St. Paul daily globe., 1892-06-29
timber stealing from the Indian reser-
vafinns
KLATKE DECLARED DEAD,
But just Who Killed Him Still a
Matter of Conjecture.


man who died Monday morning from the
effects of injuries received in row at
Keegan's lake Sunday evening, is over.
Schultz, the bartender In the saloon at
Keegan's lake ana the man who is sup
posed to have inflicted the fatal wounds,
is locked up at the central station. No
charge stands against HIM now, but
there will be one today. The coroner
will swear out warrant this morning,
and the preliminary examination will
begin in the municipal court.
When the corOner's inquest began at
Gleason Il McAllister's morgue yeSter-
day morning, Ben Davenport appeared
as the representative of the Office of the
county prosecutor. w. Ii. DOnahue
and Sam Myers were there to look after
the cause of Schultz, the bartender, who
had been arrested aud locked up as a
witness. Donahue said that he might
be called upon to act as attorney for the
Graefs, the brOtherS-in-la W of the muir
dered man, too. At the outset he told
che coroner that lie would instruct the
GraefS TO answer no question which
might criminate themselves. The cor
oner paid no attention to his notifica-
ton and went on with the questioning.
Donahue waived the point. as applied
to the GraefS, but he raised it and main-
tanned it later in the investigation.
AS soon as the Identification of the
remains had been made good the broth
er-in-law and nephews of the dead man
were examined in succession. All of
them were in the saloon when the fight
took place. The witnesses were John.
Joseph and Jacob Graef, brotherS-in-
law of the deceased, and Frank and
Of n
couple of boys, aged respectively eight
cen and seventeen. After these Fred
Heckrich. the proprietor of the Kee-
gan's lake saloon, where the row oc
Cured. and William Kibbey, a man who
saw the whole fight, were examined.
The story as told by the older GraefS
and corrObOrated by the boys, both of
whom, Frank in particular, were clear
and consistent in their testimony,
amounts to this:
Sunday afternoon at o'clock Jos eph,
Jacob and John Graef and Joseph
Klatke left the home of Joseph Graef,
4l6 James avenue north, for Keegan'S
lake. Arrived at the lake they had
Few beers, then went out for walk
through the park. They returned to
the saloon of Fred Heckrich, had some
more beers. played few games of
cards, rolled ten pins while. then re-
turned to the saloon. In the ten-pin
alley Jacob had some trouble with a
man uamed Karnosky and struck him,
but that row had no connection with the
later developments, as KarnOsky went
away. Before they went to the ten
pin alley Frank and Theodore, the sons
of Joseph Graef, came to The saloon
to ask the men to come home to supper.
But the men were having too good
time. The boys remained ana saw all
that took place afterward. On their re-
turn to the saloon from the ten-pin
alley all these persons sat down around
a table where they were joined by Fred
Heckrlch, the proprietor of the saloon.
They sat there drinking beer, singing
songs and telling stories of their early
life until nearly 10 O'Clock. Klatke and
Joseph Graef left the table and con-
tinued their conversation against the
bgr. Later they stepped out of doors
into the park and were joined there by
John Graef. Jacob Graef did not like
being left alone by his brothers and
brother-in-law. He called them to come
"joshed" him a little by tell
lug him that they three were talking
business. Jacob, not to be put off. went
ont and od-naturedly led in Kiatke and
Joseph Graef. He wanted to lead John
in, but John would not come. He said
he wanted to 90 home. He came back
into the saloon to go out through the
front entrance and jacob grabbed him
to hold him until the drink could be
served. John and Jacob began TO Scuff1e,
both beginning to get angry. Joseph
collared his brother John. jammed him
into a corner and choked him gently.
John said he would be quiet and Joseph
released him, only to be knocked down
by John for his kindness. Klatke and
Heckrich were trying to pacify Jacob
Graef at the same time. From this
point on the stories differ little. One
witness saw What another did not see.
A composite deduction from these stOr-
les gives this conclusions:
Jacob Graef. in his anxiety to get at
his brother John, became violent and
broke chair. Heckrich told him that
he would have to be quiet, and ordered
him to get out. He followed close upon
Jake to enforce his demand for order.
Klatke, thinking that HeckrIch was
about to assault Jake. knocked Heck
rich down. And here the haze sur
rounding the case begins. More than
one OF the witnesses saw Schultz, the
bartender, come from behind the bar at
this point. with billet, or regulation
policeman's club, in his hand. Young
Frank Graef says that he saw Schultz
knock Klatke down, with what he does
not know for certain. But Klatke was
knocked down, and his head was so
damaged that he died from the effect
of it.
Fred Heckrich, the saloonkeeper, and
William Kibbey, the spectator, were the
other two witnesses. Their stories
neither agreed with those told by the
Graefs nor with each other. Heckrich
said that Klatke struck him over the
head with chair and knocked him
senseleSs. When he came 70 all the
combatants were outside and Schultz
was standing beside him. He still bears
the marks of having been struck with
something. The other witnesses
claimed, however, that he was up and
conscious Immediately after being
struck by Klatke's fist, and that he was
up before Klatke was felled. Kibbey,
for man who was not in the
fight and had unlimited oppor-
tunities to see just what was going
on, knew surprisingly little about the
melee. Most of his time, after the fight
began, seems TO have been devoted to
getting out of the reach of possible
harm. He knew there was fight and
that was about all he did know. Chairs
flew through the air, men wrestled Oh
the floor; the scrap was general in its
scope.
Attorneys Donahue and Myers in
sisted upon the right of their client
Schultz, as man under arrest, to re-
fuse 10 answer any questions. They
would not allow him even tell his name
to the jury. The evidence of the phys
icianS who conducted the post mOrtem.
II. L. Cary and Ii. n. Orton, showed
that Klatke was pounded on the head
sufficiently to cause death.
1t was difficult for the jury to
arrive at any substantial verdict.
The injuries received by Klatke in the
fight unquesti0nabiy caused his death.
The evidence indicated that Schultz was
the man who inflicted the injuries, but
the proof was not conclusive. No one
saw him do it with the club. The jury
found verdict on that basis.
The testimony indicated that the
GraefS and KIatke got into free fight
into which Heckrich was drawn.