The Saint Paul globe., 1899-03-12
FRIENDS OF JOHN MORTENsON
CONFRONT UNDERTAKEN MUEL-
LER WITH DEFINITE TERMS
THEY INSIST ON A BURIAL
And, Accordingly, They Want the
Body of the Dead Man
Produced
MUELLER UNDER SUSPICION

the Undertaken Has Been Deceiv-
ing Them and That the Body Was
Sold to a MINNEAPOLIS Medical
4 College - Likely to Be a Scene
| Today. !
| An investigation yesterday disclosed
the fact that the body Of John Morten-
son, the young man who committed
| suicide last Sunday at North ST. Paul,
is awaiting dissection at Minneapolis
| medical college, and the discovery has
| caused decided sensation among tha
| friends OF the unfortunate man. Yes
| terday the undertaken who had charge
| OF the remains was notified that the
BODY must be produced for intermenti
at North st. Paul cemetery or the con-
sequences will result seriously The
investigation will be pushed by the
shocked and 1rate friends, who will try
| 10 ascertain how body could be sold
Tor dlssect1ng purposes after provision
had been made for a proper burial
| John Mortenson, who was barely
twenty-three years old and Employed
by the j. G. Earhuff Piano company
at North st. Paul, shot himself twice
In the right temple during fit of de- +
spondency last Sunday, as related ex- !
! clusfyely in The g l b e. The shooting
took place In an apartment that Nor .
| tenson occupied with Charles Waldin. T.
! DR.. ID. G. Jones attended the wounded
man, who died early Monday morning. b
| Then the body was turned over to Un-
| dertaker Joseph Mueller.
| 1t appears that there was $S9.94 in +
wages due Mortenson from the Earhuff
| Piano company. and, with this object
/ in view, Mueller appeared in probate !
| court on Tuesday and secured his ap- (,
| pointment as special administrator of
| the estate of the deceased, thereby Civ
| ing him lien on the 1894 for funeral
| expenses. At that time the undertaken,
| according to- Clerk of Probate Sund-
4 berg. In order TO secure his immediate
| appointments, told the c951it tilsz=szae
4 would be compelled to secure a vault
and incur other expenses that it would
| require more than the 1894 to defray-
However, he was particularly anxious
| to see that the body received decent
| burial, and was willing to assume the
expense in return for the money in
sight.
TOOK UP A SUBSCRIPTION.
On the, same day the friends of Nor
tenson. among them Waldin, and II.
H. Stay, the foreman for whom the
dead man worked, began to agitate
| a plan for raising money by subscrip-
ton to give the body burial. The young
fellow had been very popular among
| his associates, with the reputation or
being quiet and inoffensive. Conse-
| uuently, within a few hours enough
money was pledged for the purpose in
| view.
Then Waldin and Peter Peterson
| called to see the undertaken on Tues
day. They were informed that the in
terment had taken place at Forest
cemetery. A visit to the cemetery dis
closed the fact that Mueller had buried
no one there and telephone message
to Oakland cemetery elected that there
had been no interment there either.
Then, taking into consideration the
fact that the great majority of inter
ments in North st. Paul take place at
North st, Paul cemetery, which is only
short distance out of town, the friends
of the young man began to suspect
| that some disposition had been made
of the body of which they would not
have approved.
CALLED ON MUELLER.
The idea that the remains had been
| sold to a medical college to serve as an
object lesson for the students was so
! obnoxious to those who had knwn and
| liked young Mortenson that yesterday
| Foreman Stay and Waldin obtained
| leave of absence from their work and
called on Mueller for an explanation.
OF this interview Mr.. Stay said yes
terday afternoon:
"At first Mueller told us as he had
told the previous inquirers that the
body had been buried at Forest ceme-
terry. We told him that we had dis
covered that it was not and demanded
to know the truth. Then he said that
ON Tuesday he had telegraphed a medi-
cal college in Minneapolis saying that
he had the body of a man who had
committed suicide. He received an i'm
mediate reply that the college wanted
the body, and then on Wednesday night
a requisition, as he called it, came and
he shipped the body to Minneapolis.
'sMortenson had worked in my de-
partment at the piano factory for sew
eral months and 1 thought highly of
him, as did everyone else with whom
|
contact He was always quiet and un-
assuming and made many friends. For
these reasons we did not like the idea
of having him cut up like common
pauper after he was dead. Conse-
ouentlv we told Mueller that unless the
bodv could be produced by Sunday for
burial there would be trouble. He
promised to do so.
PROMISE TO MAKE TROUBLE.
'It only remains now to see If the
body is brought back as Mueller prom
ised. Any way, we are going to see If
it Is possible for a man to be paid for
burying corpse and then send it out
for dissection. He said we could do
nothing to him in the matter. but we
are going to see what we can do. Ihls
is very sad and serious piece OF pusl-
ness for us and may prove to be for
Mueller before we get through.