The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-04
A SOLUTION
 TO MYSTERY Identity of Woman Probably Cleared. HUSBAND HELD IN CUSTODY Police Find Important y.e to the
 Cas- Theodore wA,e y. Broo..n,. no.er- man. Wis dorgue and Identi- he S,e Body as that of
 His Own Wife.
 
HUSBAND HELD IN CUSTODY

70 2 l Newark, N J., Jan. s.-Following a | searching examination during which many incidents of his life were laid
 bare. Theodore s. whitmore, the hus- band, was held by the New Jersey po- lice tonight as a suspect in the case
 of the death of Lena" wh.tmore, who was beaten insensible. stripped of her clothing and drowned in a pond near | Harrison. on the Hackensack Meadows, | on the morning of Dec..2s.
 Whitmore who had been detaiped in New York, was taken to Harrison to- | night and having definitely identifed | his wife's body, was vigorously ques- toned by the auth critics. The nature | of his testimony determined the police | to keep him within the Jurisdiction of | the local courts.
 | After a half dozen supposed identfh-
 cations had been disproved. the police were satisfied tonight that the woman who was murdered on the flats that | border the Passaic River, in Harrison. l was Helena Salter Whitmore. who, with her husband Theodore S. Whit more. conducted a furnished room house | at BPS Adams Street. Brooklyn. The | Identification was made by the woman's
 sister, Mrs. Susan Schmitter of the
 Bronx. and corroborated by Mrs. Schmitter's husband. Martin Frank |
 murdered woman's husband. Whit l more has been detained by the police I and a summons was issued tonight for | Englert. The latter. who admitted an
 Intimate acquaintance with Mrs. Whit
 more, was able to do into such minute
 details in his Identification that the
 authorities believe he will prove 8
 valuable witness.
 Series of Letters.
 Mrs Schmitter also furnished the I police with what Is believed to be im- l portant information. She told of se- | res of letters and telegrams received | by herself and the sister in Schnecta-
 dy. purporting to come from Mrs. I Whitmore. but some of which must have been written after her death. A trunk belonging to Mrs. Whitemore had also been sent myateriousiy to her
 home. Mrs Gchrnitfer said.
 Mrs. Whitmore left her home on ChrletInas day With the Intention, &C., l cording to her husband. of making visit to her sister, Mrs. Bessie Hughes 1 whose home is in Schnectady. At 2 o'clock the next morning she was seen
 in the company of a man on the Hack ensack meadows. That afternoon, her l nude body was found partly submerged in pool of water near where she had been seen. The next day Mrs. Whit
 more's trunk was delivered at her sis ter'S nome sn the Bronx. E Whitmore is a Brooklyn elevated | motorman. who ordinarily works
 nights He did not go to work Christi l mas night. He explained today that he was taken III with the grip after his wife left their home and he had l not been able to work since. He had frequently quarreled with his wife, he said, and was not surprised when she failed to return hime. They had quar- hn ah haA
 ed attention frohf two other men. To-
 day. Whitmore placed an advertise
 ment in a Brooklyn paper offering his furnished room business for sale. Correct identification.
 Last night. Whitmore visited the
 morgue at Harrison and though he admitted a familiar appearance. lie
 of his wife. Today Whitmore was ex-
 amined- at police headquarters in
 Brooklyn and finally expressed the opinion that the Harrison identifica- tion was correct. He was certain, however. that he had received two mes
 sages from his wife after she had left him. He was detained on suspicion,
 and tonight was again taken to Har- rison, where he made his identifca? tion positive. When Whitmore entered
 the morgue tonight. he gaZed for some
 time upon the face of the dead woman and then said: That's my wife, all
 right, I think"
 Warned that he should make no
 mistake, Whitmore examined the wo-
 mans hair. the filings in the teeth, and
 a scar on the neck very carefully, and
 then, turning to the officers. said: Yes,
 I am perfectly satisfied"
 Whitmore was then taken in custody
 by officers who took him to the town
 hall for further examination. He was N-- U.N. Touch OR Emotion.
 With a touch of emotion that added
 to the puzzling features of one of the strangest crimes with which the po-
 lice have had to deal Whitmore told
 the police of his struggle to live down
 an unpleasant past and how a faithless
 wife had held over his head a threat
 of exposure-to make known to new acquaintances here what he now ad
 mits of serving a sentence in Danne-
 mora prison when pardoned by Gov ernor Black. Bitter duarrels and as
 many reconcil;atlons marked their mar ried life of fifteen years. His wife, he said. had become infatuated with a sailor known to him only as Harry"
 but when she returned home Christmas, following a five days absence, he
 greeted her with a Merry Christmas"
 She failed to respond and they quar-
 reled on the street He though that
 she had a bottle of acid and he at-
 tempted to take it from her. In the struggle, they both fell. Later they effected a truce and had dinner to-
 eether Then he went out on an er- rand and when ho returned to the house. she had left never to return. Whitmore said that he came origin ally from Schnectady and that he was married bv justice of the peace fh Albany. He gave his age as S6 years.
 He said, according to the police that
 several years ago he was sentenced by
 Judge Grsffin at Troy to serve a sem
 tence of two years and ten months in Dannamora State prison on a convic-
 tion of having assaulted a companion
 during a drunken row on the Albany ] bridge He said he had served about eight months when he was pardoned.
 Some. years ago. he said, he came here and worked in various capacities until
 he secured his position on the ele-
 vated road. He said that one the day
 his wife disappeared he had given her
 S5. He knew absolutely nothing, he
 said. of how she came to be in New Jersey or the manner of her death.