The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-11-04

and relatives that did, AID would
| do as much for my second wife and
her children. About twelve o'clock he
ordered me to get my oldest daughter
out of bed and come down stairs. He
said he had enough evidence against
my daughter Catherine and | said that
little girl didn't do anything to any
body and she is all right. He asked
where she was and | told him she was
visiting my brother and told him where
and he said he would go and see her
if he wanted to. | went half way up
stairs and called my daughter Mary
several times but she didn't answer, SO
went upstairs and into her room
and woke her up. My girl came down
and the detective told TraXler and me
to go into the next room and after a
while Thur came in also and we stayed
there maybe fifteen or twenty minutes
and my little girl went upstairs to bed.
| The detective told me before and after
| Mary came down that my own children
were afraid of me and | said it was
rot so, that we got along so well to-
gether since their mother died and that
no one in my house was afraid of me.
He said that my first wife went to her
folks one day and told them that she
would rather be dead than to live the
! life she was with me and | said it was
not so that her folks would tell him it
! was not so.
Denied Being Drunk.
"Hc told me / was drunk when
stacking hay. l have never been drunk
and any business man in this town
can say whether / have ever been
drunk in this town or lie Sueur.. My
neighbors can say that | always was
good to my children As soon as the
detective went out at five o'clock |
went back to bed and slept until seven
o'clock. That day ] went back to
stack hay. got home about dark,
ate my supper, did the chores and
went to bed. About ten o'clock that
night the same parties came there
again. ! got up and opened the door.
Traxler said we are back again. |
lit the lamp and told them to come
| in and gave them chairs TO sit on.
! Trailer and the detective came in. In
few minutes lit my pipe The de-
tective accused me a great many times
sof having poisoned those children and
! I kept telling him | did not. Traxler
said you might rs well own up to it
and as / said / didn't DO anything to
them. TraXler went out about twelve
! o'clock. The detective was saying he
would hang me. l told him you better
get Father Woods and / will tell YOU
something. My object was to get them
out of the house. The detective said
! if you want to tell me something
| TRAILER will step out. As soon as
Traxler stepped out he pulled his re-
vOlver and he said. Now if you don't
say you poisoned those children | will
shoot you and hang your daughter
and said: For Gods sake don't do
that and then after he had the light
taken out of my eyes then he could
60 on and do anything he wanted to.
| He made me sign some papers. i can
not read or write. | can Just sign
my name and that's all. My first
wife taught me to sign my name. |
know the letters in my name. The
auto came back about twelve o'clock.
! The detective took out paper and
was writing on his knee and as he
was writing he was asking me ques-
tions. l do not remember that | signed
the papers but they told me that l did.
could not say if Thur came back
the second night. | do not remember
of going upstairs and calling my boy
Joe. | do not know how / was
brought to the Jail. The first man [
saw in the Jail was Traxler. | did
not see Burnett there that ! know of
nor Emmers. ] saw Spaetgens, he was
in the office. The next day after | was
arrested | was taken to the county at
| torney's office upstairs. The sheriff took
me over and when | got there the de-
tective and county attorney were
there. After | got there they went TO
writing on table there. The county
attorney asked me questions and i
answered them. | cannot tell whether
signed anything there or not. Then
| was taken back to the Jail. | saw
iNOldlo III tHc JAN dlttl THAI anu we
had talk together No, l didn't give
any of these children poison in any
shape or form. / always treated them
as good as my own. | never tired to
give them any poison. | always called
IL doctor any time they. needed one
and any time my wife said | should
get Il doctor | got one"
On cross-examination witness was
asked II few questions Us to his mem
Dry. -,..
Daughters and Son Testify.
Catherine O'Malley was called and
testified as follows: 81 am the daugh-
ter of defendant and was fourteen
years old on August g. 1910. Ny
father always treated my step-mother'o
children the same as he treated us.'
Joseph C'Malley sworc as follows:
Il ann the son of the defendant and
was fifteen years old last February.
On August o | woke up during the
night and heard a loud talk down
stairs in the Kitchen. i heard someone
call pa liar right along. | heard
him say to pa that he poisoned those
children and pa said he didn't, | heard
someone say that they had evidence
enough to hang him. ! heard my sis
ter Mary 60 down stairs. | heard the