St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-09-23
Facts Unearthed That Form
an UnbrOken and Power
full Web.
MYSTERIOUS ENGLISHMAN
Took Lena From MINNEAPOLIS
to Duluth Under False
COlorS.

! lew days. Detective Robert Benson. of
the Duluth police force, has been hunt
ing up clues i'll Minneapolis and st.
Paul during the past week, and his in
vestigatiOns have unearthed some sig
nificant facts.
! When Lena Olson left Minneapolis
on Aug. 20. she started for Duluth i'll
company with A. A. Austin, an Eng
lishman, who said his home was in Los
Angeles, Cal. Austin came to Mime
apolis last March, and during his stay
there Kept company with Lena. In
July he had asked Lena to marry him
and she consented. Whether they did
/ ever become man and wife is not
| known, but. however that may be, upon
| arriving i'll Duluth, the night of Aug.
~, they went to the Merchants hotel
| aud registered as
"'Mr. and Mrs. A. a. Austin.s
The next evening they went out to
Oataka beach, which fact was ascer-
| tanned from the statements of passen-
gers on the suburban trains who saw
such couple.
Al 1890 the next forenoon. Lena's
body was found in the shallow water on
the shore, buried under brush wood.
The back of the head was crushed in.
and back some distance OH the shore a
club. stained with blood. was discov-
cred. The motive for the murder is
supposed to be the money, amounting
TO some S425, which Lena had with her
when she departed from Minneapolis.
. 8 81
was discoyered-that is the fact that she
was registered at the hotel as Mrs.
! Austin'-Search was Instituted for Mr..
Austin. but he had disappeared. Sns-
plclon at once fastened upon him. The
discoveries recently made by Detective
! Benson, assisted by the st. Paul and
Minneapolis police departments convert
the suspicion into certainty. In the
first place Detective Benson found that
Austin
Hired Two St Paul Draymen
to 20 over to Minneapolis and get
l.ena'S trunks, which were at Mrs.
Iou'S, So Sixteenth street north. This
was about noon, Aug. 90. The object
of hiring st. Paul draymen was to throw
l.ena's friends off the track. as Austin
and she had represented that their des-
tinatiOn was EdgertoD. S. D., not Du-
luth. One of the st. Paul draymen, who
was accosted by Minneapolis drayman
that saw them driving south on Wash
ington avenue, said they were getting
''well paid for their job"
But the most significant circumstance
unearthed is the behavior of Austin
after the murder.
On Aug. %. the day following the dis
covery of Lena'S body. what does Austin
do but show I'D in Minneapolis and call
upon an intimate friend of Lena's,
whose name is Emma Olson.
Emma worked as domestic in the
same house in which Lena had been
employed. She had not heard of the
murder, so, when Austin appeared, she
asked him where Lena was.
II want to talk to you about Lena"
said Austin, and then he invited Emma
to walk with him in the park. The girl
declined to go out, so Austin told her all
he had to say.
LENA and l." said Austin, ''iiave had
little trouble, and Lena has gone to
live with her brother In Edgerton, S. ID.
Lena will never write to any of her
friends, and they
Will Never See Her Again.
II am going to England for a few
months, after which | shall return to
my nome in Los Angeles"
That was all. Austin departed and
none OF Lena's friends have seen him
since.
Detective Benson says that all the
while Austin was counting Lena, he
told her he was living in St. Paul, but
whether that was true has not been as
certained. The most valuable informa.
tien obtained by Detective Benson is
complete and detailed description of
Austin's personal appearance, which
was furnished by Emma Olson and
Theodore Larson, at whose dressmak-
ing parlors, I'll Hennepin avenue,
Austin and Lena Olson used to visit of
evenings and play cards with Larson
and Emma Olson.
According to the descriptions, Austin,
is all erect, we'll built man, forty. three
years old, six feet in height, and
weighing about 100 pounds. His CON-
plexion is dark and sallow, eyes dark,
and his hair. which is black. is pasted
down over his forehead. He wore a
heavy, black mustache, tipRed with
gray, and ''sideburns' longer than
the average. His upper eyelids
droop. his hands are large and white,
and the backs OF them covered with
hair. He has very prominent nose,
broad, high forehead. and his face
tapers to point at the chin. He always
wore black stiff hat.
With the aid of Chief of Detectives
OConnor Detective Benson is gradually
completing bis investigations, and is
Tightening the coil that now surrounds
Mr.. Austin.