The New York herald., 1922-10-27
MRS. GIBSON'S STORY GIVES
FINAL CLEWS IN HALL CASE

were seen, all four, is the fragment OF
the puzzle that has been missing. II
takes the place OF the strange improb-
able tale of Raymond Schneider that
he and Clifford Hayes crept through the
darkness to the tree in search or NICK
BANNER and his daughter. Pearl, and II
forever ends the theory that Hall and
Mrs Mills may have been killed else
where and carried to the spot Whers
the bodies were found.
1t ends the talk of hired assasslns ana
of possible blaclnail, and 1t removes
any suspicion that q mild little sexton
may have seen red for once in his drao
and colorless life. 1t is, as Mrs. Gibson
said to TIE NEW YORK HERALD repre-
sentative the key to the whole solution.
Behind this story and the details OF II
are as enhancing as the best OF steven
son tales, there lies evidence OF another
character especially the letters that
were found beside the two bodies, the
letters OF Mrs. Mills 10 Hall which dis
closed their relations. 1t Is significant
that when he was asked particularly
about these letters Mr.. Mott, the spe-
cia prosecutor. said rather sharply,
though his manner had been quite
otherwise:
Now you are getting entirely too
close"
clinch the case. just as. possibly, they
clinched the case against the man who
received them.
Who Was the MotOrist.
Who drove the automobile whose
headlights first guided the woman on
the mule and what was he doing in the
neighborhood? Was he alone and was
he a frequenter of that part of New
Rrunswick's outskirts with its ques-
tionable reputation? Did he turn about
and head for home by chance, or had
his headlights shown him, too, a moro
or less familiar figure? And if he knew
anything why has he not come forward
and told what he knew? These are
questions that have still to be answered
as far as the public is concerned.
Mrs. Gibson has said she saw an auto
mobile OF apparently expensive make
parked along F.aston avenue on the far
side. nearly opposite the entrance, to De
Russy lane. Whose this was may have
to be determined. There is talk that it
was an old fashioned sort of automobile,
such as was mentioned by Soper of
Highland Park, but there appears little
ground for belief in this story.
It would appear despite the uneN-
planned absence Of the rector who had
gone whistling to his final tryst with
the choir singer, the Hall home that
night was peaceful There is evidence
of all sorts of this. In the signed state
ment of Mrs. Hall In the second week
of mystery she wrote:
Mr. Hall went out about 80 telling
me that he was going to the Mills
to explain something that Mr.. Mills
did not quite understand in the
doctors bill. Mr.. Hall was always early
in coming home. Naturally I was very
much worried when he did not come IN
about 2:30. My anxiety became so great
that ] reused my brother William anc
we went down to the church,
Heard Nothing Until O'Clock.
Barbara Tough, one Of the maids
who had the day off that Thursday
September 14--and had been out riding
in the evening. said to-day that she
reached the Hall residence at 10 O'Clock
and that there was not q soul stirring
Barbara added:
80 / presumed every one was asleeI
and I went to bed. I,did not hear any
thing until o'clock, then heard Mrs
Hall moving about. I know II was .
o'clock because the clock struck while
l was awake"
Louise Geist. the other maid. says
that she was about the house in the
evening, sitting on the steps part of the
time. but there is reason to believe that
Louise is quite uncertain in the matter
of exact time. She saw nothing un-
usual about the house.
In the field OF goldenrod on the Phil
lips farm when Mrs Gibson first saw
the pair that walked together TO the
apple tree and they attracted her atten-
ton she noted as to the woman:
She had on light gray coat. knee
length. am not sure whether the mar
had on a cap or a hat, but he had O
heavy mustache and bushy hair"
Mrs. Gibson also said in her affidavit
that she had met the woman who wore
the gray coat at a rummage sale some
| time before the crime, but the woman
went on:
Il put my heel to Jenny's ribs and
started homeward ] went home and
tried to forget everything. Until they
arrested Clifford Hayes and charged him
with the murder | did not intend TO say
anything about it,
Mrs. Gibson seems in some doubt
whether she really could identify one
man with bushy hair and n heavy mus
tache from another with similar adorn-
ments. She admitted the possibility oi
n mistake. and connected it with hei
visit to the Court House, asserting tina,
when the names Of two men were men.
| toned and their resemblance spoken OF
Yes, that's what mixed up the identi.
| fication.'
Timothy n. Pfeiffer, counsel for Mrs
Hall. who passed few busy hours al
the Hall home during the day, was in
! terviewed as he was leaving and had
some interesting answers to give tC
questions. Mrs. Gibson's statement was
of course. the chief topic. In answer tc
one question he said:
Mrs. Hall was in her home the entir,