Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 274, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1913 — SLAYER OF TANGO TEACHER MUST DIE [ARTICLE]

SLAYER OF TANGO TEACHER MUST DIE

Henry Spencer, Confessed Slayer of Mrs. Mildred Allison Rexroat, Will Go to Gallows. e Chicago, Nov. 14.—Henry Spencer, confessed slayer of Mrs. Mildrel Allison Rexroat, the tango dancing teacher, iwas tonight found guilty of murder by a Jury at Wheaton, a suburb. The death penalty was fixed by the jury, which returned a verdict after little more than two hours' deliberation. / Spencer iwas arrested Oct. 5, accused otf having lured Mrs. Rexroat to Wayne,' 111., and placing her body on the railroad track after he had shot her to death. Mrs. Rexroat’s body was found early in the morning of Sept. 27. Immediately after his arrest Spencer began a wholesale confession, in which he declared he had murdered twenty-nine persons, most of them women, and nearly all for the purpose of robbery. Although the police proved that Spencer could not have committed many of these murders, they still maintain the belief that he killed at leas one or two women in addition to the dancing teacher. Ever since his arrest Spencer has insisted that he be given the death penalty. When his trial began Monday, however, his attitude in the court room was one of such violence that Prosecutor Hadley saw in it a well-defined attempt to establish the belief that the defendant was insane. The jury refused to be moved by these efforts. Spencer was the only witness to take the stand for the defense. He testified today and for fifteen minuteiheld the attention of the court whije he cursed and reviled his oWn counsel and the state’s attorney.