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

When taken 10 the PONCE STATION,
Mrs. sharpless remained without
emotion and was firm in her state
ments that she knew nothing furth.
err about the affair. Night Captain
weare and Assistant County Attor-
ney Baldwin questioned her.
What .Janitor Said.
Because he had called at the
apartment earlier In the evening.
Chrisman. the janitor. was taken to
Headquarters. He said he went up
TO ask Sharpless to go up town, but
that Sharpless, who is a railroad
engineer had Just come in and was
tired. They were intimate friends.
Sharpless was then lying on the
couch. Mrs. Sharpless was there.
When Mrs. Sharpless went down
stairs to get the janitor's wife.
Chrisman was then at the grocery
store OF George A. Beck. II South
Third street. and the police decided
he could not possibly have been
connected with the murder.
Mrs. Sharpless was taken to the
morgue and the sheet over her
husbands body drawn away. She
shrieked and then threw her arms
around the corpse. Sobbing she was
led back to the Police Station.
Louis Sharpless, a brother. who
lives at SO Royalston Avenue, told
the police that he did not know of
any trouble that had ever come be-
tween his brother and wife. How
ever. Chrisman said that there had
been a few quarrels between them,
Jbut that he did not think they were
serious.
Coroner Gilbert Seashore an.
nounced that he would hold an
autopsy today and an inquest Mon
day morning
Sharpless was forty-nine years old.
He was an engineer on the Omaha
road. i'm which employ he had been
for nearly twenty-five years. His wife
was thirty-four years old They had
been married eleven years
Formerly Of Garden City.
Mrs. Sharpless Is well known in
Mankato. She was married to Mr..
Sharpless in this city about ten
years ago. Her maiden name was
Charlotte or Lottie Smith. She came
to Mankato from the vicinity OF
Garden City She used to room in
the Union block on South Front
street. where her rooms had the sign
of dressmaking parlors. Here she
associated with the vaudeville actors
of the Tivoli saloon.
After the marriage, the couple
made their home for some time in
Mankato. Their residence most of
the time was on Fifth street not
for from Main.
After Mr.. Sharpless was raised to
the list OF eligibles for service as
engineer on passenger trains he
found II necessary to live In Mime
apolis and he and his wife after
wards made their home in that
city. That was about four years ago.
Today's Minneapolis Tribune con-
tanned this story:
The BIood-stained Sword.
Tire blood-stained imprint of fin
gers on the sword with which Lean
ing Sharpless was killed Saturday
night may be the principal means Of
fastening the guilt upon the slayer.
No motive has been discovered. and
the police apparently are devoting
their efforts to unraveling the mo-
tive-mystery rather than to making
further arrests,
Mrs. Charlotte Sharpless, wife of
the slain man. still is in custody.
and a charge may be placed against
her today. The coroner, DIR. Gilbert
Seashore. yesterday returned a YER
dict of murder" He said an in
quest is unlikely owing to the prob
ability that the grand jury soon
would pass on the case.
Two Finger Impressions.
Two finger impressions survived
hasty cleansing that was given to
the lodge ceremonial sword. One Is
almost perfect, and experts will be
called into the case In presenting Il
to the grand jury. The sword was
wiped while II was still wet with
blood through almost its entire
length.
Mrs. Sharpless maintains her dec
laration of innocence She showed
no emotion in her cell at the county
jail yesterday and spent the day
quietly. She made no inquiry re-
garding her husband and when rela-
tiyes of the dead man called to see
her. about arrangements for the fu-
neral she showed no interest.
The police are convinced that
Sharpless was slain while he was
asleep in his room at the Lowen-
haupt Apartment, 1929 Yale Place.
They have ideas as to the motive,
but have not substantiated them.
They say the cause might have been
jealousy; that 1t might have been
due to a domestic quarrel over mon
ey; that IL might have been tempo
rary insanity.
AS TO jealousy, the police worked
upon an assumption that there were
callers in the Sharpless Apartment
while Sharpless was away on his
run" as freight locomotive engineer
on the Omaha railroad.