The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-05-19
Two Old Hammers In Evidence.

saw an old hammer in Dir. Koch's Of
flee.
Two Old Hammers In Evidence.
The defense put two old hammers in
evidence. Why? Look at the recent
marks upon them. What good purpose
did the defense have in putting in a
handle and staining it to appear old :
Did they expect to aid or trip justice by
it? They know that Mrs. Kasz was
coming on the witness stand, and if she
had identified the one in evidence by
the State they would have put her to
the test with three looking like and
try to shelter her evidence by trick.
That is why | insisted on their being
introduced in evidence before COM
parison was made.
The defendant says he went back to
his office to turn out the light. He saw
but two windows as he walked the
street that night, and those were the
two in the Ottomeyer block, illuminat
ed while the lone occupant worked into
the night. He hated the man and de-
cided that the time was suspicious.
What was in his mind no one will know
absolutely until some day he confesses.
He went to his office to get his ham
mer, but Miss Wiedemann was on her
porch and saw him. There is one thing
| that gives her statement complete cred
ence, if anything is needed. If she
was going to fabricate story she
would have said that Koch was wear
| ing his brown derby instead of SLOUGH
hat. l have been made almost sick by
the miserable defense in this case max
| ing their assaults on the veracity of
witnesses for the state and especially
of the public officials. Because an Of
| fetal interests himself in the cause of
Justice is no reason for disbelieving
him or thinking that he would seek to
have an innocent percon convicted.
Officials and citizens hunted down the
Younger brothers and public sentiment
approved it, and so in other cases. j..
Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Stuebe claimed
that the hammer in evidence by the
state was theirs. All evidence relating
to the tennis court has nothing to do
with the case.
The pencil lay on the pool of blood
above the shoulder, some distance from
DR.. Gebnard's vest pocket, according to
the evidence. The first parson on the
scene saw it there, and DR.. Gerhard did
not have such a pencil. If any spec
tator had dropped pencil there, do
you not think that he would have told
about it afterwards, when so much de-
pended upon it? The person who drop
ped the pencil was the one seen by
form. He dropped it as ne etaoin-J-
Brooks bending over the PROSTATE
form. He dropped it as he bent over
~ MS Wolhs altei he hhSW liiu L
he had been discovered.
The contamination of the offense did
not take a long period Gerhard was
not dead one minute before Brooks look
ed over the transom. 1t didn't take
three minutes to do the murder. 1t
didn't take the assassin long to fell
his victim with the hammer and finish
mis- work with his knife. Perhaps two
minutes completed it.
1t was thirtysix hours afterwards
that DR.. Vogel mentioned seeing pen
Gil in DR.. Kochs office. Don't you sup
pose that the person who supplied a
blue box for the defense to use in this
case would have supplied pencil?
Here is the handkerchief. You can
not look at it without sigh. Here
are the initials, &C. R. X" There is no
mstaking them The evidence is that
the defendant admitted that the hand
kerchief was mis-. The. fact is shown by
Chief Klause and DR.. Stricken, Who
| is DR.. Stricken? A member of the
board of regents of the State Univer-
sity and an old friend of the Koch fami-
ily. 1t was Drs. Vogel and Stricken
who shed tears when they heard Thurs
day that their friend was accused of the
murder. DR.. Stricken shed tears on the
witness stand and the counsel who re-
ferred to them as manufactured will
live to regret having made so unjust a
remark
Did Dr. Koch ever ask to see the
handkerchief? Never. Is that the con-
duct of high minded, and innocent
man? Did Ida say to Dr. Frichie, the
coroner, that it was not Georges hand
kerchief. She says that she did not.
Mrs. Dahms heard somebody running
as though greatly exhausted by nigh
! ty effort. 1t was before ten o'clock.
The dogs were very excited and angry.
If the man who ran by was seeking and
dripping with blood fresh from the
viens and arteries of DR.. Gerhard, is it
any wonder that the dogs were excited,