The sun., 1918-12-15


source he could lay hands on, includ-
ing bonds which he had held as guard
ian.
Under a creditors pressure he be-
came panic stricken" fearing arrest,
exposure in the matter of his guard
ianship and perhaps to his employers
in the matter of his story about the
will, and ruin. All this happened
soon after Chaplin had consulted DIR.
Shrady for relief from blood disease.
He got the revolver-just after his
arrest in September he said 1t was
one Rhinelander Waldo had given him
and began to consider a violent way
out OF his troubles. His wife is de-
scribed as a delicate little woman
Weighing 1913 pounds, always helpless
and nervous. They had been mar
ried thlrty-nine years and "the UNI
contradicted testimony is that their
relations had been singularly de-
voted"
The report continues: He was
deeply solicitous concerning tho eff
feet upon her II he should lose his
position or his life. He destroyed all
his books and papers, went to Wash
ington with his wife, bought burial
plot, ordered a tombstone" and
planned the double killing.
During this visit to Washington oc-
Cured what the report calls "one hal
lucinatory episode" the only one 1t
mentions, in Chapin's history.
Planned Double Tragedy.
"One night he and his wife occupied
the room in which his mother had
died" says the report. HE put the re-
volver under his pillow. intending to
kill his wife and himself during the
night. He took it out. The room was
dimly lighted. He saw his mother, who
had died about two years before, stand
ing by the bedside looking very dis
tinct. She smiled, shook her head and
faded away"
He asked "spinster sister" and
brother Of his Washington who
would care for Mrs. Chaplin should
happen to him, and their
'Trigid silence and stony stare led me-"
he says, ito know there was no hope
there"
Toward the end Chaplin owed be-
tween $4,000 and $4,000 the Com
find. His only asset was his
salary, $3.50 a week. He had reached
the end of his tether.
"On Sunday morning, the day be-
fore the killing, he and his wife went
to Brighton Beach. He said they saw
q patbatIo Ioolrip1 IittIa ala 1.o,,oop
about his wife's age, weak, worn,
drawn. sick looking. and she put out
her hand and the defendant gave her
a quarter, and his wife said: o God,
wonder II I'll ever come to that" He
realized that nothing stood between
his wife and this condition, so he de-
termined to end It,"
While his wife was dying in agony
he said he knelt beside her saying this
prayer:
Thou, o God, understand what was
n my heart, that my heart was fun of
owe for my wife when killed her, and
hat what ! have done I did for her
to keep her from starvation
and want"
80
Chaplin declared he knew that "to
Kill his wife was contrary to law, but
hat that did not enter into considera-
ion" /
II developed that some twenty-fiv
Years ago the defendant fell into in
temperate habits, but he took the So
,alled Kelley cure, which appears to
nave resulted in completely throwing
III all love for liquor. and for many
;ears he has not touched any alcoholic
beverages"
World men testified that about four
ears ago Chapin's former mental
llertness seemed altered, and that he
showed abstraction and nervousness
md tremor OF the hands, and he
would neglect work to sit staring va
,antGy before him. Formerly he had
been a strict disciplinarian now, one
said. he lost the old keenness
md concentration. but had more of
he milk of human kindness"
John II. Tenant. managing editor
IF the EreninO World, and Don C.
SeitZ publishing manager, testified
hat about year ago he had com
planned to Mr. Seitz OF Chapin's dete-
and an assistant for him had
Deen appointed specifically to take up
he inevitable fall that we foresaw."
Chapin's story is said to have been
old with marked piCturesquenes and
sense OF its dramatic quality. 1t was
logical, consistent and consecutive: it
lrI1