The Anaconda standard., 1899-10-07
WAS CAPT MILLS INSANE?
Friends Are at a Loss to Account
for the Murder.
CONDUCT OF MRS. MILLS
Is Said to Have 6san Rather Unconyep-
tional at Both Honolulu aud Salt
Lake-Caused Sepa-
ration.

The Salt Lake papers of Thursday
contain further interesting facts, con-
| lectures and theories as to the cause
of the Mills 'Melveney tragedy. The
Herald pleads insanity for Captain
Mills, but adds that O'Melveney's at
tentons to Mrs. Mills may have been
| the cause of the murder That paper
says:
People who are in possession of all
the facts that, so far as known, can be
| assigned as a motive for the murder
Of J. G. OMelveney by Capt F. J. Mills,
are at a loss to account for the crime.
From the very fact that the motive for
the shocking tragedy is so incompre
hensible, the theory of temporary in
sanity is being discussed by those who
are in possession of all the known facts
in the case. That Mills shot and killed
| O'Melveney on account of his wife may
be true, but it is declared that if he did
so because of any intimacy that the
dead man may have had with his wife.
he was far from being justified in
his act, for the reason that there are
strong reasons to believe that there
are two other men against whom he
might have laid the charge of being
unduly intimate with Mrs. Mills. One
of these was lieutenant in the bat
talon of engineers, who was with Mills
at Honolulu, and the other is reported
to be a prominent doctor of Salt Lake
City. There are facts connected with
the guilt Of the latter, if it be true that
he was intimate with Mrs. Mills, which
will mitigate his offense. but these can
not al present be made public.
"The beginning of the trouble that led
to the recent separation, of Mills and
his wife, as far as known, began at
Honolulu, when, it is said, Mrs. Mills
received questionable attentions from
the lieutenant. At this time it was sup
posed that she had gone to Honolulu
for the purpose of nursing her hus-
band, who was sick in the hospital
there. She did nurse him, but she was
also in the habit of receiving at the
same time such attentions from the
lieutenant as were most Objectionable
to her husband, who. on several occa-
sions. reproached her for her unseen
ing conduct in the presence of third
parties. 1t is said that Mrs. Mills
would go out at night with the lieuten-
ant and remain out with him until the
wee small hours, and that she was
continually making dates with him for
candestine meetings, and that they
were in the habit of visiting the fes-
tive resorts of the Honolulu tenderlotn.
These sta tements are made upon the
authority of returned volunteer, who
was in the hospital at Honolulu when
Mills was there, and who was present
when Mills and his wife frequently
quarreled over the subject of the lat
| ter's escapadeS. l. 9.i} #s.ss p e..E t~gs 81 ii
at was while at Honolulu, when he
had recuperated sufficiently to be able
to get out of the hospital, that Mills
remarked to a man in the engineer
| M bic M a rria had ohrtainly
been a failure. AS far as the intimacy
with the doctor Of this city is con-
cerned. it took place after Mills de-
y parture for Honolulu and prior to Mrs.
Mills going there to nurse him. From
all that can be learned. Mills did not
know of the doctor being in. the case
until his return to this country and.
in fact it is reported that it only came
to his knowledge very recently If 1t
is true that prior to his killing O'Mel-
veney. Mills knew of his wife having
been intimate with two other men,
there would seem to be no iustifcati ton
for his singing out O'Melveney as a
victim.
"A gentleman who has visited at the
home of Mills in this city after his re-
turn from Honolulu remarked yester-
day that 1t was apparent to him tina
the relations between Mills and his wife
were very strained, and, as he put it
1T was evident to me in the action OF
the two little boys that they regarded
their father as the mother of the home
So apparent was this that I remarked
upon it at the time to friend.
1T is also known that upon her re-
turn Mrs. Mills said that she did not
intend to live with her husband. This
4 was after he had accused her in Homo
lulu Of misconduct with a lieutenant
The separation took place some little
time ago, although there was no lega
f,.. ~, 1Nn 1oay ,nT
it was not Mills intention to secure 8
divorce from his wife. 1t was the latter
who desired the separation"
The Salt Lake Tribune has the fol
lowing:
Further light was shed yesterday
upon the confession of intimacy witt
j John C. O'Melveney, made by Mrs. Free
j. Mills to her husband, prior to the
j tragedy. .
ut now appears that Mills went te
ST. Marks hospital after his return
\ from the O'Melveney home. and inter
4 viewed his wife in the presence of Rev
4 D. Douglas Wallace. superintendent o.
the institution. At this interview Cap
4 tain Mills accused his wife of having
d been faithless to him. And then as the
n realization of the awful wrong tha
y she had perpetrated upon her husband
b surged through her brain, she wal
d seized with a violent fit of weeping ant
all else being forgotten confessed he
sin and named O'Melvaney as her Sc
ducer.
Captain Mills is said to have listened
to the confession with an air of out
ward calmness, but the battle that wa
N surgins within was evidenced an hou
later when the wronged husband en-
n tered the office of O'Melveney and sho
h to death the alleged despoiler of hi
L home.
Il .It is also understood that when thu
interview terminated at the hospltal
and Cantain Mills took his departure
neither his wife nor Rev. Mr.. Wallace