The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-09-16
ENDS HIS LIFE
AS LAW HUNTS
VANISHED WIFE
JeweIer Adds Mystery on
Mystery in Amazing
New England Riddle.
WOMAN BELIEVED DEAD
MySteriouSIy Disappears on
Way Home From Trip;
Hair Only CIeW.
(Pictures at bottom Of this paEe.)
BY ALLEN MARTIN
United Press stan CorreSpondept

PLYMOUTH, Mass, Sept. 16-A
grim band of national guardsmen
and county officials trudged through
the misty woodland around Great
Herring pond today, seeking a clew
which would untangle the most
amazing mystery of recent years in
New England.
They were hunting for the body
of Mrs Edith Du Bots, wife of a
Well-to-do jewelry salesman, Charles
Du Bots.
They were under orders to keep
looking Inch by inch" through the
countryside, until they have sue
coded or definitely proved that the
effort to solve the mstery of Mrs.
Du Bots disappearance must be
shifted to some other locality.
And as they searched, mystery
and tragedy were piled on mystery.
Du Bots shot and fatally
wounded himself in a boarding
house at Quincy, Mass. He died
leaving no note or statement.
Convinced Woman is Dead
Authorities have been convinced
the woman is dead But they have
only a tangled strand of hair, taken
from Plymouth harbor, and a few
less tangible clews to guide their
search.
Mrs. Du Bots, 40. dark haired and
attractive, drove with her husband
and two other persons from the Du
Bots cottage at Great Herring pond
to the Providence, R. L, railroad
station Aug 10. Returning from
Providence, their car halted by the
roadside between Taunton and
Plymouth.
A passerby saw the woman in the
car beside her tall, broad-shouldered
and handsome husband, Charles E.
Du Bots, who is four years her
senior.
p She never was seen alive after
ward, so far as police can learn.
Later the Du Bots car swerved
into the road leading up to the Du
Bots camp, on the Great Herring
pond 1t is a lonely road and the
region about the pond is isolated.
The water extends for five miles
through the woodland. 1t is a mile
wide.
Reports "OId Woman" Killed
The next few weeks appeared to
pass normally for Du Bots. He re-
marked to some persons, police were
told, that his wife had gone away
on a trip. The couple had a fine
home at Tuckahoe, Westminster
county, New York, to which Du Bots
returned Sept. 6.
Police quoted him as telling the
Iaundryman at Tuckahoe that the
old woman" had died. Again he was
quoted as saying she was killed in
an automobile accident near Mon
treal. A third time, he was reported
to have said she disappeared with
another man.
Then the laundryman at Tucka-
hoe reported to police that he had
seen a woman known as Grace at
the Du Bots home. On Sept. z,
Du Bots visited the First National
Bank and Trust Company of Tucka-
hoe, and asked access to his wife's
safe deposit box.
1t was refused, pending a court
order. He told bank officials his
wife was dead.
Two days later he again attempt
ed to get the safe deposit box, say
ing this time that his wife had gone
away with another man, taking
SIS, 900 of his money. He was per-
mitted to open the box but bank
officials did not know whether he
took anything out
Returns With Girl
On Sept. 10 Du Bots returned TO
Great Herring pond. With him
was an attractive girl. Later Miss
Grace Atwood, % years old, the
daughter of a wealthy box manufac-
turer Of Middleboro, Mass, told
authorities of her acquaintance with
the suave Du Bots and offered to
help if she could.
About this date, letter was re-
ceived at the Du Bots Tuckahoe
home from a New York bond house,
regarding a request that certain
properties in the name of Mrs. Edith
Du Bots be transferred to Mrs.
Grace Du Bots"
Suspicious of neighbors at Tuck
ahoe we're aroused. Inquiries about
Mrs. Du Bots were made and even
tually the police entered into the
They soon discovered
the conflicting statements made by
Du Bots concerning his wife.
A woman's torso, in such condi-
ton that Identification was diff
cult, had been found in Yonkers,
about mile and a half from the
Tuckahoe home Of Du Bots.
Arrested in Massachusetts
Last Monday, Du Bots was arrest
ed in Massachusetts. Police at
tempted to enter charge of murder
against him. There was no corpus
deficit, and he was released.
He went Immediately to Quincy,
Mass, and was reported transacting
business of some sort. Then he went
into seclusion.
Meantime, Miss Grace" Atwood,
PROSTATE at her home, issued state
ments saying she knew nothing OF
Mrs. Du Bots whereabouts.
In Westminster county, officials
began attempts to check the torso
found in Yonkers with a description
Of Mrs Du Bots. Today a court or
der was to be issued granting per-
mission TO exhume the torso and
make comparisons.
A letter from an Uncle Charlie"
in TT. Wayne, Ind., was held. II
spoke of Mrs Du Bots death"
In Plymouth harbor, a strand Of
hair was found and a check by
Plymouth experts showed it TO 90
consistent with" the hair Of Mrs.
Du Bois, even to the afct that it
was dyed.
IN the Great Herring pond cot
tage, officials found a mattress on
which chemists said were human