The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1914-11-20

~ S~fSesee tHc optutoht pup-
IicIy, that Mr.. sharpIess had
come TO his death at the hands
Of unknown parties. The mat
ter 10 to be Investigated by the
grand jury, which meets tomor.
row. The wife is being held In
Jail AZ a witness. There will
be no Inquest as the matter will
50 directly to the grand jurors.
Leaning Sharpless, the Omaha
freight enginees, who was murdered
at his home in Minneapolis Satur.
day night. was well known in Man
kato. especially among the railroad
men. He and his wife lived in Man.
kato for some years. Mr.. Sharpless
was engineer on No. is, which ar.
riyes In Mankato from st. James at
$3.50 in the morning. He was also
freight engineer on the Minneapolis
time freight extra, which arrives in
Mankato from that city in the after.
noon. He was last in Mankato at
$3.50 Saturday morning, coming on
the trip from ST. James. He would
probably have come back on the
Minneapolis extra Sunday afternoon.
had IL not been for the sensational
tragedy OF Saturday night.
Leaning Sharpless. 1929 Yale
Place. was stabbed to death early
Saturday night. His wife, Charlotte,
was arrested, and Acting CHIEF of
Police Calvin said he would charge
her with murder. Until a late hour
Sunday morning she was in confer.
ence with Calvin. who hoped to
get a confession.
Sharpless was stabbed through
the heart with a ceremonial sword
Of a fraternal order. The wound in
dicated that the sword entered the
back on the left side under the
arm. II came out through the right
chest. Another wound on the right
side slightly abrased the skin The
body was unclothed and Sharpless
may have been asleep when he was
attacked.
Bloody Clothes Found.
A bloody suit OF underclothes was
found on the street. and other bloody
clothes in q closet.
Fred Chrisman of the Lowenhaupt
Apartments, where Sharpless was
slain, was taken TO Police Head.
quarters and questioned, but was not
held.
When the police arrived. Mrs.
Sharpless had on a clean nightgown.
She said she was in bed. reading
when suddenly she heard her hus-
band groan in the next room: that
she rushed out and saw him fall
from the couch on which he was
lying, then picked him up and laid
him on the couch and ran down
stairs to get Mrs. Fred Chrisman,
wife of the janitor Of the apartment
house.
"Oh. My God, Lean is dead"
she said TO Mrs. ChrIsman. Mrs.
Chrisman was sick in bed. but she
ran upstairs to the apartment. Then
she called DR.. II. Jones from the
Eitel Hospital and notified the po-
lice.
Wife's Own Story.
Mrs. Sharpless said she and her
husband had decided to spend the
evening at home, though. at first,
they had thought they might go
down town.
Fred Chrisman, janitor Of the fat.
she said, had called early in the
evening and asked Sharpless to go
downtown. At the time she said
she was sitting in chair by a
table and her husband was lying
on couch in his undertaking.
He refused to go downtown, she
said, telling Chrisman that he was
tired. was going out on his run as
locomotive engineer on the Omaha
road today and preferred to stay at
home.
After reading for some time, she
said, she went to the bedroom and
lay down. The bed was about ten
feet from the place where the police
found her husbands body. She de-
clared that she did not go to sleep.
Some time after that, according
to her story to the police, she heard
her husband groan. She had heard
no struggle. Believing that he was
i'll, she said, she arose and went to
him. Just before she got up, she
said, he fell from the couch.
When she reached the dimly
lighted room adjoining the bedroom
she saw her husband on the floor
apparently unconscious. She said
she tried to lift him back on the
couch but Ne not strong enough
Then she said she saw he had
been hurt and decided to call a
physician.
Thought He Was Shot.
Stepping to the door she called
to Mrs. Chrisman and told her that
a shot had been fired through the
window and to call physician. She
believed her husband had been
wounded. but she did not know
how. While waiting for the police
and physician to arrive. she said.
she went to the bed and lay down,
remaining there until the detectives
entered and told her to get up.
While she was telling her story
~