The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-12-24

road, and he had later seen teams go
over it. There had been no further
conversation with Mrs Ledbeter that
day. The witness described the exact
location of the grave where the body
was found. There was nothing to OBJ
struct the view of this location from
the road
Preparations For the Search.
The witness told of his preparations
for the search, which was participated
in by about seventy five men. Small
parties went around with spears, and
in suspicious places they stuck spears
into the ground. Where the ground had
been dug up it was loose and the
spears would 90 in, whereas they
would not go into the ground at all
where it had not been dug up.
The witness saw the defendant June
I26, at her home and the Scotch collie
dog was there and went with the wit
ness. Mrs. Ledbeter was on the porch,
and let the dog in and shut the door,
but did not invite the witness in. They
had no talk. After he had gone to the
barn, he saw that the dog was out
again. When Mrs. Ledbeter shut the
door, the witness had just cleaned his
shoes and was about to shake hands
with her and 60 in, but when she shut
the door he went to the east of the
house and to the barn.
While searching, grave, or hole was
found in the barn, next to the west
wall in the barn. The dirt was thrown
out. 1t was four feet deep, five and Al
half feet long and two feet wide.
There was straw and hay in the bot
tom of the hole. The straw was quite
bright and seemed not to have been
there long. Later, another grave was
found in the west end of the feed alley,
at the west of the barn, as close to
the wall as possible. There was an
other hole or blind grave found in the
field.
The noon recess was taken at this
point.
Continued His Statement.
Mr. Ledbeter continued his testimony
this afternoon. The blind gave in the
field was twenty to twenty-five feet
from the grave where the body was
found. The plowed field where these
graves were was four rods by seven or
eight rods, and the grave was almost
in the center of it.
The witness was present when the
body was taken from the ground, and
he saw Mrs. Ledbeter half an houur
afterwards. She said that she hoped
that whoever did it would DE punished.
Te had asked her who oId it, but she
was carrying on" and he could not
recall her answer except that the
word Smith" was IN it.
The witness was at the barn juno
26 and the dog was tied at the chicken
coop, close to the entrance to the barn.
The chain was fastened on the coop,
four feet from the southeast entrance
It othe barn, which is the door that
the defendant said she last saw her
husband enter. The collie dog was Sc
cured by the witness from Mr..
Faulkner at Minnesota Lake.
The spot in the barn where the
grove was, in the feed alley, was very
dark. The alley ran practically clear
across the barn. Above the grave was
la hay chute leading from the hay NOV,
and hay thrown down the chute would
land on top of the grave.
On cross examination, the witness
said that he formerly lived in Medo
township. Witness was married before
the deceased. The latter lived with
their father and mother and two sis
tiers. The deceased was married fif-
teen years agoi this fall and after that
lived with his parents for four or
five years, and then moved to Redwood
Falls. The witness moved to Chippewa
county, and from there to Hayward
six years ago. Ii. j. Ledbeter moved
to Hayward and lived there from Feb
ruary to November, then moved back
to Redwood Falls, and thence to Lime
township, this county, in February,
1908. The witness had never been on
this place until June Is, when he
drove there with the sheriff and tied
the team in the yard, and walked to
where Mrs. Ledbeter and the boys
were. Smith was blowing in the corn
field sixty or eighty rods from where
the grave was found, driving east and
west. The sheriff had asked how to
get to Smith, and Mrs. Ledbeter mad
directed him. The defense spent Il
lot of time trying to break down the
witness statement that there was Il
beaten track where he could have
driven directly to Frank Smith, across
the farm, but Mr. Ledbeter's testimony
was mistaken. .le insisted that it
W ould have been an easy matter TO
drive across, as there was a beaten
track and bridge across the creek. The
defense also attempted to show that
/! it was not mile or more further to
Smith by teh route which Mrs. Led
better had sent them, but here, again
the witness chung to his statements