The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-08-11

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From Thursdays Daily.
| Mystery surrounds the death OF
Herman Koch, night Waterman at
Mayer Bros machine shop, which
occurred some time early this morn.
| ing in the shop. There are circum.
stances that point to it's having been
an accident, and there are other
circumstances that point to murder.
A cOrOner's jury is this afternoon
| wrestling with this problem II
seems almost impossible that such
an accident should have occurred
in the ordinary course of events,
and there is no motive developt d
| for murder. The body was not
| robbed, and it is not known tLat
Koch had any enemies.
Discovered BY Fritz kiusmeier.
Fritz Klusmeier, machinist, was
the first man to arrive at the shop
this morning, at 6:25 a. M, and when
he went to the lathe where he work
ed he was Mortified to find the body
of the night Waterman stretched out
beside the lathe, with feet pointing
eastward and the head to the west
and the right cheek resting on the
floor. Under the face on the plank
floor was large pool of blood that
had come from a hemOrrhage of the
nose and from puncture of the
scalp over the base of the skull, per-
haps an inch long. The right arm
was curled around the head, and the
left arm was lying along the left
side. One touch of the cold hand
convinced the frightened machinist
that Koch was dead, and he at once
notified Lorentz Mayer, who called
up the police station and Coroner
Kennedy.
The coroner was soon on the spot
and after a brief investigation d.
rected that the body be turned over
to the John Klein Undertaking com
pany, and it was soon afterwards re-
moved TO their parlors.
On the Job Four Months.
Koch was employed as night
Waterman by Mayer Bros. nearly
four months ago, and had been work
ing every night since, going on duty
ut six O'Clock in the evening and
working until $50 a. m. His duties
and each hour he made the complete
rounds of the building, both on the
main floor and in the long balconies,
and registered the time of each in
spection in his watchman's clock at
various parts of the building where
the stationary indicators were To-
Gated. His last notation was at
las this morning and the last box
that he visited was the one at the
north end of the east balcony. The
iron door of this box was found
open this morning, contrary to the
usual custom. 1t closes with spring
lock. The body was found under
the edge of this balcony about half
way between the registering box AMI
the stairway at the south end.
May Have Fallen From Balcony.
If Koch's death was due to acct
dent, it must have occurred by rea-
son of a fall from the balcony to the
main floor, a distance of twelve
feet, and if he went head first his
head would have struck upon some
part of the big steel lathe below or
some fixture attached to it. About
the only injury on the mans body
was fracture Of the skull under
the point where the scalp was pune
tured. The skin was abrased on
the knckles of the second, third
and fourth fingers of the right hand,
and there was a slight abrasion of
the skin of the left arm half way
between the elbow and shoulder, on
the outside. If the man fell off the
balcony these abrasions could cas-
lily have resulted, especially as he
grasped his lantern in his right hand
with the knuckles exposed.
A foot or two from where the body
lay was the lantern, extinguished,
lying on it's side, with a heavy dent
in the strong metallic top and with
the glass globe thrown out of it's
usual place and lying crossways in
the wire guard, but not even crack
ed. If the lantern struck the lathe
upside down, as it might if the man
plunged over the edge of the balcony
head first, the rebound might have
thrown the globe out of it's place
and not broken it, as the metal and
springs would have caught the jolt.
There were a couple of small spots
of blood on the lantern.
Heavy Hammer Near Body.
About foot from the right hand
of the dead body there lay heavy
hammer such as is used for pound
ing in machine shops. The steel
head had considerable blood upon
it, but no hair The face of the
hammer was bright and only little
blood could be seen on this, the
greater part of the blood was on the
side of the head, and there was
some on the handle The blood on
the hammer head looked as though
| it had been rubbed lightly over it,
as it was very thin. If the head
of the hammer had been grasped
by the dying man as it lay on the
floor the bloodstain might have been
left upon it. The machinist does not
remember where he left the hammer
at the close of yesterdays work.
The hammer and lantern were
preserved in case they might be
needed in the future for evidence.
Balcony Was Protected.
While there is a theory that Koch
| fell over the edge of the balcony,
lit is strange that he should have
been there. as the; edge was pro-
tected by piles of rplanks and other
lumber foot or two high. At the
int he 81 ho 20