Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-08-16


II. N. Brooks, alias C. Arthur Preller.
HGrtreU.
Landgraf looked and moved like a log,
with half smile and half sneer on his
face. There was no time lost in reaching
the scaffold which the condemned ascend
ed without assistance.
While his arms were being pinioned
Maxwell bit his lower lip and gulped sew
eral times.
There was an awful look of despair on
MaxwelPs face as the cap hid it from view
and his knees showed weakness. The
nooses were adjusted quickly, and at S:56
the drop fell.
Landgraf was pronounced dead in eleven
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 9:12K, Max
we'll at 9:15. The bodies were removed to
the morgue Office and photographed, after
which the post mortem was begun. 1t
was stated that the neck of each man was
broken.
MAXwELLs CRIME.
The crime for which Brooks. alias Maxwell
was hanged was the killing Of Charles Arthur
Preller at the Southern Hotel, St. Louis April
6. 1885. Hugh Mottram Brooks, that is his true
name, was born in the little village of Pyde,
near Manchester, England, his father teing
Samuel Norton Brooks. a schoolmaster, of good
family. Young Brooks, shaped under the
parental discipline and quiet life at Hyde, and
after twenty-three years under the distastetul
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 tlth
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-
ton he fixed on. Charles Arthur Prel-
Ter q travelling man for London upholster-
ers-a man of means, refined tastes and luxu-
rous 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 schuolmaster's son arrived at the
Southern Hotel in ST. Louis registered under
his assumed name and was assigned to room
14I 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 6. they were seen together
in room IA by bell boy who was called there
by a ring. W. K Ross, n travelling salesman,
wuo 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 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 man there
once with his revolver and asked il one could
get OF after killing man, for 500 Why"
was the reply, this is a civilized country. They
hang murderers here"
Next dav Brooks bought trunk. handbag
and two straps. He went to Hart & Dufrs and
asked for a hat that would make him look like
q Yankee, saying his name was Tewhk and he
was an officer in the Turkish army. He got a
mouse-colored slouch hat. He went to barber
shop and had his beard shaved of and his ap-
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 10
raise money on his watch and two Woodbury.
ing he had plenty OF money and after being
shaved he bought gold trimmed speotacles fer
sS, pair OF field glasses for S25, set OF mani
cure instruments for SIS, diamond ring for s15
and flute for 3. He also purchased un-
limited first class ticket to San Francisco for
'116.
The flight to San Francisco, thence TO New
Zealand. the discovery of Preller's body in q
trunk the pursuit capture, return and iIdict-
ment of the prisoner are already well X: II
facts.
A long trial followed, the details of TlI'"'.
are familiar to the reader. TIE deat Of rel
ler was fully established. The pii iuner tesIIi1d
that his death was the result OF accident in a :
ministering ehlor, fIm for disease, but all the
evidence was against this theory
The jury found him guilty OF murder in the
first degree, ana sentence of death was passed
upon him.
motion for a new trial was denied and q
fruitless appeal TO the State Supreme Court
was made. The United States Supreme Court
was then petitioned, also without effect. The
prisoners lawyers then began to work on Gov
ernor Morehouse and made strenuous efforts TO
enlist popular sympathy on behalf OF their
client. The Dingfelder episode was played for
all it was worth. but the impression remained
in the public mind that however scaly piece Of
wotk the prosecution had been guilty Of the |
evidence was too strong otherwise that Brooks !
had been guilty OF dastardly crime in the |
murder and robbery of a fellow countryman who |
had befriended him in n strange land
LANDGRAF'S CRIME
Henry Lancgraf suffered the death penalty |
for crime committed on the night OF March 5, |
1885. The victim was his sweetheart Annie |
Tfsch, beautiful girl of less than eighteen |
years OF age. Jealousy prompted the deed |
Addicted To Drink.