Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-25
MULATTO IS HELD
Said to Have Confessed MUIR
der of Clergyman and Wife.
is SON OF HOUSEKEEPER
Declared He Was Away From Home
at Time of Tragedy.
HIS ALIBI Is NOT BELIEVED
Mrs. Sears, Mother of Prisoner, Un-
der Surveillance-Talk of Her
Being Heir to Dead Man.

| TRENTON. n. j., November 25.-John
Sears. arrested last night on the charge
| of having murdered the Rev. AMI l..
Armstrong and his wife at their home. in
Dutch Neck. Wednesday night, is said
| to have made a confession
Prosecutor William l.. Crossley will
make no official statement that the con-
| fession had been made. There seems
no doubt, however, that the prisoner has
| admitted the shooting.
| 1t is understood that Sears motive was
| that he believed that some provision had
| been made for him in the minister's will.
| and that he was impatient to get the
money that he believed would come to him
as the result of Mr.. Armstrong; death.
No Leniency for Prisoner.
While Mr.. Crossley would not affirm
or deny that a confession has been made,
he said that the states case is perfect,
and that Sears would be tried for murder
in the first degree regardless of any con-
| fession. This is understood to mean
| that the prosecutor will not be willing to
accept a plea of guilty of murder in the
oner from the death penalty.
1t is understood that in the confession
Sears is reported to have made he told
! what he did with the watch that was
taken from Mr.. Armstrong; person. 1t
| is also understood that some of the
| county officers went to the Armstrong
| home and found the timepiece in the
woodshed where Sears is claimed to nave
| told he put it.
tn fot in
| with colored people. He is, or was, a
| member of the National Guard. belonging
| to a company at New Brunswick.
| 1t was in this way that he formed ac-
| quaintance with Rudolph Norhaus. the
young white man who came to Dutch
Neck Yesterday to go cunning with Sears.
| The prosecutor is satisfied that Norhaus
| has no knowledge of the double crime.
Mrs. Sears Believed Guiltiess.
Around Dutch Neck, where Sears
| mother Is we'll known, there is a feeling
| that she is innocent of any connection
| with the shooting. She says she has no
knowledge of the murder.
OF late years Sears has been of a mo-
rose turn of mind. He is said to have
taken dislike to his mother and at one
time the Armstrong; were forced to send
him away from the homestead because Of
this. Later he was permitted to return.
1t is also claimed that Mrs. Armstrong
has been fearful of Sears and that she
always kept a revolver under her pillow
| at night "A revolver was found under a
pillow in Mrs. Armstrong; bed yesterday
morning.
| a jury empanelled by Coroner D. V.
| Bower of Mercer county, today, viewed
| the bodies. The jury also made q thor
ough inspection of the house in which
the aged couple were killed.
q h.
day for taking testimony. The jury WILL
sit in the Mercer county courthouse here
The date for taking testimony has been
| set as far away as two weeks, 1t Is said,
| to allow Prosecutor Crossley to develop
| his case.
Sears in Jail.
| John Sears. the mulatto son of the
housekeeper employed by the Arm
strongs and who lived with his mother.
| a negress. at the Armstrong homestead,
slept well last night in the county jail,
where he was taken last evening, charged
with the double murder.
Prosecutor Crossley was not prepared
today to say what action he will finally
take regarding Mrs. Sears. the house
keeper, who is under espionage of two
constables at Dutch Neck.
Mr.. Crossley refuses to discuss the mo-
| tive for the crime, nor will he talk about
| the many theories advanced. He also de-
| clned to say whether will had been
| found in the Armstrong home showing
| that Mrs. Sears had been named as one
of the beneficiaries in the Armstrong es-
| tate.
Scammell at the Armstrong home dis
| closed that the aged couple had been
| killed by a shotgun. After the murder a
shotgun which Sears had borrowed from
a neighbor, saying he was going gun
ming, was not found In the Kitchen Of the
Armstrong house.
| Prosecutor Crossley feels fully able to
upset any alibi which Sears may seek to
| establish.
Detectives Pick UP Trail.
The detectives argued from the circum-
stances of the murders that the trail of
quest would lead close to the household
| of the minister, at least to some one
intimately acquainted with his home life.
and perhaps aware that he was supposed
to keep a considerable amount of money
in a secret place about the house.
| To them the story told by MSs. Sears
| sounded improbable, and they were not
/ satisfied with the abb which her son
tried to establish by saying that he had
| gone to New Brunswick early in the
evening and had returned home by the
| last trolley car, arriving at Dutch Neck
| about II 80.
| They established the fact that he had
bought a ticket for New Brunswick, and
| that he had alighted from the last re-
| turning car at Dutch Neck. but they were
not able to prove that he had actually
gone as far as he claimed. or 10 prove
what time he left home.
| Sears was brought to Trenton yester-
day afternoon and with him young man
who said he had been in his company in
| New Brunswick. Both were subjected
TO the sweating process, but after several
hours of effort the authorities admitted
that Sears story had not been seriously
shaken.
Mrs Sears wa. not taken into custody