Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1910-11-25
NEGRO HAS CONFESSED
THAT He SHOT AGED
PAS TOR AND HIS WIFE
Mercer County Authorities Make
Quick Work In Solving the Double
Murder Mystery at Dutch Neck.
BURY VICTIMS AT CRANBURY

giving with Sears at the Armstrong
home. He arrived at Dutch Neck
yesterday morning and when he
stepped from Trenton and New
Brunswick trolley car he was met by
ants and taken into custody He
| WAS put through severe examina-
tion and was later allowed to return
to his home
County Physician Scammell yes
terday morning performed an au-
topsy on both bodies. He found that
they had been shot with No. IL
gauge gun.
Coroner Bower took charge of the
bodies and reported the matter to
County Physician Scammell. The
coroner will empanel a jury this
morning, the members Of which will
leave his Office in the Forst-Richey
building at 10 O'Clock. They will
drive to the scene of the crime and
will also view the bodies.
Prosecutor Crossiey has instructed
Constables Mount and Baus to keep
careful watch over the Armstrong
premises and allow no curious ones
to venture there.
While the body of the aged pastor
and that of his wife lay cold in death
at their home yesterday afternoon,
and the undertaken was preparing
them for burial, curious crowd
gathered about the usually quiet
home where the couple had resided
for so many years. Each member of
the party searched eagerly for some
trace of clue which should lend as
sistance to the solving OF the mys-
terry connected with the crime, which
is without doubt the most atrocious
which has ever been recorded in the
criminal annals of Mercer county.
Shot down as the aged couple was,
without a moments warning, appar-
entity, and then robbed while the last
breath of life was leaving their
bodies, caused the entire neighbor-
hood to become thoroughly aroused
and In little groups about the farm
house the friends and neighbors
gathered yesterday and talked of the
cruel murder of the respected and
God-loving couple who had been
their friends for years.
Locks Not Disturbed.
Despite the fact that the most dill
gent search was made, 1t could not
be found that a single lock on any of
the doors Of the house had been
tampered with, nor that single win
dow had been disturbed, leaving the
one impression that the person who
had committed the awful act and had
robbed two human beings of their
existence, had walked straight into
the house through the front door.
Mptuff CT nifn1 faot that
aged Mrs. Sears says she thinks she
locked the doors, they had either
been left unfastened or the person
who committed the act was supplied
with key which was noiselessly
slipped into the key-hole and as
noiselessly turned, making it neces-
sary but to take single step into
the dwelling.
Shot Over Heart.
Once inside the house, and while
standing in the hall, the murderer
was evidently heard by aged Mrs
Armstrong, who was in the dining
room. Her attention being attracted
by a noise it is presumed that she
advanced toward the sitting room,
and that, as she stepped upon It's
threshold, the man with robbery and
murder in his heart, realizing that
he had been discovered, placed the
shot gun to his shoulder, pulled the
trigger and sent the entire contents
of the barrel into the breast of the
woman. The whole charge entered
just above the heart, and Mrs. Arm
strong fell backwards dead
Rev. Mr.. Armstrong was at his
desk, an old-fashioned one, In his
study. Hearing the shot, 1t is
thought he arose from his seat and
advanced step toward the hall, only
to be confronted by the murderer.
who, standing but few feet away.
simply turned upon his heel and
pulled the other trigger of his fire.
arm, moving down the aged clergy
man in an instant. So close was the
murderer to his victim when the
shot was fired that the vest worn by
Rev Mr.. Armstrong was rendered
like feather.
The charge seemed to scatter, for IL
covered the entire chest of the aged
preacher, the man who had so often Of. |
fered up a prayer in the church close
by to be saved from murder and sud.
den death. -
snatched Watch and Purse.
The wife dead and the husband
breathing his last, the murderer, cody
or otherwise, bent over the form of HE |
last victim and in his eagerness to Sc.
cure booty and depart, tore from its
chain the watch which the preacher
wore and rifed his pockets of a purse
which contained $50.
While both shots were fred in the
house, not a single shot from the charge
missed its mark, as no trace Of even
powder could be found on the wells cs |
the dwelling. This is taken to indicate
that the person who committed the /
crimes was an expert shot, as 1t is high |
ly improbable that novice could have
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