St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-03-18
THRUN CONFESSES.
He duplicates an Official OF the
Wisconsin Central i'll the
Conspiracy.
Detectives Arrest the Alleged Ac-
complete, and Take Him to
Wisconsin,.

maze written confession or the details
of the now celebrated insurance swim
die at Romeo, WIS. 1t is in the possess
sion of the detectives in charge of the
case and duplicates General Assistant
Special Claim Agent Hansen, of the
Wisconsin Central, as the chief
conspirator. Yesterday Hansen was
arrested by William Beck. special
agent of the New York Mutual
Life Insurance company, at the Wis
consin Central office. Hansen was
immediately turned over to the sheriff
of Romeo. who left for his home to-
night. Thrun declares that Hansen
planned the swindle and furnished the
money for carrying it out. Hansen had
been suspected by the detectives who
have been working OH the case before
Thrun'S confession was secured. Han
sen denies his guilt. The confession
|. says in part:
Hansen not only planned the swindle
but furnished the necessary means to
carry it out. After he had taken my
wife and myself into partnership it was
some time before the plan we followed
was decided on. We first thought best
to attempt the swindle by having me
disappear by supposed drowning. Ac
cording to the details of this plan l
was to disguise myself by the aid of
false beard and wig, and
take passage OIL one of the boats
which travel between Chicago and Mil
waukee. l was to have travelling COM
panlon. As soon as | got on board or
soon after | was to do something which
n at
man, who was to swear that "a man in
whiSkerS had been on the boat" When
had succeeded in attracting general at
tpntion | was to get out of sight and
change my disguise. While was doing
this my accompice was to have thrown
adummy overheard and at the same time
raise cry of man overheard. The
dummy would, of course, sink, and
after all attempts 10 find the drowned
man had failed, my accomplish and L
were to mention the fact that the man
with the whiSkerS who attracted atten-
ton, as L stated, was missing. 1t would
be found that he was not on board, and
the inference that he had fallen over
board would naturally follow, and was
drowned. We made the trial OF this,
and it seemed TO work all right. but,
after considerable deliberation, we de-
cided to take up the plan we followed"
The detectives in the case think that
Hansen has been in communication
with Mrs. Thrun ever since her hus-
bands disappearance, and, if what
Thrun says in his confession be true,
directed her movements in getting
insurance. His connection with the
Wisconsin Central gave him plenty of
opportunity OF visiting Romeo with
out attracting attention, and he, there
fore, does not have to use the mail. The
detectives say that Hansen acted uneasy
when Thrun was arrested, and did
away with all the papers he may have
had bearing Oh the case. This theory is
strengthened by the fact that Thrun's
original policy with the American Acct
dent company for $4,000 was returned
by mail to the agent at Oshkosh, Wis,
Thursday. The policy was inclosed in
a plain white envelope which bore
Chicago poStmark. No letter of eXpla-
nation in any way accompanied the
policy. 1t must have been mailed here
very soon after it was announced that
, Thrun had been brought to Chicago.
When Hansen was arrested no papers
bearing on the swindle were found on
him.
OSHKOSH, March 17.-Jues FerdI-
nand Ihrun, the principal in the gerat
insurance fraud, arrived in the city this
morning in the custody of the sheriff,
and is now in Jail. He will be arraigned
tomorrow, and the examination of
Thrun, Handy and Mrs. Thrun will
commence Monday. The attorneys here
are at loss just what charges to bring
against him. Thrun said he had been
Instructed not to talk in regard to the
matter. He does not appear to appre-
bend any very serious result.