The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1907-09-27
High Court Is to Decide an
Important Point.
wEllNER CASE IS ON APPEAL
Farm Property Was Conveyed to At
fOrney Who Defended Woman
That Killed Husband.


son shall be allowed to inherit thu
property of man he murders. OF
whether he shall be debarred from
the rights of descent by the commits
sion of the crime. is question that
must be settled by the state SUI
preme court of Minnesota.
The interesting point arises in the
case of Jacob Klossner. Jr. guardian
of Rose and Hilda Wellner. minor
children of John Wellner. who was
murdered in Lafayette township near
ly nine years ago, against Joseph A.
Eckstein, a New Ulm attorney. The
action was started by the guardian
to recover title to farm left by
the father of his wards. and he is
seeking to have a transfer to Mr..
Eckstein set aside.
incidentally, the. institution of the
proceedings recalls one of the most
celebrated murder cases ever known in
this part of the state. John Weller. a
wealthy farmer, was assassinated on
the night of Dec. 81. 1898. and when
his body was discovered his wife told
story to the effect that the house
was entered by masked men. who
bound her to chair and killed her
husband. Within year she was mar.
ried to Frank Tanke, who had been
employed as a hired man by her first
husband. and in October. 1901. they
We're arrested charged with the crime.
Was Close to Gallows.
Tanke's first trial. with Congress
man c. r. Davis, as the prosecuting
attorney. began in this city in Febru.
airy, 1902. but came to an end when
one of the jurors went violently in
sane. A change of venue to the Sib
ley county district court was taken,
and when Tanke> was tried at Hender-
son he was found guilty of murder in
the first degree.
The convicted man was taken into
court on July IL. 1902, and sentenced
his wife made a sensational confess
sion. declaring that she alone was re-
sponsible for the killing and complete
" generating her husband. She was
sentenced to life imprisonment. but
her confession secured a, new trial
for Tanke. The third trial took place
at St. James in March. 1908. when
Tanke was convicted of second degree
murder and sentenced to the peniten-
tiary for life. $685..
Mr. Eckstein defended the woman
and her husband in the three trials,
and Oh July 5, 1902, shortly after her
husbands first conviction, she trans
ferred her undivided interest in the
Lafayette farm to the lawyer. The
property consists of 235 acres, and Is
valued at $l2.25O. Mrs. Tanke had a
life equity in the homestead of eighty
acres, and an undivided one-third in
terest in the remaining l55 acres.
What the Court Did.
On April 6, 1907. the plaintiffs be.
gan the present action, they assert.
ing that, as Mr.. and Mrs. Tanke de-
liberately plotted to kill the woman's
first husband that they might marry
and enjoy the use of his property, the
mother of the girls should be debarred
from the rights of succession. Their
case is based on the common law that
no person shall be allowed to profit
from the fruits of his own evil, but
to make it hold they must get the
courts to ignore the Minnesota laws
of descent.
After the service of the complaint
the defendant interposed demurrer
ON the grounds that the Nicollet coun-
ty district court had no jurisdiction;
that the plaintiffs had no legal capa-
city to sue and that the facts did not
constitute a cause of action. On July
% last. Judge /. NJ. Olsen sustained
the demurrer, holding that the facts
were insufficient for cause of action,
and it is from this decision that the
plaintiffs have taken an appeal to
the suDreme court.