The Washington times., 1922-12-28
CR|LLED|M
DEATH Of
WOMAN
Prisoner Accused Of StrangIing
Mrs. Brigham and Hiding
Her Body.

ORANGE, N. j., Dec. ZS.-Po-
lice today were questioning Will
liam E. Battles, negro, held with
out bail on a charge of first
degree murder in connection with
the killing Of Mrs. Eleanor
Louise Brigham, in an effort to
secure a confession from him.
Feeling is running high in this
town against the prisoner and his
father, who is being detained by
officials for examination.
Body Found I'm Closet.
The body OF Mrs. Brigham was
found last night by detectives In the
basement OF her home in an exclusive
residential district packed into a pre-
serve closet in the cellar.
She had been strangled.
Discovery of the murder ceme
when Brigham, on his return from
business. found his wife missing.
Battles was arrested after Mar
garet, the seven-year-old daughter
Of the Brighams, had identified him
as a man who had been working
about the home during the day.
The negro denied knowledge OF the
crime.
Clothing Badly Torn.
Mrs. Brigham's body, horribly mu.
tilated, evidently had been cram
med hastily into the closet by the
murderer before he fled. Her cloth.
ing was badly torn.
Authorities, after an examination
OF the body. proceeded on the theory
that Mrs. Brigham had been the VIC
tim OF a degenerate.
Brigham collapsed after he had
found his wife's body, and today was
nearly wild with grief. He is a WELL
known and prosperous business man.
Mrs. Brigham was a good-looking
woman, quiet and domestic. and a de-
voted mother to three little children
who were asleep when their mother
met her frightful fate.
Marks on the Floor.
The children were all confined
to their room upstairs by measles.
They told their father that they
had heard no sound.
The police say that the evidence
is that the woman was either at
tackled in her kitchen and dragged
to the cellar or was attacked sud
denly by a concealed assailant in
the cellar when she went there on
some household errand.
There were marks on the cellar
floor showing that Mrs. Brigham
had been dragged for several yards.
An autopsy on the body Of the
woman was begun this morning
by county physician DIR. George l..
Warren. He found that welts on
the victims throat were indicative
of the brutal grasp OF a stranger.
who may have used rope or a
strand Of rags. Perhaps, the physi-
clan said, the marks were caused
by bare, rough hands.
Searches Home for Wife.
The body was found by Brigham
after he returned home from his
place of business, the varnish con.
Germ Of Debevoise and Company,
Brooklyn, last evening. The man
went to the children's room. awak-
ening them. where's mama?"
said he. The children did not
know-had not heard her for a
long time.
Brigham began to explore the
house, but did not think Of the
cellar. He went to the neighbors.
No sign. no one had seen her. The
man took fright and called police.
Then the neighbors and detectives
systematically searched the neigh.
borhood. They found no trace.
Cut Over Each Eye.
Suddenly Brigham thought OF the
cellar. He and a detective rushing
through the streets noticed marks
leading to the cellar. The door
locked, Brigham seized an axe and
broke down the door. The wife's
cut and bruised body with clothing
twisted in mute evidence Of strug-
gle met the husbands eyes and
sent him reeling back in horror.
There was a cut over each eve.
but not deep enough to have caused
death, the doctors said when they
arrived. First belief was that Mrs.
Brigham had died Of strangulation.
The Brighams formerly lived In
San Francisco. They came to
Orange six months ago from OIL
City, Pa
The Brigham home Is under quar-
antine for dpihtheria and measles,
from which two Of the children
were suffering, and none but Of.
ficers are entering the place