The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-01-25

| convinced that his only hope Of extracting
| the truth lay in thorough sweating o:
the prisoner.
TWO WOMEN
BROUGHT BEFORE CHIEF.
Just before Chief Desmond began his
| systematic sweating of Strother at :
O'Clock he instructed Captain Gaffney to
have his men bring in Mrs. Whitfield OF No.
| 1897 Lawton avenue. and Kate Robinson,
who lives with her. The Robinson woman,
it is said. was an intimate friend of Cooper
and the whitley woman was said to have
made statement Thursday to the effect
that she knew who had killed Cooper and
| that Strother was innocent. as Cooper was
the victim OF a plot concocted by other
parties. When the women arrived at the
Four Courts they were questioned by the
| Chief Mrs Whitfield denied that she had
made the statement attributed to her and
| when confronted by the reporter who told
| 1t to the Chief. she declared he was telling
| an untruth. She said she was merely
| ''tollying' the reporter. and declared that
| she knew little about the tragedy or CT
l any plot to injure Cooper as the Chief him.
| self.
l
| years. and Cooper about two years. She
was about to tell the Chief how she came to
| make the acquaintance of Cooper. but,
| noticing the presence OF the reporter. who
| had accused her Of saying she knew of a
| plot against Cooper. she suddenly shup up.
| saying she would talk only in the presence
| of the Chief. Thereupon the two women
| were taken into Chief Kiely's office and
told their stories behind closed doors.
Strother was later brought into the pres
| ence OF the women. He said he knew both
OF them very well. but declared that
| neither of them had been in the bathhouse
Wednesday night. The Robinson woman
told of her relations with Cooper. and said
she had seen him at o'clock Wednesday
afternoon. but had not been at the bath
house that night. and knew nothing OF the
tragedy beyond what she had read. Both
women said they knew of no one who had
a grudge against Cooper. who would do him
personal injury. and both professed ignor-
ance of his associates outside of their own
personal relations with him. They remained
in the Chiefs Office from o'clock until
shortly before midnight, when they were re-
leased with the admonition to appear at the
inquest at 10 o'clock this morning.
WOMAN SAW COOPER
LYING ON COUCH.
Josie Houston and Florence Banks. the
negro women who called on Strother at the
bathhouse on the night Of the murder. said
yesterday that as they were leaving the es-
tablishment. about 10 o'clock. they noticed
the nude figure of a man lying on the first
cot in the cooling-roonl. This Is the cot oc
cupied by Cooper. according to Strother's
story. They were in the Office at the time.
and the screen on the door leading into the
cooling-room was drawn aside. When the;'
called Strother's attention to the man
Strother pulled the curtain across the door.
shutting off the women's view of the figure
when 1 saw the man." said Florence
Banks. "he was lying with his head lying
sideways on his left arm. which was ex-
tended out from the cot and partly down.
ward. did not get good view Of his face.
and at the distance I was I could not say
whether he was asleep. awake or dead. He
could have been either. for all I knew.
There was nothing in his appearance to
arouse my suspicion. We did not know
there was any one in the building when We
called. and when noticed this man called
to Strother saying we had better get out,
as the man might object If he knew we
were there.
"Strother pulled the sheet across the door.
which was only natural. He was not bit
nervous or excited, and said for us not to
mind. that it was only his boss and that
no was asleep and that he would not object
to us being there. anyhow anything he
(Strother) did. was all right as the old man
thought heap Of him. When we left
Strother came to the door with US and
promised to be down to cur house the next
afternoon. That's all we know about It."
Johnny Winn, the gambler, was brought |
to the Four Courts last night by Detectives |
Killian and Murphy. Winn had business |
dealings with Cooper, who, it is said sup !
Piled the bank roll'' for Winn's games. |
and 1t was believed he might know some |
thing Of Cooper's associations which might |
throw some light on the tragedy. He was |
questioned by Chief Desmond and released |
TIME BLOW WAS STRUCK
AS IMPORTANT.
A point in the case which the police are
anxious to have determined positively is the |
time at which the blow was struck. There
is some question in Chief Desmond's mind
as to whether the blow was struck before
$50 p. m. when the negro women arrived
and saw the figure lying on the cot. or
whether it was struck short time before
when Strother claims he dis
Cooper injured. Strother says he
brought the hammer up from the basement
at 10 o'clock, after the negro women had
left. and placed it against the front door
to keep it closed. He says the party OF !
white visitors called between 11:30 and mid
night, and that he discovered the hammer
beside Cooper's cot Immediately after they
had left.
The appearance of the blood on the ham,
ner and on Cooper's head and the cot is
he only evidence to gauge the lapse of time
since the blow was inflicted. and the sur