The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-11-02

'eNFNhS AA&AA ORCh1A tOAe%y ASA
 her counsel so that she might
 from the circumstantial net in VI aa 5 murder mystery has enmeshed .
 For the first time since she
 widowed by the staying of the ae.
 Edward Hall and his choir lea isr.
 Mrs, Eleanor Mills. Mrs. Hall emef tsa
 from her seclusion she has m
 tained for several weeks. meeting 4s
 small army of newspaper repor
 In her home.
 Al the end she retired as she s entered the room, wan but compo .
 She had shed no light on tho
 tery. She had fallen into none
 tho traps the cross examiners pared for her. Hers was a mega story. It amplified but did not terially alter the statement previc ly made on her behalf by counsel sa friends.
 Motive Unexplained Briefly. sit was that Dr. Hall had started out to his doom, saying he was going on an errand of r to discuss with Mrs, Mills a fss4Iks
 bill which he was paying with ehHsaa funds; that he was slain by a gs Ha and for motive at which h not the slightest conjecture; an8 khsas her memory of him was UT sf by the ugly scandal in whiah BIS name has been involved. 1t was 2:30 o'clock when Ttmofns N. Pfeiffer, Mrs. Halls lawyt ez- corted her into the quaint librA of the big Hall home, where th rrE porters were waiting in yelaf
 ranks.
 He introduced her and witairaHy,
 leaving her alone with her ordeai Of personal publicity-an ordeal tzsn which she had said she had sftcak since youth.
 Room Described Attired in gown of black ct1n crepe. with n light scarf of aek silk about her shoulders. she H4ad herself in an old fashioned | 64r and let her gray eyes rove owe tho
 strange scene her familiar Il nary presented.
 The background of greenish snia wall paper hung with medl cR classical prints and portraits of an- cestors; the mantei with its litter of bric-a brac and vases; the antique
 bookcases, one stopped swtth n ehildsa tmker toxN-all shese wero familiar enough. fuc the rugs had baen pushed back; chairs cluttered the room, and in each ohair sat re- porter There were g score of men and two women. At round mahogany table at her side sat two court stenographers to
 make a transcript of the interview. Asked if she were holding anything
 back in order to protect anyone near
 and dear to her she replied: "Positiveiy mo-" She asserted she still believed her
 husband had been true to her. l Asked her feeling toward Mrs. Mills she replied:
 T don't know what to say" Opposes Reward Asked why she had offered no re- ward for solution of the crime, she replied:
 q think it would be awful" When she was asked if she did not wish to see the murderer punished.
 she replied:
 T don't wish to see anyone pun ished."
 l She explained that she means that I she had no vindictive feeling toward anyone and that she wished the mur-
 derer apprehended only because she did not think 1t safe for society to have him at large. Mrs Hall said she knew of nothing | in the life of her husband which could have involved him in murder and that she was absolutely ig
 norant of any motive that could have existed for the crime. 1 Asked what she would have done
 if she had known of any intimacy ex- istlng between Dr. Hall and Mrs. Mills, the rectors wife said: | T would have spoken to him" | Asked if she believed in divorce.
 she declined to answer. Dramatic Scene l It was a dramatic scene when the
 score of reporters who have been
 trying for weeks to question Mrs. Hall were ushered into the study of the rectory in which pr. Hall pre- pared his sermons. 1 The reporters formed in a semi | circle around the room. Seated at a | desk in the center was the rector's | wife-a middle aged woman dressed | entirely in black, bespectacled and | solemn. She sat with her arms | folded and at no time during the
 interview did she give way to l emotions.
 1 After the newspaper men had been | ushered into the Hall home, Mrs. | Halls lawyer withdrew, leaving his | client alone with the reporters. The l interview began at 1:30 p. m. and | lasted an hour and a half, during which time Mrs. Hall was asked all | manner of questions. ! Doubts Love Letters l Mrs. Hall said she doubted the | authenticity of the love letters and | diary found after the murders, be- | cause 1t seconded to her unlikely that | MT. Hall. from what she knew of him. i would have written such things. She 1 said she did not think she would l make any comparison of the hand {! writing.
 | She said it never occurred to her l that Mir Hall telephoned Mrs. Mills
 too often, or went to see her too | tContinued on Page Two.)
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