The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-10-07
WIVES LETTERS
! TO PROVOST CLUE
IN MURDER CASE
Police Say Slain Man Was Many
Times Married and Hint
at Jealousy.
MRS. WEBB in SWEAT-B0X
/ TELLS OF SEEING HUSBAND
investigators, Still at Sea, Order
Analysis of Stomach and
Dragged Beer.
IRON a stan correspOndent.l

PATTERSON. Oct. THE Paterson
nolice. from documents in their posses
sim. arc convinced that 1--WE FRO
vost. the man who died of strychnihe
noisoning after drinking a bottle OIL
beer Monday. and whose housekeeper'
Mrs. Mary Webb. Is still in the hos
pitsl from the effects of the same
poison. had several wives and that
jealousy a the motive for the alleged
murder.
They have found letters from many
women which seem 10 indicate Provost
was married several times. Louis and
Felix Langley, who ave their aa-
dress as 1880 First avenue, New York.
Yesterday identified Provost as a rela-
i've Of theirs, and said he had a wife,
a son and two daughters living IN
Holyoke. Mass.
In proyost's desk was found a letter
from DR.. Britton y. Evans, head of the
Morris Plains Asylum, certifying that
q certain Ella Provost was hopelessly
insane. There was also a letter from
a Brooklyn cemetery describing a
burial plot where another alleged wife
of Provost Is buried.
The promised wholesale arrests in
THO 1n1uTueFl III 5tcfS ldNt ~
lied. Developments today were the
ordering of an autopsy on Provost $
body and instructions from the county
physician for an analysis of tic con-
tents of the dead mans stomach, and
the beer and food p~artaken of at the
fateful evening meal. Information also
reached the police today that Mrs
Webb met and auarreled with her hus-
- 49,. t. ..,x.E.- b1Pa,a ti1a fonicon-
ing.
After CONSULTATION with Chief Jonn
Bimsou. at which the report of the de-
tectives engaged in the case was DIS
Sussed, the county physician decided
10 perform the autopsy. The
Of the dead mar was turned over to
DIR. Frank r. Sandt- pathologist in the
General Hospital. who also has the
remnants Of chicken. the unopened
bottle Of heer and what remained in
the glass Of Mrs, Webb, who collapsed
before drinking all the liquor.
That the police are still at sea was
made evident when Chief Bimson de-
tailed more detectives to assist Detec-
tive Henry Titus, and personally took
q hand in examining Mrs. Webb. who
still remains at the hospital, although
Il is said she has entirely recovered.
With Detective William Lord, the chief
was closeted with the wonan for the
better part of an hour, and learned
that she had met her husband at the
home of a mutual friend on Sunday,
the meeting being arranged with the
idea of effecting a reconciliation.
The greater part OF their interview
was spent in renewing old disputes, but
Mrs. Webb said they parted on good
terms, the husband intending to seek
work and provide a new home for his
wife and the latter to return to Pro-
vost. She also said that when she
parted from Webb a year ago it was
~ mutual consent. as he could not get
steady work. She insisted he went with
her to obtain the position OF house
keeper for Provost. Asked where he
had been Immediately before the meet
ing, she said he told her Monroe. n. Y.
She was unable to say whether he had
returned to that place, but was posi-
tive he had gone in the country some
place.
New facts in the past life of Provost
are popping up every moment, During
the day a man supposed to be his
brother, and who resides in Brooklyn,
visited police headquarters and said
Provost was married and that a wife,
from whom he has been separated
eighteen years. lives In New York.
Some years 6 he married Elizabeth
Veering, widow of n prominent con-
tractor. who was suffocated in a sand
cave-in. The woman lived with him
only two months.
About eighteen months ago., while
-