THE HONEYMOON MURDER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 66, 27 June 1910, Page 5

THE HONEYMOON MURDER.

THE HUSBAND'S CONFESSION. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright New York, June 24. Charlton Porter alleges that his wife had an ungovernable temper, and during a drunken quarrel be struck her with a mallet with which he was mending a couch, and was horrified to find l her dead. He then threw her body into a trunk, dragged it to the pier at midnight, and threw it into the lake. The case has been adjourned until 28th June. The defence will probably] be insanity. It is believed he is suffering from tuberculosis. Judge Charlton, who is counsel to the Bureau of Insular Affairs in the War Department at Washington, interviewed his son in his cell, and wept bitterly. His son was unconcerned. Charlton states that he- carried the trunk upon his back, and weighted it with stones before, tossing it into the water. He returned home for a day,'and thence went to Genoa.

Charlton is utterly broken in health, and collapsed upon his arrest.

EXTRADITION APPLIED FOR. Rome, June 24. Italy has applied for Charlton's extradition. CHARLTON INTERVIEWED. WAS IT A "BRAIN STORM"? Received June 26, 5.15 p.m. New York, June 25. A. reporter interviewed Charlton, whose confession has not given any fresh details, except that he sat for two hours at the bedside of the body before squeezing it into the trunk, pushing it downstairs, and rolling it in the lake. Owing to a long-standing controversy between Italy and America because Italy has refused to extradite persons accused of murder, Charlton's extradition is considered improbable. Charlton is detained upon the Italian Consul's complaint, but extradition is not sought. Indications are that Charlton's family intend to,adopt tactics similar to those made famous by the Thaw case, pleading a "brain storm." Dr. Arritz, a prominent alienist, declares that Charlton is insane.