The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-10-22
What Manner Of Man is This Rev. Clarence v.
T. Richeson Who Sits in Cell in Murderers
Row Charged With Heinous Crime?
pen PICTURE OF THE BOSTON MINISTER
Said That He Wanted Poison Dog But Denies That He
Betrayed and Murdered Pretty Little Unsophisto-
Gated Avis Linnel.
rGate city Leased wire Service. ]

TGate City Leased Wire Service.l
BOSTON, Oct. 21.-What manner of
man is this clergyman, Richeson, who
sits in cell in murderers row of the
famous old Charles street Jail to-
night?
1t is a national question.
A minister of the gosepel, he is ac-
cused of one of the most diabolical
crimes that has ever stained the his
tory of common humanity. Trained
to practice the highest spiritual call
! ing, living amid culture and refine
seducer and monstrous hypocite? Be-
fore the world he has preached the
gospel Of Christ, and If he be guilty,
under the shelter of the church he
has led life SO infamous than Ian
guage falters to describe it.
The Rev. Clarence Virgil Thompson
Richeson, pastor of the Emmanuel Bap-
tist church, Of Cambridge, charged
with the murde, of Avis Lin
nell, whom he is accused of having
first deceived under promise of mar.
riage. is believed to have persuaded
her to take cyanide OF potassium Ii,
the hope that it was medicine that
would save her from her threatened
shame.
And the motive of this terrible
charge is laid to one of the basest OF
human passions-greed. He was en-
gagged to marry Violet Edmands, heir
ess to fortune of over million dol
lars, and, If the police theory be true
he committed fiendish murder
which was in fact double murder
In order to remove a dangerous OBJ
stacle to his wealthy marriage.
Pen Picture of Preacher.
The man against whom this awfu
charge is made shows little outward
sign of crinlinality or depravity. He
Is thirty-five years old. over six feet
tall built like an athelete except
that his shoulders are not very broad
He has st:il.ingly handsome face
His broad, high brow is crowned witt
thick mass of curling raven blacl
hair, a witness to his intense virility
His nose is large. but we'll shaped; i
is the nose of an aggressive. dominan
personality; such nose as Cromwell
declared he liked to see on his sold
iers The mouth is wide and i'll thu
fhicl. c;n 80 m
ty, but no trace of cruelty. The chil
is large and strongly marked and thu
Jaw Is the jaw of a fighter.
But it is his eyes that give thu
whole character to his face. 1t is th'
eyes that show the nature that lay be
hind the mans strong. but otberwis
commonplace appearance. So dark a
to be almost LACK, they have th'
protrudrant. lustrous look of the nea
sighted. But always there is vel
drawn over them. They are tn
slumberous eyes of the man who can
when occasion calls, flash forth il
the fame of ruthless action. Their
Is overwhelming passion and fire Il
these eyes and wonderful magne
tism
Nor does Richeson's career bell
his face. Back in the days when h
was struggling to earn a living an
still continue his studies for the mir
istry. he was street car conducto
In st. Louis. A strike was calle
and the young divinity student, the
only twenty-two years old, was one c
the foreleaders of the strikers. Hi
power of Grafton and his magneti
personality held the men in line an
was one Of the main factors in for'
Ing the strike to a conclusion. Late
when he stood in the pulpit as
fully ordained minister his congreg'
tion bowed to the mans oratory a
he thundered inyective against socis
evils, his favorite topic Always h
aroused strong antipathies and stron
friendships. AS a rule men dislike
him and women fervently admire
him. He was essentially a woman
man. His most apparent fault wa
esotism, and that of a pronounce
type. He believed in himself, he wa
vain of his mental powers, and val
Of his physical appearance. Away
ne went forward calm, self-assure'
dominant.