The New York herald., 1922-12-03
FLOOD, CITY SLEUTH,
TO DIG IN HALL CASE.
Continued from First Page.


will force the presentation OF the case
to the December Grand Jury in Sorner-
set county within three weeks.
A woman connected with the case Is
strongly suspected OF Withholding In
formation. She has at TO time figured
as principal. 1t is we'll within the
range of possibility. however. that. II
the expected developments eventuate.
this woman may be charged with being
an accessory after the crime because of
her persistence in Withholding informa-
tIon. She Is one of several persons TO
whom the State police are paying par
ticular attention.
Detective David Is also working on
the case more or less independently. He
said to-day that his superior, Prosecu-
tor Stricken. has no intention OF drop
ping the matter and added
I'VE have lost a lot of sleep on this
case and we can't afford to stop now
Yesterday afternoon and last night
were spent by the Middlesex authorities
in working on the case. I won't tell
you what we did, but I will tell you
we feel more hopeful now than we did
yesterday morning"
The Schneider trial is certain to keep
UP the interest in the murder case.
Schneider after a terrific third degree
grilling Confessed that his pal. Cliff
ford Hayes. did the killing. while he
was with him. Hayes was In jail three
days as a result.
Then Schneider broke down and con-
fessed that he had lied and Hayes was
released. The perjury charge resulted
and Schneider was indicted. He win
have TO answer later to an indictment
II. III
morals OF minor. Pearl BANNER, who
was with him when he found the bodies
of Hall and Mrs. Mills on the Phillips
farm eleven weeks ago to-day.
Stricker's public statement in Trenton
that the newspapers had interfered with
the inquiry is answered In tho local
newspaper editoriaily tonight
stricker's Attack Answsred.
Tho editorial reads in part,
Prosecutor Joseph e. Stricken usually
is pretty nearly right In his public state
ments on cases which como through his
office. but in his declaration that there
has been althogether too much outside
interference and that newspaper men
should be eliminated, he gives only half
truth.
There has been interference in the
case, and some of it has been done by
newspaper men. but on the other hand.
the very fact that the case was given
the enefit of work by the Attorney
Generals special representative in ad-
ition to that of the prosecutors Of Som
erset and Middlesex counties is due to
the newspapers. while some very i'm
portant information has been turned UP
by reporters.
Mr.. Stricken is half right, but not en-
tirely SO. He should discriminate between
the good and the bad for there are two
kinds In the newspaper world just as
anywhere else, and instead of blaming
them all indiscriminately. as the public
at barge as we'll as Mr.. Stricken is all
too prone to do, he should at least give
credit to those to whom it is due.
1T might be well to license Journalists
just as some other professions are
licensed, so that there would be cer-
tain definite responsibility to the State
Government"
The townspeople of New Brunswick.
although tired of the case, would like the
investigation to go on so that the good
name of the town might in part at
lease. be redeemed. Every New Bruns-
wick man who has had occasion to travel
has been pestered to death and amazed
to find what people far away think of
the town and the official bungling that
marked the investigation.
Public Opinion Divided.
Public opinion divides unequally. Mrs.
Hall is related to the Carpenter family
and that family for years has been the
financial mainstay OF the community
They are interested directly and in
directly in the great Johnson & John
son factory, the ReclSitt blue factory,
the refrigerator plant and a score OF
other enterprises, as well as banks and
trust companies. Every one In the group
or socially connected with 1t deplores
the publicity and the scandal and wants
II all hushed up as soon as possible
These people, like Mr. Stricken, believe
the newspapers have done harm.
There is another and much larger
group, the people on the street gem
orally. who not only praise the news
papers for their activities, but assert
their belief that had 1t not been for
publicity the case would have been
hushed up by politicians. who always
fear those high In social and financial
circles. 1t is The firm belief of these
people that had the newspapers not
taken a hand the mystery would have
lasted four days and tho case would
then have been pigeonholed as unsolved.