The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-12-13
nesses for the state were all in various
degrees Of weeping.

nesses for the state were all in various
degrees of weeping.
Pickett said that he was forced back
by the rush of flames but that he drop.
ped on his hands and knees and
crawled into the room. He tried to
raise his wife. The heat was intense.
He turned on the water and splashed
! it, but that had no effect.
Just then wash boiler fell down
behind him and impeded his work.
He threw the boiler into the hall.
Looking up then he saw Mrs. Nelson
standing in the doorway. She said to
him:
"For Gods sake save the children "
Mrs. Nelson and her sister, Miss
Olson, looked mutely at each other
when this testimony was given and
shook their heads.
Pickett ran and got his children and
turned them over to Mrs. Nelson while
he ran to turn in an alarm.
81 ran up and down the streets
screaming" said the prisoner. 81
don't know what 1 said, but man
stopped me and said he would turn in
the alarm.
The witness testified that he had
been married when he was IS, and
was born in 1872 He spoke of the
time when he was separated from his
wife in 1896, as testified to by his
mother on cross examinstion.
He said he had been away from her
for three months, and that from the
first part of February until May 1S he
was under arrest in Hampton, Iowa,
on the charge of seduction, but that
no Indictment was found against him
and he was not tried.
He and his wife were reconciled on
his return. He told her all about the
affair and asked her forgiveness, which
was granted, and they lived happily
after that time.
The witness said that he had not
been inside the rooms of Mrs. Howard
on the day when he had the converse
tion with the Howard girls. He had
said nothing about the lamp, which
was introduced by the state, being the
lamp his wife used.
He said he told the two girls to tell
their mother to be careful what stories
she circulated unless she had proof.
Mrs. Nelson had told him she thought
Mrs. Howard was responsible for the
stories being told about the fire.
Pickett was not shaken by the cross
examination, which failed to bring
out anything new except some details
of his trouble in Iowa.
County Attorney Boardman made the
defendant repeat in detail his story of
the night of the fire, but it was told
without any deviation from his
story on the examination in chief.
The examination of Mr.. Pickett will
be continued today, and the testimony
for the defense may be finished and
the rebuttal on the part of the state
begun before the adjournment this
afternoon.
Mrs. Peach was recalled early in the
afternoon to corroborate Mrs Pickett's
as TO the condition of the
rooms after the fire, and of the dead
clothes.
Charles Miethke, foreman of chemical
engine No. 1, testified that his COM
pany put the fire out. He said when
The hremen arrived at the bathroom
5he building was filled with smoke,
and they were compelled to lie on the
ioor and shoot the water through the
broken door
The door was about ten inches open.
The men had to crawl along the hall
1n hands and knees.
The testimony of this witness
.ather contradicted that of Captain
Osborn of the prosecution, who testi
led that he had broken down the door
md had gone into the room and picked
IN the bOdy