Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-10-28
AUTHORITIES SEEK
To SUBSTANT|ATE
WOMAN S CHARGES
Woman-Farmer Alleged
Eyewitness, Gives De-
tailed Account of Events on
Fatal Night

NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J., Oct.
27.-Wilbur A. Mott, special deputy
attorney general, who has taken over
the inquiry into the Hall-Mills muir
der mystery, expected to interview
prominent churchman today in an
effort to corroborate statements OF
Mrs. Jane Gibson, eyewitness of the
Staying.
Mott indicated that he intended to
cause the churchman's arrest unless
he agrees to become witness for
the prosecution. Failure of the man,
said to have been near the scene or I
the murder, to acquaint the authori-
ties with his alleged knowledge OF
the affair, has laid him liable to ar
rest, Prosecutor Mott believes.
Mott is said to be in possession OF
data showing that this same man
had discovered the letters of Mrs.
EleanHr Reinhardt Mills, left in the
church stove for the Rev. Edward
Wheeler Hall, who was killed with
her, and that he showed them to Mrs.
Frances Stevens Hall, the clergy
mans wife.
His car is said to have been park
ed near the crabapple tree on the old
Phillips place and it's headlights made
n
the battle that ended in the death
of DIR. Hall and Mrs. Mills.
Attorneys Statement
Attorney Timothy N. Pfeiffer, rep
resenting Mrs. Hall, denied last night
that either Mrs. Hall or her brother,
Henry Stevens, were present when
the clergyman and his choir singer
were killed. He reiterated that Mrs.
Hall did not leave her home that
night between p. m. and 2 "a. M.
and that Henry Stevens was fishing
in the ocean at Lavallette, n. ].
| Mr. Pfeiffer's statement followed
! the disclosure that Mrs. Hall and
| Stevens were the persons named IN
i the sworn statement of Mrs. Gibson.
Proseetstnr Mott indicated that ar
rests were imminent but he Prefer
red to wait until he had an iron
clad" case. Persons under suspicion
are being watched closely.
Mrs. Frances Stevens Hall, widow
of tn eslain rector of the Protestant
| Episcopal Church of St. Joha the
| Evangelist, and her brother, Henry
Stevens, are man and woman named
in the sworn statement of Mrs. Jane
cal ofu 1od cxro nf
double Staying of the Rev. Edward
Wheeler Hall and Mrs. Eleanor
Reinhadrt Mills on the night of
September IA, last.
This announcement was not made
by the authorities, but became
known last night through the issu-
| ance of a statement by Mrs. Halls
attorney, Timothy Pfeiffer,- denying
the facts of Mrs. Gibsons account
and declaring that neither the rec
tors widow nor her brother were on
the Phillips farm on the night Of the
double Staying.
MRS. Gibsons statements are
contrary to the facts" Mr.. Pfeiffer
said. Mrs. Hall was in her home
all evening. Barbara Tough, one of
the maids was out thrat night and
Louisa Geist, the other mad, was
on the back stoop. There was no
one else but a little seven-year-old
niece in the house with Mrs. Hall.
But there may have been one visitor.
Said She Saw Four Persons
Henry Stevens Identification as
one of the quartet seen on the farm
is also contrary to fact. Henry was
ait Lavallette, N. j., all that night"
Mrs. Gibson in her. statement, it is
known, declared that she had seen
four persons on the night of the
murders under the crabapple tree,
where, two days later, the bodies of
the rector and the choir singer were
found.
Mrs. Gibson also said in her state
ment that she heard the man, whom
she alleges she saw fire series of
shots at the rector and the choir
singer, addressed by his companion.
The cries of Mrs. Mills, which Mrs.
Gibson declared "still ring in my ears
at night" had hardly echoed, the
woman farmer said, when the second
woman in the quartet screamed in
a torrifio6 +ona ooh IJonrv