MURDER CASE REVIVED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15788, 12 June 1913, Page 7

MURDER CASE REVIVED

THE LAKE COMO TRAGEDY. CHARLTON ORDERED TO ITALY. Press i-ssociation—By Telegraph—Copyright. NEW YORK, June 10. The United States courts have ordered Porter Chariton to return to Italy to iice tho chargo ot murderuig iub wile on lake Como on Juno Id, WH).

The murder of the American actress Mrs Maria hcoti (Jastlo wlioee body was tound in a trunk Drougin up iroin urn boaom of Lake Uoiuo m usiitjiinen s nets, tonned a mystery winch seemed to entirely battle. all attempts to solve it. Mrs Chariton, an exceedingly handsome woman, was about 10 yiMrs oi age. bhe was tne divorced wifo of Air Seville Castle, of San Francisco, and Had had a not very successiul stage oareer betore her second m March, 1910, with Porter Charlton, sou of a Wasli.ngton lawyer, and a graduate; of Pennsylvania University. Charlton, who was about 20 years nor junior, made her acquantanco while she was on the stage and married her against his father's wishes, the couplo immediately leaving for Europe. At the time the body was found Charlton was missing, and the theory was advanced that he, too, had been* murdered, afld that his body still lay beneath tho waters of the lake. What ground there was for that theory may be interred from tho following account of the remarkable stay at Como ot himself and his wife. The pair arrived from Vcnice on May 5, and stayed at the Hotel Suisse. Charlton, a slight, fair-haired man, was gearing a dpi; raincoat. His wifo wore/a black dress and a thick veil. They remained at the hotel lor three days, and there was nothing strange or 6uspiciou6 in their behaviour. They told the hotelkeeper that they wished to (lire a villa by the lake, and were taken to Cel'nobbio, where, in the pharmacy of the chemist, Signor Bassi, they became acquainted with a Russian of 50, called Constantin Ispoiatoif, ex-director of the Russian' post otlioe at Shanghai, and then residing at Moltrasio. Pindiug no suitable apartment at Cernobbio, the couple went to Moltrasio and took a room m a villa belonging to Signor Legnazzi. The villa is situated about, 200 yards from the shoro of the lake, in a shady nook, and close to a great cascade, tho waters of which fall into the lake. The life of the two at Moltrasio was quiet, but in many ways peculiar. They rose very late in the day, and went .out very rarely. When tho lady appeared in publio sho always wore a very thick veil. They received no one, savo the Russian Ispolatoff, who also lunched or dined with them occasionally at the Restaurant Milano. It was said that the lady indulged rather freely in alcohol, and that before eating she used to drink a' largo glass of rum or other spirit. The pair only returned once to Como—on May 17, in" tho afternoon. They stayed again at tho Hotel Suisse and dined there. After dinner they retired to their room and quarrelled. The noiso was 6uoh that a waiter asked them to calm themselves. Charlton thereupon • ordpred. a bottle of champagne. Thoy. emptied it, and peace appeared to bo restored. Soon afterwards, however, they quarrelled again, and so furiously that the manager of tho hotel hod fo interfere. The woman was heard shrieking with pain or fright. It was then 2 ajn., and as the other visitors in the hotel complained the manager requeued tho couplo to leave. They left tho hotel, and ordered a boatman to row them back to Moltrasio. From that day they were never seen again in Como. A few days later some fishermen, who had cast their nets into tho lake some twelve yards in front of Moltrasio hauled up/ to their great surprise, a trunk of average size carefully closed. A large stone, held by u 6tout rope, wrapped up in a pillow slip, was attached to it. Tho fishermen believed the trunk contained a load of tobacco, for smuggling goes on on a largo scale at tho Swiss border. They took it to tho shore, .and tho Mayor was warned. The trunk was opened in his presenco and the body of tho woman was found wrapped in a sheet marked witli the initials G.L. There was also a wooden mallet, tho boots of the viotim, various clothes covered with blood, two prayer books, ar.d a reel of cotton. The murderer had also placed in the trunk a small bundle. This was found to contain a number of letters and a photograph. Tho. former were all love letters, dated 1894-5-6, and wero signed "H. N. Castle." They had been written by the victim's first husband. The trunk was taken to the local mortuary and the body extracted. Tho victim was elegantly dressed in black. No one was then able to tell who she was. The manager of the Hotel Suisse could not identify her with certainty.. Only the head showed signs of violence. Eight blows with some heavy weapon had been inflicted and the nose was broken. M. Ispolatoff, who was a divorced man wrth two children, was arrested and charged with the crime. Ho was kept in custody till Juno 20, the day boforo a provisional warrant was issued in London for the arrest' of Charlton.

