The Mankato free press., 1905-05-19

Weisenborn, said that he had been on
duty twenty-six hours and was too
tired to tell the truth. Men and women
who will smother evidence in this kind
of case have no consciences.
+. G. Koch and William Koch are
marked as good men by the God who
gave them birth. They say that the
hammer is not theirs. Other reliable
witnesses tell you that they have never
seen the hammer on the Koch premises
or in DR.. Koch's office.
Mr. Brooks says hat he had seen an
old hammer in the office of his friend.
DIR. Gebhard Mr.. Murfn says the
same. DR.. Koch had no use for the old
hammer, but if he mad put in his Of
| flee it would have attracted the atten-
| tion of other tenants in the block.
| Then there is DIR. Reineke, who was
more familiar with DR.. Gebhard's office
| than anyone else. AT the coroner's in
quest Nov End, he said that he was
| familiar with everything in DR.. Geb-
hard's office, and tnat the latter had
an old hammer that he pounded cement
with and that he had sawed off the
in barrel. He had laughed about the
handle being sawed off and said that it
was smooth job. This was five or
six months prior. Dr. Reineke was
shown the hammer and said: ''That is
the hammer, and ] remember that he
said it was the first hammer he had
bought after coming to New Ulm."
There is the hammer that it IS
sought to fasten upon old man Koch,
identified positively by one who better
than anyone else knew the office, be-
fore there were any theories to prove.
Out of his lips flashed the ray of light
that illumines the whole hammer ques-
tion, and it is better than the testimony
of all tire Dinglers or Dahms, that
could be packed ,Snto5tne court room.
DR.. Reineke' tookS Druggist Alvin into
DIR. Gebhard's office and showed him the
drawer where he said the latter kept
the hammer, and later told this to Tony
Wiesner. Why he has changed his tes-
timony now | do not know.
The Handkerchief Theory.
| A pocket handkerchief goes into the
pocket from force of habit, when one
has used it. man who will take his
own hammer, known of all men that it
commit murder with it, and then lose
his head and lay it on the floor, and
take his handkerchief and wipe the
blood off and lay it down beside the
hammer, might as well have left his
business card | will not turn to Po-
liceman Klause, who takes the stand
whenever the state has a blank to fill
kin. If his story is true, then Ida Koch
has been shielding ner brother all this
time If he tells the truth, and has
been keeping the information to himself
all the time-it is unlawful for a po-
liceman to keep such knowledge to
himself He said he told Mr.. Hoidale,
but that gentleman comes on the stand
and says that he never heard of it un-
til he mad read it in the paper during
this trial.
We are charged with replacing pen
ellis, manufacturing hammers, stealing
blue boxes, and have turned over to the
state handkerchiefs marked sc. r. K.''
when they could have been burned. Is
that consistent? | want you to take
these handkerchiefs into the jury room
and compare them with the one in evil
dence. All of the evidence that the
state had was given to the newspapers
and published broadcast. Dr.. Koch's
mouth was open to all to hear until
his attorneys shut it. My advice to
any defendant is to keep still, for ev-
erything he says is misconstrued and
distorted.
The initials might stand for Gerome
R. Knapp, if there was such man,
But they do not. There is nothing in
the handkerchief that can be connected
with the defendant except that the in
itials on it are the same as his. If we
knew all that there may to be known,
this handkerchief theory might be
laughable. There was once Moor, who
strangled his pure wife, because ner
handkerchief became misplaced and he
suspected her. The handkerchiefs were
marked by Ida Koch, and produced by
us. We could have burned them. But
E. G.. Koch and his old German family
are not made of that kind of stuff. He
will not protect his son by perjury If
his son is taken from him he will 90 to
his grave neartbroken, but without the
stain of perjury on his soul. When you
go into the jury room | want you to
examine the handkerchefs and say
whether you will erect a scaffold in
them and saw whether those letters arc