The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-11-08
Reporter Shows How 1t Was Almost impossible
For Sales Girl to Burn Self III Furnace Mystery
Did Miss knaak Thrust BODY
Into Blazing Furnace for
Psychic L0ve?'
improbable That Even One
Person Could Have Pushed
Girl Into Flames
BY ALMA SCARBERRY

BY ALMA SCARBERRY
Pine Bluff, ILL.,, Nov. Did Miss
Elfrieda Knaak, powerless to resist
the impelling force Of q strange
psychic love-" thrust her own body
into the blazing furnace in the base
ment of the Lake Bluff city hall and
thereby receive the frightful burns
that finally brought her death?
To the very last the girl insisted
she did. It may be so.
But
l went to the basement with po-
lice officers and detectives and made
some experiments. And as a re-
suit of these experiments, the of
ficers in charge of the case admit It
would seem to be impossible for the
girl to have inflicted her injuries on
herself.
Only the Tops Burned
Only the tops Of Miss Knaak's
feet were burned-across the toes.
Now that means that had Miss
Knaak put her own feet in the fire
she would have had to stand with
her back to the furnace, stretching
her left hand out to a bare wall for
support and grasping not-too-
strong hot air heating pipe with the
right. In this position she would
have had to insert first one foot and
then the other. Had she stood fac
ing the furnace-the easiest way, il
she burned herself-her heels and
soles would surely have been burned.
l demonstrated that position my
self. I might add there was no fire
in the furnace at the time.
Then came more demonstrations,
which showed rather conclusively |
that the only possible way for the |
girl to have been burned as she was
would have been for her to hold to
the furnace-face downward. While
| acted the part of Miss Knaak, and
took the role Of the un-
known assailant, a number Of pic
lures were taken. These are now be-
ing studies to see just what that
dreadful scene in the basement must
have been like.
AS further result of the demon
stration, in which a detective held
me, head downwards, and thrust my
feet into the firebox, l will say this:
It seems impossible to me that one
person could have forced the girl
INTO the flames-unless she were
1rugged or unconscious.
From the beginning the officials
we're somewhat dubious about Miss
story that she had inflicted
he injuries on herself in order to
est her love. Now they are about
ready to abandon the theory en-
tirely.
Who Let Her In?
The answer to the puzzle seems
o depend primarily on the answer
TO one question: Who let Elfrieda
knaak into the police station on the
fatal night?
Lake Bluff is not a large town,
and the station is vacant at night.
t was left tightly locked, doors and
on that night. It is not
believed she had a key. How did
he girl get in? If the answer to
hat question were known the task
# solving the mystery would be
ong way toward complete solution.
Through all of the investigation
md newspaper talk about the case,
me man is probably more eager than
else to get to the bottom Of
Kings. He is Policeman Charles w.
beau brummel" Of the
title force-the man for whom Miss
knaak said she entertained q
psychic love" that led her to immo-
ate herself.
Hitchcock has been confined to his
ed with broken leg since several
avs before the tragedy. He is i'm
'atient to get up and 60 to work
n the case, and genuine tears came
rom his eyes as he had to admit his
elplessness.
Hitchcock is a strange personal
ty. He has been a star on the
audeville stage. He has been in
he movies. He is q handsome man,
nth the mannerisms Of an actor
nd forceful personality. By day
le conducts . class in public speak
1g; at night he is a police officer.
[e had known Miss Knaak for two
ears, giving her course Of lessons
n personality development 50 that
he could win success as q saleslady.
"Fritzy wasn't what you'd call Z
cal pretty girl" he told me. "The
DOR way she wore her clothes had
lot to do with it. But she was a.
sophisticated as the average univer-
ity student, and I don't know whyI
says she was so silent and
eticent. ! did advise her against
Ding into the selling game, though.
he was all mind-a great thinker"
Saw Her Every Fortnight
He said that he saw her about
nee every two weeks, advising her
ow to "crack particularly hard