St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-22
SAINT PAUL.
A DAY OF DOLOR.
Two Convicted Murderers to
Swing June 27.

Two Convicted MuruerefS TO
Swing June 81.
Friday, June 27, will be a very black
Friday in the history Of Minnesota if
the governor keeps on fixing that as the
date for the execution of the different
murderers now in the prisons of the
state awaiting their punishment. Yes
terday the governor settled upon that
date for the execution of Clifton Holden,
who was some time ago convicted Of the
murder of his cousin, Frank Dodge,
near Redwood Falls on the evening of
Nov. 2S, 1885, Last week he directed
that William Brooker, the Pine county
murderer, meet his fate on the same
day. The crimes for which the two
men are to offer up their lives on the
same day are vastly different, and, while
BrOOker never attempted to deny that
he had murdered William Combs and
his wife. Clifton Holden and his friends
made a hard fight for the latter's lite
at the trial, claiming that he was guilt
less of the crime. The governors order
runs to Sheriff c. w. Mead. of Redwood
county, and commands him to execute
Holden on the day set, before sunrise
in the moaning, at a place in the county
to beSelected by the sheriff.
For over a year this case has been
before the public, and considerable in
terest has been stirred up over it. Hol-
den was tried at a session of the district
court held in Redwood county
year ago this month, and
at the trial the evidence brought
out the following facts: Early in
the afternoon of Nov %, 1889, Frank
Dodge, who, by the way, was a barber
doing business in the little village OF
Morton, some six miles of Redwood
Falls, and Clifton Holden started out
from Morton Tor Redwood Falls. On
their way to their destination they
passed a man named Miller, well &C
Quainted with Holden and Dodge. and
he was the last man to see Dodge alive.
Late that same evening Holden drove
to hotel in Redwood Falls and put up
for the night. Early the next morning
Dodge's body was found in a vacant
lot in quiet portion of the
village. Suspicion at once fast
ened upon Holden, and he was
arrested. In his cell afterwards a roll
of bills, stained by blood, was found
and recognized as being about the
size of roll displayed by Dodge day
OF two before. A few days before this
it was also found that Holden had pur
chased revolver of the same size as
that from which the fatal shot had been
fired. Holden, badly frightened, made
several contradictory statements, one
being to the effect that he had loaned
his revolver to Dodge TO shoot a dog,
and that in some manner he mad shot
himself; another story was that Dodge
had left HIM to join friend in the
town. The last story was the one held
to at the trial.
The prosecution failed to make much
of case at the trial, and the jury re-
Quested the attorneys not to sum up.
Both sides expected that the members
OF the jury had decided to acQuit Hol-
den and the request was granted, and
to the surprise OF all verdict of guilty
was rendered. For this reason and on
account of errors a new trial was
asked, denied, and an appeal taken to
the supreme court. Here the rulings Of
the lower court were sustained, and q
last final appeal was male to the gov
ernor some weeks ago. Holden was de
Tended by Charles G. Wilson, the dis
tinguished Rochester attorney, and
Judge Baldwin, of Redwood Falls, while
Assistant Attorney General Child and
County Attorney Madigan conducted
the prosecution.