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The Murder of Anna Wiese | ||
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EVENING TIMES REPUBLICAN |
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 1894 SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1894 | |
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HEADLINES March 28, 1894 GETTING READY Forty-one Witnesses Summoned for the Defense in the Bennett Case A Special Venire for Fifty More Jurors Issued - Interest Increasing FORTHCOMING MURDER TRIAL Special Venire for Fifty Jurymen Issued - Witnesses Subpoenaed for Defense Interest in the forthcoming Bennett case is perceptibly increasing as the day set for the trial approaches. The selection of a jury will be the central point of interest at the outset. Judge Hindman has issued an order for another special venire of fifty names. This, with a venire of ten drawn since court convened, to make up a deficit, and the regular panel of twenty-four, makes eighty-four thus far drawn or ordered for this term. And it isn't at all unlikely that a further special venire will be necessary before a jury satisfactory to both sides will be secured for the Bennett case. The defense have issued their subpoenas for witnesses, and the state will probably do so in a day or two. The defense had a list of forty-eight witnesses, and of this number forty-one subpoenas have been issued and are now being served. These are summoned to appear next week, from the 2nd to the 6th inst. One of defendant's attorneys stated today that the motion overruled by Judge Hindman was not to change the indictment or pleading, but to have Mrs. Bennett placed upon trial charged with murder in the second degree or a lesser offense. Mr. Caswell says that the body was exhumed in this instance, by equal authority that it was when taken up twice before in behalf of the state. No authority was obtained in either case except the right that the state has and the defendant has to gather testimony to be used in the case for proper purposes, he declares. HEADLINES STORY OF AN AWFUL CRIME History of the Wiese Murder Case from Beginning to Date The Atrocious Murder and Subsequent Developments - Mrs. Bennett's Nerve Trial to Begin Next Monday - Nearly 100 Witnesses Subpoenaed THE APPROACHING TRIAL Bennett Case to be Called Monday - Nearly 100 Witnesses Subpoenaed Judge Hindman adjourned court last evening until Monday, and went home last night. He reserved his decision in the replevin case of Burr against Aisquith. In the attachment suit of George Harris vs. Leander O. Lord et al. judgment was rendered for plaintiff for $43, each party to pay half the costs. All other civil suits were put over until after the trial of criminal cases. The Bennett murder case, in which is centered more interest than any criminal trial of recent years, will be called Monday. Subpoenas for nearly 100 witnesses have been issued, and they are being served today as fast as the deputies can find the parties wanted. Everything is in readiness for the great trial, and both sides are prepared to make a stubborn fight. A history of this remarkable crime and the events following is given below, in order that readers may fully understand the case from the beginning. THE CRIME AND ITS SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENTS Anna Wiese was murdered the night of Aug. 26, 1893. The crime was singularly atrocious and brutal. The motive for the deed is yet a matter of conjecture. At the time it was not known that she had an enemy in the world. Miss Wiese was a prepossessing, intelligent girl, about 22 years of age, and of German parentage. Her father is a farmer of moderate circumstances, living in the northeast part of this (Marshall) county, near the village of Green Mountain, a station on the Chicago Great Western railroad. At the time of her tragic death Anna was employed as a domestic in the family of Henry Russie, who lives two or three miles from the farm of Mr. Wiese. Less than half a mile south of Russie's place is the farm house of Arthur Hill. On the night of the murder the Wiese girl walked over to Hill's to spend the evening. She started to return about ten o'clock. The moon was shining brightly and she went as she had come - alone. Between the two farm houses, and a little nearer that of Russie than of Hill, there is a depression, a sort of flat, wide slough, which the public highway crosses. There is no stream or bridge, however. When the girl reached this slough, she was suddenly attacked by some unknown party concealed by the road side, evidently with a maple club first, and later with a knife. Henry Russie, who had gone, as he subsequently stated, to his barn to attend a sick horse, at this moment heard three piercing screams in the hollow south of his place. He at once recognized the voice as that of Miss Wiese and hurried with all possible speed to the spot, meanwhile calling her name but receiving no answer. The spectacle that met his gaze upon reaching the slough was so horrible that it troubles his sleeping hours like a hideous nightmare even to this day. Lying upon her back in the dusty grass by the roadside was the girl, who had just gasped out her last breath. She was drenched in her own blood from the crown of her head to her feet. There were several terrible wounds on her head inflicted by blows from the club, her throat was cut from ear to ear, the head being nearly severed from the body, and there were nearly a score of stabs in her breast and back. |
