The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-04


the farmers Loan and Trust
Company, the victim-James NeaIe
Plumb His slayer-BurIingtOn Ho-
tel the Scene of the KiIIing-Sub-
stance of PIumb's Statement.
NEW YORK, May S.-Alexander Mas
terton. a director Of the Farmers Loan
and Trust company, and seventy-two
years OF age, was shot and killed this
afternoon by James Neale Plumb, in the
Burlington hotel, on West Thirtieth
street. Masterton was shot FIVE times,
and died within an hour or two
The murder was premeditated, as evil
denced by a voluminous letter written In
advance by Plumb, and given out after
his arrest.
At present the real motive for the crime
is unknown Plumb, in his statement is
sued ito the public" and entitled "Why
I, Neale Plumb, shot Alexander Master
ton,' says that he was actuated to do
the shooting because of systematic
bounding of him by Masterton. Plumb
declared further that Masterton had not
only injured him financially; but had at
tempted to ALLEVIATE the affections of
his wife and children, and to cause his
social downfall.
Plumb's statements, one of which was
addressed to 1.-The Associated Press
deal with period Of his career embrac-
ing the past thirty-five years, are ramb-
ling in many places, and conclude with
the following:
No man has a higher regard for hu-
man life than | have But the just and
terton is decreed by an outraged God.
and l am simply the humble instrument
In His hand, and as He has selected me
as His chosen instrument of wrathful
vengeance, l have rid the world of
man who was not fit to live, and whose
death a thousand times over could not
atone for the menstrous wrongs done u.s.
FATAL MEETING.
Masterton and Plumb met by agree
ment in the Burlington hotel at 1:30 o.
m, in the apartments occupied by Man
ager Cole, and had been there but a
short time when five shots were fired in
rapid succession. Plumb then came out
and, walked into the reception room,
awaiting arrest
The murderer was taken before Police
Captain Price, of the Tenderloin pre-
cinct, of whom he Is an intimate friend.
He was later taken before magistrate
in the Jefferson market police court and
held. Nothing was brought out at the
hearing that could be accepted as a rea-
son for the killing beyond the statement
made by Plumb that Masterton had
bounded him for many years.
In his statement Plumb writes as fol-
lows:
1.-The reason for taking this serious step
was that for upward of thirty-five years,
commencing as far back as 1862, at the
time of my marriage engagement, this
man has followed me like sleuth hound
from that time to this, and 1 was never
able to discover the cause or motive for
his vfndictive animosity towards me-, as
when he commenced to attack me | had
never seen the man nor ever heard of
him.
Again, In 1885, on my return from Cal
ifOrnia, after three years absence, he at
once renewed the intrigues against me in
my family and in public, secretly doing
me all the injury in his power, socially
and financially.
After all those years, down to 1876,
this man was constantly plotting and
conspiring against me, endeavoring to
undermine my wife's confidence in me
deavoring in every way to ALLEVIATE the
affections of my wife and children, and
he had q powerful influence, being the
trustee of my Wife's large estate
FAMILY HISTORY.
In 1877 Mrs. Plum died, in Paris, and
Plumb returned here and went to live at
ISlip, l.. I. He reciteS a number of cir
cumstances showing Masterton's alleged
conspiracy to ALLEVIATE the affections of
his children, a French maid acting as a
spy for Masterton. Plumb refers to an
other Conspiracy begun in 1885, which,
he says, is known to his friends in New
York and Washington as .the Washing
ton conspiracy" where his eldest daugh-
ter, Minnie, laid a trap for Masterton
and his lawyers by means of decoy let
Il @411 11s-
fell into the trap and did not know he
had been trapped until his daughter dis
played the motive of these kilograms in
Surrogate Rollins court, during an ac-
ton brought in connection with the case.
After recitfng the story Of the marriage
of his son, j. Ives Plumb, in 1885, with a
woman named Anna Burton, of whom
he speaks in no complimentary terms,
and laying the blame for this undesirable
marriage at Masterton's door, he refers
to what he calls the last conspiracy of
Alexander Masterton, which has culmi-
mated his long years of cruel, vindictive
oppression by his punishment, decreed
by an outraged Cod
He says that soon after his sons dis
graceful marriage" he went to Europe,
intending to make his home in South
ampton, Eng, and he and his daughters
were as happy there as they could be
with the cloud hanging over them in the
moral death of his son.
He next refers to the kidnapping of his
daughter, Leonita, in 1888, after they had
returned to the United States. She was
forced into carriage by the agents of
Masterton, he AYERS, and taken to the
Victoria hotel. Later she was taken to
Troy. She subsequently regained her
freedom The objection of this abduc-
ton, Plumb claims, was to compel the
girl to give up her father.
Plumb declares that the wrongs which
Masterton had done him no law could
reach His words are:
''FIe that has brought all this trouble
In my declining years no law can reach.
In addition to the alleged conspiracy,
Plumb goes into lengthy details regard
ing the alleged efforts of Masterton and
others to bring about marriage be-
less fortune-seeking Englishman, who
had made the boast that he could win
..the little American miss
& Plumb did not, however, add anything
to the statement which had been pre-
nared In advance regarding the events
that took place just prior to the shoot
ING. He was cool Immediately on his ar
rest. but at the police station when word
oame that Masterton had died, Plumb
broke down and cried: 'It had to be-
PLUMB WAS COOL.
A chambermaid at tho Burlington, who
was the only one near the room in which
the shooting occurred, told the police
that she heard the men in angry CONVEX
sation just before she heard the pistol
shots. One Of the men. she said. and she