WOMAN’S VERSION

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 266, 5 August 1932, Page 11

WOMAN’S VERSION

Death of Haden Clarke MIAMI MURDER CASE Mrs. Miller Questioned (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) Miami, August 8. Previously announced as the principal witness for the defence at the trial of Captain W. N. Lancaster on a charge of murdering the airman, Haden Clarke, Mrs. Keith Miller was called by the prosecution as a witness to-day. Mrs. Miller said that the men quarrelled over her affections at dinner the night before Clarke was shot. They settled their differences, however, and she had locked her room door when Clarke told her that he did not want Lancaster to go there and talk her out of the marriage plans. She said that Lancaster had contemplated suicide in order that she and Clarke might receive 1000 dollars from his insurance policy on their wedding day. “Mrs. Miller, do you know who killed Haden Clarke?” the prosecutor, Mr. Hawthorne, asked. “I am convinced that he killed himself,” she replied, adding that Clarke had often talked of suicide, particularly when in a violent rage or in the dumps.

She testified that Lancaster awakened her about 2 o'clock on the morning of April 21 and informed her that Clarke had been shot. She denied having heard the shot, and said that Lancaster had made no attempt to offer an explanation. Lancaster hurried home from a business trip to St. Louis after learning that she and Clarke , had become engaged, as the youth wrote her memoirs, which she hoped to sell. "Mrs. Miller, were you engaged to Captain Lancaster?” the prosecutor asked. “You can’t be engaged to a person who Is married," Mrs. Miller replied, spiritedly. “I always intended to marry him for almost live years.” The Prosecutor: Were you infatuated with Haden when Lancaster left here on March 6? Mrs. Miller: No, I changed lily mind. Later I advised Bill by letter to St. Louis. So did Haden. We read each other’s letters before they were mailed, She also said that Lancaster was sad upon his return from St. Louis because of the engagement. He told her that he planned to kill himself in an aeroplane, so she should benefit from the insurance. Later he learned that the insurance company had failed, and abandoned the plan.. She and Clnrke had talked of committing suicide together, “because of our position so far as Bill was concerned." The Prosecutor: Did Clarke discuss suicide the night before he was shot? Mrs. Mjlier: No. Witness said that she came to the United States with Lancaster. The Prosecutor: And you have been his flying companion and companion in other ways since? Mrs. Miller: Yes. The Prosecutor: In trying to save Lancaster and impress the public with bis innocence, did you not say you would issue a statement to the newspapers that you killed Clarke, if Lancaster were held? Witness hesitated, and then replied: "It sounds radical, but I did say that.” A policeman, Earl Hudson, quoted Lancaster as saying on one occasion that Clarke was ill that the fact was preying heavily upon his mind. Mrs. Miller testified after the adjournment that Clarke had frequently talked of suicide.