Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-05
Accused Negroes Repudiate
Confession and Officers Un-
able to Find Weapons.
HARRINGTON CHIEF SAYS
NO SIGNED ADMISSION
Providence Police Inspector Insists
Three Men Told of Crime in Doc
tors Wife's Presence.

PROVIDENCE, R. l.. September "A
complete reputation of the alleged
confessions of three negro accomplices
gave a new turn today to the case OF
Mrs. Elizabeth Tiffany Blair Mohr. at
whose door the police had laid the
death of her husband, DR.. c. Franklin
Mohr.
The arrest of Mrs. Mohr, according to
the police, followed admissions by
George W. Heals, chauffeur for DR..
Mohr; c. Victor Brown, formerly en-
ployed as a hostler at the PHYSICIANS
Newport estate, and Henry Spellman.
half-brother of Brown. that she had
hired them to assassinate her husband,
upon whom she sought vengeance be-
cause of personal abuse coupled with
his attentions to other women.
For three days the officers have
sought industriously for evidence to
corroborate the published statements
attributed to the three negroes. So TAR
as made known, they have met with lit
tie success.
The revoIvers with which the physf-
clan and his secretary, Miss Emily G.
Burger. were shot had not been recov-
cred tonight, though In their reputed
confessions the owners stated that they
would be found in a brook near the
scene of the crime.
Admits No Signed Confession.
Chief of Police Thomas F. Robbins
of harrington, in whose district the
murder was committed and who has
immediate charge of the police investi-
cation, when informed that the men
had denied their guilt, admitted that
SO far as he knew none of them had
signed statement obtained from them
was one from Heals. in which he ex-
pressed the opinion that the motive
of the crime was robbery.
1t was pointed out by others inter
ested in the case that while a retrac-
ton by the prisoners of any state
ments that could be used against them
was not surprising, the significance of
their action lay in its effect upon a
Jury. If it could be shown that they
had told two stories Numerically OPP
posed. their final testimony in court.
even if against Mrs. Mohr. would be
weakened by an attack on their gen.
eral veracity
Mrs Mohr from the first, has stoutly
maintained her innocence and eI-
planned the murder by saying that
Brown had a grudge against the doctor
since hts discharge from his employ
ment at the Mohr home, and that rob-
berry probably was an added incentive
for the killing.
liquidation Voluntarily Made.
Today's reputation of the alleged
confessions was made voluntarily by
the three men and without the knowl-
edge of counsel 1t was made in the
form of statement given to a news
paper man who had been admitted to
the Jail yard by the warden. Heals
and Brown did most of the talking.
but the three were agreed on all
points
Summarized, their declaration was
that they were wholly innocent of the
crime, as was also Mrs. Mohr SO far
as they know: that they would be able
to prove alibis: any alleged admis-
sions were made under duress while
they were subjected to "third-degree"
methods, saying the police had put in
their mouths statements to which they
assented in anger or derision. and 1t
was common report that DR.. Mohr had
enemies.
Heals asserted that he had found in
the doctors car letter from a neigh
Dor in which the latter said that he
would fill the physician full of bullets
II Mohr did not cease his attentions to
the writer's wife.
Will Search Futile.
Search for will by Mohr has been
futile up to the present. Custodians
of his personal estate today opened his
safe deposit box in a local bank, but
found only life insurance policies,
leases. Miscellaneous papers and some
jewelry. Next week they will open a
similar b'x rented by the doctor in a
bank at Newport
Mrs. Mohr, who is out on bail, and
the three men who are locked up will
be given a hearing September 16, but
1t is considered doubtful that their
cases will be heard by the grand jury
before the December sitting. She is
charged with melting and the men
with committing the murder.
The penalty for first degree murder
in this state is life Imprisonment. Cap
ital punishment was abolished some
years ago.
told of the negroes denial of the al
legged confessions. said:
They did make a confession in the
presence of Mrs. Mohr. Brown said he
shot Dr. Mohr. Spellman said he shot
Miss Burger, and Healis signed a state
nent that he stopped the car near a
bunch of grass as directed
Heals the Spokesman.
The denial was made In the county
Jail at Bristol. where the negroes are
locked up pending a hearing in the dis
trict court at Warren September 16.
Heals, the chauffeur of DIR. Mohr's car
the night OF the murder. was the spokes-
mar for the trio. Brown and Spellnlan
signified their assent TO all that he said.
Tell the people" Heals said. that
we are absolutely innocent, and that we
believe Mrs. Mohr knew nothing of this
crime. We have never signed confess
sion, and anything SO said to the Provi-
dence police was said In Joking way
or in spirit Of anger
DIR. Mohr, to my knowledge. had been
threatened by several prominent Rhode
Island people. I found a letter in his
car from man living on Elmwood avenue
in which ne threatened the doctor, and
said that if he did not cease his atten-
lions TO his wife he would fill him full Of
bullets"
Heals declared that the doctors auto
mobile was followed the night of the
shooting, and 1t was his theory that Dr.
Mohr was shot by some man who jumped
out Of car. fired at both the physician
and Miss Burger. and then wrecked the
machine on a cross road.
AT this point Brown broke in and said ::
Il see that the Providence police saw
that Heals saw Mrs Mohr in Providence