NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 104, 10 August 1910, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL.

I LAKE MURDER MYSTERY, j —. DRAMATIC ARREST OF VICTIM'S HUSBAND. New York, June 23. Porter Charlton was arrested as he landed from the steamer Princess Irene at Hoboken this morning. He has confesesd that lie murdered his wife, Mrs. Mary Scott Charlton, at Moltrasio, on Lake Como, rand concealed her body in the trunk; in which it was subsequently found by fishermen, who were dredging the lake with thei,r nets. Three detectives, with Captain -Scott, U.S.A., Porter Charlton's brother-in-law, met the steamer this morning, as theyhave met incoming Transatlantic liners during' the past ten days in the hope of finding the fugitive among the passengers.

They discovered Porter Charlton, who was. a second-class passenger, as the luggage was being examined by the Customs officials on the quay. Charlton denied his identity, and said that he was "Jack Coleman," of Omaha. The detectiy.es asked for cards or papers proving! his identity. "Coleman" could not produce any. Detectives secured hia luggage and searched his trunk and found linen marked Porter Charlton, whereon he was placed under arrest. Charlton struggled violently as he was being handcuffed. He was placed in a patrol waggon and taken to police headquarters in Hoboken.

THE "THIRD DEGREE." He continued to declare that he was not Charlton. Finally Chief of Police Haynes subjected him to (the "third degree," which is a form of inquisition adopted by the police in all'large cities when suspected criminals refuse to reveal their identity or help the authorities who are trying to solve the mystery. •At first the "third degree" was unsuccessful. Suddenly Mr. Haynes said: "You needn't protest, for Mrs. Charlton is alive."

Charlton fainted, and when he revived he became very ill. "She is not alive now," the Chief of Police continued, "hut she was when you placed her in the trunk." "You don't know what you are talking about," retorted Charlton. "She was dead." 'He continued to protest that he was not Charlton. The Chief of Police induced him to write Charlton's name. When this was done he compared the signature with a letter he had sent to Captain .Scott. When presented with this ' evidence Charlton confessed his identity. lie bocame greatly enraged, drew a revolver, and tried to shoot Mr. Haynes, but the detectives disarmed him. .

His rage continued for several minutes. Finally Charlton said: "Allow me to compose myself and I will confess everything." He was taken before Judge McGovern, and signed the following statement:— "My wife and 1 lived happily together. She was the best woman in the world, but she had an ungovernable temper. So have I. We frequently quarrelled over trivialities, and her language was very bad. The night I struck her I had been quarrelling with her. She was in the worst temper I had ever seen. I told her that if she would not cease quarrelling I would put a stop to it. She quietened down for some time, and then renewed her abuse. I was dazed and struck her with a short mallet which 1 had been, using to straighten the leg of a couch. I struck 'her two or three times. I thought she was dead and 1 then placed the body in a trunk from the house to a small pier near by, and threw it into the lake. I remained in Moltrasio the next day, and left the following night. I went to Como, then to (ienoa. where I boarded the Princess Iren« i<>ur days later. 1 have been informed that Constant™ Ispolatoff has been implicated in this matter. I wish to say he is guiltness. I have no defence to make. I do not propose any."

STORY OF THE TRAGEDY. Mrs. Mary Scott Charlton, who was murdered at Moltariso, Lake Como, had a varied and stormy career. At the time of her death she was about thirty-five years of age, and still a very beautiful woman. Her violent temper and many eccentricities involved her in many difficulties prior to her marriage to Porter Charlton last spring. ■Mrs. Charlton was a daughter of Mr. Henry H. Scott, a wealthy San Francisco business man. She married Mr. Neville Castle, a San Francisco lawyer, in 1898, and after several years of unhappy married life she went on to the stage. According to her friends, she lived in constant "whirlwinds of emotions."

(Daring a matinee performance at, Seattle, Washington, sho threatened to kill an actress with whom she had <|imrrelied as soon as the latter came on the ( stage to play a scene with her. Another member of the company, who realised. | that the woman was in highly-wrought, condition, threw a bucket of cold water i over her, and she played the .scene with- \ out bloodshed. Afterwards, however, 1 she admitted that she seriously contemplated committing murder in full view of the audience.

Porter Charlton's family tried repeat- ( edly to induce him to break oil' his at- ■ taohment for Mrs. Castle. Mis father, 1 Judge Paul Charlton, who is a lnw ulli-1 cer at the Bureau-of Insular Affairs at Washington, was strongly opposed to the marrjage. Porter Charlton had been a 'bank clerk in New York in March, but his family knew nothing about it until after the ceremony. A few days later the Oharltons sailed for Naples, intending to spend the summer in Italy and Germany before proceeding to Hamburg.

HISTORICAL FESTIVAL OF PRIMITIVE METHODISM. AHMY OF 100,000 WORSHIPPER'S. ' ITanloy, June 10. Never before in the history of the Christian Church has such a scene been witnessed as that which was presented to-day when more than 100,000 people gathered together on Mow Cop, the historic hill which saw the birth of Primitive Methodism, to take part m a great religions festival. . . Hiu* Borne, the founder of the I rinntive Methodist. Church, first prayed at daybreak on this hill top with all his company in 1807, and in 1810 came the first class meeting, which perpetuated the movement started three years before. It is the centenary of that class meeting which was celebrated to-day. Mow Cop stands up 1200 f( ' et i,l,)oVe the sea. From the rocky outcrop on its wooded crest the vast copse-studded panorama of the Cheshire Plain stretches as far as the eye can follow, whde behind pleasant meadows shelve away to the Black Country. Before the sun was up this morning, and while the pottery furnaces still burned scarlet azninst the paling sky, the summit of Moy Cop was peopled by shadowy groups, of men and women movin« indistinctly over the dewy, grass and among the mfcty thickets; White canya9 tents gleamed palely on the Stafford-

shire side of the slope had sheltered many of them overnight, sad as I stood there before daybreak I saw the tentflaps open and people emen;s<r yawning and half awake to workship *B sunrise. Others came who had not -itppt that night, or who had risen at mfitaiglit to toil up from the valleys beloV to' the hill-top. They stood expectantly,, speak-1 ing with hushed voices, waiting for the sun to rise. Presently, when the da"wn came and the chill silver of the sky gave' place to a living flush, the hill-cwst flooded with faint golden light, and tie people knelt bare-headed on the wet grass, praying fervently aloud. Siwhwas the prelude to the Moy Cop cen>tenary camp meeting.