Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1922-04-19

Van Brocklin told him (Kneeskern)
that he had an opportunity to sell
horse that KneeSkern had given him;
that Kneeskern advised Van Brocklin
to sell the horse, as he had no feed
for the animal; that Van Brocklin
started off with the horse in the
direction of Harry Swenson's place;
| that after Van Brocklin left, he
| (Kneeskern) left the cabin and went
up in the timber to hunt rabbits;
retraced his steps in the direction of
the cabin; that when he neared the
cabin he heard loud talk within;
that he concluded there was a fam
lily row; that he did not go into the,
cabin and that while he was walking
away he heard shots; that he then
went over to the Will Cook place
and told Cook that there was trouble
at the cabin; they they returned and
found the dead bodies of Van Brock
lin and his wife"
According to Russell, Kneesken
said 81 can see why they might shoot
man, but | wonder what they shot
that little woman for?"
Continuing his testimony, Russell
said that he had seen Kneeskern's
car parked on the highway near the
cabin quite often. That on one oc-
casion, three or four weeks prior to
the tragedy, that he (Russett) was an
! the Van Brocklin cabin and that
Kneeskern, Van Brocklin and his wife
and one of his (Russett's) sons were
also there. He said that later ev-
1 Infk hn
ception of Kneeskern, who was left
alone with Mrs. VanBrocklin.
The witness also testified that he
did not see Kneeskern from the S;me
he saw him enter the Van Brocklin
cabin at about los o'clock until $3.50
o'clock, when he was called out of the
house to converse with Kneeskern
and Cook.
Sam Waters, a farmer living in
Frankville township was the next
witness. He was examined by Atty,
Frank Sayre. His farm is two miles
N. w. of the Van Brocklin cabin
He desc bed the cabin. He arrived
4. tteS c.lia Z. ~ .2c Pm Pc
4 vs. with & law,s who wa.st UP q, .E7
cabin Monday night to look for evi-
dence. They took several articles,
among them a piece of the paper
from the wall that had finger prints
of blood on it.
Objections were raised to most of
the questions by Atty. Cutting.
Waters told about what he found
when he was there in March, in the
ground and small brush pile where
the coffee pot laid which Kneeskern
shot at on the afternoon of the mur-
der He found a gun wadding, a
piece of gun wadding, eleven small
shot in the bush pile and four larger
shot in the ground, and a coffee can
cover. The shot was put into a can,
taken to the county attorneys office
for inspection, then sealed and put in
a safety box at Frankville bank, then
brought it to the grand jury after
wards, placing it in a drawer in the
clerks office and locking it. They
were brought into the court room and
was offered in evidence by the state.
The defense objected to this, be-
cause the shot were found three
months after the murder, and because
they were found by more than Mr.
Waters, Elmer Van Brocklin and Mr.
Fitzpatrick, and that it was in a
public place visited by many people
since then. :,
The objection to placing the small
shot in evidence, by Atty. Cutting
was sustained, but the objection tC
the four larger ones was overruleC
and was placed as exhibit No. l. The
gun wad was placed as exhibit No. z
and the part of a gun wad was plac
ed as exhibit No. 3. A coffee car
cover was placed as exhibit No. A.
All of the exhibits were objected
to by the defense, but were Overruled
Mr.. Waters testified that he haC
made a survey of the cabin and sur
rounding country. Also made maj
of this which was placed as eXhibi
No. 5.
The map was marked S. W. (San
E. Waters) l,2,3 3, etc, the designation
of the different important places. HI
gave the distance Of different place
from Moore's farm to the cabin, Rus
sets farm to different crossings, etc
Mr.. Waters was cross examined b.
Mr.. Murphy over questions that Wer
not clear to the defense.
The witness testified he was
the cabin Dec. II and helped remov
Charley Van BrockIin's body.
On the night of Dec. II, he wa
with Fred O'Boy, Mr.. Grimstad an
three others, looking up evidence
They looked through the rubbish .pii
where the coffee pot was, but didn
find anything.
He was there again on Jan.
when Attys. Cutting, Allen an
Kneeskern were present. He cor
Guided his testimony at 4'35 p. n
Elmer Van Brocklin was the ne>
witness called. He took the stand
:38 D. m. on Monday.
He testified he was at Charlie
Noore's on Dec. II. His attentlo
was drawn to the cabin by, Georg
Moore. He left for the cabin abol
Is minutes afterwards. When J
was Is or 18 rods from the cab
he saw Kneeskern in the shanty doc
He lodged in and out. He came o,
and then went back in, came o,
again, went in, then came out WI
a shot gun. He came around to u
corner of the cabin and stopp'