Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-08-12
THE BARTHoLlN TRAGEDY.
Important Developments in the Mystic
rinlIS Crime

riOuS Crime.
Chicago, Aug l2.-An important de-
Nelopment in the Bartholin- Mitchell
nurder mystery was made yesterday
when it was discovered that Bartholin
had been surprised on July 80, when
standing at the cellar grave of his muir
dcrea mother, by a real estate agent.
Peter Van Vlissngen, who holds a
mortgage on Mrs. Bartholin's home and
who sent his agent to the Calumet prop
elty to appraise it on the afternoon of
July 30, furnished the police with the
information about Barthoin working on
the grave of his mother. The agent
called and rang the front door bell re-
peatealy No one answered. and he
went to the rear of the house and looked
thru a basement window. There he saw
a man standing in one corner looking at
the floor, apparently absorbed in
thought. Suddenly the man in the base
nlent looked up and saw the agent
peerng in. A moment later Bartholin
came to the rear door and asked the
agent what he wanted. The latter re-
piled that he wanted to see Mrs. Bar
tholin.
Barthoin told the agent his mother
was in Milwaukee and she would not
return for several days. Shortly after
this conversation he was seen to leave
the house and the same evening he
called at Minnie Mitchells home. The
couple left together and the girl did not
return.
Inspector Hunt, when shown the To-
ledo interview with f. o.. Hunter, said
that Oscar Thompson, a former lodger
in the house and who is now under ar
rest, { MED having told Hunter that
William had left the city to be married.
The inspector further stated that Hun
ter will be brought to this city. together
with Milton l.. r. Edwards. another
roomer in the Bartholin house, who is
now in Denver
At the inquest over the body of the
Older woman, which Was found Satur-
Cay night crammed into hole in the
cement floor of the Bartholin home,
readily identified the corpse
IS that of Mrs Bartholin. The burial
yesterday of Minnie Mitchell by hey
family removed all doubt In the public
mind that the body found in the field al
Seventy-fourth and State streets last
week was that of the young woman who
was last seen with Bartholin. Complete
bearing over Mrs. Bartholin's body was
postponed by the coroner until Aug. u
ii the hope that additional clues to the
murders may be obtained.
Yesterday it developed that young
Bartholin had quarreled with his moth
er just before she disappeared over the
question of bringing his prospective
wife to live at his mothers home.
Late developments indicate that Bar
thoin may have made a careful survey
Of the field where Minnie Mitchell's
Waldrop told the police that on
Wednesday, July 80. he met William
Bartholin at Seventy-fourth and State
streets within a few feet of the spot
where the dead body of the young
mans fiance was found. Waldrop
talked With Bartholin, whom he knew
personally. The last he saw of him was
when he boarded north-bound State
street car. 1t is supposed that the muir
Ger of Minnie Mitchell took place on
the same night. Bartholin's presence at
the field where the body was found later
gives color to the theory that the MUIR
DER was planned in cold blood.
The police are using all their ingenui-
ty to force Oscar Thompson, Mrs. Bar
tholins principal roomer. to give
additional information about the crime
Or crimes committed in the Calumet
avenue death house. They have been
working on the theory that the Mitchell
girl may have been killed there and
taken in Thompson's laundry wagon to
the lonely field. A test is to be made
TO prove this theory. The horse is to be
started south and left to its own in
stintcs, in hopes that 1t will stop at
Seventy-fourth and State streets.