New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-08
AMAZING MURDER
SCHEME UNFOLDED
ingenuity of Slayer Is
Urged as Evidence
Against Defendant
2, ROBERT H. ROHDE

r,a,d States tonight beyond doubt,
=. ,boss Who listened TO the hnal
.,,inory I'm the trial Of Frederick L.
sail former broker charged with the
-gr5,r q his wife, out OF the sum OF
-.;,h tbcv must decide whether the
..,,lsd camper Of Mountain View
A,n be written into criminal history
,,,nurderer Of unsurpassed ingenuity
mm sn equally unique estspaW oil
Circumstance.
Tth The evidence all in, Small at
.,, end. presents the aspect Of a hu-
~, chameleon. red with guilt against
-, background constructed by the
.,,i, and innocenuy white in the re-
Section OF his brief but formidable de-
.encs.
Only one Big, uncontested fact has
.g-iyed through the eleven trial days.
J. is conceded by the defence that the
.,srred body found in the cellar Of the
f-e.consumsd bungalow on the shore
ofLske Ossipee was that OF Mrs. Small
and the bullet hole in the forehead, the
s-,ctpred skull ana gsrrote rope with
-5icb ihc murderer completed his task
forbid question OF the manner ol her
death.
Plenty of Motives offered
Motives aplenty which might have
...-ste5 the RESPONDENT have been
damned upon the minds OF the jurors.
S-su has been shown 20 have threat
.sd The life OF his wife more than
once. II is known his thoughts had
,nrnss hack 20 the second Mrs. Small,
,sbor, h, divorced eight years ago; be
rond there Was $4,000 TO be collected
on the ioirt insurance policy taken out
80 bis urging.
But for ali that the state relies most
strongly in its hope Of conviction on
.re remarkable and elaborate scheme
10 which the murderer resorted to con-
.eal his crime Combined as they were
n this scheme. science and craft all
but obli.erated corpus delicti and clews
alike.
40 easua. cltthroat invading the
onely camp 20 plunder and, II need
DO. hin would have had reason 70 20
% such lengths iu the hope Of conceal
nent. 10 is argued Nor could such
one be expected To- have at hand the
,are chemical compound with which the
bungalow fire was klndled.
seldom. II ever. has an accused slay-
or been so entangod In the net OF CIR
umstsnce as is Small, yet for all that
The case is purely circumstantal. mat
he was more than a hundred miles
way when the bungalow burned he DID
not even have To- prove, for 10 was IN
loUng's Hotel. boo Boston, that the long
distance telephone founG nim a few
minutes after ueighbors reached the
black hole over which the bungalow had
stood
Summary Of the Mystery
Vow that state and defence have
rested. DO BIS possible for the first time
% present a complete summary OF the
MYSTERY which Oycrwhelms the farmer
1rymen and TO let 10 stand as real
Ife rival of what the keenest literary
nys,eg-bl,dcrs have contributed 10
tet'0n
The fact which stands out i'm II all
that only the merest chance the
accident against which the most pains
'anng plotter cannot guard gave TO
he authorities q telltale Of what really
happened iu the little house by the lake.
ne accident took the form Of a puddle
Of water in the Small cellar.
for all his mechanical resourceiui-
less, the master Of the household, con
oemned by an early accident TO Walk
Haty through life on one foot and TIP
zoe On the other had been unable TO
aeep Lake Ossipce from occasionally
.'.ading his beIowstsirs
When he started for Boston with his
.4eno. To Con0or principal Of the High
school, singer 300 the church choir and
ass1i'ory pedier OF insurance, water
''feady was beginning TO trickle
trough a crack boo the cement flooring.
When the two were sitting together m
motion picture theatre, with an allol
Q. hundred miles and a half dozen
aolrs established. Lake Ossipee, ally or
nc lsV, was q few inches deep in the
cellar. When they stopped for drinks
eno an sfter-theatrc bite. the food had
o increased that the body Of the muir
sefed woman, crashing through two
oors on it, flaming bed, was saved
"om complete destruction
Bits Of Metal Saved as ClcWs
Saved. also. were the twisted bits OF
-etsi with which the state endeavored
10 reconstruct the crime as fully As II
10 slayer had set OF written notes
indicating his procedure, step by step.
Osspec Dcrches remote in the White
Aounlals A G unity seat cross-trall,
WIN winter population Of scarcely
more than 100, isolated in the midst
oi q spaIsely settled farming communi-
W 1t is not a place where one would
EEK to dislnter flesh and blood proto-
Ype o. Sherlock Holmes. Nevertheless,
base burner psrlor stove, with its
op melted away and welded to- the
1teooN below. told as much to the local
authorities as Conan Doyle's famous
"estlon could have read in IT,.
Vther fires hereabouts have destroyed
olses with stoves i'm them. but never
1sa a stove been seen in such shape.
Z. Was known, too, Of course, that
l''eer heat than that generated by the
olfning OF fimSy wooden bungalow
"olid be- required 10 melt iron.
eualghtway, these things considered,
y. hurry call was sent for Professor
walter /. Wedger, Of Boston, chemical
lee.
Professor Wedger examined the stove
Continued on page 4, column