The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-10-03
KILL One WIFE;
The Asfal Crime Of a Ysung Chicago
Physician 10 Eide Crime.
TELLS OF THE MURDER

Body of the Young Woman Found
Two Weeks After Fatal Quarrel
Motive Cor the Crime Probably to
Hide from First Wife Fact of His
Dual Life. +,
Or. Harry Elgin Webster. :. Rush
Medical College graduate, student
and inferno at the Polytechnic Hospi-
tai at Chicago in a remarkable con-
fession to- the police Sunday, admit
ted that he had murdered one of his
two young wives, Bessie Kent Web
ster, of Chicago, in the woods ten
miles from Dixon, ILL.,, September 49,
The police say the motive f,r the
crime was Webster's desire to tide
from his first wife, Zoe Varney Web
ster, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the fact
that he was a bigamist. He had mar
ried the two women within one week
.ast January.
The accidental discovery Of Bessie
Xent's, body Friday, almost two
weeks after she had been killed, was
followed by Identification Saturday
and the arrest Sunday morning OF
Webster.
With the arrival Of wife No. 1 at
the Chicago avenue police station,
the structure of evasion and deceit
that Webster had been erecting for
months began to topple and tweTe
hours after the Doctors arrest the
police had stripped from him the
story of the murder.
Webster said he was married first
to Zoe Varney at Cedar Rapids, iowa,
January /. He said he was great
ly in love with his bride and ex-
pected to return to Cedar Rapids to
practice medicine.
81 married Bessie Kent under her
promise that she would divorce me-
Immediately after the wedding" SAID
Webster. She then refused to get a
divorce and that was the beginning
Of all the trouble
Following this unsuccessful at
Tempt to divorce his second Wifes
Webster related he met her on Sep
tember 14th, and he spent that night
with her at a North Side rooming
house. The next afternoon he start
ed fer Dixon.
Webster insisted that he believed
until he reached Dixon that he was
making the trip alone. Then, his
confession relates, he discovered that
Bessie Kent had made the trip on
the same train. He declares that she
refused to return to Chicago and the
two went to the Dixon Inn that night
The next morning Webster hired g.
horse and buggy and, with Mrs. Web.
ster No. 2, drove north of Dixon. On
this drive the two quarreled and the
physician alleges that his wife struck
him and then jumped from the bug
gy, crying that she would sec his
parents and expose his life with her.
when my wife jumped from the
buggy" said Webster, 81 threw a
suitcase at her and then jumped from
the buggy and gave chase. ran af-
ter her for several hundred yards,
when she stunt bled Iear 4 ravinc and
fell
q pulled out my pocket knife and
stabbed her four or five times in the
back Of the neck as she lay on the
: ground. She died Immediately after
had severed the jugular vein. I
then rolled her body several yards
into the ravne and covered it with
leaves.
Il dcr't remember whether I dis
robed her or not. | was so excited
that | almost lost my mind. But Z
know that covered the body so care
fully that no one passing would see
it,
After returning the horse and bug
g, Webster went to Chicago without
,oing to see his parents. He con-
tinued his work at the hospital, and
three or four days afterward report
ed to the police that his wife was
missing.
lice made frequent inquiries $Shbfat
During the next ten days he made
frequent injuries Of the police and
took up the matter Of his Wife's dis
appearance with her relatives.
Throughout this period he remain
ed unruffled, and the police did not
suspeCt him until after the BODY ha6
been identified at Dixon.