The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-02-21

WINS APPEAL
FOR new TRIAL
Case Taken to Supreme Court by
Convicted Murderer of Four

Springfield nlsu Feb. 2l.-Ray Plan
schmidt, convicted in Adams county OF
quadruple murder, won in the su-
preme court today when the lower
courts finding was reversed on a writ
Of error. He viii have a new trial.
one of the points which won the new
trial for Pfanschmidt was the decision
by the upper court that the work Of
blood hounds was too unreliable to be
accepted as evidence Hounds followed
the trail- to Pfanschmidts home, and
the trial court admitted this as evi-
dence against the defendant.
In the order for new trial the SUI
venue from Adams county TO some
county where prejudice does not eX-
ist."
Crime a Gruesome One
Quincy, H.. Feb. l9.-The crime with
which Ray Pfanschmidt is charged was
mitted in Illinois Four persons
Charles Pfanschmidt, father Of the ac-
cused, Mathilda Pfanschmidt, his
mother. Blanche Pfanschmidt, sister,
and Miss Emma Kaempen, school
teacher boarding in the Pfanschmidt
home, were found dead i'm the ruins of
the Pfanschmidt home, eleven miles
southeast Of quincy on September p,
1872. The bodies, although badly
burned i'm the fire which destroyed the
house. showed signs Of having been
beaten and chopped. II was the testi-
mony of the experts at the trial that
the four victims were killed and their
bodies later burned.
Ray Pfanschmidt, then not twenty
one years of age and the only surviv
ing member Of the family, was accused
Of the crime. Bloodhounds had fol-
lowed a trail to the camp where he
made his headquarters and later he
was arrested when a bloody khaki
suit such as he had worn was found in
an outbuilding.
The trail of Ray Pfanschmidt began
In the circuit court of Adams Coun-
ty March Is, 1913, Judge Guy VIII
liams Of Havana presiding. Owing 10
the wealth and prominence of the
Pfanschmidt family and the high intel
ligence of the accused. who was
former student at the University Of
Illinois, the case attracted widespread
Ten days were taken in
getting the jury.
Tried to Establish Abb.
At The trial which lasted one day
more than month, the state made an
effort to prove that Pfauschmidt, heav-
ily in debt and engaged 10 marry rs
ther Heeder killed his father mother
and sister in order to inherit the Pfan-
schmidt estate and be the beneficiary
of the insurance carried by his father
and mother. The STRONGEST evidence
against the young defendant was the
khaki suit. footprints In
the barnyard which fitted the shoe
worn 10y Pfanschmidt's horses and his
indifference TO efforts to find the MUIR
derer. In his own defense, PAN
schmidt tried to establish an alibi
The jury on the first ballot uuani-
mously voted PfansChmidt guilty At
first eleven jurors favored the death
penalty. one favored life Imprisonment.
Finally all voted for the death penal
". Judge Williams denied the motion
for new trial and ON July s sentenced
Pfanschmidt TO be executed October is.
y writ of supersedeas was granted
and the case was taken 90 the supreme
court of Illinois on a writ of error
Ray Pfanschmidt always has main
tanned his innocence and not once has
his courage failed He has seemed
wholly unwilling to consider seriously
his predicament.
The family of Miss Esther Reed, the
fancee Of Ray Pfanschmidt, now re-
side in California,