The Washington herald., 1914-01-17
WOMAN USED HIM
AS MURDER TOOL
Youth Tells Amazing Story Of
Being Hired to Find
an Assassin.
PAID $4Oo FOR JOB"
Unable to Get Professional Slayer.
He Himself Shot Wealthy
Lumber Man.
PAID $4OO FOR JOB"

Somerville, N J., Jan. 1s.-Monroe F.
Ellis, president of the New Jersey State
Lumber Association and of the Conk-
ling Lumber Company of Bernardsville,
who became the center Of sensational
mystery when some one crept to the
window and shot him down as he sat
dining with his wife, his son, and his
daughter in their home in Basking Ridge
on November 20, 1911, was attacked by
q youth seeking vengeance for a woman
who told him that Ellis had abandoned
her.
After more than two years this youth
Is under arrest here and detectives are
watching the woman, q resident OF
Basking Ridge, and now about thirty
FIVE years old. She will be arrested
as soon as every detail of the would
be assassin's confession has been in
vestigated.
The whole story of the attack on the
wealthy lumber man, which he survived
by a miracle, is to be revealed now.
Ellis, the authorities do not doubt, must
have known his assailant and his pur-
pose. The county authorities abandoned
the investigation soon after the shoot
ing, saying that they felt they were not
receiving the assistance from Ellis which
they had a right to expect.
Puts Detectives on Case.
lionaire contractor, an amateur student
OF Lombroso, with a hobby for detective
work, set the Pinkerton detective agency
on the case. Operatives have been at
work since the fall Of 1872, and it was
they, with County Detective George ID.
Totten, who caught in Camden on We'd
nesday the youth now in the Somerset
County Jail here.
The prisoner is a slender, tall young
name is Paul Carl and his home is in
East Stroudsburg, Pa, with his widowed
mother, Mrs. Sarah Carl. This morning
he made a full confession.
The confession was explicit as to names,
dates and places and Prosecutor Fred
erick 4. Pope and the detectives who ar
rested Carl are satisfied that the boy has
told the truth. Until every detail can be
substantiated, however, the detectives
will not make public the name Of the
woman in the case. This much they did
tell, however:
Offers $500 for Murder.
Her hatred of Ellis was so intense, her
desire for vengeance so all-powerful that
she offered $500 to the one who should
kill him for her and actually paid 800
of this sum, though Ellis recovered Of his
wounds.
Carl, though he was only nineteen years
old when he attacked Ellis, was an ac-
quaintance Of this woman, Of sufficient
intimacy to permit of her barring her
mind to him and the friendship between
them such that Carl would attempt muir
der for her sake
1t was in the summer Of 1911, and she
told the young man then that Ellis had
attacked her, had failed to keep prom
ises made to her, and had SO well earned
her hatred that she wanted him killed.
TN pay $500 to the man that will rid
me of that thing" she said.
Carl accepted the commission to find
some one to do murder, and before he
deft her she gave him SO as evidence of
her good faith. The youth was well ac-
quainted in the underworld of New York
City and he hurried there to consult with
his cronies. He found many who would
kill Ellis for $500. or even less, but he
found none who would perform the task
without assurance that the 500 would be
forthcoming.
Fires Through window.
At their next meeting he went pre-
pared to tell of his failure. The sight Of
the woman stopped his tongue. Instead
he told her glibly that he had found the
man, and that she could expect at any
moment to hear Of Ellis death. He did
not tell her that he had determined to
perform her commission himself.
The next night he walked to Ellis
home. 1t was dark, but the light in the
dinin-room showed Ellis seated at the
table with his family. The assassin crept
toward the house till he was within
twelve or fifteen feet of the window.
Ellis sat so that his left side presented
fair target to the marksman and a
good shot could place his charge so that
none of the others at the table would be
injured Carl had no mind to hurt any
one but Ellis.
Presently Ellis son moved back in his
chair so that an even better target was
presented and Carl let fly. The shot
crashed through the window pane He
saw Ellis clutch at his side and sink in
a heap, and then Carl turned and fed
to the railroad tracks.
He returned to work the next day and