The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-27
ALL PARIS EXCITED
MORE DEVELOPMENTS IN sTEIN-
 HE'LL MURDER CASE.
Madame steinheiI, Wife of the Mur- dered Man, Has Been Trapped in Her Own Net--She
 C0nfesaea,

Confesses.
 Paris, Nov. 26.--Paris has been in state of intense excitement today over the developments that have come thick and fast since last night fin the Steinhsil murder case and the sensa- tions of the day have made themselves felt even in the Chamber of Deputies. where many members declared they would raise the question in the Cham. Der, unless the Government undertook to probe the scandal tol the bottom.
 Madame Steinheil made a confession to two newspaper men last night. She declared that man named Alexandre Wolff was the murderer of her hus- band. Wolff was arrested and exam insd by the authorities. He denied all guilt and said he was ready to prove an alibL Madame Steinheil then weak ened and said if 1t was not Wolff, the man who did commit the crime Fee sembled him strangely. Then suspi- cIon turned upon Mime Steinheil herself and at o'clock 1t was announced that she had been locked up under a war rant of arrest. No charge, however. was specified. Wolff also will be held but not on a warrant.
 One of the surprises of the day was the revelation of the fact that Mme. Japy who was murdered at the same time as was Steinheil, was not Mime. steinheil's mother. as had been sup posed but her stepmother. The end of a sensational day brought crop of sensational rumors. It was said that Minister of Justice Briand had ordered an investigation of the open charges that Mime. Steinheil had been the mistress of NJ. Ledyett, the ex- amining magistrate in the case. and that M Leydett had been instrument al in sitting the case. Chief of De- tectiyes Hamard was credited with the statement that woln had practically established his alibi and that open sus- picion had been cast upon Mime. Stein hill. Couillaud. the man arrested sev- eraI days ago on suspicion, was re- leased.
 The local newspapers published ex- tra editions throughout the day glV- ing, under fiaring headlines. the de- tails of the womau's statement and her subsequent examination by M. Hamard and the crowds on the pou- levards fairly mobbed the newsooys fin their eagerness to read the latest developments.
 self lie the more or less thinly.vetled intimations that France Is on the verge of A scandal involving high person. axes, and the failure of the police 10 clear up the mystery has led to the open assertion that their lack Of en- ergy is dictated by powerful political reasons dating back to the death in Paris in 1899 of Felix Faure. who was at one time President of the republic.
 The crime in question was commit fed on the night of May 3i Mime. Japy was murdered at the same time as SteinheiI Steinheil was a portrait painter and a grand nephew of Meis- -f man, however, is supposed to have been incidental to the killing of SteinheiL. It was the man 1t was decided to get out of the way. Steinheil, his wife and Nine Japy lived together. The wife was found bound and gagged Tn bed and at first she declared that she had been thus treated by three men and a woman, all unknown to her.
 AIexandre Wolff the man accused today by Mime Steinheil. is the son of a woman who was formerly employed fin the Steinheil family as a cook. He and his mother. whose name is Mari cite were at once arrested. It tran spired. however, that Mime steinheil was not the first person to accuse Wolff. A mechanic named Wagner told the police a few days after the crime that Wolff had suddenly come around with A pocket full of gold. The night of the crime he was not present in his usual haunts. but the morning afterward when he read an account of the tragedy in a newspaper. he ap- peared to be greatly excited and swore that he would have vengeance on the assassin.
 Mime. steinheiI seemed to realize to- day that the net in which she has en- tangled herself in her efforts to di- vert suspicion elsewhere was fast clos. ing in about her and after she had been examined by M. Hamard. the chief of detectives. announced that she had been caught in her own trap Mime. Steinheil repeated her statement to the newspaper men to NJ. Hamard this morning. She was hysterical and sobbed out hen story between walls of anguish. In many respects her state ments were conflicting. She said Woln committed the murder for the motive of robbery but that he spared her on account of her daughter. She said she had kept silent up to the present time because of Wolff's threats to charge her with having melted him to the murders if she denounced him She declared emphatically and repeatedly that wolf was nothing to her and that she was not in any way party to the crime She did say, however, that she had hated her husband and that she had a lover.
 q hoped to justify myself before
  ever" she cried
 This man is said to be French no bieman and in his identity is be- lieved to lie the key to this romantic tragedy.
 There was a series of dramatic con frontations at the Palace of Justice throuEhout the morning. and the ex- citement around the building was in- tense. The parties to these interviews were Mime. Steinheil and her daugh- ter Marthe. Alexandre Wolff, and his mother and the man Couillaud In the interims, each was subjected separate ly to a close examination by H. Ha- mard and NJ. Leydett,
 Marthe Steinheil has been devoted to her mother from the beginning. but today she was in a pitiful condition or distress. After the ordeal at the Pal ace of Justice. she was completely prostrated and walled and moaned as if demented.