Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-05-09
MERRILL MURDER
Post Mortem Examination Shows a
Hatchet Must Have Been Used
by the Criminal
SOME MYSTERIOUS FEATURES
The Accused Man Declares That He Was
in the BuildingAll Evening, But Heard
No Noise in the Room Where
Merrill Was Found.

Mystery still shrouds the circum-
stances surrounding the death of Fred
l.. Merrill. The defense insisted upon a
post-mortem examination being held
upon the dead a Accordingly, DR..
Daniel Knapp and DR.. w. S. Harroun
to-day examined the wounds which
caused Merrills death. Attorney Rene
| han was present at the post-mortem,
| and so were Col. George w. Knaebel,
| Deputy Sheriff Richard Huber, DR..
| James A. Massey, Justice j. M. Garcia
and a representative of the New Mexi-
| can. Undertaken Warner had already
seWed the wounds and filled out the
| cavity in the head with cotton, as near
y the entire brain had oozed out upon
| the bed on which Merrill was murdered.
The physicians found that the skull
| was practically in splinters. Twelve
fragments of an inch or more in length
| of the frontal, parietal and temporal
bones were counted, not to mention the
/ Si1ldlItl olllllltlS. IN bClo VI IN ohal
was, however, found intact. 1t is in
| conceivable that a bullet could have
| caused such wounds unless it was eX-
plosive and exploded in the head. The
with a hammer-hatchet, both the sharp
and the blunt edge being used in strik-
ing Merrill four or five times across the
head. The remains presented a CHASTITY
sight, for eve the skill of the under
taker could not hide the terrible wounds
that caused death.
Walter E. Locke, accused of the MUIR
der of Merrill, had lived with the latter
since bringing him from Silver City, in
bachelor quarters in the Gallegos block,
and seemed to be getting along nicely.
| Locke has given $25 to be added to the
| Odd Fellows fund to bury Merrill, and
| also presented the space beside his wife
in Fairview cemetery. The accused has
retained Hon. T. B. Catron and A. B.
| Renehan as counsel.
1t seems that no one but Merrill or
Locke could have known certain facts
in the written statement found in the
room where the murder was committed.
If Merrill did not write it Locke might
have done so. The writing more resem-
bles that of Locke. On the other hand,
Atalano Gold, who was the last mar
with Merrill, stated hat Merrill had at
$50 o'clock on Sunday evening said to
him, "Good-by, l will never see you
again." Another witness says that late
on Saturday afternoon he saw Merrill
with another man and two women drive
toward the reservoir, while a third wit
ness said he saw Merrill with three
companions come home from the reser-
voir, and that all four were partly in
%toxicated. This witness says that he
saw Merrill fall forward in the carriage
much like a corpse or a man dead drunk
would, and that his companions pushed
him back on the seat again.
Locke says that he came to the house
between 6 and Z o'clock in the evening,
| and that he sat three hours in the room
reading. The murder probably occurred
in that time in the room across the hall
way, and Locke says he never heard a
sound of it. 1t was about 9 o'clock when
he saw a dog running out of the open
door, and he looked for his revolver. He
found it was gone, and the thought
struck him at once that Merrill had
committed suicide, as he had threatened
several times he would. He found Mer-
rill, as described in yesterdays issue,
but says he never imagined that Merrill
had been murdered, or hat any suspi-
cion would fall upon him of being the
murderer.
Locke was to have been given a hear
ing this afternoon at 2 o'clock before
Justice j. M. Garcia. A. B.. Renehan APP
peared for the defense, and G.. l.. Solig-
nae for the territory. Mr. olignac exhib-
tied a telegram from District Attorney
Gortner, authorizing him to act in his
behalf until he returned, Thursday
evening. Mr.. Solignac moved that hear
ing be postponed until Mr.. Gortner's re-
turn. After some sparring between the
attornies Justice Garcia postponed the
preliminary hearing until Friday morn
ing at 10 o'clock. The justice also asked
the deputy sheriff to allow Locke to at
tend the funeral of Merrill this after
noon, to which the deputy sheriff as
sented.
Locke was visited this afternoon by
MI. and Mrs. William Dawson, of Albu-
querque.
Locke acknowledges that he changed
his clothes Sunday evening, but said he
did that because the clothes he wore in
the day were too cool for the evening.
The fact that there was no powder mark
upon Merrill's face is another proof that
did not shoot himself.
The most charitable construction is
that both the murderer and his victim
were intoxicated at 6 o'clock Sunday |
evening, that they quarreled, that Mer-
rill seized Locke's revolver and shot at
his adversary, and that the latter there
upon seized a Ratchet and killed Mer-
After two or three hours the MUIR
lerer sobered up sufficiently to realize
he enormity of his deed and then sat to
work to remove all traces of his guilt.
Sheriff Huber has not yet