Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-29

| tinued after his return to jail, and for
some time afterward he mumbled when
left alone and grinned and chuckled when
spoken to. When arraigned before q mag
istrate he appeared to enjoy the expert
ence and told a rambling, contradictory
story. While in the midst of one of his
confessions" he suddenly appeared to
collect himself and launched upon a de-
NAL. 1.-THE detectives made me make that
statement. 1t is not true. I will tell you
my own statement now. I am innocent. 1
did not kill the girl!' he assured the court.
Meanwhile one Leon Graham. seventeen
years old, had been captured in the act of
! attempting to attack a fve-year-old girl
in the neighborhood of the Staffeldt muir
DER. When first confronted by each other
in jail Graham and Becker glared without
any sign of recognition; but later, when
examined separately, each accused the
now being held pending an examination as
to his insanity and the police are working
upon Graham's connection with the crime
force of possible suggestion" in Becker's
case, the salient points of similar murder
confession now interesting Philadelphia.
may be briefly summarized.
Unbelieved Confession of John Price.
The Lewis murder case, which the Phila-
delphia police have been working on for
eight months. Is the mystery which has in
spired this second confession to be de-
scribed. On September 10 last Mrs. Mollie
N. Lewis. scarcely twenty-one years old,
was found gagged and stabbed to death in
an uptown boarding house. Her body had
been thrust into a hall closet on the first
floor. She had been stabbed in the neck
with a long. thin weapon. and upon the
dining room rug, near by, was found q
large pool Of blood. The alarm was given
by her landlady. who claimed to have dis
covered the crime Immediately upon return
ing from a shopping expedition. This
woman has since been under the suspicion
of the police. as has a male boarder who
lived In the house at the time of the trag
edy. The victims husband was away on
business the date OF the killing and the
landlady claimed to have left Mrs. Lewis
and her infant alone in the house when the
former departed on her shopping trip. That
robbery was not the motive was indicated
by the discovery of money which, after the
murder. still laid untouched upon a table.
Three months after the crime John g. Price.
thirty-four years cid, with a record as a
sneak thief, forger. cigarette, opium and
| morphine fend. and who had been an In
| mate OF the Eastern penitentiary and two
insane asylums. surrendered himself to the
surprised authorities and confessed that he
was the long-hunted murderer of Mrs.
Lewis. He confessed" willingly, and
third degree" methods were unnecessary.
He claimed to have killed the young wife
with q lance stolen from a dentist found to
have missed no such instrument. Dis
guised as a plumber. he said he entered
the house as a sneak thief. but did not ac-
count for leaving the money untouched. He
wrote scores Of Confessions" all Of them
| agreeing in minute particulars as to his
movements preliminary to the murder. But
coming down to the actual crime, he always
halted and often trembled excitedly, clasp
ing his fists. holding them to his head and
protesting his inability to go further.
When arrested he was found to be In de-
plorable physical condition. A wound in
his breast he accounted for as the result
of an unsuccessful attempt to commit sui
| eide He had made two such attempts, he
] said. A commission has been appointed to