The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1915-09-10
WEALTHY WIDOW IS
KILLED AND ROBBED
Masked Men Invade Mrs. Eliza
beth Nichols Home and Take
$4,000 in Goods.
ONE SUSJECT ARRESTED.
Robbers Failed to Get Strong Box
Containing Diamonds and Other
Jewels Worth Over $3.50, 900.

Russian Finn. hall boy in the
home of Mrs. Elizabeth Nichols, the
aged widow who met death last night
at the hands of masked men who
robbed her Of goods valued at $10,-
000 was arrested today after he had
confessed. the police assert. to hav-
ing played a part in the crime. He
was formally charged with murder.
All other servants were freed of
suspicion. Deputy Police Commits
sioner Lord announced.
Preliminary examination of Mrs.
Nichols body revealed the probabili-
ty that she had died of fright and not
of strangulattion as at first supposed,
! Mr.. Lord said. An autopsy to be per-
/ formed late today will disclose the
exact cause of death
Although the burglars stripped
their victims fingers and ears of dia-
monds and other jewels worth S1O.-
! 600, they failed to rifle the strong
box of her safe in which she kept
gems valued at from s25O,O0O to
100000.
Tails and the maid were kept up
virtually all night by detectives, who
made them repeat their stories again
and again Commissioner Lord said
today there were many minor discrep-
ancies in theih accounts. Significance
was placed by the police in a state
ment attributed to the cook, Leon
Tiovonen, that OH leaving the house
she met former employe of Mrs.
Nichols who had frequently called al
q the iou-a. after ioavinS her employ,
and borrowed money from other SER
, wants. Two other men, the cook said
, were lettering nearby.
Mr.. Lord said that after the cook
and the butler, Ernest Vital, had left
y the house, Tails had been seen Il
# leave the premises several times tc
J. converse with men in front of the
J., house.
Il Mrs. Nichols was the widow OF
s Jas. Edwin Nichols, founder of tn,
e wholesale grocery firm of Austin
< Nichols & Co. She was reputed t
r be worth about $2,0OO.O00 and i
II was known that much of this was in
e. vested in gems which she kept in tn
10 house. She was 60 years old AM
TO quite stout.
In an effort to recover the Stolel
jewelry. and perhaps thereby obtaiI
~ clue to the burglars, a detectiv
o' was stationed in every pawnshop i
New York city. y general alarm an
ie l description of the valuaDles wer
- telephoned from police headquarter
to every city as far north as Buffal
and as far south as Philadelphia.
The manner i'm wnich Mrs Nichol
came to her end was described tC
al day, according to the police, b
Ownie Tails. the hall boy. Deput
Commissioner Lord announced ths
Us Tails had made a confession relatiy
d" to the murder, details of which woul
ce be made public later.
Half the police detectives in Ne
York were at work today trying
md who murdered Mrs. Elizabet
Nichols, a wealthy widow, and robbie
her house of small fortune
jewels. Mrs. Nichols, after a de
-, perate struggle, was strangled
:. death about 9 o'clock last night
her home on East 18th street just @
Fifth avenue, in the heart Of the mi
=. lionaire residence district.
t. The police obtained their fir
% story of the crime from a maid and
ed house boy employed in the Nicho
-th home. These servants said that thr
of masked men bound and gagged theI
nj then proceeded to their mistres
he rooms. When the maid and tn,
o. house hey freed themselves fro
un their bonds they found Mrs. Nichol
ith body on the floor in her library.
towel had been tied about her nc'
and twisted tight Her face was c
and bruised and her clothing torn /
ish dicating that she had made ha
by fight for life. The police devot
na- much Of their attention to Otto Tai
the house boy. who said he had q