Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-12-15
TRIAL IF DR. FR|TCH ATTRACTS GREAT
 ATTENTION
Charged With Killing Ann Arbor Girl and Throw
 ing Body in River

DETROIT, Mich-, December l4.-No criminal trial in years has stirred De. troit to such high pitch of interest as is manifested at present in the ease of Dr. George A. Fritch, who faces a charge of manSlaughter in connection with the death of Miss Maybellc Mill man, the Aun Arbor girl, whose body was fshed from Ecorse creek last Oc- tober. The prosecuting attorney hopes 10 have the trial of Dr. Fritch cOuclud- ed before the end of this week.
 Public interest in tue case is due largely to the fact that crimes of q character of which Dr. Fritch is ac- cused have been unusually numerous in Detroit of late years and in practically none of the cases has it been possible t1 secure conviction. Dr. Fritch, ac- coyding to the allegations of the police, has long been a foremost disciple of a disreputable class of physicians who make criminal operations their special tv. In the present ease the evidence against him appears to be incontrovert- ible.
 On the morning of September : last the body of the Millman girl was found sewed in a sack floating in Ecorse creek, The following day the head of the vie tim was found about ten yards up stream from the place where the body had been found. The head was sewed in the same kind of burlap bag as the one containing the trunk. Several days elapsed before the remains were finally identified by Miss Martha Henning as those of hey former schOOlmate and chum, Maybelle Millman of Ann Arbor. The scene of the investigation was then shifted from Detroit to the university city, where the MiIlman girl had lived with her widowed mother.
 The police found that on August II the girl had left her home, telling her mother that she was coming to Detroit to visit her former schOOlmate, Miss Manning. The latter. when questioned by the police admitted that she knew that Miss Millman had wished to under go an illegal operation and had men toned the name of Dr. Fritch.
 The physician was well known to the police, by reason of his past experiences In 1907 he had been arrested in cOnnec' tion with the death of Miss Edith Press lev, prOOfreader 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 ease promised for a while to take the same turn, as the evidence against Dr. Fritch was wholly of circumstantial character. He was strongly suspected of having been re- sponsible for the girl death, but evi dence to convict him was lacking. AS a conseuuence he was released on bond within a week after his arrest. Then came a development of a startling ma ture. which, according to the police supplied the missing link m the eVr dence against the suspected physician
 Joseph w. Leach, q chauffeur, was taken into custody and according tI his alleged confession, he was the man who assisted Dr. Fritch in conveying the remains of the dead girl from the physician s office to the spot where they were subsequently, discovered. In a stoned statement he declared that FTitch called him to his office about y o'clock the night the Millman girl dlS' ,,rearcd. and related in detail how he was shown three sacks and asked to indicate a place where there was 9eel bodv of water into which they might be thrown with no danger of their be ing found.
 6r. Fritch, according to Leach s con. fession. fearing that the contents oi the bags might permit them to foat and so be discovered, went to his nom" and obtained an armful of bricks, which he thrust into the bags to ther rqracitv. The bricks were found to contain the same manufacturer s marks as other bricks that were found on DT' Fritch s premises when he was arrested
 Based on the evidence at hand, the noIice formed a theory that Dr. frlteh he'd performed an illegal operation upon the oirl and that it had proved fatal either as its direct effect or through the administration of an anesthetlc. FInd' inc himself in this predicament' the rbvsician could see but one safe course That was secreting the body in man ner that would preclude its discovery
 Fearing that charge of murder would not withstand the legal on slauphts which the accused physieiah means and influence insure, the pros ecutor is undertaking a conviction on fl charge of manslaughter. In this state the maximum penalty for man slaughter is fifteen years penal serVi- tude.