Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1902-10-18
SpENSER COLLAPSES.

When Spenser went to work in the
shops SATURDAY. morning he collapsed.
An endeavor had been made to keep
the story from him but he learned of
the facts that had been made public
and the departure of his wife from his
fellow convicts When Spenser learn
ed all this he tainted. He has been
quite sick ever since and he has been
left alone in his separate room.
He still denies, however, in spite of
the Identification of DR.. Muse and Mr..
Thumel that he is the son of the mu-
latto woman, Lucy Piper, who for
merly lived here.
Additional light has been thrown on
the subject by correspondent from
Wheeling, who had an interview with
L ucy Piper The story from Wheel
ing says:
Arthur Spenser is the son of Lucy
Piper, of this city. Mrs. Piper will
not say SO i'll as many words, but there
is no doubt about it. Spenser's pic
ture, taken with his child wife, who
was Bertha Petscher, of Cincinnati,
To-. hangs in the humble Piper home.
The couples trunk is in the Piper
kitchen. Mrs. Spenser. with her
husband. visited Lucy Piper lastFourth
of July.
The Piper home. is a cleanly but ex-
ceedingly simply furnished suite of
rooms. maintained by the daily labor
of Mrs. Piper.
"Mrs. Piper is a mulatto woman of
about 60 years. When the correspon-
dent made known the object of his
visit, the old woman exclaimed
Z" III jump off that bridge into the
river before say anything
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE.
soThen she seemed to show some fear
that an attempt was being made to
connect her with her SON $ thefts, and
she became more affable. The CORE
spondent then brought to her mind
that about two years ago, when SDen-
ser had visited Wheeling as an animal
trainer, he had interviewed him in
her home. She admitted that such
was true, and. becoming m ore calm,
brought out a recently taken photo
garph of Spenser and his child wife.
The picture was handsomely framed,
and depicts the wife nesting against
her husbands bosom.
"'This girl. said Mrs. Piper, mar
ried that man after short acauain-
tance. She took him for better or for
worse. If for worse let her stand for
it.
Mrs. Piper said Spenser was AZ.
She does not know whether his father
"a white man, named Spenser-still
lives. She would not discuss the pa
ternitv phase of the case any further
THAT'S their trunk there, she said,
pointing to large trunk that stood
under the table. There's a book in
it that / am going to send him. A
| Cincinnati paper last week had a
whole page about Spenser. sat down
and cut it out and sent it to his wife.
It's not me that's kicking; it's some
body else, and am not going to say
one word to separate them. That's
my policy. / labor hard all day and
try to attend to NV own business.
"There can thus be no doubt Of
Sponsors racial status. Two years
ago his picture and lot of gossip
about his animal training career at
tracted Wheeling readers. At that
time he passed as an Australian, and
it is understood that Mrs Piper has
said she herself was an Australian. but
this.is not correct. 1t has also de-
velopeds that Mrs. Piper introduced
her sons wife to a number of peo-
pie for whom she worked. The scheme
then was to make the young wife be-