The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-01-08

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county attorney, sheriff and all con
nected with the prosecution.
Deputy Saw Body.
| However, before murder can be
proved the laws insist That the body
supposed to have been rendered life.
| less lie presented, or at least seen by
someone, and to provide this only
| faulty detail in tle chain of evil
dence which had been so neatly and
confidently woven. Deputy Sheriff c.
G. Phillips, from AlanSato, arrived in
Minneapolis the other day and made
his way to the poor farm, where the
body" was still kept, and examined
it.
So great was his belief in the story
and its truth, that he actually identi-
| fed what ne saw as the rags sent
from the farmstead in Mankato and
the body which it was supposed to
contain. Furthermore, The bones which
cursory examination revealed. and
which had never in their existence
been used for any other purpose than
to support the frame of some delicate
and now deceased chicken, were easily
seen in the light of a smashed head
for the story told by the witnesses
declared that the skull had been
crushed in to cause death.
Then the deputy sheriff returned to
Mankato. The thing at the Hennepin
county poor farm was a gruesome oh
ject, at best, and did not smell good,
but he thought he lad done his en-
tire duty in going as far as he had
with the examination and Identified
ton.
Yesterday word was received that
the sheriff himsef would leave imme
diately for Minneapolis to take the
precious evidence with him back to
be shown at the trial of the man
be hind the bars. Arrangements were
made for Il metallic coffin, and the
bundle was transferred to the under
taking rooms of T. Connolly, Il Sixth
street north, there to be prepared for
presentation in the august courts
presence.
To properly prepare it for the or
deal Mr.. Connolly gave the matter his
personal attention, and, wishing to
do as careful piece OF work as pos
sible in order to extend every aid to
provide evidence against the supposed
criminal, before sealing the box. I'M
winding the rags there was exposed
to his view, first several pieces of the
biscuit, then piece of liver sausage,
tied at one end with string. then
a slice of blood sausage, and all ming
ling WITH several pieces of bones.
He looked farther, but these things
are all he saw. Nothing was in the
package that looked like human be-
ing, and he wondered if the supposed
body had not been stolen, and these
counterfeit remains of some hoboe's
breakfast substituted in it's place
However, hurried consultation with
the coroner soon explained thehumorous
truth-the willy officers of the law
had been severely duped If ever muir
der was committed, this was not the
evidence of the deed.
The sheriff is expected to arrive in
Minneapolis this morning, and when
he does, he will be gwen the signs
of murder which had so confidently
been relied upon to send one man to
the penitentiary, or perhaps to the
gallows.
The trial is to take place soon, but
the prisoners outlook is not so
gloomy now as it was, and the chances
are that he will be released without
further ado.
And thus the supposed murder plot
is turned into nothing more than a
ludicrous farce.
Clings to Original Theory.
The Minneapolis Tribune of today
contained this story:
Sheriff John W. Donahue of Man
kato, Mimi, is coming to Minneapolis
today to investigate the discovery of
chicken bones and sausage in a sack
thought to contain the bones of an
infant supposed to have been murdered
in Blue Earth county.
The sheriff of Blue Earth clngs to
the belief that the original contents of
the sack were the remains of the muir
dered infant.
Over the long distance telephone he
stated last night that the persons who
first saw the contents of the sack could
not all have made the mistake i'm de-
caring them to be an infants bones
The sheriff declared that substitution
of the sack of chicken bones for the or
iginal package would have been com
paratively easy during the time the
sack remained at the Hennepin county
poor farm, where it was viewed by a
number of persons.
Looks Suspicious.
Sheriff Donahue intends to satisfy
himself as to whether the sack opened
last week and now at Connolly's under
taking establishment is the same that
was found in the railroad yards of the
Minneapolis & st. Louis railroad He
would not charge any person with hav-
ing substituted the one package for
the other, but insisted that the cir.
cumstances are suspicious.
Morgue Keeper John Schaffer, who
had charge of the supposed infants
body, said last night that there could