Evening star., 1922-10-09
Slain Couple Mistaken for
BANNER Girl and Friend,
He Charges.
3OO-WORD STATEMENT
ACCUSED LAD, AGED 19
Informer Held as Witness-Tells
of Trailing Couple to Crab
apple Tree.

i NEW BRUNSWICK, n. j.. October
9.-Clifford Hayes. nineteen-year-old
admirer of Pearl Bahmer. who found
er Hall and Mrs. Eleanor Reinhardt
| Mills, choir singer. was arrested to-
. day and formally charged with first
| degree murder for the Staying.
Raymond Schneider, who was with
| the BANNER girl when the bodies
were found, was held as a material
witness. Prosecutors Beekman and
Stricken of Middlesex and Somerset
counties say Schneider signed 300
word statement accusing Hayes of
the crime.
| Trailed Man and Girl.
| According to Schneider's statement.
the double Staying was the result of
mistaken identity. He had gone out
with Hayes on the night Of the mur-
ders. he said. trailing a man who ac-
companied the BANNER girl. Seeing
couple beneath a crabapple tree.
he said, Hayes opened fire. Formal
announcement of the arrests was
made at 11:45 o'clock by Prosecutor
| Stricken.
| The authorities had been question
| ing since o'clock Sunday afternoon
Hayes and Schneider, local youths. 1t
| was said that they had been in the
vicinity of the Phillips farmhouse.
where the bodies were found, on the
night Of the murders.
| No More Arrests Now.
| The announcement. issued jointly by
| Prosecutor Stricken of Middlesex
! county and Beekman of Somerset
| county. read:
Upon information in the prosecu-
! tors Office obtained from Raymond
Schneider and other witnesses, We feel
obliged, under the circumstances. to
| prefer a charge Of murder against one
Clifford Hayes. Raymond Schneider
will be held as a material witness,
awaiting further Developments in the
case.
process will be issued out of Som
erset county. where it appears the
crime was committed. Consequently.
the prisoners will be detained in the
Somerset county Jail"
The prosecutors would not say
whether the arrest of Hayes had
eliminated the Hall and Mills families
from further consideration. No fur-
ther arrests are contemplated Tor the
present, they said.
Liar, Shouts Hayes.
Hayes, when confronted with
Schneider, as the latter told his story,
explained:
He is a liar.
According to Schneider, who admits
he is in love with the Bahmer girl. he
Hayes and Leo Kaufman when he
saw the girl pass with her stepfather:
Nicholas BANNER, he was jealous OF
the stepfather. he said, and when he
told the others of his suspicious they
agreed to follow the pair.
cleuch Park, where Kaufman left
nearby 1esb Philips farm. About II
o'clock. Schneider said, they ap-
preached the crab-appie Tree un9er
which the bodies of Mr.. Hall and Mrs.
Mills later were found, and Hayes
nointed to the two figures beneath
the tree, explaining:
There they are. Now well hx
them
Began to Shoot.
HAYES. Schneider declared. whipped
out a pistol and began to shoot.
When the pair collapsed. Schneider
said. he went forward. struck a match
and then turned to Hayes. explaining:
Great God, man, you've made a
The three then fed. according to the
statement.
Schneider declared he did not know
how the throat Of Mrs. Mills was cut
or who had laid the bodies out under
the tree, carefully adjusting their
clothing after they had been slain:
He declared that neither he nor his
companions had touched the bodies,
and they saw nothing Of the love let
ters written by Mrs. Mills, which were
found scattered about the scene.
still Mt Work on Case.
Detectives continued vigorously to
work on the case, clearly indicating
that they did not believe the double
Staying had been wholly cleared up
by Schneider's statement.
When word first was taken to the
home of Mrs. Frances Hall. widow OF
the slain ABOUT nas the case
Miss Sally Peters. her most intimate
friend and adviser. said:
isn't that fine. What has Mr.
strickler got to say to, lan himself .sd.t,nx now
Frances and willie (Willie Stevens,
eccentric brother of Mrs. Hal)."
Husband II Bitter.
James Mills, husband Of the slain
woman, was more bitter Wnen toio OF
the arrest. ,,. cs
what a mistake! Now l will have TO
stand for the funeral expenses. and
what have I left. my family is broken
up and while Mrs. Hall has servants,
I am alone am forced to get my own
meals and do my own washing. and !!
am left with my daughter in her last
year of school"
Kauffman were called to the Court
House yesterday for questioning, the
girl told her story and was allowed to
20. Kaufman also was excused after
lengthy examination.
Subjected to Long GRILL
Hayes and Schneider, however, were
held at the courthouse all through
the night, and subjected to repeated
Rrillings. It was Schneider and Pearl
Bahmer who first told the authorities
Of the presence Of the two bodies on
the Phillips farm. They told q police
man they had discovered the bodies
while hunting mushrooms. This was
two days after the slayings occurred
on the night Of September IA.
Schneider. in his statement today,
said he had gone back to the scene
with the BANNER girl partly out Of
curiosity and partly because he want
ed to show her how near she had
come to death because Of her walk
with her stepfathexs