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MURDERED MANY PHENOMENAL SLAYER ARRESTED BY CHICAGO POLICE SLAIN FOR THEIR MONEY Knticed Men and Women to Lonely Spots, From Which They Never Ketin ned Alive?Says lie Killed Two Persons a Week in Order to Get Hnough Money for llis llcvelries. Mrs. Mildred Allison Rexroat, dancing teacher, who was shot to death at Wheaton, 111., a week ago, was the victim of a modern bluebeard, who, according to his own confession, had killed thirteen others in in as many years. Henry Spencer, arrested in a room near the South Side levee district of Chicago Sunday night, confessed that ho not only killed Mrs. Uexroat, but that ho had slain fourteen persons, lie was posii .1 nn % At * - - tivi*.iy luenunea as me mysterious Mr. Spencer with whom Mrs. ltexroat left Chicago on the night she was killed. Mrs. Itexroat's bloodstained rattan suitcase was found in his room, as also was the revolver with which he said ho killed her. Spencer's confession was so startling that it probably would have received no credence had not the bloody suitcase and the revolver at least confir mod part of his statement. All his murders except two, ho declared, had been for the purpose of robbery. The two policemen, Pennell and Revine, who were shot to death twelve years ago, he said, he and a companion killed to escape being arrested. "I intended to kill Mrs. A. J. Soofield, proprietor of the rooming house where I have been living," he said. "If I had not been arrested just at this time I would have lcflled her. Ho told the police ho had killed fourteen persons in all, ten since his release from tho Illinois State peni tentiary in September, 1012, and four previously. Following is tbe list of killings Spencer related to Chief of Detectives Halpliin: One man and a woman about fourteen years ago. Policemen Pennell and Devine, twelve years ago. First wife near West Point, N. Y. Two girls at Pawpaw Lake, Michigan, last August. One girl at Lake Delevan, Wiss., last summer. One woman at Belle Island, Mich., last summer. One man shot in Chicago this fall. One old man shot in a South Side park two months ago. One woman shot and burned on the northwest side of Chicago late last summer. One woman killed near the Cook County hospital a few days ago. Spencer calmly told his gruesome story to Capt. Halpin of the Chicago police force and a room full of detectives and newspaper men. He said he never drank or smoked, but that he chewed tobacco and smoked opium. He had not, however, the appearance of a drug fiend, having a healthy complexion and clear eyes. "I've been a thief all my life," he declared. "I killed all of these women to get their money. I found it was the easiest way to live. It cost we $100 to $o00 a week to enjoy myself the way I wanted to in these cabarets and dives and the easiest and quickest way to get the mon^y was to get some girl off by herself and kill her. "Mrs. Rexroat was easy. She thought she was working mo the same way she worked the farmer. I let her think so. At fiist I war go'ng to take her to Michigan and kill her mere, mil nnany i neciuea 11 wouiu be less trouble to take her a little way out on the ear lino and get it over in a businesslike way. She thought we were going to bo married. "When we got out. at the station it was nearly eight o'clock. We turned around and walked down the track until we got where it was dark. T took her by the right arm. pulled out my gun and shot her through the head. Then I laid her on the railroad track so she would be 'torn up'. I took what few dollars she had and her diamond ring. I opened her suitcase and dumped her stuff out of it and brought it back to Chicago with me. I took the.next train back about ten minutes after I bad shot her. I didn't want the ring. I never go to pawnshops; that's the way people get caught. I gave the ring to a girl. a common girl I met on the street. She went to New York Tuesday or Wednesday." Spencer said he had married four wnmon Vtllfirl Mm first nnp npnr Wost Point, N, Y. He did not know exactly bow many years ago. One wife Is living In Detroit, bo said, and another in Chicago. TIo gave details of Ms alleged murders at the Wisconsin and Michigan resorts, where ho (said he had spent most of the summer as a hotel thief, committing an occasional murder. "I killed the two girls at Pawpaw Lake for their monoy and rings," he said. "Ono of them one time let me see that sho had some monoy with her and so I shot her and sank her body in the lako. Tho other girl 1 killed tho same way, but she did not have much money. The girl at Delavan Lake I shot with the same gui ?i urn |4iihJjh_ WANTED HIM KILLED WIFE GIVE SIGNAL FOR HER HUSBAND'S DEATH. ? ! She Drew Aside Her Window Blind to Indicate That Her Husband Wius i About to Leave. The drawing aside of a curtain and the appearance of the face of his af-1 flnity at a window in her home was the death signal for the killing of Frank E. Nelson, in San Francisco, according to the confession of James F. Cook, now under arrest and charged with the crime. The startling charge that the wife of his victim give the signal for the murder of her husband was made in a preliminary hearing in which she was tried for complicity in the crime. Cook declares lie was under a strange spell against which ho was powerless when ho shot and killed Nelson. He declares Mrs. Nelson urged him daily to murder Nelson and that he killed him because he loved the woman. In his testimony against Mrs. Nelson, Cook declared she gave him $20 with which to purchase a revolver and do the shooting. On the night before the murder he declares he sat for hours and pondered over the crime. lie determined not to kill, and then some strange fascination seemed to draw him near the Nelson home. He was eager to see if Mrs. Nelson would give the signal. "It. was 4:40," says Nelson, "about, the time Nelson usually left home I when I appeared on the street. I | walked down to the house to see if Mrs. Nelson would give the signal. Soon the curtain was put back and the face of Mrs. Nelson appeared through the window. I "There was something fascinating about that window. I watched for a few minutes and then saw Nelson walk from the front door." After the death signal was given Cook declares he felt Mrs. Nelson loved him more than any one else in the world and determined to kill as she desired. He followed Nelson for j several squares and then shot him in the back. Ho placed the revolver by his side and ran away. Cook states he met Mrs. Nelson daily before tbe tragedy, but sbe confided her domestic troubles with him and often expressed the wish that her husband was dead. with which I killed Mrs. Itexroat. "When I got back to Chicago I met a man one night who looked as if he had money. I shot him in an alley on the South Ride levee, lie did not have much money, but enough for me to go to a hotel for a few days and there I met another man, an old fellow, who said he was a broker. We got friendly and ho let on to have a fine business and a lot of money. Ho looked like money. I was dissappointed in that fellow. "I got him to take a walk with mo late one afternoon in Jackson Park' and I shot him there and went through him. He told mo he had a lot more than I found. 1 rolled him into a swampy place, where they were dumping. The papers had a lot about it, and called it a case of suicide." "Another caso the police called a suicide was that of a woman I killed on the northwest side. I killed her with a hammer, tore up her clothes and set fire to them. The last woman I killed was a few days ago, two blocks west of the county hospital 1 put her to death with a hammer. Rhe had two rings and $200. This murder was done with the hammer the police found wrapped in a towel by the railroad tracks. They thought the ham mcr nau somotmng to do with the Rexroat murder." Spencer said ho killed three wom^n including Mrs. Rexroat, with the revolver the police found in his lodgings. He said he bought it a month ago,, after his other weapon refused to work. He claimed to have held up many of the restaurants which recently have been robbed by highwaymen In Chicago. "Why I spent $7 00 in two nights last week in 'Charley West's,' " he said. "It costs a lot of money to hold up your end in these cabarets. I average two jobs a week all the time I'm out of jail.'" Spencer said none of the jewelry ho had taken from his victims ever would he receoverod. "f r>pvr>r en Into a pawnshop," he said. "When I sell of it it is to some private person, maybe on the street." ? ? Auto Turns Turtle. Miss Gright Kelly, twenty-two years old, a prominent society girl of Covington, Ky? was killed and two other young women and three men were slightly injured early Thursday when the big touring automobile in which they were riding got beyond control of the driver and turned turtle on the Indian Hill road near Madisonville, Ky. ? Dogs Trails Right Person. Police officials at Jerseyville, 111., ' Friday used bloodhounds to trace the t person who clippod the long auburn ? hair of Miss Myrtle Hamilton, fourteen years old. The bloodhounds followed the trail to Miss Hamilton and she confessed she had clipped her own hair to attract attention. Previously her hair had been snipped i by two men. i DOES NOT TESTIFY