Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-12-02
HOW he
SLEW AGED PAIR
Sears Believed He Would In
herit Pastors Estate.
QUARREL WITH VICTIM

Murderer Had Been Reprlmanded by
Rev. Armstrong--Went Out Cunning
to Establish AIibi.
Pride over the idea, strengthened
in his mind by frequent repetition, in
to belief that he was near relative
of his victims and would inherit the
estate, caused half-breed Jack Sears,
it is thought by relatives of the dead
couple, to commit the murder of the
aged Rev. Amzi l.. Armstrong and his
wife at Dutch Neck, ten miles east of
Trenton, N. j., to which Sears has
confessed.
Sears thought that he would then
inherit some Of the wealth of the Arm
strongs. Sears confession, preceding
dramatic reproduction of the double
murder in the quiet and lonely parson-
age at Dutch Neck was followed by the
arrest of his mother, Mrs. Rachel
Sears, a negress.
The old nanny" is said, If not to
have actually witnessed the murders,
at least to have been told by her son
that he had killed his lifelong benefac-
tors.
Sears is thirty-three years old, and
for all but three weeks of his life he
has lived with the Armstrong;. He
was ashamed of his mother, but proud
of his white stock. His constant dec
larations that he was related to the
Armstrong family angered the mem
bers Of that family, according to the
aunt Of Mrs. Armstrong. She said that
her son, a lawyer, had repeatedly sx-
pressed his indignation that Sears
should so openly profess his lineage.
The immediate provocation for the
crime is thought by connections of the
murdered man and woman to have
been a reprimand administered by
Rev. Armstrong to Sears, his farm
hand, for having sold some of the.
products of the farm and keeping the
proceeds for his own use.
In his confession, vouched for by the
police, Sears told how he shot down
DR.. Armstrong when the latter had
come hurrying into the parlor. alarmed
by the frightful screams of Mrs. Arm
strong. Then. using the same shotgun,
he fired at Mr.. Armstrong, who drop
ped to the floor, dying in few mo-
mentS.
1t Is thought that in the confession
that Sears is reported to have made
he told what he did with the watch
that was torn from around Mr.. Arm
strong's neck. 1t is also understood
HofnnftVnc n 40
home and found the time piece in the
woodshed where Sears is asserted to
have said he put it.
Sears, who is a half-breed negro, was
not much given to associating with
colored people He is or was mem
ber of the New Jersey National Guard,
belonging to a company at New Bruins
wick, and it was in this way that hn
formed the acquaintance with Rudolph
Norhaus, the young white man who
came to Dutch Neck to go cunning
with Sears. The prosecutor Is satisfied
that Norhaus has no knowledge of the
double crime.
Sears mother, the housekeeper of
the Armstrong;, is still at Dutch Neck
under watch, and 1t Is understood that
Prosecutor Crossley will question her
further to learn If she knows anything
about re murder.
Around Dutch Neck, where the wo-
man Is well known, there Is a feeling
that she is innocent of any connection
with the shooting. 5ho says she has no
knowledge of the murder 1t is believed
she told the story of seeing her son
come in at l o'clock only in order to
shield him.
Of late years Sears has been of
moro . turn OF mind. He is said to
have taken a di~like to his mother,
and at one tiE.e nc .lrmstrongs were
forced to send him away from the
homestead because of this. Later he
was permitted to return.