Morning journal and courier., 1885-09-14
The Body Photographed And Identi-
 fled By 8 New W5tnasS.


 ST. LOUIS, Mo-, Sept. 13.-Hugh M. Brooks, elias Maxwell, was to have had preliminary examination Friday for the mur- der of c. A. Preller, but his lawyers asked for and obtained continuance to October l9, which practically throws the case into the hands of the grand jury. It was whis- pered about that had the examination pro- ceeded the prosecution would have sprung sensation What that sensation was to be has only just been learned. It was in the person of a witness who could positively identify the remains of the person found in the Southern hotel on Tuesday morning, April 14, as those of c. Arthur Preller. This witness was John A. Frazier, jr., an artist and photographer, of Toronto, Canada. Mir. Frazier became identified with the case in the following way: About a month after the discovery of the murder at the Southern Hotel, Marshal F. Mcdonald, assistant cir cult attorney was called to Toronto on extradi- ton business connected with a railroad en- bezzlenent case. He stopped at the Rossin House He heard that Preller had spent some time in Toronto before coming to St. Louis, and thought he would inquire little about his doings there. He soon learned that while in Toronto Preller had stopped at the Rossin House, and that MT. Frazier had been his intimate companion there. Deter mined to ascertain MT. Frazier's knowledge of the subject, MT. Macdonald called at that gentleman's photograph gallery. MT. Fra zier was attending to his usual business. Drawing from his pocket a copy of the pho- 1OOranh of ta at he I11Or m this city MT. Macdonald mildly said: ''I wanted to see if I could get this picture touched up little. I understand that you do a little coloring ot photographs occasionally" "Great heavens!" said Frazier, "who are you and where did you get this picturea Why, that's Preller, who used to be here and was killed in St. Louis." It was unnecessary to detail the conversation which followed and which ended in MT. MacDonald's belief that he had found good witness for the prose cution in the case of the State of Missouri vs. Maxwell. When it was thought that the time for the preliminary examination of Maxwell was at hand Messrs. Clover and Macdonald concluded that it would be we'll to secure the attendance of MT. Frazier. They sent for him and he came, arriving here on Wednesday evening.
 On Thursday morning very fine livery rig drawn by two horses and carrying four men, drove out to Bellefontaine cemetery and directly to the grave of Preller. The four men were Messrs. Clover, Macdonald, Frazier and 8 person in charge of some photographic apparatus which lay in the bottom of the ve- hicle. On the way to the cemetery MT. Fra zier asked if anybody had ever observed a small scar over one of Preller's eyes-right or left-he could not remember which Nei- ther MT. Glover nor Mir. Macdonald could re- member anything of this kind. 'tWell," :" said MT. Frazier, 1.-the man knew as Preller had slight scar over one of his eyes. I noticed it frequently when he was playing the piano in the parlor of the Rossin House." Half an hour after the arrival of the party at the grave the coffin was out of the earth and there, sure enough, was small scar per pendicularly ever the left eye. It had been unnoticeable in the photographs, but was plain enough to those who were told to look for it. The coffin was set on end against a tree, the photographic apparatus was ar ranged and negative taken, which afterward produced better and more recog- nizable pictures than those produced at the morgue immediately after the discovery of the murder. The body then reinterred and the party of four drove to the city. MT. Frazier, related, was ready to take the witness stand, but the case was continued and the grand jury will next take cognizance of it.