Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-05-16

Tuesday evenings paper contained
accounts of the finding of Mrs. Ernst'a
body and of the total lack of any In
eliminating clew. Our suspicious
were directed at once to Chamberlain
and Taylor. Men were sent out "a
learn when they came home. 1t was
found that they were in the city at half
past two o'clock Tuesday morning.
Chamberlain spent money freely the
rest of that night and during Tuesday.
To make the story brief and straight
forward I will say that they went to
Mrs. Ernst's house in New Haven,
where Chamberlain was we'll &C
ouainted, saw the neighbor talking
with the unfortunate woman at the
back door, waited until she had gone
away, and then approached and
knocked. On the pretense that they
brought a message from somebody
they gained admission, and the murder
and robbery quickly followed. do
not think it necessary to enter into the
shocking details of the crime, which
was unusually brutal. When they
left the house they went directly to
the depot and took late train for
New York. Arriving here, Chamber
lain set about establishing an alibi.
1--WE must be seen by a good many
people," he said to Taylor.
Therefore. they drank in several all
night saloons. They wound up in one
of the most popular resorts for thieves
on Hudson street. There they sat at a
table at which stranger to them was
sleeping. Chamberlain remarked that
by that time they had established
their alibi; that a score of men had
seen them during the night and all
suspicion would be averted from them.
The sleeping man heard every word
and peeped at them with half-closed
eyes. He was one of my detectives on
duty there for any emergency that
might arise. He reported to me in
the afternoon about the time I heard
of the murder, and by dint of in
quiries in all directions. shadowing
the two men, questioning Chamber
lain's mistress, for we had learned
previously all about his manner OF
life, we became morally certain that
they were the murderers of Mrs.
Ernst.
Wednesday. less than twenty-four
hours from the time when the news of
the murder was published, I sent &c
titious nots to Taylor. asking him to
call on the Excise Commissioners. He
went unsuspectingly, but on the way
he was quietly arrested. 1t never
would have done to take him in his sa-
loon, for thereby his accomplice could
have got warning. Later in the day
Chamberlain was found and arrested.
Neither knew .of the others arrest
Chamberlain tried to shoot the officer
who captured him. but the pistol was
taken from him just in time.
Taylor. of course, was dreadfully
alarmed, but Chamberlain was the
coolest criminal / ever saw. II was
not difficult to persuade Taylor to con-
TESS, and his confession, with the cor
roborative evidence of Cora Bell,
Chamberlain mistress, who was not
in any way implicated, would have
been evidence enough to convict both
parties, but the next morning Cham
berlain also confessed, and the stories
of both men were substantially the
same. Both are now in prison for life.
l have made the account of their
crime brief, for l desired solely to il.
lustrate the efficiency of this system
of exercising unremitting surveillance
on all suspected persons. -Thomas L
Byrnes. in Philadelphia Times.