Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-10-11
THOUSANDfOR BURKE SLAYER
County Duplicates John stesrs Offer oi
Five Hundred Do Reward.
NO TANGIBLE CLUE TO ASSASSIN
Captain Hare Scons the woman
Theory and is Not Cer-
tain as to Motive for
Murder.

After two days of work by the sheriff S
Office the oeatn of Herbert c. Burke, WHOSE
BODY was found at Florence Monuay mo. n
ing, remains as deeply shrUudeu IN mys-
terry as 1t Was the morning he was found.
Deputy Sherin Haze who has been ue-
tailed TO work on the case, after runnins
down all clues, declares he has been unable
70 unearth any evidence 10 offer redsCna-
BILE explana don of the case.
The murder theory which is held by many
who have looked into the case offers the
best solution of some of the circumstances
but absolutely no motive for the crime can
be found. The accident theory is seemingly
disproved by the locatio OF the body.
One thing brought out by the inves,iga'
ton Of the case IL that the two men seen
with Burke on the Florence car SHORTLY
after I o'clock Sunday night and the two
men seen with him in the water works sta
tion between and 9 o'clock are not the
same persons. There is no evidence so far
as TO whether the three were companions
or merely casual fellow passengers and
sightseers
Testimony of Conductor.
Conductor NJ II. Holbrook, 2ne Temple
/ ton street, who was on the Florence car, Is
certain Burke was one of three men whu
stood on the rear platform of the car. one
of the other men was taller and the second
was shorter than Burke and both wore
dark clothes and stiff hats. Mr.. Holbrook
says he did not observe any conversation
between Burke and the two, but all three
got OF together and went toward the water
works. One of them had previously asked
him II he thought il would be too late 70
get into the water works building.
Engineers Potter and Pearson at the
water works both observed Burke looking
at the engines in different parts of the
building. They also noticed the two men
were near him part of the time. Neither
OF them could say the three had come to-
gether, as they did not seem to converse
with each other The description OF the
two men does not tally with that given by
Conductor Holbrook. Both of the men, he
says were larger than Burke and one wore
light suit of clothes
| The only tangible accident theory so far
advanced is that owing TO the darkness
| Burke missed his way and took the road
! leading to the dump instead Of the one 60
ing toward the car. This, 1t is said, could
easily happen, as the road to the dump IL
| used frequently and is well worn. 1t lead:
abruptly to timber which is placed across
!
from backing down the incline. The ashe,
are then thrown on a sheet-iron chute
which extends about a third Of the wa,
across the car. On the other side of tn,
car is a steep deciivity. on which the body
was found.
j.. II Il WAS nm Acident. tl.t5u
Captain Haze believes II It was an ac
cident Burke followed the road tripped OF
the timber at the dump and slid down tn,
smooth sheet-iron slide to the car anC
then, thinking he was on a large pile o.
cinders, walked of the car and dropped
down the incline. The principal troubl,
with this theory is the fact the body wal
! found too far from the car TO have dropped
| there of its own weight.
Burkes mother and his cousin, FreC
Rickley, both say Burke was in the habi
of going about alone and that he seldom
had companions. Mr.. Rickley says he doe
not know of his Keeping company will
young women at ALL. and Captain Haz
does not credit the theory that a woman
Is mixed up in the case.
Captain Haze expects to go out to Flor
ence In the evening to look at the situa
tion after dark to see IL the accident theor!
Is plausible.
On recommendation Of County Attorne!
Slabaugh the board Wednesday morning
offered 500 reward. making the total $I,Ool