Evening star., 1922-07-24
WEIGH CONFESSION
Of WOMAN VICTIM
IN MURDER THREAT
Authorities Not Entirely Sat-
isfied With Blame Mrs.
Brooke Shoulders.
FURTHER QUESTIONING
is LIKELY AS RESULT
Medical Experts May Be Called to
Determine Cause of Injuries in
Mount Rainier Case.

Has the carefully worded "confes-
SION of Mrs. Louise Brooke, twenty
five-year-old wife of Mace Brooke of
Mount Rainier, Nd, conclusively
solved the mystery surrounding the
loss of her sight and the dreadful
mutilating of her body?
This Is the question over which
Prince Georges county authorities
pondered today, following the blind
ed woman's assertion Saturday night
before Justice of the Peace Robert
Garrison that all her wounds were
self-inf1icted-a CHASTITY ruse devised
and executed by desperate woman
in a supreme attempt to end her re-
lations with another man and save
her home.
Authorities Not Satisfied.
Frankly, it is admitted that her
extraordinary explanation, given at a
private hearing while she struggled
valiantly to control the surge of emo
take further investigation to prove
1t probable.
.. If her account is false-if Mrs
Brooke is being silenced by threats
and is shielding her real assailants-
the authorities mean to find it out
and bring the guilty ones to justice.
II. on the other hand, her story is
true. those probing the case 'contend
that Mrs. Brooke is one of the most
stole sufferers ever to come to their
attention. and the most resourceful.
hnN In hny ~ h
lens arising out of the alleged mur-
der plotting which are troubling Of
f1cers investigating the case. The
tenseness on the occasion of the con-
fession and the closeness of the at
mosphere in the small private ONCE
full cross-examination Of Mrs. Brooke
Saturday. Judge Joyce expects to
question her further under more ia
vorable conditions.
Medical Experts May BE Called.
1t is likely that medical experts
will be called on to testify as to the
origin of fs.Mrz .Brooke's disagure-
ments and bruises. Scientific opinion
especially is desired respecting her
injured wrists. When first question:
ed at her home by Constable Garri-
son Mrs. Brooke declared she burned
them accidentally while ironing,
changing this statement a few min
utes later to explain that it was
while frying an egg. grease splatter-
ing on them. In her final" confess
sion she said, falteringly, that she
hurt her wrists deliberately by ap-
plying I've to them with clothespin to
mako 1t appear that ropes had been
tightly bound about them by enemies.
To those n vSyro h.
age and looked at the dark. partially
healed bruises, however. the charge
that she, was tied with ropes to the
rear of an automobile, preparatory
to being thrown on the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad tracks, and. on switched
from her home. was well substanti-
ated. There were plain marks, per-
haps a week old, almost encirclinR
the wrist. and suggestive Of abrasions
rather than of burns.
A cruel-looking wound, bone deep,
on Mrs. Brooke's shoulder also re-
quires medical knowledge to verify
her statement that the hole was
eaten into the flesh by carbolic acid,
which she 'dabbed on with a piece
Of cotton"
Mrs. Brooke stated in her confess
sion that she has had no medical
treatment for her eyes, as she pre-
viously had asserted, so a specialist 8
examination is necessary to reveal
the extent Of her blindness. Such an
examination, coupled with an analysis
of the medicine" which the woman
says was accidentally splattered on
her pupils, should remove any doubt
regarding how her sight was i'm
paired or destroyed.
Notes. Also Perplex.
More perplexing. even than the in
juries are the six notes addressed to
Mrs. Brooke, replete with repulsive
threats, which she declared were writ
ten by herself, and handed to Bradley
Cavey, with whom she admits she had
had indiscreet relations, ito scare him
into leaving me alone" When first
at her home, following the
placing Of assault charges against Ar
chic Walters. Baltimore and Ohio
residing in Baltimore. Mrs.
Brooke exhibited q sample of her PEN
for comparison with that con-
tanned in the notes. Constable Garri-
writing and found absolutely no SINH
larity. Saturday night Mrs. Brooke
again was called on to write phrases
quoted to her from the notes, and the
specimens which she submitted COM
pared favorably with the penciled notes.
That this was not conclusive proof Of
view Of the fact that Mrs. Brooke had
had ample opportunity to note the
character Of the writing while the notes
were in her possession, prior to turn
ing them over to Cavey.
Another point which the authori-
ties want cleared up is the breaking
nS hA h,,~ ~N.1s
the old Reeves place. near the Brooke
home. and the disarrangement of the
empty sarcophaguses in the aban-
doned tomb. 1t is not readily under
stood how Mrs. Brooke could have
been a lone actor in this episode,
which formed q gruesome chapter in
the Mount Rainier mystery plot. It
was into this vault that Cavey told
the authorities the body Of Mrs
Brooke was to have. been placed, fol-
lowing her murder, set for Tue1day
or Wednesday Of last week.
Motive Raises ouestsos.
;, counterbalancins these problems
there stands the natural question:
What reason could Mrs Brooke have
for wishing to protect her supposed
assailants?" There appears to be
but one likely answer to this query
and that was given by Mrs. Brooke
herself In one Of her varied sccounts
Of the alleged plotting enemies had
TO kill her ssvsn-ysar-oid
adopted son. whom she has reared
almost from birth. r
II had ben thAught wssen Italians
Gon{inoe3 @ SSS :, o1l1na