New-York tribune., 1922-09-17
Children Stumble Upon
BulIet.Riddled Bodies
Lying Side by Side in
Lonely Jersey Field
Love Notes Reveal
Bond of Affection
Cergman's Rich Wife
and Church Employee
Missed Mates Thursday
From a gtoc Correspondent

NEW BRUNSWICK, N. j., Sept. 1s.
THE Rev. Edward w. Hall, rector of
ithe Protestant Episcopal Church of
,St. John the Evangelist, and Mrs.
James Mills, wife OF the sexton, who
we're found dead from bullet wounds
to-day, lay side by side In a field on
che outskirts of the city, which long
has been a trysting place for lovers,
and more recently has been the resort
OF bootleggers and the scene uf at
least one shooting ARRAY between
members OF that fraternity.
Letters were found in the clerov-
nan's pockets which showed that Mrs
Mills was accustomed to write to him
IA an affectionate and intimate vein.
George Totten, county detective, says
that any suggestion that the couple
died as the result of suicide apree-
ment is absurd, no weapon having been
found
Rector for Ten Years
Mr., Hall had been rector of the
church for ten years and was held in
high esteem. He was about forty-e eight
years old, was married and had no
children. His wife is wealthy by inher-
itance and the Halls were able to live
IN more comfortable circumstances
than is the lot Of many clergymen, even
those who have prosperous churches.
The Mills family consisted of James
Mills, sexton of the church; his wife.
who was about thirty-six years old, and
their children, Charlotte, sixteen years
old, and Dan, ten. They lived in a
humble cottage on Carman Street.
The friendship between the two
families, one wealthy and the other
poor, had been a matter of remark in
this city for some time and was re-
garded generally as an instance of the
simplicity and honest democracy that
ruled the clergman's life. Wednesday
the Halls took the Mills family in their
automobile to Lake Hopatcong, where
tasy nlGs2lcked at q cottage the church
Thursday evening, about 1880, n boy
from the corner drug store came to the
Mills home and said there was tele-
phone call for Mrs. Mills. She went
out and on her return put on her blue
velvet hat and flung a scarf ovss her
shoulders.
Husband Questioned Her
At these preparations for departure
ner husband looked up from his even
ing paper.
Where are you going?" he asked.
:, Follow me, and you'll end out" said
MRS. Mills with a Mona Lisa smile
which her husband quite failed to iden-
tify.
There were many things about his
wife that James Mills, a pale, nervous
little man whose attention was con-
centrated painfully on the practical
things of life, never did understand.
"All right, dear" said he with the
smile he employed on such occasions
and tried vainly still to endow with a
semblance of understanding.
He returned to his paper and his wife
went clicking briskly down the street
IN her high heels. That was the last he
saw Of her. At 10 o'clock she had not
returned and Mills went to bed. He
swoke about 2 o'clock in the morning,
ne told Detective Totten to-day, and,
hndlng that his wife still was absent,
went to the church to look for her.
:, She was leader of the choir and he
wrought she might have gone to the
church to practice. She had whims
sthat were inexplicable to Mills and
nnd her seated at the organ in the light
OF the waning moon.
Found Church Empty
The church was empty, however, and
echoed eerily to his half whispered
calls for his wife, Mills returned to
MS home, he said. and tossed restless
ly on his bed until daylight.
Ihen he went to the church again,
and while he was about his usual tasks
mrs. Hall arrived. She wanted to know
II her husband was there. Mills told
her ne was not. Mrs. Hall said she had
not seen him since the preceding eve
ming.
Mills said that was funny; his wife
hadn't been home since last evening,
CONTINUED on page hys)
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