The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-07
he Was Quite An Eccentric Old
Fellow.
CLAIMED HE IS NOT DEAD
BUT ONE SUSPECT IS IN JAIL AT
DENVER,
And the Police Are Searching For,
Another Named R. II. Beeler,
Who Was In Salt Lake a Few
Days Ago-A Denver Papers Ac-
count of the Mystery.

The police department yesterday was on
the lookout for a suspect alleged to have
murdered Otto Goette, the eccentric old
recluse who disappeared under mysterious
circumstances from his ranch at Byers,
near Denver. The name of the suspected
murderer who was in this city was r.
H. Beeler, Sbeepman from wyoming,
and the Instructions TO the police here
hrSt came from Sheriff Mcdaniel of Rock
Springs and later from Chief Farley Of
Denver, indicating that the officers have
struck a new trail.
Beeler was in the city last Tuesday but
upon learning the officers were looking for
sim disappeared and not a trace has been
found Of him since
over in Denver one Joseph Brewer, a
telesraph operator. is in jail charged
with the crime. If such II be. As a matter
of fact, there is some question as to
whether GOette was really murdered or
not. some of his nearest acquaintance
Insisting that he will turn up alive and
we'll some of these days.
The Wednesday evening Post of Denver
contains an interesting account of the
mystery. and the development in that end,
as follows:
WAS HE MURDERED?
Was Otto Goette cruelty murdered. or
has the man, through the eccentuclty
with which he is credited, hidden himself.
having an Interior motive in VieW2
kept secluded in the city jail. allowed
to see or talk to nobody, Joseph Brewer.
an employee Of the Western Union Tele-
graph company. has languished for the
past six days, when GOette'S disappear
ance first attracted the attention OF
neishbOrs in the vicinity of his ranch at
ByerS. upon investigation IL was learnedt
that Goette, German immigrant, was in---
VOWED in some trouble In the fatherland
that caused him TO make a hurried de-
parture. He came to America and. TAX
ing up claim on the ranch from which
he IS missing. embarked in the business
Of sheeq-raising and in which he has
been emlnently successful.
AT the time of his repOTted diSaDDear-
ance. a week ago. his team. a pair of de-
crepid brOncOs hitched TO a dilapidated
prairie schooner, were found standing in
the road near Corona, about % miles
from his ranch. Further search showed
ZOO sheep missing. now known 20 have
been sold at Omaha to Jones, Cox x Co.,
stock buyers. The man who sold them
had red whiskers. and the description OF
him in the hands of the police ends here.
He was given $50 in cash and check for
50 200, made payable here at the Colorado
National bank. s.. 800 Of which was drawn,
after he had been identified by Brewer,
the man now in Jail. When taken into
custody. Brewer told a story that con-
fiicted with police theories. and Detective
Sanders started on a search, so far fruit
less. Detective BurleW left the city Sat
urday night, bound for York. Neb, to aid
his colleague and the police department
yesterday made formal charges against
Brewer of conspiracy to conceal murder
and assisting a murderer to escape. The
action is much criticised, several prom
inent attorneys saying there can be no
Sucn charges unless II Is frSL SHOWN con-
clusiVeiy that murder has been commit
ted In the present instance no such fact
has been discovered. there being little or
no effort made to find the body.
FLED FROM GERMANY.
Another phase of the case has arisen
that makes the mystery dOubly interest
ing. Goette had serious trouble in Ger
many and fled the country to escape the
never-ending penalties imposed upon
criminals BIZ the laws of Hesse-Darm-
tod
went into SecluSiOn upon taking up his
ranch here and is never known TO have
had a visitor. He seldom visited this city.
but when he did, always spent few
hours at the Sunnyside saloon, Fifteenth
and ChamDa streets. where he drank
beer telling meanwhile of interesting
spiritualistic seances he had held with
We'll known mediums residing in the city
and of constant advice, yea iniunctiOnS
given by them commanding MIN TO shun
his surroundings and mode of living. He
was a firm believer in the mysterious re-
ligion and seldom talked Of anything else
when at the saloon. Persons whose hos
pitality he accepted when there say he
was an uncOuth, ignorant man when in or
binary conversation. but when talking Of
spiritualism he became transformed into
being intellectually brilliant using Ian
guage that called forth favorable COM
ment from well educated persons hap
pening within hearing distance And
here again the erratic ranchman may
chuckle to himself. if alive, as some say
he is. Not more than two weeks ago he
WIS DIT the SdiOuU QtJcCltu anu extremely
morose. When questioned, he Simply re-
piled: I'll have to do it now, for she told
me a littil while ago.
Whether this was a repeated admOni-
ton from medium or whether them an
imagined hearing the voice OF some one
gone before, is merely a matter of con-
lecture
Public Administrator Dimmitt has
taken charge of the missing mans eS-
tate, valued, as far as known. at 5000.
The Colorado National bank has employed
the Pi---ertonS Of Chicago to protect their
interest in the check and all hands are
wondering whether the mysterious indi-
vidual described as having red whiskers
and the spirtualistic ranchman are the
same and II not. What has become OF
Otto GOetts? "
There is a charge floating about that
Jack Edwards. the wealthy Wyoming
sheepman stopping at the KnutsfOrd. gave
the susSect Beeler a tip that the sleuth5
wer-- SI-Cer him. Edwards does not deny
that he saw Beeler but claims he knew
not that the authorities were looking for
him.
To Cure a Cold In One Day