The Saint Paul globe., 1900-05-25

to Gov. John Lind yesterday Edward
Erickson was placed under arrest on the
| charge of numbering his brother, and the
officials at the sheriff's office, who are
making Investigations, believe that the
atrocious murder of Martin P Erickson,
on the night Of Feb. l. 1894, in his butch-
er shop in Decatur street, will be fully
explained and the murderer punished
The murder Of Martin Erickson was
the cause Of a sensation at the time
1t was committed as a finale TO a long
list of bold crimes by hlghwaymen and
robbers who invested the city at that
time, and the futile efforts of a weak
and vascillating police force that failed
to unearth and punish other offenders
were not strong enough TO grasp any
other view than that the crime was
committed by robbers, who made their
escape.
SWEAT BOX INVESTIGATION.
After an incomplete investigation Ed
ward Erickson was arrested, put
| through the sweat box at the Central
police station and given a preliminary
hearing in the police court. There was
no evidence of even an incriminating ma
ture against him, and he was not held
No effort to secure indictment by the
grand jury was ever made. and the case
went by default
Now, six years and four months after
the crime was committed, the only eye
witness to the bloody deed comes fer
ward and makes a statement that ap-
parently makes retributiCn sure. Along
with the revelation made by the eye
witness come developments TO show that
the murder was practically the work OF
two men. While Edward Erickson stands
! accused of having fired the pistol shot
that caused death, 1t is claimed that
there was a violent quarrel between the
murdered man, his brother and third
party on the afternoon OF the day of the
| murder, and that threats of vengeance
sgainst the murdered man We're made
| at that time
The truth of the adage that murder will
out is demonstrated IN the strange story
told by Gustave Wall, the eye witness,
who preserved a silence of over six years
and suffered the tortures of a disturb
ed conscience during the whole of the
time. According TO his own statements
Wall has been pursued day and night
with the vision of the murder. Waking
or asleep, the knowledge buried in his
mind conjured the figure of a man with
whose features and personality he was ia
miliar, standing over the body of a pros
trate brother, a smoking revolver grasp
ed in his hand, and a look of fiendlsh
malevolence distorting his features.
CONSCIENCE WORRIED HIM.
At the time Of the murder Of Erick-
son, Wall was employed cleaning passen-
| ger cars in the yard of the Minneapolis
& St. Louis railroad He lived with his
family on Magnolia street and worked
I at night. On the night of the murder
he had been summoned home from his
work at 8 o'clock and returned by way
of Decatur street about 9 o'clock. AS
! he passed the little one-story frame
building, No. $40 Decatur street, in
which the shop was located. he heard a
violent quarrel in progress. There were
| loud words and he believes blows were
struck He noticed the disturbance be-
cause he knew the Erickson brothers
and their place of business.
FATAL SHOT FIRED.
He had not gone more than fifty feet
past the shop when he turned back, re-
/ solved to learn what was the cause OF
/ the disturbance. AS he stopped to look
/ through the window pistol shot rang
out and he heard a noise as If a heavy
body had fallen on the floor.
/ Peering through the window he saw
what has haunted him through six long
/ years. Fearing that harm might come
to him, he ran rapidly down the street
and tried to bansh from his mind what
he had just seen. The next day he pur-
posely avoided the newspapers and reso-
lutely abstained from making inquiries
or displaying any knowledge Of the af-
fair
| After the preliminary examination had
been held and Edward Erickson had
been released. Wall opened his ears
! enough to admit information that was
the talk of all of his Swedish friends.
He heard that Martin Erickson had
been murdered by robbers and. fearing
/ to say anything that would reopen the
case against Edward Erickson, he buried
the secret in his bosom and went about
/ his daily toll. But conscience made a
| coward of him. His rest was disturbed
/ during the nOurS IN Whlch ne Snould
| have slept. At work, the vision came
/ up before him and made him absent
! minded and negIectful. His foreman
! found fault with his work and he was
threatened with discharge.
He became morose and melancholy at
/ his home, and his wife was unable to
wiring from him a confession as to what
was upon his mind Fearful that he
might become involved In difficulty he
resigned his position and, leaving home,
sought employment in a small Wiscon-
sin town. 1t was then he discovered
that he had shouldered a burden more
tenacious and cumbersome than that Of
sinbad. the sailor, told in the Arabian
fable.
SECRET TROUBLED HIM
After three years Of absence from hOms