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The Murder of Anna Wiese | ||
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EVENING TIMES REPUBLICAN |
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1894 | |
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HEADLINES APRIL 6, 1894 LINKS IN THE CHAIN Conclusion of Undertaker Dixon's Testimony in the Murder Case Deputy Sheriff Yeager Relates How He Discovered the Tell-Tale Waist Sheriff Boylan, of Hardin County, and T. P. Low Testify THURSDAY AFTERNOON - Continuance of Ben Dixon's testimony: There were four holes on her head and a blue mark on the right temple; the back of the head seemed to be broken through; there were three or four scratches on the upper lip; they were up and down; the skin was taken off; the skin was removed entirely; washed the body all over; there was no hair in the hands when I got through. I dressed the body for the grave; there were no signs of violence on the lower part of the body; the deepest place cut on the throat was on the right side; the dress skirt was black, as I remember. I don't remember whether there was blood on the skirt. I would recognize the waist if I saw it; the color was red or pink; the wound on the head above the ear was made with a sharp instrument; it was three or four inches long; the other wounds on the head were deep enough to go through to the skull. Cross - I removed the drawers; they were buttoned; I did not tear the buttons off; left the drawers in Russie's house; they had the buttons on; Anna Wiese's mother was there when I got her dressed. I did not tear the drawers in taking them off. Redirect - (Witness is shown a red waist) This is the waist I took from the body of Anna Wiese when I dressed her for the grave. C. Yeager called and testified - I am deputy sheriff of Marshall county; was with the sheriff when Bennett's house was searched, under a warrant; found a waist in a little box in an old trunk, with some papers over it (shown waist); this is the waist I found. I was alone when I found it; when I saw the defendant she was in bed; had her dress and shoes on; said she had the typhoid fever; she was in bed when I went upstairs; said her husband was at Gladbrook after a doctor. After we had been there about an hour we brought her to Marshalltown and put her in jail; a doctor was called; I don't think she was sick. We went over there to her house about half past 11 in the forenoon. I was at the place where the murder was committed; examined the fence near the spot; can't say whether there was a staple on the middle wire; I could depress the middle wire six or eight inches between the wires. I was there some time after the murder; it was after Mrs. Bennett was arrested; there was snow on the ground; I heard a conversation between Mrs. Bennett and her husband in the jail; he asked her how she was feeling; she said better; he wanted to know what they had her in for; she said for the murder of Anna Wiese; he told her not to worry - they would have to prove it. Cross - Mrs. Bennett was lying on the bed; can't say whether she was covered up or not; I went up stairs; had a search warrant. I found the garment in a trunk; there were no other clothes in the trunk; there have been holes cut in the waist since the time I took it; all the holes where material has been taken away have been made since I took it; otherwise it is in the same condition; don't see any other changes. Bennett came to the jail in the evening; the boy came with his mother and stayed in the city. Re-direct - I sent for the physician; I didn't think she was sick; I refused to allow Mrs. Hooper to doctor her; was instructed to not allow her to have anything but what was given by the doctor. Dr. Mighell was called to see her. The box containing the waist was in the bottom of the trunk and covered with papers. J. T. Boylan, sworn - Live at Eldora; am sheriff; helped search for the murderer of Anna Wiese; on August 30 went to Bennett's house; Sheriff Rule, of Frankling county, Sheriff Pence, of Marshall county, and Sheriff Foster, of Tama, were there; saw what had the appearance of blood on the door knob of the east door, on south side of the house; Sheriff Rule was with me; the stain on the knob had the appearance of blood. Mrs. Bennett was near the well, in plain sight, when we were looking at the knob. Cross - I went to look at what Foster called my attention to; he did not call my attention to stains on knob, on screen or on casing; he called my attention to that one thing; Foster said, "Sheriff, go and look at the door knob"; I went and looked, and saw what looked to me like blood; the general appearance was that of blood; it was a reddish brown; it was something like uncolored walnut wood; it is difficult to describe the color; I couldn't say absolutely that it was blood. T. P. Low - I live in Vienna township, three-quarters of a mile south of the place of murder; first heard of the murder about ten minutes before 11 o'clock; had been over to spend the evening at Jackson's; saw Anna Wiese twice that evening; (shown plat. Points out his residence.) Met her that evening about three or four rods from where she was murdered, at about 8 o'clock, coming home; my wife and I saw her at A. N. Hill's, at the door sitting in a chair with her back to the door; it was about ten o'clock; when we drove by she turned around with her face toward us; I looked at my watch when one half mile north of place of murder, and it was five minutes before ten o'clock. We passed on from Hill's home; drove in an ordinary job; drove home, put up horses and went into the house. Only saw two persons as we came down - Anna Wiese and Henry Russie, at his home; Arthur Hill came and notified us of the murder; I jumped up and went down in my night clothes and Hill told me Anna Wiese had been murdered; Henry Wiese, a brother of the girl lives with me; went direct to the place where the murder was committed; eight or ten persons were there when I got there; she was at the side of the road, about six feet from the ruts made by the wheels; I noticed a great amount of blood covered her and saw that her throat had been badly mutilated; her head, hair and face were covered with blood; she was lying on her back; along the ditch and about four feet over the grass there were evidence of a struggle; the grass on the opposite of the |
