Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-10-15
JOSEPH F. FRANKS
FULLY INDICATED
Case Against Him Collapses Before
the Grand Jury and He is
Released.

'oeeph r. franks, held in tho
!Aii tor nearly two months on s,sn,o,o.,
Aot the murder Of Carl II. Andar.o,,
Fe1eased last Thursday after 49,
jury had considered the supposed evil
dence against him.
i. We understand that there has been
nothing brought to light which points
to Franks connection with the murder
If such it really was. The Franks ar
rest and detention was one of the most
lamentable affairs in local court his
tory
The relatives of Carl H. Anderson,
consisting Of a mother, step-father and
sisters residing in South Dakota and a
brother who is a sheriff in Washington
state, were never satisfied that the ira
gedy was suicide, Not satisfied with
the results of the work done by the local
police and sheriff, they had employed
detectives from Minneapolis c. M.
Reed worked on the case for some weeks
but filed with the county attorney a
report that nothing connecting Franks
with the affair could be substantiated
Yet about the same time Franks was
arrested by the Great Northern yard
police, Frank Rodney, without warrant
Two days later warrant was issued on
complaint sworn to by Nels H. Nelson
charging Franks with the murder of
Carl Anderson.
At this time sensational stories were
rampant telling of finger print tdenti-
fcattons; OF the alleged bad record of
Franks before coming to Willmar; of
the detectives, gaining the confidence of
the suspect, having worked together
with him in pulling off the box car
robberies in the yards; of Franks agree
ment with Rodney to way-lay a promin-
ent west-end resident, etc.; all Of which
Uh fn
purely imaginary. The blood 90 on a
rubber coat found in the hall of the
house where Franks lived was found
to be red paint
In fact, at the hearing before Judge
Muller, the evidence against Franks
was meager indeed. but the judge decid-
ed to leave the matter to the grand jury,
in view. of statements made by the finger
print expert who had not at that time
completed his comparisons.
After the hearing the county authori-
ties also employed a Pinkerton man who
worked on the case until the grand jury
met. He has run down the clues and
many stories of the past record of
Franks but was unable to find anything
of value for the prosecution.
When the grand jury met there was
practically no evidence against Franks.
Even the finger print expert who had
been quoted about town as having iden-
t1ned the OlOOQ MARKS on the cardS
| found in Anderson's inside coat pocket
| as those Of Franks, stated to county
officers that they were not those Of the
suspected man. The complaining wit
ness intentions no doubt were good. but
he admitted he was sorry he had swor1
| to the complaint.
J Mr.. Franks is a married man with 6
wife and five children. He came to Will
mar last fall from Montana and has
! been employed at the Great Northern
| round house. His former hom eisat Jack
| sonville, Ill. where he has relatives living
| On the day Of his release he received
check of two hundred fifty dollars
from his brother. 1t was now come t
the knowledge of the authorities tina
Ed. Patchell, on his way to work on th|
morning Of July 7th, was not the frs
person to find the dead mans body.
young man of good repute but who ha
since died, told friends Of having pass
ed the scene Of the tragedy as early a.
four o'clock in the morning. He hat
told of having turned over the body t
see if it was that of any one known t.
him, and that he had seen the razo
and it's broken handle on the ground.