Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-12-15

for the crime.
At the office of local employment
agency. today, it was stated that Ar
thur Morner, one of the murderer
victims. called on Aug. TO- last, and
inquired for farmland. The agency
furnished an Italian named Edward
Donate. who had applied for employ
ment.
A bloodstained hatchet and a four
foot bale-stick We're found in the pit
near the bodies of the woman and
with these the police believe the muir
derer first felied and then mutilated
| his victims. The three bodies were al
most naked when found. What gar
Iments remained were frayed and
blood stained. Mrs. Morner had re-
ceived a blow from the Ratchet on the
right side of the head. Her skull WAS
fractured in several places and the. e
were many bruises on her body.
The body of the elder girl Edith,
also was badly cut and bruised. Her
head was nearly severed. The young
er girls body was the least lacerated.
Motive for the crime seems to be
lacking Money was found in the
house, today. and all the furnishings
appeared to be in their places.
Indications, the authorities say,
point to the murderer as being insane
A note found in one of the rooms Of
the house read:
Italian meat and American made
sausage imported from Rome. Italy"
OF
ian was quiet and attended to his
own business. Mrs, Morner who was
y years old. and the two girls were
never known to have had a dispute
with him since he was hired by them,
last September.
The discovery of the crime was
brought about by Horatio Mould, "a
milk dealer. to whom Arthur Morner
usually brought a supply of milk cy-
cry night.
When Morner failed to appear on
two successive evenings, Mould drove
QUE to the Morner farm, last evening.
There was no light in the house and
Mould notified Chester Ostrander,
nearby neighbor and Jesse Morner. an
other son of the dead woman. whose
farm is about two miles away.
When Jesse Morner arrived he,
with Mould, Ostrander and Arthur
Sharp another neighbor, took Ian
terms and began q search of the house
and barn. A fleck of blood on the side
of milk can standing near the cow
barn furnished the first clue. The son
at once thought of the manure pit as
| the only possible place for hiding the
bodies. The searchers pried loose the
board coverings Of the pit and the Ian
terms revealed the victims of the
CHASTITY tragedy.
| Coroner Strope of Troy was called. the
sheriff was notified and the Rensselaer,
police were told to be on the lookout for
the missing farmland, his description
being furnished them The bodies hav-
| ing been removed from the pit, search
was continued for the body of Arthur
Morner. The search revealed man,
things which indicated the method fol
| lowed by the murderer.
A small splash of blood short distanc
from the entrance to the barn told wher
one of the victims had been struc
down. A few feet from this, in a fee
| box was part of broken back-ha
| comb. Some 200 feet from the PIT was
| large bloodstain and few strands {
| black hair, matted together by bloot
There is where one of the girls droI
| ped remarked one of the searchers.
| In another part of the stable wa
found mans watch. Whether is be
| longed 10 the Italian or the missing so
has not been determined Thinking tina
they might find the body of Arthur MOI
ner the searehers dug deeper into tn
miro of the manure pit. but succeede
only in bringing forth an old Tin buckt
stuffed fun of the clothes which ha
been torn from the women.
The last seen of the two girls. Mr.
Morner or her son. was Tuesday noon.
The actual time of the murder is fixe
at between noon and p. NJ by the al
thorties.
Everything in the house was in orde
with the exception of the door leadin