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Show in nam at chihuahua IHREE MEN AWAIT DEATH IHURLBERT. MITCHELL AND HARLE UNDER SENTENCE FOR COLDBLOODED COLD-BLOODED MURDERS. WERE GANG OF LIFE INSURANCE SWINDLERS Killing of Their Victims a Part of the Scheme by Which They Had Made Large Sums Had Another Victim Marked for Death. Chihuahua,. Mexico. Through a skein of plot and counter plot, that, If evolved by a writer of Action, would have been considered extravagant, the story runs of the crime of tho three men, Hurlbcrt, .Mitchell uud llurle, now under sentenco of death hero. Tho crime for which these three men urn to die .s murder, uu incident of their scries of carefully planned life insurant c swindles. Tho particular company victimized is one of tho greatest in tho world, and only carelessness on tho part of tho plottors resulting from ovcr-conll-dence, saved It from n heavy loss. Practically In Its entirety tho uttulr Is us follows: Commenced in 1002. It was In the spring of 11)02 that n life insurance company was called upon to pay two death claims In Chihuahua, Chi-huahua, tho flrst on tho Hfo of Hurry M. Mitchell for $15,000 under n policy assigned to his sister, Helen lllchnrd-Eon, lllchnrd-Eon, and tho second on tho life of James Dovers for $10,000 under a policy pol-icy of which ono Willis Meredith was tho beneficiary. Mitchell had died on February 11 of that year, and Devcrs on March 23, and tho agent In both cases ha'd been C. T. Richardson, who had formerly been in tho employ or the company at Chihuahua, but was now living In Dallas, Tox. Now, life Insurance agents in Chihuahua, Chi-huahua, Mexico, oven thoso who subsequently sub-sequently movo to n town Ilka Dallas, do not, ns a rule, support private teams, nor drive out in stylo with negro coachman and n footman or two. All these things were Included In Richardson's establishment In Dallas, to tho great amazement of n representative repre-sentative of tho life Insurance company, com-pany, who went down from tho HI Paso olllce, where tho check for tho Devcrs policy had been forwarded, to took Into tho matter. Theso things i wcro reported to tliu home olllco, and under tho direction of Second Vice President Klngsloy, Hurry H. Uoitomo, a luwyer of Now York, and u detective, who may remain nameless, gut bus) on tho case. , It was discovered that Dovers had boon In Chihuahua a fow weeks bot'oro his death, and that nothing was known about him except thai ho was u hard drlulior uud of a typo of social outcast out-cast common enough In that territory. This strengthened a theory that the vory possession of a $10,000 iollcy by sue! a man required soino further explanation, let alono possible, suspicion suspi-cion circumstances attending bis flout li. So tho Investigators turned to tho puytuont of tho Devcrs policy ut tho Kl Paso olllco, alter tho company had unsuccessfully tried to havo tho chock scut from New York Intercepted In transit. First Evidence Secured. It appeared that tho check hud been forwarded from tho HI Paso olllce to tho Fort Woith olllce at tho request of Meredith, uud when It came back after collection through u Fort Worth bunk It bore Meredith's indorsement for do-poslt. do-poslt. inquiry ut tha bonk in question ques-tion developed that booh nftor tho claim hud been filed on Dovers' deuth .Meredith had called at tho bank in company wlti. "tlchurdson, nnd had obtained there a loan of $8,000 upon Richardson's ussurunco that tho company com-pany had admitted tho claim under tho jKillcy and was about to pay tho money. This loan was paid In part In cash nnd In part by u drnft on the Sea hoard National bunk, of Now York, and It wus this druft for $7,000, together to-gether with its indorsement to Rich-unison, Rich-unison, that forms the first link in tho chain of evidence that was to connect him with tho crime. So tho search led back to Chihuahua, nnd when mora light wns sought on tho manner of the deaths of Hurry Mitchell and Dovers it wns found that in tho flrst cuso death had occurred In tho house in which Richardson nnd his wife lived nnd within half an hour after Mitchell hud talked with n friend in tho street, apparently in perfect health. This was hnrdly consistent con-sistent with tho theory of spinal meningitis men-ingitis advanced by Dr. Harle, the physician signing tho death certificate, who happened to bo also tho physician who had examined each applicant for Insurance upon his admission to the company. In tho case of Dovers It appeared that death was duo to dysentery, dysen-tery, us might easily have occurred with a man of Dovers' dissolute manner man-ner of living. Of Richardson nothing could bo learned, except that ho hnd appeared in Chihuahua In the summer sum-mer of 1001, with ills wife, Helen