The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1922-10-12
COUPLE SHOT BY
MISTAKE, SAYS BOY
BULLETS MEANT FOR PEARL
BANNER AND HER STEP
FATHER.

hays, nineteen, Was Neiu Ill CoIiliiiuIii-
cado in the Somerset county jail to-
night on warrant charging him with
the first degree murder of the Rev.
Edward Wheeler Hall and Mrs. Elean-
or Reinhardt Mills, September IA.
Authorities have not revealed any
evidence which would show logical
motive for his alleged act.
Raymond Schneider, twenty-five,
caused Hayes arrest. Hayes, he
said, thought he was shooting fif-
teen-year-old Pearl BANNER and her
step-father, Nicholas BANNER.
But the only motive he advanced
was sort of quixotism on Hayes
part-a desire to right supposed
wrong done a friend. Hayes retor
was that Schneider was "a damned
liar" He admitted going with
Schneider to the deserted Phillips
farm, where the bodies were found,
in serch of Pearl BANNER and her
step-father.
They heard shots and screams,
he said, and ran toward the crab
apple tree whence the shots seemed
to come, observing an automobile
dash away as they ran.
Beneath the tree, he declared, they
found the minister and the choir sing
er dead and-he added-Schneider
bent down and stole the minister's
watch.
Accuses Hayes of Theft.
This Schneider denied during the
all night grilling to which both youths
were subjected. Schneider, in turn,
accused Hayes of having committed
the theft.
Schneider's story is that neither
he nor Hayes touched the bodies, ex-
cept for the filching of the watch-of
which he accused Hayes.
It has been established, however,
by belated autopsy that Mrs. MilPs
throat was cut from ear to ear, and
her head almost severed. Schneider
could not explain this.
Neither could he explain how the
bodies came to be laid out side by
side as if for burial.
He was also unsatisfactory as to
how the letters written by Mrs. Mills
to the minister came to be scattered
about the scene-or who propped one
of the minister's cards against the
sole of his shoes, as if to make sure
of identification. His account does
tally with the first statement attri-
buted to Mrs. Hall after the murders
were discovered-that her theory OF
the double Staying was mistaken
identity"
This statement later was repudiat-
ed by Miss Galley Peters, conidante
of Mrs. Hall.
Authorities Still Working.
Although they expressed confidence
that the case had been practically
solved, the authorities were still hard
at work tonight trying to reconcile
all the tangled skien Of evidence in
Schneider's story-or to batter him
down to further admissions which
would make his story more plausible.
Schneider's story-as much as she
could have been expected to know
was corroborated by Pearl BANNER.
On the night of September IA, she
said, she was out with Schneider, re-
naming until 9 o'clock. When she
returned home. she continued, she
found her step-father on the porch,
intoxicated, and consented to 60 with
him while he attempted to "walk
off" the effect of his drinking. They
passed Schneider, Hayes and Leo
Kaufman on a street corner, she said,
and the three youths followed them.
After they had walked some distance,
she said, she became tired and want
ed to return home. but her step-fath-
er seized her by the arm and insisted
that she continue. She began to cry,
she said, and the trio rushed up,
Schneider doffing his coat and ex-
pressing his determination to beat
BANNER.
Step-Father Returns Home.
The 'encorner ended without blows,
however, she said, and she and her
step-father returned home.
4 Sc5Neider's story tallies with hers
perfectly up to this point, except that
schnei kr said Pearl and Bahmer
xap1 on toward |, the Phillips farm. nm,
Kaufman left them then, he said,
but he and Hayes determined to fol-