Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-01-04
SLAIN WOMAN KNOWN
Body of Swamp Victim Identified as That of Mrs. Whitmore.
HER HUSBAND IS ARRESTED.
Prisoner Admits the Body Is That of His Wife - Messages Bearing Mur-
 dered Woman's Signature and Dated After She Was Dead Are Found. ..

Newark, N. J., Jan. 4.-With the body of the victim of the Lampblack swamp murder mystery positively i identified as Mrs. Lena WhitmOre of 236 Adams street, Brooklyn, the wo' mans husband, Theodore s. Whit more. was arrested by. the Harrison police as witness in the case. He is locked up pending an investigation. i Whitmore had gone to Harrison to have q second view of the body, he having declared on Thursday night l that it was not that of his wife. The second look conv inced him, and he was at once taken in charge by the authorities of the New Jersey town. Previously the body had been identi' fled as Mrs. Whitmore by her sister as well as by half a dozen other persons, l including Mrs. Margaret O'Neil, who lived in the same house with the Whit mores in Brooklyn.
 Here are significant facts which came into the possession of the police coincident with the establishment of 1 the WOman's identity.
 | A telegram and a letter signed ill her name and dated at a time when it is now known her body lay in the Harrison mOrgue awaiting identifica' tion were received by her sister in the i Bronx conveying the idea that she still lived and had gone away to hide i from her husband.
 Two insurance policies on Mrs. Whit ] more's life-one in the Prudential com pany, the other ill the Metropolitan for amounts that are not known have disappeared. No assignment has been made of either policy.
 1 The letters are in the hands of the Harrison police, but there comes from | Schenectady, where brother and sis ter of Mrs. Whitmore live, the infor- mation that one more letter received by the sister under date of Dec. 20, l four days after Mrs. Whitmore's $ death, yet bearing her signature, is in identically the same handwriting as q postal card written by Theodore $. Whitmore, the husband, and sent to Schenectady on July ? last. i Not only is the handwriting the same, moreover but both postal card and letter are addressed to Victoria avenue instead of Victory avenue, and ] in both instances the word Schenec- tady has been misspelled in the same manner.
 Whitmore does not deny having beaten his wife. He even specifics having cut her in the head with q wineglass. But he denies that he killed her. He asserts that he was at his home on Christmas night. It will be recalled that it was on Christmas night that the wife was killed, pre- sumably in the vicinity of Harrison.
 Whitmore says that on that night in stead of going to work-he is motor man on the Third avenue ''L"-he tele- phoncd his boss that he was ill, and thenceforth for four days he remained at home. No one appears to support his alibi He tells circumstantial story of having Christmas dinner with his wife which is corrOborated by Mrs. Margaret O'Neill. who assisted Mrs. Whitmore in preparing that din ner. Then. he says. he went out at about o'clock to get some tobacco. and when he returned his wife was gone.
 He asserts that for several days be- fore Christmas his wife was absent from her home. but this statement as we'll as several others which the hus- band makes of material importance is disputed by two women friends of Mrs. Whitmore who were closely asso- ciated with her in the closing days of her life.
 He charges his wife with too close intimacy with a Harry Hendrickson, on whom he planes all his troubles, although every one else comes to Hen. drickson's defense.
 One peculiar feature of the case Is this: Mrs. whitmore's trunk. address ed to her at her sisters home in the Bronx and sent in accordance with aGvice in one of the letters purporting to have been written by her. when opened was found to contain nothing but old clothes and junk.
 Mrs. Susie Schmitters. the sister of Mrs. whitmore, who completed the Identification of the body. was taken to the cell room where WhitmOre Is locked up and confronted him. When she saw him. she exclaimed:
 You killed her at last. didn't yOu:'
 "I did not responded whltmore. "Yes. you did: you know you did. You threatened many times tO kill her and Harry. and you finally did it.. whltmore has told in tine main a straight story. although it varies in some details with the stories which have been told by others who have been called in by the police to throw light on the case.
 For instance. the husband admits having had serious quarrel with his wife On Christmas day His relatives tell of her having visited them on the Monday before Christmas bearing the marks of q severe tpating whieh. she said. he had administered that morn ing. They tell of frequent IeatingS If that character. So do tho relatives m Schenectady. who have been heard from. The neighborS tel of similar Occurrences
 Morev pre-iuru wanishes.