The Washington times., 1922-09-20

The mysterious murder Of Rector
Edward w. Hall and his choir leader,
Mrs. Eleanor Mills, is one OF marked
contrasts and strange coincidence,
with little bits here and there OF
other famous murder cases, a bit Of
the Carman case. a bit of the case
OF Capt. Peter Haynes, yet not like
any of the historic cases that glare
out OF the past.
Five days after the murder may
say that the more see Of the Hall
Mills mystery the more am re-
minded Of the first maxim I learned
from William J. Burns:
You may figure out all the rea-
sons why a certain person could not
have committed a certain crime, and
then you may find that that person
did It,"
In a beautiful mansion surrounded
by the wealth and fashion of this
bustling cid manufacturing town
and intellectual center, until last
Thursday lived the dignified and
charitable rector of the UNCOVERED
Church Of st. John the Evangelist.
Some thirty years ago he was one
OF the famous choir boys OF the
Grace Church. Then he went to
Finally he came, about ten years
ago. to New Brunswick. where he
married a lady some fifteen years
his senior. possibly to insure his
future. as an attorney has said, for
she came from one of the oldest and
wealthiest families Of the State. She
was Frances Stevens.
She Loved Husband.
or one thing we may be sure,
as In the Carman case. she loved
him. loved him deeply. and with a
passionate devotion that only a
cataclysm could shake. Frances
Stevens Hall leaves us today specu-
lating on whether that catacfysm.
in the shape of another woman.
has shaken her.
In contrast to the mansion on
Nichols avenue is a little old two.
story frame house of Ill repair on
Carman street. On the second
floor Of this little house lived ths
sextop OF the church. and with him
his rather pretty, very vivacious
wife. choir leader. mother Of u
fifteen year old girl. and a boy
about three years younger. She
was the romance-lovinR Eleanor
Reinhardt Mills.
History has known many min.
listers who loved ladies' and many
ladies who loved ministers. II Is
but another case in which all arc
human. In the words which must
often have been repeated by the
rector:
I'VE have left undone the things
that we should have done. and we
have done the things we ought not
to have done, and there is no
health In u.s."
when the rector receives a telephone
call. Mrs. Mills receives a telephone
call. What the calls were we do
not know, but the rectofs call sept
him to a trysting place; the choir
leaders call sent her there also, a
trysting place much frequented.
Mrs. Hall knew nothing of the ma.
ture of the call, she says, although
there was an extension Of her tcle.
phone on which she easily could
have listened in.
Mr.. Mills asserts that his wife left
him at about the same hour with
rather flippant remark about fol-
lowing her IL he wanted to know
anything.
Searched For Him.
So began the strange sequence Ct
coincidence following this meeting
of contrasts. 1t lie what happened
between this time, about 1880. and
say, midnl ght, that the powers OF
Middlesex and Somerset counties ARE
trying to figure out.
Coincidence numper two followed
about o'clock the next morning.
Mrs. Hall. becoming worried about
the absence Of her husband, who
had. she says, never stayed out as
late as that before, woke up her
brother, william, who lived with
them, and together they went over
to the church. She says she feared
the rector might have fallen asleep
In his study. He was not there. Nor,
she says, did she meet anyone.
At about the same time James
Mills awoke. according to his own
statement, missed his wife. became
worried. for she was never out as