Semi-weekly Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1897-1901, 1901-08-20
AFTER THREE YEARS
MURDERER MUELLER ARRESTED
FOR BRUTAL KILLING OF
FORMER WEST BRATTLEBORO MAN


Adopted Dsughter-A Most Bruts
Crin,s-Motive Robbery-House Fire,
| to Cover Crime-How the Arrested MAJ
Betrayed Himself Denying Crime he
fore He Was Accused
Paul Mueller, the farm hand who i
generally believed to have committed
the horrible Brookfield, Mass, crime
when Francis ID Newton, farmer o
that place and formerly of Yves
Brattleboro, his wife Sarah and thei
adopted daughter, Ethel, were fount
murdered in the home in January
1898, afterward setting the hous,
afre, was arrested in Boston Friday
afternoon.
\ Hebrew in the West end, who i.
claimed to have known Mueller, is
said 10 have reported his presence il
Boston to the police.
Special Officer Chapman has
worked hard to locate the suspect,
and Thursday he found him in a
West end pawnshop, and arrested him.
About o. clock man giving the
name of Adam Willinsky went into
the pawnshop of Segal at 4 Green
street, and offered watch for pawn.
He vas instantly recognized As the
man suspected of being Mueller, and
the police were notified.
Oifcsr Chapman hurried to the shop,
traced the suspect through the West
end, and arrested him. The prisoner
made a strenuous fight, but the officer
finally overpowered ard arrested him.
He became almost frantic after lis
arrest, and cried wruDg his hands
and tried to end his life by beating
out his brains against the walls of his
prison cell. lie empatically declared
that he was not the man sought for.
He even pleaded his innocence of the
murder before be was told that he
was suspected of having committed
tn crime. He made frenzied effort
to explain that he was larger man
and of "a lighter complexion than the
man Mueller. But this was not true.
the police declare. They say that in
every minut, detail the prise ncr an
Swered the description of the Mueller
as advertised in the circulars calling
fer the arrest of the farm hand. The
suspect is a discharged soldier of the
United States regular army, and so
was Mueller.
All the afternoon the police labored
with the prisoner, trying to obtain q
confession or some sort of aGmis'io
from him concerning the terrible
crime, but in vain. The prisoner was
to all appearances a man bereft of
reason. This the police were inclined
to believe Was clever bit of acting.
He was carefully watched by police
men, who saw to it that be did not
have an opportunity to do himself
bodily harm.
The murder was committed in Jan
uary, 1895 and hired man by the
mama of Mueller, who has been sus
pected of committing the crime. i'm.
mediately disappeared, and has not
been seen since. He has been sought
earnestly and persistently, and until
Friday 20 ore so closely answerirg
lis description has been arrested.
1t is understood that Special Officer
Chapman has had his suspicious that
Mueller had been in the city for a
long time and he has been working
The murder was most brutal one,
the bodies of all three of the victims |
having been horribly mutilated with |
an axe.
The motive of the crime is supposed |
to have been robbery. Mr. Newton |
had drawn large sum of money from
he bank for the purchase Of pair
If horses the dav previous to his
Heath. This the hired man knew.
But in spite of all these circum-
stances and resemblances the man
proved not to be Mueller though evi.
iently some other criminal. Brook
ield Off were called to Boston Sat
friday to identify him aid after a
'sreful examination pronounced him
lot the man.