The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-12-13
MURDER TRIAL Of.
DR.. FR|TCH

Detroit, Dec. 13.-No criminal
trial in years has stirred Detroit TO
such a high pitch of interest as is
manifested at present in the case of
DR.. George A. Fritch, who faces
charge of manslaughter in connection
with the death of Miss Maybelle Mill
man, the Ann Arbor girl whose body
was fished from Ecorse creek last
October The prosecuting attorney
hopes to have the trial of Dr. Fritch
concluded before the end of this
week.
Public interest in the case is due
largely to the fact that crimes of
character of which DR.. Fritch is ac-
cused have been unusually numerous
in Detroit of late years and in prac-
tically none of the cases has it been
possible to secure a conviction DR..
Fritch, according to the allegations
of the police. has long been a fore
most disciple of a disreputable class
of physicians who make criminal
operations their specially In the
present case the evidence against
him appears to be incontrovertible.
On the morning of September Z
last the body of the Millman girl was
found sewed in a sack floating in
Ecorse creek. The following day
the head of the victim was found
about ten yards up stream from the
place where the body was found The
head was sewed in the same kind of
a burlap bag as the one containing
the trunk. Several days elapsed be-
fore the remains were finally iden-
titled by Miss Martha Henning as
those of her former schOolmate and
chum, Maybelle Millman of Ann Ar
Dor. The scene of the investigation
was then shifted from Detroit to the
university city, where the Millman
girl had lived with her widowed
mother.
The police found that on August
IA the girl had left her home, tell
ing her mother that she was coming
to Detroit to visit her former school
mate, Miss Henning. The latter. when
questioned by the police, admitted
hot ho L 4
wished to undergo an illegal opera
ton and had mentioned the name of
DR.. Fritch.
The physician was we'll known to
the police by reason of his past ex-
periences. In 1907 he had been ar
rested in connection with the death
of Miss Edith Presley, proof reader
for the state senate When the
prosecution of a member of the state
legislature failed for lack of evidence
the doctor was released.
The Millman case promised for a
time to take the same turn, as the
evidence against DR.. Fritch was
wholly of circumstantial character.
He was strongly suspected of having
been responsible for the girls death,
but evidence to convict him was lack
ing. AS a consequence he was re-
leased on bond within a week after
his arrest Then came development
Of startling nature, which, accord
ing to the police, supplied the miss
ing link in the evidence against the
suspected physician.
Joseph w. Leach, a chauffeur, was
taken into custody and according to
his alleged confession he was the
man who assisted Dr. Fritch in con-
veying the remains of the dead girl
from the physicians Office to the spot
where they were subsequently found.
In a signed statement he declared
that Fritch called him to his Office
about o'clock the night the Mill
man girl disappeared, and related in
detail how he was shown three sacks
and asked to indicate a place where
there was a deep body of water into
which they might be thrown with on
danger of their being found.
DR.. Fritch. according to Leach's
confession, fearing that the contents
of the bags might permit them to
his home and obtained an armful Of