The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-20
Held But ONE OF THIN
JUDGE HUGHES ACTION IN THE
WISE MURDER INQUIRY AT
ANOKA
MARDY AND MILLER FREED
Attorney General Douglas, However.
Still Believes Them Guilty, and
Says CtrcumstantiaI Evil
dence La Strong.

Strangely interesting is the Wise muir
Ger which Is almost as far from legal
solution as 1t was the night Of the awful
tragedy, although Attorney General
Douglas and the local officials connected
with the prosecution of James Hardy and
Elmer Miller believe firmly In the guilt
OF the two men. The preliminary prose-
cution of the two men, and a boy, Mattt-
son. was completed Wednesday night,
and yesterday morning Hardy and Miller
were released by Justice Hughes.
Attorney General Douglas returned
from Anoka yesterday and was at his
desk for the first time In q week. Gen.
Douglas states that circumstantial evil
dence points very strongly to the guilt
,, OF the men. Martha Wise and Eliza
WISE the two girls that Miller. and
hardy had been waiting on, told SO
many stories, and SO contradictory: re-
garding the circumstances of the crime.
that their testimony did little more than
establish firmly in the minds of the Off
Gals the guilt of Hardy and Miller.
Martha Wise, On one of the preliminary
examinations, testified that she saw Mil
Ter on the porch just before the shots
were fired. Again she testified that she
saw no one. and another time on the
able to identify them. Eliza Wise con-
fesses to have seen the boys just before
the fatal shots were fired Martha Wise
also testified on another occasion that
she saw M1ller's face In the moonlight
an instant before the shooting. Both
girls testified all through as though they
were shielding the boys, and in the alb
sence Of the motive of robbery. the off,
Gals assert the guilt of Miller and Hardy
In most pronounced terms, as the girls
were attended by no other young men,
ana their actions since the trial have
strengthened this belief. Their father.
who Is still in the hospital, in his state
ment to Attorney General Douglas, stat
ed that he heard woman's voice cry,
run, boys, rum" just after he had been
shot When the old man made this state
ment he broke down, for 1t was evident
that he believed 1t was the voice of his
daughters, in league with the murder
ers, as no other woman was In the vi
cinity.
Mattison, the third suspect, who is still
In jail, was recently released from the
reform school. and when first arrested
confessed to being in company with
Miller and Hardy when the murders
were committed. He told where the rifle
that did part of the execution was
planted" and when accompanied by
officers to the lake, he pointed out the
Spot W1thln q lew yards, or where the
gun had been found the day before. A
strange coincidence of fatality seemed
to follow the investigation. The boy VINO
found the gun accidentally, shot and
killed his brother, who was on shore at
the time. When the gun was found It
contained seven shells, eight having
been fired, and afterwards located the
scene Of the murder. The shotgun the
authorities have been unable to locate
Eliza visited the hospital the authori-
ties claim, several days ago, and was
quite put out because her little brother,
who is still very Ill, gave testimony
which was crtmina ting to Miller, who Is
her beau. The father also testified that
when the noise was heard on the front
porch his little son came back smiling
Just as If he was about to admit some
one, when the shooting commenced. The
wire screen, through which the shooting
was done, was also submitted in evil
dence. The distance between the shot
gun holes and the rifle bullet holes is
just the difference in the two boys
height. The little black dog belonging to
the Wise family barked when the noise
was heard in the yard, but before the
shots were fired the dog ceased barking
and was missed for three hours after the
murder. The animal was seen by a
farmer following two men. The state
contended that the brute would follow
no one except some one intimate with
the Wise family.
Attorney General Douglas recommend
ed that the men be bound over to await
the action of the grand jury, but only
Madison was held.