The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-02-28
MRS. KREITER HELD.
Topeka Bride Must Answer for MUIR
der of Husband.

On the witness stand in her own be-
half. 17-year-old Eva Kreiter told to d
| justice of the peace of Aberdeen, S. D.,
the story of the killing of Phillip
Kreiter. her husband. Stubbornly the
young bride of seven weeks denied
her husband She declared that her
act was in defense of her own life,
which at the time she believed to be in
danger. 1t is on this ground that the
| lawyers defending the Topeka girl ex-
pect to secure an acquittal-
Throughout the long and tedious pro-
ceedings, the girl bride sat staring at
| the crowd in the little court room. She
exhibited only mild interest in the
statements Of witnesses whose testi-
mony might swear her life away; and
when she went to the witness stand in
her own behalf, she told without hest
fancy of alleged brutal treatment at
the hands of her husband. She was a
good witness. With the bloody knife
in her right hand, she showed the
prosecuting attorney how she reached
back of her, secured the weapon and
stabbed her husband. Mrs. Kreiter
declared that kreiter was choking and
beating ner at the time; that he had
knocked her down and she feared he
meant to kill her. Then, when pushed
near q stove, she reached back of her,
grasped a butcheS knife and with all
heart.
Against this statement from the
young woman. who was the only living
witness to the killing, the state of
South Dakota expects to show that
Eva Kreiter's statements are false
When the case is tried in the district
court at Aberdeen, the prosecuting at
torney Will offer experts to prove that
the woman could not have struck the
blow that killed Kreiter and stood in
the position she claims 1t is the states
contention that Kreiter was approach
ed from the rear and stabbed in the
back when he was defenseless. The
coroner's jury last week did not name
a murder suspect. Mrs. Kreiter, how
ever. had been arrested a few hours
after the murder. She refused to talk.
For week she has sat in a little cell
in the county Jail and refuses visitors
and will not discuss the killing
When a witness testified that Kreit-
er declared his wife had murdered him,
the young woman glanced up in mild
surprise; but almost instantly her eyes
returned to the floor and she apparent
ly lost interest in the proceedings.
With the announcement that she was
to he held for trial in the district court
on a charge of first degree murder, the
girl arose from her chair, exchanged d
few words with an attorney and walk
ed quietly to the Jail in custody of a
uepuly Sn6TlII
Phillip Kreiter's body was brought to
Topeka Monday afternoon for burial
His sister, Mrs. Albert Klinge, live at
Fourth and Leland street. Just west
and across the street is the home of
MI and Mrs. Lon Gracey. the parents
of the accused woman. For years the
Klinge and Kreiter families have been
intimate neighbors. 1t was while
Kreiter was visiting with his sister
that he met Eva Gracey. The girl was
16 years old at the time. She was
married to Kreiter at the home of her
parents New Years night. Kreiter,
who was 20 years old, a husky German
and a hard worker, had saved 81 600
from the sale of an Illinois farm. He
bought land near Aberdeen, S. D. Mrs
kreiter at first refused to accompany
her husband to the northern country
and it is said they quarreled. They
left Topeka about February 1, and had
been in their new home but three
weeks when Kreiter was murdered.