Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-10
FIRST ARREST
MADE IN CASE
Of TWO DEATHS
First Degree Murder
Charge Is Filed
Against Boy.

New Brunswick, N. J., Oct. Cliff
ford Hayes. 1~9-year-old admirer of
Pearl BANNER, who found the bodies
J of the Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall and
I Mrs. Eleanor Reinhardt Mills, choir
singer, was arrested Monday and for
mally charged with first degree muir
der for the Sayings.
Raymond Schneider, who was with
the BANNER girl when the bodies were
found, was held as a material witness.
Prosecutors Beekman and Stricken Of
Middlesex and Somerset counties say
Schneider signed a 3O0-word state
ment accusing Hayes of the crime.
According to Schneider's statement
the double Staying was the result Of
mistaken identity. He had gone out
with Hayes on the night. of the MUIR
ders. he said, trailing q man who &C.
companied the BANNER girl.
Seeing a couple beneath a crabap-
pie tree. he said, Hayes opened fire.
Formal announcement of the arrests
was made at 11:45 a. M. by Prosecu-
tor Stricken.
Hayes Says It's Lie
HAYES. when confronted with
Schneider as the latter retold his
| story, explained:
lie is Il Ildr.
According to Schneider. who admits
he is in love with the BANNER girl,
he was standing on a street corner
with HAYES and Leo Kaufman, when
they saw the girl pass with her step
father, Nicholas BANNER. He was
| Jealous of the step-father, he said,
and when he told the others of his
suspicious they agreed to follow the
pair.
They searched first through Buc-
cleauch park, where Kaufman left
them. Schneider and Hayes then pro-
ceeded to the nearby Philips farm.
About IL o'clock Schneider said they
approached the crabapple tree under
which the bodies of Hall and Mrs.
Mills later were found, and Hayes
pointed to the two figures beneath the
tree, excIaiming:
"There they are. Now wen FIX
them!'
Hayes, Schneider declared, whipped
out a pistol and began to shoot.
When the pair collapsed, Schneider
said, he went forward, struck a match
and then turned to Hayes exclalmlng;
Great God! Man, you've made a
mistake"
The two then fled, according to the
statement.
Schneider declared he did not know
how the throat of Mills was cut or who
laid the bodies out under the tree, care
fully adjusting their clothing, after they
had been slain.
Says Saw No Letters
He declared that neither he nor his
COMPANIONS had touched the bodies and
they saw nothing of the love letters
written by Mrs. Mills. which were found
scattered on the scene.
Detectives continued vigorously to
work on the case. clearly indicating that
they did not believe the double Staying
had been wholly cleared up by Schnei-
der's statement.
When word of the arrest was taken
to the home of Mrs. Francis Hall, |
widow of the slain clergyman. who has
been repeatedly questioned about the
case. Miss Amy Peters. her most init
friend and adviser, said:
Isn't that fine! What has Mr..
Stricken got to say for himself now
for the way he has been treating Fran
els and Willie" willie Stevens, &C.
brother of Mrs. Hail.
The announcement issued Jointly by
Prosecutors Stricken of Middlesex
county and Beekman Of Somerset coun-
ty read:
Upon information in the prosecu
tors office obtained from Raymond
Schneider and other witnesses, we feel
obliged under the circumstances to pre-
fer a charge of murder against n
Clifford Hayes. Raymond Schneider
will be held as a material witness await
further developments in the case.
process will be issued out of SOmer-
set county, where it appears the crime
was committed. Consequently the
prisoner will be detained at the Somer-
set county Jail"
Schneider, in his statement, said he
had gone back to the scene with the
BANNER girl, partly out of curiosity and
partly because he wanted to show her
how zeal she had come to death be-
cause of her walk with her step-father.
The prosecutors would not say
whether the arrest of Hayes had elm
mated the Hall and Mills families for
consideration. No further ar
rests are contemplated for the present,
they said.
FALL LEAVES FOR WEST
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