The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-08-19

Natchez, iss., Aug 19-(UP)- Duncan Minor, dashing chavlier or the old south who wooed Jane Surget Merrill 40 years ago, who inherited her fortune when she was slain, who first called police after her death, has been finger printed and questioned in the crime.
 The revelation that the sheriff questioned Minor late last night created a small sensation in this community, aroused over a mystery that had raked the ashes of TO- nance that burned brightly in the old south of two decades. Minor had. led in the hunt for the slayers of Miss Merrill, daugh- ter. of a former minister of Bell gium, a friend of President Grant, figure in the court of St James and at Brussels in her day.
 He first called police when ne- groes reported they heard screams at Glenn Burrne, the tumble down old palatial estate in which Miss Merrill had secluded herself from the outside world. He offered $100 reward for the arrest of the kill CTS. He has caused the arrest of many. Minor is powerful politically, financially, and physically. He an- nounced he had no need for Miss Merrill's estate when her will re- vealed that she had left her prop erty, worth about $175,000. to him because The knew what she would want to do with it."
 Minor frequently denied he had married Miss Merrill to quiet ru- mors that persisted as a result of their 40-year-ago romance. The two, however, lived on adjoining estates. He was one of the few neighbors not finger printed or questioned in the early stages of the investigation.
 Two other old neighbors, TO- mantle, mysterious figures in this old southern community, had been questioned. had been. finger printed, and finally had been charged with murder in the death.
 One was Richard Dana. pianist, cultured but eccentric nephew of Charles Dana, the journalist. He. retired from the social whirl in the old south when he believed an injury to his hand ruined his fu- ture as a musician.
 The second was Octavia Dockery, daughter of the famous confeder- ate general, also a social figure. a woman who abandoned her old friends to become Dana's house. keeper in an old estate now known here as Goat Palace"
 She and Miss Merrill had quar- reled often because her goat herd wandered onto the estate of the latter. There too, ha dbeen reports of a. romance in which Miss Merrill and Dana figured before Miss Mer- Till met Minor.
 Both Dana and Miss Cookery are free today, awaiting a complete grand jury investigation. It will determine if murder charges stand against them.
 Meanwhile. another mysterious figure, Lawrence Pearles. negro. had been named by investigators as the wonian's slayer. A third set of fingerprints wound in the slain woman's home were similar to his. He had a gun which might have fired the fatal bullets.
 Pearles was shot dead in gun fight in Pine Bluff, Ark. News of his death recalled to investigators that Miss Merrill had been threat ened by a former employe few days before she was slain. They investigated his fingerprints.
 Sheriff Roberts refused to com ment on his action late last night in summoning Minor for question: ing. Minor returned to his home. It was believed that questioping and prints were obtained to com- plete the record of the investiga-