The Washington herald., 1922-10-23
Jersey Prosecutor Must
Ask Indictments or
Admit Failure.
SLEUTH QUIZZES3
NEW WITNESSES
Sexton Charges Widow
Hinted Tragedy Before
Bodies Were Found.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J.. Oct. 22.
The Hall-Milis murder investiga-
tion will reach its climax tomor-
row. Either Prosecutor Beekman
Will 60 before the Somerset County
grand jury and ask the indictment
Of one. and probably three, per-
sons as responsible for the killing
OF the minister and the choir singer,
or the case will be virtually
dropped through a tacit admission
that his force has been unable to
obtain sufficient evidence to pro-
cure an Indictment.
Today's outstanding developments
were:
1. Declaration of James Mills,
husband of the slain choir singer.
that on a visit to the Hall home
before the bodies were found. Mrs.
Hall. widow OF the murdered rec
tor. declared they might be dead"
2. Examination of three more
witnesses. all women. one of whom
has never been examined before,
but who Is not. according to a de-
tective. the eyewitness to the
crime.
Examined Three Women.
The people of New Brunswick
and Somerville believe IL the prose
cutor has not sufficient evidence to
procure indictments now II is un-
likely that the case will ever be
solved.
This afternoon / examined three
women" admitted Detective Totten
today. They are witnesses in the
case. One OF these was never ex-
amined before. OF the other two. 1
will say nothing. They were not
questioned in Somerville because
they would have been pestered by
reporters. ! questioned them in a
secret place I have for that purpose
and stenographers were present.
The new witness Ia not the eye
witness the. murder. This new
witness took me to the Phillips
farm. where we went over the
ground. She called my attention to
several things. Beyond that 1 will
say nothing"
James Mills said tonight that he
spoke with Mrs. Hall. the widow
four times the Friday before the
bodies were found. The first time
was when they met in the church.
about o'clock in the morning.
when Mills went to the church TO
look for his wife and Mrs. Hall went
in quest of her husband. The sec
ond time was when Mrs. Hall went
to Mills home a few hours later.
That night Mills went to the Hall
home twice and talked with Mrs
Hall.
Mills insists that upon one of
these occasions Mrs Hall said to him
The must be dead" Mrs. Hall has
denied this. When Mills was asked
II. in his opinion. the minister's af-
fections for Mrs. Mills were simply
platonic. he replied:
Think Hall All Right.
BY God. I think he's all right
yet. Something in those letters
| don't look right to me. but 1 am
sure there was nothing wrong be-
tween my wife and DR.. Hall"
Mrs. Hall refused to be seen to-
night and when her close friend.
Miss Sallie Peters. was asked for
a statement as coming from Mrs
Hall. she would say nothing. ex-
| cept that Timothy Pfeiffer counsel
for Mrs. Hall. would be at the
Hall home tomorrow and might
have something to say.
1t is expected that Mrs Minnie
Clarke a member of the choir, will
be one of the witnesses before
the grand jury tomorrow. Efforts
to get Mrs. Clarke to talk to news
paper men were unsuccessful. Her
husband. Addison Clarke said his
wife was indisposed. Clarke vol
unteered the information that his
wife had been questioned by the
authorities on several occasions to
ascertain what she knew, IL any
thing, of the case. Clarke refused
to say II his wife was the Minnie
referred to in letters from Mrs.
Mills to DR.. Hall. In one of these
letters Mrs. Mills wrote Poor Min
ME. She will have to be satisfied
with the crumbs"
To Call Other Witnesses.
other witnesses are Ralph B.
Gorsline. who admits he was within
a half mile of the scene in an auto
mobile with a young woman: Mrs.
AlVah Jordan, paid organist of DR..
Halls church; Barbara Tough ana
Louisa Geist. maids in the Hall
household
Jealousy as a motive for the slay-
ings seemingly remains the track
on which the probers are working.
Blackmail and robbery have been
discarded. The theory is that the
murderers rode to the scene in an
automobile. not to murder but to
confront the minister and the choir
singer and thus induce them to ter
inmate their clandestine trysts.
Violent Scene Ensued.
A violent scene ensued as the two
were found together. 1t is believed.
followed by an attempt to assault
the minister. The latter, 1t is
thought. drew his revolver, but be-
fore he could use 1t. 1t was wrenched
away from him ana used to murder
him and his companion.
Tonight the prosecutors offlce re-
fused any inkling of what evidence
will be presented to the grand Jury
or the number of witnesses to be