The San Francisco call., 1899-08-12
.LAND|S DIED BY
HIS OWN HAND
Theory Arrived at by the
Officers.
SPECTACULAR LEAVE TAKING
SOUGHT TO MAKE IT APPEAR HE
WAS MURDERED.
Finding of a Second cartridge 1ndl-
Gates That His Revolver Sped the
Bullet Imbedded in
the Ceiling.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

LINCOLN, Aug 1.-THE death OF FRANK
lands transcends the ordinary ana
enters the realm of the bizarre nat
the Young man was murdered Whlle at
tempting to guard his treasure SeeIheu ~
ft in comforta bly, with the circumstances
as they presented themselves Inc over
turned lamp in the office, where Stoou tile
safe containing the grocer snare ol liie
cannery payday's benefits; the open pdch
door suggesting the mode of the mur-
derer's flight: the finding of Lands re-
yolyer four feet from his body, with one
of the five chambers empty. ana the re-
covery of a bullet of corresponding caIper
in the ceiling overhead-all these cTcum-
stances went to substantiate the quickly
accepted explanation that murder re-
suited from a fierce struggle with some
IN AZ autopsy was held on the body and
the ball which had pierced the young
mans heart was extracted from ms III ;
backbone True, it was of the same
caliber as the ball imbedded in the cell
ing, but the incident only operated 70
strengthen the theory that murder hau
defiled the peaceful little mountain town.
OF course it was a case OF MURDER: row 1".
could it have been otherwise, when only
one of five cartridges in Lands revolver
had been disturbed, while there We're TWO
bullets to be accounted for-the one in
the ceiling and the one removed from the
young grocers backbone?
That bold man VINO QueSlfOIttl
such pointed evidences of an assassin S
work But a man did question 1t, and ne
has won converts to his idea. NOW
Lincoln is on the verge ris OF aScept- G,e!, T.
and his officers are welded 10 it, and it
would appear that they have ground for
their expressed belief that Frank Lands
killed himself after having carefully
planned to make it appear that some
mysterious assassin committed the deed.
With one bullet taken from the ceiling
4 AFli -
body, and with but one cartridge out of
the five exploded in the young man s
revolver, only one thing could give color
TO rhaf fnf SGleiqf one theory has eventuated An
empty cartridge shell has been found
among the boxes in Lands store, not far
from where his body lay. The shell bears
unmistakable signs of having recently
been relieved of it's leaden pellet. The
empty shell fits exactly into Lands re-
voIver. How came that empty, shell
murderer, after having been shot at, and
after having killed the young grocer,
paused sufficiently long in his fight to
away? If such a thing is probable, what
motive could have prompted that unnec-
essary act? Is it not more likely that
grocer fred one shot into the ceiling
threw the empty cartridge away put an
other in sits place and then turned the
pistol against his own heart?
self, he did more. He fired a shot into
the ceiling; he substituted the exploded
cartridge with a fresh one; he overturned
the lamp in his office; he unbarred the
rear door; he showed the ingenuity of a
playwright in completing so far as lay
in his power the effect he desired to pro
duce. But he neglected to hide effectu-
ally the cartridge which he exploded
harmlessly and which is to-day held uI
as proof of self-murder.
There are some other circumstances
which the people of Lincoln regard as
strange. Lands was never known tC
touch liquor up to the night of his death
That night he drank three glasses OF
whisky in Matzen's saloon. Lands was
always of quiet department, never in
dulging in marked levity. That fatal
night, few minutes before his death
he stopped at the door of the News-Mes-
senger office and gave such an exhibition
of high spirits that Editor Johnston re-
marked the incident afterward. Yet nc
known reason exists for self-murder. The
officers assert that they are possessed Oi
information tending to substantiate the
suicide theory; but what that information
is they have not yet divulged.