THE ST. LOUIS MURDER. MAXWELLS INGENIOUS DEFENCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 121, 26 September 1885, Page 4

THE ST. LOUIS MURDER. MAXWELLS INGENIOUS DEFENCE.

He says the Corpse was not Preller. The arrival of the prisoner W. H. LennoxMaxwell from Auckland, in custody of the detectives, has been the signal for an outbreak of newspaper sensationalism. The San Francisco Chronicle of date just prior to the departure of the 'Zealandia,' viewing these stories, says,—" The Preller case is fullof all kinds of surprises. The theorists who have oeen kept busy ever since Maxwell's return in devising plans for his defence have once more returned to itho conspiracy theory, and now assert that Preller is not only afivo but has been seen by several people since the trunk discovery at the Southern Hotel. These reports sadly lack confirmation, and the letter given as a sample of those which Maxwell receives bears evidence of having been manufactured by the imaginative prisoner himself. The case is so strong against Maxwell that he will have to do more than invent plausible theories if he expects to get his neck out of the noose which is wafting to receive it. One of the most amusing things in contteo- 1 tion with the case is the conduot of one of the' ffy fcouis nwspaperi?, ft CTifl wtiy regards ft?

return of, Maxwell as an event of supreme importance to St. Louis. It Issued an extra on the Sunday morning on which the oriminal arrived there, illustrated with outs of the steamer whioh brought him over the ooean,, of the steamer's captain, of the potty officers of the court in Auckland, and of the interior of the courtroom whore the legal proceedings tool? place. Altogether it was very funny as a specimen of illustrated journalism of the order which John Phoenix ridiculed so oleverly years ago ir the 'Squibob Papers' with the aid of the advertising cuts of a country newspaper. Thie survival of what was rogardod as journalistic enterprise a generation ago seems very strange and could never exist in so cosmopolitan a oitj as San Francisco."

ARRIVAL PROM AUCKLAND. In noting Maxwell's arrival from Auckland the San Franoisco Call states that a crowd oi visitors were admitted to the "now prison" ai the Central Station, San Franoiaco, to look upor the features of a man accused of murder. Durinj; the day Maxwell stated that while in the pri or in Now Zealand newspaper men were not allowed to sco him, but that here he was inter viewed from the, time of his arrival until ! o'clock in the morning. '• This," said ho to i reporter, " is more than I oxpected." •' That's nothing," said the reporter, " wait til the St. Louis reporters get hold of you ; then will not be enough left of you to place on trial. 1 The prisoner groaned when he hoard this, ant simply exclaimed, " Great God I "

PRISON PESTS AT AUCKLAND. While commenting upon tho character of hi quarters at tho City Prison he alluded to hisun pleasant surroundings in Auckland— fleas, dir and vermin, with eiarht ounces of bread and i pint of tea for breakfast, and boiled beef o: mutton for dinner. Thon prisoners woro no allowe to have newspapers or tobacco. Efforts to worm somo sort of an admissioi from him proved unavailing,, his responst being : "My dear sake, you will pardon mo. , cannot talk about ze case. See Mr. Cloony." Maxwell has neither the appearance nor tin demeanor of the murderer ho is represented t< be. Indeed, his deportment is that of a man wh< feels that his position is perfectly secure Tha his mind hus not been extensively racked wit! remorse is evidenced by the fuct that ho ha gained about a dozen pounds in weight sinci his arrest in New Zealand. The circumstantia evidenco has an ugly appearance, but when tin time arrives and the St. Louis oflicials think the; havo him cornered, ho may perhaps addua satisfactory proof that Preller is not dead. Si far the St. Louis officials havo been vmable li produce satisfactory assurances that the bod; found in the Southern Hotel was that of Prollei It is a possibility that Maxwell, Preller and hi father havo been playing a bold game, inton on securing the insurance on Preller'! life, amounting to 100,000 dollars. Soon after th reported death of that indivi mal. his father es sayed lo collect the insurance money, assertinj that it would enable him to un down and pic secute tho murderer, but he failed to secure th cash, the insurance officials declaring that ther was no satisfactory proof of Prollcr's death. STRONG OIKOUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Captain Lees confidently declares that tho ens is one of tho plainest he overheard of. The fac that Maxwell hud, when arrosted, much of Pro) lor's property, even the shirt, bloodstained am » ipped up at the sides to secure its removal fron Pielier'n body, was pretty conclusive evidence The prose ution would pi esent this as a substan tial fact, and it would be Maxwell's business t prove how it came into his possession. Th Captain thought the strongest feature about tin case was the fact that, after getting away wit) his victim, and packing his body in a trunk Maxwell foolishly ran away, leaving it in tin very room he had occupied. He nmst hay either lost his riorvo at tho last moment or beei an idiot. One would have nupposed that h would havo purchased a ticket for the Ensi checked the ti unk through, destroyod his tickei and then depatted for the v\ est, after havini temoved the ovidt-nco of his crime from th place where it was committed, While Captain Lees is of the opinion that ther is a clear case against -the prisoner, there ar others who are of the opinion that the St. Loui authorities will bo unable to fix the crimo oi Maxwell. These people claim that it is impos sible for the St. Louis people lo provo beyon< question that Preller is dead, or that the bod; found in tho trunk in the Southern Hotel wa that of Pieller.

