The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-07-20
Later Evidence Shows Him
Up as Il Monster.
FAKE LETTER TO HIS WIFE
Dead Man Wife Might Demand the
Cash, Will Be Airing In the
Court.

the courts of Hennepin county after all.
Unless Mrs. Riggs surrenders possession
of the murdered girls money, now in
the safety deposit vaults in Minneapo-
lis it will be necessary for Elan Eli
son, the father to sue for its possession.
In that event it will be necessary to
establish how the money deposited by
Riggs in the vaults at Minneapolis
came into his possession and that will
necessitate the production of practical
ly all the evidence the police have bear
ing ON the murder.
1t is possible, however, that Mrs.
Riggs will surrender the "blood- faint
ed" money in the vaults to its right
| full possessor without struggle, i'll
which event the Ellison incident will
be closed one so far as the public is
concerned. The bank cashier cannot
identify the money as that paid to Miss
Ellison.
Finding the money stamps Riggs an
arch fiend. The money, together with
other illgotten gains was mearthed
when Chief Doyle, Minneapolis, broke
open a safety deposit box rented by
Riggs in the vaults of the Guaranty
Trust company, Metropolitan Life In
surance company building, in the Mill
City.
| 1t was shown that the murder was
more brutal than ever before imagined,
that Riggs had lived a double life and
had deceived his wife and Miss Ellison
and that he had her write a fake letter
to him in order to Square" Mrs. Riggs
who suspected her husband and Miss
Ellison.
Chief Dovls determined to force the
seftey deposit box before Mrs. Riggs
could go to court and secure an in unc-
ton. Armed with a chisel and ham
mer, he repaired to the vault. There in
the little vault the work was quickly
| uolic, III pIeSeHce VI oHlccIS vi IIle coHl-
puany. When the lid was .pried open a
letter was found on top of the contents,
and slowly this letter and the underly-
ing articles revealed the full crime in
all its horrible detail.
Human perfidy, brutal instincts, bar
barrie cruelty and unanswerable evidence
of fendish guilt came forth as each
little piece of property was slowly
drawn out of the little tin box. In a
few minutes it was all clear.
The letter was written from ELS
worth, Wis, April 2S, 1908, and mailed
the next day to n. NJ. Riggs, Nicollet
hotel, Minneapolis. 1t was written at
the time when Mr. and Mrs. Riggs had
quarreled over the discovery by Mrs.
Riggs that her husband had had pecu-
liar relations With Mile Ellison. The
trouble was patched up, and evidently
through the medium of the letter,
which practically says that Riggs had
written to her and asked her to explain
the relations, and she had answered in
such a way as to square" Mrs. Riggs.
The letter reads:
Dear Sir: In reply to yours just re-
ceived Yes, had often heard we was
engaged and all such stories, but |
wish to say for the benefit of all con-
cerned, No, we are not, and | never
was engaged Furthermore, we never
kept company. To be sure you were
here good deal. But why not? You
owned the store, but since l bought you
out nearly three years ago, | have not
seen you but once, and that was last
summer when l met you and talked
with you on Seventh street in st. Paul,
| for five minutes. Our relations have
never been anything but a strictly
business proposition | respect you as
a gentleman and hope this will be sat
isfactory. I remain, yours truly, Mil
lie Ellison.
Under this letter lay roll of bills
containing $1,000, and these bills were
overlapped with the two $1,000 bills
which Teller III. w. Riley, National
Bank of Commerce, had especially
marked for Miss Ellison Tuesday morn
ing when she drew $1,000 from the bank
while Riggs, then known as M. j. Will
son, Milwaukee, Wis.," was. with her.
| The $1,000 bills had waters pasted on
each end, and these waters had the tell
er's punch mark on them. Then was
unearthed the most horrible finding of
the murder. 1t was Riggs plain gold
band wedding ring. The ring had his
initials stamped in it and on the inside
of the gold band bits of flesh were still
clinging cts the ring he tore from
the dying womans finger" said Chief
Doyle, with emotion.
| When the body of the woman was
found in her room, she dying and the
flames slowly consuming her body, one