The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-05-12
STORY TOLD BY THE DEFENSE TO THE TWELVE MEN
Crowds Continue to Lin
Up at lue County

one in Koch's office, and the testimony
of the young man who failed to identi
fly the hammer at the police station
and did not identify it until he had
heard of a reward being offered, we will
show that the hammer was DIR. Geb-
hards. The latter belonged to tennis
club, the property of which was divided
up. Brooks took the saw and Gebhard
the hammer to keep for time. A man
will be put on; man who will swear
That he borrowed an old hammer from
DIR. Gerhard, and also other evidence to
this effect.
Mystery Surrounds the Murder.
There is some mystery surrounding
this murder, as has already appeared
We will show that man went into Dr.
Gebhard's office at $3.50 p. m, and DIR.
Gerhard sat in his shirt sleeves, read
ing, that two minutes later he arose, put
on his work coat and went to work in
his laboratory. That the man stayed
until S:45 or $3.50, and no other man
was around the offices then. We will
ask you to consider this evidence in con-
nectiOn with Dr. Reineke's testimony
that he left the office at 8:45, after
standing beside DR.. Gerhard one-half
to hree-fourths of an hour while DR..
Gerhard was working at his bench with
his work coat on. We will show you
that if DIR. Reineke stayed with DR..
Gerhard three -fourths of an hour it
was after the other man left, which
would keep him there until 9:30 p. m.
Regarding the bottle, we will show
that on Wednesday morning after the
murder that DR.. Reineke testified that
two or three weeks ago box came to
the office, saw it opened, and saw it on
the shelf. Then ne was not suspected
and had no reason to tell anything
but the exact facts. Now he testifies
that it was the Saturday before the
murder. At the last trial the state did
not put Hage on the stand. We will
show that DR.. Koch went to Hanska
Wednesday night, coming back Thurs
Iday noon, but as business ut New Tim
increased he dropped his outside APP
pointments. He dropped the Hanska APP
pointment in September and did not in
70 np
wrote him that a number of people
wanted work done. DR.. Koch then put
a notice in the paper that he would be
there on Friday. When he got there
he found that DR.. Wood had left his
former office in a public street and NOV
ed it to private house on side street.
DR.. Koch then packed his cnair and
moved back to New Ulm. Now DIR.
Reineke changes his testimony 81 as
to catch DIR. Koch at Hanska and says
that DIR. Gerhard got his package on
Saturday. 1t was five weeks before
Friday that DR.. Koch had last been at
Hanska. We take satisfaction in show
ing one thing in this case, and that is
how people can sit down and fix their
testimony to fit the facts. We will
snow that the package, if mailed on Fri
day on the train that DIR. Koch went on,
would have reached New Ulm at l:55
p. m. Friday. Miss Shapekahm could
not have gotten the package until Sat
urday noon, but she testifes that she
got it about Wednesday, and opened it
Saturday forenoon on DIR. Gebhard's
busy day. We will show that the box
was not mailed between Oct oath and
Nov. End. The mail clerk laid off a
week and locked up his seal. 1t was
this seal that made the stamp marks
on the box The 1904 is below the four
lines. None of the other stamps used
by mail clerks is like them. Mr.. Roy
stamped it. Nelson and Liesch will say
that their stamps are not on the box,
and that nobody else on the Storm Lake
route did any stamping. We will prove
that the testimony of Thompson and
Hage if not false it is product of their
own imaginations. We will show that
Detective Rydell saw mail clerks Liesch
and Nelson and got the samples of their
stamps and the stamps were compared
and found that the stamps did not fit
those on the box. With that knowl-
edge, this testimony in the case has
been given, provided the Pinkerton man
impaired his knowledge to the rest of
them. If the box was mailed at Hanska
lit was never mailed by DIR. Koch.
Typewriter Claim Is Absurd.
We will show that the typewriter
claim is absurd, that it is impossible to
! show what Machine makes any par
ticular writing. We will show that
this machine was locked up, while there
were four other typewriters in the
building. We will show that the hand
writing on the bottle is not the hand
writing of DIR. Koch. We insist that he
is not fool enough, if he was going to