Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-06-11
LAKE COMO VICTIM /
WAS SUFFOCATED
Autopsy Reveals Evidences of
Brutality on Body of Mrs.
Porter Charlton. d
HUSBAND ALSO MISSING: '
POLICE SEEKING HIM
Footsteps of Two Men Heard Carry
ing Burden to Lake.
RUSSIAN FRIEND ARRESTED
Man Whose Identity Is Not Dis
Footsteps of Two Men Heard Carry.
ing Burden to Lake.
RUSSIAN FRIEND ARRESTED
Man Whose Identity Is Not Dis
closed Wanted by Authorities.
Has Fled to Switzerland.

COMO, Italy. June 1.-THE police are
bending all their energies To solving
the mystery of the murder of an Amer.
lean woman. believed to be Mrs p B.
Charlton of New York. formerly Mary
Crittenden Scott Of San Francisco,
whose body was found tied in a trunk
at the bottom of Lake Como yesterday
Today some startling facts were un-
| covered. The detectives believe the
body found in the trunk was that of
Mrs. Charlton. and that the woman met
her death at the hands of two men.
Porter Charlton, the young husband.
who was a wedding tour with hiA
bride up to the time OF the disappear
ance of the couple. has not yet been
located. Constantine Ispolatoff. Rus
sian, who has been seen frequently
with the couple, is held in custody.
The man whom the police are par
ticularly anxious to ge. hold of is in
switzerland, where he fled Immediately
after the murder There is no au-
thoritative statement as TO who he il.
Died From Suffocation.
The post-mortem examination of the
body was made today. This indicated
that the woman died from suffocation.
1t was found that there were seven
wounds on the head sufficient to render
her unconscious. They We're not regard
ed of nature to cause death
The victim expired some time after her
body had been wrapped up in the trunk.
The wrapping had been done with a strip
of cloth, and the body was crowded into
the trunk along with some letters and
personal effects.
1t was these latter articles which led
to the Identification Aside from the
wounds disclosed at the post-mortem, the
body showed certain abnormal condi-
tons upon which the doctors reserved
opinion:
The police are working hard to recon-
struct the mysterious circumstances OF
the crime. Their Investigations show
that the trunk and its contents were
found to be too heavy to be carried to
the lake by one person. and that the in
diyidual who first attempted this task
called to his assistance an accomplice
Footsteps Were Heard.
The steps of both men were heard when
they left the villa bordering the lake. car
rying heavy weight.
Ispoiatoff, the Russian who figures in
the affair. was arrested especially be-
cause the day before the murder he is
said to have made inquiries of fishermen
spot where the thunk was found.
The unusual mystery connected with
the affair, the disappearance of the hus-
band. and the circumstances OF brutality
developed by the post-mortem. all COM
bine to give the case absorbing interest.
Once Shot New York Lawyer.
The dead woman is the same who, AZ
Mrs Mary Castle fired a shot at q
lawyer named Craig in a crowded corrt-
dor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New
York last August.
The trunk containing the body was dis
covered by some fishermen. The body
was wrapped in a sheet bearing the
initials Il S." and weighted SO tnat 1t
would not rise to the surface of the
water 1t had been sunk only short dis
tance from the shore.
Inclosed in the trunk also were pack
ages of letters written in English, which
gave the first clue to the victims iden-
tity a photograph of young man, and
several prayer books.
Identified as Villa Dweller.
The body was afterward identified By
residents at Moltrasio as that of an
American woman who had lived for some
weeks at large villa the outskirts
of the village. A stout. haired man.
about twenty-three years old, presumably
an American, her constant compan-
iOn
They passed as Mr. and Mrs. Charlton
Porter, and had previously stayed. among
other places, at the Hotel Suisse in Como.
where stories were related of continuous
cruel treatment Of the woman by her
companion-treatment SO cruel, Ii was
said, that the landlord was finally driven
to evict them on account OF their bois-
ferrous behavior.
one morning at o'clock. according to
one account, the woman. hoping to evade
her male companion, hid herself in big
wardrobe, whence she was dragged into
the street below by the man, who came
back to seek her. 1t was later that the
pair hired the Villa Legnazzi. above
Moltrasio.
Disappeared Three Days Ago.
The villagers had seen nothing Of the
couple for three days past. when the
man, who was known Porter was
noticed leaving the villa, carrying q
leather valise. 1t was while the police
were searching for this man, who was
known to have been in Como yesterday,
that they arrested the Russian Ispoia-
toff who had been for some time living
in divers mountain villages overlooking
the lake.
years old. has been a constant visitor
to the American couple. AL the time OF
their disappearance he himself disap-
peared across the frontier.
He was arrested at Roggiano Nacallo
as an accomplice in the CHASTITY tragedy.
Ispolatoff has been interrogated by the
police, but has not given any further in
formation about the affair.
Examination of the body showed that
the woman had been stunned by at least
seven blows on the head with wooden
mallet or some such instrument, forced
into the trunk in a state of unconscious
ness and afterward flung into the lake
alive.
1t is suspected that the Lake Como
crime will be found to have a close con.
nection with the battling mystery of the
recent fate of the young California girl.
Miss Stella Reid. in the Bay of Naples.
Mrs. Charlton also is Californian.
Porter Charlton Slain, Too,
= L., liz HA4l~.