Evening star., 1901-05-20

They were certain that some Of the wit
nesses would tell under oath what they had
not previously divulged and In this respect.
| 1t Is stated. they were not mistaken, for
some testimony of interest was given early
In the day. 1t Is evident that Ayres had
complained of having been annoyed by
persons entering his room during his alb
sence and that the lock on his door was
changed, but apparently without the de-
sired result
Complained of AnnOyances.
Ayres had told his friends of frequent
annoyances. and. as heretofore stated, he
had made arrangements on more than one
occasion to change his place Of abode. Ex-
actly why he changed his mind on the first
| occasion is not definitely known. but a wo-
man or several women, 1t is believed caused
him to change his mind. He was to have
! ieft the hotel the day Of the murder, and
II may be that his life paid the penalty OF
| his refusal to again change his mind
Rumors have been in circulation that
Ayres had been intrusted with money, prob
ably several hundred dollars. for the pur-
| pose of dealing In stocks for the Bonines.
and he had lost it: but Mr. Bonins de-
ciared to Star reporter today that such
was not the case. He said he had dealt in
| cotton at one time, but was called away
from the city about the time of the deal
and his wife followed it up.
Mr.. Bonine returned home Saturday night
from trip through the Shenandoah valley.
he did not know of the tragedy until he
reached the hotel. He talked frankly with
the detectives about the case and told OF
ms movements from one point to another
In virginia selling patent medicines to
utusslsts According to his statement to
a star reporter he knew Ayres slightly and
| mad conversed with him about the hotel
ne was perfectly satisfied that his wife
mad always acted properly and that her
relations with Ayres were perfectly legi-
| innate.
Mr. Bonine said no pistol was kept i'm his
room. Some time ago he bought a pistol,
Which he gave to his wife when he found
ne mad no use for it, and she subsequently
gave 1t away. He had not heard of the
testimony 1t was claimed colored man
| would give about the ownership of the
| pistol nor had he seen the blood st aimed
weapon in the case. He repeated that
there had been no weapon in his room re-
Gently for his wife had disposed of it in
the manner stated.
| Satisfied With Work of Police.
Mr. Ayres, father of the deceased, was
seen by Star reporter this afternoon prlor
to his departure, and he said he was salts
fled with the work of the police The case.
he said, is one of deep mystery. and he
understood the serious drawbacks encoun-
tered by the detectives
| IL appears to me-" he said, that my
son Was murdered by a woman and L now
| peiieNe there was no man connected with
| tne case The woman. of course must
| nave had unusual nerve and [ believe ii
| VIII De some time before her identity is
| known"
Mr.. Ayres said he hoped no mistake
| would be made should anybody be arrested.
w nile the Tragedy was a serious one to
| niln' ne KNOWS nothing can return his son
TO him. He does not entertain a feeling of
revenge toward hiSi sons SLAYER but he
| thinks for the good of the community and
the protection of society the guilty one
! should be locked up.
Repeats Declaration of Innocence
Mrs. Bonine, wife Of the travelling sales
/ man, says she realizes she has been sus-
| pected by the detectives and yesterday she
| repeated her declaration of innocence A
Star reporter was present when her room
was visited shortly after the finding of
| Ayres body. The occupant of the room
gave full permission to the detectives to
make a search and she has since offered to
help them In various ways. Saturday she
| permitted them to take the wrapper she
| was said to have worn at certain times
about the hotel. Since Wednesday morning
| Mrs. Bonine has been questioned and cross
| questioned perhaps twenty times, and the
strain is telling upon her
! Detectives Horne and Ffsther in their
| Search saturday night made an examina-
| ton of the curtain in Ayres' room and
| found blood stains to show that it had
| been raised from the inside. after the
ShOOtlnS occurred. The print of the thumb
| was on the inside of the shade while that
| of a finger was on the outside. The detec-
| tives think the marks were made by the
| hand of woman. Pieces of the curtain
| containing the finger prints were removed
| and turned over to DR.. Edward NJ. Schaef-
fer, the expert, whose testimony it is ex-
pected will be the most important of the
medical testimony before the coroner s
jury.
| Since Saturday afternoon the detectives
nave investigated several clues. which
| proved to be of no value whatever. One
story was told in connection with a man
named Ayres who had pair of shoes re-
paired by Andrew Miller of 1910 NJ street,
but the deceased was not the Ayres men,
toned. There has been no Identification
of the torn fan found in Ayres' room, and
| to other articles picked up in there the de-
tectives attach no significance. The anony-
| nous letter received by Representative
| Weeks concerning the habits of Ayres has
not yet been received by the police, and it
| is feared the Michigan representative has
| lost it. Detectives and Mr.. Ayres are anN-
ious that this letter should be found mas
| much as 1t may prove TO be the key to the
| solution of the mystery. AS already stated
| this letter is believed to have been written
by a woman, and was probably intended
to end the young mans visits to the
| daughter of the representative.
| The police are satisfied that jealousy
prompted the writing of the letter. and
| Jealous woman, many of the officers be-
leve. committed the crime Mr. Ayres
| suggests the theory that the woman went
| to the room, and that she intended to
| commit suicide after using the weapon
but her nerve failed after she killed him.
Merely Made Suggestions.
| What promised to prove important clue
was reported to the police Saturday night
| A detective was wanted at one of the thea
tiers. and two men from headquarters ran
from the office to the playhouse. There
they found a man in the audience from
i W Whom they pXnapre6 n pet he
| made two suggestions instead. One of his
suggestions was that an officer occupy the
| room of the dead man that night and make
| an investigation of the hotel rooms about
the hour the crime was committed.
| If you find some of the rooms dark, or
dim lights in them,' he said, dismiss the
occupants from the investigation and con-
slider only those who have bright lights in
| their rooms
His other suggestion was that an euchre
party be given and that the hotel guests be
| i,aa dur RI