The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-26
Are Very Much Inclined to Discredit the Suicide
 Theory
THE CORONER THINKS
 THAT TT WAS MURDER
Two Women Associates Are Sum- moned to Police Headquarters to Ascertain Why Police We're
 Not Told Sooner

Indianapolis, October a5.-''ff Dr. knabe was murdered, as appears. I am satisfied she was murdered by person with whom she was acquainted. and that she voiun- tariiy let this person, into her apartment. Put the theory of suicide still will not let itself be neglected
 William Holtz, chief of the detective department, tonight summed up the re- suit of the days activities Of the police in the investigation of the circumstances of the death surrounding Dr. Helen Knabe, former state bacteriologist, whose throat was cut while she lay on her bed at an undetermined hour last Monday night.
 T cannot see anything but murder in this case" said pr. c. o. Durham, cor
 oner of Marion county. who began his inquest today. 'rhe instrument of death was not found, and circumstances indi-
 eating suicide appear to me negligible Captain Holtz declared he did not in- tend 10 reflect upon the character of pr. I<nabe in saying he believed she knew
 her murderer if she was murdered. 'Dr. Knabes reputation was unblem- | ished,' said he, but there are a nunoer
 of possible motives for her murder It is certain that robbery was not one of them, and physicians have decided that personal assault was not committed. Our calculations lead me to believe l she knew the person that killed her, If. l indeed, she did not commit suicide" he l continued. But we are working on the | murder theory"
 Friends Favor Suicide | Some of pr. Knabe's friends today sug- gested to the police the idea that she | ended her own life should not be cast
 aside, though the knife with which she i was killed had disappeared. They said | she recently had been Respondent over l her debts. that even her furniture and in 1 struments were the property of her ] cousin, Miss Augusta Knabe. Along this 1 line, Miss l<nabe and Katherine McPher- | son, Dr. knabe's assistant, who found | her dead, were questioned at length to-
 day. Both insistently denied that they l had seen a knifr n the bedroom or that
 they had covered up any evidence tend ing to show the physician had killed her. | self.
 Miss McPherson said she had pulled l Dr. knabe's night dress down over her body, that she had laid pillow across
 the body. Then both said they were so
 
 that they forgot to call the police un- | til more than an hour after the discov- cry of the dead body. Miss Knabe ad- | mitted pr. Knabe owed her several l hundred dollars and had other debts but, poor girl, she could have paid them 1 if she had not been killed, she de- clared
 Cigars Found Two cigars were found today in the apartments where Dr. Knabe lived alone. Miss McPherson told detectives
 that she distinctly remembered pr.
 Knabe had brought the cigars home from banquet of medical society as a 1 joke.
 There is this to be said for the sui eide theory" said Captain Holtz after the examination of Miss Knabe and Miss McPherson, "Dr. Knabe was q trained | gymnastic and she could have put up d powerful resistance to an assailant. There were so signs of struggle. As l for the wound. one familiar with anatomy as she was and with a sharp ! knife could have cut the throat with strong right handed slash such as i killed pr. Knabe.
 This deos not account for the knife being missed. but there have been many cases in which the friends of a suicide | have sought by removing evidence to prevent the fact of suicide appearing 1 And many of them entered Dr. Knabe's I flat before the police arrived. | "So far we have not discovered a mo- l tive for murder and there is only a
 slight one upon which to base the sui 1 eide theory"
 To Investigate Private Life | Investigation today of the private life | of Dr. Helene Knabe, former state 1 bacteriologist found dead with her
 throat gashed yesterday in her apart
 ment, was the work of the detectives
 assigned to the mysterious case. They questioned the dead woman's ! friends in the medical profession first | for it is said her acquaintanceship was almost entirely confined to persons in | terested in scientific subjects, in physi- cal culture or social hygiene. 1 The quiet. orderly routine of pr Tnabe's daily life has, discounted any past theory that scandal might attach to ] her violent death.
 nished apartment in which her body was found because she devoted all her snare | time to study and experimentation She was member of the Young Worlen's S | Christian association and frequently lec- | tured to its members. Often she spoke to the students of the High school on social hygiene, invariably recommending
  | ship. She was deeply interested in phy- sical and mental culture among women and today was to have taken an exam ination for instructorship in the North American Gymnastic union at the Ger man house in this city.
 The police last night having released Jefferson Haynes, negro janitor of the building in which Dr. knabe lived, after satisfying themselves he could tell noth- | ing of the circumstances of her death search today was taken up for Q hidden motive for her murder. Handsome and of brilliant intellectual attainments as she was. the police, after a nights work. were unable to discover that she had an enemy of an intimate man friend. The theory of suicide seemed untenable because the knife with which Dr. Knabe was killed was not found and the coro- ner is assured that the heavy gash that almost severed her head was struck as she lay in bed. There was no trail Of l blood on the floor Dr. Knabe's assistant | Miss Katherine McPherson, said that her | practice was increasing daily and that | she was in cheerful humor. l The coroner having found no evidence |, of a personal assault, and there being no indications in the apartment of rob bery, the police sought to find secret places in Dr. knabe's life. They be- lieve the murder, for so it appeared to- 1 day was done by person that entered the door. not window of the apartment, did his work and departed through the
 door.