The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-07-12

the crime that he committed, but in the
method of its commission. The criminal
is Hugh Mottram Brooks, alias Walter
Lennox Maxwell, the celebrated trunk
murderer" of st. Louis. 1t was only three
wears ago that Maxwell, the murderer"
was a familiar phrase on the lips of men,
women and children throughout the entire
country. How many tongues made music
of its ALTERATION! What a pity that
at least so much of the romance
of great crime should be dis
PEELED by the knowledge that Maxwell
is not Maxwell; that Maxwell is Hugh Mot
tram Brooks the son of a schoolnaster of
HYDE, Eng. Very little of poetry, very
little romance in that calling Perhaps it
was the very prosiness of his existence that
taught Hugh Brooks to steel his heart
against the consciousness of filial obliga-
ton three years ago and to creep all alone
out of the little town of Hyde, out of the
bosom of a loving family, to seek new
life in the new world across the sea. He
left even his own identity behind him to
face him again in that far off land sooner
perhaps, than he expected, and under cir
cumstances which not even the strong
imagination OF the runaway could have
pictured.
Late in the month of March, 1885, there
arrived at the Southern hotel, in the city of
st. Louis, young man having the appear
ance of an Englishman, who registered as
W H. LennOx-M Maxwell. He was rather
small in stature, with full whiskers, neatly
trimmed, land his clothing was Of good cut
and material. He brought two trunks and
travelling bag with him, all bearing the
name which Hugh Brooks had assumed when
he left his home in Hyde. Shortly after
Maxwels arrival a telegram was received
at the hotel asking if he was there. 1t was
signed &c. A Preller." A few days later
Preler arrived and went TO the same hotel.
He was
A QUIET YOUNG ENGLISHMAN
of strong religious convictions, whom
Brooks or Maxwell had met in Liverpool,
and with whom he had crossed the ocean
They had become fast friends, and had
spent some time in Boston and other places
in the east together Preler was travelling
for a London upholstery house. Elo was a
man passionately fond of music, and some
what effeminate in his tastes What bond
of sympathy there was between him and
the runaway Brooks no one knew; no
one is able now to understand. AT the
hotel they occupied rooms on different
floors, but they We're constantly together at
meals, in the billiard room of the hotel, in
each others sleeping rooms. On the morn
ing of Sunday, April +, they were seen to-
gether in No. IA the room assigned to
Maxwell. On the afternoon of that day a
bell boy, called to the same room, saw them
there together. That evening Maxwell ap-
peared in the dining room alone. The
next day he had sent to the hotel q canvas
covered trunk, paper covered packing
case and two straps; that evening he had
the two new trunks which he had purchased
sent down to the depot. He went to the
i depot himself, talking some on his way of
folyTr ln1J 81
Then, for time, Hugh Brooks, alias Max
well, disappeared from public view.
little less than a week after Maxwell's
4 departure from the Southern the chamber
maids about the hotel noticed an unpleasant
odor coming from the room he had occu-
/ pied. His two trunks still stood there, and
the hotel people expected him to return at
any time. The absence of his friend Preller
from the hotel excited little comment, as his
baggage was still in his room, and it was
supposed that the two had gone off for an
excursion together. Eight days after the
disappearance of Maxwell the odor from
No. IA became so pronounced that the
Office was notified, and as it seemed to ema-
nate from the trunks which stood between
the washstand and the mantel, one upon the
other, orders were given
TO REMOVE THESE TRUNKS
to the lower floor. They were carried down
odor from the larger trunk being too much
Tor the hotel porters, Charles BIGGER, a
trunkmaker, was sent for. He broke the
lock, unbuckled the strap and the trunk lid
sprang open, revealing beneath it putrid
human body doubled up and twisted TO
orlng 1t within the limits of the trunk. The
coroner was summoned Immediately and
Tue body taken to the city morgue. Here
II was reduced by the application Of chem
icals to its normal size 1t was many hours
before 1t was definitely determined that the
oody found in the trunk of Walter Horace
Lenox Maxwell, and believed to be that of
AaxWell himself, was the body of Charles
arthur Preller The only mutilation of
tne corpse was the shaving of the mustache
rom The face and cross-cut on the chest.
IN the inside of the trunk lid had been half
printed, half written: $50 perish all
traitors to the great cause"
slowly the evidence which was to con-
wet hugh Mottram Brooks of the crime of
murder was gathered together. A travel
.lg salesman for an eastern house occupy
.lS The room adjoining No. IA had heard
'17 sound OF groans and the running of
nduer from that room on the Sunday of the
llur ieI, The head waiter of the hotel had
aouceu MaXwelIS nervousness at dinner
MAJ evening and had been surprised by his
skiing how much it would take to clear
.IaH VINO had committed murder in this
~ ~ }. bFOOks nad OOugnt peculiar naG
w monday at a well-known hat store and
LAO attracted attention n the barber shop
"Here his beard had been shaved Off. In
l.e nat store he gave the name of Tewfik
tasna IN the barber shop that of Maxwell.
az VAe Office of the st. Louis and San Fran
tnco railroad where he had bought ticket
s Han francisco, his name was Hugh NJ
%ooAs. On that Monday morning he
usnt from an optician a pair of field
fo1seS and manicure set; from pawn
UNer diamond ring aud flute Two
tasS before he had tried TO sell a magic Ian
w., ,I ~ The one store and to pawn his watch
DN1 chain at the other.
HIS VARIOUS NAMES
from st. Louis west the little murderer
sri. ielt a trail the scent of which was so
and so fresh that il was easily fol
n, ~ lie had attracted general attention
M W" ~ ualn by his tales of connection with
tr.. lurklsh aud French armies. On the
M night out his name was Maxwell
c,s. n nus car companions changed he
r,Tt.eeu ms name and became 4. G.. Dau-
,,a,I general in the French army. To
de,T, Qllclal who demanded his name sud
t,or, "e sad that II was Daquet. He reg
c,nou IN san Francisco six days after the
On, '.'tllSsl2n OF his crime as T. c. Dauquier
&c. we 'Ay following he took Storage pas
Ma, w w the steamer Sidney for Auckland,