Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-08-29

His treatment was doing me good up
to that time, think. The attack spoil
ed whatever good it might have been
doing, though"
over the camp f1res-which are cleo
trio lights at Camp Harris-the question
being asked now is: "Why did Mrs.
Adams kill Captain Spratling"
The majority believe Mrs. Adams is
insane or was momentarily deranged
when she fired the death shot great
many declare she must have been the
victim of an hallucination. Few place
confidence in the story of Mrs. Maude
Monk.
The Bib county officials place such
little faith in it that they say they will
not hold her as a witness. 1--WE would
not believe her on OATH" state attaches
of the sheriffs office.
If Mrs. Monks story is eliminated,
one of the main contradictions to the
statement of Mrs. Adams is eliminated
at the same time. Mrs. Adams says she
did not see or write to Captain Sprat-
ling from August year ago until she
killed him. Mrs. Monks statement and
the office records of Captain Spratling
conflict with this.
And now even the office records are
about TO be proved a mistake. Officers
who accompanied Captain Spratling' S
body to Atlanta, returning here yester-
day, told The Journal correspondent
that these records show Mrs. Adams
was treated by DR.. Spratling in June,
July and August, 1915, not 1916 as was
intimated in dispatches from Atlanta.
These officers declare Furthermore that
on Thursday a week ago, the day 1t is
said Captain Spratling treated Mrs.
Adams, he was here in Camp Harris and
not in Atlanta. They say this record is
also for a year ago.
MRS. ADAMS CONFIRMED.
This confirms the actions of Mrs.
Adams at the camp when she asked
what kind of looking man Spratling was
and whether he had a mustache. and in
dicates that her statement is true when
she says she had not seen him in a year.
Granting then, that Mrs. Adams did
not see Captain Spratling from the time
he last treated her in August, 1915, until
she killed him, the theorists ask this
question:
What motive prompted her to slay
the man an entire year after she saw
him?''
Mrs. Adams only reply to this ques-
ton is: He ruined my home"
The theory has been advanced that
Mrs. Adams became obsessed with the
idea that his treatment was doing her
harm instead of good and that she
quit going to him of her own accord, be-
lieving that he was injuring her. 1t Is
known that she spent week in the
Grady hospital and Miss Della Hampton,
her friend, says DIR. Spratling was re-
sponsible for thatl" but, adds Miss
Hampton, sit wasn't the attack that
caused her to go to the hospital" Was
il the trouble for which Spratling had
been treating her? Did she believe that
he had only aggravated it instead of
helping it? Did this trouble grow and
grow until she began to brood upon it
and finally told her husband about.it, de-
claring that Dr. Spratling was RESPONSE
BILE? Did he take her confession in such
manner that she believed only the
death of DR.. Spratling could set her
right with her husband, the one man she
says she loved? And is 1t not probable
that this trouble-coming at a time
when she was approaching maternity
so crazed her that she determined to
kill him herself?
These are the questions which the
theorists are bordering.
HIDDEN MOTIVE SUGGESTED.
They are also limiting that there was
some other motive-something behind
il all, sinister design either to cause
Captain Stallings death or to get Mrs
Adams in jail-that has not yet been
revealed.
1t is believed that if Mrs. Adams was
examined by an alienist and competent
physician, that much of the mystery
cloud which now surrounds the motives
OF the murder would be cleared away
Macon physicians have told The Journal
correspondent that women in Mrs Ad-
ans condition are sometimes subject tc
peculiar mental turns.
But until the woman herself makes q
more lucid explanation than she has hith-
crto given. the question of her sanity
and the mystery Of her motive seem
destined to remain a secret.
MISS HAMPTON'S STATEMENT.
The statement was made yesterday by
Miss Della Hampton, of Woodward ave-
nue.. Atlanta, that Mrs. Adams intended
to kill Captain Spratling a week ago
Saturday.
"She told me-" said MisS Hampton,