Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1913-10-06
UNPARALLELED
CONFESSION
Of CRIME
HARRY SPENCER, CONFESSED MUIR.
DERER OF MRS. REXR0AT, TELLS
OF SCORE OF MURDERS He HAS
COMMITTED.=POu ARE IN.
vESTIGATING.
IS A dope" F|END.
STORY MAY Be UNTRUE

Chicago, Oct 6.--While the polio,
are satisfied that Harry Spencer il
guilty of many murders besides tha
of Mrs. Mildred Allison Rexroat, they
were forced to the conclusion today
that his statement that he murdered
twenty persons is an eXaggeration.
Spencer is addicted to the opium
habit, a symptom of which is weird
and grotesque imagination. Some
years ago the police had occasion tc
investigate his conduct and learned
that while in the prison at Joliet or
a charge OF larceny the prison authori
ties had regarded him as mentally de
fective and from time to time confined
him in the infirmary He told his
fellow prisoners of having committed
several murders.
After he was released from the pen
tentiary he came to Chicago and Wis
lied detective headquarters where he
asked to be assisted to employment.
He told Frank Shenessy, secretary to
Chief of Detectives Halpin, that he
had committed several murders. Shen-
messy identified him today and said
that at the time of Spencer's visit in
search of employment he considered
the man mentally unsound.
Dispatches from Detroit, Delavan
Lake, Wis, and Goshen, n. Y, today
further shook official faith in the con.
fession. Investigation at these points,
while not absolutely disproving Spen-
GERS statements, indicated that there
was little likelihood that they were
true ......
Some time will be necessary, the
police say, before the truth in Spen'
GERS story can be sifted
Some of his stories are probably
fction,' said Captain Halpin today,
..but on the whole I believe he is al.
most as great a criminal as he claims
to be-
The women Spencer said he murder
ed near the county hospital was
shown by police records to have been
Mrs. Annabell Wright, who was
beaten on the head, last June, robbed
of $50 and two diamond rings, and
who succumbed to her injuries June
49, last.
The police today began their inves-
tigation of the almost unparalleled
confession last night of Henry Spen,
Ger that he is the murderer of more
than 90 persons. Possessing evidence
to support his admission that he killed !
Mrs. Mildred Allison-Rexroat, the |
dancing instructor, on September 25,
the authorities are convinced that !
they will in short time confirm Spen-
GERS guilt as to many, if not all, the |
crimes of his crimson career
After his arrest last night for the |
Rexroat murder, which was made at
the home of woman who had noti-
fed the police of his coming, detec.
tives went to Spencer's room where
they found the rattan suitcase which !.
the tango teacher had taken with her
on her fatal trip to Wayne, Ills.
By morning Spencer had asserted
that he had sent the following to their
graves:
One of two farmers, shot near Zion
City, Illinois, in the spring of 1903.
Obtained $500.
Policeman Timothy Devine and
Charles Pennell, shot in August, 1912,
when they surprised Spencer and a
nan named Murphy breaking into
house. ;
Fannie Thompson body found jan
larry l, 1908, gagged and bound in bed {
n Michigan avenue rooming house.
Robbed of diamonds worth $1,000.
Former wife, at Walkerville, Ont. t
Beaten to death and body burned. She
vas New York widow, name for S
rotten.
Former wife, first name, Nellie, near 3
It. Montgomery, N. Y. Beaten to {
leath in woods. Robbed of $500 and ,
diamonds worth $500.
Former maid to Helen Gould.
Aged man in Washington Park last 7
pring. Shot and body thrown in la
,oon. Got 5000 in cash.
Two girls at Delavan Lake, Wis, in 9
une Killed with hammer and bodies 8
brown in lake.
Woman in house near Cook county
lospital. Used hammer and burned
lothes. Got $40 and rings.
Woman in house at Fulton and Hal !.
tead streets, about eight months ago. =
Jsed hammer and burned clothing. !,
lobbed house. =
Saloonkeeper on Van Buren street !,
ear Aberdeen. Shot man and
wife while robbing saloon.
Man. shot and killed in alley. under
outh side elevated about a year ago. C
Mrs. Mildred Allison-Rexroat, shot r
ear Wayne, Sept. 25, and body g
laced on railroad tracks.
Ida Oliver, killed with hammer No. t
ember 8, 1912, Body thrown into S
rainage canal and recovered May 20, a
913.
Unknown man and wife killed at F
OK Lake, Ills. in September 1911, and \
odies thrown in lake. II
Unknown man who brushed against .
i'm at Forty-second street and Indi-