Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-06-11
Mystery in Death of Amer
can Woman Killed
in Italy.
HUSBAND is MISSING
Mrs. Charlton, Who Last Sum.
mer Tried to Kill New York
Lawyer, Victim.

Como, Italy, June 11.-One arrest has
| been made in the mysterious murder
of Mrs. Charlton, whose body was
found yesterday in a trunk taken from
Lake Como The prisoner is Constan.
tine Ispolaton, a Russian, who has
been seen frequently in the company
of the Charltons. No trace has been
yet found of the woman's husband
Another man whom the police are
anxious TO get hold of they say fed
to Switzerland Immediately after the
murder. but they give no intimation
as to who he is.
Died In Trunk.
A postmortem today revealed that
the woman died from suffocation. II
was found there were seven wounds
in the head sufficient to render her
unconscious, but not regarded as of a
nature to cause death The victim
expired some time after the body was
placed in the trunk
Says Pair Were Devoted.
Washington, June 11-Paul Charl-
ton, law clerk in the bureau of in
sular affairs of the war department
and father-ifi-law of Mrs. Mary Scott
Castle Charlton, whose body was
found in a trunk fished out Of Lake
Como. in Italy, believes his son was
also murdered. He says the couple
were much devoted to each other
and intimates possibly one of Mrs.
Charltop's- former admirers follow.
ed them to Italy and is the instigator
OF the tragedy.
Body Mut1Iated.
Como. Italy, June 1.-THE badly
mutilated body of a woman. believed
to be that of Mrs. H. N. Castle. who
was Mary Crittenden Scott of San
Jose. Cal. was found in a trunk yes
terday submerged in a lake near the
village of Moltrasio
Russian Under Arrest.
Wrapped about the body was a
a piece of cloth which bore the in
itials &c. L." and from letters found
in the trunk, written in English, 1t
appears that the woman in 1906
lived in Thirty-fourth street, New
York city.
The police. basing their opinion on
wounds on the head. evidently made
by a blunt instrument. are of the
belief that the woman was murdered
and have taken into custody a Rus
sian named Constantine Ispolatoff,
so years old. whom they suspect of
having some knowledge of how the
woman met death.
Several persons who had known
the woman in life and viewed her
body declared that she had told them
she had been married to Porter
Charlton, the son of an American ma.
val officer. Charlton is described as
being % years old and is said once
10 have been a student at the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania. The woman
apparently was about 35 years old.
shot New York Lawyer.
New York, June 11.-Mary Scott
Castle was an emotional woman,
with a spectacular career. She star
tied New York on Aug. last by
shooting William B. Craig. a New
York lawyer. as he stood on Pea
cock alley at the Waldorf-Astoria
But her revolver was pathetically
small, the bullet was DETECTED by a
fountain pen in Craig's pocket. and
he was uninjured. Mrs. Castle,
trembling and hysterical, was taken
to a police station. where, between
sobs. she said that she had not meant
to kill Craig, but that he had done her
a great wrong. Craig, though inclin.
ed to reticence. said the woman was
in love with him and had pursued
him.
Charges Are Dropped.
Mrs. Castle was subsequently re-
leased under $4,000 bail furnished
by her brother. Captain Henry Harri-
son Scott, Z. S. A., VINO hurried hith-
er from the south when apprlsed OF
his sisters plight. The case never
came to trial and Mrs. Castle was
i'm September after Craig
had appeared before the grand jury
and declined to press the charge.
Husband Gets Divorce.
Thereafter Mrs. Castle dropped
from public view until dispatches
from the west told of the granting
of decree of divorce at Nome. Alas
ka, to her husband, Neville II. Cas-.
tie. San Francisco lawyer.
Two Infants Drowned In Sack