The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-05-29
Strange Crimes of Nation Capital That Re
main Plunged in Deepest Obscurity
After the Lapse of Years.

! dent. had occurred some days before the
body was found.
When Policeman Potter entered the
house it was through a back basement
door. Stumbling up a dark flight Of
steps that led from the basement to the
first floor he tripped and nearly fell over
a great piece of tapestry, that apparent
ly had been hurled down the stairway
He reached the first floor and CROPPED
his way through the pantry 10 the Jack
parlor
Through the obscurity he could make
out dimly the outline of the form Of a
woman. lying across a lounge that
had been dragged to the center Of the
room. It was Miss Clayville.
The Room in Disarray.
The handsomely furnished room was
in strange disarray. Three upturned
chairs sprawled upon the floor; crum-
pied newspapers were flung carelessly
about in the two connecting rooms. One
OF these bore the date of September IS.
showing that on that day some person,
whether Miss Clayville or another, had
been alive in the house Blood stained
the floor and splashes OF blood were
found in a basin that stood beside the
couch.
These were the essential. physical
! facts. and for a week Washington opin-
ion wavered among three conflicting
theories-murder, suicide, and natural
death. The fact that all the doors and
windows on the basement and first
floors were securely locked or fastened
perhaps would exclude from participa-
/ ton in the crime-if one were commit
ted-of any person who had not a key.
though it is possible that an exit might
have been effected from the open win
dows on the second story.
The woman's body was so badly de-
composed that Deputy Coroner Glaze
brook. who performed the autopsy.
found 1t practically impossible to make
an effective and decisive examination
Of the surface; he was able to discover
no marks of violence lie examined
the contents OF the stomach, but ad-
United that had any poison other than
arsenic been used the chemical tests
made would not have indicated its pres
ence. On the other hand the condition
in which the room was found was
strongly indicative of a struggle be-
tween Miss Clayyille and some IN
known assailant or else of her own
struggles when she felt the pangs and
terrors Of approaching death.
Yet. II the latter hypothesis were the
correct one. why should she have
brought the heavy basin from her sleep
ing apartment on the second floor TO the
parlOr? II she fell across the couch in
her last agony. as this theory necessar-
lily involves. how was it that she man.
aged to cover herself with the rug that
enveloped her body when it was found?
Facts Increased Mystery.
There were other circumStances-so some
IN the life Of Miss CIayville-tbat added
TO and intensified the mystery. Born in
Chincoteague Island, Va, she had come
TO Washington less than a decade be-
/ fore her death, a beautiful and attrac-
tive young woman Of twenty-three. Be
fore that time she had lived In Philadel-
phia, where she had relatives of means
and some prominence. For some years
she had lived in the ~ Street residence.
which had been attractively furnished,
letting some OF her unoccapied rooms
70 well-known Washington people. a
naval officer and his wife. a lawyer and
his wife and child, with the latters
governess. had been among the dodgers.
The naval officer, however, had been
! ordered TO Paris. and one by one all
the dodgers had left.
Miss Clayville became gloomy and
very respondent. She became involved
in financial difficulties and the house.
which she had bought with a mortgage
attachment. was sold over her head, the
mortgage being foreclosed. Since March
before her death she had heen living
alone. with occasional visits from An
ME-" the governess OF the lawyers
child. Annie" whose name was never
further disclosed. seemed to have been
Miss Clayville's only companion.
But not altogether, either. James r.
Mcclellan. a grocer at the corner Of
Twenty-hrst and n Streets northwest,
had called at Miss Clayvilles residence
on September 20. five days before the
finding OF the body, and a large woman
he did not know then answered HIS ring
at the bell. At that time Miss ClayviIle.
as the condition OF her body abundantly
showed, was dead or else died that day.
The identity Of this large woman, -
who on the only occasion when she ap-
peared on the scene told Grocer McCleI-
Ian that Miss Clayville was too iI to
be seen, remains a mystery to this day
Why and whittier she disappeared no
body knows. Why she failed 10 call for