The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-02-03
JURY EXONERATES
BARNEY CINNAMON
VERDICT IS THAT SOPHIE eAARE
MET HER DEATH ACCIDENTAL
LY -- CINNAMON TELLS A
STRAIGHTFORWARD STORY ON
WITNESS STAND.

The inquest into the death Of Sophie
Gaare who was killed by falling off the
north bridge Sunday evening Jan. 16,
was concluded last evening before a
jury impanneled by Coroner Vincent,
the day following the fatal accident. In
substance the verdict of the jury was
as follows:
I'VE, the jury, find that Sophie Gaare
came to her death by an accident,
through playful carelessness with Bar
ney Cinnamon Cor Robert Davis) with
out criminal intent"
The principal witness at the inquest
was Barney Cinnamon, whose right
name is Robert Davis, and he was
searchingly examined by County At
torney Johnson who. entertained views
that the sad affair was not SO much
of an accident as general report made
1t out to be. Cinnamon on the stand
made practically the same statement
reported in this paper as that made to
Er. Humphrey as a patient in the
Northwestern hospital. The witness
could not be shaken and stoutly main
tanned that his falling over the rail of
the bridge with Sophie Gaare was an
accident. He said the story he told
the Gaare girl about himself and an
other girl jumping off the bridge the
night previous was purely fabrica-
ton and told in a joke. He told the
jury that he did pick the girl up above
the railing, that his feet slipped and
over they went and that was the last
he remembered until sometime after
he had been in the hospital.
Witness Rigidly Examined.
The county attorney very closely
questioned the witness as to all the
circumstances prior to the accident,
how long he had known the deceased,
his feelings towards her; in fact every
minute of the time they were together
was accounted for. Cinnamon stated
that he did not wear rubbers at the
time and he positively denied that
there had been any drinking in the
party he was in-he did not drink him
self. ."t
Bert McGinnis and Inga Peterson,
who were in the company of Cinnamon
and the Gaare girl on the night in
question, William La Ruhl and a waiter
named Hodges, each gave their version
of the story Of the visit to Moorhead,
what was done and said during the
meal taken at the Howard Coffee house
and the jollying pursued in, but no one
actually saw the two people fall over
the bridge. Hodges told Of assisting
in the rescue of the bodies and their
removal to the restaurant above the
bridge. He saw Cinnamon and the
Gaare girl just as they left the res
taurant to return to Fargo and they
were perfectly sober. Each witness
was questioned closely by the county
attorney but nothing whatever could
be construed other than that the af-
fair was purely an accident.
There Had Been No Drinking.
DR.. Humphrey was called at the spe-
ciaI request of the bereaved mother of
the dead girl. He said that fracture
at the base of the skull was the direct
cause of the girls death. There were
other injuries which were not neces-
sarily fatal. The doctor stated posi-
lively that there were not signs of i'm
toxication either in the body of the
girl or that of Cinnamon. He made
careful examinations for that purpose,
both at the Howard place, when he first
saw the injured parties and again at
the hospital. There was not the least
sign of the presence of intoxicating
liquors of any kind or sort.
DR.. Humphrey testified too that Gin
namon did not know of the girls death
until the witness himself had told him
a few hours before the inquest. The ac-
tions of Cinnamon when told of the
death clearly established that beyond
all bubble. He made the reply, ''it
would have been just as we'll If had
been killed"
The doctor was the last witness. The
room was cleared and the jury proceed
ed to deliberate on its verdict which
was returned as stated.