St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-28

over. UaGler LII tIle prizes.
Bigg's saloon, where the sale was consum-
mated. Benner then left Gordon, osten-
sibly to go to North Fork to pay bill.
Soon after his departure, and in about
the time that it would h ave taken him to
have reached Graham'S camp, Perry Hill, a
wOOdsman heard the screams of a woman,
as if in distress. Attaching no particular
importance to the cry, he made no effort to
ascertain the cause. Shortly after the
children of Mrs. ToWne came home from
school, and found their mothers dead
body lying on the floor. The little girl
shouted for help, and the boy blew din
ner horn. at which summons Hill hurried
to the camp. There he found the dead
body of Mrs. Towne, which bore unmis-
taxable evidence that she had been cruelty
and brutally murdered. Her eyes, lips
and face were beaten black and blue, and
filled with coagIlated blood. and her throat
was cut from ear to ear. The evidence in
Dictated that she had made desperate
struggle for life. One hand had been cut
through to the bone in five places, and the
other had severe cash, evidently inflicted
in her efforts to dsarm her assailant. A
singular circumstance of the horror is that
her right hand held the knife with which
her murder was doubtless committed. 1t is
supposed that, the murderer having cut her
throat, she grasped the knife, when he, re-
alizing what he had accomplished, relin-
pushed his hold of the weapon and fled.
The news of the murder was immedi-
ately sent to Blue Lake, where the assassin
Benner was found and arrested on suspi-
cion. His threats against the life of the
woman had been so open and notorious that
no one doubted his guilt. A coroner's jury
was Immediately summoned and an inquest
held. While there was, from the nature Of
the case, no direct evidence of his guilt. the
circumstances all pointed to him as the
guilty party. 1t was shown that after the
time of the murder he went to Chartin's
store, at Blue Lake, and bought shirt to
replace the one he had on, and that he tried
to secrete the discarded garment. The lat
ter was found, however, and its appearance
indicated that the wearer had been engaged
in violent struggle. The shirt was badly
torn and on one sleeve was streak Of
blood some three inches in length. There
was also blood on his trousers, and under
the matrix of his finger-nails. Benner at
tempted to account for this by asserting
that it was the blood which came from a
deer he had killed two weeks ago, but the
otherwise clean appearance of the shirt
showed that it could not have been worn
so long. The coroners jury, under the ev-
| idence. brought in verdict charging him
with the commission of the crime.
But even at this trying time, with the
courtroom filled with excited and angry
people. his gall did not desert him. He
denied vehemently all knowledge of the
crime. ''Why," he said, 81 loved that
woman too well to injure her. Gentlemen.
some of you may be in this fix yourselves
at some time, but you may take me out and
swing me over the limb of tree and will
| swear that 1 am innocent. had rather be
| dead than have a crowd Of curiosity seek
ers standing around me and watching and
| accusing me as you are doing new."
To show the devilish nature of the man,
assuming his guilt, it is stated that imme-
diately after the murder, while on his way
to Blue Lake, he met the two children of
Mrs. Towne returning from school. He
kissed the little boy, and asked the little
| girl to kiss him. but she refused, upon
| which he shook hands with her and said:
| 'sAll right. You may need friend soon. -
| The woods boys were incensed by his
| bravado, and tried to make him confess.
| In pursuance of this end he was taken in
| the Greenwood stage in the charge of
Deputy Sheriff Gordon and Constable Mad
dux, with two aids, to the North Fork
camp, where he was confronted with the
body of the murdered woman, but the sight
| did not disturb him, and he continued to
maintain his innocence of the crime. All
attempts to draw from him any expression
| that might go to criminate him were una
| vailing.
| Finally he was placed on the stage, and
| the party proceeded on the return trip.
| The night was dark and dismal, a fitting
night for dark deed. and as the stage was
going through the dark woods, suddenly
| out of the deep shadow of the forest, as if
by magic, there sprang forth more than a
hundred men, who stopped the stage and
demanded the prisoner. Deputy Sheriff
| Gordon, with the true appreciation of his
official duties, refused their request, where
upon they unhitched the horses and brought
the stage to halt. Gordon and Maddux
ordered the crowd to keep back, but their
| demand was unheeded and the crowd
pressed around the coach. Gordon and
Maddux fired two shots, thinking to intim-
date their assailantS, but to no purpose.
The deputy sheriff and constable were
seized and laid firmly but gently on their
backs and held there. The crowd then
seized Benner, and. taking a rope which
they had procured for the purpose, fast
ened it around his neck and dragged him
about twenty-five yards when two pistol
shots were fired from the party. At this
signal the entire crowd vanished into the
forest as silently as they had appeared.
The deputy sheriff and constable arose, and
taking the direction they had observed the
crowd went, found the body of Benner. He
was still alive. but died in about ten min
utes. His body was taken to Blue Lake.
where it was found that he had been killed
by pistol-shot, the ball entering the
stomach below the lower rib, and ranging
upward.
The crowd that did the deed is supposed
to have been made up of the woodsmen of
logging camps for miles around.-Hum-
boldt Times Tele phone.