The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-24
Young Man Is Arrested As
He Steps from Steamer
At New York
LAKE COMO MYSTERY IS
SOLVED VERY QUICKLY
Brother of the Murdered Woman, Cap
tain Henry scott, lis the Principal
Factor In the Capture of the
Fugitive American

| New York, June 2S.-The Lake Como
murder mystery is solved.
| Porter Charlton, American youth of
good family, sought by the police of two
continents, was arrested in Hoboken, n.
j., shortly before noon today he
stepped from the North German Lloyd
steamer Princess Irene. In less than
an hour he had confessed without tren-
| or that in fit of temper he beat his
wife into insensibility with a malle.,
| jammed her body in a trunk and sank
| 1t in the waters of the Italian lake.
y She was Mary Scott Castle of San
| Francisco, woman 16 years his senior.
divorced wife of Neville II. Castle. q
| San Francisco lawyer. and beauty.
Charlton is only 81 and a son of Judge
Paul Charlton, law officer of the bureau
of insular affairs at Washington and a
classmate of President Taft at Yale.
| The boy married Mrs. Castle in Will
| mington, Del, last spring over his par
ents' protests. n-mated and both OF
erratic temperament, they sailed for
Italy for their honeymoon.
Murder brought it to an end and her
body was found in the lake by fisher
men on June 10.
Fleeing from Italy under an assumed
name, almost penniless and shabby of
dress, Charlton on landing ran straight
into the arms of Capt Henry Harrison
Scott United States army, the murdered
woman's brother.
Signs Confession
| He was taken to police headquartersf
| at Hoboken. where. after a pitiable COLI
| lapse, spasmodic that it produced ex-
treme nausea he regained his composure
and unfinchingly signed the confession.
Tonight he is behind the bars in ths
Hoboken city jail, pending settlement of
the complicated problem of extraditon
brought about by his arrest.
Charlton was Identified further by his
name which was found on laundry
bag in his baggage. and a piece of poetry
which was signed John Rodney" tPor-
ter Charlton)
The poem, which was dated Washing
ton, November 81, 1908, read as follows:
| II struck with idle hands the strings upon
the harp of life;
Twilight shadows fell across the upands
from the sky.
Soft, feecy clouds and tender shadows
| nlu t1e SlS0S or SlTl1e
| 'Twixt day and night: and at my touch
until rolled before the eye
| The scroll that each man slowly learns
| to read
Who scars above the common things
and will the heights attain.
| Whose heart from earthly lust, from
selishness and pride is free.
| And In 1t reads these words, Who seeks
| for peace must pass through pain. -
scott's Detective Work
Captain Scott's foresight directed so
accurately that 1t falls little short of a
weird premonition, resulted in young
Charton's arrest.
Stationed at Fort Wright on Fishers
Island, off New London. Conn. Captain
Scott obtained hurried leave of absence
at | o'clock this morning and went 10
Hoboken to scan the passengers of In
coming liners. Three Hoboken detectives
| aided him.
He accompanied the prisoner to police
court, but did not hear the heart-rending
confession that poured from the young
| mans lips.
Charlton. whose collapse after arrest
seemed due to fear of Captain Scott. re-
fused to make statement In the army
officers presence and the latter left the
| room.
Throughout the ordeal Captain Scott
bore himself well, but at the request of
detectives, who had noticed a bulge be-
meath his coat which proved to be pis-
| tol, he surrendered the weapon without
objection.
In his signed confession Charlton de-
clared that no one else than he had a
hand in the death of his wife
1t was the old story of incompatibity
and high tempers. After he told his story
| III rambling way, Chief of Police Hayes
condensed it into a typewriter statement
| which he asked the prisoner to sign.
! 1t was written ON regular court blanks
used for dispositions. In filling out the
form Charlton gave his age 81; his
birthplace Omaha; his occupation bank
clerk" and his place of residence 2o4 West
Fifty-ifth street. New York. Then fol-
lowed this statement.
CharIton's statement
| MY wife and | lived happily together.
She was the best woman In the world to
me, but she had an ungovernable temper.
So had /. We frequently quarreled over
the most trivial matter and her abuse to
me was so foul that | know she aid not
know the meaning of it, The night I
struck her she had been quarreling with
me. She was in the worst temper | ever
had seen her in | told her II she didn't
cease | would leave her and put stop
to it. She stopped for little while and
started again
y took a mallet which / used to do
household repairs and struck her three
times | thought she was dead. l put
the BODY in trunk in which also threw
the mallet.
About u O'Clock that night | brought
the trunk to my house and dragged It
down to a small pier and threw ii over
board ] left the following night and
went to Como and from there to Genoa,
where | took the steamer Irene three days
later.
1.-The room where / killed her was an
outdoor sleeping apartment.
PORTER CHARLTON"
As he appended his signature, Charlton
remarked There's a Russian named Is-
,'~toH. 7 sec he has been under suspi-
cion In connection with this affair and l
...A.. ilaaii.
s.e was the only man of intelligence in
he neighborhood of our villa. The rest
who came to us were cattle"
Here the prisoner took pen and addei
to his statement the following;
J II have been Informed that c. X. lspo-
latoff has been implicated and ! wish to
state that this gentleman is absolutely