Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-10-03
Homer E. Webster Killed
Woman Whose Body Was
Lound at Elgin; Other
Wife Cedar Rapids Girl.
MARRIED THE TWO
WOMEN WITHIN WEEK
After Wedding in Iowa Web
.ster Declares He Was
Forced Into Marriage;
Killed to Avoid Exposure

Oregon, ILL.,, Oct. IA crowd OF sew
eral hundred men and boys surround
ed the county Jail early today in an
effort to get q glimpse of DR.. Henry
e. Webster, under arrest for the muir
der of his wife, Mrs. Bessie Kent Web
ster. who was found in the woods near
Dixon, ILL.,, stabbed to death. DR..
Webster In the custody Of States
Attorney Emerson and several deputy
sheriffs arrived here from Chicago
late last night and the prisoner sSNs
assigned to cell. y
The prisoner was physically ex-
hausted after his four hour ordeal OF
questioning by the Chicago police and
fell asleep shortly after being placed
in a cell. He did not awaken until
after o'clock this morning when ne
ate breakfast and said he felt much
refreshed by his nights rest.
He declined to discuss his case early
in the day, explaining that he told
everything he knew to the police Sun
day.
The inquest over the body Of Mrs.
Webster Is scheduled to be held today
and It is expected DR.. Webster will be
the principal witness. He Will be
asked to repeat his detailed story OF
the killing of his wife. u
Doctor Confesses Wife Murder.
Chicago, ILL.,, October 2.-( (Specia1)
DIR. Harry Elgin Webster, house
physician at the Policlinic hospital,
broke down yesterday after two weeks
of Hypocrisy that had completely de-
ceived the police and confessed the
brutal murder of his wife in the woods
four and one-half miles from Dixon,
ILL.,, on September 16.
His alibi was said by the police to
have been almost perfect, but follow
ing the identification of the body by
relatives and his arrest early yester-
day morning after an all-night search
his composure collapsed under the
questioning Of the police and he con-
fessed everything. X
Fear Of exposure as a bigamist was
the motive for the crime.
One week before his forced mar.
riage to Bessie Kent under the name
of ''Homer" Elgin Webster, he had
been married, to respectable young
woman Of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 1t was
the failure Of his efforts to rid himself
OF the second wife by divorce and the
fear that knowledge of his bigamy
would come to the ears of his first
wife and his parents that finally drove
him to commit murder.
sIashed to Death With Knife.
Webster's Staying of his wife seems
to have been particularly brutal. TAX
ing her for drive in a buggy from
Dixon, the home of his parents, whom
she was insistent upon meeting, be
took her to lonely spot in the woods
and then drew q knife.
Screaming in terror, the woman
leaped from the buggy and ran for
her life. Webster pursued and threw
her to the ground, at the same time
stabbing her with his knife until she
was dead
Motive of tho Crime.
The police declare that the motive
for the crime was Webster's desire to
| hide from his first wife, Zoe Varney
Webster OF Cedar Rapids, the fact
that he was a bigamist. He had mar
ried the two women within one week
last January.
The accidental discovery OF Bessie
Kent's body Friday, almost two weeks
after she had been killed, was followed
by Identification Saturday and the ar
rest yesterday Of Webster.
DR.. Webster was arrested at the
hospital shortly after he had left Zoe
varney Webster, wife No. l, at DOWN.
town hotel, where he had atts pied
to explain his marital duplictty to his
first wife. She had been greatly shock
ed by her husbands revelations. but
he had convinced her that he knew
nothing OF the murder near Dixon.
Mrs Webster's bolstered confidence
in her husband, however. was short
lived and within short time she was
given the details Of his confession
First Wife's Father Arrives.
w. E. varney, father OF Mrs. Zoe
varney Webster, the first wife of DR.
Henry e. Webster, arrived and went
to the hospital where his daughter Is
being cared for.
| Mr.. yarney. who lives at Cedar
Rapids Iowa, was notified In tele
gram from the police OF DR.. Websters
| confession and Immediately left fol
Chicago with the license issued FOL
(Continued on Page 81