SULZER ENDS DEFENCE WITHOUT TAKING STAND WOULDN'T DRAG WIFE IN ? Kul/.er's Attorneys Say That tlio Reason for His Smhlcn Determination Not to Testify in His Own Hehalf Was a Desire to Shield His Wife From All Publicity. Without calling either C.ov. Sulzer or his wife to the witness stand, his counsel Wednesday rested their case in the trial of his impeachment. According to D. Cady Derrick, chief of his attorneys, Gov. Sulzer decided not to defend himself in person, because ho did not want to be placed in the position of shielding himself behind his wife?for it was for Mrs. Sulzer, according to testimony, that the governor had recourse to Wall street dealing. The rest of this week will bo devoted to summing up the case by opposing counsel. Monday next being a holiday, adjournment probably will be taken until Tuesday when it is expected the verdict on the governor's innocence or guilt will he reached. Ju.Tdgo Derrick Wednesday night pointed out that the testimony Tuesday of Allan A. Itvan best disclosed the reason why the governor had not taken the stand. This was the convensation which Ryan said he had with the impeached executive early in September in relation to obtaining nnlittnnl infliinnno ?ri t lm "I suggested to Mr. Sulzer," Ryan's testimony ran, "now that certain charges had been made against him that I did not see that lie could afford to put himself in a position in which he could not answer the charges. lie said that tho reason was that he did not want to drag his wife into the situation and put her on the stand." The sudden announcement that the case for tho defense was closed, which came late in the Wednesday afternoon session, created a sensation in the court room. Soon after tho trial began Gov. Sulzer told newspaper men that he would positively appear in his own defense. lib said that at that time he would tell an "astounding story that would force Charles P. Murphy, leader of Tammany Hall, to tako tho stand in his defense also. Until a few days ago, it was learned from authoritative sources, the governor was still insistent that he bo allowed to tell his story, but ho finally yielded It was said, to the advice of his attorneys. In preparing for this story, as well as that expected from Mrs. Sulzer, counsel for tho impeachment managers had several whom they had expected to put on in rebuttal. Two of these witnesses were called before court adjourned but Judge Cullon excluded their testimony. They were George W. Egbert, a bank examiner in charge of the hooks of the now defunct Carnegie Trust company, and James C. Miller, an official of the Fifth avenue Rank of New York. Judge Cullon held that the introduction of their testimony "would inject new evidence and reopen the case." * SLAYS FARM HAND. ? Laurens County Farmer Shoots in Self-I)ofence. Thomas II. Noal, a farmer residing about four miles below Cross Hill in Laurens County, shot and instantly killed Isaac Smith, a negro farm hand, Friday night shortly after midnight. Saturday morning Neal surrendered to the sheriff. After the inquest was held Saturday afternoon, John M. Cannon, attornev for the do fondant, appeared before Associate Justice Watts at chambers at Laurens and secured bail in the sum of $1,000. Uond was immediately secured and Neal returned home. It is alleged that the negro withI out Neal's knowledge or permission, took one of the defendant's mules from the stable Friday night and drove it until about midnight. When he returned with the team the negro was intercepted at the barn by Neal. Being caught, the negro became defiant and drew bis pistol on the white man, whereupon Neal fired upon Smith, shooting him dead. Lever Invited to Kansas. Congressman Lever is in receipt of a telegram from President Waters, of tho Agricultural College of Kansas, Inviting him to deliver an address at the celebration of the semi-centennial of its establishment, on tho subject, "What the Lever Bill Will Accomplish if Enacted Into Law." Mr. Lever delivered an address at this institution last year and would like greatly to accept tho invitation of President Waters, but has had to decline. Street Pleads Guilty. W. B. Street plead guilty to grand larceny at the Charleston Court of General Sessions Tuesday. Bruce Coleman, the young express messenger Implicated by Street in the crime was acquitted of all blame. MANY SPANIARDS SLAIN HUMOR SPREADS OP AWPl'L | BUTCIIKRY AT TORRKON. Rebels Have Reen Credited With a Roast to Slaughter Spaniards? City's Capture Seems Confirmed. | With tlio capture of Torreon by the rebels, rumors became current at Mexico City Wednesday of a massacre of Spaniards, which if