Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-24
CHARLTON, SEIZED,
CONF FESSES BRUTAL
MURDER OF WIFE
Is Arrested in Hob0ken, N. j., as
He Steps from Trans.
atlantic Liner
SAYS ACTED IN FIT OF ANGER
Beat Woman on Head with NAL
let, Then Stuffed Her
in Trunk
ASSOCIATED Press1

ASSOCIATED PressJ
NEW YORK, JurN 23-The Lake
Como murder mystery is solved.
Porter Charlton, an American youth
of good family, sought by the police of
two continents, was arrested in Hobo
ken, n. j., shortly before noon today
as he stepped from the North German
Lloyd liner Princess Irene.
In less than an hour he had confessed
that in a fit of temper he beat his wife
into insensibility with a mallet, then
| jammed her body into a trunk and
sunk it in the water of the Italian lake.
She was Mary Scott Castle of San
| Francisco, woman sixteen years his
| senior, divorced wife of Neville H.
| Castle, San Francisco lawyer, and
was noted beauty
Charlton is q and a son of Judge
| Paul Charlton, law officer of the bu-
reau of insular affairs at Washington.
| The boy married Mrs. Castle in Will
mington, Del, last spring, over his
| parents protests Ill mated and both
of erratic temperament, they sailed for
| Italy for their honeymoon. Her body
was found in the lake by fishermen
June TO-
| SIGNED CONFESSION
Fleeing from italy under an assumed
| name, almost penniless and shabby of
dress, Charlton on landing ran straight
/
son Scott, u. S. A, the murdered wom-
ans brother. He was taken to police
| headquarters at Hoboken, where, after
pitiable collapse so spasmodic that it
| produced extreme nausea, he regained
| his composure and unflinchingly signed
the confession. Tonight he is behind
bars in the Hoboken Jail pending set
| tlement of the complicated problem of
extradition brought about by his ar
rest.
Capt Scott's foresight. directed so
| accurately that it falls little short of a
premonition, resulted in young Charl-
tons arrest. Stationed at Fort Wright,
on Fishers island, off New London.
Conn, Capt. Scott obtained hurried
leave of absence at 1 o'clock this morn
ing and went to Hoboken to scan the
passengers of incoming liners. Three
Hoboken detectives aided him.
Capt. Scott kept in almost constant
communication with United States Am
bassador j. C. Leishman, who took per-
sonal charge of the investigation fol-
! lowing the discovery of the crime, and
received much valuable information as
to all means of departure of which the
murderer might avail himself.
He accompanied the prisoner to po-
lice court but did not hear the confess
sion that poured from the young mans
lips.
COLLAPSED AFTER ARREST
| Charlton whose collapse after arrest
seemed due to fear of Capt. Scott, re-
fused to make a statement in the army
officers presence, and the latter left
the room.
In his signed confession, Charlton
said that no one else than he had a
| hand in the death of his wife.
It was the old story of incompati-
bilityN and high tempers.
After Charlton had told his story in
a rambling way, Chief of Police Hayes
condensed it into a typewriter state
ment which he asked the prisoner to
sign.
| 1t was written on regular court
blanks used for depositions. In filling
out the form Charlton gave his age as
81 his birthplace as Omaha, his oc-
cupation as "banlS clerk" and his place
of residence as 204 West Fifty-fifth
street, New York Then follows his
| statement:
"Mv wife and 7 lived happily to-
gether. She was the best woman in
| the world to me, but she had an un-
governable temper. So had I. We fire.
| ouently uuarreled over the most trivial
matters and her language to me was
frequently so foul that I knew she
did not know the meaning of it.
ACT FOLLOWED QUARREL
1.-THE night / struck her she had
been uuarrelng with me- She was in
the worst temper I had ever seen her
in. I told her if she did not cease L
would leave her and put a stop to it,
| She stopped for little While ana
started again.
81 took a mallet which I had used
to do household repairing and struck
her three times. 1 thought she was
dead. I put the body in a trunk, in
which I also threw the mallet.
1 - o1O hot nj
the trunk from the house. dragged it
to a small pier near the house and
threw it overheard. I remained at
MaIpraiso the next day and left the
following night and went to Como.
and from there to Genoa, where I took
the steamer Irene three days later.
"The room where L killed her was
an outdoor sleeping apartment.
(Signed) PORTER CHARLTON"
AS he appended his signature, Charl-
ton remarked, "theres a Russian, Is
polatoff. I see he has been under sus-
picion in connection with this affair,
! and 7 want to clear him. He was
the only man of intelligence in the
! neighborhood of our villa. The rest
of those who came to see us were
CATTLE"
EXONERATES SUSPECT
Here the prisoner took O. pen and
added to his statement the following
postscript:
"I have been informed that C. X
Ispolatoff has been implicated, and
wish to state that this gentleman is
absolutely guiltless. have no defense
to make and don't wish to-
PORTER CHARLTON"
"Don't you know that the autopsy
| showed that your wife was not dead
when she was put in the trunk?" one
of the detectives asked the prisoner.
Again Charlton lost his self-control.
"Oh, my God. it could not be-" he
cried "She must have been dead"
The youth showed a curious desire 20
protect the reputation of the woman he
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