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


small articles such as women will have
with them even In commercial Offices
needles. spools Of thread, private sta
tionery, etc.--was found open. and 1t
would seem as II some Of its contents
had been scattered upon the floor, for
not far from the overturned stool was
q pair of curling tongs for the hair.
Under the high desk and not at first
discovered was found 80 caliber re-
volver, which upon examination was
found to contain i've loaded shells and
one empty one. The bullet from the
discharged shell had entered the heart
of Martha Dodge, but the circum-
stances attending its discharge were q
complete mystery. The weapon was
the property of Miller & Morse. hav-
ing been purchased about year be-
fore, directly after an attempt had
been made to rob the cashier, whose
coolness and pluck at the time had
thwarted the robber. 1t was kept on
little shelf by the cashiers window,
where the cashier could seize 1t in
stantly If second attempt to rob her
snoulu De maze.
AS soon as 1t was found that not the
lightning, but bullet, had caused the
death of Miss Dodge the police began
investigations. In case of this sort
there are always found one or more
persons denominated by the police as
suspicious" This case was no ex-
ception. A gentleman descending in
one of the elevators about 2:30 o'clock
had noticed on the stairway, visible
through the bars of the steel elevator
shaft, a man ascending toward the
floor on which was located the Office of
Miller & Morse. The elevator shot
down so quickly, however, that he
could give no adequate description Of
the mans appearance.
The boy Walter Jones stated that
when the storm bro,te. accompanied by
a heavy clap Of thunder, he heard a
crash overhead and something that
sounded like the report Of pistol
But he made no investigation at the
time, and when asked why he didn't
he reluctantly admitted that he was
scared by the thunder and had his feet
up in chair In the middle Of the room,
as his mother had taught him. and
was afraid to move. When the building
was actually struck few minutes
later, he had fed in sheer desperation
to sound the alarm. Perhaps the rea-
son his story received no more credence'
than it did was because it was thought
he might very easily IN his terror have
mistaken the crash and reverberations
of the thunder for the imagined sounds
in the room above.
Those who advocated the suicide the
ory thought they had very strong
grounds for their belief when 1t trans
pired that Miss Dodge had lately spec
ulated In wheat and lost. Here seemed
to be motive at least Whether she
had used the firms money for this pur-
pose was not clear. 50 much Of the
eashbook had been destroyed by the
fire that 1t was difficult to tell IL false
entries had been made. Mr.. Morse
s.outly maintained that none Of the
firms money had been missed. Still.
there were some VINO. believed that he
would make such an assertion even II
he thought 1t had been misappropri-
ated. Miss Dodge was a comely girl,
and not a few believed that Mr..
Morse. who was a bachelor, loyed her.
Certainly after her death he did what
he could to defend her character. 1t
was learned that he had taken her to
places OF amusement on several occa-
sfons and once or twice had taken her
fbr drive.
II appeared, however. that Miss
Dodge had lover, Frank Porter, liv-
ing in a neighboring town, who often
came to see her. He was In the city On
the day Miss Dodge was shot and was
able to account for his whereabouts
during the afterneon except for about
half an hour. But that half hour was
q fateful one, Tor IT covered the time
m which Miss Dodge met her death.
He had been with two friends up to
about 3 o'clock and then, leaving them.
| had started for the hotel where he
staid when visiting the city. AT half
past 3 he entered the Office Of the hotel
and chatted . little while with the
clerk, who knew him well. The clerk
noticed nothing unusual In his manner
at that time.
The story Porter told was that It be-
gan to rain heavily when he had gone
about half way to the hotel and that
he stepped into doorway for shelter,
remained there about 20 minutes and
then proceeded directly to the hotel.
No one had yet been found who had
seen him standing In the doorway.
The police inclined toward the the.
ory that Porter after leaving his friends
had gone directly to The Telegraph
building, which was only a short dis
tance. and there had quarreled with
and shot his sweetheart. The motive
they advanced was jealousy Of Mr..
Morse. who. they claimed. was grad
uaily supplanting-if indeed he had no,