The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1913-10-07
POLICE DOUBT
MURDER TALE
Chicago Detectives Believe
SpencerExaggerates Crimes.
MAKES new CONFESSION
Ruebeard Declares He "Killed So
Many | Cannot Remember ALL"
Robbery Was His Motive.

Robbery Was His Motive.
Chicago, Oct. 7-While the police
are convinced that Harry Spencer is
guilty of many murders besides that OF
Mrs. Mildren Allison Rexroat, they
were forced to conclude that his state
ment of numbering twenty-five per-
sons is an eXaggeration.
Spencer is addicted to the opium
habit, symptom of which is gro
tesque Imagination. Some years ago
the police learned that while he was in
prison at Joliet on a charge of larceny
the prison authorities had regarded
him as mentally defective and from
time to time had confined him in the
infirmary He told fellow prisoners of
having committed several murders.
Press dispatches from Detroit, Della
van Lake, Wis, and Goshen, N. Y,
further shook official faith in the con-
fessions. Investigations at these three
points, while not absolutely disproving
Spencer's statements, indicated that
there was little likelihood that they
were true.
An investigation which will require
some time will be necessary, it is said,
before it can be determined just how
how much fiction.
Some of his tales probably are fic-
tion," said Captain Halpin, ''but on the
whole beliece he is almost as great a
criminal as he claims to be-"
Spencer made a second and new
confession, IN which he related new
killings. He was uncertain as to two of
the murders, but told Captain Halpin
a circumstantial tale of each of the
others. He made the second statement
| after he had been kept awake all night,
reciting what the detectives declared
to be the most remarkable tale of
crime in history.
81 hit 'em with a hammer or shot
'em, whichever was near" he said.
Following his arrest for the Rexroat
murder, which was made at the home
of a woman who had notified the po-
lice of his coming. detectives went to
Spencer's room, where they found the
rattan suit case which the tango teach
er had taken with her on her fatal
trip to Wayne. She was lured there on
the pretext that she was to instruct a
class in the new dance. In it was part
of her clothing, and not far away the
revolver with which Spencer killed her.
Then began his extraordinary re
~ital of the murders he has commit
ted. Spencer asserted that he had
| the night. Spencer asserted he had
sent the following TO their graves and
told repeatedly the manner of their
going, although he admitted the list
was not complete:
Two farmers beaten to death at Zion
City, ILL.,, and their bodies thrown into
Lake Michigan.
Man and wife, at Round Lake, who
had lost their way trying to walk te
Fall ake,ssr asissn to ssase and 20
bed
Timothy Devine and Charles Pen.
nell, policemen shot in August, 1902,
when they surprised Spencer and 3
man named Murphy breaking into g
house Murphy now dead.
Fanny Thompson, body found Jan.
1908, gagged and bound in bed in q
Michigan avenue rooming house. Rob
bed of diamonds worth $1,000.
Former wife. Walkerville. Ontario
Beaten to death and body burned. For
| mer New York widow, name forgotten
Mrs. Connors, killed at ST. Joseph
Mich, and robbed of jewelry.
Former wife, near Fort Montgomery
N. Y. Beaten to death in woods. Rob
bed of 5000 and diamonds worth $500
| Former maid to Helen Gould.
Aged man in Washington Park, last
| spring. Shot and body thrown into Ia
goon Got 5000 in cash.
Two women at Delavan Lake, Wis.
| in June Killed with hammer and the
bodies thrown into lake.
Woman in house near county hospi
| tai, used hammer and burned clothes
| Got $40 and rings.
Woman in house at Fulton and Hal
stead streets about eight months ago
| Used hammer and burned clothing
Robbed house.
Saloonkeeper on Van Buren, street,
near AU0TuecH. OHOI uIdh anu "Oohu
| ed wife while robbing saloon.
Man, shot and killed in alley under
South Side elevated railroad about a
year ago.
Mrs. Mildred Allison Rexroat, shot
near Wayne. Sept. %, and body placed
on railroad tracks.
Ida Oliver, killed with hammer, Nov
9, 1912. Body thrown into drainage
canal and recovered May 20.
1t was discovered in the police rec
ords that Spencer was in prison a,
| Joliet when Fannie Thompson was
murdered, Jan. l, 1908. The records
show that he went to the prison in
| 1906 and was not paroled until 1910.
1t is practically certain also that he
was behind the bars at Joliet when
| Detectives Pencil and Devine were
murdered.
Although he is now said to be
philadelphian, Spencer" declared to
the police in his confession that he
was a Chicago product. He is short
weighs about 145 pounds, wears glass
es and has the appearance of a clerk
whose life has known little excite