The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-16
ESSENCE OF THE CRIME
THE CORPUS DELICTr' IN THE
KEITH-kIFER MURDER CASE.
Tales Told About This Point I'm Law
by Gossipers in the Attorney
Generals ONCE.

| that are continually forming and breaking
| I'm the Offices of the Statehouse dis
| cussing, in Attorney General Taylor's room
| yesterday afternoon the corpus deficit"
| which. the legal dictionaries say, means
| the body of the offense; the essence of the
crime" The discussion was started by one
| of the members of the party inquiring about
| the status of the Keth-Kifer murder case.
which has been appealed 10 the Supreme
Court. The brief filed in the Supreme Court
| by the attorneys of Joseph Keith, who Is
| charged with the murder of Nora Kifer.
was lying on the attorney generals desk.
II have not read the brief yet" he said.
''but in glancing over il casually ! notice
that the attorneys probably will bear
strongly on the corpus deficit. Some of the
features of the face of the body supposed
to be Nora Kifer's have slipped away,
understand. and the hair is gone
1T is very difficult to make a case against
a supposed murderer If the jury be In the
| least doubt about the identification of the
body of the person murdered. This is right.
| too. because there have been cases in
| which, after the supposed murderer has
| been hanged, the person that he was sup
posed to have killed has turned up alive:
| There have been cases where the accused
| pleaded guilty TO the charge of murder and
| pleaded falsely These cases Of mistaken
! execution nave neen very Few IN THIS cOun-
| try, but in England they have been numer-
ouS."
A CASE IN FICTION.
| One member of the party called attention
| to a book of short stories written by
| New England attorney, in which he showed
| the different ways in which the law can
be surely evaded. When the book appeared
the majority of New England attorneys
felt that 1t should be suppressed, because
| of the dangerous information it would
| spread. Some bar associations adopted
resolutions against the book. 1.-The first
| story in the book" said the man that called
the attention of the party around Mr.. Tay-
| lors desk to IL, dealt with the corpus de-
| lecti. An attorney that had mania that
prompted him to fool the law advised
| man that wanted TO get rid of woman
| how he could do the murder safely.
THE man, following the lawyers in
| structions, sent to the woman's home
case of wine bottles, which were filled
| with nitric and sulphuric acids mixed The
case was carried into the cellar by the
| servant, and that evening, before there
was time for the discovery OF the acid.
| the murder was committed. The man went
to the house after DARK ana was rece hHed
| ner, and carried the body upstairs TO the
bathroom.
| ''He removed the brass stopper and the
ring set in the tub to embrace the stopper.
and substituted platinum ring and
| stopper. A platinum wire was attached
1
up over the side of the tub. The servant
| had left the house, as was her custom In
the evening and the man went down to
| the cellar and brought UP the bottles of
acid He put the body of the woman in
| the bathtub and poured the acid over 1t.
He let enough water into the tub to make
| the LIQUID rise completely over the body.
| He had brought with him four Bunson
| burners, wrapped in a piece of newspaper
and some rubber Der tube He placed , the
| to the gas fixture by means of the tube,
and lit them. After some time the water
and acid in the tub began 10 boil. and the
| man had to go out OF the room to escape
| the fumes
At last. the body of the woman was in
| room quickly, turned off the gas, jerked the
| stopper out OF the tub by means of the
| platinum wire, and the contents of the
! tub slowly ran down the pipe into the
sewer. AS the man left the house he was
| arrested as a burglar Though all his
tools were found he was acquitted because
| the prosecution could not prove the corpus
| deficit to the satisfaction of the Judge that
| presided at the trial"
| 1T strikes me-" commented another
| member of the party, that that is
| too romantic to be truly illustrative of the
| situation in law.
| MR.. TAYLORS STORY.
| ~ remember a case in this city," said the
| attorney general, "in which a mans wife
| identified a body as his when in reality he
| was alive. IL illustrates how delicate this
| matter or identlncatiOn Is. Inc man was
| an undertaken, and he was in the habit
| of indulging in wild dissipation at frequent
| intervals He was shot at one time, and
| the bullet passed through the back of his
1 neck leaving two deep scars. He had a
| great mole on one side of his neck, and
| he had only four toes one foot.
| "A train was wrecked in Texas while the
! undertaken was off on a spree, and clip
| ping from a newspaper was sent TO his
| wife in which his name was given as one
| of the men killed in the wreck. She came
to me with the clipping and the letter that
| accompanied II. l recognized the letter as
| being the handwriting of her husband, but
| she would not he convinced incidentally,
| told her that IL would be good thing, in a
/ way, If the dead man were her husband.
| This angered her. The newspaper clipping
said there was $4,000 in the dead man
| pockets.
THE wife of the undertaken went to the
| Texas town at which the wreck had oc-
| Cured. When she arrived she found anoth-
| er woman there that also claimed the body
| as that of her husband These two women
| contested for the body. The wife of the un-
| dertaker found the bullet scars on the neck
| and the mole and the deformed foot. She
| was positive that her husband had been
| killed and that his body was that taken
| out of the wreck.
| when she returned to this city and
| asked to bring suit for the money found
| in the dead mans pockets, L refused. told
| her that | was satisfied that her husband
! was still alive. After two months. that
| drunken undertaken appeared at his home.
4 l. -tffI A.1 lC and al q md W. G