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Show ;HOIQ SAYS 1 DE WEESE IS Harry W. Fisher of New York Declares Wife's Own Family Prayed for Her Death. j THOUGHT SIN WOULD ENTAIL RETRIBUTION Alleged Murderer's Fhoto-graph Fhoto-graph Is Partly Identified Here as That of Daring Dar-ing Burglar. Special to The Tribune. NEW YORK, Dec 11. "This is the first I knew of the murder of my former for-mer wife," said Harry W. Fisher at his store, No 150 Second avenue, today, "but I had predicted a similar end in a letter to a friend, for I knew that she could expiate her sins only by death. . "Her own parents have been praying pray-ing for her to die, for she eut herself off from her people. She had lived eighteen years with me ns my wife before be-fore she committed her sin. When she left, she took with ber $4000 of mine that she had saved without my knowledge, knowl-edge, and she even took my watch and a scarf pin. The pieces of jewelry mentioned men-tioned in despatches as having been gifts from Xe Weese were given to her by me. "De Weese lived in my home for a year aa a roomer before I learned his true character. I believe now that he engineered a robbery of my own store that cost me $2000 and this while he was living in my home. De Wcese even came between me and my son. 1 am ! not on good terms with my own child, for that rascal has turned him against me. ' ' That Howard De Weese, held by the police of Chicago at the request of bait Lake authorities on a charge of slaying his wife at 455 Second East street in this city, is one of three burglars bur-glars who committed robberies here in, August which netted them several thou-! sands of dollars was the belief expressed by two persons yesterday who were robbed of their gems. The two persons who were robbed are Dr. W. L. Withers, dentist, of 603 Ninth avenue, and Mrs. L. Baum, formerly of 601 South Main street, where the robbery rob-bery took place, and now of 54 East Sixth South street. From these two rnbhpries the hnrrdars obtained a total of about $4S'00 worth of jewels and nearly $300 in cash. Identifies Photograph. Miss Hattie Anderson of 459 Second East street said that she believed that the picture of De Weese which was shown to her was that of the man -wanted in this city on the charge of murder. Miss Anderson rented liousekeeping rooms to a man who Faid that his name was C. D. Robbins and who was accompanied accom-panied by a woman who he said was his wife. De Weese. in his'conf ession in Chicago, admitted that he was the man who rented the rooms under the name of C. D. Robbins. He denied that be murdered the woman and said that he would be able to prove an alibi, stating that he committed a diamond robbery here at the time that the murder was supposed to have been committed. George L. Chase of the local detective, detec-tive, department showed the picture to Miss Anderson. "Is that the man who rented the rooms from you and disappeared disap-peared before the body of the woman was f ottnd by you and neighbors ? ' J ; asked Mr. Chase. ' ' I believe that is the man," she replied. Description Tallies. Miss Anderson added that the description de-scription of the man as to his height and his features closely resembled that of Robbins, alias Do Weese. The photograph photo-graph was taken five years ago bv the police of Fort Wayne after De Weese had been convicted of entering a house with the intention of committing a felony. fel-ony. De Weese was sentenced to from two to fourteen years. After serving three years he was paroled and, according accord-ing to bis own story, he then 'went to New York, where he got a job as assistant assis-tant in the haberdashery store of Harrv Fisher. He eloped with the wife of the proprietor, and Mrs. Fisher obtained a divorce from her husband at Reno.) De Weese and Mrs. Fisher were married iil iiriiu i n 1 in ir r ium nar. Advices received from New York yesterday yes-terday confirmed pnrt of De Wcese 's statement that he eloped with his wife. This, for the first time, positively establishes es-tablishes the identity of De Weese 's wife. Wanted Everywhere. In the report that Dayton F. Abbott, chief of police of Fort Wayne, sent out with the photograph in June, there appear? the following statement below the photograph: "Howard H. De Weese, alias John Martin or Morton, alias Crozier, arrested April 1911. charged with entering a house to commit a felony. "Undoubtedly this man is wanted a'l (Corrtinued on Pago Seven.) j SAYS IE VVEESE WAS HOME BREAKER (Continued from Page One.) over the United States, he claiming that he has been in the burglary business for the last ten years. He gave his home as Dubuque, Iowa. The penalty imposed im-posed here was from two to fourteen vears in the Jeffersonville reformatory. His age is 25. He is five feet seven and five-eights inches in height; weight 133 pounds, light hair, blue eyes. He has a small mole below the leit elbow and & small mole on the right wrist.'' No definite evidence has as yet been obtained to show when Do Weese and tho woman he claims was his wife reached bait Lake. All that is known is that they came here after December, when the marriage is said to have been solemnized in Bono. They appeared before be-fore Miss Anderson on September iiO. Either on the night of Thursday, September Sep-tember HI, or the morning of Friday, September 22, Mrs. De Weese, otherwise known as Mrs. Kobbins, was murdered. In his confession in Chicago, De Weese stated that he was a burglar and that his picture