The Washington herald., 1910-03-28

New York, March 27-The police and
the district attorneys Office are sur
rounding Albert Wolter, charged with
the murder OF hfteen-year-old Ruth
Wheeler with q chain OF circumstantlal
evidence. Katie Muller was arrested
shortly before noon to-day, and some
valuable corroborative evidence against
Wolter was gotten from her.
Coroners Physician O'Hanlon, after
performing an autopsy on Ruth Wheeler's
remains. expressed the opinion that she
had been burned alive.
To-day's work by the police began with
a surprise. When the jajlers of the East
F1fty-seventh Street Court Prison went
to get WOlter for his aTraignment, they
found that he had slept so soundly that
they had difficulty in awakening him.
They took him TO the Yorkville court,
whore the charge of abduction was with
drawn. ana Magistrate Breen remanded
him 10 the sustody OF the coroner on the
charge Of murder.
Committed without Bail.
The prisoner was taken down 20 the cor
Oner's Office and questioned for two hours.
with no better results than came from
the four hours grueling Of the night be-
fore. Wolter was then sent over to the
Tombs on the coToners commitment,
without bail.
Katie Muller was arrested by Detective
HuFton in front or the house in East
1O5th street where Wolter and she had
taken rooms after their fight from the
house Of the murder in East Seventy
fifth street. Hwton took her to the Six
ty-seventh street station and questioned
her.
Katie was born near Bremen. Germany,
and came here about three years ago.
Her parents are not in this country She
met WOlter last June at a ball and IN
August they began living together. They
had lived at various addresses in this
city, and IN the fall had worked for a
family named Fender at Irvington. She
was sure that WoIter. since she had lived
with him, had had nothing to do with
other girls. He was always kind "and
wouldn't do anything against any girl"
Her faith In him was Jared for the
first time last Thursday evening. when
Pearl Wheeler came 10 their rooms and
demanded of him that he tell her where
her sister Ruth was. This episode made
her Jealous, she said. and she cried and
demanded that he tell her what he had
10 do with the other girl He denied
knowing the other girl. though he finally
acknowledged having written the post
card asking for a girl stenographer to
call
Kept HIS Secret, She Says.
4 couple of hours later. when the
Wheeler sisters came back with the Do
lice, this call made her nervous, and
she tried, but again in vain, TO find out
from Wolter what all the trouble meant.
His manner OF answering was such that
It aroused her suspicious that all was
not right, and she lay awake for hours
that night
Katie went on 10 tell that she had
noticed on her return from work on
Thursday evening that the stove had
been moved from the dining-room and
the whole front Of the fireplace painted.
Also the hole in the fireboard for
the stove pipe had been covered over by
an actress picture. She asked wolter
about this. and he said that he had TO
move the stove so as to have things
ready for summer.
Identified Chastity Sack.
She identified the shirt found as VOL
ter's. and the sack in which Ruth
Mheeler's body was found as the sack
in which the wood was brought up TO the
rooms. The sack had afterward been
used as door mat, she said. She had
ielt AFRAID to spend Saturday night alone
In the io5th street house after VOTERS
imprisonment for abduction, she said.
and had gone over to Riverside Drive
and spent the night with a friend who
was servant there, not telling her
friend Of her trouble This morning she
had wandered back to 105th street.
She said that on Friday when she cot
up to go 10 work, at o'clock. Wolter
told her to pack UP their things and
meet him in the evening at Park avenue
and Eightieth street (where they were
arrested, as he was going out to rent
a new home, because the detectives
might continue to bother them where
they were, in Seventy-flfth street.
on Saturday morning she had been
discharged from the bakery because her
employer had read IN that mornings
papers OF the arrest of Wolter for abduc-
ton, and that she was living with him
without ceremony. She had then gone
to the court on Saturday morning. be-
cause she had nothing to fear, and want
ed to know what was done. At the order
OF Coroner Holtzhauser Katie Muller
was committed to the house or detention
as q witness.
Microscopic Disclosures.
DR.. OHanlon, after making the post
norton examination this evening, sent
portions of Ruth Wheeler's body to Prof.
John H. Larkln. of Columbia University,
for microscopic examination. DR.. o'Han-
Ion said:
Nowhere IN the body was there any
clotted blood. The lungs were uniformly
congested throughout. There was a mark
on the right side of the neck, evidently
made by a rope. over the right nostril.
and for a distance covering the upper
part Of the face I found the remains Of
a piece of cloth, evidently linen.
II determined that the girl died from
asphyxiation. following strangulation.
This determined from the condition of
the lungs, the presence of the rope, and
the lndentation in the neck. and I believe
that the girl was smothered and, while
still alive, but unconscious, was put into
the fireplace and incinerated."
The police found in VOTERS trunks
spooI Of wire OF the same sort that had