New-York tribune., 1922-11-09
State Seeking Indictment
of Church Member and
Widow for Murder and
Chauffeur as Accessory
Fingerprints Spot
Victims Shirt Cuff
Sister Says Mrs. Mills Was
Chided by Rector's Wife
2 Months Before Crime
By Boyden Sparkes


gree murder indictments will be sought
against Mrs. Frances Stevens Hall and
man who is member of the Church
OF st. John the Evangelist. resident
OF New Brunswick and crack shot with
a pistol. The official who revealed this
tonight declined to identify the man
the authorities believe shot the Rev.
Edward w. Hall and Mrs. Eleanor
Mills, but said that one other man
would be indicted as an accessory be-
cause he drove the automobile in
which the lovers were trailed.
1t was learned that Mrs. Elsie Barn
hart, sister of the murdered choir
singer, will be one of the states princi-
pal witnesses before the Somerset Coun-
ty Grand jury, although Mrs. Jane Glib
son, the farm woman who says she
saw Mrs. Hall at the Phillips farm that
night, is the star witness.
Says Mrs. Hall Chided Sister
Mrs. Barnhart, it was learned to-
night, has signed an affidavit in which
she says that two months before the
murders her sister confided that Mrs.
hall had chided her for her conduct
with the Rev Or. Hall. Mrs. Barnhart
says her sister told her that Mrs. Hall
said: Mrs. Mills, you are making my
life very unhappy"
If the state can prove that Mrs. Hall
made this remark to Mrs. Mills it
should have a vital effect on the rec
tors widows contention that she never
did, and does not now, believe that the
murdered lovers had ever given her
cause to be jealous.
Another bit of evidence upon which
the state is believed to be counting
heavily is, it was learned tonight,
fingerprints that were found on the
white, starched cuffs of the dead cler-
gyman's shirt. The hands that tender
lly adj djusted his clothing after bullet
had pierced his brain and three others
and a slashed throat had silenced the
screams of Mrs. Mills are now be-
lieved to have left a telltale mark
that will name one Of those who par
ticipated in the killings as surely as
though the dead minister himself had
voiced an accusation.
Explains Confidence
In revealing the existence of Mrs.
Barnhart's affidavit and the probability
of fingerprint evidence, the official
who talked tonight showed some Of
the reasons for the confident bearing
OF Prosecutor Mott during the last
between Mr.. Mott and Alfred Glib, of
Bernardsville, foreman of the Somerset
County grand jury, at IL o'clock to-
morrow, in the Office of Prosecutor
Azariah Beekman, in Somerville. Mr..
Beekman will attend this conference
and so will Supreme Court Justice
Parker, who caused Mr. Mott to be
named special deputy attorney gen
eral to supersede Mr.. Beekman and
Prosecutor Stricken of Middlesex
County in the conduct Of the double
murder investigation.
They are expected to go over all
the evidence that has been gathered
by Mr.. Motifs investigators, who have
been working under Lieutenant James
Mason, of Newark Mr.. Motifs plan,
it is understood, is to ask for the con-
vening of the grand jurors at o'clock
Friday afternoon. They probably will
hear few witnesses then, few more
on Saturday morning and the rest of
the twenty-five who are to be sub
poenaed during the early part of next
week.
If the hopes of the authorities bear,
turned before Supreme. Court Justice
Parker by next Wednesday. The
states case, as it was described to-
night, is based on information in
hand in all Of which officials expressed
complete faith.
What State Depends Upon
There is the affidavit of Mrs. Barn
hart testifying to the conversation with
her sister, Mrs. Mills, in which the
choir singer told of her disquieting
conversation with Mrs. Hall, when the
rector's widow is alleged to have said:
"Mrs. Mills, you are making my life
very unhappy" Mrs. Barnhart lives at
566 East Thirty-eighth Street, in Pater-
son. N. J. Pictures of DR.. Hall and
Mrs. Mills and few letters exchanged
by the lovers, and which the sexton's
wife cherished deeply, were taken to
Mrs. Barnhart by Charlotte Mills, the
singers daughter, soon after the
bodies were discovered.
There are other witnesses, it was
said tonight, who are prepared to,
swear that Mrs. Hall was seen driving
her automobile near the Phillips farm
two weeks before the murder. Mrs.
Hall has said recently that she had not
been around the Phillips place since
she was girl. Then there are Mrs.
Mills's letters, found strewn over the
bodies. and letters and diary written
by the Clergyman for the eyes Of his
"gypsy queen" his "wonder heart" his
"babykins," the rather drab little wom-
an that the congregation knew as the
sexton's wife.
Charlotte Mills, high school student
,nd Sunday school nuuil of Mrs Hall