Norwich bulletin., 1922-12-20
Becker HaS Tanned
 Murder of His Wife
Chum Testified That the Ac- cused Told Him That He
 Had Hired Two Men for $1OO to. Kill Mrs. Becker.

New York, Dec. A.-Harry Monstein, for more than eight years the, chum of Abraham Becker, on trial charged with murdering his wife and burying her in lime pit in the Bronx, testified that last June the defendant told him one day in restaurant that he had hired two men for S100 to kill Mrs. Becker.
 Monstein added that Becker, chaue- feur, also told him that the men had hit Mrs. Becker on the head and had buried the body 'in the woods near an automobile road"
 The body of Mrs. Becker, who disap- peared last April was found this month in Bronx lot near the welding shop owned by Reuben Norkin. also ur- der indictment charged with murdea.
 Monstein also testified that Becker had induced him to write a letter pur- porting. to have been written by Mrs Becker and asserting she. had run away with another man. The witness said adelphia and mailed it to Becker, wh later displayed it to his ne:ghbors, curi- ous about his wife's disappearance. i Monstein asserted that after Becke, had been arrested on suspicion, he had visited him in jail and that the chauf- feur had to1d him Norki1f had killed i Hrs. Becker. Posing as Beckers frien5 he said. he had obtained from the pris- 1 oner information regarding where the l body could be found. Monstein. testi- fled he had visited the jail at. the in. l stigation of the district attorneys of. 1 flee. Monstein was a surprise witness. H. | took the stand after Miss Anna Elias had collapsed while telling the jury sh, had lived with Becker in New York and Cleveland. She was called by the state in an effort to show a motive fcl the murder.
 When he met Becker in the restau 1 rant several months later, Monsteir said. che chauffeur told him he was go | ing to have his little girls adopted Tn. l witness asked him how this would b, ; possible, as his wife Jennie might re i turn.
 1 Shell never come back" Monster quoted Becker as saying q paid tw, fellows $1o0 to do away with her. i When he saw Becker later in jail | Monstein said. the prisoner told hin one man had done the job and named Norkin. Becker greeted him, Monsteil
 said, with the statement:
 Anna got me in here. She got me il i trouble"
 Monstein said that when he tol,
 Becker the police were searching fo "41S DOuy along IAe OOufneTl boulevard Becker replied:
 They'll never find it there. It wa
 in the lower part of the Bronx that sh was buried. She's good for hundre 1 years. She's been buried eight month
 now with white powder to eat up. tn
 flesh and leave only the bones. T paid NorEin $l0o one week late
 and we stood over the grave and shoo f T had a date with Norkin and me
 him. Norkin had his own car. Min
 was broken down We got Mrs. Becke and took her for a ride and then Nor Atn hit her.
 Monstein said Becker told him to SC Anna Elias and have her say she ha
 gone to Cleveland with a man name
 A. Beck.
 In cross-examination, Becker's la1 yers sought to attack Monstein's credi l bility.
 I Monstein testified ke had lived in Bo: ! lon, and Norfolk, Va, but deniex h ! had lived with a girl not his wife. Mrs. Florence Besiegel the next vii
 ness, testified that Becker, declaring hi wife had been dead for two months ha
 asked her to care for his twin daugh
 ters, but never had paid her.