The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1902-01-31
CASE UNDER WAY.
Jurors Secured For the Trial
of the Tankes.
Sheriff is Declared From Summoning
Witnesses on Account Of Alleged
Prejudice.

The Tanke murder trial was begun
at st. Peter Tuesday morning at a
special term of court held by Judge
B. F. Weber of the ninth district.
The interest in the trial seems to be
general and people from all parts of
the county are there to watch the pro-
ceedings.
County Attorney G. R Davis is con-
Quoting the case for the state and is
assisted by A. A. Stone, former county
attorney, while j. A. Eckstein Of New
Ulm, b. ]. Peck of Shakopee, and b.
N. Benson of ST. Peter. appear as at
torneys for the defense. At the open
ing of court the defendants attorneys
demanded separate trials for Mr.. and
Mrs. Tanke, who were indicted
jointly. The motion was granted and
Frank Tanke was selected as the per-
son for the first trial. The case now in
progress is against him. Tanke is the
man who married the widow of John
Wellner, the murdered man.
The work of drawing the jury has
proceeded rather more rapidly than
was anticipated and at the close of the
session yesterday seven jurors had
been chosen andsssworn in. These are
Albert Hopp of st. Peter, Selmer Oh
son, William Reinhart, Peter Sauer,
George Kohler, John Morgan and An
ton Kackel all of Lake Prairie. The
regular panel of twenty four was ex-
hausted, as was special venire of
ten. The court then ordered another
special venire. of sixty, from which
the remainder are to be selected, if
possible.
Sheriff Mcmillan has been interested
in the case since his incumbency Of
the office and it was largely through
his efforts that Mr.. and Mrs. Tanke
were placed under arrest. Because of
this the attorneys for the defense took
advantage of the statute and fled an
affidavit claiming that because of pre-
judice he would not faithfully dis
charge his duty. Under the section of
the statute, it is the duty of the clerk
to have all processes served by the cor
oner. The work of subpoenaing wit
nesses, summoning jurors and serving
all other papers has been taken out of
the hands of the sheriff and placed in
the hands of the coroner. This is
probably the first time such a course
has been pursued in the state and GER
tainly the first time in the ninth dis
tr1ct. AS result, Coroner Merritt is
performing some of the duties of the
sheriff's Office.
Judge Weber, the presiding Judge,
has had much experience with murder
cases, having been the trial Judge in
the Holden and Rose cases in Redwood
county, as we'll as dozens of others in
his district.
The case against Mrs Tanke will be
taken up at the close of the present
case.
Mrs. Tsnke's story is that her hus-
band was enticed to the barn at 10
O'Clock at night, and shot down by
two men, who tied her to chair until
they had an opportunity to escape.
The theory of the prosecution is that
the murder occurred at O. clock in the
afternoon and was committed by the
Tankes
Two more jurors were secured to-
day, Peter A. Peterson and John S.
Hughes, both of Lake Prairie. The
first bunch of the special venire was
exhausted this afternoon, and another
deputy was expected in with bunch
late this afternoon.
There was no new Developments
ments in the case Wednesday.