confirmed, would approach the horror of the massacre of Chinese in the same city during the Madero revolution in 19 10. It is estimated that there are between 60 and 100 Spaniards in the city of Torreon. Refugees who have communicated with the rebels in that district declare that it has been a common boast that they would i slaughter the Spaniards if they succeed in capturing the town. J The Spanish minister to Mexico, Senor Cologan y Cologan, Wednesday night was without information further than the reports, but was greatly concerned. He held a long conference with the American charge, Nelson O'Shaughnessy, and tho latter made an appointment with the Mexican foreign minister. The American charge is convinced of the truth of the capture of tho city and has so notified Washington. Few Americans aro loft in Torreon. Resides Spaniards there are a number of French and Germans residing there. i no diplomats here are making (efforts to learn their fate. Every effort has boon made by the Mexican authorities to keep the news of the affair from the public. The newspapers even failed to print a reference to the persistent rumors. In hanking circles the capture of Torreon was credited and caused a jump of twenty points in the Exchange. Torreon has been under siege for many weeks, hut it was recently reported that the rebels had been driven hack. It has always been declared by the authorities to he impregnable, becauso of the heavy artillery with which it is protected. Another unconfirmed report is that Gen. Trucy Aubert, who with a thousand men left Saltillo three weeks ago to march to the relief of Torreon, has gone over to the rebels. THE COTTON BOLL WOIOI. Should Not tie Contused With the Hull Weevil. The Department of Agriculture has recently rece'v.-d numerous in(luirles about injury by the cotton boll worm, especially in the eastern part of the belt.. In man/ cases thin insect has been confused with the boll weevil, and severai erroneous reports about the occurrence of that pest in new regions have thus become prevalent. The department issued the following statement in Washington yesterday. The boll worm is the larva of a moth, and is only very distantly related to the weevil which belongs to the large group of beetles. The worm when first hatched is very tiny, but grows rapidly, becoming finally a little grub is white and found only within the cotton square or boll. It never exceeds one-half inch in length. In the case of the present outbreak the injury began so late in the season that little can be done to protect the present crop. Nevertheless, a farmer can insure the crop of the coming season against injury by the pest with comparatively little trouble and expense. The action that should bo taken wherever injury has occurred this year is (o pick the cotten as quickly as possible and immediately thereafter to plow and harrow the fields. This work will result in the destruction of the immature stages of the worm which have passed just beneath the surface of the soil. In addition to the effect in destroying the insect the plowing and harrowing of the fields will have very great value in the way of preparing for the crop of the following season. Methods of control of the boll worm are applicable in different seasons of the year are described in Farmers' TUilletin 200. Shot at His Door. Kising from the breakfast table to answer the doorbell, Frank Ivy, a real estate dealer of Los Angeles, Cal., was Riiot ny his lirst wife in the presence of his second wife and their two babies. The woman then dropped the weapon and fled. Ivy picked it up and fired as the woman ran down the street, the bullet striking her in the leg. The shooting was the result of a quarrel over the divorced pair's fifteen-year-old daughter. Use (/itizon as Shield. Six bandits held the whole town of Fulton, Ark., at bay while they robbed the Hank of Fulton of $70 in pennies. They used a citizen they had captured as a shield to prevent his townsmen from shooting them down. The bandltR appear to havo been the same gang that robbed the First State bank at Dardanelle, Ark. Deaths in Texas Flood.s Eighteen lives wero lost In the Texas floods of the past two weeks. This death list was completed Tuesday with restoration of nearly normal conditions and reopening of communication with remote points. sin, tariff bii WENT INTO OPERATION ON LAST FRIDAY NIGHT IS NOW LAW OF THE LANO lYcsificut Wilson Impresses Upon His Colleagues That tho legislative Journey is Only Half Accomplished and I rges I'pon Them (he Necessity of Currency Heforin. Surrounded by tho leaders of a united Democracy President Wilson sinned the Underwood-Simmons tatift bill at 9:09 o'clock Friday night at the White House. Simultaneously telegrams were sent b\ tho treasury department to customs collectors throughout the country putting into actual operaton the first Democrat lie tariff revision since 1894. A hapny group of legislators, members of the Cabinet and friends oncircled tho President as he smiling!) sat down nnd with tWi, gold pens slowly affixed his sifinature. lie presented to Representative Underwood tho pen that had written the word "Woodrow", and tho one which had completed tlie name to Senator Simmons. Amid impressive silence the Presilimit l?