The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-18

MISS MURTLE METZ,
Whose Evidence Is Expected to Unravel
Murder Mystery.
Special to The Journal.
Des Moines, Sept. 1S.-A pretty
nurse girl who was with Miss Irene Bly,
denburgh, of E]aora, the last few hours
before that girl s untimely death here,
and a clergyman, who is not occupied
exclusively by preaching, are depended
upon by the grand jury to furnish evil
murder against Herbert Dickinson.
If the insurance solicitor is ever con-
victed of numbering the Blydenburgh
girl, and if physicians who helped with
the criminal operation performed are
ever brought to justice, it will be thru
the testimony Of these two rather pc
culiar persons. The witnesses furnish
very interesting stories. q
Miss Murtle Metz, the NURSE beau
tiful girl, who was On her first case
when she attended Miss Blydenburgh,
recently graduated from Mercy hospi-
tai in this city. To the county attor-
ney she says: ''....
Story of the Nurse
~ was called to attend Miss Ed:
" u1So, % UhCy SollSO uS13 duN L N1u hoo
know until after the death that her
name was Blydenburgh. I found a
beautiful young girl apparently very
ILL., Her temperature was very high
and she was weak, and l mmediately
began keeping a chart Of her case. That
chart [ have and will bring it in as
evidence. I asked DR.. E. E. Gadd,
who called me, what was the matter
with the girl. He said it was a case
of peritonitis. '.'.@ ~ .,.'-r:.".
/. II did not suspect that the girl had
been the victim of some man until she
stretched out her hands to me few
hours before she died and said that she
had not always been bad girl. Then
l knew and was so sorry for her. The
doctors came often and said every time
that she could not live. The girl did
not betray her lover to me, but she
made no secret of the case of her
ruin and death.'
= Of the Preacher. ~
Just how Rev. E. T. Covle, the minis
ter, butted into the case the police are
mystifed to know. They had been
working upon it only few days when
it was ,aseertained that persistent ef-
forts had been made on the part of
rather fancy-looking preacher to-. talk
with the girl. 49,
Rev. Mr.. Coyle said that the girl had
come to him several weeks before and
had said that she was in trouble due to
her intimacy with Herbert B. Dickin-
son, married man of Peoria, Ill.,, who
is life insurance solicitor and is now
in. Jail charged with murder in the
second degree.
The girl had insisted that Dickinson
wished to help her avoid disgrace, and
put her in position where she could
go back to Eldora and work again in
the telephone office where the other
girls and her brothers and sisters would
be none the wiser.
'fShe said that she had not the
minister, and I agreed to advance
$50. This was purely out Of friend
ship for the poor girl who maintained
that until she met Dickinson she was
innocent. .,,
"When Dickinson and the physicians
learned that I was assisting the girl
they removed her to another house and
there I was forbidden her sight. I en-
tered the house disguised as telephone
operator and had some talk with the
girl. She knew several days in advance
that she would die, but was kept from
people so that she could mako no ante
mortem statement. Knowing this I
called the police.' D., p, ..
Seems to Have Had a Record.
County Attorney Miller was at first
Impressed with the intentions of Rev.
Mr.. Coyle2 and had asked him to be
present this week to give testimony in
the case. When Coyle jumped town
Saturday night and removed all his be-
longings the authorities began to won
der whether he had skipped to avoid a
grand jury summons. To-day Covle
could not be traced.
In, his rooms he left photographs Of
several pretty girls. It was learned
that he formerly conducted bucket
Shop at Cedar Rapids and was more re-
Gently engaged in bartering stocks to
farmers near Tama and Eldora.
No evidence has been secured to>in-
dictate that ne knew Miss Blydenburgh
before tho oirl came to Des Moines to
hide her shame, but the police are trac-
ing the minister s past That he was a
great lover of women there seems to be
little doubt. He was ordained in the
Congregational church in Ohio, but new
ier had a charge preferring to confne
his efforts exclusively to the evangel-
istic field.
Attitude CT Mrs. Dickinson.
Dickinson's wife remains true to
him thru his ordeal. He is in iail I'M
der $4,000 bonds, which he cannot give.
He secured promise of bonds from pro
fessional bondsmen on Saturday, but
the bondsmen upon looking up his his
tory ascertaincd that ne had been in
volved. in Banking scandal in Peoria
and hacked out Mrs. Dickinson Who
visits her husband daily, saws: ! -
- I will stand by him. He is no worse
than other men are. Mr. Dickinson has
been involved in other cases, ACCORDING
to rumor. Several times persons have
whispered scandal about him to me. but
I have let it go in one ear and out Of
the other. He was always good at
home; he provided we'll for us and I