The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-03-08
Murderer of Benjamin Platt
Sends Back Money.
Only Part of Gold Taken From
Aged Man Returns.
MARK NOT LEGIBLE.
Came From Some Little Kansas
Town.
POstmasters Unable to Shed
Light on the Case.

New light has been shed on the Plat
murder but the solution seems to be
FAR off.
Tuesday afternoons mail brought
DR.. H. H. Keith an old battered pock-
etbook containing part of the gold
coins taken from Benjamin Plat after
he had been brutally murdered. There
was no letter with the package 1t was
mailed at a Kansas postoffice but the
yielding nature of the pocketbook made
the postmark illegibile except the
date and state. The only letter in the
name of the town which is decipher-
able is the first, a letter "S," though it
appears the last letter is "R." The
postmark also indicates that it was
mailed March 1, though the date on
the mark is Feb. IL The postmaster
had evidently forgotten to change the
FEB" to March in the stamp.
Even If the package was mailed on
March 1 at a little Kansas postoffice
where has it been since that time?
Samuel F'reidberg, the jeweler, SON.
in-law of the murdered man, identified
both the pocketbook and the coins as
having belonged to Platt- Only q gold
coins were returne Those that could
not be identified were retained. The
postmark is an old fashioned, cheap
one which indicates that the package
was mailed in small town: The pock-
etbook was placed in plain white en-
Velope nd sealed 1t bore two 2-cent
stamps.
There is a bloody finger print on
the part of the pocketbook set apart
for stamps.
Postmasters mterrogated.
The postmaster at Soldier, Silver
Lake, st. Marys and Smith Center,
when asked about the matter, could
said that he did not remember of such
a package going through his office and
he had changed the date of his stamp
from February to March before
March 1.
Postmaster Mickle, at Soldier, talk
ing over the telephone, said he has no
recollection of a package such as that
containing the Plat pocketbook having
been mailed there. He also says that
the February postmark was moved up
promptly.
Postmaster Clarence Henry. at Sill
yer Lake, stated that he also had
changed his postmark from February
to March before March 1 and did not
remember of such a package as de-
scribed having gone through the mail.
At st. Marys, Postmaster W. H. True
when asked about the matter over the
long distance phone said that his rec
OrdS show that the date on his stamp
had been changed from February to
March, after the last mail on the ev-
ening of February %, or the last day
of that month.
The postmaster at Smith Center this
noon talking over the long distance
phone said: at am certain that 1
changed the date on my stamp from
February to March the last day or
February and know nothing OF the
package described passing through the
mail here"
Mailed in Topeka.
Detective Golf. who used to be en-
ployed in the postoffice. thinks that the
package could have been wrapped IN
an old envelope which had been ad-
dressed to DR.. Keith and dropped in
the Topeka postoffice. He says that
the clerks some times do not pay any
attention to a package except to see
what route it is on and may have not
noticed the February date.
Postmaster A. K. Rodgers says that
had it been mailed here it would have
Topeka postmark which is not the
case.
Nevertheless, the package is regard
ed as the best clue which has been
found since the aged Benjamin Platt
was found dead with his skull crush
ed. Until Tuesday afternoon, the po-
lice had nothing tangible to work on.
The murderer left absolutely no trace
of himself. Every clue followed and
every investigation carried on resulted
in nothing definite. .t
This last development, however,
furnishes at least the handwriting of
some one who knows something about
the murderer if not the murderer him
self The address is ''Dr. Keith, To-
peka, Kans." in three lines with
"County Coroner in the left hand
corner. The penmanship is small and
regular. The writing of the words
County Coroner resemble a childs
handwriting. The package was wrap
ped in an oblong paper, evidently an
envelope. Erased words on the back