The Topeka state journal., 1902-08-20
Little is Expected to Result
From Coroner's Investigation.
Held in Connection With the
Bartholin Mystery.
THEY FAIL TOIDENTIFY
Minnie Mitchell's Relatives Can't
Swear Body Was Hers.
The Coroner's Physician Is Pos
tive That 1t Was Not.

Chicago, Aug. 20.-The coroner S in
quest over the body found in the field
at Sevtnty~fourth and State streets on
August snd supposed to be that OF
Minnie Mitchell. fiancee of William j.
IiarrEolin. was continued .Uday. MI
niercus pe:sCns whom it was thought
must th ow light on the mystery were
examined. In view of tnS ;:lIres. in
&C Etrov. II ole evidence offered yester-
day by Co oEer's Physici III Springer to
the effect that the body was too BADLY
desiccated to permit the theory of iden-
ti.y With Minnie Mitchell the opinion
has gained ground that the inquest wiz.
prove fruitless. Relatives of Miss
Mitchell said today that the identifica-
ton of her clothes found near the body
made them bold to the belief that it
was her body that they buried.
Four members of the Mitchell
family testified at the inquest
that they could not make a posi-
ltive identification of the body lying in
the weeds on the prairie at Seventy
fourth street, believed to be that of Min
ME Mitchell. These four persons, the
father. brother. sister and sister-in-
law of the missing girl, declared that
the only identification they could make
was that part of the clothing found near
the body belonged to Miss Mitchell
Following this Coroner's Physician
Springer made a statement to the jury
in which he termed the body as that
OF an unknown or unidentified wo-
man" DIR. Springer stated positively
that he did not believe the body to be
that of Miss Mitchell because of the ad-
vanced state of decomposition. When
the body was found Miss Mitchell had
been missing eight days, and DR..
Springer declared that it would have
been in possible for her body to have
decomposed as much the one discov-
cred on the prairie.
xx~sk
who positively identified Oscar Thomp-
son. who is under arrest for completely
in the crime. as one of two men on a
street car near the place where the body
was found, and a photograph of Will
Liam Bartholin as that of the second
of the pair.
/ Thompson, Dad" Claffy and Counsel
man, all of whom ha ave~ been held to the
grand jury, were present at the inquest.
but their attorneys refused to allow
| themsto testify. 49,
wig maker positively identified switch.
of false hair as one that had been made
for Minnie Mitchell. This put the po-
lice in a quandary. The question that.
how the woman came to her death, but
whether the body was that of Minnie
! Mitchell.
| San Francisco, Cal, Aug. 20-Chief of
Detectives Martin stated to a represent
! ative of the Associated Press this MORN
| iEg that the man held in custody at
| the police headquarters and reported by
n nOrning paper to be Bartholin sus-
pect, is not in any way connected with
| rhe mysterious Chicago murders, but is
| held on a misdemeanor charge.
| A man giving the name of
Thomas Kelly has been arrest
/ ed here and lodged in the city pris-
on on suspicion. it is alleged. of being
! William Bartholin. wanted in Chicago
| to explain. if possible. the murder of
his mother and a girl named Minnie
! Mitchell. The man was brought to the
| prison in heavy irons. The detectives
refuse to talk about the case The
| Call says that the prisoner declared to
| tue officers that he must have been
wanted for beating a woman to death,
| but said he knew nothing of the case
/ I.e admitted being from Chicago but
! Said be had left four months ago. Since
| tudt time he has been working on a
| sailing vessel He told the officers
| that he was ordered to take the cap
| tain's trunk ashore and did so and on
| landing was arrested