Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1916-09-21
GIVEN SENTENCE
OF TWENTY YEARS
IN STATE PRISON

IV OEHBE IIsOUlV
MANY WITNESSES ARE E>
INED DURING THE
WHICH LASTED a IT
FOUR DAYS
The case Of Benjamin W. Hackett
was given to the jury about 6:1O
o'clock on Friday evening anu the
twelve men returned with the verdict
of guilty on both counts at $40 in the
evening, their deliberation covering
just three hours.
The case had been before Judge
O'Neill in the circuit court for four
days and large number Of witness
es were examined
There were two counts:
l. The defendant was charged with
she burning of dwelling in the night
time, causing the death Of person,
and
9. The burning of a dwelling in
the night time with a person lawfully
in it.
The Verdict
The jury brought in the following
verdict:
State. of Wisconsin, plaintiff, VS..
Benjamin Hackett, defendant.
we, the jury empanneled to
try the issues in the above enti-
tied action, find the defendant
guilty as charged In the first
count Of the information.
Dated September Is, 1916.
WILBURT BIBLE,
Foreman.
The return for the second count
read the same as for the first count
An Interesting Case
This brought to an end, except for
she sentence, an interesting case. On
ehe night of April II, last, the home
of Zell Pollock at North Freedom
burned and Mr. Pollock's wife, Mrs,
Maggie Hackett Pollock, lost her
aife. She was sister of the defend
ant, Benjamin W. Hackett, both mem
0ers of the well-knOwn Hackett FAM
ilv OF the village. Soon after the
bla2e started, MI Pollock and his
brother, who had retired, managed
so escape from the building, but Mrs.
Pollock did not find her way out. Aft
er the fire had started she was re-
ynoved by neighbors, but was so over
come that she died soon after. The
husband also suffered from the smoke
but recovered.
Was the House Set on Fire?
Immediately after the fire suspf
e.ion arose that the fire was of in
cendiary origin Circumstantial evil
dence pointed toward Mrs. Pollock's
brother, Benjamin w. Hackett, and
ne was arrested at the home of Mrs.
Eleanor Bowe in Baraboo, soon after
the crime had been committed.
Just before the fire there was
ahree-gallon can half-flled with kero-
5ene on the rear porch of the Pollock
home. After the fire the can was
found empty. Gustave Barkenhagen
and others who came to the house
early noticed the smell Of kerosene,
and this fact entered into the evil
dsnce at the trial
Some time before the fire the ia
ther of Mrs. Pollock and the defend
ant died and in his will he left prac-
tically all of his property, valued at
about $4,000, to Mrs Pollock. Hack
EFT was given one dollar.
At the time of the death of the ia
ther the location of Hackett was not
known and he did not appear until
some time after. He was known to
wander about the country most of
the time.
He quarreled with his sister con-
.cerning the division of property, and
remarked to Mrs. G. w Hackett and
others that he was so wrought up
that he could not be good All these
circumstances pointed toward the de
fendant as the one who set the house
on fire.
Hackett was last seen in the vii
lage a short time before noon previ
Gus to the evening of the blaze. A
short time before the fire A. r. KnapI
thought he saw man prowling around
near the Pollock home
r%:I
When Hackett was asked to tel