The Detroit times., 1908-07-22
EXHUME BODY OF
WOMAN IN FARM
MYSTERY
PLAN OF AUTHORITIES WHO PAY
ATTENTION TO ANNIE cRossEL.
MANS HORROR sToRv-Look
FOR POISON.
(From a Special correspondect.,

FLINT. Mich. July 22.-"The whole
thing Is result OF Annie Crosselman'a
lies" declared James Blanchard. OF
Fenton. who is now in Genesee county
jail on statptory charge, with Leila
Crosselman.
Ii Is claimed by Anna Crosselman
that since her coming to Fenton she
has been forbidden to enter certain
rooms OF the house and that she had y
detected certain odors at different 4
times causing her TO believe that Ger.
tain persons had been buried In the
vicinity OF the house, or In the eel
lar.
Among some of the older residents
OF Fenton. with whom the officers
talked recently. the story Is told
that the trip from down east" to
Michigan made IA years ago by old
Geo. Marble, his daughter Ella, James
Blanchard. and Leila Crosselman. was 5
not the first for at least two OF them,
The two referred to are Blanchard and
Ella Marble. 1t is claimed that the
pair ran away from the MARBLE homo
II years ago. came to Fenton with sew.
eral thousand dollars. and stayed here
several weeks. sister OF the Mar.
pie woman died back east and they re.
turned. When they came again 1t was
seven years later and they brought
old man MARBLE with them and Leila
Crosselman. This much OF the story
came from no less an authority. say
Fenton people, than old man Marble
himself
| Four Mysterious Deaths.
| The deaths and disappearance Of at
least four persons in the Blanchard
house are now the subjects OF gossip,
Geo. MARBLE died eight years
ago. supposedly from strangling on @
grape seed. Marble did not exhaust
his means when he paid $4,000 for the
farm and what he did with the re-
mainder OF the money the omcers
would like to know. Blanchard says
his body was shipped back east for
burial. The daughter disappeared and
when the Crosselman woman and
Blanchard were questioned by the or
ffcers as TO her whereabouts. they
said she had gone away several
months ago. They said she was last
heard from In Chicago. When asked
; about a death in their home last May
they declared the decedent was q wo-
man named White whom they had
taken in while sick and cared for the
best they could. Blanchard says she
came here from Marion, o. After tell
ing this story Blanchard produced
photograph which he said was the
White woman. but one of the officers
identified IL as Ella MARBLE and con.
Ifronted the couple with the statement
and. ii is said that they admitted that
Ella MARBLE and the White woman
were one and the same person.
There are stories afoat that two
children I'm the Blanchard home are
gone and cannot be accounted for. but
this assertion is yet without founda-
ton in fact.
Officers to Go to New York.
1t is claimed that Ella MARBLE once
returned TO New York, shortly after
the purchase of the Fenton property
and received another sum OF money
which was given over TO Blanchard's
possession. No accounting OF this
money has ever been made and SO
far as the records show, no settlement
of her estate was made in the probate
courts of this state, or New York.
Officers will go TO New York and
attempt TO learn what they can or
Blanchard's past record and deter
mine II possible how Blanchard came
into possession of the money. IL ID
very likely in view of present circum-
stances that the New York heirs or
Miss MARBLE may bring a suit In
Michigan courts asking that an ac-
counting OF the money be made and
that the deed TO the Fenton property
be set aside in the ground that IL was
secured under undue influence.
The body OF Ella Marble was buried
under the name of Ellen White. The
: officers will exhume her body today
and send her stomach TO State
Chemist Holm for examination.
The girl Annie Crosselman. told the
: officers she had seen blood on the
: floor in one OF the forbidden rooms.
by peeklng through the keyhole. A
strong odor of carbolic acid prevailed
the house at the time of the arrest or
Blanchard and Leila Crosselman and
newspaper clippings descriptive OF
various murders were found.