The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-08

the evidence DIT the trial, a violent
quarrel occurred between the murderer
and his victim.
The very night after that, and while
the domestic waters were still turbu-
lent, Charles Thiede was in the saloon
near midnight with young woman,
with whom, from all appearances, he
was cr1nlinally intimate. 1t must have
been within few moments of midi
night when knock at the saloon
door startled the guilty pair, and i'm
mediately after Mrs. Thiede attempted
to enter. The husband Jumped up at
once. enraged at the unlocked for in
trusion, grasped the fatal butcher
knife, and pursuing her a few PAGES
from the saloon, dealt the savage
blow which ended her life. It will be
remembered that Mr.. and Mrs. Thiede
occupied separate apartments, and con-
sequently he fancied himself secure in
his guilty intimacy with the woman
from the detection of his wife.
On coming back to the saloon Thiede
at once got the woman away, and
shortly afterwards called in the doctor
and asked that Sheriff Mcqueen be
notified. In the interim he had had.
time to work out in his mind the clum-
sy story about Mrs. Thiede having
committed suicide.
I The above are the facts, which, if
they had wished, the prosecution could
have established The reason they did
not do this and bring in the woman in
the case as a witness was that in one
sense it would have weakened the
prosecution. The evidence already in
established murder in the first degree.
The prosecution had made their case
and were convinced that Thiede
merited the harshest penalty inflicted
by the law. The woman's evidence,
had she been put on the stand, would
have shown that the murder was COM
mttted pr'ecipitatsly, on the spur of the
moment The jury under such cir
cumstances might possibly have made
murder in the second degree the YER
dict. If she were to be brought for
ward as witness at all it should
logically have been done, therefore, by
the defense.
Her testimony, had she been brought
forward, would have obliterated all
hungering doubts of Thiede's guilt
which might have been raised among
q, credulous few by his continued pro-
testations of innocence.
HIS TALK WITH GUARD SAND
BURG
While Thiede was in the peniten-
tiary, according to the statement Of
one who acted in the prosecution, he
made what amounted to a confession
VI HIS Su1ll- MI. OdllODuISJ OlVC W illc
I guards there, seemed to be favorite
with Thiede, and one day he called
! the Swede aside and remarked: IF
the worst comes to the worst, l want
to tell you something" SandbuTg at
once scented some kind of an admis-
sion, and as he has a moral horror of
receiving condolences from prisoners,
he did not encourage him to proceed.
He simply asked Thiede whether his
/ CT ,4la11o ant I<yO1l11,
show him to be worse than he al
ready appeared. yes, it would an
swered Thiede The conversation be-
tween them on this subject was never
renewed.
No one connected with the prosecu-
ton doubted for one moment Thiede's
guilt. None of them would sign one
of the numerous petitions for the
: Communication of his sentence.
Either Charles Thiade's statement to
/ Sandberg, which is quoted On unques-
tiona,ble authority, is untrue, or the
wife murderer of Murray died yester-
day with a lie upon his lips.
STORY OF THE CRIME
The crime for which Charles Thiede
yesterday paid the death penalty was
committed in tine quiet hamlet of
Murray near midnight of April 80, or
early the morning following.
On May l, several hours before dawn
and while the little town was wrapt
in profound peace, the lacerated body
/ of Mrs Thiede was found, with her
person drenched in blood and deep,
gaping wound extending from one
ear to the other.
The whole circumstances of the af-
fair pointed to Charles Thiede as the
murderer. Thiede's treatment OF his
wife had for many years been brutal
and vindictive. Mrs. Thiede's life for
/ a long time before her fateful end was
one OF feverish unrest, and according
to the testimony of her neig-hbors at
! the inquest, she was in daily dread OF
! being killed. by her husband He was
continually treating her with violence,
and her face was seldom free from the
marks of his assaults.
Thiede for some time before the
murder, was faithless to his wife and
openly showed his attachment FIR
young Danish girl. 1t was not an
infrequent thing for him to have lewd
women at the saloon, and a few days
before her death he compelled her 10
serve and entertain crowd of these
debauched females.
Just one day before the murder
Thiede and his wife had a violent
quarrel, and ON this occasion Mrs.
Thiede fed to one Of the neighbor's
houses for protection She did not
return until very late. The two for
some time had been occupying separ-
ate sleeping apartments, Thiede
remaining all night in the sa-
loon. On this particular night,
from an hour before midnight
until some time after, Thtede
was alone in the saloon. It was about
this time that Mrs. Thiede ventured
from the protection of neighbors and
started to steal softly into the dwell
ing house. At this fatal hour and fatal
place her way was suddenly blocked.
Thiede suddenly came upon her from
the saloon, brandished huge butcher
knife in his hand and taking her vio-
lentiy by the hair with his left hand,
cut the deep cash in her throat THAI
caused her death. The knife had been
sharpened two days before and with
one blow the jugular vein and trachae
were severed and a slight would in
flicted on her thumb. Death must have
been almost instantaneous.
Between / and O'Clock Thiede went
for Dr. Ferrebel and said that Mrs.
Thiede had committed suicide. In the
meantime he had left the body lying
lifeless on the floor and gone to a. small
stream nearby where he had washed
the knife and tried to obliterate traces
from his hands of the bloody deed.
When the doctor came he saw at once
that life was extinct, and on exantn-
ing the wounds discovered that they
could not have been inflicted by Mrs.
Theide
On Thiede's own suggestion. Sheriff
Mcqueen and Deputy Sheriff Mont
gomery were notified, and Immediately
thew started for MTrraV leaving Salt