TO save him. / worked
strenuouSly and increasingly for more
than three-quarterS of an hour. plyiDg
that towel and shaking and rubbing
him. Every muscle trembled with eX-
citement and eXertiOn. was in fever
of bewilderment. My emotions over
Whelmed my Judgment. L sank ex-
hansted and frightened in a chair be-
side the bed, but not until my friend
had been long dead. Why did [ not
cal! for help? Ny God. wish had.
Why did l not pull open the door and
rush into the corridor at that moment
and proclaim myself innocent? Could |
not have done so? Had my purpose
been murder as a preface to robbery
could L not have secured nv booty and
called in the hotel people to look
at my dead friend and tell them
that his death was the result of
an accident? Had l been cool
and calculating. in possession of my
faculties, and with campaign of MUIR
der and robbery already carefully de-
Vised, would it not have been perfectly
safe for me to have made away with the
money first and then come boldly for
ward with my excuse for and eXpIana-
ton Of the death? L did not call for
help. | did not offer any excuse, and
why! Not because [ knew | had not
planned murder and robbery, for the
thought Of such things was remote from
my mind; not because L was innocent
of any crime, and felt my innocence.
but because i was in delirium of ex-
cltement and gave more Immediate
thought 10 the loss of my friend than
did to my own danger. [ cannot ex-
plain my own condition or describe if.
My brain was burning, my every nerve
thrObbing, my senses were in whirl of
grief and worry. / knew not what
did. l sat there and in despair contem-
plated the lifeleSS figure of my friend.
Would 10 God somebody had come in
and reused me from my hOrror-stricken
condition. Would to God that man
Ross. who said he was in the adjoining
room and heard noises, had burst i'm the
door and come to my rescue. But nobody
came, and with senses paraIyzed and my
own life seemingly wrecked i'm the
fairly enchanted with horror. They