The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-12-27

From Saturdays Daily.


What did Fred Meyer do that Jim
Jeffries couldn't? Answer: Come
back. Fred Meyer, the man from
Pleasant Mound township who seem
ed to have been swept completely
off this mundane sphere, has return
ed to his home after leaving Lewis
vile about nine o'clock last Satur.
day night in company with well
digger by the name of William
Schram, who was later locked up
on suspicion that he had caused
Meyers disappearance. He. arrived
in Mankato yesterday afternoon on
the 4:45 Northwestern train from
Wanda, and returned to ,Lewisville,
leaving here at sos and thence to
his home in Pleasant Mound town
ship. Meyers story was unique in
the extreme. He was met at the
depot by Sheriff Anton Osten, Chief
of Police ]. w. Donahue and two
newspaper men, in accordance with
the phone message received from
Herman Meyer, his brother, and es-
corted to the police station, where
he proceeded to spin his yarn. He
narrated as follows:
Story Told BY Meyer.
81 left Lewisville about nine
o'clock Saturday night with Will
liam Schram. He was going with
me as far as Pat Lyons place,
where he said he was going to get
his horse and go to Herman Boelke's
place and spend the night. I drove
up into Pat Lyons yard and left
him. Then l turned around and drove
sSr1,t No I T.,
and we did not have anything to
drink on the way, but l had drank
a little that day. ! went straight
home, put the team in the barn,
and went to sleep in the hay.
did not drive out in the field.
don't know how those tracks hap
pened to be there. l slept in the
barn until six o'clock in the morn
ing. 1 did not hear my wife come
cut to the barn and look for me,
as you say she did at two o'clock
in the. morning. j left the barn at
six o'clock and went straight across
the fields toward New Ulm Yes, /
walked through George Cooling's
yard about nine o'clock Sunday
morning. Later / saw the party of
hunters you speak about. l walked
all day, straight up the county line
to New Udm. | arrived there late
in the evening. | don't know what
time. / stayed in the depot that
night and the next morning, went
to the drug store and bought the
postcard and sent it to my wife.
Thought of His Wife.
Il thought she might want to know
where | was, but | did not think
that she would be greatly worried
about me. Then after sending the
postcard | went back to the depot
and bought ticket to Wanda where
my cousin, Carl Timm, lives. l had
talked with my wife about going
up there to visit him, but when
asked her about it she did not say
! go nor don't go, SO l thought that
would go anyway. arrived there
| in the afternoon and have been there
ever since. No, / had not the
| slightest idea that any one was
train here, much less that Bill
Schram had been locked up on ac-
count of my going visiting. If it
had not showed | would have been
going yet. l have a farm up i.
Otter Tail county, near Fergus Falls
and | thought that I would go up
there and see the Ulin Land COM
pany and make another payment on
the farm. i intended to walk all
the way, but when it started to
snow ! thought it would be too hard
walking, and then / thought that
my wife and the boy would have
some trouble in taking care of the
stock. SO after visiting a few days
/ came home. No, my wife and
never had any serious trouble and
never was sick. | am very sorry
for all the trouble | have caused,
especially to Schram, but / never
thought that anyone would bother SO
much about me. Who will stand
all the expenses that l have caused?"
Sheriff Osten told him that the
county would have to stand the ex.
penSe.
That's Too Bad" Said Meyer.
"My, that's too bad You would
have found me at Carlyle, near
Fergus Falls, where my farm is, if
| it hadn't showed. / don't under
stand how the tracks came to be
out there in the field l don't re.
member of having made them. l
don't know exactly what time it
was when / got home, but | drove
right, straight home. / did not go
to Lake Crystal or Madelia It's
about thirty-five miles to New Ulm
from where / lived About the dog?
Oh, he is good friend of mine
l tried to make him stay home and
chased him back several times, but
he would not go, so l thought /
would take him along. / had to
get strap for him at New Ulm
before l went to Wanda, because
they would not let me take him
in the car with me and had to have
a strap to tie him in the baggage
car"
Why He Left Home.
Meyer did not like to talk and
it, was rather difficult for his
questioners to get him to tell why
/ he left home. 1t is not quite clear
1 yet, how man with sane mind
could leave in the manner that
:, he did. He had not thought
! about leaving until he got nearly
home. He says he did not go
/ in the house when he arrived
home because hea did not want to
wake his wife. Mrs. Meyer says
she heard voices about midnight
/ Her husband is unable to explain
this. 1t is thought by some that