New-York tribune., 1922-09-18
Recior's Wife and MIR.
Mills at Church Between
2 and 3 a. M, but Deny
Seeing E "a ch 0 h e r
Dead Clergyman Is
Defended i'm Pulpit
Two Crosses Cut ON Tree
Near Scene of Tragedy;
Mrs. Hall Is Questioned
From star Correspondent

NEW BkUNo0 iShs Ne D., sept. IT,
While the bodies of the Rev. Edward
~. Hall, rector of the Protestant Epis-
copal Church of st. John the Evangel-
ist, andaMrs. James Mills, pretty wife
Of the sexton, were stretched out side
by side in the field of goldenrod on
the Phillips farm early Friday morning,
the bullet wounds in their heads de-
Gently covered and their hands folded
Mrs. Frances Stevens Hall, the rector's
wife, and Mr.. Mills were prowline
about In search Of their missing mates
That both Of them were engaged In
this midnight search and that only BY
the narrowest Of margins did they fail
to meet at the church. to which both
frat turned instinctively, became known
to-day when persons living near the
lectory on Nichol Avenue told of see
ing woman who wore a tan polo Goa:
enter the rectory by rear gate about
2:S0 a. m. Friday.
Fuzzling Features Appear
Mrs. Hall readily acknowledged that
she was the woman in the polo coat.
She had been to the church in search
Of her husband, she said. 1t was
learned Saturday, soon after the dis
ecvery of the bodies, that the sexton
had visited the church about Q q. N.
in search of his wife.
As Mills says he started for the
church at a. m. and had only block
TO walk to reach 1t, and Mrs. Hall, who
had to walk seven blocks each way,
was seen returning either about $3.50
a. H., or between 2:d6 and 3 q. M, 1t
is regarded as strange that neither
saw the other.
It is regarded as strange, also, that
Though two persons saw Mrs. Hall
geturning to her home, neither saw her
brother, Willie Stevens. who, she said,
accompanied her on her midnight
earch. Willie Stevens, fifty years old
of more and ponderous in build and
waik is not man TO escape observa-
ion In his movements.
The lum Jeting Willie, : seavy iowled,
sksack-headed, and with a heavy black
rnStsche, anpeared also in the light
Of prophet when o fire captain
recalled t,-aay that Friday morling,
twenty-four hours before the bodies
toneath the apple tree in Phillips's q
ield were discovered, Willie remarked
hat the town would be in for some
settlement soon.
Two Crosses Carved in Tree
Some significance is attached to the
Gscovery to-day of two crosses carved
n the bark of a cedar near the stunted
apple tree which was the monument
ot the murdered pair. The crosses had
been cut through the fibrous bark with
keen, small-bladed knife, and 80 re-
Gently that they still were beaded with
tie transparent and still unhardened
81 NF to Irh "a
they were there when the bodies were
found, but escaped observation at the
time in the general confusion.
Weight is added by the attitude Of
officials toward the case to the theory
that Mr.. Hall and Mrs. Mills were
killed elsewhere and their bodies car
ried to the field of golden rod to be
laid out. The field is just across the
county line from the city in Somerset
County, which is rural community
whose officers are not accustomed to
handling difficult murder cases and
whose taxpayers might resent unusual
expense undertaken in the attempted
ISOLATION Of crime they naturally
would regard IS being the affair OF
New Brunswick
New Brunswick authorities, however,
are without jurisdiction in the matter
until they find proof that the crime was
committed on this side of the county
line. The assumption that the bodies
were carried to the debatable ground
where they were found is based at
present largely upon tne result at
ained-that of confusing jurisdiction
and discouraging investigation.
Both Defend Mates
Mrs. Hall, through her attorney, and
Mr' Mills, on his own account, reiterated
to-day their complete confidence that
mere was no improper relationship be-
tween the rector and the woman beside
whose whose body his own was found. Mr..
mis- even hazarded the guess that the
letters in his wife's writing, said to
nave been found in the clergyman 8
pocket, might not have been written to
Mr. Hall at all, or at least never deliv-
ered to him, but were merely bits of
pfactlce writing indulged in by Mrs.
Bishop Albion w. Knight, of Trsn-
soh who has charge of the pastoral
Mofk OF the diocese, preached to-day in
Me ,he uncovered brick church of which
.-F' HAL was rector and strove to in
,s!pfet the tragedy as test Of the
-sken.
al know you do not want to hear an
SSlvaaihary sermon" said Bishop Knight.
'our hearts are too full. There are
/ tcontinued page three)