The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-11-02
MRS. HALL ANSWERS MANY QUESTIONS;
DENIES KNOWLEDGE OF DOUBLE MURDER

oeSS w AA0An~ S1a
New Brunswick, N. j., Nov. a.
While declining to comment ON the in.
terview given out by the wife Of the
slain rector the authorities who are
conducting an investigation In the
Hall-Mills murder sought to identity
q man described by Mrs. Gibson as
the murderer. They pointed out that
little would be gained by going to
tho grand jury with the Gibson story
because the account stated that the
woman she saw on the murder scene
did not commit the murders.
New Brunswick, Nov. 2,---Janes
Mills, husband Of sthe slain, singer,
commenting on Mrs; Halls state-
insnts IN her interview; declared he
b ~not vinddctive either but wants
The murderer punished. He believes
. woman killed the couple and cut his
wife's throat in spite because Of her
beautiful singing.
New Brunswick, N. j., Nov. / (By
the Associated Pressl .--"What COM
ment could I make? Of course that
WAS not 90. and that ID all"
With these words, Mrs. Frances
Stevens Hall opened today her frat
interview--an interview planned by
her counsel so that she might seek
to extricate herself, in the public eye,
from the circumstantial net in which
the unfolding Of the Hall-Mills MUIR
der mystery has enmeshed her.
For the first time since she was
widowed by the staying Of the Rev.
Edward Wheeler Hall and his choir
leader, Mrs. Eleanor Reinhardt Mills,
Mrs. Hall emerged from the seclusion
she has maintained for seven weeks
meeting a small army Of newspaper
writer's in her home, and subjecting
herself to an hours bombardment Of
questions.
At the end, she retired as she had
entered the room, wan but composed.
She had shed no light on the mystery,
She had fallen into some of the traps
the cross-examiners prepared for her.
Hers was negative story. 1t ampli-
field but did not materially alter the
statements previously made on her
behalf by counsel and friends.
Briefly, it was that DR.. Hall had
estsrtsd usts 7tSss sicosns &eytsg Dc
was going on an errand Of mercy--to
discusa with Mrs. Mills hospital bill
which he was paying with church
funds; that he was slain by a person
and for motive at which she has
not the slightest conjecture; and that
her memory Of him is unsullied by tn.
ugly scandle in which his name has
been involved.
It was half past 2 o'clock wher
Timothy N. Pfeiffer, Mrs. Halls law
yer, escorted her into the quaint Ii
brary Of the big Hall home where tn,
reporters were waiting in serrie,
ranks.
ulIIOuuCCu bSt anu "ithA1 e W
leaving her alone with her ordea
Of personal publicity-an ordeal iron
which she had said she had shrunl
since youth.
Attired in a gown Of black canto
crepe, with . light scarf Of black sill
about her shoulders, she seated her
self in an old fashioned rocker an
let her gray eyes rove over tn
strange scene her familiar librar
presented.
The. background Of greenish-gol
: wall paper, hung with medley Q
classical prints and portraits of ar
cestors; the mantel with it's litter q
bric-a-brac and vases; the antiqu
book cases-one topped with child
tinker-toy--all these were familia
enough. But the rugs had been pushe
back; chairs sluttered the room ar
in each cher sat reporter. The,
were seore Of men and two wome
At . round mahogany table at HI
side sat two court steuographers I
make transcript Of the interview.
Tho reporters matching her rovir
gaze with intent stare, saw a rath
plump woman of 47-pale, obvious
tired, and slightly nervous. Her grs
hair was brushed back in high por
padour that emphasized slightly Il
long oval of her face.
She braced one hand on each arm
her rocker, and the interview was @
"Have you any comment to mai
,~,Mrs. Hail." the spokesman began, I"
he part of Mrs. Gibson's story (Ml
Jane Gibson, the ,socalled eyewitne
Of the slaying) in which she says y
were present on the Phillips farm
the night Of September A?"
Moistening her lips, Mrs. Hall !
piled:
"What comment could make?
course that was not so, and that
ALL"
'eYou were not there?"
81 certainly was not"
For an hour, then, one reporter
ter another volleyed questions at h
|skolfpo, hor over her story of her 8