The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-07-21

anxious to be held as witnesses. One
of them would have been very i'm
portant witness for the state, and
might have told a much different
story of the affair than the three who
are being held The latter were
fearful that he would tell another
story and remarked as much, but
when the search for him failed they
| showed relief and reiterated their
story more strongly than before.
Dickson says that after the shoot
ing, the man who did it got up from
his lying posture and acted as cool
as though he had shot a rabbit, and
left the car and walked down the
track until he struck the first cross
road and turned west upon it.
: Man Hunt Begun.
Sheriff Osten's posse returned to
Mankato at about eleven o'clock last
night from an unsuccessful search
for Conway's assailant. The posse
left Mankato at about 2:30 p. m. and
went directly to Lake Crystal, MAX
ing the trip in twenty-eight minutes.
The search for the man who did the
shooting began few minutes later
A few villages and farmers vOlun-
teered their services and gave active
and valuable assistance. Later few
more men from Lake Crystal and the
countryside entered in the chase.
The stockyards where the shooting
occurred is located half a mile west
of the depot, and on the outskirts
of the village. Shortly after the
shooting occurred at 12:45 p. m. the
other men in the party walked to the
depot and notified Agent Bowen of
the affair, and the latter at once
called up Marshal Albert Neumann
and DIR. w. R. Cullen. The marshal
lost no time in organizing a posse.
He had some little trouble in getting
together a party, but finally got four
men, and had these ready for the
field by the time Sheriff Osten ar
rived with the Mankato posse. DR..
Cullen gave first aid to the wounded
man and made a preliminary exami-
nation and decided to bring him to
Mankato and place him in hospital.
The man was lifted back into the
car where the shooting occurred, and
DR.. Cullen and another Lake Crystal
man and the five wanderers came
to Mankato. Coys ambulance took
the wounded man to the hospital.
Was Seen BY Several.
1t was about $3.50 o'clock when the
actual pursuit of the probable MUIR
derer began. The man had been seen
! by various parties walking rapidly
and running, and taking a general
southwesterly direction across coun-
try. A hired man on w. P. Marston's
| farm saw him going into a corn field,
some distance from the village, and
running as fast as he could. 1t was
about 100 p. m. when w. ]. Estell,
his son, Lawrence, and hired man,
John Anderson, while working on the
farm, saw man running rapidly
along a ditch crossing the farm, and
Mr.. Estell remarked on the fact to
his companions. They had not heard
of the shooting at the time. The man
| disappeared into a cornfield, and then
crossed the road and entered another
cornfield, and was next seen on Mrs
Jud Rays farm He was keeping
under the cover of the cornfields as
much as possible, and in this section
these fields are numerous and almost
contiguous. The posses tracked him
into the Ray cornfield and out Of
| it, and the tracks showed that he
had walked part of the time and run
when he was able. He came out at
the southeast end of the cornfield,
and here the track was lost in
stubble field, and was not again pick
ed up. The man was still going south
westerly but of course may have
changed his direction afterwards. b,
Hugh Norman saw the man enter
cornfield before he reached the
Estell place.
Alton Johnson, the thirteen year
old son of A. P. Johnson, who lives
southwest of the Ray place, was out
in a field with his little sister, dig
ding potatoes, and saw a man going
towards a grove that was some dis
lance southeast of the Johnson farm
Party Was Divided.
Sheriff Osten had divided his party,
and Deputy Sheriff Ed. Ario and sew
eral others had followed the roads
with the automobile, while the sheriff
had taken the remainder and gone
through the corn fields. When Mr..
Ario came to the Johnson boy and
asked him whether he had seen any
one, the lad forgot about the man
and said that he had not, but after
thinking it over he recalled the man,
and when Sheriff Osten arrived he
told of seeing the man. The John
son place is four or five miles from
Lake Crystal, and further from the
village than the Ray place. Mr..
Johnson rendered valuable assistance
by calling up people over the tele-
phone and notifying them to be on
the lookout.
Searched Until After Dark.
The officers were unable to get
any further trace of the man, al
| Though thew continued the search I'm.