Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-05-10
ACCUSED MURDERER
FEARS WIFE'S SPIRIT
erich Muenter, the Harvard
College Professor Is Still
Fugitive.
SHOWED MUCH AGITATION
INSISTED on Cremation After Myster.
'ous Death, Saying His Wife's
Spirit Would Otherwise
Haunt Him.

Chicago. May 4.-Strangc words Ut
tered by Erich Mucntcr when h,
feared the departed spirit OF his wife
might return To haunt him may help
c"nNict h former college instructor
II he is found.
The words. which had little import
nj the time 10 members of the dead
woman's family. followed a dispute AS
I" whether the remains should be ere
mated or inferred. Muenter insisted
upon cremation.
She must be "remated," he is said
to have declared. for her soui will go
away with the smoke and Will not be
left in the ashes. If she is buried her
spirit Will remain on earth to come be-
fore m" and torture me"
Later he broke down and wept. say
ing; Don't talk to me now. My mind
is all confused. | don't know what |
ann doing. / can't think of ii"
Cremation Would Destroy Evidence.
Detective Sergeant Facklan. who has
made II careful study of the case. at
tachcs much Importance to this eager
ness for cremation. a%ttributing ii To
Muenter's desire to destroy evidences
- '''' i''y ''''s W. 81 y rear
that the spirit of his alleged victim
would haunt him.
The conviction of the police here that
Muenter is guilty of the murder of his
wife was strengthened by Il legal ac-
ton taken by MoritZ Krembs TO oh
tain possession of the children of his
daughter and by his reiteration of his
belief that Muenter is the murderer.
In an interview the father of the dead
woman gave his reasons for believing
Muent"r guilty. chief among them be-
ing that. considering the publicity
which has beer given to the matter.
the missing man. if innocent. should
have appeared before this.
Believes Muenter to Be Alive.
Mr.. krembs aid Il believe he is
alive today. The only thing that would
prevent him giving himself up il he
We're not guilty would be death. He
cannot say he does not know of the
furore created in different cities. do
not believe he has killed himself. There
are two reasons for this belief. One is
that a person who would take am
others life as he did Leona's is too
much OF "A coward to end his own.
mother is that he borrowed $40 fro,n
me just before he disappeared. A man
not borrow money to commit ,
N'''
Immediately after the first Illness
or my daughter. in fact. the next day.
she wrote me "A letter OF eleven pages.
This hows her wonderful strength and
of re%cuperation. IL she hnd
not been greatly improved after s,Ic,
an illness she could not have written
such Il long letter. Then ] heard
lothing more from her. hut several
lays later received se.eral postal
cards from Muenter. He said she COM
of burning pains i'm the stom-
tch. The first thing l said when
earned of this was: My God. is it
irsenic" Then came the report that
he had died. ~
After the corpse had been ,,.
talked strangely, but we
.hought nothing of it i'm our grief
What does it matter to me wbether
heS scatter the dust to the four winds
If heaven? he said"
No Trace Of Man Secured.
While the hunt for the supposed m,,,-
'erer is Kept up in half "A dozen citi,s
,o,hlis mas beer heard of him. The
lhicago police are somewhat suspicious
Muenter's sister. Miss Berth.
1uenter. who left for Boston unnn
learlng her brother was accused of tbe
murder of his wife. The fact that she
. now trying to sell all the household
GODS of her missing brother is taken
s n means of furnishing him Vim
elieved h and Muenter's staunch
riend in Cambridge. f.. T.. Bryant are
fying to help Muenter escape.
Detective Sergeant Facklan explajns ,
is conviction of Muenter's guilt bv re.
iting the following chapter of s,s- ,
lcious circumstances from the time of ,
he wifc's death until Muenter's disnn-
After his wife died Muen-
er seemed anxious to get to Chicago
18th the body. When the physici,ns :
'ould not give him Il death certjfica tie
e managed 10 get tn. body through ON
n Illegal tertiticdte-how can MAJ ;
Nplain. except by carelessness of Tho
ealth department. When the phv- .
iciailS and coroner decided To hold an .
utopsy Mu"nter is declared To b,v. !,
No, you can't. shall 10, =
How it, ,
Then. when the coroner insisted i
lu"nter ~d"rna nded he be allowed In re- i,
iain in the room during tho proceeding \
le was forced out of the room. but oi.jv i,
~ a few moments. In this short time /
1" surgeons removed the viscera and @
of the woman. I do not think il
uenter knew the body had been touch
! until his disappearance. After the +
'roner was through Muenter hurried L
, Chicago with the body. h
--.