The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-05-12

went to the drug store to get rubber
cot and had the clerk help him adjust it.
He went three times and got three cots.
Practiced Singing for Funeral.
We will show that DIR. Koch
went to the church the evening after the
murder with other young people and
practiced his music for the funeral, and
also the next day. We will show it is
hard to say whether the initials on the
handkerchief were sc. r. X" or &c. R.
R." We will show that at the funeral
the rumor about DIR. Koch went abroad
before the funeral, but it was kept from
him by his friends so it would not in
terfere with his singing. He sang three
times, the people watching him. The
state has not produced witness from
that audience to say that Koch showed
any signs of guilt there. He sat there
in conscious innocence. DIR. Koch went
to dinner at hotel Thursday, and back
to his work in his office after dinner
1--WE challenge any one to say that up to
tnen he exhibited any signs of guilt.
That afternoon Koch was called to
Hoidale & Somsen's office and informed
by DR.. Vogel and Mr.. Somsen of the
suspicious pointing toward him. 1t was
the first time that he had heard of it.
10 hoc 70 "a; 10
down in his office and thought about the
charge against him. Drs. Stricken and
Vogel tenderly covered him with his
Iovercoat-his cravenette overcoat which
counsel for the state has had the inso.
lence to charge him with destroying
We will show you that Sheriff Jul
Jus and Chief Klause went to Koch's
office and talked with him, and that
later Detective Rydell sought an inter
view with Koch. Mr.. Somervile saw
that these merl-whose regulations de-
pend upon their success in ferriting out
crime-and insisted that he or some rep
! utable citizen, of New Ulm be present,
to see that DIR. Koch was not charged
with having made % confession, when
no confession was made. Mr.. Rydell,
not being willing TO have fair play, de-
clined the proposition. DIR. Koch was
broken down, Inundated, and in GER
tain sense crushed by the accusation
against him. He went to his home and
remained there the next day, and sat by
the stove, thinking of the misfortune
that had fallen upon him. His hand
smarted a little where he had spilled
carbolic acid upon it, and he got some
alcohol and poured it upon the burn,
then put some wood in the stove at
the request of his sister, and the alco-
hol took fire and mis- hands were blister
ed. DR.. Vogel came over; desired to have
a record made then and there of the
condition of Koch's hands, in case of the
accusation being pushed. He got two
other doctors and the next morning
went with them to the house and made
a minute record of what they saw.
These doctors will testify. The noun
tain built up by the state was made out
of the little mole of the scab from the
old injury. This is enough for the
counsel to use in weaving a chain of cir
cumstantial evidence about the defend
is strongly in favor of DR.. Koch.
Koch Walked the Streets.
DIR. Koch walked the streets of New
Ulm until afteh the converting of
court in December, in spite of the
charges. We will show that he wore the
overcoat for several weeks after that
murder That six detectives prowled
around his offices. We will show that
a citizens committee was formed at
which that man Silverson stood at the
head A proceeding was started, not
against DR.. Koch, but against a sup
positions person. and a drag net put out
to gather evidence. Then it was that
DR.. Koch's cravennette disappeared. DR..
Koch told men that his coat hung in his
office, and gave them keys to his Of
flee. DIR. Vogel and others went to the
office and examined it thoroughly, in
side and out, and went away and left
it.
the state referred to a pencil having
been found in the blood. Pencils had
been given all around town as an adver-
tisement. They We're intended to be
passed around. They were made of
course graphite, and man took one
like man who don't smoke takes a ci-
lgar-to give it to a friend. Nobody at
first gave any thought to the pencil in
this case, because it was lying on top
of the blood. The pencil has no light
innate place in this trial.
Claim Hammer Was Gebhard's.
We will show that the hammer be-
longed to Dr.. Gerhard and nobody else
the state, in its effort to smear the
crime upon DIR. Koch. has secured evil
dence that it belonged to the Koch fam