maxwell's defence. In an interview with a representative of tlv Philadelphia Press, Maxwell said:— "Hero i tho gist of tho St. Louis mystery, which ha puzzled the country for over four months Preller and I were old friends. Wo came t Boston from Liverpool in the steamer Cepha , lonia. We were constant companions, ant made arrangements to meet at St. Louis at tin Southern Hotel, thero to carry out the schemi which Proller had devised for getting an in surance on his life. We met according to tin agreement. We were in room ill in the hote for about all tho time avc spent thero. But mind you, Prellcr was at the hotel only thrci days. lie remained in seclusion for tho re mainder of tho mystery at the Southern Hotel ' Ho loft St. Louis alive and well the same day a ■ I started West. That wasn't Prellcr's bod; found in tho trunk at tho hotel. When the cast comes up for trial I shall have proof of when tho body found in the trunk was procured whom it was bought of, at what hour it wa brought to tho hotel, and all the details of tin plot. I can tell you how tho corpse was brough to the hotel in a trunk in broad daylight, Every thing was arranged to give colour to the theor; : of sudden murdor and nasty flight. My desig] i was to let Preller out of tho country before tru body was discovered, and onco in Australia thought it would be easy to bury my identity h the East Indies until things had been forgotten Where Preller now is, or what arrangements '. have rnado for communicating with him, o course, is out of tho (mestion for me to toll. Yoi ' can rest assured on the accuracy of the facts . have given you. They will bo proven on trial.'

THE INSURANCE STOKY DECLARED A PREPOSTEROUS LIE. St. Louis, August 13.— Maxwell's ultimate i conviction is assured, with the new evidence i obtained in Auckland and the information ir possession of the Circuit Attorney. The ovi ' denco as to the identity of tho remains as those of Preller is said to be complete. Furthermore the body is still under the control of tho prose , euting officer, and ho may use it in the trial, it having been embalmed. Sclessinger of New ' York, cousin of Preller, will be here to identify the remains. It is more than possible thai Alfred Prellor, brother of tho doceased, will come from London for that purpose. New York, August 14.— The World says : - Frank Sclessinger, Prellcr's cousin, of '176 Broomo-sh'eet, said, when he had read che Philadelphia Press special sent from San Francisco, "It Is a preposterous lie. Preller was insured for only £1,000 sterling in the London Life Insui ranee Company, and that money has been paid to his relatives. It is hardly likoly that that sum would have been paid had not the company receivod proofs that tho dead man was really Preller. The body was seen by intimato friends and fully identified. The family mourn for him , as dead, and every one who knew Prellev in life is firmly convinced that he is now dead."

A HORRIBLE DISCOVERY. The startling annoimcement was made to-day that Preller WdS not dead when his murderer placed him in the trunk. The cis ample medical proof at hand that he must havo been alive when packed in this receptacle. This fact, which has never before been published, adds to the hor or of the crime with which Maxwell stands charged. A coini lete aiitopsy of the body, made by Dr. Luedekip, showed pongestiqn of the brain and a condition of the larynx which indicated strangulation. The theory of the p osecution is that Preller, being a man of line physique, strong and sound in limb, and healthy in all bis organs, resisted the effects of the chloroform to such an extent that Maxwell was compelled to choke him to death, and that he probably did the choking af te ho had placed his yictim in the trunk. If not, the victim was suffocated in the trunk after having been placed there. It is supposed that after using fou ounces of chloroform, which he got at JTernow's drugstore. Maxwell saw the folly of ending his victim in that way, and when he got two ounces moro at 5 p.m. he used it merely to weaken Preller to a point wtyere he could make short work of bjin by strangulation. MYSTERIOUS fiBTTBRS. St. Louis, Aug. £J.— To-day's deyelppmenta in connection with "the Southern Hotel mystery have led many to reasse t that Preller is not dead, aud that the body found in tho trunk was that of some man as yej; unknown. Maxwell has received several letters from cranks and others. One letter, signed Louis Daubigny, is I from New Orleans. The writer galls the pri- j soner JD'Augier, refers to an interview had with him at the Southern Hotel, and then proceeds as follows ;— " Your stubbornness will cause you a good deal of trouble before you can get out of it. The only thing that remains for you to do at present is to tell the truth to your attorney and to prove by Mr that you procured the body and that Mr Preller is alive, or at least that he was alive at tho time your subject was discovered in your trunk. Have arrested at once the man who procured the body, for it is possible that he may disappear at the time you nted him as a witness, I cannot help believing that Mr Preller has not been murdered, and I oelieve that Harriet Ster, his mistress of. Boston, knows more in regard to him than the police of St. Louis. It would be an excellent idea to havo her under the surveillance of deteoMves. I met Sir Peroy Bur rell of West Greanstead, Sussex, England, last week, He assured me he had seen Mr Preller at a Spanish port in company with a lady on the 31st of May. Sir Burrell is now at St. Malo. You can send a dispatch to the British Consul, asking him to get his testimony." Maxwell tried to hide this letter, but the Mitbprses got it ftW&F from him.

