Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1908-07-22
EXHUMED THE BODY.
Officers Will EndeavOr to Solve
FentOn Mystery.
WAS MISS MARBLE POISONED
Tsnton Much Excited over the Banch-
ard Affair-"Dutch" Involved In
Many Eseapades-HeIa In Jail at
Flint.

Fenton. Mich, July 21.-By direc-
ton of the sheriff and the prosecuting
attorney, the body Of Ella MARBLE, spin
stsr. fifty years or a little over, who.
Il is surmised. may have been dosed
With poison the few days before she
died last May at Dutch" Blanchard S
dtlapidatsd cottage in this village, has
been taken up 80 the contents OF the
stomach can be anaylzed.
Blanchard is now In the county fail
1t Flint. and so is Leila Cosselmsp
Who was but eight years old when
wha was but eight years old when
Dutch" SO 1t is told, eloped with
Mia Marble, twenty-one years ago.
and who for the past decade or so
has been known as Mrs Dutch"
Blanchard. Dutch" and Leila are
held on the specific charge OF there
having been no marriage ceremony, al
though something with a greater pen
Atty may be laid against them.
Fenton's Great Mystery.
II is the denssst mystery Fenton
has had in years. Dutch" Blanchard
and the Cosselman woman ran the
cottage The spinster, about whose
death ugly reports are circulating.
was there only irregularly after the
younger woman grew up. Shortly after
the spinster's death two months ago,
. girl Of fifteen, who says she has
been told that she is Leila Cossel-
mans SISTER, but doubts it because
she doesn't look like Leila, was sent
here from Gloversville, N. Y, as an
alternative to being committed to a
public institution. Annie Cosselman
In this girls name, and she was TO
live with Blanchard and the Cossel.
man woman.
She is big for her years and GER
things she talked which set the auth
critics investigating, and their investi-
cations have already developed a
somewhat remarkable case
The beginning was the elopement
Of Blanchard and Ella Marble, TWEEN
tv-one years ago Ella was the daugh-
ter OF George MARBLE, a farmer whose
possessions included over 100 acres of
land. They took $500 Of the old mans
money and came TO Fenton They
were here but q few months and then
returned to Johnstown, N Y In the
meanwhile the old father, to punish
Ells for her escapade, made over all
- 20
Return to Fenton.
The daughter who got the property
died soon after, and hazy gossip had
4 that she might have been poisoned.
Anyhow, Ella finally got all the old
mans possessions, and then she and
'Dutch" again came to Fenton.
This time they brought the father
with them, also Leila Cosselman. The
old father died ten years ago at the
sge OF seventy-nins while alone In his
bunk In the cottage attic The state
nent then was that he chokef to
death eating grapes.
But strikingly mysterious is the ef-
Sorts Of Blanchard and the Cosselman
woman TO make out that II was a
stranger, a Mrs. Helen White, and not
the spinster, who died in the cottage
last May. Both assured the sheriff
and prosecutor when arrested that il
was not the spinster who died, but,
under a sweating process, they finally
admitted that II was.
One theory is suggested az q mo
i've for having II believed that an.
ether than the spinster died. SO far
- known, she was the only direct
heir to the property her father owned
Were It known that she was dead
collateral heirs might go into court
to ascertain where the property was,
II II has not been squandered; but SO
long as her death was not proven. the
present possessors, even II they hold
Il unlawfullv, might continue IN pos
session for an indefinite period.
Annie Cosselman, the talking young.
or sister, says Blanchard and the old.
or woman told her the spinster's
ghost was in the cottage cellar, and
that there was one room in the cot.
tage which she was not permitted TO
enter. but in which there were blood
spots The sheriff could not find this
yoom. or spots.
The cottage 10 packed full OF a con
elomeration OF old clothes, furniture,
etc. The sheriff estimates that there
In two carloads, including something
like twenty trunks. Among things
found and held for evidence II bottle
Of carbolic acid.
What the authorities believe is OF
particular Importance to learn is who
now has old Mr.. MARBLES property,
which may have amounted to 40 much
a. $4,000.
Ill