The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1920-07-29
FRENCH WOMAN BRUTALLY
MURDERED BY ITALIAN
Continued from first page


awake he turned and went away
ton the statement that there coul
mot have been any intention on tn
part of either Mrs. Latham or Fran
PETER to marry, since Mrs. Latham i
not divorced from her husband, u. N
Latham, and had never wanted to be
He further brands as absolutely un
true the statement made by the ltal
! Ian to an interpreter that Mrs. Latha1
had been in company with someone
else on the night of the murder, or a
least any other time since her return
| to High Point some two weeks ago.
The uncle of the woman stabbed
stated that he was talking to Mrs
Latham and PETER Thursday night
That at ten o'clock he left them tC
go to bed. That he heard them talk
ing for some time and heard the girls
mother call to her at quarter after
II to go to bed. He said that in the
fore part of the night the gir1 had
asked the Italian for the knife he had
in his possession, and that he gave it
to her. He did not know how PETER
/ got it again into his possession.
| According to his statement, the
murdered girl, Maud, and her young
er sister, Lucy Hagley,, were sleeping
on the piazza, and that Lucy was
awakened by the Italian standing
over her and .peeri1fg down into ner
face Put when he saw that she wa
7 She heard no more. she says, ard did
not miss her sister until the screams
Earoused the house. Hagley gives no
l. -
be on the cot occupied by PETER. but
Fsays he found some bed clothing
folded and wrinkled which he be-
lieves was used as a gag.
L Following the time when the girls
mother called her to go to bed, Hag-
| ley said the house was quiet, mad
that he presumed they had all re-
tired, although he did not know
about PETER. The next he heard OF
the trouble was when the girls
screams awakened them, and they
found her lying on Peters cot, stab
bed and slashed, and in dying con-
dition. A brother of the girl started
in pursuit of PETER, the uncle says.
but was restrained because it was
dark, and "they were afraid he might
get the wrong man.
Clara Maud Latham was the
daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. John Hag-
ley, new of High Point, but former
ly of Philadelphia. She was married
some five years ago to u. N. Latham,
at that time member of the coast
artillery at Portland, Maine. La
than's home had been at High Point,
he having been born near here, ana
he had worked as joiner here. At
the beginning Of the war Latham en-
listed and spent two years in France.
Since his return he has taken spells
of rowing and has left his wife three
times, according to Hagley, but has
returned to her each time although
his whereabouts now are not known.
She had not been divorced, and had |
never started proceedings for legal |
separation.
She first knew PETER, Hagley says, |
while George and John Hagley and |
their families all lived in Philadel- |
phia., PETER at that time boarded |
with an Italian family who lived on |
the floor below. Hagley says the |
home of the Italians was disreputa- |
BILE, that they often had a crowd
there drinking and playing cards, and
that on one occasion there was
stabbing ARRAY in the rooms of the
Italian family.
Mrs. Latham had been to High
Point with her husband, and in Feb
Euary of this year the Hagley fami-
lies moved here. In March, accord
ing to the uncles story, the girl re-
turned to Philadelphia to visit a
family of Jews. The family was max
ing preparations to leave Philadel-
phia and she left them to visit the
Italian family she had known, who +
had then moved to Camden, New
Jersey. PETER had accompanied
them to Camden, and was still board
ing with them. Mrs. Latham COM
palined that her mail was interrupted
and she did not receive it all Later
she wrote her mother for money TO
come to High Point, saying that
she was afraid to stay longer with the
Italians Hagley says that her moth
err sent her the money, and that she
did not take money from PETER. She
to High Point on Tuesday,
July 6, and Peter came here on
Friday, July 9.
Z Upon his arrival here, he sought
out Mrs. Latham, and asked her moth
er, Mrs. John Hagley, to be allowed
to stay there. He was given room
until he could find work and another
place to stay. George Hag1ey says
that he himself got PETER a place
with the High Point Hosiery Mill, and
that PETER left the house, ostensibly
hJ1f ho6
since coming here. He maintains
that PETER was sent here, or came
here for the express purpose of put
ting the girl out of the way to pre-
vent her from disclosing anything she