To the intuition of Captain Scott, of the United States Array, brother of the murdered woman, 'is due the credit of the capture of Charlton, who travelled from Genoa the linor Princess Irene, under the imLme of " Jack Colman, of Omaha." Cap'filn Scott, obeying an indefinable impulse, obtained 10 days' leave of absence and borrowed a rickety launch, in which ho managed to cross the rough waters dividing Fort Wright on Fisher's Island from New London, Long Island Sound. On reaching New York he called at the National' City Bank, where Charlton wasformeriy engaged as clerk. Armed with an exact description of his brother-in-law, lie proceeded to board a revenue cutter, with the object ol meeting the liner Deutsehland, in which Charlton was reported to be, at tho quarantine station. Suddenly he asked one of tho detectives if tho passengers' of the Princess Irene had been examined. " No," was tho answer. Captain Scott entered the Customs Dock and caught sight of a young man from the Princess Irene resembling Charlton in all respects save that his hair was closely cropped. Ho denied his identity, but was quickly overpowered and taken to the nolice station. There, after risid questioning, he wrote tho name as "Carlton," immediately recognised his mistake, and declared his willingness to confess as soon as Captain Scott should leave tho room. Ho then wrote and signed a oonfession, in which ho said tliat'liis wife was "the best woman in tho world," but. had an ungovernable temper, and that he killed her during a violent quarrel. Chariton was arraigned later beloro a magistrate. He was the calmest person in court, nonohalairtly borrowed a pen from the Bench, made a tow alterations in liis confession, and then said •'That is correct." In his cell afterwards he was asked; "Was your wife living when you placed her in tho trunk?" Ho turned palo and cried, "Don't, for Heaven's sake, tell mo she was alive." "The post-mortem," ho was told, "showed she was alive." "No, no, no," ho said. "Sho must liavo been dead." The matt spent an apparently carefree time 011 riie voyage. ho landed at Gibraltar, :>assing unconcernedly through tho lines of police on the look-out for liim. Ho confided to the deck steward, however, that the policc in Italy wanted him for something he had done, and, pointing to a lady passenger, said. "That woman i 6 a detective." The steward spoke to the woman Charlton indicated, and found she was a singer. Most of tho timo Charlton spent at tho bar. An international puzzlo was presented by the arrest. Owing to a long-standing controversy between the United States and Italian Governments tho extradition of tho (prisoner became highly improbable. Italy had consistently refused _ to extradite Italians who wore "wanted" in America for murder, and "the State Department was puzzled over tho problem whethor it could consistently permit tho extradition of Charlton. Nothing was settled in regard to' tho question of tho place of his trial. The Italian Government did not seek his extradition, and tho Amorican Government took no steps for his trial in tho United States. Tho question of his extradition, in fact, bristled with legal and political difficulties which no ono sought to remove. In addition there was tho further development that the man was declared insane. Ho was visited in gaol by Dr William Jerome Artlitz, ono of tho alienists employed by Judgo Charlton to test his son'66anity. In dio course of the interview, to qiioto tho doctor's own words, the murderer "displayed at least 4C different moSds. Ho cried, laughed, roared with rage, sobbed, threw himself on the bed, and stood lip defiant." Dr Artlitz asked him why he murdered his wife. "Don't daro to speak to me about that girl," ho thundered; "sho was the purest woman who over lived. I love lier. Sho is rot dead," he ended in a whisper. At tho ond of the examination Dr Artlitz declared that tho prisonor was n puronoiac. "Thb disease is in an acuto stage," he said. "If he is placed in solitary confinement ho will die in a short space of time." While in his cell Charlton was quite ready, to talk of his "delightful voyage" in the Princess Irene, but when asked if ho realised tho consequences of his crime, ho replied with an impatient "Pooh I I've a

thousand yean to live! Why should I worry? What's tho odds? He gave the newspapers an extended narrative of hia' honeymoon, from which it appeared that ho was still much in lovo with his murdered wife, and impatient of the slightest aspersion on her character. "Wo were very, very happy when we sailed for Europe."" Wo • landed at Genoa, and were as happy as two cooing doves. The honeymoon was one round of pleasure. I had not much money, but Mrs Charlton had quite a little. On that we lived. It was her wish to spend what sho had during our honeymoon. We had heard eo much about Lake Como and read so much of its wonderful charm ajid glorioua scenery, that I dreaded to go there from fear of being disillusioned. We found a delightful hotel, but hotel life was not what we were looking for, so we took a cottage— a pretty bowered place, a stone's-throw from tho shoro of the lake. Wo rented it for a rHioulously small price, and there wo lived for a few • weeks in tho highest bliss. We had many quarrels, but wo alwayß kissed and aiterwards became all tho better lovers. No, v'o did not drink—that is, not to excess. Wo morely took wine with our meals. On that terrible night I was working with a hammer and chisel at tho leg of a eofa. She was reading.. Then something happened—so trivial and yet so personal that I shall tell nobody. She became very angry, and I, too. The rest you know. I was utterly without realisation of what I was doing and sat for hours beside tho body. Then, in .tho middle of tho night, I pushed it in a trunk, after I had taken from the fingers a few rings which had honeymoon memories for me. I rolled tho trunk down the stairs, pushed it on its own rollers to the lake odge, and tumbled it in the water. Then I returnod to the house, and there I slept for two nights. Then I decided to return home. I shall always regret tho deed, but it was done in tho heat of anger. I have not really known since what I am doing."