Clutched in one of her gory hands was a tuft of hair, presumably snatched from the head of her assailant during the terrible struggle. Her clothing was not torn or disarranged and there was no evidence that she had been attacked with the intent of criminal outrage. Tidings of the tragedy spread throughout the community with almost incredible rapidity and the excitement bordered on frenzy. Mr. Russie's first act was to summon assistance. The murderer had disappeared before he reached the side of the victim. All night long, all the day and night following the neighbors, almost to a man, searched the country over for traces of the criminal. But they were not rewarded with even the slightest clue. The county coroner, sheriff and police officers of this city were hastily notified and they reached the scene of the crime soon after midnight. A hurried inquest was held, posses were sent out in all directions and details of police and citizens scoured the country for days in an endeavor to find the assassin. The day following the murder suspicion was directed toward a young man named Albert Isenhart, a barber who had previously been working in Gladbrook, and had he been discovered in the community that day he would have been lynched without ceremony, as he had kept company with the murdered girl a little, and it was generally supposed that she had rejected him, and that he had sought revenge by killing her. But Isenhart had no difficulty whatever in establishing an alibi, as it was easily proven that he was in Rolfe, Pocahontas county, the night upon which the murder was committed. Soon after the burial of the murdered girl Governor Boies, who by this time was conversant with the known facts in the case, became deeply interested, caused a reward to be offered, and ordered that the body be exhumed and a post mortem held, with the hope of obtaining some clue to the perpetrator of the crime or the motive for the deed. This was only the beginning of a series of resurrections to which the poor dead girl was subjected. Three times the mutilated remains have been exhumed, so far as is generally known, and the opinion prevails that the body has been surreptitiously taken up on one or more occasions with evil designs. It is not known that the corpse is in the grave today. Shortly after the murder was committed Sheriff Pence of the county offered a reward of $500 for the apprehension and conviction of the criminal. This was subsequently supplemented by an offer of $1,000 reward by the citizens of the community. The governor of the state also furnished money to employ expert detectives to work on the case. Tempted by this chance to win both fame and fortune, a young man name N. C. Hutchins, an amateur detective, with Sam K. Ernst as an alleged ally, arrested Horace Hill, the young son of Arthur Hill, without warrant or authority, and as a result Hutchins is now serving a term of six months in the penitentiary for kidnapping Hill, and Ernst has been defendant in an expensive lawsuit for aiding and abetting Hutchins in his proceedings against Hill, and has recently paid part of the costs and $250 to settle the case. A few weeks after the murder Barney Shultz, a member of the Pinkerton detective agency, of Chicago, arrived upon the scene and began to work upon the case, under the direction of Sheriff Pence. The sequel to his investigations was the arrest of Mrs. Emily Bennett, wife of C. A. Bennett, a farmer living near the scene of the crime, on the charge of murdering Anna Wiese. At the following term of court the grand jury returned an indictment of murder in the first degree against Mrs. Bennett, and she was remanded to jail. She was admitted to bail in the sum of $10,000, and was released in a day or two, twenty-two of her neighbors having signed her bond. Her trial was set for the January term of court, but her attorneys, pleading lack of time to prepare their defense, secured a continuance till the March term. When Mrs. Bennett's bondsmen learned that a continuance had been granted eleven of them demanded to be released, and their withdrawal of course vitiated the bond. Another was furnished, however, and the accused has enjoyed her liberty up to the present time. All through the exciting ordeal, from the moment of her arrest up to the present time, Mrs. Bennett has never exhibited the least sign of agitation or emotion. She talks but little, manifests no fear but that she will be fully able to establish her innocence, and is as self-possessed and calm as if her life or liberty were in nowise jeopardized by these proceedings. The motive attributed to Mrs. Bennett for the commission of the crime is jealousy of her husband and Miss Wiese, between whom it is alleged there was criminal intimacy. Another theory that has been advanced is that a young man who lived with the Bennetts some years ago was put out of the way by them, that Miss Wiese was cognizant of the fact, had threatened to divulge the secret and was removed in order to seal her lips. This is mere rumor, however, and receives but little credence. Counsel for the state confidently assert that they have a strong case, with an array of circumstantial evidence which they believe sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. On the other hand, the defense claim with equal confidence that they are prepared to disprove every allegation against their client, satisfactorily explain every apparent criminating circumstance, and easily clear her of the awful charge. The case therefore promises to be one of the greatest legal struggles in the criminal annals of the state. The attorneys for the prosecution are County Attorney J. L. Carney and Hon. H. E. J. Boardman, and for the defense Messrs. Binford & Binford and Caswell.
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