St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-28
HER TRIAL IN THE POLICE
COURT TO OCCUR ON VrIrIRs-
DAY.
GRAND JURY TO GET THE CASE
Report That Morton Hawkins
Will Make Application for
the Insurance.


that the case against Mrs. Lora Per-
| kins, accused of the murder of Mrs.
Hawkins, would be at once dismissed
and Mrs. Perkins given her freedom
| today.
Such, however, will not be the
case, for, as the G / o b e claimed, the
state proposes to push the case
against her, and will force her to
stand trial for her life, even though
the case be dismissed in the police
| court.
County Attorney Frank M. Nye
was seen by the G o b last night
and said that he did not regard the
| inquest as of any legal Importance,
that the preliminary examination of
Mrs. Perkins would be had in the po-
lice court, and, i'm the event of a dis
missal there, he will present the evil
| dence to the grand jury converting
next month and have an indictment
| returned. The examination has been
set for Thursday at o'clock in the
| police court, and the state was SUBJ
| poenaing witnesses all day yester-
day to appear at that time, and in
tends to present it's case in full, and
| Mr.. Nye stated he had no doubt
whatever of presenting evidence
enough to hold Mrs. Perkins to the
grand jury on the charge made
against her.
The state by no means presented
! its case at the inquest, which thus
took on the garb of a mere formality
and cut no material figure in the
| final outcome of the case Mrs. Per-
kins herself was not put upon the
| stand for an examination, and it is
| doubtful if she will go on the stand
| at the preliminary examination in
the police court Thursday
An incorrect statement has been
| made to the effect that the prose
cution stands prepared to prove that
Mrs. Perkins impersonated Lola
Hawkins in taking out the So, 900 ac-
cident insurance and $4,000 straight
| life insurance, and that she forged
| Mrs. Hawkins name to the policies.
The $4,000 accident insurance, while
applied for by Mrs. Hawkins, has a
| number of suspicious circumstances
connected with it. The policy was
issued by the Fidelity and Casualty
| company. The application was sent
IN by Mrs. Perkins, who stated to
the agent that she had been engaged
| in securing life insurance herself.
and desired to secure some for the
| Fidelity company. A short time aft
er this she returned with an applica-
ton for $4,000 accident insurance for
Mrs. Hawkins, and this application
was
SIGNED BY MRS. HAWKINS
herself, and there is no question about
the genuineness of the signature.
Mrs. Perkins commission of SO as
agent was to apply on this policy.
She was made the sole beneficiary
and herself then took out a $4,000
policy on her own life, in which Mrs.
Hawkins was made the sole bene-
ficiary. Mrs. Perkins policy was
written, but how much she cared
about it is shown by the fact that she
did not even make application for
here commission as agent to be ap-
piled upon it; neither did she keep
up the premiums. On Mrs. Hawkins
| policy, however, Mrs. Perkins her
| self paid the premiums, which were
strictly kept up. The state admits
that Mrs. Hawkins knew all about
this $4,000 policy which Mrs. Per-
kins took out, but looks with deep
suspicion upon the fact that Mrs.
Perkins was so careful to keep up
the payments upon Mrs. Hawkins
policy and paid no more attention to
her own policy. That in substance
is the accused woman's transaction
with the Fidelity company, as it
will be shown in court
In this connection Wilbur M. Todd,
of the claim department of the Fidel-
ity and Casualty company, was seen
by a reporter yesterday, and he con-
sented to talk of his connection with
the case. He oppressed considerable
annoyance at the attempt to create
a sympathy for the accused woman
by statements that the insurance
companies were prosecuting her to
get out of paying the $1,000. Mr..
|
no suspicion that anything was
wrong. His attention was first at
tracted by the fact of the two acct
dents, one following so closely upon
the other, and then came the fact
that Mrs. Hawkins was overinsured.
By this Mr.. Todd said he meant
that the weekly indemnity called for
was greater than the income in Ell
Their case. For example, he said,
Mrs. Hawkins had one policy upon
which the weekly indemnity was $25
and another upon which it was
$3.50, making a total of $37 so, large
ly in excess of the sum the woman
was able to earn. Then one fact
after another was brought to his at
tention until one day he called upon
| Superintendent of Police Smith and
told him what he wanted, and that
he thought the case ought to be in
vestigated. AT first the chief did not
seem greatly interested, but was
anxious to learn all Todd knew
about the matter, ending up by stat
ing that Inspectors Hoy and Law
renee had been hard at work on the
case since the second day after the
fire. Mr.. Todd then had talk with
Inspector Hoy, and, after further
investigation, the facts were laid be-
fore County Attorney Nye, who re.
marked then that the case was the
most peculiar one which had evel
come to his notice. Continued Mr.
Todd:
: MR.. TODD TALKS.
'"The matter of issuing a warran
was then brought up, and Mr.. Ny'
wanted to know if I would swear i