Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1912-11-15
VIEWS WIFES BONES
oHIoAN CHARGED WITH MURDER
SHOWS NO OUTWARD SIGN
Old German Only Looks, as He Can
not Understand Word the States
Witnesses Are Saying.

Medina, O.-Whatever may have
stirred within him when Prosecu-
tor Van App placed before the court
here the battered skull that had been
pulled loose from the body of his wife,
the waist and skirt taken from the
body, the horse blanket in which it was
wrapped when dug out of the refuse
in his stable, the bloody shoes found
in a bedroom of the Steuer home, the
stained doors and drawers of the
kitchen cabinet, Christian Steuer, the
73-year-old civil war veteran, accused
Of wife murder, showed no outer sign.
Steuer sat throughout the two long
sessions of court with his gray head
bowed as if in deep thought. AL
though he maintained his constant
stoical attitude, the old man seemed
bit dazed, scarcely changing his po-
sition except now and then to cast
sort of mute, appealing glance at At
torney Frank Heath, his lawyer. Once
his hand, trembling ever so slightly,
went to his lips as if he were nervous
ly biting his nails. Then it dropped
back to the chair arm, and he slipped
just bit further down.
For old Chris cannot understand
word that the states witnesses are say
ing; he only looks, with is great blue
German eyes that have the stare of
baby's, at the states exhibits. With
the inner hearing of a deaf man he
seemed to be aware of the adverse
remarks, the gasps and mutterings of
the morbidly curious, sensation seek
ing mob that packed the court room.
Children focked in from school and
the old prisoner, casting a furtive
glance behind him in five-minute
recess of the court, spied a little girl
playing with a baby, while grown peo-
pie and children discussed his case.
He drew out an old bandanna hand
kerchief tremblingly, and wiped his
eyes. Then he turned quickly and re-
sumed his unchanging, stolid attitude.
Coroner H. P. Robinson identified
the skull exhibited as the one which
pulled loose from the body when it
was lifted from the horse blanket in
which it was wrapped when dug out
of the refuse in the stable Saturday
cNSuiuSf julio %. I1S ltSIlucQ ludt
the body was in an advanced state of
decomposition, fact which in his
opinion was due to the ammonia in
the refuse, the heat and moisture.
His testimony was borne out by H.
G. Rowe, editor of the Medina Gazette,
who, at the request of the coroner,
lifted the head.
Coroner Robinson identified the
clothing of the murdered woman. He
said he found the skull fractured in
the right frontal portion, that it indi.
Gated a tremendous blow had been
struck, and that the victim of such a
blow could not have screamed after
receiving 1t. Dr. Roy B. Strong OF
Medina, who was present at the post
mortem examination the Monday fol
lowing the finding of the body, cor.
roborated Coroner Robinson's state.
ments regarding the decomposition OF
the body, the condition of the cloth,
ing and the cause of death.
H. G. Rowe, on the stand, told OF
going to the Steuer farm on the night
of June 90, between 1880 and s
o'clock and finding the body lying in
the stable, partially uncovered, but
not taken up. With his knife he
ripped the blanket, as the coroner
wished to expose the lower limbs.