The Murder of Anna Wiese
Green Mountain, Iowa

EVENING TIMES REPUBLICAN

THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1894

HEADLINES

APRIL 5, 1894

STORY OF THE CRIME

Testimony of the Doctors, Sheriff Pence and Other Witnesses

What Was Disclosed at the Post Mortem and Subsequent Autopsy

Detailed Description of Mrs. Bennett's Arrest by the Sheriff

The thread of the Bennett murder case is taken up herewith at the point in the examination of Coroner David reached when the forms of the TIMES-REPUBLICAN were closed yesterday afternoon. The cross examination of Dr. David concluded as follows:

The body lay in the edge of a slough; the grass was ordinary slough grass; there were a good many weeds, which were as high as the fence; the ground around there was dry. I didn't see the club picked up; don't know where it was picked up or by whom.

Redirect - The hair on Annie Wiese's head was not unusually heavy nor very light; my impression was at the time that the club must have been applied diagonally to produce the wounds on the head; the wound on the throat showed the greatest depth where it commenced, and gradually decreased in depth; I took all the hair I could find from her hand, made no examination of the hair to ascertain whether it came from Anna Wiese's head; had a general impression it might have come from her head.

Re-Cross - The large cut seemed to stop as though the handle was drawn forward.

Dr. W. S. Devine testified - Am a physician and surgeon; saw the body of Anna Wiese soon after the murder at the cemetery; went with Dr. David and the sheriff; knew Miss Wiese; the body was disinterred and taken to a school house near by, on Tuesday after the murder. I helped conduct the autopsy; it was complete and occupied an hour and a half; it was made to ascertain if she was pregnant; she was not; we found two wounds on the head, one on the right side near the top of the head and on back of and below the ear; I judge the lower wound was made with a blunt instrument; the wound was almost horizontal - upward if any difference; there was one cut on the throat just below the "Adam's apple," which was only a slight cut; one above this was very deep, commencing on the right side and passing to the left side, severing all the muscles and organs in that part of the throat; no sound could be made after the cut as described, except it might be a gurgling sound; no articulation would be possible; the organs cut would be no more difficult to cut with a sharp instrument than ordinary muscles; I would say the smaller cut was made first. I found some small contusions on the hand; did not find any cuts on the hand; the contusion was on the right hand, just below the wrist; found no hair in her hands at this examination; saw three chest cuts; one was very deep, about the sixth rib; there were three on the left breast; the one on the side I think penetrated the plural cavity and was about fourteen inches above the hip; this wound was a stab wound, with the cut part of the wound to the front of the body; the three wounds on the breast were very slight. The knife may have struck a rib; the outer side of the rib is convex and if struck with a heavy blow the knife would be very likely to pass into the cavity of the body. There were scratches on the upper lip and chin that looked as if scratched by finger nails; there was an abrasion of skin on the chin about one and a half inches long; think the scratches started from above; they were made from above downward, I think. I think Miss Wiese would have weighed about 130 to 135 pounds; her body was well nourished; in the examination for pregnancy we found the hymen to be ruptured.

Cross - I think she was about five feet one or two inches in height; she was a pretty tall girl; she was well developed, rather unusual; her arms were pretty long; she was above the medium in development; the top wound on the head commenced a little forward of the ear on the right side and extended down and slightly back; was about three inches long and went to the skull, was a very smooth wound; when the tissues are separated they naturally recede and leave a gaping wound; the lower wound was on the base of the skull and was one and one-half inches long and went to the skull; this was a gaping wound and might have been made by a blunt instrument; it was contused; the upper wound was in my judgment made by a sharp instrument; think it was cut; think she was standing up when she received the wounds; thins so from the character of the wounds. (The attorney here requested the doctor to name the muscles and organs cut in the throat). I would say a man would not know the difference in cutting through muscles, arteries, ligaments and veins; I think it would take more force to cut as this was done than to make a stab wound.

Re-direct - I don't think the wound in the head and cut in the throat were made at the same time; don't think the rupture of the hymen was recent.

Re-cross - I wouldn't say this was positive evidence of unchastity; the books do not say this condition of things exists many times where there is absolute chastity; but they do say that such is the case.

Sheriff J. P. Pence testified as follows: Am sheriff of Marshall county. I went to the scene of the murder about 2 o'clock Sunday morning; it was a moonlight night; the wind was in the south; saw the murdered girl lying about two feet from the beaten track of the road, her head to the south and lying on her back; there was blood on the ground and all over her person, on her clothes in front and on her hands; about twenty-five persons were there; I did not see any persons in the adjoining fields; went into the fields after daylight; found blood on the second wire within about two feet of the post; there were two spots on the fence wire; one looked as though the wire had been grasped by a hand and the other as though taken hold of by two fingers; saw the grass was broken down; looked as though some one had been lying there; it was near the fence, a few feet from where the body lay; the grass around the body was trampled down; the spot inside the fence was about four or five feet high, as though someone had been lying there. I saw the blood there and grass tramped down. This club (here exhibited) was handed to me. I gave it to Arthur Hill; he took it home with him; it was several days afterwards that I again saw it; I did not find the club; don't remember who handed it to me; it was in four pieces; I observed blood on the club; there is also cow droppings on it; there were

hairs - looked like cow hair - on the club; I could find no appearances of the club being used as a walking stick; am positive there was blood on the club; would say it was recent; saw cuts on the throat, on the chin, and a cut or bruise on the head; did not examine the breast or back; left there a little after daylight and went north into Grundy county, some seven miles, and came back to Gladbrook, and then returned to the scene of the murder; examined the field on the east side of the road; was there again on the 30th, after the murder, I know there was hair in her hand when she lay in Russie's house Sunday morning; she had the hair clasped in her hand and the hand partly closed; Dr. David took the hairs from the hand and wrapped them in a paper; Dr. David afterwards gave them to me; I kept them in the safe in the sheriff's office; they were put in the care of Mr. Wildman, my deputy, by me; they were afterward given to Dr. Cottle; there were two bunches of hair given me by Dr. David; was given to Dr. Cottle.

