Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-23

vinced the authorities that the BODIES ,were
not from that city and further search in
that direction was abandoned.
MAY NOT BE THE FIRST.
The result OF the search creates the sus-
picion that other graves have been opened.
II is possible that the body Of Hannah Larsen
and the body OF the woman discovered in
Des Moines are not the same. The under
takers who buried Hannah L1rsen state that
she was about 2S years OF age, and did not
look older Dispatches from Des Moines state
that the body found in the trunk was that
OF woman about As years Of age. The de-
script ons do not tally. The dispatches say
that the woman found in the trunk had
light brown hair. The undertakers. Swanson
e. Vallen. say that Mrs. Larsen's hair was a
dark brown. She was a medium sized wo-
man and was slender. Her face was thin.
The color of the eyes were not noticed.
Finally. the question of clothes bears sig
nifcancs. Swanson & Valien dressed the
body Of the woman entirely in black. There
were no garments Of any ether color upon
her. The woman in the trunk was arrayed
IN black waist, white shirt and flannel
skirt of red and black stripes. and black
stockings.
There seems to be little doubt that the body
OF the man found In the trunk In Des Mones
and the body OF Jacob Helm are the same.
The former is described as being that of a
brown hair and blue eyes. The face was
covered with whiskers. According to ]. +.
Helm. cousin of the deceased, this answers
the description of Helm, with the exception
Of the eyes. Mr.. Helm states that his cousin
had light brown eyes.
Every indication is given that the ghouls
were experts In their business There were
no surface indications about the graves to
show that they had ever been opened After
the grave had been examined the sexton
tn m
looked upon such. He stated that yester-
day he noticed that flower cross bearing
the card of J. F. Helm was thrown to the
side of the mound. 1t mad previously been
on top of the mound. He thought nothing of
the discovery, believing that it had been
blown off by the wind
NO NIGHT WATCH KEPT
Sexton Wogensen has noticed no suspicious
characters hanging about the cemetery. He
states that he would be unable to pick out
any such on account of the number of people
who visit tho plot daily. At night watch
is kOt and the sexton can keep but little
look NJ, as his house is located almost half
my from where the graves are situated.
Jacob Helm was a cousin of John e.
Helm. He went to the Emmanuel hospital to
be treated for case of typhoid pneumonia
and succumbed to the disease on January
81. His funeral occurred two days after
ward.
Hannah Larsen was a married woman liv
ing at lalo Wllllams street. Sne uleu III
childbirth. Two physicians attended her
in her illness, but the death certificate was
signed by DR.. Saville.
From the description of the man arrested
in Des Moines the police are of the opinion
that he is a noted local character. He gave
the name of J. II. Smith. He Is 35 years
old, weight 165 pounds and Is six feet tall.
He has light moustache, light hair and
blue eyes. This description answers to that
of a Jim Smith, known to the police. He
was a member of Bruton gang, almost all of
whom were dismissed in the district court
at the last session Some Of the gang were
charged with burglary and others with re-
ceiving stolen property.
Jim Smith was also suspected of stealing
a dead body from the Forest Lawn cemetery |
some time ago, but no case could be made
out against him. The body was recovered |
before it left for It's destination, Iowa City.
ARRESTED AT. DES MONIES.
DES MONIES, Feb. 22.-(Special Tele- |
gram. George Smith was arrested here this |
morning holding checks for two trunks |
shipped from Council Bluffs yesterday after |
noon containing one body each, that Of |
man and woman 40 and as years of age.
The trunks arrived last evening and atten-
tion was called to them by blood dripping
out of one in the Rock Island baggage room.
Detectives Hardin and Johnson watched the |
depot all night.
At 8 o'clock this morning Hackman Will
liam Weaver presented checks for the trunks. |
He took them to the Drake medical school, |
where the bodies from graves robbed here
recently were found, and was arrested while
them. Smith came up just then
and was arrested also.
The bodies have the appearance Of being of
people of the better class, and much excite
ment has been occasioned by the. discovery,
as the feeling was already high against the
school. The authorities are in communica-
ton with the Council Bluffs authorities.