The Saint Paul globe., 1899-04-19


His watch~was subsequently handed to
Sheriff Wagner by the man Kauth. for
the purpose, as he declared, Of enabling
the sheriff to secure the capture Of the
murderer. Kauth had told the sheriff
where, when and how he had come into
the possession of the watch. and had
aided In securing its Identification as the
watch Of the murdered man. The sheriff
subsequently turned the watch over to
the police or the county attorney. with
the information he had received, and the
man Kauth. at the request of the police,
subsequently co-operated In the efforts
made at the capture Of the murderer. He
said and did everything. however unrea-
sonable or foolish that the police asked
him to do. to this end.
Thereupon, having been unable to cap
ture the man who, according to all rea-
sonable theories had been the principal
In the murder and to whose possession
Kauth had practically traced the posses
sion of the watch-a failure. by the way.
which the facts will show to have been
due to their own stupidity-the police pro-
ceed to fasten the larceny of tho watch
on Kauth, the man from whom they had
received the only shred of information
which could have led to the vindication
of justice.
Before entering on this magnificent ef-
fort at criminal detection, the police and
county attorneys office had arrested and
prosecuted an innocent woman named
Mrs Yarnell for sthe same crime. They
had also. some. time before, with a view
to injuring the chances Of reelection of
Sheriff Wagener, and in the midst OF
| political campaign, publicly declared that
! the sheriff. by an untimely disclosure Of
| his possession. Of the watch, had prevent
ed them from arresting the actual mur-
| derer. This charge against Sheriff Wag-
ener had been predicated on the entire cor
rectness of the information which had
| been given them by Kauth as to where
| and how he came into possession of the
watch of the murdered man.
| Having thus failed to convict an inno-
| cent woman. and having also failed to
| act with intelligence or skill on the infor-
| nation which athey had received with the
| recovery Of the watch, they appear to
have hit on the extraordinary plan Of
convicting Kauth.7 Now If Kauth had
! stolen that watch he had also been a par
| ticipant in the murder Of Middleton. No
| other theory would fit the case But they
| did not dare to prosecute him for that
offense. as they should have done If they
thought him guilty. They did not prose-
cute him on the. charge Of having re-
ceived stolen property, knowing it to
have been stolen, as they should have
| done If they thought he had not partici-
| pated in the felony out Of which the muir
| der arose. They began their labors In
the case by a criminal blunder of the
worst kind, In arresting and prosecuting
Mrs. Yarnell. They followed this up by
another blunder, allowing the man whom
| they were and still are assured, COM
mitted the crime, to escape from the
| clutches Of the law. They ended their
connection with the entire wretched busi-
ness by prosecuting their informant on
the charge Of stealing the watch when
| it would have been physical impossi-
| biity for him to have stolen the watch
murder of Middleton. sel. "a ,a =, fss
There is nothing to equal this absurd
! transaction on the part of our police and
prosecuting officers short alone of the fa-
nous White Bear murder case, in which
| the discovery Of decaying human remains
was made the occasion for heaping up
number Of foolish theories of the COM
mission of murder, the dragging of the
/ spectacle women before the community
i in a. manner which was utterly destruc-
/ tive Of any vestige Of moral reputation
which they might be said to possess, and
I cradle expense
4 The two cases are almost parallel, ex-
cept that in the one case there was no
| one found on whom charge Of any kind
could be fastened while in the other a
man who had, voluntarily furnished all
! the informationg the police ever had
which could lead to conviction was him
| self charged with "a crime, as the result
of line of conduct on the part of the
| police which, Were it not puerile, would
have been criminal