The Topeka state journal., 1910-03-29
1 DIDN'T DO IT."
Charles NOrdmark Confronted
With Bodies of Lindahls.
Declares Innocence of Murder
of the Family.
RUSE THAT FAILED.
Effort Made to Force Admission
From Him.
Funeral Of the Dead Is Held
This Afternoon.
RUSE THAT FAILED.

Scandia, March 29.-The coroner's in
quest into the brutal murder of the
LindahI family is in progress.
The testimony of Percy Shivers and
John Weber. the hunters who stumbled
upon the motor boat containing the
CORY bodies of Elvira and Ernest
Lindahl Sunday evening, told the story
Of the finding, of the bodies. The
wounds on the three bodies were de-
scribed. It was evident that Lindahl
and his two children were killed by
single discharge of a shotgun The
greater part of the load entered the
body Of Lindahl and only a few shot
were found in the bodies of the chill
dren. The boy was struck by three or
four shot in the chest and the girl was
hit by three shot through the head and
face.
Charles Nordmark, who is under ar
rest, is stolidIy Indifferent He refuses
to answer questions and presents
spectacle of vicious degradation. His
body is dirty and unkempt and he ap-
pears to be mentally unbalanced He
is a bachelor and lived the life of a
hermit in a hut on the Republican
river bank where he subsisted prin-
cipally by hunting and fishing. There
has been a feud between him and Lin
dahl for ten years and five years ago he
was accused of shooting five cattle be-
longing to Lindahl who was a prosper
Gus farmer.
Nordmark lived alone in a little hut
near Scandia. When this hut was
searched following his arrest the Of
ficers found three shotguns, a half filed
keg of dynamite and five hundred load
ed shotgun Shells.
An effort was made this morning by
a ruse to secure evidence of Nord-
marks guilt. He was placed in
room at a hotel with a personal friend
who has known him for many years.
This man told him that this was his
chance to escape and that he was
70 dxy 70 q q would
a horse in the yard and if he would
run out the back way he could mount
the animal and escape into Nebraska,
and the friend pledged his co-opera-
ton.
81 haven't done anything to cause
me to run away and am not going"
said Nordmark. The ruse had failed.
Nordmark was then taken before
the coroner's jury and was placed be-
fore the dead bodies of the Lindahl
family. Then he was asked If he had
killed them. He was unmoved and re-
piled with Indifference: "I tell you
now, the same as I did yesterday,
did not do it,
The jury, accompanied by Nord-
mark, was then taken to the Lindahl
farm. The Lindahl house is a quar-
ter of a mile from the river. Lindahl,
at the request of his children, left
home after dinner Saturday to set
some fish traps in the river. The MUIR
der was committed near the boat land
showing that the shooting had taken
place shortly after noon.
A damaging fact brought out in the
evidence is that Nordmark was fixing
a fence not more than 50 feet from
where the murder was committed Sat
urday afternoon and two empty shot
gun shells were found near where he
had been working.
Mrs. LindahI is bewildered by the
horrible death of her husband and NUT
wi a
have been left to me?" She expresses
no interest in the murderer.
The funeral of the three dead was
held at 2 o'clock this afternoon and
was the largest ever held in this COM
munity.
Found in Wild Spot.
1t is a wild spot on the Republican
where the triple murder was commit
ted. About seventy-f1ve feet above the
spot in the river where Lindahl's body
was found lay twigs newly severed
from the underbrush as if from a
charge of buckshot. The murderer