The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-12
CONSPIRACY N|PPED
SUPPOSED DEAD MAN, RECENTLY
INSURED, ARRESTED WHEN
-, ENL ISTING
Is SUSPECTED OF MURDER
Deserter From United States Army
Forgot to Throw Away His
TeIltaIe Government
Garments.

LOUISVILLE, KY, Nov. 11.-Neweli c.
Rathbun, who. was supposed to have
died in Jeffersonville, Ind, hotel last
Thursday, was arrested in Louisville to-
day According to Rathbun, the corpse
which was shipped to Little Rock for
burial as his body, was the body OF w.
L. Ten Eyke. The police say Rathbun has
confessed to desertion from the United
States army, and to having formed a
plan to fraudu1ently collect $4,000 insur-
ance on his life, but that he denies hav-
ing killed the man who died in the JEFF
fersonville hotel Rathbun was arrested
this morning at the United States re-
cruiting station in Louisville.
Sergeant Skinner, of the United States
recruiting station, had read the story of
the Jeffersonville. case, and circumstances
connected with, the new recruit arous ID
his suspicionsAs< One of these was the fact
that the man had on government suit
of underwear, He said he had bought
the garments from a soldier friend. An
other circumstance was his knowledge OF
army affairs about Little Rock. Saturday
he passed the, examination and enlisted.
Rathbun was put through a sweating
process and under pressure made the fol-
lowing statement, according to his in
quisitors:
my name is Newell c. Rathbun and
my home is in Little Rock, Ark. Several
months ago I deserted from the army
post at Plattsburg, N. Y, in company
with another recruit by the name of w.
H Ellis I soon lost sight of him, and
went on to Little Rock. There was mar
ried, and afterward took out the insur-
ance policies
Rathbun then said that at Plattsburg
Barracks, N. Y, he and a corporal fixed
up the plan to collect the $4,000 insur-
ance He said: 1.-THE plan was to slip
a body into some hotel. then set fire to
the building after having left letters end
papers of mine in the pockets of the
clothes. OF course, when the hotel
burned, we expected the body to be
burned up too or at least so scorched
that on one could recognize him.
He says the corporal came to Louis
vile and under their agreement the cor
poral was to secure the body. Rathbun
hints that the corporal drugged the vic
tim if he was drugged. He says he does
rot know where the. corporal is now.
Rathbun, who enlisted here as Lou
Root, gave his birthplace as Detroit and
his age as twenty-seven.
The police are trying to establish the
identity of the dead man. One of their
theories is that he was tramp that
Rathbun had fallen in with. Coronef
Cotes, of Jeffersonville, states that he
examined the stomach of the dead man
and found traces of enough laudanum to
Kill two men.
A dispatch from Little Rock, Ark.
says the supposed body Of Newell c.
Rathbun was today turned over to the
coroner and placed in a vault to await
an autopsy. It.isgelafmed by the author
tiles that the description of Rathbun
does not agree, with that of the corpse.
According to .ofneers in charge of the
case Rathbunts Hair IS black, straight
and hard to control while that of the
dead man is auburn and curly. The
corpse will be held here.
Mrs. Rathbun is FRUSTRATED, but de-
MES collision.