Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-08-18
Nebraska
OSBORNE AUMllS AlLLlNG
Fremont Painter Writes Confession
I Behind Bars of Jail.
SAYS PEDDLAR HIT HIM
Circumstances of Attack May Lead
County Attorney 90 Lodge
Charge of Granddaughter
Only.

FREMONT. Neb., Aug. 17.-(special Tel
egram )After two hours alone in his cell
with pencil and paper, George Osborne,
the Blair painter arrested in connection
with the murder of John Hector in the
local railroad yrads last Saturday. passed
through the bars to Sheriff Bauman a com
plete confession of the crime with which
he was charged.
Osbornes confession came after an ex-
animation at the hands of County Attorney
Cook and Sheriff Bauman. The officers
showed Osborne the futility attempting
to deny the crime in the face of a mass
of clrcumstanual evidence connecting him
with it. Osborne declares that improper
proposals on the part of the murdered
peddler led him to commit the deed,
In the light of circumstances surround
ing the case 1t is possible that County At
torney Cook will not make a charge of
murder in the first degree but of man
slaughter Osbornes memory, which was
obligingly clouded during the preliminary
questioning Sunday and Monday, gradually
returned to him yesterday. The officers
were clbseted with him nearly all the fore
noon today, and he finally admitted clearly
| having trouble with a man Friday night.
Towards noon he seemed on the point of
confessing and finally he asked for a sheet
! of paper and a pencil
Hands out Confession.
These were handed him and he was left
alone for two hours at his own request
! When Sheriff Bauman returned at the end
of that time Osborne handed him the writ
| ten confession.
! Osborne says he met John Hector on the
street Friday, that they secured some liquor
and went down to the yards to sleep. While
there the peddler attacked him and, Osborne
says, grabbed me around the neck
! fought him loose and he got mad and
started after me with his cane rar
around the lumber pile and picked up ar
iron bar. When l got back he asked me
to drink some more and l did. Pretty soor
he grabbed me again. was crazy drunk
and 1 pushed him away and hit him ovel
the head with the bar. He fell down ant
1 stood over him and hit him once or twice
more. 1 don't remember how many times
Then 1 started up the street toward town.
Osborne then goes on to tell how he wen
down to the depot and caught freigh
train for Blair. where he went to his home
His story agrees materially with thu
statement made before his confession, saw,
only in its relation to the crime Itself
This afternoon Sheriff Bauman and Count!
Attorney Cook took Osborne to the seen
of the crime. There Osborne went owe
again his actions of Friday night, showing
in detail how the crime was committed.
Believe He Tells Truth.
His testimony conforms to the evidenc
given by witnesses at the inquest in al
details, and the authorities have no doub
but that he wrote thetruth of the affair
Evidence of Hooters character had alread!
come to them through other sources. Sus
picion was first directed towards osborn
when a clerk in the Brunswick restauran
told of overhearing conversation between
him and Hector. When arrested Osborn
denied even having met either the clerl
or Hector. This denial in the face OF goo'
evidence to the contrary, merely strength
ened the suspicious of the officers.