The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-08-17

| Inc next time tnau she met JONI Dbl
fer was at st. Peter about month
afterwards. He had telephoned and
| then written her to meet him at ST.
Peter, and she did so, remaining one
night with him at hotel. They oc-
cupied the same room, and the next
day she returned to Minneapolis She
next met him at the Stahl House about
two months after this, remaining
| about week. Safer then paid her
much attention, and they also occu-
pied apartments together at Window
one night. He had told her that he
was going to Window on business
and she had accompanied him there.
Safer Was Attentive.
Salfer had paid special attention to
her at the Stahl House. Whenever she
rang the bell, he would wait on her
personally, and several times asked
her to III eet him at points away from
the hotel, and had offered her money.
The last time that she saw John Sal
fer was when she came to Mankato on
the evening of August 3rd She had
received letter from him three weeks
before she came. She had torn up
| this letter. Mr. Pau objected to her
giving the contents of this letter, but
| the objection was overruled after a
lengthy argument. She said that this
| letter and two others that she had
| previously received from John Safer
asked her to come to Mankato. After
she had answered the letter she re-
| ceived 2 telephone message. She tele-
phoned him two or three days before
she came asking him to meet her at
the train, which he had agreed to do.
Witness said that John Salfer was
| the father of her unborn child a re-
| suit of their meeting at st. Peter. She
! had talked to him and written to him
about it. and he had told her that he
was unmarried and that she could re-
main with him always, and that she
should set rid of the child. This con-
versaticn took place when they went
to Window. She got rid of the child a
month CT six weeks ago, but had
never told anyone of this.
She missed Thursdays train to Man
kato and took the one Friday after
noon, August 3rd She telephoned to
John Safer that she had missed Thurs
| days train On her arrival she left
her satcnel at the depot and went to a
restaurant and got lunch. After
she had arrived, she telephoned to
| John Safer she was in the city. Joe
| Safer answered the call and after
wards j ohm Safer answered it, for she
| knew lis voice. John Safer told her
to come over to his saloon and she
| went there and met him in rear
room He greeted her and said that
he was 'awfully busy as he had let
! the bar tender go, y and said that he
would meet her later. She telephoned
him later that she would not like to
meet him at the saloon again. He re-
| piled that he would meet her at ten
| clock at the federal building.
The Hack Ride
Arriving at the federal building, a
hack drove up and she got into it..
She asked where John Safer was and
he told her that they would meet him
a little ways down the street. Witness
identified Dick Graves as the hack
driver She said that she asked Graves
several times where he was going to
take her and he answered "Only a
little further +" When the hack stop
ped, stranger was standing on the
walk smoking, and said "Good eve
ming, John is coming right along. "
He asked her if he could sit down by
her, and she replied, mo l don t
know YOU She did not notice a Sec
ond man who also got in and told the
driver to drive on Witness identified
Joe Safer as one of the men who had
gotten into the hack.
| Witness said that she had asked the
hack driver to let her out, but he paid
no attention to her and drove on. The
men in the hack then commenced
kissing her and pulling her from one
seat to another. The hack windows
were down..a it was open back of
the driver She struggled with the
two men all the time. The men be-
came more familiar and passed their
hands over her body until she became
so much frightened that she did not
know what to do She saw a team
coming at one time and stuck her head
| out of the window and screamed, but
the men held her back by force. One
of her assailants got his knees on her
| chest, took handkerchief and pressed
it into her mouth and held his hands
over her mouth and nose until she be-
came unconscious, the other man hold
! ing her legs in the meanwhile. The
| men would raise her clothing, but she
resisted as long as she could One
said to her, "We will show you If you
can ccroam -