The Savannah morning news., 1902-11-30
SAYS IT ISN'T so
MISS DECRIS GOES BACK ON HER
FATAL RUNAWAY STORY.
THREATENS THE NEWSPAPERS
If THEY SAY ANYTHING FURTHER
ABOUT HER.

Night to Correct the "Mtstake" as
She Knows of No Accident, After
Having Reiterated Her story to
Atlanta Newspaper Man in the At
IernOOn-Her Former Friends Here
Mt a Loss 10 Account for Her Ac-
dORs-Guests of IIimbnII House say
Miss DeCris said Nothing of Acci-
dent to Them and showed No Signs
of Injury a Few Hours Before She
Put Up Her Tale to the Reporters
with a Long Face and Her Arm in
splints.
Mamie DeCris and Mrs. George w.
Williams" who told the story of the
fatal Atlanta runaway reported in the
Morning News yesterday. resulting in
the death of two people, and the injury
of two others. the women themselves.
are as much a mystery as when they
gave out the yarn that has set many
people wondering.
Miss DeCris now denies that she was
either in the accident or knows any
thing about It.
please correct mistake. do not
know of such an accident and don't
care to have my name used in SUCH"
She telegraphed the Morning News
from Atlanta last night
The account of the alleged accident
purported to have been written by
Mrs Williams stated that in a run
away in Atlanta, Wednesday morning,
Mrs. H. N Hayward and her son. Dr.
H N. Hayward of Washington, d. c.,
were killed. Miss Mamie DeCris re-
ceived fractured collar bone. and
broken arm, and Mrs. Williams" suf-
fered severe bruises.
Told Ii TO Her Friends.
These facts were retold by Miss De-
Girls herself. both by telephone mes
seges, kilograms and letters to friends
in Savannah Yesterday morning a let
ter was received from her by Mrs. T..
G. Thonnesen. and in it she excused
bad writing claiming that the mis-
sive had been written in bed. whore
she was confined because of the inju-
ries to her arm and collar bone.
Both MIR. and Mrs. Thonnesen! with
whom Miss DeCris lived, and who were
among her staunchest friends. have
become convinced that something is
wrong: just what they can't venture
even a conjecture, but they are forced
to admit. despite their former friend
ship for her. that there is something
decidedly queer about the affair.
Now She Denies 1t.
An Atlanta dispatch tells the story
of Miss De Girls troubles in Atlanta
since she first gave out there the story
of the fatal runaway:
Atlanta, Nov. 29.-Miss Mamie De
Girls of Savannah reiterated to-day her
story about the runaway accident
Wednesday, in which she says DIR. H.
n. Hayward of Washington and his
mother We're killed. and then tonight
by telephone she denied that she had
ever said anything about it, and gave
warning that any future publications
viii be liable to result in suits for dam
ages. She refused to see any newspa-
per men until this afternoon
~ do not understand how it was
nobody heard of the accident Miss De
Girls said to a reporter of the Morning
News this afternoon. Il feel deeply
grieved that any one should have
doubted my word in the matter The
accident certainly happened. and the
bodies were sent on to Washington
yesterday afternoon accompanied by
Mrs G. w. Williams or Savannah 1t
is certainly strange to me that no one
should have heard about the accident
when the carriage was surrounded at
the time of the runaway, and some of
the undertakes here prepared the body
for burial. / shall wait here until Mrs
Williams returns and she will corrob-
crate all have said. 1 wish she were
here now, for / want to leave Atlanta
never to return"
Miss De Girls could give no more
definite idea with reference TO loca-
tons than she did yesterday, and none
OF the people she mentioned as living
here have been located.
Had Seen "A Lawyer.
Tonight she called up the
Constitution by telephone, and
denied having told the story
OF the runaway in the first place. She
said she had consulted a lawyer. and
had been told to notify the papers NOT
to say anything more about the mat
ter. People at the hotel who have seen
Miss De Girls every day since she has
been here say she has been able to
use both her arms all right, and has
never mentioned the accident to them
Nobody else connected with the mat
ter has been located and her motive
in telling the story OF the accident re-
mains a mystery"
None of the acquaintance of Miss
De Girls here are able to offer any
plausible reason for her actions since
she left Savannah. Mr.. and Mrs.
Thonnesen have recalled that at times
she suffered with moments of pro-
AlACAdhS1AOAl1s DQl no one, even
those who have known her for several
years, are able to recall that she ever
showed the slightest other signs of
mental trouble of any sort.
No Light on Mrs. Williams"
Mrs. Williams" is somewhat out of
the affair since Miss DeCris has got
herself into it. A further effort to dis
cover who Mrs. Williams" is and
where her CASTOR street home is, was
unsuccessful. So far as can be learned
nobody has ever seen her, and she has
only been heard of through Miss De-
Girls as her friend, and through the
newspapers. Miss DeCris herself has
given no satisfactory explanation as
to who Mrs. Williams is. Since she
denies that she knows anything about
the Atlanta accident, after having
given out that she would come to Sa-
vannah with her friend after her re-
turn from Washington, where she went
with the bodies of the victims of the
runaway, there is some interest to
know how she will account for Mrs.
Williams"
Miss DeCris impressed the Constitu-
tlon reporter. who interviewed her at
the Kimball House in Atlanta, and TO
whom she told the story Of the run
away tragedy, as not particularly pref
~, but with an attractive face. She
met him with her arm hanging straight
by her side. and encased under the
sleeve in splinters as evidence of her
injury, and now she says its all a mis-
lahes and she never was in a runaway