St. Paul daily globe., 1888-08-25
STARTED FORSWEDEN
But Died in the Sanity
City Among Stran-
gers.
Charges That Mrs. Lind
man Was Foully Dealt
With.
Exhuming a Body Which
Has Been Buried Over
a Year.
Inquiries Set on Foot by
q Son Create a Sensa-
ton.

Few readers of the st. Paul papers
imagined, when they read a notice
few days ago that Olaf P. Olson had
been arrested for the larceny of 1850
from the estate of Catherine Lindman,
that there was anything behind the
mere announcement of this fact,
Developments of the last four days,
however, show that the arrest was but
the cloak to sensation, and that Olson
is suspected of being murderer. An
analysis. which will be held to- day, will
show whether Mrs. Lindman's death was
natural or caused by arsenic or
strychinne poisoning. If the latter is
found to be the cause then Olaf p
Olson will. probably, be placed ON trial
for murder.
The facts of the case were hard to
ascertain, as the authorities have main
tanned considerable secrecy. As nearly
as could be learned yesterday, they are
as follows: Mrs. Catherine Lindman
was a Swede, who lived with her two
sons in Southern Minnesota. She had
saved considerable money, and early in
the spring of 1887 decided to visit
FRIENDS IN SWEDEN.
She had some acquaintanceS in st.
Paul among the number Olaf P. Olson.
About April 1. 1887 she wrote to Olson
saying that she had made up her mind
to visit the old county. He sent word
to her that if she would come to st.
Paul he would secure the transporta-
ton. She accordingly came here and
day or two afterwards deposited $500 in
one of the banks. A few days later she
was taken violently ill and the day be-
fore she died Olson drew the money for
her from the bank. The usual request
for burial permit was asked for by.
one of the st. Paul physicians and the
remains were inferred in the Norwegian
cemetery.
weeks from the time that Mrs. Lind
man left home, one of her sons, wonder
ing why no word had been received
from her, wrote to Sweden to know
if she had arrived and why
SHE HAD NOT WRITTEN.
In due time the answer came back
that she had not arrived, and that
nothing had been heard of her. Tn
the son wrote to Olson in st.
Paul and asked if Mrs. Lindman
was here and why she had
not gone to Europe? Olson
sent tardy letter saying that Mrs.
Lindman had been ill. but gave the
sons to understand she had departed
for her destination in Sweden. Again
they waited to hear, and no answer be-
ing received they wrote second letter
of inquiry to Sweden. A similar an
swer to that first received came in the
course of time. Finally the sons and
some friends of the woman began to
suspect trouble, and one of them visit
ed st. Paul to find that Mrs. Lind
man had died and been buried months
before. The fact that Olson
had never notified Mrs. Lindman's
heirs, that nothing was ever heard of
the money in her possession and some
gossip about her death created the suS-
picion that everything had not been all
right. The matter was consequently
laid before the authorities, and Assist
ant County Attorney Mum took the
case in hand to investigate. 1t was de-
cided to examine the body of Mrs.
Llndman and make an analysis of her
stomach to see whether or not poison
HAD CAUSED HER DEATH,
it had been reported to her son during
the lines that she had been sick with
the cholera morbus. The trouble was
to find the body, but this was with
good deal of difficulty, located in the
Norwegian cemetery. Yesterday the
remains were taken from their resting
place where they have lain for a year
and four months and are now in the pos
session of Coroner Quinn. To-day it is
proposed to make careful analysis 'of
the stomach and it will soon be deter
mined whether there are any grounds for
suspicion or not. While pursuing the
search for the remains of Mrs. Lindman,
Attorney Mum decided to place Olson
under arrest and warrant was sworn
out charging him with the larceny of
$3.50 from Mrs. Lindman's estate. Olson
was taken into court and had his exam
ination continued, presumably to await
developments in the case, his bail being
fixed at 5000.
The above are the facts as learned
from the officers directly or indirectly
interested in the case. An effort was
made to learn the name of the physician
who asked for the permit to bury Mrs.
Lindman, but this could not be obtained
as the health office records were locked
up, and the GLOBES informant refused
to divulge the name until after the anal
ysis had been made.