Richardson, as nn American looking or business opportunities in Mexico, nnd hnd secured an apiolntmcnt as agent for tho Hfo Insuranco company In tho territory. Oray's Entry Into the Came. It was at this stage of tho caso that thero camo to Dallas, where tho Rich ardsons wcro living In stylo, n pro-possessing pro-possessing citizen named W. J. Gray, a dealer In lumber lands, who opened an olllce of some size and took n hoiibe in tho best part of tho town. Tho Rlchurdsons happened to bo in lint SprlncA Ark., at the time, and so Gray, tlio lumberman, who wasn't In any hurry to get his Dallas affairs moving mov-ing anyway, took a trip over to tho Arkansas resort and registered nt the sumo hotel with tho former Hfo Insuranco In-suranco agent, his wlfo and child. Tho two got ucqualnted and becamo famous friends. Then ono -lay Rlch-urdson Rlch-urdson proposed that ho should Insure Gray's life. Gray demurred, but ho recalled that his wlfo hod a brother who was HI with consumption, diabetes, dia-betes, nnd several other troubles, and It occurred to hm that if thero wero any way in which a pollcv might be issued on the life of this unfortunate brother-in-law as security for some money he (Gray) nad advanced, he might coutemplnto with more equanimity equa-nimity his relative's approaching end. Richardson thought he could fix it, and tho brother-in-law was sent for from St. Inils. Now, the convenient orother-ln-lnw was about as much a relative cf Gray's as Gray was himself a lumber merchant, mer-chant, but he was Indeed suffering from consiiiuptlon and diabetes nnd was so ill when Richardson wrote his $50,000 policy that he hud to oo propped up In bed In order to sign It. Richardson announced that ho had bribed a couple of doctors to sign ttw physical examination exam-ination papers, and tho sick brother In-law was shipped back to St. Ixnils, whence ho went out to Arizona u year later to die. Dallas Made Headquarters. Greatly did Grny admire the skilled manipulation of tho brothcr-ln-inw caso by his friend Richardson. So when the latter .suggested that thero was plenty of easy money to bo mudo by similar undertakings down in the border country whoro people are not watched too cnrefully, Gray fell In with tho gamo at once, nnd the two went buck to Dallas, where Gray's lumber olllco becamo shortly their headquarters. Gray used to hear from Richardson how It wasn't really necessary neces-sary to bribe a doctor in an insuiancc case, but simply to tuko a dummy before be-fore the medical man to pass the physical examination, and Richardson hud Just tho dummy that filled tho bill, a young fellow named Mason, onco a miner in Chihuahua. So tho months went on, and It wus in October of 1002. Tho Groy-Rlctinrd-Eon-Mnson combination wis now in good running order, nnd It wns planned that they should go to Hi Paso, whoro Mason would tako out $100,000 Insuranco In tho name of Marshall D. Songulnstto, nn Individual Individ-ual whom Richardson said ho knew to bo dying of consumption in Mexico. They wcro to muko Grny tho benell-clory benell-clory of tho policy, wait until Sanguln-ettu Sanguln-ettu died, und then collect tho $100,-000. $100,-000. Hut a hitch urose Richardson remembered ono day that nls friend Sangutnctto, wns u young man of middle age, whereas Mason wns but a youngster of 23. Why not, then, havo Gray take out tho policy ns Sauguln-ctto, Sauguln-ctto, making Mason tho bcncnclary, and then collect in tho usual way? Gray Marked for Murder, Gray was not overanxious to mako his death a osslblo sourco of profit to RIchnfdsou and Mason, hut ho consented con-sented to bo Sangutnctto for tho purposes pur-poses of tho policy, and to own Mason us David SangulneUo, his on uud heir. After various Introductions tho policy wns mudo out and the denl closed apparently. What Introduced n new clcra,cut into It that Richardson Rich-ardson and his friend Mason had not counted on wns tho fact thnt Horry Ilottomo and u couplo of detectives had been keeping In nightly touch with Grny and Incidentally hod been doing a little work ou the aide, listening listen-ing to conversations between Richardson Rich-ardson and Mason when Gray wasn't around. It was in ono of theso conversations con-versations that Richardson glecfuUy remurked thnt Grny hod been tho easiest eas-iest thing Imaginable tc xno Sanguln-otto Sanguln-otto cose, ar.d added: "Wo won't do a thing to him when wo uot him over tho border." Ilottomo nnd his men decided tint matters hud gono far enough, They laid their information boforo tho district dis-trict attorney of Kl Paso county, and warrants wore Issued for all three, including in-cluding Gray, for It wns Inexpedient Just then to have nn exposuro of tho part whlcn tho lumberman-dotectlvo had played In tho