Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-08-21
Alleged Murders Of Fritz West
brook Secure Counsel and
Will Ask For Liberty
FEW DEVELOPMENTS TO-DAY
An Order Will be Secured for TIE Dis
interment Of the Remains ard Re-
covery Of the Bullet Which Caused
the Young Mans Death - Other
Crimes Laid to Suspects.
Special to T,mes-Republican.

special to Times-Republican.
Des Moines, Aug 21.-Latham ana
Denburger, the two men VINO nave
been arrested for the murder of Fritz
westbrook on the night of July Z, nave
employed an attorney. through Lath-
ANS brother, but up to noon TO-DAY
the attorney had not been able TO see
his clients. He threatens to bring
| habeas corpus proceedings unless the
| authorities grant him permission 10
see and talk with the accused. The
officers are not giving out much con-
corning the developments, but II is ex-
! pected they will secure an order today
| to have the remains Of WestbrOok eX-
humed and the bullet which caused
his death extracted. It Is desired to
| learn the calibre of the bullet to deter
! mine which Of the two men. II either,
4 fired the shot that caused Westbrooks
death. AS the two men carried revol-
vers Of different calibre the finding OF
the bullet will place the responsibility
| for the shooting, if the evidence Is
such that the men can be convicted.
| There is a general belief. however.
that the evidence against the men IS
not as strong as the police make out.
An effort is being made to connect
Latham and Denburger with various
burglaries and other crimes committed
in Des Moines in the past few months
and the police are likely to meet with
success along this line.
Latham's wife is said to have stated
that on the night Of July z, Latham
and Denburger came home about one
o'clock and were very excited. When
she accused him of being implicated in
some bad business Latham said: My
God. we've done something awful. We
had to kill a man tonight!"
The actions Of Latham and 1oenbur-
ger in connection with their arrest
were those of guilty men Saturday
morning.
While under suspicion during the
last few days, Latham has been en-
ployed by the city on one of the night
dump wagons, and was at work Friday
night until a short time before his ar
rest. About midnight he was at work
in the rear of the city hall, when he
was called to the police station and
asked some very pointed questions in
regard to where he lived and who lived
with him. No reason for the
questions was made known to him,
but he evidently suspected that
some information had got into the
hands ne o,,fbar3tios chart11y
after o'clock he was seen to jump on
ton Of Grand avenue.
Detectives who were working on the
case in East Des Moines were dis
patched to the house at AIS East
Grand avenue, and surrounded it at
once. A few minutes later Latham
came to the door again and the de-
tectives entered in time to find Dem
burger just finishing dressing and was
tying his last shoe. Both men were
arrested and taken to the police sta
ton at once, and the rest of the night
was spent in getting all the witnesses
who were suspected of. having any
knowledge of the shooting on July T.
Latham and Denburger were alone
in the house when arrested, as Mrs
Latham had left them and gore to her
fathers home at East Sixteenth and
Vine streets. Latham had evidently
taken the alarm from his conversation
with the police officers and had hur-
ried to warn Denburger to leave at
once.
While unwilling to give out the ex-
act evidence on which the men are
held, the police officials are positive in
their statements that Latham and Der
Burger are the two men who did the
killing.
They are the men who killed Fritz
Westbrook," said Chief of Detectives
Eli Hardin, yesterday 1--WE are posi-
tive Of what we say when we make
such statement and hold sufficient
evidence in our hands to prove it be-
yond any doubt" This statement was
also verified by Captain AL Miller, who
stated that there was not a possibility
of doubt as to their connection with
the shooting.
For about year previous to the
shooting of July Z, Den Burger had
boarded at the home Of w. II. Davis,
father of Mrs. Latham, who lives at
East Sixteenth and Vine streets, but a
few months ago left there and has
spent a great deal of his time at Lath-
ANS home on Grand avenue. Mrs.
Latham and her husband have had
several disputes and had finally separ-
ated after q row In which he was al
legged to have hit her In the head with
a hammer. At the time of the West
brook affair, however, they were living
together and Den Burger was also
staying at the house.
Mrs. Lathan's Story.
According to the story watch Mrs.
Latham had told her father, Latham
and Den Burger were at the house
early on the night Of July Z, and be-
fore leaving, asked Tom Walizer, who
was also there, to accompany them.
saying that they would furnish him
with a gun. Waller, who lives at 14O1
Walker street, and who wss a close
companion of the two men, refused to
go, and they left without him. About
/ O'clock in the morning, Mrs. Latham
says that she was awakened by the
two men calling to her to be admitted.
She let them In. but they did not turn
on any light and she noticed that they
seemed highly excited. When she
commented on this her husband blurt-
ed out the fact that they hal commit
ted a terrible crime.
No more details were given her that
night but the next morning the two
a1~r 4 1a