Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-10-06
CHICAGO SLAYER |.
BOASTS HE HAS
KILLED TWENTY
Police Shocked Into Disbelief by
Henry Spencer's Tale of
Wholesale Slaughter.
KILLED TANGO DANCER:
PLACED BODY ON TRACKS
Women Figure as Victims in
Majority Of Crimes He
Recounts.

CHICAGO. Oct 6.-while the po-
lice are satisfied that Harry Spencer
Is guilty of many murders beside
that of Mrs. Mildred Allison Rexroat
they were forced TO conclude today
that his statement of numbering
twenty persons is an exaggerat1on
Spencer is addicted to the opium
habit a symptom Of which is gro
tesdue Imagination. Some years ago
the police learned that while he was
In prison at Joliet on charge OF
larceny the prison authorities had re-
garded him as mentally defective,
and from time to time had confined
him in the infirmary. He told fellow
prisoners of having committed sew
eral murders
Doubt Some of Stories.
Associated Press dispatches from
Detroit. Delavan Lake. Wis, and
Goshen. n. Y. further shook faith
in the confessions Investigations at
these points, while not absolutely dis
proving Spencer's statements, indf-
Gated there was little likelihood that
they were true.
An Investigation which will require
some tine will be necessary, it is said.
before 1t can be determined just how
much of the prisoners story is true
and how much fiction.
OOIHe OF his stories DfODa DfY are
felton, said Captain Halpin today.
but on the whole l believe ne Is al
most as great a criminal as he claims.
to be"
One Victim Identified.
The woman whom Spencer said har
murdered near the county hospital
was shown by police records today to
have been Mrs. Annabei Wright. who
was beaten on the head last Decem-
ber. robbed of $50 and two diamond
rings. and who suecumbed to her in-
iuries June 10 last
Following his arrest last night for
the Rexroat murder, which was made
at the home of woman who had
notified the police of his coming, de-
tectives went to Spencer's room<
where they found a rattan SUITCASE
which the tango teacher had taken
with her on her fatal trip to Wayne
She was 1ured there. on the pretext
that she was to insEpct a class II
/ the new dance. In 1t NRs part OF heT
clothing and not far away the re
volver with which Spencer ended he@
life
i Expects TO be Hanged.
/ En- route to the detective bureau
Spencer admitted to Chief of Detec-
tives John ]. Halpin that you've gor
! the goods on me; I know III swing
for this
Then began his extraordinary re-
cital of the murders he has commits
ted, the list of victims growing longed
as the questioning continued on
through the night.
Speneer's confession was so start<
! ling that it probably would have res
ceived no credence had not tho
bloody suitcase and the revolver con>
/ flrmed at least part of his statement.
All of his murders except two, aa
declared. had been for the purposa
of robbery. The two, PolicemenfPen~
nell and Devine. shot to death twelve
years ago, he said he killed to escape
being arrested
Planned TO XIII Landlndy.
Il intended to kill Mrs. A. J. Sco<
| field, the proprietor of the roomina
house where I have been living ha
said. IF 1 hadn't been arrested a9
just this time I would have killed
her.
The man who claims this almost
unbelievable record is a Chicago pro-
duct. He does not know his real
name and the first he remembers ha
was in the Home for the Friendless,
located within a block of the scene
of his arrest last night. He has
/ spent half his thirty-two years in tho
| sentenced twice for wholesale robe
berries and was returned twice follows
1 ing violation of paroles.
He is short, weighs about 145
/ pounds wears glasses and has tha
appearance OF "a clerk whose life has
/ known little excitement. He has been
a devout worshipper at the prayer
| meetings of the Emmanuel Baptist
| Church and attended the wedding OF
/ its pastors daughter three nights be-
/ fore he accompanied Mrs Rexroar
| down a lonely stretch of railroad
track near Wayne grasped her by
the neck and placed revolver to her
head.
Fails to supply Names.
And in a manner as unconcerned az
though he was repeating the number
of dances he had attended, Spencer
sat with detectives and newspapers
men in the office of Captain Halpin
and told of the lives he had TAKEN
Details as to names and dates he
could not always supply but as to
whether he beat 'em In the head
with a hammer" or shot EN- to
death his memory was better. He
also remembered approximately how
much money or jewelry he got fron1
his victims.
Spencer said he did not drink nor
smoke. except opium. He asserted
that he had not touched a pill" for
two days and physician declared the
prisoner was not under the influence
of the drug
my head is as clear as bell"
/ Spencer said. You have got me dead
to rights on the Rexroat murder and
I know that l shall be hanged In q
couple of months.
THAT is why | want to tell every-
thing else and get II out of the way.
I want to tell all and then be treated
decently until they pull the rope
After hours of Questioning Spencer
was asked why he had lived as ho
had.
No Regard for Life.
'T have been in and out of prisons
since l was a boy" he replied. Il
have been hunted and bounded all
my life. / am sore on the world My
own life doesn't amount to much and
nobody's life has meant much to me. =
The proceeds of Speneer's robberies
have amounted TO more than Sl0,0u8
in the last year. He has spent the
money on women in the Twenty-sec-
ond street district.
'I killed Mrs. Rexroat because she
was trying TO make a sucker out OF
me- he said. "She told me / was re-
sponsible for her condition and how
badly she needed $500. l didn't mur-
deh her for the ring. ! took II JUST
because it was there.
Ten of Spencer's victims wera
women. Two. he said, came from
New York. He said he married four