The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-29
Harry BRUCE
HAS CONFESSED


murders ever committed in New York
state eliminated this afternoon in the
confession by Harvey Bruce, aged q,
in the form of a statement to his moth
er and aunt The statement is wit
messed by Mayor Charles S. Harvey
and County Treasurer George H. Macy,
and tells how the murder of Peter A.
HallenbecK, the wealthy farmer of
Greenport, was committed by himself
and Willis, Burton and Fred Van
Wormer, brothers, aged 20, % and 26,
nephews of the murdered man.
The full purport of the confession
will not be given out until Monday
morning at the inquest by the coroner.
but enough has been told to demon
strate that the murder was deliberately
planned. 1t shows that the prisoners,
%ho all lived in Undertook, is miles
from the Hallenbeck home, rode in tina
cool air of Christmas Eve to the scene
of the crime. tied their horses to the
barn of the victim, walked to the rear
of the house in the bright moonlight.
raped on the door and, when the old
man opened it, shot him to death, firing
10 shots. II penetrating the body.
The crime was witnessed by Halien-
beck's wife and old mother, the other
members of the family attending
Christmas Eve services less than mile
distant.
The Van Wormer family lived until
last fall in a house in Greenport, mort
gagged to Hallenbeck. The boys, being
indolent and troublesome, the mort
gage was foreclosed and the family
evicted. This was the basis of the i'll
will held against the victim. The shots
were heard by the neighbors, who saw
the fleeing men. and, after investigat-
ing, gave the alarm. Suspicion soon
rested on the Van Wormers.
Christmas day they were arrested
with Bruce at Undertook Their
mother and friends tried hard by testi-
mony before the coroner to establish
an alibi, declaring the boys were at
home by o'clock Christmas eve. The
officials had strong evidence again@i
them The horse which they drove
had a peculiar shoe with a short cork,
the same impression being in the soft
earth at the barn where the horse
was tied uD. The wagon wheels mea-
sured exactly the same as the tracks
in the snow leading from the Hallen-
beck house. One footprint was by
feet wearing a bull dog" shoe, another
by shoes having steel heel plates, and
the shoes of the prisoners when ar
rested had those characteristics and
fitted the snow prints exactly.
The bullets in the body were 80 and
SO calibre, which were the same as re-
vOlvers found in the prisoners home.
They purchased masks from a notion
dealer at Undertook the afternoon of
the murder and the men who did the
shooting wore masks. Four revolvers
were found in the boys homes. The
mother in her testimony swore they
spent the day of the murder cleaning
them: that they were good boys, but
never left home without putting the
reVOlvers in their pockets
Describing which revolver belonged
to each boy, she said the 3S calibre
one was Harvey BruCe's, the smaller
calibres were those of her three sons.
The physicians who held the postmor-
tenn say the 3S calibre one produced
the fatal wounds, the minor wounds
being by the 80 calibres.
The knowledge of something start
ling was this afternoon when, on the
advice of District Attorney Coroner
Lisk abruptly adjourned court while
a witness was being examined. The
news spread quickly and soon the
court house was besieged by throngs
of people eager for information. 1t was
readily found in the room occupied by
Bruce and it became necessary for the
sheriff to establish a line to hold the
people. When they became convinced
that a confession had been made all
seemed satisfied at the thought that
justice was likely to be melted out.