The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-22
ACCUSED OF CHILD'S MURDER
HUSBAND OF MOTHER HELD FOR
STRANGLING LITTLE GIRL.

Body OF Child Supposed 10 Have Been Md
mapped Dug From Refuse Pit Near Her
Home-Accused Denies Crime and De.
cIares He Was Flo nd OF the Little One.
PHILADELPHIA. June 2I.-Five-year-old
Mary Newlln'S body was found buried In
the yard OF her home. two miles from
Avondale, Chester county, at IL o'clock this
morning.
The child had been strangled to death.
Irwin A. Lewis, husband Of the child's
mother. is under arrest charged with the
murder.
When the body was discovered District
Attorney MacElree accused him OF the
crime. You murderer. you scoundrel, you
dogl' shouted the District Attorney; why
did you murder that little child'"
Il didn't do it; l didn't do it,. was all Lewis
could eay.
The District Attorney again and again
accused him Of the murder. Lewis tried TO
control his bloodless lips. but all he could
stammer was; NO, no, my God, no. l
didn't; l didn't do it
he was committed by Justice W. W Sullivan.
Mr.. MacElree, who had spent the night
in the vicinity OF the Lewis home, this
morning instructed the searchers TO gather
near Landenburg ct noon. As Mr.. MacElree
was talking, to some Of the searchers
William Shelly INT John o'Brien dashed up
on their horses. They called the District
Attorney aside and whispered to him hat
the child's body had been found buried in
the yard Of Irwin Lewis's house near the
barn.
MacElree asked Shelley and O'Brien for
a few particulars and then beckoned to
Lewis.
"The child's body has been found in your
turned pale and nearly fell. The blood
left his lips and it seemed as il he would
faint,
why did you kill that innocent little
girl-your own wife's daughter" MacElree
Lewis did not look at his accuser. Il
didn't do it, l didn't do it," he cried, and
wiped his eyes with his fists as il he had
wept, but his eyes were dry and bloodshot.
Il can prove | was at my fathers house
all day Sunday and at the time the child
was last seen about 3 o'clock, that after
noon. | can prove an ailbi,"
We'll see about that, said MacElree.
and he resumed his questioning. Time
and again Lewis tried to put of HIS ques-
toner, but MacElree compelled him TO
account for every hour Of Sunday. He in
sisted that he was fond OF the child, and
had long ago forgiven her mother.
Shelley, one of the farmers who found
the body, thus described the discovery.
i wi NiS q VI AoAAN CCibV o 10 y
barn and right near where the body was
found. Two months 6 Lewis dug two
holes for refuse. One OF these he had filled
up several weeks ago, but the other one
was left pen until a few days ago. This
aroused my suspicious.
when we searched the place yesterday
we noticed this bole had been filled UP
recently and this morning we set to work
to dig it up At a depth OF two feet the
spade struck the body. Then We turned
over something white. That was the corner
of the child's dress"
The child had been strangled with a piece
of tarred rope. doubly knotted, which
had sunk into the flesh, Over her head a.
burlap bag had been drawn,
In the grove was the little mouth organ
that the child had constantly carried with
her.
More than five years ago Mrs. Lewis
was employed as a nurse in the Chester
county asylum for the insane. There she
met Lawrence Butler, an attendant, They
were to have been married, but Butler I'M
eXpectedly departed for the South. Shortly
afterward both he and Edna Newlin, which
was her name before her marriage, we're
compelled to leave the employ Of the hos
pital, She returned to her fathers home,
where her child was born.
Butler wrote for her to join him in the
South, but she did not accept his ofer, and
nothing more was heard from him. He is
now living in huntsville, N, c.
Lewis and Edna Newlin had been child
hood sweethearts and he knew all the facts
OF her life. Five months ago he married
her and agreed to take care of the father
less child.
Mary Newlin disappeared on last Sunday
afternoon. She had been visiting her
grandparents, Mr.. and Mrs. John Sewlin,
half a mile away. About 4:sO she started
home.
From this all trace OF the child