The Washington times., 1922-10-20
PAR|SH|ONERS
GASP AS HALL
+ CASE IS Barred
Difficult for People Who Knew
Couple to Grasp Truth
of Affair.

Couple to Grasp Truth
of Affair.
By JOHN A. MOROSO.
Novelist and Playwright.
Author Of "The People Against
Nancy Preston" ''The City
Of Silent Men," etc.
written for Cosmopolitan News
Service.
NEW BRUNSWICK. N. j.. Oct.
xO.-The many sincerely religious
people of this city who hung on to
the last to a belief that the Rev.
to save Mrs Eleanor r. Mills, a
choir singer in the Church Of st.
John, the Evangelist, from 100
romantic nature, are today. after
the publication Of the minister's pas.
sionate letters, merely members OF
the almost measureless multitude
OF people fascinated by a mystery
the equal of which for pure human
interest has seldom filled the news
papers Of this country.
Even the widow of the murdered
minister. when shown the love let
ters to the choir singer, and fac.
SMILES Of his writing, had to ad'
init that the chirography was SINH
ilar to that Of her husband. al
though she declared to Prosecutor
Beekman, during an hour Of grill
Ing, that she did not believe the let.
ters genuine.
Practitioners Gasp.
There were many influential
members Of the fashionable Episco-
pal church who refused to admit
that there could have been a love
affair between their pulpit favorite
and the sweet voiced Mrs. Mills.
and until the letters were pub
lished, they stood out valiantly for
the honor of the slain man. With
a gasp they were changed in
realize that in their parish. with its
Uncovered church, its fragrance
of altar flowers. its soft music and
the eloquence Of a long-tried rector,
they We're unconscious participants
In a tragedy more terrible than
that of Arthur Dimmesdale and
Hester Brynne in Hawthorne's
'The Scarlet Letter"
Guilty loce! The time seems
cheap and commonplace, but no
other time would fit this true story
II 1t were put in book form and
sold as a novel. And between min
lister and singer, the letters Of
both show, this love rose to a
flame of passion, a destroying
flame, a passion for "fiery hquid
Kisses" and caresses Of utter aban-
donment.
When the lovers were separated
they kept diaries Of each moment of
each day. so that each might not
lose utterly touch with the other for
q single moment. The veriest COM
monplaces were matters of imrOr-
tance to them, he, a man Of nigh
education, and she, a rather sad
faced little woman and limited in
tellect. Even as he waited to stride
to the altar in his robes he wrote to
her a note to be delivered.
Voice Inspired Him.
Hers was the only voice in the
choir. 1t inspired him so that tie
men and women in the pews often
marveled at his word pictures Of
peace and bliss in heaven. He was
in an intellectual ecstacy strangely
mixed with wild physical desire
The thing could not have gone on
without a tragic finale. 1t cLme. a
double murder, filled with details Of
horror. three bullets in the fore.
head of the singer and her throat
slit for extra measure; one bullet
for the lover. and then his gr.
ments decently arranged. his glasses
placed on his nose, his face covered
and his right arm put under the
shoulders Of the dead woman.
"A woman must have dore it." is
heard on every side. Sometimes this
opinion is tempreed with, "Well II
she didn't shoot them, then she had
some one to do IL for her"
There are constant promises Of ac-
ton from the office of the county
prosecutor here. but that office
seems hopelessiy muddled and
tangled, while the people under sus-
picion are cool and sitting tight.
After summoning to his office Mrs.
Hall, the elderly widow Of the min.
lister. her brother, Henry Stevens, an
expert in fire arms; another brother.
willie" of eccentric nature; Char
lotte. the daughter of the woman
and various servants Of the Hall
household, all in one long day of
questioning rumors of new evidence.
nothing happened.
Mrs. Hall was nervous and in tears
when she entered the prosecutors
office. A little woman in black. used
70 wealth and every refinement of
living, trying to hide herself from
many photographers. She denied
knowing anything of the infidelity
81 her husband and stuck to her
original statement of being at home
the evening of the murder, save when
she went around to the church to
look for the minister between / and
2 o'clock in the morning. She denied
that she had ever known Of her hus.
band possession a .32 calibre revolver
or any kind of revolver. Mr. Beck.
man got nothing from her.
Henry Stevens showed Mr.. Beck.
man one of his initiated handker.
chiefs. one of several bought for him
IN France bv his mother. 1t bore
the letter "S." One Of the blood
stained handkerchiefs Is said to be
similarly marked. Mr.. Stevens says
that he was fishing with a friend
on the night of the murder at Lava
lette, forty. miles away, and knew
nothing of the tragedy until he was
summoned to New Brunswick by his
sister. A big man in build, SEEM
ingly a man of culture. with few
words for any one, he did not seem
affected by his latest examination.
he hant1niN. Il..t