Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-10-07
CARTER IS HELD ON
CHARGE Of ATTACK
ON DIVORCED WIFE

Paul B. Carter, an expert mechanic.
is being held in the DeKalb county
Jail under the charge of assault ana
battery upon his divorced wife, Mrs.
Clara McMillen Carter, while postal
officials are Investigating the receipt
in the mail of a powerful Internal
machine by Captain John II. Kneubel,
of Ebenezer, N. Y, a friend of Car
ter's former wife.
Carter is a mechanical genius
whom the postal authorities say they
unsuccessfully sought three years
ago as the suspected manufactures
and sender of three poison needle
devices which were sent to Carter s
wife, her father and the attorney rep
resenting her in divorce proceedings
aaginst Carter.
Carter was arrested by city de-
tectives last week following an al
legged assault made by him upon his
former wife, who hel is said to have
held up at the point of pistol,
near Camp Gordon, and demanded
that she return to town and discuss
with him matters relating to their
divorce.
The internal machine received by
Captain Kneubel contained explosives
which, it is said, vera sufficiently
powerful to demolish either the At
lanta postoffioa or any other post
office through which it passed. The
scheme to destroy the army captain
failed through the fact that the
mechanism was impaired by the
dent of the postal stamp and the
detonator failed to operate.
Postal authorities admit that they
cannot yet charge Carter with send
ing the dangerous package, but his
alleged personal assault upon his
former wife and the former at
telnpts by some one to destroy all
those involved in the divorce pro-
ceedings against himself, have
caused the government officials to
begin a through investigation OF
the origin of the Internal machine
which they suspect he sent be-
cause of jealousy toward Captain
Machine Is Enclosed
The internal machine was enclos-
ed in the box taken from a camera
of popular make, which had been
lined with tin to hold the explosives.
Captain Kneubel, recipient of the
machine and himself a chemist, has
stated to postal officials that the
contents of the box was a heavy
IN
high-powered explosives. 1t was
arranged with a detonator to be set
off by electric wires connected to
a flashlight battery and so arrang
ed that a circuit would be formed
with the lid of the box was opened
The unusual coincidence that the
postal cancellation stamp struck in
a place so as to derange the wires
saved the life of the army captain
and the demolition of the building
he occupied.
Government officials state that
Captain Kneubel, who was sta
toned for a while at Camp Cor
dor. had previously received
communication from Carter in
which the latter invited him 20
participate in a duel. Mrs. McMil-
len Carter, former wife of the man
under arrest, was employed at
Camp Gordon as a civilian en-
nloye, and lives near the camp.
Carter sought the duel, it is stated,
because he believed the captain
10 be interested in Mrs. Carter.
The poison needle case, in which
government officials worked on the
theory that Carter had sent the
needles because of the divorce pro-
ceedings brought by his wife, &C.
Cured in January. 1915. Jewelry
boxes with concealed springs and
needles were received in the mail
by Mrs. Carter. by her father. S. S.
McMillen, of Flowery Branch. and
by Mrs. Carriers attorney in Jack
sonville..
Government officials claimed that
the needles contained germs to pro-
duce lockjaw. Carter denied send
ing these deadly packages and the
day after being questioned bv the
officials disappeared from Atlanta.
He returned of his own acco~d. and
was rot brought to the attention Of
the authorities until the recent al
Ie~nd "sS0uIt
Carter. in the DeKalb county Jail,
has denied to federal authorities that
he sent the deadly Internal machine
received by the captain in the New
York town. Government officials,
however, are pursuing their investiga-
ton.