Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1910 — CHARLTON’S COAT IN LAKE [ARTICLE]

CHARLTON’S COAT IN LAKE

HUSBAND OF TRUNK VICTIM PROBABLY MURDERED ALSO. Blood-Spattered Bed Leads Authorities to Believe Double Crime Was Committed. Como, Italy, June 13.—-A part of a man’s coat, declared by some of his fisherman neighbors to have belonged to Porter Charlton, was found today in Lake Como, from the waters of which the body of his murdered bride, Mary Scott Castle Charlton, was recovered last Friday. The torn garment was fished up from the bottom of the lake, near the spot where the trunk containing the body of the woman was found. ■ This discovery strengthens the theory.of many that a double murder was committed. This is the. view of Charles M. Caughy, the American consul at Milan, who believes that Charlton met the same fate as did his wife. Mr. Caughey is actively engaged in furthering the investigation. Earlier evidence that both of the Americans were killed, presumably for their valuables, was found in the blood-spattered bed at the villa which they occupied. _ \ It is declared that the seevn wounds found on the woman’s head did not release any such quantity of blood as left" Its stains in their lake shore home. • Constantine Ispolareff, the chance acquaintance of the Charltons from whom they leased the villa, remains in custody and is frequently questioned as developments furnish the detectives with new grounds for inquiry. The Russian maintains his self-possession and insists that he knows nothing as to how or by whom the crime was committed. On the supposition that Lake Como contains the body of Charlton, a thorough search of its bottom and shores was started in the vicinity of the spot from which the fishermen had drawn the trunk with its gruesome contents. It was not long before the searchers .were rewarded by finding a portion of a man’s coat. This was exhibited among the fisher folk and others in the vicinity, who had seen the Charltons, and ‘Some of these declared at once that it was part of a suit which the young American had worn. The search was continued with renewed interest.