caso. Gray, however, wus soon released, and tho next step was a churgo fllcd In tho City of Chihuahua Chi-huahua accusing Richardson and Mason Ma-son f the murders of Mitchell and Dovors. In tho preliminary hearing Dr. llarle was called as a witness, nnd testified that Mitchell did die of strychnine strych-nine poisoning instcud of spinal meningitis, men-ingitis, but thnt Richardson hnd told him thnt tho caso wns ono of suicide, sui-cide, and wanted to havo things hushed up. Dovers, Harle still declared, died of dysentery. Harle said tint he had been called in to attend hi in by a half-j brother of Dovers, William Meredith. Hurlo wns not eross-exnnilncd, and ho left tho stand thinking ho had "got away with tho goods." Confession from Harle. At this point Ilottomo from Kl Paso telegraphed Harlo that ho was coming com-ing to Chihuahua nnd wanted to seo him. Harle thereupon started for El PnBO, nnd Uottome, when he wus well on his way to tho Mexican town, got a wlro on his train that ho would pass tho train on which Harlo was traveling In mid-route. Ilottomo loft his train at n convenient station nnd boarded the other. Then, ns ho did not know llnrle, ho sent n portor through tho car with n Western Union telegraph envelope addressed to the doctor, and Harle tumbled Into tho trim. Uottome. nnd n dctcctlvo led Harle Into tho smoking compartment and started a qulzz of tho "third do-greo" do-greo" order that wound up thnt night with n 60-pago confession Implicating Harlo In tho death of Dovers, nnd telling enough of tho circumstances ot Harry Mitchell's death to Indicate how his "suicide" had been nrranged. Harlo said thnt Devcrs hnd been brought from Chihuahua from Kl Paso by Richardson In December of 1001, nnd that Richardson had said that ho hod explained to Dovers that Dovers wus to bo used In swindling one Willis Wil-lis Meredith out of n lot of money, For this pur)osc Dovers was to post us tho half-brother of Meredith, and also to take out a Hfo insuranco policy pol-icy in his half-brother's fnvor. Hut Devers never signed nny papers in thll connection; thnt was all arranged between be-tween Harlo and Richardson, so that when Willis Meredith, who turned out to be Mason, arrived on tho night ol Harry Mitchell's funeral with a woman wom-an who posed ns his wife, it wns necessary neces-sary only thnt tho finol proporotloc should bo mado to put Devers out ol tho way bcforo collecting both of the policies. Theso wero enslly arranged, Tho bogus Meredith nnd Dovers went to live together. On February 29 Harlo was- called to seo Devcrs, who appeared to bo suffering fromncute dysentery. dys-entery. Harlo guvo him somo medicine medi-cine to enso his pain, but shortly nftci ho died. In his confesslou Harlo said he knew Dovers wns being poisoned, nnd supposed sup-posed that bichloride of mercury was given him In whisky. Hurlo filled out i a fake burial certificate and tht other papers necessary to collect on tho policy, after which Richardson, and Mason, who had now become William Wil-liam Mitchell, tool: it to tho Kl Paso agency und eventually raised tho $8,-000, $8,-000, of which wo havo heard, at tho bunk at Fort Worth, Harlo, of courso, was Immediately arrested, and eventually event-ually camo to trial with tho other men. Hurlbert's Criminal Record. Hut in tho meontimo photographs ol! the trio had been distributed through the usual police channels throughout tho country, and when they reached Rochester, N. Y tho photograph ot Richardson was recognized as that of I-ester K. Hurlbert, u lawyer, who hod Jumped that city in May, 1901, nftor the exiwsure of an extenslvo divorce mill which ho hnd operated in tho cities of Rochester and Huffalo. William Wil-liam Mitchell, or Willis Meredith, or Mason, ns ho wus variously known, turned out to bo the brother of Harry Mitchell, who wus killed In Chihuahua Chihua-hua In order that tho gang might collect col-lect on his $15,000 policy. Mrs. Rich ardson was identified us tho wlfo of Hurlbcrt, nnd Investigation in Rochester Roches-ter developed the fact that sho wus tho sister of tho Mitchell boys. William Wil-liam Mitchell's trail, indeed, was followed fol-lowed oven to Hot Springs, Ark., where tho "wealthy lumbermun" Gray hud his brother-in-law Insurod, for "Mason" was tho engaging young man who hud himself examined by tho Hot Springs doctor us John J. Kvnns. Tho trlnl of the threo men had been reported In pi'rt In tho pupors throughout through-out the country, and it served only to dovelop tho fncts In the remnrknblo caso which hnvo been very simply narrated nar-rated above. Tho verdict ct guilty quickly followed tho presentation of tho facta to tho Jury, and It remained at length necessary only for tho executioners exe-cutioners to carry out tho sonteuce o: lt'3 court. |