The chronicle=news., 1914-08-03
SPENCER, TANGO
SLAYER, GOES TO
CAll0WS SMILING

Wheaton, ILL.,, Aug. 3.-Henry
Spencer, tango murderer" and dub
bed by criminologists "the man with
out a SOUL" went to death on the
gallows Friday for the murder of
Mrs. Mildred Allison -Rexroat. Chi
cago dancing teacher. near Wayne.
H.. on the night of September IS.
1913.
The tango murderer never lost his
nerve. Run9i9g, ightly up the steps
leading to the gallows. he turned a
smile on the crowd of 15O within the
all enclosure.
There is one thing l know you
are all interested in he said, speak
ing slowly and with all the grace of
u platform orator. THAT is my in
nocence or guilt. want to tell you
| am innocent"
Spencer paused minute and
smiled again.
"One other thing" he said. 1.-The
happiest days OF my life have been
county Jail | found mother in
Mrs. William Evans (wife OF min
ister) and for the first time In my
life l learned religion and how to
pray"
The Rev. William Evans OF the
Moody Bible institute. Chicago. who
accompanied the doomed man to the
gallows. touched him on the arm and
Spencer began repeating the twenty
third, thirty-first and thirty-second
psalms. His voice grew husky toward
the end but he betrayed no nervous
ness while the white shroud and
black death mask were being adjust
cd A muffled Goodbye" was heard
by spectators nearest the gallows:
the trap was sprung: spencer's body
dropped eight feet and In two min
utes he was pronounced dead.
The crime for which Spencer paid
with his life. his subsequent startling
con nfession that he had killed nearly
score OF women in all parts of the
country. and the apparent cheerful
ness with which he received the ver-
dict OF death attracted national in
tcrest in his case. Alienists and
criminologists. even admitting the
,strange influence exerted by opium
upon Spcncer's brain, pronounced
him one OF the most remarkable
criminals of recent years.
Mrs. Allison -Rexroat, who shortly
after her divorce from her first hus-
hand, Allison, had married Rexroat,
II young farmer living near Macomb.
ILL.,, was engaged as n tango teacher
at Chicago dancing school. She
boarded an interurban car on the
night of September % for Wayne.
ILL.,. short distance from Chicago.
where she had been asked over the
telephone to start new class in the
tango. Early the following morning
her body, horribly mansled, was
found on the railroad tracks near
Wayne, in lonely ravine. Close ex-
animation showed that the tango
teacher had been slain before her
body was struck by the train.
Various clews were run down by
the police without success and at
least dozen SUSPECTS were arrested
before Spencer was taken into GUS
tody. Then, by queer turn of fate.
the man who afterward described
himself as both lady killer" and a
woman hater." was betrayed by a
woman to whom he offered $500
diamond ring he had taken from the
body of the murdered woman.
Lured to the woman's home, Spen-
Ger was trapped and arrested By de-
tcctives after desperate struggle.
His trunk, in n rooming house run
by quiet. elderly couple on the
South side, revealed more evidence
connecting him with the crime, and
under a severe sweating he broke
down and confessed.
Under skillful guidance from the
police, Spencer. wcak-faced little
man with rat eyes, rccited remark
able crime record. He swore that he
had killed more women. had robbed
and assaulted many others. and had
set fire to big apartment, causing
the loss of another life.
Women. damn 'em! I hate EN-!
They always played me for a suck
er and killed them just like flies"
he screamed in one of his outbursts