MAXWELL IN SAW FRANCISCO.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 3426, 21 September 1885, Page 3

MAXWELL IN SAW FRANCISCO.

Waller Lonuox Maxwell, tho allcge< murderer of Arthur Prcllcr, arrived m Sai Francisco on 9th July, on board tho Zoa landia, from Auckland. Ho was immediate!; transferred to the new city prison, where hi was an object of interest to hundreds o persons who obtained admission from tin prison authorities. He was particular!; annoyed by roporters, and pntested agaius being pestered with them, aud stated tlia whilst m prison m Auckland newspaper mci were not allowed to see him. Here, he added "I have been interviewed from tlio time o arrival till two o'clock m tho morning.' "Oh! that's nothing," replied a gcnlloinat of tho quill, " Wait till tho St. Louis reporters got hold of you ; there will not bo enough lcf of you to plaeo on trial." Maxwell ooinplninci bitterly of his prison surroundings m Auckland The chief of police nnd the detectives an rather disappointed m the bird they hnvi caught. Maxwell hr.3 ncithor tlio appear anco nor the demeanor of tlio murderer ho i. represented to bo. Indeed his deporlmcn is that of a man who feels his position per fectly socuro, and that his mind has not beci extensively pricked by rcmorao is evident for ho lias gained 12 pounds' m weight «me his arrival. Tho reporters hovo "spotted 1 him as a fraud regarding his claim to beinj a Frenchman, lie can neither apeak I'urisiai French nor any provincial dinlect. 110 \vn tested m both. Captain Decs refuses b admit tho possibility of having made a mis tako m this case, but Cranlcy, tlio chief o police, after taking tho prisoner's portrait feels some doubt on the matter. Dees i chief of tho detectives, and cannot afford t admit himself m error. Tlio circumstanliu ovidenco it is true lias an ugly appearance but when tho time arrives and tho St. Loui officials think they hovo Maxwell cornered ho may perhaps adduco satisfactory proo that Preller is not dead. So far the tho St Louis officials havo been unable to liud clea evidence on this point. That tlio body founi m the Southern Hotol of that city is that o Proller is possible. Maxwell, Prellor and hi father have been playing a bold game, with th intention of securing an insuranco on Preller lifo amounting to .€IOO,OOO. Soon after th death of that individual hit) father tried ti collect the insurance money, asserting tha it would enable him to run down am prosecuto the murderer, but ho failed t securo tho cash, insuranco officials decUrin| thcro wan no satisfactory proof of Preller 1 (lenth. Maxwell loft for St. Louis on Angus 11th, accompanied by tho officers who brough him from Now Zealand. Ho opposed nolhin, given above, which was embodied m i despatch published by the Philadelphia Pres of August 10th. In tho Now York World's report of ai interview with Frank Schleainger, Piollor' cousin, living fit Brook street m that city, thi individual pronounced the l'hiladelphi despatch " a prepoetorous Ho." " Prcllor, he said, "was insurod for only

d m a London Lifo Insurance Company, and c the money has been paid to his relatives. It 0 is hardly likely that that would have been paid had proofs not been received the dead V man was really Preller. Tho body was seen d by intimate friends and fully identified, they mourned for him as dead, nnd everyone who f knew Preller m life is firmly convinced d ho is dead." Further ghastly facts are -, disclosed by tho authorities that Preller was :- not dead when his murderer placed him m tho 9 trunk. Congestion of the brain and the cons dition of tho larynx, which indicates strang--1 ulition, were shown. The theory of tho 3 prosecution is that Preller, being of fine s physique, strong and sound m limb, resisted the eft'ect of chloroform to such an extent that Maxwell was compelled to choke him to death, j That, too, after lie had placed his victim m y the trunk. All sorts of stories are afloat about \ \ Maxwell and his crime. Preller'B body wn9 : . exhumed on August 16th m a good state of 3 preservation nnd will be produced m Court. 3 Mnxwell arrived m St. Louis on August [j lGth. His trial will take place m October. 0 He appears to to perfectly indifferent to his fule. R. G. Hoclgers, of Philadelphia, : c tho man who afiirms he saw Preller last May, j a still adheres to his statement. Ho says that . he will go to St. Louis and swear the man ! s calling himself Arthur C. Preller, whom he met at the Continental Hotel lost March, and n the man who denies that his name was Prollor nrc one and tlio eihic person. From , , New York con.cs the news that one of Prcller's ' ' relatives was Richard Power of 97, Glinton f Place. With him lived James Taylor, who 1 went to St. Louis m April last and 6aw the ', body found m tho trunk. He reported it 5 was' certainly Preller's. What convinced him, j . ho said, was the peculiar scar on the fore- ' j. linger of Preller's right hand. Taylor had [ beeu intimately acquainted with Preller for 3 many years, and ho knew the story of tho a scar.