IS PRELLER ALIVE ? St. Louis, Aug. 28.—A remarkable letter postmarked Wilkesbarre, Perm., was received today by Maxwell. It was taken in charge by the authorities. It purports to be from Preller. and the handwriting and signature are .almost a counterfeit of the samples which the officials have and which were found in Preller's baggage, i Proller announces in the letter that he will arrive in time for the trial and ridicules the St. Louis polico. Philadelphia, Aug. 28.-B. G. Rodgers, the man who affirms he saw Prellev alive last May, adheres to his statement. He says that ho will go to St. Louis and swear that the man calling limself Arthur 0. Prollor, whom he met at the Continental Hotel, la-»t March, and the man who denied that his name was Preller in Sansome Street, in May, are one and tho same person. A well-known St. Louis drummer says that a few days af er the body was found in the Southern Hotel, a young man answering the description ot Preller appeared atElston, Mo., organized a singing olass, remained a month, and then loft without collecting his tuition fees. Before he left he gave a plug hat to a colored man. The hat'bore the initials "0. A. P." inside the sweat-cloth. Preller was something of a musician and vocalist. It is believed by many that the reason Maxwell has exhibited such cooraess is that he knows that at the right time ho can provo that Proller is alivo, and that he cannot bo tried for murdering another man but Proller. Between tho United States and British Governments there is an Extradition Treaty containing a clause to tho effect that persons oxtraditpa can only bo tried for tho offonco named in tho warrant. This clause was inserted to prevent either Government from extraditing offenders for criminal offences, and then trying them for political crimes. If Prollor can be produced at tho trial Maxwell can immediately claim his discharge. Then, in order to try him for another offence, it would bo nocessavy for tho St. Louis authorities to make another trip to Now Zealand, fllo new ovidenco and get leave to begin tho prosecution^ STATEMENT OF MAXWELL'S FELLOW-STUDENT*. Now York, Aug. 25. — A World's Boston special of the 21th says : Dr. Dewey, who was a fellow-student with Maxwell, the alleged St. Louis murderer, at College in London, said to a correspondent to-day that when Maxwell was in Boston he wanted Dowey to get a corpse for him. Maxwell did not say what he wished to do with tho corpse, but Dewey, knowing he was an enthusiast in medicine, thought he wanted it for dissection. Maxwell left tho city for a few weeks and on his return he told Dewoy he had a body. When Maxwell made the statement to St. Louis ofllccrs that the body was not Prellor's, but a corpse he had secured to assist in defrauding the insurance companies, Dewey whs about to inform the companies of his doings, when ho read tho alloged confession of Maxwoll that tho body was really that of Prellor. Three days after his return to Boston, Maxwell started for the West, Preller having left several days before him. Ever sinco Dowey has been acquainted with Maxwell, ho bcliovcd his mind was aitectcd, and ho always passed as Maxwell and claimed ho was tho illegitimate son of Lord Farnhani of England, ]

IDENTIFICATION OF MAXWELL AS BROOKS. Among other statements which have received currency is one that Maxwell's lval name is Brooks. This, however, he denies. The following cable despatch on the subject, dated London, August 22nd, appears in the "New York World":—" Your correspondent to-day paid a visit to Manchester and tound great excitement in the city and suburbs on the publication in its papers of tue account of tho identification of Maxwell with B ooks of Hyde, a beautiful suburb of Manchester. I visited Hyde, which is a straggling Cheshire town just across the Lancashire border, having a population of about 30,000. Hyde lies in a picturesquo valley in the midst of verdure-clad hills, its pooplo mainly devoted 1o prosaic cotton spinning, weaving, and making hats. I found lln*. population all agog with the news of the day beforo, that the son of their well-known townsman, Mr Brooks, was Mention! with Maxwell, the man accused of tho horrible St. Louis murder. When I announced my errand, I became an object of interest. ' Yes, wo ali know Master Brooks,' said the station-master. 'It is thirty years or more since the nice old geutleman accepted the post of schoolmaster at St. George's National Schools hero, and many is the pupil he has had who now lives hereabouts and in big Manchester, and is doing well.'