The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-07-30
BOTH OUT ON BAIL
SERVANTS WERE RELEASED FROM
CUSTODY TODAY.

Relatives SlSH luc 1WU 1HOuSduQ DOls
lar Bond; Defendants Arraigned in
Municipal Court on Complaint of
Being Accessories After the Fact
to Murder of H. ]. Ledbeter; Will
Return at Once to Sanborn.
From Thursdays Daily.
The Schwandts-Will and Goldie-
charged with being accessories after
the fact in the murder of H. j. Led
better, are at liberty, and have left
Mankato for Sanborn, near which city
Schwandt has been building little
farm home.
They are overjoyed at being admit
ted to bail and allowed to see one an
other. They were married only last
November, and have seen compare
lively little of one another since that
time. During the past month they
have been lodged under the same roof,
but in widely separated cells where
they could neither see nor communi-
cate with ane another. 1t was only
during the trips to the city hall and
court house that they were allowed to
converse, and these brief interviews
were only tantalizing because Mrs.
Schwandt, who did most of the talk
ing, had chance to say little more
than, ooh Will, 1 have so much to
tell YOU"
Visit of Two Months Ago.
The last real visit they had was
over two months ago when Schwandt
arrived from Sanborn and joined his
wife who was visiting her sister, Mrs.
Grace Ledbeter on the Ledbeter farm.
And if the allegations of the state
are true this could not have been a
very enjoyable occasion for it is
charged that during the night of this
visit the body of the murder victim
was moved from the barn to the hole
in the field. 1t was gruesome mis-
sion, rather different from the joyous,
peaceful meeting of bride and bride
groom.
The devotion that exists between
Schwandt and his wife has been mani
tested in many ways by both since
they have been under arrest and every
effort has been made to secure evidence
in the case in which they are impli-
Gated.
When Schwandt was brought to
Mankato and lodged in Jail, he thought
little of his own predicament but shed
big tears when he was told that his
wife was lodged in another cell up
stairs. And when the cypher letters
written by him and his wife were
read, the many endearing things they
contained proved the strong affection
each had for the other.
Began Erection of House.
Early this year, Schwandt began the
erection of a little home on the farm
he owns near Sanborn. Both he and
his wife were anxiously looking for
ward to the time when they could be
together in their own home.
He wrote almost daily telling of
how he worked at night to hurry the
little farm house to completion. She
answered to urge him to finish off one
or two rooms that she might join him
as early as possible.
And back of their anxiety for each
others company seemed to be fear
for the safety of Mrs. tSchwandt. The
husband admitted after he was placed
in Jail that he worked unusually hard
to enclose mis- new home, that he
might take his wife there at the earl
lest possible moment. He had an in
describable dread, he said, about hav-
ing his wife stay at the Ledbeter
farm after the disappearance of the
unfortunate Ledbeter.
Things seemed queer to MIN during
the night he spent at the farm about
the twentieth of Maybe kept contin-
ually thinking of the noises he had
heard that highland the fears they
caused was heightened by his wife's
anxiety to leave the place and join
him at Sanborn.
Were Arralgned Jointly.
Schwandt and his wife were ar
raigned jointly before Judge Comstock
in the municipal court this morning,
and the proceedings were very brief.
Very few people were in the court
room at the time. County Attorney
Plymat and Attorney Benedict APP
peared for tine state, and G. j. Laur
isch for the defendants waived the
reading of the complaint and also a
preliminary examination and moved
that the defendants be admitted to
bail
Judge Comstock then ordered the de-
PENDANTS to furnish recognizance each
inf the sum of $1,000 for their appear
ance at the next term of the district
court in this county.
Mr. Laurisch suggested that the
bond be made jointly, but County At
torney Plymat objected, and after a
brief discussion it was agreed that
4ho Lo,Js should bo oyoo,fod cop<