Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-03-27
SAY DIR, Waite
TO
KILL FOUR MORE
Indications Are that He COntem-
plated Taking the Life of Mrs.
Margaret Horton, the Woman
of Mystery

New York, March 26.-The district
attorneys office has evidence tending
to show that DR.. Arthur Warren Waite
planned to poison a number Of other
persons besides his father Law, the
late John E. Peck, Asst. Dist. Atty.
John T. Dooling said Saturday. Mr.
Dooling would not say exactly how
many persons DR.. Waite. according to
the evidence. wished to kill. nor would
he specify the persons. but he admit
ted that they were lat least four" in
number, and added afterwards, There
seems to have been no limit
LandIady in Danger
Among those whose lives and prop
erty DR.. Waite sought. Mr.. Dooling
said he had reason to believe, were
Mrs. Margaret Horton with whom DR..
Waite engaged a room at the Hotel
Plaza, and her husband, Harry Mack
Horton, Of Sc West 18th street.
Mr.. and Mrs. Horton, who were at
the district attorneys office for many
hours Saturday, told Mr.. Dooling that
DR.. Waite, believing them to be pos
sessed of much money. had attempted
to get his hands on some of it through
Mrs. Horton, and that many of the
things he did and said with Mrs. Hor-
ton, convinced them that he contem-
plated poisoning her and her husband.
With DR.. Waite still in Bellevue, ill
from the effects of the drugs he took
Wednesday, and with his parents so over
come by grief and worry that they could
not see him, Mrs. Horton today became
the leading figure in the case. She was
at the district attorneys office from noon
until $50 clock Saturday night. going
out of the criminal courts building only
once for lunch. Mr. Dooling, who spent
most Of the time questioning her and her
husband, declined to make public that
she had given him much valuable infor-
nation. 1t was reported around the once,
however, that the assistant district attor-
ney spent a great deal of the day trying
to obtain from Mrs. Horton explanations
of discrepancies of two statements, one
at the home of Mrs. Dorothy May Van
Palmenberg. 1O5 West I'D street. on Fri
day, when her husband was not present,
and the other at the district attorneys
office Saturday. when her husband was
present.
Despite the publication Of her married
not her maiden-name and many of the
facts of her life, Mrs Horton still re-
manned very much of woman of mystery
Saturday. In authoritative statements
made about her and in her name were
man was so closely guarded in the district
plantations could reach her. When she
left the building she declined to talk.
There was evidently on the part of those
in the district attorneys office an effort
to protect Mrs. Horton against anything
that might be unpleasant to her.
Brother Visits Waite
| Frank A. Waite of $40 Hull ave-
nue., the Bronx, brother of DR.. Waite,
visited the prisoner in Bellevue hos
pital this afternoon but would say
nothing about the visit except that his
brothers condition seemed improved.
Asked if he thought DR.. Waite inno-
cent, Frank Waite replied: II wouldn't
say that
! While III ward II with his brother, it
was learned. Frank Waite gave him
two papers and asked him TO sign
them. DR.. Waite signed one of them
without objection but. after he had
read the other. became angry and re-
fused to sign il. No one who knew
the contents of the papers would dis
! cuss them.
| Evidence that the authorities were
DESTROYS or learning DR.. Waite's ment-
al condition was given today when DR..
Menas s. Gregory. chief alienist and
director of the psychopathic ward of
Bellevue hospital. took charge of the
prisoners case.
i Accused May Be Crazy
! After Dr. Gregory had been with the
prisoner for moro than an hour he
was asked: Did you find any signs of
insanity in him."
! ORA. Gregory looked about him in
every direction, and. smiling pleasantly
and profitlessly for the reporter
| said:
| Everywhere l look I see signs of in
sanity"
Mr.. Dooling said today that he had
proof that DR.. Waite had obtained
i poison to kill a dozen or more people
between Dec. q and March I, and,
though he would not. say where he
learned this, he did not deny that he
found record of DR.. Waite's pur-
chases Of poisons in his safety deposit
box In the Fifth Avenue Bank, which
was opened today. According to report
m the box were found a number of
physicians prescriptions for medicine
containing poisons, which, it is
thought, DR.. Waite resolved into their
elements in order to obtain the deadly
minerals contained in them.