New-York tribune., 1922-09-26
Met Mrs. Hall Crying at
Church and Asked If
She Thought Rector and
His Wife Had Run Off
Can't Recall Woman
Who Warned Hin,
Sexton Still Processes to
Believe i'm Clergyman;
Once Told Him of Gossip
By Boyden Sparkes

NEW BRUNSWICK, N. j. Sept. ID. .---
James Mills, the thin, stoop- -shouldered
blue-eyed sexton of the Protestant
Episcopal Church of St, John the Evan
gelist, consented to discuss again to-
day the perplexing mystery that is
protecting the murderer of his wife
and the Rev. Edward Wheeler Hall.
Several Of his statements were de-
cldedly interesting.
~ was within q short radius of the
church all that Thursday night after
my wife went out" said the little man
as he rubbed his callous forefnger
against the side OF his long nose
When came back from looking tor
her in the church | lay on the bed and
left light burning.
Friday morning early I met Mrs.
Hall at the 1rch. She said to me is
there any sickl 'ss in your home? NV
husband hasn't been home since last
night She was crying | said NV
wife hasn't been home since last night
either. What do you think? Is il an
elopement?"
Just Stray Idea, He Says
Pressed for an explanation of the
reasoning that prompted him to ask
such a question, he said: at was lust
something that came into my mind
Then he continued:
Mrs. Hall said No, it must be foul
play: [ am going to notify the police
said nothing. I had no money to be
telephoning the police"
Mills almost invariably meets inter
viewers with a seemingly stubborn re-
slstance to talk about the murder. But
the crime, especially the more gruesome
aspects of it, has gripped his mind and
after q few minutes his resistance
melts and he talks
Il don't remember what woman, il
was told me to be watcbful Of my wife
and that man. he went on 81 have
peer. oeen asked the question a hundred
times. | don't remember
Mr.. Mills was asked again TODAY
about an examination he made of the
rector's study. There has been some
doubt as to when he did this.
1T was Sunday night" he said. "The
funeral of DR.. Hall was on the rext
day. went into the study. Tho pon-
eral appearance of the drawer in his
desk was very different from it's usua!
neatness. couldn't understand this
unless some members of the Hall fam
liy had been there to take his papers
to his home.
Denies Love Letters
Lots has been said abous those let
ters. They weren't letters. NV wife
was, always copying something frsm
books that she read and liked. DR..
HALL was my friend. l don't believe
any OF this gossip. My wife would not
&C, 40 such thing She was in a dread
ful condition from her operation"
Until tO-do1y MILL, bo
to newspaper men about leaving light
burning after he returned from the
church: Mrs. Hall, however, has said
that when she visited the church some
time after o'clock in the morning and
found it dark and locked that she went
around the block to the Mills home.
Seeing no light showing, she has said.
she did not attempt to arouse the occu-
pants, but returned to her home with
her brother, Willie. A watchman at
the State College, which occupies the
her enter the side gate and has CON
iirmed her story as to the time.
The insistent prote stations by both
Mills and Mrs. Hall that they had faith
in their mates has served for ten days
to keep the affair as nicely adjusted
as the second act of mystery drama.
Mills goes bit further in his ex-
presslons. He says he is just as posi-
tive about the integrity of the minister
as he is about his wife, and he always
adds an explanation of her physical
condition resulting from the operation
Mrs. Halls faith in her husband is
"boundless and mistaken"
Told Rector of Gossip
But Mills has said on several oc-
casions in his talks with reporters that
one time he mentioned to DR.. Hall
some of the gossip that had come to
his ears. The rector's assurances of
loyalty on that occasion, he has said,
buried his doubts.
Nothing is more certain now than
that the parishioners of St. Johns were
all alive to the gossip about their rec
tor and the choir soprano who fre-
quently sang solos and whose husband
welded broom about the church on
week days.
The task of the investigators is to
Continued page SIX