St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-29
WILL BE A BATTLE ROYAL.
STATE CLAIMING TO HAVE. A
STRONG CASE AGAINST
THE WOMAN.
Neither Side Willing to Show
More of Their Hands Than
Is Necessary.


which begins in the police court to-
day, promises to be about the most
interesting and important prelim-
mary examination ever held in this
city. There is every indication that
the examination will be quite thor
ough and exhaustive. Mr.. Hall de-
clared yesterday that he had nothing
whatever to fear from a preliminary
examination, and the more thor
ough it was the better pleased he
would be. The county attorney, on
the other hand, says he is in posses
sion of some very material evidence
tending to show the accused to be
guilty of a most heinous crime, and
will submit as much of this evidence
as he thinks will be necessary in or
der to accomplish the purpose of
this preliminary hearing-the hold
ing of the woman to the grand jury.
1t is the desire Of the prosecution,
of course, to reveal just as little of
it's material as possible in the police
court, and at the same time pre-
sent testimony in sufficient quantity
and of sufficient strength and i'm
portance to fully justify the court in
holding Mrs. Perkins for inquiry by
the higher tribunal. Since the cor
oner's jury rendered that rather nom
committal verdict the officers of the
state have been very active in the
matter of looking up further evil
dence. It was stated by a gentle
man prominently connected with the
prosecution last night that the state
expected to impeach a good deal Of
the testimony given at the coroner's
investigation. In this the officers
have been quite successful. There
has not been any sensational testi-
mony unearthed since the coroner's
jury concluded it's work, but a good
deal Of corroborative testimony has
been brought to the surface. The
state will submit testimony which
is intended to satisfy the court be-
yond a reasonable doubt of the
truth of
THESE PROPOSITIONS:
First-That Mrs. Hawkins came. to
her death as the result of being
burned in a fire
SSCOIu-lIldC IHlS IRE was CduSSu ny
Mrs Perkins with intent to kill Mrs.
Hawkins.
Third-That Mrs Perkins took out
insurance upon the life of Mrs. Haw-
represented herself as Mrs. Hawkins.
Fourth-That the two women were
not sisters, as each had claimed, and
that there was no blood relationship
existing between them.
Fourth-That almost Immediately
after the last and fatal fire Frank
Perkins, the eleven-year-old son of
the accused, stated to number OF
not to undress, but to sleep on the
lounge, for something terrible might
happen and that these instructions
We're given to- the boy on two different
nights, and that those two nights were
the nights of the fires.
Of course number of other circum-
stances, some of them important only
as they form a part of a very long and
remarkable chain of occurrences, will
be established, or. at least an effort
will be made to establish them. AS in
the Hayward case, the insurance mat
ter will probably be the most impor-
tant, and a good deal of time will be
taken up with the testimony Of the
insurance men. MesSrs. Wood and
Thompson have already positively
identified Mrs. Perkins as the woman
who took out insurance upon the rep
resentation that she was Mrs. Haw-
kins Agent Todd and other local in
surance men will also testify, and it is
very likely that in the effort of the
state to establish that Mrs. Perkins
represented herself
AS MRS. HAWKINS
when she took out insurance that DR..
A. p. Gates, a well-known and thor
oughly respected physician of this
city, will be called to the stand. DR..
Gates is local examiner for one of the
insurance companies, and he and DR..
Edwards, the company's medical rep
resentative from Binghamton, N. Y,
made a pretty thorough examination
of Mrs. Perkins on the night of the
arrest. The physicians took the prin-
cipal bodily measurements, and these
are interesting as corresponding with
some medical observations made at
the time the life insurance was taken
out. The prosecution does not expect
to have the least trouble about estab-
fishing the facts in regard to insur-
ance. A good deal of information in
| regard to other insurance matters in
| which Mrs. Perkins is said to have
! figured will be brought out by the state
| through the inStrumentality of half a
| dozen different insurance companies.
! 1t will be shown, for instance, that
| while Mrs. Perkins had practically no
| income she carried a large amount of
| insurance. In establishing that the
! two women were not sisters a number
| of witnesses from Iowa will be sworn.
| The prosecution believes there will be
| little or no trouble in proving that the
| Perkins boy told a number of persons
| that his mother had particularly in
| Structed him to sleep on the lounge
| on the nights of the fires. Among
| those who will testify in regard to
this important point will be the
twelve-year-old son of Patrolman
| Hoban, who lives about block from
the Perkins-Hawkins residence The
Hoban boy and the Perkins boy were
playmates, and were together a great
deal of the time. 1t was reported last
evening that the state had found a
person who saw Mrs. Perkins saturate
the bed clothing with oil, but this re-
port is not given much credence. Will
lam S. Russell, a driver for Stone, the
ice man, is one of the latest witnesses
to be subpoenaed by the state. Mr..
Russell happened along just as the
fire broke out, and has pretty good
idea of the actual condition of things
when the alarm was given. His tes-
timony is not particularly important,
but in corroborative sense may be
fairly material.
MRS. PERKINS TOLD HIM.
During the past three or four days
the county attorney has received a
good many communications from per-
sons who appear to know more or less
about Mrs. Perkins and Mrs. Hawkins.
A majority of these communica tons
are from people living outside of Min
neapolis. There is no doubt at all but
that good many Minneapolitans
could give fairly material evidence.
| eSpeciallY in the line of establishing