The evening Republican., 1902-04-28
C0NFESSES TO
COLLINS MURDER

| Georgetown, Del, April 2s.-Th'
| question row being discussed here il
William Waite colored, murderer
or he is showing insanity. He has
made confession to the Pinkert tor
detectives that he killed Mrs. Aida
Collins. took the money she had ii
her stocking, hid the same and his
bloody shirt In the branch and escap
ed, Waite was arrested on the charge
Of committing a murderous assault
On James Anderson, a farmer in Sus
sex county, on the dav upon which
Mrs. Collins was buried. lie was
taken to Georgetown Jail, and since
that time some of the officers and the
detectives employed by the Collins
family have been of the opinion that
lie knew something OF the murder.
Blood was found upon his clothing.
Sheriff Hart, who has the custody
Of the prisoner thought the best plan
to follow would bc to take the negro
to the scene Of the murder, allow
him to Point out where he had buried
the money aud the bloody shirt and
dig them up. This was. sure way,
in the opinion of the sheriff. to as
certain whether the confession was
Of any value.
Accompanied by the two Pinker-
tons, the sheriff took the prisoner to
the scene OF the murder near Laurel,
but here the confesson appealed to
fizzle. On arriving at the scene of the
confession, Search was made for the
place where the money and the
bloody shirt were alleged to be bur
led, but no trace Of them could Re
found. and the negro did not point
out the places where they had been
buried. He even went so far as to
assert that he had never been upon
the place before and that he knew
nothing of it.
At times the negro would say yes
or no to certain questions which were
asked concerning the murder, but
his answers were unsatisfactory and
gave the impression that he did not
know what he was talking about.
An amusing feature of the confess
ion was the statement Of Waite as to
where lie crossed the branch. Ac-
cording to the story of the men in
the confession, he crossed at this
point on bicycle. When the branch
was examined at that point it was
ascertalned that man could not
have crossed it without swimming.
Even swimming would have been
hard After going about the place in
ayain search for several hours and
attracting considerable attention
from the curious crowds which fol.
lowed Sheriff Hart and the prisoner
started back to Laurel.
The detectives put Waite through
the sweat box and then the colored
man WHO is believed to be insane
confessed and signed the confession
before Magistrate {. l.. Purnell.
In this confession the negro said
that he was asleep IN the carriage
house of Collins on the morning of
the murder and awoke about o'clock
in the morning.
He heard Collins tell his wife to
bring the money which she had and
the seeds which he was to plant and
come into the field. Waite was sez.
ed with desire TO get the money,
and when Mrs. Collins came into the
carriage house he struck her with an
iron bolt and then cut her throat.
Waite, further in his confession,
said that he had then taken the seeds
and the money and gone tothe branch
a short distance from the field where
Collins was at work and buried the
money. He also became frightened
and buried the bloody shirt along the
branch. Seeing SO many people about
he thought it best to leave the sec
tion, and he did SO on his bicycle.
Later he went on toward the place of
of Anderson, and on Monday of Mrs.
Collins funeral he assaulted Ander-
son, intending to kill him, but failed.
The confession Tailed we'll with
the story told by Collins as to the
conversation with bis wife in refer
ence 10 the money, and also 10 ref
ercnce 10 coming 10 the field with
the seeda. 1t also agreed with the
footprints which were found near
the "br'anch' aud with the story of
the small boys who saw the negro
in the vicinity Of the scene OF the
murder.
The fact that The confession had
been made was kept rather quiet,
as it was feared there would be
violence if it was known that a con-
fession had been made by the negro,
but it managed to leak out as all
such matters do.