Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-05-01
Search Residence of Former
OtIumwan Who Now Re-
sides in Burlington.
HINT EXPRESS ROBBERY
Protests His Innocence-Grave Wrong
May Have Been Done-sequeI to Ar.
rest of Burlington Man With Scorch.
ed Bills in His Possession.

By their action in swearing out. Al
search warrant giving them authority
to search the residence of A. A.Koett.
of Burlington, formerly of Ottumwas
secret service officers have said that
they suspect that Mr. Koett has kpowf.
edge of the famous Adams express rob.
berry in which $4,000 disappeared in
transit between Chicago and BurIing.
ton two years ago. The search reveal
ed nothing and if MrKoett is Innocent
a grave wrong has been done him aid
his family. While in Ottumwa. where
he was agent for the Adams express
company Mr.. Koett stood high in the
estimation of the business world. The
fact that search warrant has been
issued and his residence searched for
traces of the missing package of mon
ey comes as shock to his friends
here.
At the time of the now famous rob.
berry Mr.. koett was employed by the
Adams express company and he to-
gether with fifteen other EMPLOYEES
have been released from its service.
Mr. Koett is engaged in manufacturing
cigars in Burlington with Howard b.
Mahannah. The latter, himself for
mer express company employe, was ar.
rested by secret service officers on tho
charge of mutilating United States
money and for perjury as stated in the
.Courler yesterday. He was takan ta-.
ft. Madison and released on bond on
which Mr.. Koett was one of the sure.
ties. Messrs. Koett and Mahannah
had been in Burlington but a short
time after their return from Ft. Madi-
son when officers appeared with search
warrants authorizing them to search
both residences for traces of the miss.
ing package of $4,000.
The Burlington Story.
Concerning the developments in the
case after Messrs. koett and Mahan-
nah returned from TT. Madison. where
the former went on the bond of the lat
ter on the charge of mutilating United
States money, the Burlington Hawk
Eye says:
Ii Howard B. Mahannah is an inno-
cent man, and it is always taken for
granted that such is the case until the
contrary is established, he is to be
pitied. He and his partner, A. A.
koett are in sea of trouble, and
Whatever may be the real status of af-
fairs, their wives and children are sim
cerely to be pitied
While it has been denied by those
who We're in position to know, that the
arrest of Mahannah and the charges
preferred against him by the govern
ment officials, We're in any way con-
nected with the search for the missing
$4,000 package. Mr.. Wilmer noted
that Superintendent Swift of the Ad-
ans, Schumacher, the well known
Pinkerton detective, and John e. MUIR
ply of the United States secret SER
vice had all registered at the Authes
hotel in Ft. Madison on Tuesday. 1t
may have been a mere coincidence but
it seemed very striking one to the
Burlington attorney.
Mahannah and koett had scarcelyl
returned to their families yesterday
afternoon, when new troubles poured :
in upon them. Chief Hornung, Officers
Seamans and Houston, Messrs. Swift
and others appeared upon the scene
armed with search warrant, which
had been issued from the police court
upon an affidavit, by Superintendent
Swift authorizing the search of both
houses for the $4,000 package stolep
from the Adams Express Co. in Oc-
tober, 1900. All of which seems to In
dicate that there is some connection
between the governments case and
the search for the missing package.
The officers made a thorough search
and found nothing. Both men submit
ted quietly-in fact, it is not the frs
time that they have watched the moo.
US operandi, they having conseptedt
a search without the formality of a
warrant on a prior occasion.f
Both men as stoutly as ever main
tain that they have no investigation to
fear, that they have nothing to con-
ceal.. They have been watched. shad-
owed and questioned for a long time:
spies have been placed upon them:
they were told that men in the employ
of the Pinkerton agency We're at work
in their factory. They simply said:
I'VE will employ more of them, if they
can only make good cigars
Of course the package did not take
wings and fly away; there has been
no black magic employed; no Mephisto
changed the contents of that package
into worthless newspaper and wall pa
per clippings. But if it should at some
future time develop that the two men
are as absolutely innocent and igno-
rant of the charge which has been di-
rectly and indirectly laid at their door,
as they so earnestly declare them
selves to be, how could justice be done
them? How could they be recompens-
ed, il recompense in such case were
possible?