Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-05-25
FOR DEATH 0F WIFE.
Motorman Whitmore Is Placed on
 Trial In Newark, N. ].
THE SWAMP MYSTERY" CASE

Finding of Body In Mud and Identifioa-
 ton of Portion of Clothing Led to
 Arrest of Husband, Who Denied Her
 Identity at First.
 Newark, N. J., May 25.-Theodore &. Whitmore was marched to the court of oyer and terminer at Newark to be tried for his life on the charge of hav- ing murdered his wife, Lena.
 Despite the claims of the prosecution that it can send Whitmore to his death on circumstantial evidence, the de- fense declares it can prove an alibi, showing that the man was not near the scene of the murder at the time 1t was committed.
 Whitmore will have no cause for complaint so far as the men who will decide his fate are concerned. It will be struck" jury. Ninety men, re- garded as among the most intelligent and best citizens of the county, have been summoned. From this list the law allows each side to strike twen- ty-four names and gives the. further privilege of using the customary per. emptory challenges.
 No Women at Trial.
 A feature of the trial, which prom ises to be fraught with intense inter. est, will be the exclusion of women from the courtroom. None but the judges, jury, prisoner, witnesses, law yers, newspaper men and interested members of the bar will hear the evi- dence at first hand.
 Justice Francis J. Swayze and Coun- ty Judge John A. Blair are to occupy the bench from which Whitmore's fate will be announced.
 Alexander Simpson will appear for the defense. Prosecutor of the Pleas Pierre T. Garven and his assistant, George T. Vickers, will be heard for the state. yickers probably will he the more active of the two, as he con- ducted the proceedings which led to Whitmore's indictment
 Last Christmas night, in the desc. late Lampblack swamp in Harrison, N. J., Helena Whitmore was murdered and her body stripped of its clothing and thrown into foul pond. where it was found the following day.
 Identification of Body Task.
 For eight days following it's discov- cry the body lay in the morgue at Har- rison before it was identified. Several supposed identifications were made during this period. Pictures of the dead woman were published far and wide, and it was through the instru- mentality of published likeness of the woman and through portions of her clothing found that the body was finally identified by Mrs. Beatrice Schmitter. a sister of the murdered woman, as that of Mrs. Helena Whit. more. wife of Theodore S. Whitmore, motorrnan, New York Whitmore was arrested and subsequently, indicted on the charge of murder.
 Mrs. Whitmore, it was learned, was at home with her husband on Christ mas afternoon and evening. Then she went out and was not seen again so far as known to the police until her body was found the next day in the swamp at Harrison. A boy who had gone to the pond to see if the ice was thick enough for skating found the body lying face downward, the feet protruding from the water. Near by was part of the coat which the dead woman had worn. and on the bank of the Passaic river was found another portion. A muff, shirt waist, some underclothing and later the skirt were found in the river.
 Death Due to Drowning.
 The autopsy showed that the woman had been struck with some blunt In. strument on the back of the head. rem dering her unconscious. but that she was alive when thrown into the pond and that death resulted from drown ing. The lungs were filled with water, and she had drawn cinders into her mouth and throat from the bottom of the pond in her gasps for breath.
 The clothing was the only tangible clew. and it was finally found that c suit of clothing identical with that worn by the swamp victim had been sold to Mfs. whirlncre by a Brooklyn firm. The fact that she was missing was subsequently revealed. and her husband was taken to Harrison. Af first be declared that the body was not that of his wife. but when confronted by proof admitted the woman's iden- tity.