The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1894-11-22
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER q, 1894.

Thu hODA1 INV CMDIh -, AOO1.
to, and from his evidence, he thought
when be looked into the cup that it
was bitter salt. He tasted it, and spit
it out. He asked his mother about
it, and she told that there was nothing
of that kind in the house. Henry did
not know of his father having an enc
my, yet he was satisfied that he was
murdered, although he had no theory.
Marshall Miller was called and con-
frmed the finding of the key in the
tin box, and Henry Otto's story of the
finding of the poison in the cup. At
this juncture County Attorney Miller
recalled Mrs. Otto, and for an hour
carried on one of the most rigid cross
examinations witness has ever un
dergone. He went over the whole
ground with her, inquired as to move
ments, places, time and suspicious, but
her testimony of the morning was not
shaken. She declared that she never
had strychnine or arsenic in the house,
and never knew of Otto buying any.
He directed his questions with view
to forming ground for theory of col
fusion between the family, but if such
was the case the answers evaded the
questions in mastery style. He in
quired into the monetary dealings of
Otto and William, the youngest son,
but the witness declared that they
we're more than paternal, and that
William had only to apply to secure
assistance. The bottle of strychnine
found in the vault was shown her, but
she knew nothing of it, whatever. She
reiterated that she knew nothing of
the cup and the poison; declared that
Otto ate a hearty dinner before the
murder, and that he never carried fire.
arms of any kind.
There were some notes in the tin
box with the signers' names torn from
them, but she knew nothing about
them. She knew that party named
Henry Thorman owed Otto some
money, and that he had paid him
some, but she did not know that Otto
had money in the banks.
Frederick Otto, another one of the
boys. also residing in Sherman, was
called, and was put through fire of
questions to bring out every movement
made by him on the day of the MUIR
der. In the forenoon he was in Nor
gan, and in the afternoon at neigh
boris and at home. He didn't know
of any enemy his father had, and was
sure that neither the parent nor any of
the boys had revolver. He did not
know of the bottle of strychnine be-
ing purchased in Franklin, or kept in
the house there. He knew of no diff
cuIties between the father and mother
on money matters, and did not believe
that there were any. He had never
heard his father speak of making a
will. The witness gave his financial
dealings with his father in a clear
manner.
William Otto, the youngest of the
sons, also residing in Sherman, was
called to the stand, and gave some
evidence that was afterwards proven
to be untrue. He first gave his deal
ings with his father to the satisfaction
of'the jury, and was then quizzed on
the strychnine theory. He, at first,
could not remember of purchasing
any at Cormonton's drug store in
Franklin, but afterwards admitted
that he had bought some there two
years ago. used it all up killing goph-
ers and blackbirds, and threw the bot
tie away in the grove. Here the bot
tie found was shown to him, but he
swore it couldn't have been the one he
bought, and that he didn't know how
the bottle got in the vault. That night
after the evidence for the day had
been closed Coroner Stoddard and
Sheriff Wichman drove to Franklin
and secured the poison register at
Cormonton's. Here was an entry
showing that William Otto had pur-
chased poison strychnine- at that
drug store last May, and the next af-
ternoon when William was placed on
the witness stand he could not say
whether the signature in the book was
his, although he admitted that it
looked like it. He was asked to write
his name on piece Of paper, and it
was exactly like that in the book.