Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1907-05-03
The Man Who
Murdered Himself.

"A murder has been committed about
q mile from this town. saw the MUIR
derer rifle the body and come in this
direction. l followed him and saw
him go into a restaurant"
An officer was sent to where the muir
der had been committed to bring in
the body. Another went with the in
former to the restaurant, where the
murderer was found and arrested. He
was taken to the police Office, and the
dead man soon arrived at the same
place. An examination showed that
the man had been killed by blow
from some iron or wooden substance.
In the pockets was no money, but q
pocketbook containing cards on which
were printed the name Russell Rowe.
The prisoner was searched, but no val
uables or papers were found on him.
He was we'll dressed man Of respect
able appearance. The murdered man
was quite the reverse. His clothes
were shabby, and the body gave EVIL
dence that he drank.
When the prisoner was asked for his
name, he gave it as Russell Rowe, the
name on the cards in the dead mans
pockets. The chief of police looked at
him scrutinizingly, wondering what
this statement would have to do with
/ his line Of defense. Then he asked
the man for his story. It was this:
He had been walking along the road
when he was overtaken by man, who
asked him for money. He was uncer-
tain of the mans intentions and hoped
to get off by giving him something.
He took out his pocketbook, and the
man caught sight Of large roll Of
bills.
After that the prisoner remembered
nothing till he came to himself some
time later. He was lying in the road,
with terrible pain in the back of his
head. Feeling in his pockets, he found
his money gone. With difficulty he
arose and tottered on. He had gone
but short distance when he came
upon a dead body, which he recognized
at once as that Of the man who had
robbed him. He searched the clothes
for his money, but, not finding it, went
on to the town, where he could get a
stimulant to brace him up. He was
arrested while drinking a glass of
whisky.
'"That," said the chief, lis one of the
most ingenious yarns I have ever
heard from a criminal, but when you
made it up you forgot one important
part-the money he took from you"
The prisoner stuck to his story, and
the Indictment against him read that
Russell Rowe was indicted for killing
an unknown man, supposed to have
been Russell Rowe. In other words,
he was indicted for killing himself. He
brought witnesses from a distant city,
where he belonged, to identify him,
but the prosecuting attorney badgered
them so with questions as to whether
they were perfectly certain and how
they knew they we're certain and
whether they might not possibly be
mistaken that they broke down and
couldn't swear positively that the man
was Russell Rowe, whom some of
them had known for years.
The attorney for the defense got up
q theory to account for the disappear
ance Of the money, but there was moth
ing probable in it. Even if the disap-
pearance were satisfactorily explained
lsh the identity Of the real Russell
Rowe. The attorneys explanation fell
fiat, being unsupported by the least
evidence.
The prosecuting attorney in sum-
ming up explained the nature of cir
cumstantial evidence to the jury-what
would be weak, what strong, evidence.
he reviewed the evidence against the
prisoner. He had been discovered RI
fling the pockets. II he had found
anything, it had been easy to get rid Of
it before his arrest. This proof he
contrasted with the prisoners improb-
able story. Thus he made it clear to
the jury, and the judge charged them
In accordance with the evidence.
They were but half an hour bringing
In verdict of guilty.
Notwithstanding the plainness Of the
case there were some who felt that
q mistake was being made. The pris-
oner's lawyer was in an agony at the
result. He fought the case with de-
lays, but they were Of no avail. Moth
ing but new evidence could save the
prisoner, and new evidence was not
forthcoming. The prisoner was finally
hanged, protesting his innocence of
the crime and declaring that he was
the man who had been murdered.
The Russell Rowe case, which had
attracted much attention, had come to
be thing Of the past and was grad
ually being forgotten except by Rowe's
attorney and the chaplain who attend
ed him in his last moments, who could
never forget it. Years after the trag-
edy man named Hardy was convict
ID Of murder and robbery. Immedi-
ately before his execution he made a
confession of another murder of which
be had never been suspected. He and
. man named James Shilling had been
companions in crime. One day they
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