I was at the house of Mrs. Bennett; made a thorough investigation; found stains resembling blood on a gate on the west side of the house, about 100 yards in the direction of where the murder was committed; examined the knob of the door and door casing of the house. Sheriff Foster, of Tama county, was with me; we found stains on the knob of the screen door and on the casing of the door; in my judgment these stains were blood; Mrs. Bennett was inside the door while we were inspecting the knob and casing; this was on Wednesday after the murder, Aug. 30; Mrs. Bennett was there all the time we were examining the stains; the knob was a small porcelain knob and the stains were around the outside of the knob; this was on the east door on the south side of the house; the spot on the casing was a little higher than the knob, say six inches above the knob, and to the left as you enter the door to the west; I went into the house; Foster was with me; we talked with Mrs. Bennett. I asked her to look through the house; she made no objection; she said they usually came in at the east door when out late. I saw clubs in the grove; it is full of them; the grove is used for a cow yard; those clubs in the grove looked very much like this one; they were bleached as this one is, and had manure on them. I have looked considerable over the groves in that neighborhood; found no similar clubs to this one; examined as many as six or eight different places in the neighborhood; found no other grove in that neighborhood inclosed in a cow yard; the Bennett grove is soft maple, as this club is; when we - Foster and I - examined the house Mrs. Bennett seemed to be nervous and excited, and followed us around. I was at the house again; can't tell the date; it was quite awhile after I had a warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Bennett and a search warrant; Mr. Yeager, my deputy, was with me; Mrs. Bennett's son was there and a young lady and a hired man; my deputy gave me a waist he found in the house. (The waist was here exhibited and produced a decided sensation in the audience.) This is the waist Mr. Yeager gave me; it passed from my hands to Dr. Cottle; I gave it to him in about a month after I received it; I recognize the waist as the same one given me; I noticed stains on it; I noticed cuts or gashes in it; it is not now as I found it; there are holes in the garment that were not in it when found and given to me; there is no change in the buttons (sheriff handed a box.) This button was handed to me by Nicholson, on the 27th day of August in Vienna township, I think; have had it in my possession since then until a few days ago I handed it to Dr. Cottle; I have had a knife in my possession given me by G. R. Hass, a week or ten days after the murder; it has been in my possession since except a part of the time Dr. Cottle had it. (Corset covered with blood here shown witness.) Henry Russie gave this corset to me, Aug. 27; it had been in my possession since most of the time; I handed it to Dr. Cottle; when I arrested Mrs. Bennett she was in bed; when I got there it was between 11 and 12 o'clock. I told her she had been indicted for the murder of Anna Wiese, and I had come to arrest her; she said she had typhoid fever, and that Mr. Bennett had gone for a doctor; after waiting some time I told her I could not wait any longer; she then got up and finished dressing, and got into the buggy, and we brought her to Marshalltown; she had her dress and shoes on while in the bed; she seemed nervous and very much agitated; said she had been up that day and out in the kitchen. Boylan is sheriff of Hardin county; he was with me on the day I examined the door knob and casing; he examined it; I was at the house the next week and found the knob and casing had been cleaned off. Bennett kept his cattle in a pasture east and south of where the murder occurred; from the point of the murder I could see to Mr. Russie's house and south to Hill's; at this point there was a narrow road and high grass and weeds on each side; at the fence immediately east of where the body lay the weeds were thick and high; it was all high grass to the corn in Bennett's field, there is a small piece burned over inside the fence just east of where the murder occurred - a spot as big as this courthouse; - all three of the wires on the fence at the place of murder were stapled at the south post; the middle wire was not stapled at the north post; could push the wire down so I could go through without any trouble.

Cross - I have taken an active part in this case; I don't know that I have alleged anything against defendant; have not said unkind things about her; have charged her with crime; have not openly and publicly charged her as a criminal; offered a reward of $500 in this case; do not have to pay this reward if she is convicted; if any other person is found and convicted some one else would have to pay this reward; haven't had the waist or have experts examine it; acted under the advice of the county attorney; have allowed you to examine the waist, but don't remember to have refused to allow the defense to have part of the waist before the court ordered me not to allow them to have it. There is a fence at the northwest corner of Bennett's farm; can't say how good a fence it was; the slough east of the road is dry; the grass is more than knee high; it would not hide a person walking; thing it would a person crawling on the ground. I saw where they had put up hay about a quarter of a mile east of the place where the murder occurred; would call it slough hay; parties were hunting for the murderer that night, but I did not hear Mrs. Bennett's name mentioned as the person who killed Anna Wiese. I went to Gladbrook to find Isenhart; think I could have seen a man that night as far as Bennett's corn field; it is about the same distance to Henry Russie's house. I would think the grass northeast of the road was about two feet high; - there is a corn field on the west side of the road, nearer than to Bennett's corn field extends up to Hill's; the road ascends toward Hills and then dips; it is possible a person in this depression could not be seen from the place of murder - I can't say positively.

At this point court adjourned till this morning, the cross examination of Sheriff Pence not being concluded.