A CLERGYMAN'S CRIME.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 105, 11 January 1912, Page 5

A CLERGYMAN'S CRIME.

DEATH SENTENCE PASSED. By Cable—Priss Association—Copyright. New York, January 0. Richeson, the clergyman' who pleaded guilty to the murder of his sweetheart, has been sentenced to death. In November the parishioners at Hyannis, a suburb of Boston, Mass.','burnt' the effigy of Rev. Clarence V. P. Richeson, the Baptist pastor, who has now confessed to the murder of Miss Avis Linnel, the choir girl, by administering cyanide of potassium to* her. The «irl was in trouble, but took the poison°in the belief that it was a harmless medicament It was ascertained that besides being engaged to Miss Linnell and Miss Edmonds (the latter of whom he was to have married on the day appointed for the hearing of the charge against him), Richeson became engaged during his ministerial career to no fewer than six girls in lots of three at a time. The coffin containing the body of Miss Linnell was exhumed, and a complete examination made. No trace was found of the phial containing the cyanide of potassium. A close friend of Richeson says Miss Linnell wanted to become an opera singer, and that was the reason why the engagement was broken. Richeson dc- | nied that he had induced Miss Linnell to take up her residence in Boston for the purpose of musical study. It was Miss Linnell. he said, who broke off the engagement by returning his diamond rings.