Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-02
MURDERS WIFE NO. z
BIgamous Doctor Confesses
He Slew Woman.
FEARED BEING FOUND OUT
Took Victim for Drive and Killed
Her After Quarrel.
WAS FORCED TO MARRY HER
Sister, Telephone Operator, Heard
Message to Sheriff Ordering
Arrest of Physician.

01IcSC OIL PHYSICIAN.
CHICAGO, ILL.,, October DIR Harry
Eig1n Webster. house physician at the
Poiyclinic Hospital, has confessed to the
Chicago police to the brutal murder of
his wife in the woods four and half
miles from Dixon. ILL.,, September 16 His
abb had been declared by the police to
be almost perfect. but following the iden-
tification of the body by relatives and
his arrest yesterday he collapsed under
the questioning of the police.
Fear OF exposure as a bigamist was
the motive for the crime One week be-
fore his forced marriage to Bessie Kent
he had been married to respectable
young woman, Zoe Varney, of Cedar
Rapids. Iowa. 1t was the failure of his
efforts to rid himself of the second wife
by divorce and tire 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.
Taking Bessie Kent for a drive from
Dixon, the home of his parents, whom
she was inSistent upon meeting. he took
her TO lonely spot in the woods and
slew her.
The accidental discovery of Bessie
Kent's body Friday, almost two weeks
after she had been killed, was followed
by identification Saturday and the arrest
yesterday of Webster.
Forced to Wed Her.
| Webster said he was married first to
Zoe Varney at Cedar Rapids. Iowa, jan
uary A. He said he was greatly in love
with his bride and expected to return to
Cedar Rapids to practice medicine. Then
he returned to Chicago to continue his
hospital work and found complications
arising from love affair Of his college
days He said he was forced into a mar
riage with Bessie Kent January H. I'M
der threats that his alleged relations with
| her would be exposed and he would lose
| his hospital position. On this point he
| said:
Il married Bessie Kent under her
promise that she would divorce me imme-
d1ately after the wedding. She then re-
fused to get divorce, and that was the
| beginning of all the trouble
| Webster said he told his second wife
of the marriage at Cedar Rapids but she
| still refused to agree to a divorce In
August he brought suit for divorce in
| the. Chicago courts.
Following this unsuccessful attempt to
end the affair, Webster said, he met his
second wife September ii at the hospital
as he was preparing to go to the home
| of his parents at Dixon for his vacation.
He said she begged to go with him. but
that he did not want her to meet his
parents. The prisoner then said he spent
September II with wife No. at North
Side rOoming house. The next afternoon
he started for 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 re-
fused to return to Chicago and the two
went to the Dixon Inn that night.
Denies It Was Premeditated.
The next morning Webster hired a
horse and buggy and, with Mrs. Web
ster No. Q drove north of Dixon. He
said that when he started his only OBJ
ject was to have an uninterrupted talk
with her, an attempt to secure some ar
| rangement to get a divorce.
| On this drive the two quarreled and the
physician alleged that his wife struck
him and then jumped from the buggy,
crying that she would see his parents and
expose his life with her. Webster con-
| tinued:
When my wife jumped from the buggy
| / threw a suit case at her and then
| jumped from the buggy and gave chase
l ran after her for several hundred yards
when she stumbled near a ravine and
| fell.
| II pulled out my pocket knife-a pearl
handled knife-and stabbed her four or
| five times in the back of the neck as she
lay on the ground.
"She died Immediately after l had sew
cred the jugular vein. l then rolled her
body several yards into the ravine and
covered it with leaves.
| Il don't remember whether / disrobed
| her or not. l was so excited that / al
most lost my mind. But l know that L
covered the body so carefully that no one
passing would see it, and then l returned
| to the buggy and drove back to Dixon"
Webster returned the horse and buggy
| to the Dixon liveryman and twenty min
utes later had taken a train for Chicago.
He did not go to see his parents in Dixon,
and because he had not met any one
whom he knew there believed his visit
would remain unknown.
Upon his arrival i'm Chicago Webster
went to the hospital and announced that
he had decided to postpone his vacation
because he had no money. He continued
his work at the hospital. and three or
four days later reported to Capt Baer Of
the Chicago avenue police station that
his wife was missing. In the next ten
days Webster consulted with the police
several times regarding search for his
wife. and also took up the matter with
her relatives.
Not Suspected at First.