The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-28


so that she would have plenty az
money for travelling and other pur
poses
Police officer Larsen was we'll ac
/; quainted with both the missing girls
as well as the pastor officer Larsen
used to occupy the room in the church
now used as a study, and about two
years ago was taken down with ty-
phoid fever. Miss Clausen, who was
then stopping there, together with Miss
Iveson, school teacher now at Clear
Lake, Iowa, attended him throughout
MS illness, and her warm-heartedness
and kindness is testified to by Mr.. Lar
sen. She was a good, straightforward
girl She was desperately in love with
the pastor at that time and they grad
ually grew more and more intimate.
Miss Samuelsen, he says, was an ex-
ceedlngly pretty girl and great friend
OF Henrietta's. Mr.. Larsen roomed in
the church until about IL months ago.
when he got married and started house
keeping.
Pastor Hermans, says Ofifficer Lar
sen, impressed him as a peculiar man.
On one occasion he showed Mr.. Larsen
the letter which he had received from
Lolita Anderson, and which is referred
to by the pastor in his letter to Elder
Mark as Lotta's Letter. Officer Lar
sen read the letter, the sum and SUBJ
stance was that unless he (Hermans)
would pay the writer a sum of money
she would disclose his intimacy with
Miss Samuelsen. The letter went on to
state that the writer was in possession
of all the facts, and unless some money
was forthcoming. they would be made
public.
THE letter, which was written in
scandinavian, had an Endorsement on
the back which, translated, read: The
statements made in this letter are all
falsehoods and not based upon a sus-
picion of truth. Signed, Charlotte An
derson.'
REV. Hermans explained the letter
In this way, that the Anderson woman
had attempted to blackmail him by
sending him the letter He took 1T and
went to her home, threatening to have
her arrested If she did not retract what
she had stated in the letter. Lolita de-
manded that the letter be handed back
to her, but Hermans told her she
could not have IL and forced her to sign
the retraction contained on the back of
the letter."
Mr.. Melby recalls the fact that dur
ing the embezzlement Investigation at
salt Lake HermanS was low spirited
and downcaSt, and inclined to regard
everything with gloomy forebodings,
but apparently his badly involved
financial affairs were responsible for
this condition of mind. Upon one oc-
casion Ohe told Mr.. Hansen that he was
anxious to get away in order that he
might secure money from friends to
straighten his financial affairs. He
feared above all things that the story
OF his defalcation might get into the
papers. Il am sure he didn't believe
suspicion was directed at him." said
MIR. Hansen to a Tribune reporter.
His bearing was not that of a man
whom crime was pressing hard upon.
He was down-hearted, but this was |
owing to the muddle into which he |
had plunged the church accounts" He |
is believed to have been entirely free |
from apprehension of danger because |
OF the disappearance of the Clausen |
and Samuelsen girls. though he at |
first hesitated to comply with the or
der telegraphed to him at Chicago by |
Elder Mark commanding him to re- |
turn to Salt Lake. Hermans at first |
replied with a demand to know what |
he was wanted for, but the elder only |
answered You must come back; you |
must obey" Heimans obeyed the |
peremptory order and must have been |
greatly relieved when he was only |
charged with embeZzlement, to which |
he at once pleaded guilty.
A Chicago dispatch of yesterday |
states that Hernans was seen in that |
city three weeks ago and mentions his |
departure for Salt Lake in obedience |
to the elders telegram. The Chicago |
people are evidently far off in their /
dates, as the telegram was sent in the |
latter part of April and 1t is evident |
Hermans has not been in Chicago /
since. After the Salt Lake investiga-
ton he had promised to write to Mr. |
Melby. but he has never done So The
last intelligence that has been had of
him was a letter mailed by him at /
Kansas City on May 8 to Elder Mork.
Many are inclined to believe that he is
dead, that he has committed suicide.
and there is some suspicion that he
may have been the unknown man who
killed himself in Helena hotel on
May 9, but If 1t is true that he person
ally mailed the Kansas City letter on
that date. The Helena man, 1t Is said,
spoke with a slight foreign accent,
wore glasses and in build and general
appearance tailed exactly with Her
mans. He first took morphine and II |
failed to do the work, and he followed
it up with a dose of strychnine, which
landed him on the other shore. This
man had destroyed everything that |
might lead to his identity, and was
buried in a paupers grave. Before
dying he said he had been wrecked in
live for. This circumstance was re-
called and the theory is advanced that
the suicide may have been Hermans
Rev. Mr. Melby. judging by his init
mate knowledge of the man, does not
believe that he will ever be arrested, |
but that he will kill himself when he
sees that his arrest is inevitable.
Hermans is a man about A years
old and has been in the ministry for
Is years. For five years he was con-
nected with the Seamen's mission in
France and later In England. He
came to America about five years ago.
He was born in Sweden. His first
wife was an English woman and she
died in childbirth in England. where
their child. a boy years old, now
lives. Since that time Hermans has
been married twice, both the second
and third wife also dying in child
birth. His third wife, VITO died in Salt
Lake about a year ago. was a sister of