The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-01-18

District Attorney Peter Fisher Jr.,
this morning directed undertakers to
hold the remains of Frank j. Roster.
man in Kenosha pending further in
vestigation on the part Of the district
attorneys Office and the coroner. This
action followed report of a post NOR
tenn examination conducted by Doctors
C. H. Gephart and P. P. M. Jorgensen
on Thursday afternoon. The physicians
made a report to the coroner showing
that Kosterman, who died at the Keno
sha Hospital early Thursday morning,
had been a sufferer from several con-
stitutional ailments, but that his death
had been caused by the injuries he re-
ceived bringing these diseases to the
acute stage. Henry Kostermann, the
father of the man, is an old resident
of Racine, and Charles F. Kosterman,
3 brother, is senior member Of the firm
of Kosterman and O'Keefe, under
takers at Racine. They came to Keno
sha on Thursday afternoon and claimed
the remains and they will be taken to
Racine some time late today if the
coroner completes his investigation.
The FUNERAL will be held in Racine
later in the month.
"The Kosterman case is one of the
most battling ever given to the police
department for investigation" declar-
ed Chief of Police O'Hare this morn
ing. "We have not been able to find
a single word which will help us to
Identify the place where Kosterman
was injured or the men who were con-
nected with the fight. No one seems
to know anything about it..
1t was admitted that the police were
making a vigorous search for man
who gave the name Of Don Bidwell and
who was formerly employed in one of
the Kenosha factories. 1t is claimed
that he was with Kosterman on the
night he met with his injuries. Bid
well gave up his work at the factory
week ago and is supposed to have
left Kenosha. Men who knew him here
assert that he never mentioned the
injury of KosterHan. These same men
profess ignorance of his present where
abouts, but they declared to the police
that they thought he went to Chicago
when he left Kenosha. The story which
Kosterman is alleged to have told to
fellow workmen was that the card game
which ended in the fight took place in
room at "down town hotel " The
police visited every hotel in the city
and not one Of the managers is willing
to admit that there was any trouble in
any room in any of the hotels. All Of
them declare that they never heard Of
the case until the facts in regard to it
were brought out on Thursday. Kos
terman had been in Kenosha for only
few weeks and he had few close
personal friends and the men who knew
him assert that they were not with him
when he met his injuries.
The father and brother of the man
raised some question as to the right
of the coroner to order the post norton
examination, but this objection was
easily disposed of. The district attor-
ney was busy in court today and it was
understood that he would insist on
being present in person at any request
held by the coroner.
The police assert that until BidweIl
is found it is going to be very difficult
to find out any facts in regard to the
case. The records of arrests have been
carefully searched, but no arrests were
made which would throw any light on
the matter Kosterman himself was
never in court and his name does not
appear anywhere on the police records.
At the boarding house out on Elizabeth
street, where Kosterman lived before
he was taken to the hospital, it was
declared that so far as people there
knew he came home alone on the morn
ing after he met with his injuries.
The district attorney and the coroner
have assured the Racine relatives of
Kosterman that every possible effort
will be made to unravel the mystery
connected with the death Of the man.
Kosterman had not been residing with
his father in Racine for some time and
previous to his coming to Kenosha he
had been working in Chicago.