The Detroit times., 1910-12-30
ED ASCHER, FRANK HAYES
AND THIRD LITER FREED
CONTINUED from page ~.

In his suit case, Kelley's overcoat
, and revolver were found.
Hayes carried revolver That had
been recently cleaned. Baker con-
| tinued the search for evidence and
found on the roof of "A porch, just be-
meath the window OF Hayes room an
empty cartridge shell that exactly
fitted into the young mans gun. The
bullet that had been extracted from
Kelley's head. was, in turn, fitted into
the empty cartridge shell. The chain
! Of circumstantial evidence was com
plete and there was never any doubt
In the minds OF the police or others
connected with the cnse that the
right man had been convicted.
According to Hayes alleged confes.
sion to Attorney Robson, now de-
ceased, az repeated to the prosecutor,
Hayes was working on the seize While
Kelley, who had been called out OF
bed, was working on prescription
claimed to have been faxed by Hayes.
Kelley heard rafting at the sale,
walked around to see what was the
matter, and there caught Hayes in
the act OF tampering with the COM
bination.
Hayes told bis attorney that he
then drew his revolver, and compelled
Kelley to march ahead of him down
stairs into the basement, where kel-
ley was found dead" says Baker.
1--WE found that Hayes had robbed
the safe once before of $40 but he was
not prosecuted. The combination was
changed after that, which explains
why Hayes could not get into II the
night he killed Kelley"
Hayer' father has died since he has
been in prison. His mother now lives
in Trenton, Mich and it was through
her efforts that the case was brought
TO the attention OF the governor and
the pardon board again. Hayes will
be released in time to spend New
Years day with his mother.
The Ascher Case.
The Ascher case is one OF the most
remarkable in the criminal annals or
Michigan. Like Hayes, Ascher was
convicted on purely circumstantial evil
dence He was convicted largely on
the testimony of man who claimed
TO have seen him cross Belle Isle
bridge on the night Nichols disap-
pearcd.
What carried the most weight with
Gov. Warner in Ascher's case was the
statements and affidavits Of six jurors
on the fourth and last trial Of Ascher,
when he was convicted for the second
time. According to these affidavits,
tho jurors who switched over at tho
last moment and voted for conviction
utter standing out for acquittal for
hours, did so TO get away from the
sickening conditions prevailing In the
jury room for the sake OF their own
lives. The Jurors claim they were
kept in a room near a lavatory which
had become stopped up, and that sew
eral OF the jurors became very sick.
The siv Jurors in question appeared
before the pardon board during the
past few days and made their state
ments. They also visited the govern
or and pleaded with him to right what
they termed a great wrong. Two OF
them. the governor says, cried like
children. in pleading for Ascher.
Show How Jury stood.
The jurors filed with the pardon
board a record OF the ballots taken,
% in all. showing Just how the jury
stood on each. Attached to the rec
ord are the following notes made by
the foreman, Ebenezer Day.
Pin. Delhanaty, Fallon, Kock,
Marchner and Day say It Is better
to let one man go to Jail for life
than Il get sick and die In the at
tempt TO decide II he Is guilty or
not, hence the result of the last
four ballots. Nearly all jurors
sick: FIVE OF them seriously so.
Copeland, Degat, Wilcox con-
cede to the throwing out OF Whit
more's testimony; Marshner,
Dean. Hempel, Kock and Burns re-
verse 10 above. Copeland says
possibly that LATER may have
been at the telephone office at
3:47; Wilcox says Whitmore saw
Ascher; Fallon agrees with Cope
land. +. ID.
Ascher's Parents Happy.
Gov. Warner has made no nis-
take, he has done right In releasing
my boy" said Simon Ascher, the
aged father of the convicted man,
Friday noon.
Mr.. Ascher has remained loyal to
his son from the first and has spent
fortune in the effort to set him
free. He does not begrudge a penny
of IT,
we won't say anything about
that" he declared when asked how
much he had spent in his fight for
his sons liberty. That's all past
now, so let IL go. The main thing is.
my boy is coming home. have al
ways believed him innocent. other
wise | would not have worked SO
hard to get him released, and at last
il is really true that he is coming
home"
Mr. Ascher said that hia son would