Evening star., 1923-12-09
STRANGLED WIFE,
REMOVED HEAD, HID
BODY, MAN ADMITS
Husband, Former Professor,
Breaks Down, Confesses.
Child Gave Clue.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press
MILWAUKEE,, Wis. December s.
E Ray Tompkins. real estate dealer
Of White Fish Bay and former mem
Der of the Milwaukee Normal School
faculty, is in the county jail for
mally charged with the murder of
his wife whose nude and headless
body was found today near Dongas
bay, eleven miles from Milwaukee.
Tompkins confessed that he
strangled his wife until she became
unconscious, placed her body in a
bathtub and severed her head under
a tap of running water, according to
District Attorney George A. Shaug-
messy.
Mrs. Tompkins disappeared from
her home last Thursday. About 8
am. that morning she sent he- two
children, Marjory, ten. and Robert,
seven, to school. and told them she
would not be home in the morning
but would return in time to prepare
lunch for them
The girl said her father met she
and her brother that noon and took
them to lunch. sent them back to
school and took them to dinner away
from home that evening. When her
mother did not return home that
night she refused to go to school Fri
day, she said, and called her uncle,
William c. Conrad, and told him her
mother was missing. Conrad notified
the police.
Another woman brought about the
conditions at the Tompkins home
which resulted in his attack on his
wife, police said. Tompkins. they
said, was found by detectives. hired
by his wife, at an apartment with a
woman said to have been a student
Of hts at the normal school where he
taught for, twelve years.
Wife Planned Divorce.
AS a result, police said. divorce
was to have been obtained and Mrs.
Tompkins was to have received
pre- divorce settlement the day she
disappeared. Tompkins was arrested
yesterday and questioned regarding
the whereabouts of his wife, but he
denied any knowledge of why or
where she had gone.
The police. in their search for Mrs.
Tompkins, learned from J. r. Dongas.
owner Of an estate on which the body
was found, that Tompkins had talked
with him regarding the location of the
caretaker's home and that later an
of the. same make owned
by Tompkins had been driven to Lions
Den, a wooded glen near Dongas Bay.
The imprint of the tire tread was the
same as the tread on the tires OF
Tompkins' car. An investigation of
the tonneau of the car revealed blood
stains as did a pair of overalls identi-
fed as Tompkins'.
County officials took Tompkins to the
Lions Den this morning and he aided
them in the search for hts wife. The
body was covered by muck. leaves and
stones in a we'll hidden spot. Tompkins
turned to Sheriff Phil Westphal and In
a choking voice. cried: who could
have done this thing? Find the guilty
one
Shaugnessy. Tompkins' nerve broke
and he confessed.
Letter Caused Quarrel.
In her distress over the conditions
at her home. Tompkins said, his wife
addressed q letter to her father in
which she detailed her troubles and
told of her husbands inf1delity. The
letter said she intended placing
charges against her husband unless
he divided his property with her and
consented to a separation.
I'm his confession" the district at
torney declared. "Tompkins said he
came into possession of the letter be-
fore his wife posted It. He returned
home Thursday morning after the
children had left for school and con-
fronted her with 1t. After a stormy
few moments he declared his wife
said: You are only good for tending
furnaces
This taunt enraged him and he
caught her by the throat, choking
her into Inconsistencies. He carried
her body to the bathroom where he
placed it in the tub, turned on the
water and went to the kitchen, where
he procured q largo butcher knife,
with which. he rsmoved her bad. He
:. (Coutinued on PAGE z F1fmn a.