Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-04
UNSO[VED
Mystery Of Nude Body Found
in Jersey SWamps Is
Still a Puzzle
Husband and Relatives Iden-
tify Body and Held as
Witnesses

Witnesses
Newark, N. j., Jan. 3.--Following
a searching examination, during
which many incidents of his life were
laid bare, Theodore. s. Whitmore,
the husband was held by the New
jersey police tonight as suspect in
the death of gstLena', Whitmore, who
was murdered in Harrison on the
morning of Dec. 26. Whitmore, hay
ing definitely identified his wife, was
vigorously questioned by the author
ties.
With touch of emotion that add
ed to the puzzling features of one Of
the strangest crimes with which tho
police have had to deal, Whitmo.e
told the police of his struggle to live
down an unpleasant past and how
faithless wife had held over his head
a threat of exposure, to make known
to new acquaintance here what he
now admits, that he was serving a
sentence in the Dannemora pris N
3when pardoned by Governor Black.
Bitter quarrels and as many recon-
Ieiliations marked their married life
of fifteen years.
His wife, he said, had become in
fatuated with sailor known to him
only as Harry but when she re-
| turned home at Christmas, following
IA fve-days absence, he greeted her
with Merry Christmas" she failed
to respond and they quarreled on the
street. Later they effected truce
and had dinner together. Then he
went out on an errand. When he
returned she had left.
He said that on the day his wife
disappeared he had given her fifteen
dollars. He knew absolutely moth
ing, he. said, of how she came to be
in New Jersey or of the manner of
her death.
Identified
Newark, N. j., Jan. 3.-After half
dozen supposed identifcations had
been disproved, the police were salts
fed tonight that the woman murder
ed on the flats that border the Pas
siac river in Harrison was Helena
Salter Whitmore, who with her hus-
band, Theodore S. Whitmore, con-
Quoted rooming house at 235 Adams
street, Brooklyn.
The Identification was made by the
woman's sister, Mrs. Susan Schmit-
ter, of the Bronx, and corroborated
by Mrs. Schmitter's husband Martin,
Frank Englert, friend, an finally
by the murdered woman's husband
> Whitmore has been detained by the
police, and a summons was issued
tonight for Englert The latter, who
admitted an intimate acquaintance
with Mrs. Whitmore, was able to go
into so minute details in his identifi-
cation that the authorities think he
! will prove valuable witness.
; Mrs. Schmitter also furnished the
: police with what is believed to be
most important information. She
told of a series of letters and tele-
grams received by herself and sister
in Schenectady, purporting to come
from Mrs. Whitmore, but some of
which must have been written after
: her death. A trunk belonging to
Mrs. Whitmore had also been sent
mysteriously to her home, Mrs
Schmitter said.
Mrs. Whitmore left her home
Christmas day with the intention, ac-
cording to her husband, of making
: visit to her sister, Mrs. Bessie
Hughes, whose home is in Schenec-
: tady. At 2 o'clock the next morning
she was seen in the company of a
man on the Hackensack meadows.
!, That afternoon her nude body was
found partly submerged in pool of
water near where she had been seen.
: The next day Mrs. Whitmore's trunk
a was delivered at her sisters home in
r the Bronx.
" Whitmore is Brooklyn elevated
: motorman who ordinarily works
g nights. He did not go to work on
: Christmas night.
OIL He explained today that he was
i. Confined on Page 81