The Bennington Evening Banner

PAGE MURDER MYSTERY

Rewards for the Solution of the Weston Tragedy Aggregate $2500.

WESTON, Mass., April 4.—Although three days have elapsed since Miss Mabel Page was murdered at her father's home in this town and rewards aggregating $2,500 have been offered for the detection of her slayer, the mystery appears more baffling than ever.
Some one with whom she was personally acquainted—some one in whom she had confidence is believed to have been the murderer of Miss Page, whose body was hacked in a dozen places by a knife.
She was standing in front of a mirror in her bedroom, putting on her hat when she was attacked.
Directly back of the mirror was the only door to the room, and she must have seen her slayer enter.
Medical experts who have examined her body say the first wound Miss Page received was a stab in the back.
Had the person who entered the room been a stranger, the police argue, Miss Page would have rushed from the mirror, as when she was struck down she was only partly dressed.
Everything about the room seems to prove that there was no struggle between the murdered girl and her assassin.
Not even a chair was overturned, although there were several between the door and the mirror.
Before she went to the room to dress she had been told that her brother Harold had been injured and was in the Massachusetts General hospital.
General Josephus H. Whitney of the state police, who is in charge of the investigation, has stated that no developments which would point to a possible solution of the case have yet come out.
The case seems to be the most mysterious that has confronted the police in Massachusetts in many years.
Since it was determined that Miss Page was murdered and not the victim of a suicidal impulse neither motive nor clew has been established.
Several theories have been advanced, but all that were in any way promising have been disproved.
The police still believe that the crime was committed by some one acquainted with the habits of the Page family, but all the members of the household have accounted satisfactorily for every moment of their time on the day of the tragedy.
All day long curious persons loitered in the vicinity of the Page home on South avenue.
The police, however, kept the crowds moving, and entrance to the premises was forbidden.
A thorough search of the woods and fields in the vicinity of the house has been made by the police in a futile effort to find the weapon used by the murderer.
Science May Aid Detectives

BOSTON, April 4.—Dr. Edward S. Wood, professor of chemistry at the Harvard Medical school, is conducting an examination of the stomach of Miss Mabel Page, who was murdered at Weston.
The object of the examination was to determine if possible by partially digested food the exact time that Miss Page met her death.
Professor Wood said that he would be able to draw his conclusions and report them to the district attorney's office today.