Evening star., 1926-11-15
HALL LOVE NOTES
BITTER TO WIDOW
All Her Fortitude Fails to
Keep Her Lips Steady and
Tears From Her Eyes.
: BY DOROTHY DIX.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

BY DOROTHY DIX.
Special Dispatch to The Star.
SOMERVILLE, n. j., November
15.-A few bits Of paper con1ured
dead man out of his grave and set
him before us in the habit in which
he lived.
These scraps of paper We're the love
letters that Rev. Edward Wheeler
Hall wrote to Mrs. Eleanor Mills, and
they turned a shadow into a sub
stance, for up to Saturday the clergy
man had been curiously vague.
We have seen him first as the hus-
band of his wife-the poor and am,
bilious young preacher who married
a woman much older than hlmselr
for the sake Of the ease and luxury
and position which she could give
him. We have seen him in his wife S
fine home, a good-natured, eaSy-golng,
Jolly, short -necked man. who brought
cheer into that cold and austere home
And we have seen him, a. tragic flg-
ure, lying dead, murdered under the
crabapple tree.
Strange Contrast Shown.
But these letters show you the man
as he really was-a strange blend OF
the CdI-Ildl dIlu liAC oE'ii
middle.aged and the schoolboy. For
in them he writes in one breath OIL
pressing burning kisses that are
liouid fire on a womans body and IN
the next of the beauty and comfort
of prayer. He rha pSodiZeS over the
uplifting influence of hymns upon ms
spirit and makes rendezvous with MS
lady-love.
He betrays his own wife and covets
his neighbours wife, yet apparently
sees nothing impious in his minister
ing with unclean hands before the
altar of God, for every letter is a mix
ture Of church and desire. he is
middle-aged and fat and tubby. yet
he writes "highfaluting" sentimental
tiles like a schoolboy and tells his ar
finity how he yearns to be her gypsy
king.
Wild, hot, passionate letters they
are, in which he addresses Mrs. NILS
as "my own dear wonder heart ana
INV dearest dear darling" and won
der heart of mine," and tells her now
the doors of a new world have opened
TO them, now they will never be shut
again. and how at night he talks to
himself about his beautiful gypsy
queen and longs to crush her in his
arms, and so on and so forth, In the
eternal litany Of lovers.
Appointment in Every Note.
And in every letter he makes an
appointment to meet her at our
road" which for them was to be the
road that led to the grave, for these
letters were written only a few weeks
before the tragedy, indeed, went al
most down to the very day.
Jimmy Mills listened to the reading
of his wife's love letters with as little
apparent interest as if they had been
the captions in a moving picture, but
to Mrs. Hall they were bitter listen
ing. She bowed her head down until
her face was half hidden, and not all
Of her fortitude could prevent her lips
from trembling or keep back the tears
that she reached up her hand and
furtively wiped away.
She loved her husband with the pas
sionate devotion that reserved and re-
pressed women so often feel for the
one man on whom they lavish the
whole wealth Of their affection, and
every revelation of his faithlessness
Is a fresh stab to her heart and her
pride.
Perhaps Senator Simpson felt that
after a hard weeks work he was un.
equal to the task of coping with all
these mushy, lovey-dovey billet-dOux
At any rate, he delegated the task of
reading them to Prosecutor Bergen
who evidently agrees with Mr.. Barrie
who declares that he cannot make one
Of his characters say darling" with.
out wrapping his legs around a table
leg for support. For, as he read each
term of endearment, Mr.. Bergen got
redder and redder in the face, until
his very ears were crimson.
Day Barren of Results.
The grind of the mills of justice
brought out no very precious grist
for either side. The milkman had
seen a door open at the Hall house
on the night of the murder, but
whether 1t was door that went into
the coal closet or somewhere else he
didn't know. A mail carrier had
seen Dodge sedan parked on DE
Russeys lane on that night, but he
had no idea to whom it belonged
Mrs. Halls gardener, fine upstand
ing old Irishman, who had been with
the Stevens and Carpenter family
for a generation, saw nothing, be-
cause he was busy bedding down the
celery.
The leader of the choir, hand
some woman in handsome new coat
had never asked Mrs. Hall, whom she
admitted she loved dearly, why she
sent her the message that she did
about DR.. Hall not being in town
on the day after the night when he
had failed to come home.
An errand boy, who took clothes to
the cleaner. took a suit for Willie
Stevens to be secured, that had spots
on it, and he didn't know whether
Willie was in the habit Of dropping
his food on his waistcoat or not
The sheriff told about finding the
bodies, picking up the cards and the
papers about the man and once more
the little bit of pasteboard with the
smudge Of a finegerprint on it was
dragged out and inspected.
DOWNRIGHT 1926l