Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-06-22
STORY
OF GIRLS DEATH
Witness Swears He Saw Mil
l~ionaire's Wife Beat Girl
With Broomstick.
KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS
Poured Water on Her to Force Her to
Arise-Hired Man Then Ordered
to Dress Wounds on Girls
Body and Limbs.

Sioux Falls, S. D., June 15.--Shortly
after 8 O'Clock yesterday afternoon,
having offered such testimony as IT
was believed would be sufficient to
bind the accused over to the state cir
cult court, the prosecution rested In
the case of Mrs. Emma Kaufman. wife
OF Moses Kaufman, a wealthy brewer
OF his city, who was arrested on the
charge Of murder growing out Of the
recent death Of Miss Agnes Polreis, a
16-year-old girl, who was employed as
q domestic In the Kaufman house. Ac-
cordingly the hearing was continued by
Judge Wheelock until Wednesday of
next week. Until that time Mrs. Kauff-
mar will be in charge of Sheriff Nye
L. Phillips, as the offense charged
against her does not permit of her be-
ing released on bail.
The continuance was taken for the
purpose of giving Judge Frank r.
Aikens, attorney for Mrs. Kaufman,
time TO procure a transcript of the rec
ords in the case and prepare a motion
for the dismissal of the case. This
motion will come before Judge Vince
lock when the hearing convene next
Wednesday.
Sioux Falls, S. D., June 15.-Shock-
ing details of brutality were narrated
by Peter Erickson, the hired man in
the household of Nose Kaufman, the
millionaire brewer, who, with his wife.
is blamed for the death of their serv-
ant, Miss Agnes Polreis. Erickson was
the principal witness in the preliminary
hearing of the Kauffmans this morn
ing. Erickson is still in h employ
of Kaufman, but the evidence he gave
was very damaging against the wife
of his employer. He was put on the
stand shortly before noon, but his
testimony had not all been taken be-
fore the court took a recess until 2
o'clock this afternoon.
Beaten with a club until she sank
down to the floor, helpless, doused with
hot or cold water to make her rise.
lifted to her feet only to be pummeled
by Mrs. Kauffman's fists into semi
consciousness again, her wounds filled
with turpentine, n the hired man as
signed TO dress the injuries on her
and body when it was found she
could not get out of bed next morning,
was the cruel fate of Miss Polreis, for
which the Kauffmans were responsible,
according TO the testimony of the hired
man.
Was Beaten with Broomstick.
ION several occasions / have seen
Mrs. Kaufman beat the girl (Agnes
II WILL IL SNNA
Erickson. Tuesday morning of last
week, three days before h died, l saw
Mrs. Kaufman beat her terribly with
the handle of a broom and heard the
girl plead ~piteously tor mercy. In the
afternoon I went into the kitchen and
saw the girl laying In a pool of water
the floor. Mrs. Kaufman came in
Just then and said that h threw wa
ter on the girl to make her get up
WAS ii hot or cold water?' asked
the attorney.
II do not know" replied the witness.
Did Miss Polreis get up when Mrs.
Kaufman threw the water on herr"
was the next question.
mo, she was still lying there on the
floor when / entered the Kitchen re-
piled Erickson. When Mrs. Kaufman
came in she asked me to help her lift
the girl up, and when we had placed
her on her feet Mrs. Kaufman gave
her another beating, berating her at the
same time"
What did she saw to the girl?"
II do not know, as she talked in Ger
man, and l do not understand that Ian
guage."
Mrs. Kaufman Knocked Her Down.
MRS. Kaufman gave her a terrible
beating around the head with her fists
and knocked her down, he girl lying
VII llC liOoA IA 800
Gus condition"
did the defendant make any explain
alton for her treatment of Miss Pol
reis?' asked n of the prosecuting at
torneys.
Yes. she said that the girl was the
most stubborn creature she ever saw
when was this-the time the de-
PENDANT knocked Miss Polreis down
the day you found her lying in the
pool of water on the fioor?"
ION Tuesday, in the afternoon-three
days before she died"
did you see Miss Polreis the nex
day."
yves. the next morning, Wednesday,
Mrs. Kaufman asked me to so up
stairs and see what was the matter
with the girl; why she did not get up"
What did you flnd?"
Too III to Get Up.
at found the girl in bed and too i'll to
get up. She seemed to be suffering a
great deal"
what did Mrs. Kaufman do when
you reported to her?"
"She told me to go back and attend
to the girl. to dress her wounds"
When the defendant told you to
dress Miss Polreis' wounds did she say
how the girl was hurt?"
mo"
what did you do for Miss Polreis
and what wounds did you discover"
II did not notice any wounds or
bruises on her head at that time, but
there were several bad bruises on her
shoulders and other parts of her body,
and her limbs and feet were in a very
bad condition. some of the kin having
beer loosened from one leg. There
were also a number of black and blue
spots on her body"
Are you a DOCTOR
mo. but I fixed up the girl the best
I could and made her as comfortable
as possible. bathed the wounds In
water and bandaged them
T~urpentine to Take Out Soreness.
while dressing the girls wounds /
noticed a strong smell of t~urpentine,
and when / went down stairs I asked
Mrs. Kaufman about *, and she said
that she put the t~urDentinc or the
bruises and cuts to take out the sore
ness"
You say that -rou did not notice any
wounds on the girls head at that
time? ?" asked the attorney for the pros
tcution, did you later?"
Eyes. Friday I carried her out TO
the Ambulance 20 take her to the hos
pital. and l then noticed several bad
bruises on the girls head"
Pleads for Mercy on Her knsea.
Continuing in his testimony. Erick-
son stated that several times he had
seen the girl on her knees In front OF
Mrs. Kaufman pleading with tears In
her eyes for marcy. though he could
not state what was said. as the girl