Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-13
ON BECKER STORY
County Attorney Says it May Be Vital
Link in Chain.
SORRY POLICE DID NOT TELL HIM
His First Knowledge of IL Came from
The Bee-Insurance Companies
Now Get Busy In
Court.

County Attorney English Saturday morn
INK Investigated the story of Mrs. J. A..
Becker. who saw three strange men near
her home at Forty-first and Dodge streets.
about 3 o'clock on the morning of the
shooting Of DR.. Fred T. Rustin.
The story she told me was substantially
that printed in The Bee this morning. %
said Mr.. English. II knew nothing OF this
bit Of possible evidence until saw IL in
The Zee. I talked to both Mrs. Becker
and her daughter and got a complete state
ment."
d you consider the story important?"
1T may be-" nc said. "Of course there
may be no connection between the three
men and the Rustin case. on the other
hand there maybe a close connection be-
tween them
Mr.. English expressed surprise and dis
appointment that the police. since a mem
Der Of the force went to the Becker house
and took Mrs. Becker's statement and
that Of her daughter the morning Of the
tragedy. did not see fit to give him the
benefit OF the information so that he might
have made use Of It at the inquest and in
the early stages Of the Investigation.
Mr.. English said he had heard nothing
Of the finding Of a cigar stump and a
cigaret stump on the Rustin front porch
the morning Of the tragedy except what he
had seen in the paper.
Insurance ~mpanIe Busy.
Three insurance companies in which DR.
Rustin carried accident policies have gone
into district court to secure order ito
perpctuate the testimony Of Mrs. Abbie
Rice and Charles E. Davis. The application
was made by Greene, Breckenridge &
Matters. attorneys for all three companies,
In order to preserve in such shape that 1t
can be used in case a suit arises over the
insurance, the most important parts of
the statements given by Mrs. Rice and Mr..
Davis.
The companies interested are the Aetna
Life Insurance company of Hartford in
which he held a policy Of $4,000; the EN-
ployers Liability Assurance Corporation of
London in which he had a policy for $500
and the Travellers Insurance company Of
Hartford in which he held an additional
5000.
The petition carefully avoids taking any
position on the question as to how nr.
Rustin came to his death. 1t merely states
his death occurred under circumstances
that lead to a public inquiry and that Mrs.
Rice and Mr.. Davis were important wit
nesses. Tho petition also say the petition
ers have reason to believe Mrs. Rustin
will begin suit against them on the policies
and the evidence of the two witnesses will
be Important.
The petitioners say they fear both OF
the witnesses may leave the state or dis
appear, so that this testimony could not
be secured II suits should be filed.
There is no significance to be attached
TO the filing Of these applications" said
Mr.. Breckenridge. I'VE merely desire to
preserve the testimony in case we should
want to use it in the future. The evidence
given before the coroner would be of little
use to us in case the witnesses should dis
appear. This proceeding will enable us to
put the evidence in shape to use it in case
we cannot find the witnesses when the
time comes
Accompanying the applications was a list
Of questions TO be asked each witness,
covering the important points in the testi-
mony before the coroner.
The hearing will be held before Judge
Sutton next Saturday morning.
Wealth of Charles f. Davis.
To carry out the provisions OF the will OF
Thomas Davis, father OF r. II. Davis