road was mashed down; the country west of the road is clear and open; there is a cow pasture close by, pastured down; west of this is a cornfield, extending to the north; on west side of road is eighty acres that is entirely bare - no crops are in it. (Shown a small plat.) I made this plat. On the east side of the road, northeast of point of murder is a stubble field; a broad, boggy slough extends southeast from the slough just east of the point of murder was covered with grass about two feet high and the weeds were about one foot higher; would say the weeds were nearly four feet high and quite thick - not so thick in the field; to go from the place of murder one would have to cross two wire fences to get into Mr. Bennett's land. Anna Wiese was 20 years old just before she was killed; she was tall and considered quite strong; weighed about 125 to 140 pounds; she had on a red waist and black skirt the night she was murdered; when we met her in the evening she was going south. Bennett's grove is north and west of the house; his cattle and hog yards are in the trees; when Miss Wiese was picked up the hair was hanging off the board she was placed on. I talked with Mrs. Bennett after the murder. Mrs. Bennett has dark, red hair; don't know of any other woman around there that has the same colored hair. Mrs. Bennett in talking of the murder, one Sunday, said, "God only knows who could have murdered the girl." I have noticed Mrs. Bennett has been a hard working woman since she has lived there; have seen her carry buckets of water and slop; never heard of her being sick until after the murder; about fourteen days after murder she complained to me of her health. The spot on the wire, at place of murder, was between two barbs and looked as if a person with a bloody hand had taken hold of it. The top wire and middle wire at north post were not stapled. There were three pools of blood on the ground, where the struggle occurred; her clothes were drenched with blood; it was forty-five to fifty minutes from the time I saw her at Hill's until I was notified she was murdered. I saw Barney Shultz at Bennett's in October; Mrs. Sprecker was there; Mrs. Bennett said to Shultz when he wanted more of her hair that he could have all the hair he wanted; she used both of her hands in unrolling her hair; she did not seem to be excited, but looked very feeble and miserable; looked depressed. Anna Wiese's hair was a light brown; it was not the color of Mrs. Bennett's; it was a light brown and Mrs. Bennett's is a dark red. When Anna was lying in her casket I noticed scratches on her upper lip; looked as if it had been scratched by a hand; saw a gash on the side of head and a large bruise on the right temple. Mrs. Bennett never spoke about her health to me but once after the murder; she then said she was feeling miserable; in the summer of 1893 I heard her say she was tougher than a "biled owl"; she made this remark in reference to her ability to do work. Anna Wiese was a large woman and weighed ten or fifteen pounds more than defendant; I saw her carry two ordinary sized pails full of slop in June before the murder. Cross examination - I have not assisted in the prosecution of Mrs. Bennett; have no ill feeling towards her. I included my house in the plat I made; myself and wife were at Jackson's that night to a rehearsal; don't remember when I was at Marshall last before the day of the murder; regulate one time by the whistle in Marshalltown - what is called the big whistle; it was just dark when we reached Jackson's; we talked with Miss Wiese when we went up. I did not see any evidence of a struggle in the road. It was about eight feet from the north blood pool to where the girl's head lay; the posts in the fence are willow and have grown since they were driven in the wet ground; the grass over east is about knee high, the weeds were about four feet high; south on Bennett's land the grass was mowed; at the corner of Bennett's farm the fence was cattle and horse tight; don't remember that the wires were down. Henry Russie's cornfield is the nearest place of murder; when we came back home we talked to Henry Russie at his house, near the road; when I put up my horses I went into the house; my wife was there; I stayed in the kitchen some twenty minutes; I had gone to bed when the news of the murder came; heard a young man had gone to Hill's in the evening; my horse did not take fright as we came home that night; it was a very bright moonlight night; I drove a very quiet horse; heard nothing at Hill's; I saw only Anna Wiese there; saw forms but can not tell how many there were in the house; saw no one on the road. There seemed to be more fear than excitement in the neighborhood. Horace Hill was in the road in front of Arthur Hill's house; Horace Hill went with me to place of murder; he went right with me; after a few moments he got on a horse and rode around the country; Arthur Hill went out first and spread the alarm; Horace Hill got on his horse at the place of murder; I rode with Arthur Sherlock that night to alarm the neighbors. I saw the club there that night; saw blood on it; did not notice dirt on the end of club; think there are some trees in the pasture at Bennett's; have never seen Mrs. Bennett work in the field. I saw Mrs. Bennett at the day of the funeral; don't know what she did. The Bennetts are hard working people; she does all her own work; she is a hard working woman; when she told me she was sick she complained of neuralgia in the arm. Miss Wiese's hair seems to be all of one color. Redirect - Anna had no hat on when we saw her in the evening going to Hill's. I heard Mrs. Bennett say she had never said anything bad of Anna Wiese. Recross - Mrs. Bennett said, "They are trying to make out that I murdered the girl - God knows I never said a word against the poor girl."
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