Evening star., 1940-09-16
Psychiafrisfs Question
5ocia|ite in Staying
Of Lifelong Friend
Wealthy Spinster Found
Being CIubbed After Wild
Struggle in Mansion
BY the Associated Press.


BY the Associated Press.
HASTINGS-ON- HUDSON, N. Y.
Sept 16.-PsychiatristS attempted
today to draw from the incoherent
mumblings of socially prominent
spinster the details of a furious
Sunday morning fight in which her
was clubbed to death.
The victim was Miss Lottie Wash
ington Booth, SO, law graduate Of
New York University and once a
specialist in patent litigation in New
Yonk. Police held on a charge Of
homicide Miss Mary E. B. Jones, A.
They had lived together for 10 years
tl"Miss Booths 100000 Westchester
County home in which the death
struggle occurred.
When Patrolman Frank McCaffrey,
answering neighborS' summons, ar
rived at the estate, he found Miss
Jones still vigorously raining blows
on her victim, he said.
May Have Quarreled Over Money.
On the basis of stories supplied by
neighbors and tradeSmen, police
thought the two might have quar-
relied over money.
John J. Dunnigan, chief OF police,
said Miss Jones incoherent account
and the shattered and bloodStained
furnishings indicated death came as
a climax to a fight marked by a
mad flight and chase throughout the
many rooms and alcoveS of both
floors of the house.
,sS"Apparently,' said Chief Dunni-
gan, Miss Jones chased Miss Booth
through the entire house. Furnl-
tire had been thrown about and
broken. AS nearly as we can learn,
Miss Jones finally caught up with
Miss Booth and felled her with an
old Windsor chair. The chair broke
and parts of it were used over Miss
Booths head
= Fight Began in Morning.
ENeighbors said the fight began
shortly after am. There was an
argument in the garage under the
fieldstone and stuoCo house where
Miss Jones kept her four large, ex-
pensive cars and a station wagon.
The argument was followed by raised
voices in the house, the sound OF
crashing furniture and, finally,
shrjeks. Then the neighbors called
police.
IT, ~ HaH
through a window on reaching the
home and saw Miss Jones raising
the chair over the PROSTATE Miss
Booth and bringing it down on her
head"
:Patrolman McCaffrev said he tried
all doors and found them locked.
Through the windows I could
see Miss Jones raising the chair
over the PROSTATE Miss Booth and
bringing it down on her head" he
said Il yelled for her to stop and
broke the glass in the dining room
door to try to reach the lock Then
r broke down the kitchen door and
rushed in to find Miss Booth lying
between the kitchen and dinette.
k"As Miss Jones was about to
Strike again with remnants of the
chair I grabbed her hand and
forced her to sit Iown. Then, with
the aid Of Patrolman John Ramsey
and Mrs. j. V. Meigs, We tried to
Quiet her Then I took her to the
station house"
Had Been in Institution.
! Miss Jones was taken to the
psychopathic ward of nearby
Grasslands Hospital. Dr.. Frank
Harnden of PittSfield, Mass BROTH
er-in-law, said the woman had
been committed to a Long Island
aanitarium some years ago by rela-
tives' court action and had re-
manned there less than a year.
DR.. Harnden said Miss Booth was
the legal guardian of Miss Jones
for 25 years. AS such, they had
Travelled abroad and lived together,
first in New York and then in
the house located off a quiet street
on a three-acr plot covered by
towering evergreens.
Neighbors said the women en-
ployed a Filipino houseboy who was
discharged two and a half years
ago. Since then, they said. the
women had lived by themselves.
During their residence here, they
added, the spinsterS entertained few
people; during the last year none
at all.
Frequently the women went for
walks, both dressed in tweed suits
and carrying canes. They became
q familiar sight on the quiet walks
Of the neighhorhood, swinging their
canes and chatting animatedly-
Miss Jones, tall and slender. walking
leisurely, and Miss Booth, short and
stout, exerting herself to keep
abreast.