The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-11-13
TALES OF RATHDUN
XOW AFFIRMs THAT BLANCHARD's
HELP WAS FICTITIOUS.
CORPSE THAT OF GOODMAN.
PRISONER ADMITS INTENT, BUT
DENIES ACT OF MURDER.

Says Goodman Was Kept Drunk by
Him Until He Died of Alcoholism.
Authorities Not Sure Prisoners
Name Is Rathbun and Will Make
EndeavOr to Settle His Identity.
Little Rock Officials Still Holding
the Unidentified Corpse.
Louisville, Nov. 12.-Newen c. Rath-
bun. who according to the police has
confessed that he planned to defraud
an insurance company out of $4,000 by
pretending that a corpse shipped to
Little Rock, Ark, was his own dead
body, o-day admitted, according to the
authorities, that the man who accom-
panied him to the hotel in Jefferson
vile, Ind, and was found dead the
next day, was Charles Goodman, who
is said to have come from Evansville
Ind.
Chief of Detectives Sullivan, and
Chief Applegate and Coroner Coots of
Jefersonville interviewed Rathbun to-
day. Rathbun listened, as one by one,
the circumstances which the police re-
gard as proofs of his guilt were laid
before him by Chief Sullivan. Accord
ing to the officers Rathbun suddenly
sprang up, and walking hastily to a
window, looked out for a few minutes.
Then turning like an animal at bay
he faced the crowd of men in the room
and asked i'll shaking voice:
What is the punishment for Of
fenses of this kind in Indiana? Does
the death penalty exist there?
Never mind about the penalty,
Rathbun," said Capt. Sullivan. What
we are interested in is the name of the
dead man.
For a moment Rathbun looked at
the group of faces before him, and
then said:
You are on the right track. Good
man is the name of the dead man. 1
met him in front of the Salvation Army
Hotel, and determined to keep him
drunk for several days and then fix
him
When questioned further, Rathbun
denied having given Goodman laud-
anum, and said he would have made
use of chloroform.
Just before he was taken back to
Jail, Rathbun made the following state
ment to Chief of Detectives Sullivan:
II admit everything except that
killed Goodman. I meant to kill him,
and kept hina drunk for the purpose,
but he died of alcoholism and I was
not forced to make away with him.
Mystery about the accomplice named
Blanchard was fictitious. I acted alone
and without a confederate"
Blanchard" was, according to the
story Rathbun told yesterday, a cor
pOral with whom Rathbun became ac-
quainted at Plattsburg, N. Y. 1t is
said that Goodman, who was of a
rowing nature came to this city on Oct.
% and put up at the Salvation Army
Hotel. He repeatedly told the clerk,
]. C. Pelton, that he did not have any
money, and did not know how he would
get out of the city.
According to Pelton's story Good
man returned to the Salvation Army
Hotel shortly after o'clock last Wed
nesday, with "a new coat and vest on,
and also a collar and necktie. Good
man told Pelton to check him off. as
he was going to spend the night in
Indiana with his friends. Goodman
then went out and has not been seen
at the hotel since.
The Jeffersonville coroner to-day
identified a pair of trousers found in
Rathbun's grip as being of a suit the
coat and vest of which were on the
corpse, found at the Falls City Hotel.
The Louisville police are not sure
that the prisoners name is Rathbun.
1t is believed his home is in Detroit.
The next step in the case will be to
attempt to settle Rathbun's identity,
to discover the cause of Goodmans S
DEATH and whether any arrests yet
remain to be made in the case.