The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-06-24

in idle moments which I scrubbed down. ="
he explained.
This poetry struck the police as being
interesting. Here II is
struck With idle hand the string upon the harp Of
As twilight shadows fell across the uplands from
the sky
Soft heecy clouds and tender shadows hid the signs
Of strife
.Twirt day and night. and. at my touch. unrolled
before my eyes
The scroll of life, the scroll that eseh slowly
learns to read
Who scars above ear1h's common Things and viii
Whose hear, from earthly lusts. from selfish and
PRIDE is free
And on it reads these words. who seeks for peace
must pass through pain
JOHN RODNEY Porter Charltonl.
Washington. November p, 1905.
When the chief asked Charlton II
Spolatoff, the Russian. had been an ac-
complete of his, Charlton seemed quite
surprised,
Certainly not he said. He was only
a friend, whom we found congenial and
who visited us al the villa several times.
The rest of the people there were all
cattle"
He seemed glad to sign his name TO
the addendum of his confession exonerat-
I ing his Russian friend.
! From the chiefs Office Charlton was
taken across the hall 10 Recorder Nc
/ Governs court, which by this time was
filled TO suffocatlon by a crowd of the
curious, who had heard of the arrest No
/ one could have been more self-possessed
than the prisoner when arraigned before
/ the recorder.
He showed not a trace OF his former
nervousness, and replied with the great
/ est GOODNESS to the formal questions.
| When they presented 90 the recorder the
| confession which he had Just made and
which had been typewriter. he asked
coolly TO be allowed to look 1t over.
COOIIy Corrects an Error.
There is small mistake, I think. your
honor" he said. Where It reads, I have
no defense to make and wish TO make
none. it should read nor wish none"
The recorder said that Charlton might
change II and asked him if he would
have a pen.
mo. thank you," said the prisoner.
with 4 GOODNESS OF clerk fixing up a
slight error. and he drew from his pocket
a small lead pencil and scratched out the
words he had referred 20. He folded up
the confession and handed II back 10 the
Judge. Then he was led away 20 a cell
A careful search was made Of Charl-
toms clothes. revealing the fact that he
had no money, no jewelry, nor a scraI
Of paper betraying his identity. If he
had meant TO rid himself OF such tell.
tale evidence he had forgotten complete
~ his baggage, which was full of evil
dence-
In his cell Charlton took off his coat
at once and proceeded to make himself
comfortable He drank coPkously eff wa
ter throughout the day. The reporters
asked If he cared TO make q statement
in addition to that which he had signed
but he said that he had no desire TO say
anything further. One OF them asked him
if he knew that his wife was not dead
when put in the trunk.
ooh, my God; she must have been.' he
said excitedly, but that was all he would
say
He hadn't been very long in the Gel
when a representative of Mr. Clarke came
over 10 advise him not 10 talk, ant
Charlton obeyed this injunction.
Murder About June g.
While Charlton refused 10 go into de-
tails regarding his movements after tht
murder. it would appear from his state
ment that the murder was committed OF
the night OF June 6. and that on the fol
lowing day, when the villa was fount
deserted by tradespeople, Charlton wa,
In the village OF Moltrasio, where IA,
villa was situated, and that he remained
in Como until the day before the trunl
| was found. Genoa IS the nearest port Z,
Como. whence steamers depart for
New York According TO a steward II
the second cabin Of the Prinzessin Irene
Charlton turned up at the steamer II
Genoa the night before the vessel sailed
which was June S. The trunk was no
discovered by the fishermen until the mex
morning
When he came aboard the vessel that
evening, according TO the story told by
W. Heinhold. one Of the stewards. h,
said he was short OF funds, and asked Il
he could stay aboard the vessel thai
night. He already had his ticket. bu
made out that he did not have enough
for lodging ashore. The steward haC
trouble convincing him that this was no.
allowed. and that he must remain ashore
He reappeared bright and early the mex
morning
The ship touched al Palermo. wher,
Charlton went ashore for while II,
did not go ashore, however. at Naples
the first port she touched after leavins
Genoa The ship sailed from Palermo
at 7 o'clock IN the evening. About
o'clock that night Charlton approached
Fred Schwab, q deck steward for III,
, second cabin, where Charlton had hi,
room. and pointed out a rather tall anC
good-looking young woman who wa.
. down on the passenger list as a MIS-
Bereker.
Thought Passenger Detective.
Il think that woman's a detective" n,
said 10 Schwab I have had a ittl
trouble and 1 want to keep out Of sight
wish you'd find out a little more abou
her"
The deck steward questioned somi
people who knew the young woman, an,
found out that she was to get OF a
, Gibraltar He told Charlton that she wa
evidently no detective. and he SCENE,
much relieved.
, Later on Charlton. or Coleman. as h
, was known on board the vessel, manage,
to scrape up an acquaintance with IN
woman he had suspected of being a. de
tective and found out that She was
professional singer. He babe her good
by when she left at Gibraltar.
There were only three American
among the passengers with whom Charl
ton mingled but the one with whom h
. appeared TO have much to do wa
Charles J. Farguharson, who was gOin
TO Canada. According TO the steward
the two were constant companions o.
the voyage. Charlton spent the tim
mostly on deck. He drank very little.
On Wednesday night, just before tn
vessel was TO reach port, he seemed Z
get a bit reckless and ordered a coupl
of bottles of champagne. which he pal
for. He treated several Of the WOme
passengers and got q bit hilarious. Ate
this he said he was broke This morn
ing he borrowed s. from Schwab, tn
deck steward, promising TO return it a
soon as got ashore and met his friends
Schwab told of ii rather ruefuliy afte
he learned Of the identity Of the Dor
rover What became of the fve-spo
nobody seemed TO know.