New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1903-11-11

afternoon, he having arranged with
Roy Chute to go to dance in Hans
ka that evening. He came upon his
cousins, Roy, Alvin and Charley, in
the corn field, where they had been
husking corn. They had finished
loading the wagon and he went with
them to the barn, where he assisted
IN transferring the horses to a buggy,
while Roy went indoors to wash and
dress. When the team was in readi-
ness he drove to the front of the house,
left the animals in charge of Charley
and went upstairs with Roy, remain
ing until the latter had nearly finished
dressing.
He then descended to the first floor
and, passing Alvin and the little girl,
Hester, in the kitchen, went out into a
short hallway. and picked up the rife,
44-calibre Winchester. AS he did so
Alvin warned him to be careful but he
made no reply and stepped into an adj
joining bed room. A moment later,
when it must have been about 1920, the
report was heard and when the child
rem ran to the door they saw him ly-s
ing upon the floor with the blood
squirting from a wound in his face.
The elder boy, Roy, called out: cray,
are you dead; did you shoot your
self?' and when no reply was received
the children scattered to the nearest
neighbors and gave the alarm.
Of the latter Albert Schmeising was
one of the first to reach the scene. He
drove to Hanska, telephoned to Arm
strong's parents and notified DR.. D.
F. Wood, deputy coroner, who went
out to the Chute farm and viewed the
the remains. Upon examination be
learned that the ball entered Arm-
strong's head just above the right eye
and found egress back of the left ear.
Its course was downward and after
leaving the skull it struck the frame
of a mirror in bureau and dropped
down upon the board of that piece of
furniture. Armstrong lay before the
bureau face upward, partially on his
left side and with his arms outstretched.
His right foot was slightly beneath the
dresser and the rifle rested across his
knees. Beside him, on the floor, was
his cap. and comb lay between his
feet. III
The superstition at that time: was.
that the youth had carried the rife into
the bed room and, not knowing that it
contained cartridge, had thrown the
only one in the magazine into the bar
rel. Then, it was thought, he leaned
the gun against the bureau and start
ed to comb his hair. While thus en-
gagged the weapon slipped, was dis
charged and the boy killed. Basing
his verdict upon this version, upon
the nature of the wound and upon the
stories of the Chute children, DR..
Wood decided that the deceased met
his death accidentally; but when the
boys father arrived that gentleman
took a decidedly different view of the
stu alton. II.
AS soon as the circumstances was
explained to him he announced his
conviction that his son had been muir
dered. The fact that the body faced
the bureau seemed to indicate to him
that the shot could not have come from
the front. He gave expression to the
belief that the youth had been stand
ing before the mirror combing his hair
when someone treacherously came up
behind him and killed him from the
doorway.
He maintained that the bullet entered
the back of the head, and pointed to
the fact that the scar on the mirror
frame was in a direct line with the
door. The partly -closed door strength
ened his theory, he said, and he.
accounted for the gun lying across the
knees by asserting that it was placed
there by the murderer after the deed
was committed. While he did not
make any direct accusations, he in
simulated that there was motive for
the slaughter in the fact that one of
the older Chute boys and his son had
had trouble in the past.
s Peter Majewski, the Sleepy Eye UNI
dertaker who embalmed the corpse,
added to the chain of murder clues by
stating his belief that the bullet was
fred from the rear.
Sunday morning the remains were
taken to Sleepy Eye and at 4 o'clock
that afternoon Coroner Z. A. Fritsche
of this city, was notified. Monday
morning that officer and Sheriff VIM.
J. Julius went to Sleepy Eye, where
an examination of the body was made.
Later they drove out to the Chute
farm to pursue their investig alton and
spent the entire day questioning and
cross-examining oil of the persons
having the slightest connection with