The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-11-02
Elk !. RAJ.
WIDOW OF RECTOR
MAKES STATEMENT
Mrs. Frances n. Stevens Hall De-
clares She Knew Nothing of
Brutal Murder of Husband.
(By Associated Press Leased Wirel

New Brunswick, n. J.-Breaking her
silence for the first time, Mrs. Frances
N. Hall today told reporters that she
was absolutely ignorant of how her
husband, Rev. Edward w. Hall, came
to meet his death with Mrs. Eleanor
R, Mills, choir singer, on the Phil
lips farm, September IA.
The rector's wife, at an interview
in her home, arranged by her attor-
ney, asserted that she had absolutely
no knowledge of the shooting, that
she was not on the farm on the night
of the double shooting, that she bore
no enmity toward either DR.. Hall or
Mrs. Mills and that she had no
knowledge of any love letters having
passed between them.
Asked if she we're holding anything
back in order to protect any one near
and dear to her, she replied:
positively no."
Still Believes Husband True.
She asserted she still believed her
husband had been true to her.
Asked her feeling toward Mrs. Mills
she replied:
II don't know what to say"
Asked why she had offered no re-
ward for solution of the crime she
replied:
81 think it would be awful"
When she was asked if she did not
wish to see the murderer punished,
she replied:
81 don't wish to see any one
punished"
She explained that she meant that
she had no indicative feeling toward
any one and that she wished the muir
derer apprehended only because she
didenot think i+ssafe Gov society to
have him at large.
Mrs. Hall said she knew of nothing
in the life of her husband which
could have involved him in a murder
and that she was absolutely ignor-
ant of any motive that could have
existed for the crime.
Asked what she would have done
if she had known of any intimacy
Mills, the rector's wife said:
81 would have spoken to him."
Asked if she believed in divorce,
she declined to answer.
Dramatic Scene at Hall Home.
1t was a dramatic scene when the
score of reporters who have been
trying for weeks to question Mrs.
Hall, were ushered into the study
of the rectory in which DR., Hall pre-
pared his sermons.
The reporters formed in a semi
circle around the room. Seated at a
desk in the center was the rector's
wife-a middle aged woman, dressed
in black, bespectacled and solmen.
She sat with her arms folded and at
no time during the interview, did she
give way to emotions.
After the newspaper men had been
ushered into the Hall home, Mrs.
Halls lawyer withdrew, leaving his
client alone with the reporters. The
interview began at 1880 p. m. and
lasted about an hour and half dur
ing which time Mrs. Hall was asked
all manner of questions.
The questions started with one
which concerned the story told by
Mrs. Jane Gibson, pig raiser, who
claims to have been on the Phillips
farm the night of the murders and
to have been an eye witness to the
double Staying.
Mrs. Gibson's Story Untrue.
Q-Have you any comment to make
Mrs. Hall, on that part of Mrs. Glib
sons statement in which she said you
were present on the Phillips farm on
the night of September IA?
A-What comment could I make
of course, that was not so, and
that is all.
Q-You weren't there?
Al certainly was not.
"Did you leave your house at any
time that night, except when you went
out with your brother?
A-No.
Q-Will you give your movements
as nearly as you can recall on the
night of September IA?
Wouldn't you rather ask ques-
tions?
Q-Will you tell US your move
ments on the night of September IA
as near as you can recollect?
Details Night of Murder
Ave had our supper about $3.50
and 1 went on the porch for little
while after that. I had Mr.. Halls
little nieca with me. His brother was
there and Mr.. Hall was here at sup
per time. 1 stayed out on the porch
for little while and then a little
later came in with the little girl and
PLAYED games with her for a while
until $3.50 or somewhere along there.
Then I put her to bed upstairs and
came down again. 1t was somewhere
along after 900, l should say, and
sat here in the library reading until
about 1890 and then went upstairs,
and prepared for bed / waited for
Mr.. Hall to come in and / went to bed