Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-11-02
Spot Where Slain Bodies of
Rector and Choir Singer
Were Found Visited by
Thousands
BY ROBERT TOMPKINS
Ueased Wire Service to The Journal.)
Copyright, 1929 ..

| NEW BRUNSWICh, N. d. NOV
IA silent and plainly apprehen
sive congregation at the church
singer used to worship; a subdued
air of drawn curtains and secret
watchers at the two homes most
concerned; determination on the
part of the cemetery officials to keep
the grave of Eleanor Mills safe
from trophy hunters; and carni-
val of vandalism atothe isolated farm
where the crime occurred-this is
how New Brunswick took it's TRACE
dy on the sixth Sunday since the
i crime.
After weeks Of excitement the
feelings of the 100000 townspeople is
taut to the breaking point with mu-
tual speculation and morbid antici-
patton. Nor is the strain relieved
by the fact that thousands of mo-
florists and pedestrians came yes
terday from places within radius
of 100 miles and from early morning
until after dark stared at the Mills
and Hall homes, ransacked the Phil
lips farm once more, filled Derrusy
! lane with the clamor of motor horns
and went away at last with hand.
| fulls of popcorn from the roadside
vendors and the satisfaction deriv-
ed from a day spent happily in the
midst of horrors.
Whittle Crab Apple Tree
Before the day ended the famous
crab apple tree, beneath which the
bodies of the rector and his choir
singer were found, was nearly all
! tod 5nx Z he
tree had been stripped by souvenir
hunters of every twig and branch.
Yesterday the more energetic van
dals brought great pocket knives
and even saws. BY nightfall the
slender trunk had been Clipped off
and hacked almost to the ground,
which, itself, was trampled bare of
brush, golden rod and even the
grass blades.
People brought the children
along. The boys Skinned under the
| trunk, under the indulgent gaze of.
their mothers, and did remarkable
execution with their jack knives
until someone came along with a
small saw. Around the boys stood
groups of men and women gazing
| at the holes left when chemical
analysts dug up the blood-stained
earth beneath the heads of the vic
Tins. Around these groups was a
great circle Of parked motor cars.
Others came with footing horns
making their way slowly through
the steady stream of people who
came on foot and on bicycles. y
Beyond what remains of the
bushes in which Mrs. Jane Gibson
says Eleanor Mills hid until the STAY.
ers dragged her out, stands what
is left of the empty Phillips farm
house. A wide spaced gracious old
building with big fireplaces in every
room, the century old mansion has
been Looted of everything but the
heavier pieces of furniture. Bu-
reaus have been yanked open and
their contents borne away. Books
and ma gazines have been stolen.
Pictures even have been taken from
the frames on the walls and n dress.
makers form stood on the front
porch yesterday waiting to he pack
cd into a car by its new and triumph.
ant owner. The only reason that
Mrs. Gibson's farm has not been
overrun by the curious is that state
troopers are here guarding it.
Not that any of the things loot
GU NctlUIOICs 4NOI at Oil. IlClL
value lies only in the fact of their
connection with a dreadful crime.
The Mills plot in the cemetery in
which is the body of the murdered
singer would be denuded long be-
fore now if the cemetery officials
had not strictly forbidden visitors.
The balloons bought from the road
side vendors whom the police are
tardily dispensing, have not been
buoght for their intrincis beauty
but for their morbid association
with the spot.
This souvenir frenzy which has
broken out around the Phillips farm
like a plague is, to a psychologist
one of the most interesting phases
of the crime. An eminent New
York psychologist who has made an
expert study of this crime, and
whose sincerity is vouched for by
the fact that he declines publicity
even to the extent of allowing his
name to be mentioned, has given
the writer an explanation Of the
craze.
'sThese people are drawn tc the
scene of the murder by n vicarious
enjoyment 10th of the >cr'nle and
what led to it." he said. "Uncon-
sciously the visitor to such a place
puts himself or herself in he place
of the victims or the avengers or in
the place of both. This IS Semitic
fact. Horror, is the lure, but the
horror is largey made up of envy.
The visitor is quick to condemn the
victim, or the slayers, o." both.
Why? 2ecluee the victims or The
slayers dared to do something the
visitors might might like to do but
dares not. Who is the self-appoint-
ed moral censor of any community
first to scent scandal and to spread
it? The 'rounder' himself, or the
gossip who fails of place in the
limehght of the community's roman
tic life.
Taking away relics Of a murder
serves to keep the thing fresh in
the visitors mind. 1t is search for
thrills, but a search definitely in
spired by morbid envy"
Believes Amateurs Guilty
The psychologist pointed to the
frequency with which people who
have been gossiped about are being
beaten-some times killed-by mask
ed bands, amateur gangs of moral
hoodlums." Partly as a result OF
the emotional crisis of the war, clan
destine philandering is likely to in