Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1900-07-05
Number 8.

murder by one or another person have
each been advanced" he said. $50 far
as they have been explained to me,
none of these theories seems consistent
with the observed facts--that Is. with
all the observed facts. To begin with,
let me go over these theories and ex-
pose some Of the objections to them.
"You believe Mr.. Porter murdered
the girl" addressing the chief OF po-
lice. "for the reason that he was jeal-
Gus Of the attentions paid her by Mr..
Morse. 1t is true, jealousy is q power
ful motive and the cause Of many
crimes. You attach some Importance
to the fact that he claims not to have
quarreled with Miss Dodge. which
statement letter from him to her,
now In your possession, disproveS.
Even II he had quarreled--and lovers
quarrels are frequent--It would be ex-
tremely natural for him to deny II, and
such denial need not necessarily cause
one to believe him guilty. or course
he feels grief at the death OF the young
woman. whom he was engaged to mar
ry, am told. The remembrance Of
that quarrel must now be distasteful to
him, and he would willingly forget Il
and would probably deny there had
been one In answer to unfriendly ques-
tionihg. You assume that the man seen
ascending the stairs was Porter. That,
however, could not have been, for II
was 2:30 when this man was seen, and
Porter was with his friends up to about
3 o'clock. In passing let me say that
the fact OF man being seen going up
the stairs does not necessarily have
any bearing on the case. All but one
of the four elevators In the building
stop running at ! o'clock on Saturdays.
A man entering the building and find
ing by the indicator that this one eIe-
vator was up to the fifth or sixth floor
and still ascending might conclude he
could save time by walking up. Or II
may have been stranger in the city.
Farmers come In from the surrounding
country frequently. | am told. to place
little speculative orders with the grain
brokers. Finding no elevators waiting,
he would naturally walk up the stairs.
II 1t was one Of these SPECTATORS from
the agricultural districts, he naay have
read nothing about this case, which
would account for his failing to come
forward and make himself known.
sMr. Laurence Indicating the city
editor, "inclines to the suicide theory.
The disastrous speculations OF Miss
Dodge and the fact that she may have
used some Of the firms money in spec
ulating--an allegation strenuously de-
MED, however, by Mf. Morse-are the
motives advanced to support his the
ory.
''This theory might be tenable II the
facts that we have before us seemed to
bear 1t out So far as we have learned.
Miss Dodge believed Mr.. Morse to be-
her friend, and even II she had misap
propriated the funds In her charge She
might perhaps safely have counted on
the leniency OF her employer when she
confessed the matter to him. 1t APP
pears, however, that she was spirited
girl, and she might have preferred
death to such a confession. should
say the motive might perhaps be ade-
quate, assuming she had misappropri-
ated the funds. a fact not yet proved.
"But the theory seems untenable to
me because all the facts do not seem to
support II. For instance, Mr.. Laurence