St. Paul daily globe., 1893-05-18
THE INSANE RACKET
Will Be Essayed as the De-
fense in the Whalen MUIR
der Trial.
First Dispositions in the Case
Taken in St. Paul Yes
terdaY.
A Brutal and Unprovoked
Murder Recalled by the
Papers.
Under Wisconsin Laws Life
Imprisonment is the Sc
verest Penalty.

w. S. Stroud. of Portage, Wis, was
in the city yesterday preparing for the
trial of Charles Whalen, who, on the
night of April l, 1892, foully murdered
Gerald Ii. Spauiding, near Portage.
Both the murdered man and the mur-
derer were residents OF st. Paul, and
the crime was particularly brutal one.
Gerald Spauldlng was the son OF Hugh
Spaulding. night clerk at the Windsor
hotel. During an engagement of The
Power of the Press" company at the
Metropolitan in the latter part of March,
1892 Spaulding acted as one of the
''supes," and at that time became ac-
quainted with Charles Whalen, who
was playing one of the minor parts.
Whalen left the company at the close OF
the st. Paul engagement, and he and
Spaulding became chums. A few days
before the murder, Spaulding told
his father he was going to
Chicago to visit relatives, and
to allow him to do SO Spaulding
senior gave him So for expenses
When he left Whalen went with him,
and the next heard from Spaulding was
telegram from the officials at Portage
announcing tnat the body of man had
been found in the canal at that point.
The head had been crushed i'll with
coupling pin, and the clothing and shoes
removed from the body, but from
mark on the linen it was supposed the
mans name was Spaulding, and that he
lived in st. Paul. Investigation showed
that Spaulding and " halen had left st.
Paul together for Chicago, Spaulding
buying tickets as far as Portage for
himself and Whalen. The police were
notified, and description of Whalen
sent to all points in this section OF the
country. Chief Of Detectives OConnor
and Sergeant Zirklebach, of the DucaS
street station, learned that Whalen had
a brother living in West st. Paul. A
visit to the house resulted III the tndlng
Of letter left for his brother, in
which the murderer stated that he was
going to st. James, Mimi. and request
ing that mail be sent to him under the
name of James White at that point.
O'Connor took the next train to st.
James, and with the assistance of the
city marshal of that town captured
Whalen as he came out of the pOstOtfice.
Whalen would not stand the pinch
and, i'll attempting to escape. was shot
by the marshal. The wound not being
a serious one, Whalen was brought to
st. Paul, and two days later was taken
back to Portage. The term of court
had just closed, and when the case was
called at the last fall term Whalen's
attorneys secured a change of venue
to Rock county on the strength of an
affidavit that the judge was preju-
diced. The trial of the case is set
for June 8, and as Mr. Stroud is
the prosecuting attorney of Col
umbia county, where the murder was
committed, he visited st. Paul yester-
day to gather up the witnesses whom he
desired to have subpGnaed, and also to
be present at the taking OF dispositions
which will be introduced by the defense
at the trial. Whalen's defense will be
insanity. and this will be strengthened
somewhat by the sending of his father,
who lives at SchuleSburg, Wis, to the
insane asylum since the murder was
committed. The deposition taken yes
terday for the defense was that OF
man named Pippln. who testified that
some years ago Whalen had threatened
to shoot him. and that he (Pippin) had
since this occurrence considered Whalen
insane.
Mr.. Stroud will leave for st. James
this morning in order to make arrange
ments with the city marshal at that
place to attend the trial. The laws of
Wisconsin, Mr.. Stroud said, did not
allow capital punishment, and in case
Whalen Is found guilty the worst he
could get would be Imprisonment Tor
life