Evening star., 1922-09-22
CHURCH MEMBERS
IN MURDER GRILL
"MoraI Censor" Sought for
Staying of Rector and
Choir Leader.
POISON AT TEA PARTY
Mrs. Mills Victim of Former At.
tempted Murder Is Detective
Theory.
POISON AT TEA PARTY
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N. j.. Septem-
Der 22.-The mystery of who killed
the Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall, rec
tor of the Protestant Episcopal
Church of st. John the Evangelist,
and his choir leader, Mrs. Eleanor
Reinhardt Mills. wife Of the church
sexton, seemed as far from solution
today as 1t was nearly a week ago,
when the bodies were found.
Authorities turned to questioning
the individual members of the
little church, indicating that the in
vestigators give some weight to the
theory advanced by Ellis Parker,
county detective. that the slain couple
may have been the victims of a per-
son inspired by religious fanaticism.
An obsession to be censorious of the
conduct of the clergyman may have
prompted the crime, according to this
theory.
While the investigators have indi-
Gated that they have a definite theory
and that it points to n certain indi-
vidual. they have been slow to make
their conclusions public until they
complete the inquiry. Both Mills and
Mrs. Hall are vigorous in declaring
they do not believe stories of i'm
proper relations between the pair.
The widow of the slain rector is said
to believe that her husband and Mrs
Mills were killed as result of mis-
taken identity. She has also felt that
robbery prompted the crime.
Attempt to XIII Woman.
Detectives report that an attempt
had been made on Mrs. Mills NHe
several weeks before the murder.
This report was to the effect that
shortly before Mrs. Mills went to a
hospital for an operation she had at
tended a tea party and partaken of
refreshments. She left short time
later. complaining Of illness. the re-
port ran. aud when she reached home
told her daughter Charlotte that she
believed size had been poisoned,
The name Of the hostess at the tea
party was withheld by the authori-
ties. Charlotte refused to discuss the
report with newspaper men. What
she said to detectives, II anything,
could not be ascertafned.
news that James Mills, husband Of
the slain choir leader. has disappeared
from New Brunswick, furnished the
high spots in the case yesterday.
Detective Ferguson. Of the Middlesex
county force. it was learned, had been
seeking Mills all day to question him
further concerning discrepancies in
the stories told by him and by Mrs,
Hall. the rector's widow, and her
eccentric brother, willie" Stevens.
When he visited the Mills home
yesterday morning. Ferguson was told
that Mills had gone to the cemetery
to visit his wife's grave. The de-
tective failed to find him there.
Later, he was informed that Mills.
broken by the nervous strain under
which he has been since the double
tragedy. had gone away to rest"
Suspect sMoral Censor.s
Believing the establishment Of the
fact that gossip regarding Mr.. Hail
and Mrs. Mills was prevalent would
strengthen the theory Of an enmity
motive for the murder-or the theory
advanced by Detective Ellis Parker of
Burlington county that q "self-ap-
pointed moral censor might have
the crime-other detectives
spent the day visiting various smem-
bers Of the congregation and Ques-
tioning, them as to their knowledRa
of the gossip.
Although they were reticent a the
results OF dshing expeditions. Il was
learned, that one woman had besn
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