Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1886 — MAXWELL’S YARN. [ARTICLE]

MAXWELL’S YARN.

The St Louis Murderer Makes a Statement of the Circumstances of the Crime. He Gave Preller Chloroform in Medical Treatment—The Fatal Result. [St. Louis dispatch.] St. Louis newspapers print a statement made by H. M. Brooks, alias Maxwell, now on trial for the murder of C. Arthur Preller, which will constitute his only defense, and which will be urged by his attorneys in the trial. In a word, he will confess to killing Preller by accident, while acting as his physician, and that, being excited and frightened, he concealed, instead of making known the fact of death. He declares he has always wanted to tell the facts, and only refrained by advice of his attorneys. The following is Brooks' statement: “Mr. Preller was suffering from an acute malady, for which I had previously prescribed, mixing the medicine myself from the bottles in the medicine chest I carried with me; but his ailment had reached a stage when it was necessary for me to perform an operation.” Brooks then tells of the purchase of chloroform, which was spilled in the sink on Sunday afternoon while he was washing the instruments preparatory to the operations; of his going to Fernow’s drugstore and buying more, denying incidentally the statements that he there showed evidences of hurry and excitement, and continues: “About 5 p. m. we oegan the operation. I administered the chloroform in (he usual way, holding a saturated cloth to the nose. Mr. Preller passed through the first stage all right. It took several minutes, I don’t know exactly how long. Then he entered the second stage, and here the terrible result came. I discovered, too late, that he was dying. Imagine my horror when this fact dawned upon me. I was wild with fright, but had presence of mind enough to cut the shirt and undershirt from the body, and, getting a wet towel, I beat him around the neck and shoulders for a half hour or more. I did not give up until I was ready to drop from exhaustion, and my efforts were not relaxed until he had been dead some time. All the clothes he had on at the time were his shirt and undershirt; he had stripped for the operation. What did Ido when I saw my friend was dead? What could I do? I didn’t know what to do except drink, and I drank freely. I drank everything I could get—wine, whisky, everything. What were my thoughts? I had not any. All I remember, that I drew ■on a pair of drawers—the first thing that fell into my hands —and put the body into my trunk, from wXch I had removed everything. I put it in the trunk an hour after Preller’s death. What was done besides this I have no recollection of. Liquor and consternation had possession of me, and I knew only that my feelings were those of the utmost horror. I remained in my room that night—the same room in which the remains were—and it would be a lie for me to say I slept, for I did not, and I was glad when morning came. What I did after leaving my room you know, for it has all been printed.” He says he supposed the post-mortem, when the body was found, would disclose the nature of the operation and the cause of death. According to his own story the cutting off of Preller’s mustache, the inscription about “traitor” found in the trunk, and all the other queer incidentals connected with the tragedy are to be attributed to his liquor and fear-crazed condition after the fatality.