/lO/\ II ?i <1 ,1 ??1 ! I * '??' '* 1 mvim i urn (iini unnriuu in llillural tones an extemporaneous speech that brought prolonged applano. The President declared that the journey of legislative accomplishment had been only partly completed; that a great service had been done for the rank and file of the country, hut that the second step in the emancipation of business was currency reform. He earnestly called upon his colleagues to go "the rest of the journey" with fresh impulse. "Gentlemen, 1 feel a very peculiar pleasure," said the President, "in what T have just done by way of taking part in the completion of a great piece of business. It is a pleasure which is very hard to express in words because the feeling that I have is that wo have done the dank and file of the people of this country a great, service. It is hard to speak of these things without seeming to go off into campaign eloquence, but that is not my feeling. It is one of profound gratitude, that working with the splendid men who have carried tills tiling through with studious attention and doing justice all round. I should have had part in serving the people of tills country, as we have been striving to serve them ever since I can remember. "I have had the accomplishment of something like this at heart ever since I was a boy, and know men standing around me who can say the same thing?who have been waiting to see the tilings done which it was necessary to do in order that there t i r 11 4 l.~ ! > ?!.? tT..ll?.l M i _ i. _ _ mi i ii i im* j unm c in tilt; i ill m;ii and so it. is a solemn moment that brings such a business to a conclusion. "I hope T will not be thought to bo demanding too much of myself or of my colleagues when I say that this, great as it is, is the accomplishment of only half the journey. Wo have set the business of this country free from those conditions which have made monopoly not only possible but there is no use taking away the conditions of monopoly if we do not also take away the power to create monopoly; and it is financial rather than a merely circumstantial and economic power. "The power to control and guide and direct the credits of the country is the power to say who shall and who shall not build up the industries of the country, in which direction they shall he built, and in which direction they shall not be built. We aro now about to take the second step, which will be the final step in setting the business of this country free. That is what we shall do in the currency bill, which the House has A1..An/l?. ~ ~ I ...l. ! . t. t t 11 - uii< <miy <11111 which 1 llilVU tiltutmost confidence tho Senate vlll pass much sooner than some pe^'mlstic individuals believe. Because tho question, now that this piece of work is done, will arise all over the country 'for what do we wait?' Why should wo wait to crown ourselves with consummate honor? Are we sc self-denying that we do not wish tc complete our success? Covets lienor for All. "I was quoting to some of my colleagues In the Senate, those line? from Shakespeare, which have al ways appealed to me: 'If It bo a sir to covet honor, then am I the inosl offending soul alive,' and r am happj to say that I do not covet it for my self alone. I covet it with equal ar dor for tho men who are associated with me and the honor Is going tc como from them. I am their asso elate. I can only complete the worl which they do. I can only counso when they ask my advice. I can com* in only when the last stages of th< business are reached. And T eovo the honor for them quite as much ai I covet It for myself. "So I feel to-night like a man wh< is lodging happily In tho inn whlcl lies half way aloDg the Journey tha in the morning wo shall go the res of the way and sleep at the Journey' ' 1 ??end llko men with a quiet conscience, knowing that wo have served our fellow inen and have thereby tried to serve God." It was an unusual spectacle which attended the completion of a legislative reform that had been seven months in Congress and embraced a tnriff revision of a most far-reaching character. I Happy and Jubilant, the Invited guests mine to the executive offices. 