Norwich bulletin., 1922-10-13
Hayes CIeaft4 Of
 Hall Mills Murders
His Accuser, Raymond Schnei- der, Has Repudiated His Entire Story of the Crime.

Entire 1tOIy or the Grlme. A. P.)-The case against Clifford Hayes, | of the Ray. E5waSd uheeiAr Hall a,1S ! Mrs. Eleanor Reinhardt Mills. blew up | with boom today, and the authorities 1 turned back in their investigation .te i | theories that provided a more logical | motive for the double crime I The blow-up came when Raymond |
 Schneider, Hayes accuser, summoned | l Prosecutor Beekman, of Somerset l
 county to the jail at Somerville where l he was held as material witness, and repudiated his entire story of the crime. The authorities immediately renewed l their investigation of leads which had
 been relegated to the discard when | Schneider's statement led them to de- clare they had solved the case. I The new turn took them back to the l home of Mrs. Frances Stevens Hall,
 widow of the slain clergyman, and to that of James Mills, widower of the II slain choir singer.
 sl Detectives visited the Hall house and l took away lawn colored coat and a scarf which she had had dyed in Phil
 adeiphia since the murders They sent l it to an analytical chemist for analysis of brown spots which the Philadelphia cleaners reported were beneath the black dye they had applied.
 1 Mrs. Hall is known to have worn a i light colored coat in the early morning i of September 15-the morning after the nlurders-When, according to her story, she went to the church of St. John The Evangelist. looking for her missing hIs- band She has told the authorities her eccentric brother Willie Stevens, accom- T ,iaj, +r fhata ollt hoo Witnesses who saw her return home declare she returned alone, at about 1.SO a. m
 I Detective Fitzpatrick, who went for
 the garments. reported that Mrs Hall acted ''peevish when he demanded them. I Mrs Halls lawyer, however, issued a statement saying Mrs. Hall was glad
 to surrender them, though the action came rather late"
 James Mills. church sexton and hus- band of the slain choir singer. was questioned briefly at Prosecutor Strick- CTS office again this afternoon, but the
 nature of the questions asked could not
 be learned.
 State troopers, who have become in- !. creasingly active on the case. let it be
 known that one of the theories now en- { tertained is that the slayings were per , petrated by a party of four-three men . and one woman. who travelled in two automobiles Witnesses told, shortly after the slayings were discovered. of hearing shots and screams in the vicinity : ! of the Phillips farm, and of seeing two : automobiles dash down the road toward New Brunswick
 Unconfrned reports reached hsre from Phiiadelnhia today that the gold watch re- moved from the minister's pocket had been
 found in; . Philadelphia pawnshop.
 Authoritles made inquiries by long dis : ttance telephone and were informed that 2 q gold watch had shown upS in a myster- T ious manner in a pawnshop there. but that : Ethere was nothing to connect it with Mir. : Hall Detective Collins went to Pliiladel- ', " phia to check up on the watch and also :. to seek further information from the dye
 ing and cleaning firm which did Mrs
 Halls work.
 The blow-up of the case against Hayes
 came as suddenly as did his arrest last E Monday, after Schneider had signed g
 statement accusing him of the doublt z staying.
 . Schneider suffered nervous collapse l., this morning Then he sent word tc
 Prosecutor Beekman of Somerset that ht > had something more to say. When Beck e man entered, with a stenographer ana l. three newspapermen, Schneider blurtet If out, with tears streaming down his face
 | lb He had told the story, he said, to ge e revenge on Hayes who, he believed, hat r. told stories tending to involve him in tht la IIall-Mills case.
 a Beekman immediately went befor' l. Justice of the Peace Sutphen who hat tn held Hayes for the grand jury and asked ht that the murder warrant against hin ps be dismissed. The request was grante, e without delay.
 | Al.. sa tomobile of his counsel and driven a M high speed to his home The news ha' ed outsped the automobile however, an, ed when Hayes arrived, he found himsel It. 1 the center of a cheering crowd of severa h hundred
 tn His mother, who had expressed con yoi fidence in his innocence from the start
 staggered out to meet him and flung her he self into his arms Hayes helped he ili, tenderly up the porch steps. or Both he and his mother thanked news he papermen for the part they had playe -v in disclosing the falsity of the charge mt against him.
 .s- At the height of the celebration, Joh oG Schneider, father of Hayes accusel
 i rushed up onto the Hayes porch, em
 braced the youths mother and ex
 claimed:
 My God, my God-I am glad it
  '. He then collapsed, and was taken int m II. the Hayes home, where Hayes mother ", father, relatives and close friends lclus ~ tered about the smiling youth and cor y graduated him, over and over. = Raymond Schneider's popularity ar ts s ] peared to go down in proportion a q. Hayes had gone up There were muttef N ings in the welcoming crowd agains ol Schneider, and several were heard to ds = clare that New Brunswick was "to u small to hold him. The author of tf
 four-day sensation still is in the Somel
 lset jail as a material witness
 Prosecutor Beekman refused to sa JE why he still was held after he had re
 pudiated his entire earlier story and dt zc clared that neither he nor Hayes wa o- even on the Phillips farm where tf in bodies were found on the night of tt ,, murders.
 ,ta The services of a private detecti, is agency in New York have been retaint en by Charlotte Mills to conduct an indepel nc dent investigation into the shooting of h nr mother, it became known tonight. eS We expect confidently" said Julius h. Braun, a member of the agency WI ,il declared he already had been employ, iv- on the case by Miss Mills for sever ,ca days, Ito be able to produce sufTieie ed evidence to cause an early arrest. V
 will establish without the shadow of
 ,doubt that the relations existing betwe,
 MT. Hall and Mrs. Mills were in no W.
 improper
 1s ARRESTS FOR VIOLATION OF ain LIQUOR LAWS IN DANBUR ev
 I