The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1917-10-27

escaping to the woods and was being
protected by some friend. One sus-
pect was kept under close surveil-
lance.
The inquest was begun the next
day by coroner Eklund. E. o. Bal
lard was foreman of a coroner's jury,
the other members of which were w.
F. Byrne, A. Mcmillan, T. C. Hayes,
J. w. Norton and J. M. Home.
Doctors Charest and Pearson tes-
titled as to the nature OF the wounds
inflicted on the murdered men. Cogin
and his employees in the White Front,
bartender William King and utility
man Leland L. Kennedy, were called
as witnesses. Their stories favored
! Houck.
The coroner's jury decided that
Houck was responsible for the death
of both Haggerty and Murphy. DR..
Eklund, county coroner, promptly is
sued a warrant for the fugitive's ar
rest.
Incidentally, Cogin was held as an
accessory and kept locked up.
Houck could not be found. Every
exit from both West Duluth and Du-
luth was closely watched. West d.
luth seethed with excitement. Lynch
ing, if caught, was commonly and
vigorously proposed.
The trustees of the village of West
Duluth offered cash reward Of $3.50
for Houck's arrest.
| Leslie Pikkinen, Finnish lad, in
some way discovered that Houck was
being concealed in the room of Mrs.
Mary Kaminske, his sweetheart and
daughter of the proprietor of the St..
! Charles hotel. The young fellow
informed patrolmcn M. Roach who
proceeded to the hotel where he
found Houck hidden in a clothes
closet off the fair lady's private
apartment.
Houck had been there for 48
hours. He stated that he had been
in the woods but, later, admitted
betrothed. Both insisted that the
concealment was due to her fear of a
lynching and that Houck had wished
to give himself up to the authorities.
When being taken to a conveyance
for transport to the county Jail, a
large West Duluth crowd surged
towards the prisoner. Chief Briggs
and Capt. Haley drew their revolvers
and the crowd made no further ad-
vance.
A very few days later, the grand
jury set and promptly indicted Houck
for murder in the first degree. Cogin
was indicted for lesser offense and
was admitted to bail within a short
time.
I It was the morning of Friday, Sep
TENDER 80, 1892. The hands of the
time-piece pointed to 10 o'clock. The
place was courtroom No. 1 In the
old brick courthouse at Sixth avenue
E. and Second street.
Judge o. P. Stearns came from his
chambers and took. his seat on the
bench. A small sea of faces in the
! courtroom was before him. Lawyers
and reporters were inside the rail.
Deputy sheriff Bates pointed pris-
oner Houck to his seat in the dock
and sat down beside him.
Sheriff Sharvy, =. big, blonde Vik-
ing, stepped forward and his voice
doomed out in solemn tones:
Hear We! Hear We! Hear ye! The
district court within and for the
Eleventh judicial district, county of
St. Louis, state of Minnesota, is now
about to be opened. All We who have
business before this court, draw near
and make your wants known and
they shall be heard. The court now
is open"
Frank Houck, charged with muir
der in the first degree, faced trial for
his life because he shot Mike Hag-
gerty at West Duluth only 26 days
before.
The mill of justice had ground
rapidly and surely.
County attorney Charles C. Teare
and Moses Clapp, attorney general
for the state of Minnesota, appeared
as prosecutors. For Houck's de-
Tense, there were w. B. Phelps and
John M. Martin, a firm of West Du-
luth lawyers, and w. w. Erwin Of
st. Paul, an emil ent criminal law
yer of those days, popularity termed
1.-THE Tall Pine"
The time had come to select
twelve men, good and true, to fairly
and impartially pass judgment on the
guilt or innocence of the accused.
Judge stearns appointed E. A.
Tinkham, w. C. McAdam and Colby
Smith as tryers.
G.. w. Buck was the first man
called. A challenge by the defense
was admitted by the state and Mr..
Buck was excused.
VIM. H. Richards, boot and shoe
dealer, was rejected as, also, were
W. E. Worden and e. C. Jones, real
estate dealers.
| H. c. Osterhout, kindly old pic
ture canvasser, was the first tales
man accepted for the jury.
When court adjourned Saturday
night, only nine jurors had been