The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-24
Mrs. Eva Kreiter, Topeka Girl,
Not to Be Tried.
Judge at Aberdeen Is Unable to
Hold Court.
RUMOR OF COMPROMISE
Said That She Will Accept Man.
slaughter Sentence.
New Version of Death Of Hus.
band Is Given.

Aberdeen, S. D., April 24-The trial
of Mrs. Eva Kreiter, the Topeka girl
bride, charged with the murder of her
husband, was to have been tried to-
day in the circuit court, but has been
indefinitely postponed. At the court
house today it is rumored that Mrs.
kreiter may never be tried-that she
will be released-or perhaps sentenced
to short term in the state peniten-
tiary at Sioux Falls on a plea of guilty
to minor degree of nnanslaughter.
Frank McNulty, the presiding judge,
recently underwent a minor operation.
To the public the statement is made
that McNulty is not yet strong enough
to hold court. AT the court house,
however, it is rumored that an agree
ment has been reached among the at
torneys interested in the trial of the
young woman and that she will never
be brought to trial in the Aberdeen
courts Perhaps Mrs. Kreiter may be
permitted to plead guilty to third or
fourth degree manslaughter and
sentenced to a light term in the South
Dakota penitentiary. Perhaps she may
be released outright.
One of the prime reasons back of the
new attitude of the state is presumed
to have been the failure of experts to
hnd poison in the stomach of the muir
dered man. The night Kreiter was stab
bed by his wife, he lived several hours.
He declared that his wife had not only
stabbed him with a heavy butcher
knife. but that she had poisoned him.
Shortly after the killing, an examina-
tion of the stomach was made by ex-
perts. But the results of the exami-
nation were never made public Evil
dence surrounding the killing seemed
slightly in favor of the young girl de-
fendant. When, as it is believed, the
experts failed to find poison in Kreiter's
stomach the prosecuting attorney Of
fered to compromise on a minor plea
of guilt.
1t is now believed that Mrs Kreiter
will confess that she and Kreiter had
quarreled after they returned to their
home from d dance and that Kreiter
choked her. Later, when his back was
turned, she seized the butcher knife
! and stabbed him in the back and side.
4 Hitherto she has clung to the story
that she had the knife in her hands
when Kreiter rushed to her, grabbed
her by the throat and began choking
her. Then it was that she struck out
blindly with the knife, accidentally
stabbing him in a vitak spot
No amount of sweating seemed able
to break down the girls story. In
part it was substantiated by persons
living in another section of the house.
They testified to hearing the young
woman scream and of her terrified ac-
tionS when she learned that she had
seriously injured her husband.
| The defendant is but II years old
Kreiter was 80. They had been mar
ried but seven weeks when the trag-
| edy occurred. Less than a month
earlier they had moved to a farm near
Hecla, in this county. According to
the young woman's statements, Kreiter
was taciturn and inclined to be surly,
while she was fond of gaiety, loved to
dance and chat with other men. She
resented having to live on a farm. But
her objections seemed only to add to
Kreiter's jealousy of his wife. On sew
eral occasions they had quarreled.
Kreiter lived but a short time after
he was stabbed, and made no state
ment beyond accusing his wife Of hav-
ing murdered him and declared that
he had been poisoned as well as
stabbed. The contents of the stomach
were sent to a chemist for analysis,
but his report was never made public
by the state attorneys Office.