The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-04-18
Gray Will Go
On Trial With
Mrs. Snyder
CONTINUED from mage one)

SSOULtOucu puk0 Oue
fercnt from her own. Discord, she
said, forced her to look elsewhere for
happiness.
Gray, a corset salesman, with a
wife and l0-year- daughter, was u
man of society in his home in East
Orange, N. J. So sterling was his
character believed to be that MEM
bers of his family and friends re-
fused to believe his guilt until they
heard it from his own lips.
Attended Card Party
On the eve of the murder Snyder
anK his wife attended card party
at the home of friends. Tommy"
as Mrs. Snyder was konwn to her
intimatcs, saw that her husband
drank plenty Of liquor, ''to make him
feel good" as she later confessed to
the police.
When they got home Mrs. Snyder
put him to bed. He was partly deaf
and she took care that his good
ear" lay on the pillow.
Some hours later the couples nine
year-old daughter, Lorraine, found
her father dead. He had been beaten,
chloroformed and his body bound to
the. bed with picture wire. In an
adjoining room, Mrs. Snyder also had
disorder from top to bottom.
Mrs. Snyder told the police a man
Of giant stature had forced his way
into the home and had killed her
husband and had beaten her.
Detectives were suspicious from
the, start. In theirfattempts to ac-
cOmplish the perfect crime the STAY
ers had been too thorough. They had
ransacked the kitchen.
There is something wrong here"
said the officers. Regular murderers
don't work that way. They wouldn't
bother the kitchen"
There was no evidence of the head
injury which Mrs. Snyder claimed
the murderer had inflicted. Soon the
jewels which she said had been sto-
len were found under mattress.
Other things were found to contra
dict her story.
Finally Confessed
After hours of questioning Mrs.
Snyder confessed. She admitted an
intimacy with Gray and said that he
had hidden in the house until they
returned from the party. After she
had put Snyder to bed she and Gray
coi,xmitted the crime together.
Gray was detained by police in
Syracuse. At first he stoutly denied
any connection with the murder. He
had what seemed to be an alright
alibi. Clerks in the hotel where he
was STOPPING remembered that he
haI' called from his room at about
the time he would have been in
Queens Village if he had committed
the murder. His bed was rumpled
as il he had slept there the night of
the crime.
Police brought Gray to New York
for further questioning. After hours
of steady denial he suddenly confess
ed his part in the staying. He told
how he had struck Snyder over the
head with q window sashweight
while Mrs. Snyder looked on.
'Alibi' Proves False
Although he had confessed, police
were not satisfied until they ex-
planned his alibi. Haddon Gray, a
Syracuse friend with whose two chill
dren Gray shot marbles on the night
following the murder, was brought
to New York. He had substantiated
Gray's story of his Syracuse move
ments. Taken before the Queens
county grand jury he admitted that
hfhad aided Gray prepare his alibi
in the belief that he was helping
him keep from his wife knowledge of
an engagement with woman friend.
He admitted that 1t was he who had
impersonated Gray in calling from
his hotel room and had otherwise
aided the hoax.
Both Gray and Mrs. Snyder re-
pudiated their confession VIII e N
brought into court. The love that
had Joined them in the killing SEEM
ed to have cooled in the several days
they had been in prison, for they did
not speak to each other in court.
They blamed each other for their
plight.
One theory advanced for the mo-
tive was that Mrs. Snyder expected
to collect her husbands $4,000 in
surance policy. and then flee with
Gray.
Another possible motive advanced
by the police was that Snyder had
learned of their intimacy and that
they had killed him on this account.
A bottle Of liquor containing
bichloride Of mercury was found in
Gray's possession on the train trip
from Syracuse. It was later revealed
that he had attempted to take q
drink of it on the trip, telling Of
ficers that it was cough medicine.
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