appeared in the police records. The records were examined, and De Weese 's statement was confirmed. con-firmed. He declared that he was a diamond robber, working on a large scale, seeking only to obtain the gems u-f the rich. He said that on the night that the woman known as his wife was murdered, in Salt Lake he was out "pulling a job'-' and that he therefore: could uot have killed her. j No Robbery Record. I The records of the local police fail to j reveal any robbery such as De Weese 1 stated was committed. There were but , three robberies during the week, and they were of little importance so far as the plunder gained was concerned. In his confession De Weese stated that on the night of the murder he spoke to a woman while he was robbing her house. No report appears filed with the local police to substantiate this statement. state-ment. The admission made "by De Weese, however, that he is a skilled diamond robber, yesterday caused the police to refer to other cases on file. It was discovered that in August last two robberies rob-beries of considerable magnitude were reported. Early on the morning of August 17 Dr. W. L. Withers, dentist", was awakened awak-ened at his home, .663 Ninth avenue, by three burglars. One of them, whose description the doctor said last night strongly resembled that of De Weese, was the ringleader. He kept the doctor " covered " "while his two companions rummaged through all tho rooms and obtained ob-tained jewels worth $3422 and $7 in cash. The robbers bound him with telephone tele-phone wire and placed a gag in his mou th. Tho two robbers who rifled the house for the gems left the house first and the man pointing the gun at his head left a minute later. The doctor cried for help, after he had succeeded in forcing forc-ing the gag from his mouth, and a neighbor neigh-bor cut the wire which bound him. Suspected De Weese. Dr. Withers declared that when he read the report in yesterday's Tribune he suspected that De Wecsc might prove one of the men who robbed him. The robber spoke considerately, a feature which is conspicuous in the demeanor of De Weese, according to reports from Chicago. Another feature is provided in the stature of the man. Dr. Withers said that the ringleader was about the same height and build as Do Weese. The second robbery occurred about a week later. Early on the morning of August 2r three men entered the residence resi-dence of Mrs. L. Baum, 601 South Main street, and obtained $285 in cash and $1400 in gems. Mrs. Aunie Eord, a friend, was sleeping with Mrs. Baum at the time. According to the Chicago report, De Weese said that in a particular robbery that he committed he conversed freely with the woman he robbed. The robbery rob-bery at Mrs. Baum 's is the only one chronicled on police records where a robber rob-ber spoke to the robbed. He, however, said that tho robbery and conversation took place on tho night of the murder. Mrs. Baum was seen yesterday at 54 East Sixth South street," to which place she recently moved from 60 1 South Main street. She said that one of the burglars who entered her homo sat on the bed and pointed a gun at her. She said that he was masked, but between two slits in the covering on his face she could see his eyes. They were blue eyes. The eyes of Dc Weese are blue. Mrs. Baum said that 1 the man was of slim build and about 1 five feet eight inches in height. This description also tallies with the police description of De Weese, Miss Anderson also stated that Kobbins, alias De Weese, weighed about 133 pounds, which is the weight stated by the police. Despite the closest questioning, De Weese has refused to tell the Chicago authorities what house he claims he robbed on the night of the murder. According to the latest dispatches, dis-patches, he maintains that the murder took place on September 20, while neighbors neigh-bors on Second East street. Salt Lake, claim that they saw Bobbins and the woman he is said to have murdered on September 21, and that shortly after the couple entered their apartments on that, evening quarreling was heard. De Weese admits that he quarreled with the woman, that he later went out and committed robbery and that he returned re-turned to find his wife dead. He claims that she was killed by diamond robbers who obtained from her the gems which he said he had stolen in burglaries and given to her. The police were inclined to believe yesterday that if De Weese was one of the three robbers who entered the homes of , Dr. W. L. Withers and Mrs. Baum he will attempt to introduce the defense de-fense that one of the two companions with him on such burglarious 1 rips entered en-tered the house during his absence, killed his wife and stole the jewels, which axe said to have been worth 4 i,f()' Word is expected at local police headquarters head-quarters toda- from Joseph '. Sharp, chief nf detectives, and Detrtivp Herbert Her-bert I.eiiditer, who wont to 1: icaeo Suudnv to brine De Woe.se 1o this citv for trial. Thev hold extradition paper's charging De Weese with the murder of the woman bHieved to be his wife. .T. ParW- White. rhif nf pnii(-e,' l;l?f rirrM rr(vPfl a tflpcnm fnm Harrv fhfr. fo'-rr;'1!' I1 u.chr. -..- of ihr v.rrtan. io s';iU-d t!:.n n r-ws rperqtc in York r nn rf d i ha t the wath n was l i: nb-t'imlv nb-t'imlv pr-.f i-e aL-or f,.r rar'i n!;i-c rt-j.M White rep'ied ri;;it thr- wnrnm v.x ci-.en a rper h-.iTis! aftr th h-wlv had been hid :"r a wrk. no idn ' i rica l ion being be-ing est aKisVe' at thai t i |