Evening star., 1932-08-10
LANCASTER TELLS
OF CLARKE DEATH
Flyer, on Witness Stand, De.
nies SIaying-Says Writer
Killed Himself.
BY the Associated Press.

BY Lne Associated PreSS.
MIAMI, Fla, August 10.-Capt. w. N.
Lancaster, with a steady and unemo-
tional voice today described to a jury
what he called the suicide of Haden
Clarke, for whose murder he is on trial.
Previously he had returned calm
mo" to a point blank question by
James M. Carson, chief of defense cou-
sci, as to whether he had killed the
young writer. who supplanted him as
the f1ancee of Mrs. J. M. Keith-Miller,
who had been Lancasters flying COM
panion for five years.
II was awakened by a bang" Lam
caster said II thought it was a win
dow I called what is that, Haden?'
I heard gurgling noise from his bed"
He leaped from his bed, he added. to
find blood streaming from Clarke's face
and pistol lying beside the fatally
wounded man.
"Haden, what have you done?" he
said was his best recollection Of his
next words. There was no answer.
Iatke0 over 1angle.
The former British Army pilot said
he and Clarke, after going to bed in
their room at Mrs Keith Miller's home,
had talked at length over their tangled
love affairs.
"Haden nearly wept when he told me
how their love had grown, and about his
position at that time with regard to
Mrs Keith Miller" the defendant said.
s.7id voV djerIIcu C1orLn'c roct lifaob
Carson asked.
Yes. in great detail, since 1t had a
direct bearing on his love for Mrs.
Keith Miller He told me during the
last talk that ne felt very badly about
his situe ue.ion-confessed he had lots OF
affairs, but that this was the first time
in his life he had been in love-" Lam
caster answered.
I.e dwelt at considerable length on
lack of finances.
For the first time, Lancaster testi-
fed, he learned Clarke was not divorced.
Urged Him to Tell All.
Lancaster said he advised the author
to tell the whole story to Mrs. Keith
Miller next day.
THE last thing I ever heard Haden
say was, Bill, you're the whitest man
I ever met.
Lancaster said he dropped into a
deep sleep at conclusion Of the talk,
to be awakened by the shot.
Lancaster said Clarke apparently con-
sented to sign the two suicide notes
could not do so.
II looked around the room-out in
the hall-on the table could find no
notes or anything to indicate what had
happened" he said. Then sat down
and wrote two suicide notes. Asked
Haden if he could sign them.
There was no answer but a groan,
and Clarke's head moved feebly back
and forth.
Admits Signing Notes.
Then did something I should not
have done. I took pencil and signed
the notes, one 'Haden' and the other
H"
He told Of waking Mrs. Keith-Miller
and of her helping to call doctor and
bathing Clarkes head with a towel.
He said the pistol with which Clarke
was killed was one he brought back
from St. Louis He said he and Clarke
discussed the pistol and he warned
the writer it was loaded when he placed
itson table between their beds before
they retired.
Just before he left the witness stand
last night Lancaster told of how he
returned hurriedly to Miami from the
West after learning that Clarke and
Mrs. Keith-Miller planned to be
married.
En- route, he said, he bought pistol
in st. Louis to replace one he had
borrowed from a friend and then
pawned. The State mas made much OF
the purchase, but Lancaster clung tc
his story that Clarke shot himself in a
fit OF dependency.
Lancaster said his love for Mrs
Keith Miller was constantly increasing
although she has testified she no longer
loves him.
The flyer denied assertions of two
State witnesses that he threatened To
get rid" of Clarke
The witnesses were j. F. Russell and
Mark G. Tancrel. Lancaster said they
had made him lucrative offers to SNUG
gle Chinese and narcotics by air into
the United States from Mexico ano
that he had rebuffed them.