River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-10-09
CONFESSES HAVING
KILLED FOURTEEN.
MAN ARRESTED AS SLAYER OF
DANCING TEACHER CONFESS
ES MANY CRIMES.
ROBBERY, MOTIVE OF MAN
Says He Needed Hundreds of Dollars
a Week to Enjoy Life-PoIice
Doubt If All of the Story
Is True.

is True.
Chicago, Oct. Henry Spencer, ar
rested in a rooming house, near the
South Side levee, has confessed to
the police that he murdered Mrs. Mil
dred Allison Rexroat, the dancing
teacher, at Wheaton, ILL.,, a week ago,
and that he has killed, within the past
13 years, 13 other persons. Robbery,
he declared, was responsible for all,
except two, of the murders. Most of
his victims were girls. They were
lured to lonely spots and either shot
or beaten to death with a hammer.
Doesn't Smoke Nor Drink.
Spencer gave as his reason for the
crimes the fact that it cost him four
or five hundred dollars each week to
enjoy life. He declared that he fire.
quented cabaret shows and dives. He
also declared that he never drank liq-
uor or smoked, but cheWed tobacco
and smoked opium.
Spencer told the police that his ca
reer of crime dated back to his boy
hood. He positively was identified as
the mysterious Mr.. Spencer, with
whom Mrs Rexroat left Chicago on
the night she was killed.
Mrs. Retreats rattan suit case was
found in his room, as was the revolv-
er with which he said he had killed
her
The police, while in doubt as to
the full truth of Spencer's confession,
are confident that they have found a
wholesale murderer and that he will
prove that he has killed at least sew
eral of those whose deaths he de-
scribed in confession.
Suitcase Substantistes Story.
Spencer's story was so startling
that it probably would have received
no credence had not the suitcase in
volved confirmed at least part of his
statement.
All of his murders, except two, he
declared, had been for the purposes
Of robbery. The two, Policemen Pen
nell and Devine, shot to death IL
years ago, he said he killed to escape
being arrested.
81 intended to kill Mrs. A. J. SEQ
field, the proprietress of the rooming
house where I have been living" he
said. eff / hadn't been arrested at
just this time, 1 would have killed
her"
Spencer was arrested in a rooming
house near the South Side levee dis
trict.
A woman, with whom he is said
formerly to have lived, told the police
that on the night of Sept. &c, Spencer
came to her house. His shoes were
covered with dust and he showed a
diamond ring, resembling the one
worn by Mrs. Rexroat. He also took
a revolver from his pocket and re-
moved an empty shell which he threw
from the window.
Met in Dance Hall.
sT met Mrs. Rexroat two months
ago at a dance hail." Spencer said in
his written confession, fright after she
got a divorce from her first husband.
I got acquainted without any trouble,
nobody introducing us. 1 took her
home that night, and we decided to
be good friends.
"After that night I saw her three
or four nights a week for several
weeks She thought 1 was a farmer
and would be easy pickings, SO I tried
to keep that impression with her"
Spencer admitted that robbery was
his only purpose in killing Mrs. Rex
roat.
"She kept trying to make a sucker
out of me, and / wasn't going to let
her" he said. "She told me she was
going to teach the new tango dance,
so on Monday night before the MUIR
der | went down and danced around
with her most of the evening. She
tried to show me how to dance and I
kept acting the farmer"
Spencer told the police that he had
killed 10 persons since his last re-
lease from the Illinois state peniten-
tiary in September, 1912, and four, a
man and a woman and Policemen Pen
nell and Devine, before that. Except
in the Staying of the policemen, whom,
Spencer said, we're shot by himself
and a companion named Murphy, in
escaping arrest for burglary the kill
ings were all for purposes Of robbery.