The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1894-04-14
Mrs. Bennett on Trial at Marshall
town, Iowa, for Murder.
KILLED MISS ANNA WEISE
The Evidence Against the Accused wo-
man is Circumstantial and Is
shrouded I'm Mystery.

'hul"Sl VI MISS anna WelSe 6IieHy
stated, the facts of the murder are
that Anna Welse was German about
% years of age and good looking. She
had for several years been working for
different persons as a domestic. She
was girl of KIDD disposition and had
lived an exemplary life. AT the time
of her murder she was working in the
family of Henry Russie, in Vienna
township On the evening of August
20 last she went to Arthur Hills house
sometime between SHUTDOWN and dark
to spend the evening. At few min.
utes alter 10 o'clock she left Hills and
started to go home. 1t was a bright
moonlight night aud Hill and Rnssie
only lived about three-eights of a mile
apart.
When Miss Weise had gone about
two-thirds of this distance on her re-
turn home Russie heard her scream and
told his hired boy, Perry Griggs, to run
and see what was the matter. This the
boy started to do, but returned and
said be was afraid. Russie then ac-
companied him and they heard two
more screams. When they were near
where the murdered girl lay they heard
a low moan. They found the girl lying
by the side of the road, with her throat
cut from ear to ear, about twenty
stabS on her breast and her head
crushed by blows of club. She was
left in that position until Coroner
David arrivv d, that night.
The evidence against Mrs. Bennett
is said TO be all circumstantial. 1t is
known that the club with which Anna
was so numerically bea'en was taken
from the grove surrounding the Ben
net residence. One of the first things
TO arouse suspicion against Mrs. Ben
nett was the fact that on the night of
the murder, when the neighbors went
to alarm Mr.. and Mrs. Bennett to secure
their assistance in searching for the
murderer, they were refused admit
lance TO the house, the husband saying
that his wife had been taken with nerv-
Gus shocks and could not be seen. Later
on, when the body of Anna Weise was
exhUmed for examination by Detective
Barney Schultz, it was found that in the
dead girls hands were a number of
hairs, and these hairs, under the exam
ination of experts, are said TO be hairs
from the head of Mrs. Emily Bennett.
A ddv or so after the murder blood
marks were found on the Bennett door
and door casing and on some articles of
wearing apparel. Sheriff Pence has
now in his possession the waist belong
ing to Mrs. Bennett, which had one but
ton on. The attorneys for the defense
have made repeated efforts TO get pos
session of it, but each effort were I'M
successful. 1t is said that this article
has some important evidence connected
with it,
During the last few days a rumor
has been set afoat that may develop
into something that will aid materially
in unraveiug the mystery. Seven years
ago Lewis Greiger worked in the Ben
nett neighborhood, but suddenly dlsap-
peared. j. w Lilly, conductor on the
Chicago Great Western, is authority for
the statement that about the time of
Greiger's disappearance some men were
seen pushing hand car along that line
upon which was an object, supposed TO
DE Inc body of a man.
The car was stopped opposite the
house then occupied by the BENEFITS
and james James, the latter being in
some way connected with the murder
of Hurto at Safe Center two
years ago. At the tine of the alleged
disappearance of Greiger the Bennett
family lived in the house Just east of
their present home, which was subse-
gu sntly the home of Anna Weise's pa.
rents. The body, so the story goes. was
buried in the wall of the cellar of the
Bennett home. Anna Weise, so it is
said, declared that the body was buried
in the cellar, and that was the motive
for numbering her, so that the secret
would not leak out. Conductor Lilly
was so firmly convinced that body had
been buried in the cellar of the former
Bennett home that he came to this city
and wanted Sheriff Pence to issue a
search warrant and dig out the cellar
wall in the hopes of finding the skele-
ton Three hnrsas said 10 halnrnr 70