1 hey chatted and jested with the ('resident in an ante-room while waiting for the full group to appear. j When the members of the Senate ' finance committee and House ways 1 and means committee finally arrived, Vice-Pr 'sident Marshall was ushered into the President's office, followed bv Speaker Clark. Representative lTud"rwood and members of the Cabinet and Congressional committees and their friends. N'o photographers were admitted, as the President thought the occasion too solemn to bo disturbed by flashlight apparatus. The guests crowded about the President's desk, over which an electric lamp threw a bright glow. Why Nino O'clock Was Chosen. "1 choose 9 o'clock," explained tho President slowly, "on the advice of tno ai torney-uenerai, m order that the bill might bo signed after business transactions everywhere, including San Francisco. "I will not say anything about tho bill," ho added with a smile, "until I have signed it. I don't want it to get away from mo." Promptly at 9:09 o'clock the President began writing and at 9:10 ho had written the words: "Approved 9:10 p. m., P.rd October, 19111, Woodrow Wilson," on the one hundred and eleventh page of parchment containing tho engrossed bill. As tho President rose and handed the pens to the men who had steered the measure successfully through both houses of Congress, there was an enthusiastic outburst of handclapping. The President bad not intended to make a long speech and had not even prepared a statement on the spur of the moment but was moved to express bis gratification. Tho small audience crowded about him offering congratulations. Leading figures of the Democratic party? Speaker Clark, Secretary Hryan, and Representative Underwood, stood together, sponsors with tho President for the first, business piece of legislation that had been accomplished In the Democratic platform of reform. They gavo the President their personal congratulations and reiterated promises of support. w mu: iiM! i-ri'HKinnt was surrounded bv members of bis official family, there was none happier than Joseph It. Wilson, younger brother of the Chief Executive, who Friday night went to Washington from Baltimore to witness the signing. Mrs. Wilson and daughters still are at Cornish, X. II. Besides the officials a large number of newspaper men crowded into the President's office. There was an informal reception for a few minutes and then the Underwood-Simmons tariff law was carried away to the department. of State and deposited in the archives along with other historic pieces of legislation. i ^ j^i ^ WHAT BECAME OF Til EM. Jewels Kup|M>se<l to llave Been Taken By Sherman at Columbia. The following piece is clipped from The Pathfinder, a weekly published in Washington, I). C. It tells of the efforts of Lord and Lady Banff, presumable English by their title, to bo reimbursed for some of their jewelry which was supposed to have been taken from Columbia by Sherman when ho burned tho city. In tho War Department there are no records of Sherman as to any jewelry taken. as iins magazine in published in Washington, tho news it gives must be correct. The article follows: "In Civil war times tho people of Columbia, S. C., fearing the approach of the Federals, took their jewelry and silver and concealed them under the Moor of tho Ursurline convent there. When General Sherman with his army came through he set tire to the convent, and the nuns, fearing that the valuables would be destroyed, revealed the hiding place. Gen. Sherman, according to the story, set , cured the jewelry and plate and sent them to tho treasury department at , Washington for safe keeping. Now , I.ord and Lady Banff, owners of some ( of the property, are trying to recover it hut the government departments are unable to find any records of tho deposit by General Sherman." Dying in Poverty, Worth a Million. 1 Edward McDonald, a plainly dressed middle aged man, was found 111 In a cheap lodging house In San Francisco, with $1,270,000 in negotiable bonds and securities sewed in an inside pocket. The papers are said to j be securities of 47 bona Ode companies and all drawing interest. The man is in a coma and no explanation regarding his wealth can bo had. 1 ? ? 2 Shoots Mother. 3 Mrs. Silas Gibson is under arrest 1 in Lexington, Ky., charged with the B killing of Mrs. James Smith in a dance hall at High Bridge. Mrs. Gib3 son crept up behind hor victim and "i shot her twice in the back while she t was holding ap Infant child. Jealt ousy is given as the cause of the kllls ing.