The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-09-09
GIRLS DEATH LAID TO DOCTOR Physician Is Held In
 Detroit. MILLMAN MYSTERY CLEARING Body of Young Woman Sent to
 Ann Harbor. Her Companion is in JsfI With Surgeon Believed By Police to Have
 Dismembered Body After
 An Operation.
MnLMAN MYSTERY CLEARING

| Oetroit, Micn., sept B.-Dr. George A. Fritch. a weil-known practitioners of this city. was placed under arrest tonight at police headquarters on sus- picion In connection with the death of | Miss May Belle Millman of Ann Arbos. whose dismembered body was found Monday and Tuesday in two sacks sunk In Ecorse Creek, in the western su- burbs of this city.
 Miss Martha Henning, intimate friend of the dead girl was also taken Into custody as a witness. Dr. Fritch is registered as follows on the blotter at the Central Police Station:
 George A. Fritch. offense chafged. suspicion of murder; occupation, phy- sician: aged. 42; married: color, white; residence. 665 TrumbulI Avenue; father and mother both born in Canada, ar- resting officers. Detectives Parker and Allen"
 Dr. Fritch had in his pockets ss2. The arrest of pr. Fritch~ followed l the hurried return of Sheriff Gaston | from Ann Arbor where he had spent most of the day looking up clues in the Millman case.
 So unexpectedly did the scene of in- | vestigation shift to Detroit, that the Wayne County sherir's arrival here | was almost simultaneous with the arr rival at the Ann Arbor postoffice of . Washington telegram, authorizing Postmaster Prettyman to submit the records of the money order and reg istered lettered departments to the inc spection of MT. Gaston. All day this authorization had been anxiously awaited by the officials gatf- cred at Ann Arbor in the hope that the postofice records would show who had been the sender of a registered letter containing a remittance of money which Miss Millman received at her home just before leaving on her ili- starred trip to Detroit three weeks ago. whether the investigation of the Ann Arbor postoffice records is to be pursued further tomorrow could not be learned tonight. | Secrecy Is Observed. Extraordinary efforts to maintain the greatest secrecy were made when l Sheriff Gaston was summoned from Ann Arbor this evening. But when 1 the county executive entered the prf- vate office of Chief of Detectives Me- Donnell, his arrival in Detroit had | been noticed and he was compelled to run the gauntlet of a score of news paper men, all hurling questions ae him as to the new turn in the invesfi- gation.
 Although Miss Martha Henning was
 
 McDonnells room Sheriff Gaston would not even admit that she has returned to the city. Detectives Parker and Allen appeared. escorting a short. thin man with a sandy mustache. who had not hitherto appeared in the inyesti- gation. He proved to be pr. Fritch.
 Miss Henning and pr. Fritch both remained in the detective's ofiice for about half an hour and then the doc- tor was taken into a separate room. while the girl was subjected to fur ther questioning in the absence of the physician.
 After an hours time. Miss Henning was taken upstairs to the matron'v room for the night. and Dr: Friteh was led to the cell block In the basement.
 Chief of Detectives Mcdonnell then said:
 we have locked up Dr. George A Fritch on suspicion of murdering May Belle Mllman. We have worked on the case all day and would not arrest him tonight unless we had sufficient evidence to justify our action" Dr. Fritch was previously arrested in connection with the mysterious death of Miss Edith Presley. proof reader for the State Senate, who died under suspicious circumstances in Detroit in April. 1907.
 Two criminal prosecutions were started aIter tne HTeSity tEdB00y Au0 when the case aganst a member of the lower house of the legislature was thrown out of court for lack of suf- ficient evidence, the case against Dr. Fritch, which depended much upon ob- taining conviction of the legislator, was nolle pressed
 Body At Ann ArbOr.
 Ann Arbor. Mich. Sept. S--Frag- ments of the body of Miss May Belle Millman. the Ann Arbor girl found in Ecorse creek. near Detroit. arrived here tonight for burial.
 That the girl. who left here three weeks ago to visit in Detroit. was mur- dered. Is the conviction of the authori. ties here and at Detroit. At the re- quest of officials. the federal govern ment this afternoon granted permis- sion to examine post office records to obtain a clue of the mystery.
 May Relic Millman, it Is known. rec ceived a few days before she left home. A registered letter containing money. The girl told her mother that her frieni. Martha Henning, o1 Detroit, had sent her money, asking her to visif Detroit. May Belle went to Detroit. visited Miss Henning, a companion since childhood. and then disappeared.
 The records of the registered let- ter are relied upon by the detectives and officials to produce a tangible clue to the mystery m the case.
 Postmaster H. G. Prettyman, of Ann Arbor. refused to submit the record to Sheriff Gaston, of Detroit. saying he had no authority to do so. and Sheriff Gaston then communicated by tele- graph to First Assistant PostmasteF General Granfield, at Washington to examine the records
 "f am convinced that money was sent May Belle Millman by some man for the purpose of having performed n surgical operation said the sheriff this evening. '"This led her to leave her home and deceive her parents. The operation proved unsuccessful and she died. Then her body was disarticu- lated. an discriminating portion of it destroyed and the rest thrown into Ecorse creek. The girl was prepared, fin my opinion. to meet her fate and had aided in plans for secrecy should death follow"
 May Belle Millman and Marina Hem ming. whom she visited in Detroit at the time of her disappearance. were bosom friends in Ann Arbor. That they received many attentions from students of the University of Michigan
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