LAKE COMO TRAGEDY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 853, 27 June 1910, Page 7

LAKE COMO TRAGEDY.

RESULT OF A DRUNKEN QUARREL HUSBAND'S CONFESSION. JUDGE CHAKI-TOX VISITS HIS SOX. i By Tc!cßraph-PrK3 Assodation-Coprrisiht. New York, Juno 24. Charlton, arrost«l hero for the murder of his wife, whose body was found in Lake Comi>, alleges that the woman hiid mi ungovernable tomper, and that during a drunken (|uarrol he struck her with a mallet, with which bo had been mending a conch. Horrified to find her dead, ho threw the body into a trunk and dragged it to the pier at midnight, and threw it in the lake. He carried the. trunk upou his hack, and weighted it with a stone before--tossing it iuto tho water. Ho afterwards returned to his homo for » day, and then proceeded to Genoa. Charlton, who is utterly broken in health, arrived here- by tho steamer Princess Irene from Palermo. Ho collapsed after arrest. His confession exonerates Ispolatoff, the Russian arrested ufter tho murder, but subsequently released. Charlton was not violent at the station, as stated previously. Captain Scott, tho victim's brother, identified, him. He surrendered his revolver outside, the station at the request of tho police. ' The hearing of the charge of murder has been adjourned to June 28. The defonco will probably be insanity: . It is believed the prisoner is suffering from , tuberculosis. Judge Charlton, who is counsel to tho Bureau of Insular Affairs, and tho War ; Department at Washington, interviewed his son in the prison cell and wept hitterly. Tho prisoner is unconcerned. The Italian authorities have applied for his extradition. EXTRADITION IMPROBABLE. FAMILY WILL PROBABLY PLEAD INSANITY. (R-ec. June 26, 5.5 p.m.) New York, Juno 25. A reporter interviewed Charlton, whoso further confession has not given , any fresh details, except that ho sat two hours beside his wife's body before squeezing it into a trunk, pushing it downstairs, and rolling it into the lake. i Owing to a long-standing controversy ; between Italy and America —in consequence- of Italy's refusal to extradite persons accused of murder—Charlton's ; extradition is considered improbable. Charlton has heon detained upon the Italian Consul's complaint, but extradition has not been sought. There are indications that Charlton's family intend to adopt tactics similar to flioso in the Thaw case, pleading, that the prisoner was suffering from a "brainstorm." Doctor Arritz, a prominent alienist, declares that Charlton is insane. "BRAINSTORM" THEORY DISCOUNTED. In the Thaw caso Inst year, Justice Hills recommitted Thav.- (the millionaire charged with Jiaviiu; iiiuuldwl Sl.vifpnl White,, a well-known architect, on the ground of jealousy), to the Matteawau Asvlum, im the ground that ho was still insane, lie believed that Thaw's insanity at the time of the commission of homicide was of the kind < known as paranoia and not.of the nature, of a "brainstorm—rano half a minute before niul sane half a minute after—if any such variety really exists." Tho "brainstorm" theory was advanced by certain alienists ou the prisoner's bohalf. A London "Times" correspondent writing at the time, ?aid:—"Wo are snro to hear moro of the Thaw case; but, at least, as the 'New York Mail" says, one wholesome thing has been done—'the validity of interested medical testimony has been heavily discounted and tho scandal of the "hi'cd expert has been signally rebuked.'" Thaw had made an attempt to obtain freedom by provinor his sanity. Tho New York correspondent of "The Times" Eaid: . —"Since the civil cotlo of tho State deprives the Judges of the right to refuse an application for a writ oC habeas corpus, Thaw will be able to obtain new hearings until ho wearies the procedure or obtains a decision in his favour. Not only was he able to drag his trial over months, but Le is now able to reopen the case whenever lie wishes. In short, his wealth, which was his undoing, places ' within his reach the opportunity of bringing the law into ridicule."