Omaha daily bee., 1906-10-17
Il. K. POTTS SHOT In HEART
Ysung Man Supposedly Murdered BY
Woman He Lived With.
EMMA MORRIS is UNDER ARREs
Tells Several Conflicting stories 60
Police OF Council BIuTs.
where the Deed L.
Committed.

helth MOTHS, bookkeeper for Hynes Grain
company of Omaha. with offices in The Bee
building, was shot through the heart with
a 2-caliber bullet at his rooms. 5ti Broad
way, Council Bluffs. where the body was
! taken possession Of carly Tuesday morning
! by Undertaken Cutler and later by Coroner
I lreNnor Emma Ripkil, who used the
name of Emma Morris and pretended to
| DC the wife Of Potts, was arrested and II
held in Council Bluffs on suspicion of hav
ing committed murder. There is no thought
Of suicide
The man was about - years of age; the
| woman says she is Is and looks to he @ or
| ~. She admits she and Potts had lived
! together for six months. though never were
married They occupied quarters at 1919
! Capitol avenue and 241O Cass street in
Omaha before going to Council Bluffs.
No one, unless it was the woman, heard
the shot that killed Potts
The woman told several conflicting stories,
which serve only TO convince the officers
she fired the shot that killed Potts.
| ii was Has Monday night when the
woman Knocked at the apartment occupied
by Mr. and Mrs. Fred Joehrendt, who con-
duct the rooming house, and told them
Potts, who was known there as Morris.
was very sick. They advised her to call
a doctor and at the womans request Mr..
JbVHltiul called Ut. smith Belilnger DN
telephone. When Dr. Bellinger arrived the
man was dead and the woman suggested
his death was due to heart failure. DR..
Belinger asked the woman II her husband.
! as she said the dead man was. suffered
from heart trouble. and she replied she
did not know, but that his father had died
! from II. DR.. Bellinger after satisfying
| himself that the man was dead, suggested
that the undertaken be called and left.
Long Before Undertaken Is Called.
1t was not, however, until shortly after
I 6 o'clock in the morning that Undertaken
! Cutler was called. In the meantime the
woman had laid down in Mrs. Joehrendt's
room and declined to enter the apartment
! where the dead man was. One of Under
! taker Cutters assistants in removing the
body discovered the revolver lying under
a chair on which were some of the woman's
garments, next the bed. 1t was not until
the body was being prepared at the morgue
that the bullet wound over the heart was
! discovered.
/ Potts. when removed by the undertaken.
was wearing night robe over a gauze
undershirt The night robe was buttoned
but there was no bullet hole through it
or any mark of burning from the powder
! like there was on the undershirt. It was
plain the nightrobe had been buttoned after
/ the shot had been fired. The appearance
of the wound showed clearly the revolver
must have been pressed close against the
! mans body by whoever fired 1t. The au-
topsy conducted by Coroner Treynor
showed that the bullet had pierced the
lower part of the heart and that death
must have been instantaneous
Woman Caught In Doctors once.
The woman arrested while in the
! office OF DR.. Smith Bellinger shortly after
| 10 o'clock yesterday morning Shortly
| after 8 O'Clock she entered the Phoenix
restaurant, adjoining the rooming house,
| and requested to be permitted TO use the
| telephone She called up DR.. Bellinger
and asked: us there anything new i'm
! the case?" DIR. Bellinger suggested that
| she come to his office, which she did, and
# was while there she was taken into
| custody by Deputy Sheriffs Groneweg and
! Woolman. While in the restaurant she
told the young woman cashier that Potts.
or rather Morris, as she called him. had
! been shot at Broadway and Sixth street
by some person who had evidently robbed
| him of his money and a valuable diamond
| ring. She said Morris staggered nome
| shortly after IL o'clock with his tie and
| collar torn OF and his shirt open. and the
person who had shot him had evidently
! placed the revolver close against his
heart She said she helped him to bed
| and that i'm about half an hour he was
| dead. She said he had refused to allow
! her to call a doctor. To the police previ-
ously she had claimed that Potts had de-
clared he had been poisoned.
When taken to the court mouse, the
woman told a long, rambling and at times
conflicting story to County Attorney Hess
!
told her he was going 10 leave her and
! that It had practically been arranged she
was to return to her mother in Hanover,
! Kan This she followed up by saying
! that Potts had arranged TO marry her that
4 day, Tuesday, and that he had told her
/ to get her white dress ready for the
/ wedding. She said also that he had
packed up all their belongings. this was
! found to be the case when a search of the
room occupied by the two was made by
! the sheriff later.
During the afternoon, while being ques-
toned by Sheriff Canning, the woman told
an entirely different story and insisted that
Potts committed suicide. She said that
Potts returned to bed about iO:3O or II
O'Clock and that after they had been in
bed some time she was awakened by the
sound of the shot. TO find the room full of
smoke and Potts grosning by her side Il
have shot myself In the heart" she said
Potts told her, She said she then got up
and dressed herself.
| When the woman called at the Joeh-
rendts' room she was fully dressed. with
the exception Of her shoes aud stockings
Pair Not on Good Terms
Through A. ]. O'Hara, a former room
mate OF Potts and a co-worker with him
in the auditing department OF the Bur
Iingtou, where Potts was employed prior
to his connection with the Hynes COM
pany, II was learned that Potts and the
woman were not on good terms. Potts hav-
ing tried for some time 10 get rid OF her
one of the woman's stories was Potts
turned in Monday night saying he was
sick having drunk a glass OF beer which
he believed had poison in il. Her theory
to support this yarn was that he told her
he was employed by Elmer f. Thomas in
his fight against the saloons and that be-
cause OF this some saloonkeeper had poi
l soned him. AS a matter OF fact this story
Is all fiction. He never worked for
Thomas, but had employed B. +. Thomas
as his attorney when the woman four
weeks ago. filed criminal charges against
I ~, Ia, Omaha