Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-04
RUST|N LED DUAL LIFE
Young Woman Admits She
Was Slain Doctors affinity"
SUICIDE THEORY SECUTED
Killed After He Entered House Is
Belief of Police.
WIDOW HAS NOTHING TO SAY
Dead Man Had Allowed Part of In
surance to Lapse, But Was in
No Financial Straits.
WIDOW HAS NOTHING TO SAY

OMAHA. September 4.-No definite state
ment has as yet been made by Mrs.
Frederick Rustin, whose husband. the
former Yale athlete, was murdered We'd
neSday morning.
A written admission was procured yes
terday by Chief of Police Donahue from
Miss Leona Bonnell, who admits having
spent several hours with DR.. Rustin Tues
day evening.
Many persons who knew the Rustins
We'll and who have known of the doctors
infatuation for Miss Bonnell believe Rus
tin was the victim of jealousy.
Lived Dual Life.
The story told by Miss Bonnell makes
it clear that Rustin for several months
followed a dual life. She admitted that
she had been occupying suite Of hand
somely furnished rooms at the expense
of Rustin and that she had been seeing
him daily since her first acquaintance.
She also SAID that she met Rustin about
Q o'clock on the night of the tragedy,
spent an hour or more with him In mis-
office downtown, and from there walked
up Farnham street as far as 4oth, dls-
lance. of about two miles, in his company.
According to the girls statement, they
reached 10th street. which is only a block
from the Rustin home. little after mid
night They talked for while and were
seen at that corner by two or three who
recognized the doctor. Miss Bonnell then
took car back downtown, going directly
to her rooms.
Doctor Reported Out.
She said she had expected the doctor to
return to her, and when he failed to come
she telephoned his home, thinking she
1t, ,I,a
did three times. receiving a reply that he
had not yet reached home She says 1t
was a womans voice that answered the
phone call each time
According to Chief Donahue a search
was made of the premises, but the de-
tectiveS were unable to find any trace
of a revolver. He will not say how far
this search extended. The shooting, &C
cordng to Mrs. Rustin and neighborS
who heard the shot, was done about j
o'clock, or two and half hours after
Miss Bonnell declares she left Rustin
within block of his home.
\ railroad Waterman who passed up
Farnham street about 1890 says he saw
the doctor go up on the porch and enter
his house. What happened between the
hours of 1870 and :: o'clock has not been
explained. No newspaper man is given
access to the Rustin home, and Mrs. Rus
tin sees only her closest friends.
SQOL IN the hOuSS.
No formal statement has been made by
her, so far as known to the police or to
anybody else. The statement of a maid In
the Rustin home is considered of inn
portance. Although Mrs. Rustin told
DIR. Lord and the police yesterday morn
ing she found her husband sitting in a
chair on the front porch with bullet hole
in his abdomen, the maid declared the
only trace of blood was on the floor Of the
hall near the foot of the stairway. This
statement has led one detective to eX-
press the belief that the fatal shot was
fired inside the Rustin home.
There have been many assertions that
Rustin was in financial straits, but this
statement has been as often denied. 1t
is known he had recently permitted about
3d. 900 of his life insurance to lapse for
failure to pay premiums. At the time
of his death he still carried more than
$4,000.
According to the police, Mrs Rustin
has declared she never knew Miss Bon
nell nor heard of her. and also said the
doctor never had revolver in the house
and she never knew him to carry one.
1t is now generally agreed that suicide
was impossible. There were no powder
stains on the white vest worn by the
doctor. and the fact that the bullet en-
tered the stomach apparently eXplodes
this theory. BY physicians it is declared
no doctor would shoot himself in the
stomach,