The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-03-15
INSANITY PLEA
FOR CHARLTON
3
Final Chapter in Noted Murder
Case Will Be Argued in
Supreme Court
MADE CONFESSION OF CRIME
Italian Authorities Demand That
Prisoner Be Returned
FIGHT AGAINST HIS EXTRADITI0N

Washington, -. c., March l5.-A
final and determined effort to save
Porter Charlton from being eXtradited
TO the Italian authorities demanding
that the prisoner be turned over tu
them to be tried for the murder of his
wife. Mary Scott Castle Charlton. at
Lake Como, Italy, ON June .. 1910, will
bc made when his case shall come up
for argument before the United States
supreme Court next week. The case
was taken To the Supreme Court on
an appeal from the action of the Unit
cd States circuit court at Trenton, ~
j.. ia denying a writ of haDeas corpus
sued out by Charlton's father to re-
view the proceedings before Count
Judge John A. Blair sitting as a com
hitting magistrate, who held Charlton
for cN,radtion.
The argument i'm the Supreme Court
will hinge largely ON the contention OF
Charlton's counsel that the treaty be-
tween the United States and Italy
made i'm 1865 has been nulliiicd h,
the refusal of Italy to permit the cX-
tradition to this country of Italians
accused of crime and that consequent
~ the United States is not compelled
to deliver Charletou over to Italy
Another crucial question to be argue,
will hc whether an error was commit
ed by the committing magistrate il
refusing to allow Charltons couuso
to prove that the prisoner was of un
sound mind at the time of the com.
mission of his sclf-ConfeSsed crime
Mr. GarVeu. who will argue the cas-,
for the Italian government was pros
ecutor in the proceedings before judge
Blair and succeeded in keeping out al
evidence tending to show that Charl
ton was insane His term as prose
cutor recently expired and Gov, vii
, son appointed Robert X Iludspctl L
succeed him
Marries Former Actress.
Porter Charlton is the son of Pau
Charlton. who resigned his position a
United States judge for the district u
Porto Rico a short time after the ar
rest Of his son. Young Charlton re
Ceived fairly good education and, he
fore hc had reached his twentieth yeai
found employment as clerk in the Ma
| tioral City bank on Wall street. Dur
| ing the winter of 1901 10 he becam
acquainted with Mary Crittendel
Scott Castle, former actress, VIII
| had just been divorced from her hus
band. and after courtship they wer
married i'm Philadelphia on March /.
| 1910. For several months they live
at the Hotel Woodward, in New Yor'
before they started on a trip to Ei
/ rope
They made their first stop afte
reaching the Italian lake region, a
| Cernobbio. where they took lodging
at the Hotel Suisse They quarrcled .
much. however. and there were $
many violent domestic scenes be
! tween them. that the manager of tn
| hotel was forced to ask them To leave
The young couple rented the villa Leg
naZzi, above Mollrasio, ON Lake co
mo, where their quarrels continued I
! the last. ON June 8, 1910 Villager
! i'm or near their villa found it appar
emily closed. Neither Charlton nor hi
wife were seen in or near their villi
ON the morning of June 10, fisher
men found i'm Lake Como. not far froi
the villa Legnazzi. "A trunk, which con
! tanned the body of a woman. who ha
apparently been murdered. The bod
was identified as that of Mrs. Char
tom and. suspecting that the woma
had been murdered by her HUSBAND
the authorities notified the pole
| throughout Italy To bc on the lookol
for Charlton and To arrest him whe
| found
Safely Eludes Sleuths.
Having murdered his wife with
mallct and having disposed of III
body by throwing Il in the lake, Char
ton carrying only a suitcase with fc
clothes. left Moltrasic and went fir
to Como and then to Genoa, where !
| took passage on the steamship frii
cess Irene, bound for New York. III
steamer touched at Naples. Palern
and Gibraltar and at each port dete'
tives made "A search for Charlton, WI
Travelled under the name Of Jack CO
man, without detecting his identyt
II was due to the efforts Of CAP
Henry Harrison Scott, the brother
the murdered woman, that Charlie
was apprehended upon tho arrival
the steamer Princess Irene in Hob'
ken Charleton at first denied his idel
tity, but i'm the face of positive ev
dence discovered in his baggage n
only admitted his identity. but MAJ
a full confession of his crime. /
claimed that both he and his wife HI
ungovernable tempers and constant