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The Murder of Anna Wiese | ||
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EVENING TIMES REPUBLICAN |
MONDAY, APRIL 9, 1894 | |
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HEADLINES APRIL 9, 1894 CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE The Wiese-Bennett case has set people to discussing circumstantial evidence. Proofs of that character are denounced by some people, who say they wouldn't hang a dog on them, when in fact they act on them with the utmost confidence every day. They are like the hero of the French comedy, who was astonished to find that he, a man who knew nothing of grammar, had been talking nouns and verbs all his life without knowing it. An old illustration used in the law books is that of a person seeing tracks in the snow and at once deciding that a man, a dog or a horse had passed that way. Most persons after seeing the tracks would be as positive in their belief as though they had seen the tracks made. Yet their belief would be based on circumstantial evidence. So it goes every day. People act with complete confidence on circumstances or appearances which might possibly be false or misleading, but are less apt to be one or the other, than is the testimony of an eye witness. With the latter there are always two sources of error: 1) He may be untruthful or (2) he may be mistaken. In the case of direct testimony these two sources of error must always be guarded against, while in the case of a chain of connected yet independent circumstances it is scarcely possible that all of them could unite in pointing to a false conclusion. Thus, it is often said while separately each fact in a chain of circumstances may be no stronger than a thread, yet when woven together a mass of them make a rope or cable of great strength. So it is circumstantial evidence that is often the best of proof. The latest turns in the Wiese-Bennett case seem to indicate that whatever the result it will be an extraordinary one in circumstantial evidence. Whether the defendant is guilty or innocent, the circumstances brought to light by minute examination of the hair of one woman's head and the dirt taken from under the finger nails of the murdered one are certainly strange - even in the records of celebrated cases. HEADLINES APRIL 9, 1894 Continued with the Following Headlines ILL AFTER THE MURDER Dr. Walter, of Gladbrook, Testifies of Prescribing for Mrs. Bennett She Didn't Appear to Be Sick, But Was Nervous and Sleepless Interest Intensified at the Opening of the Second Week of the Trial Recapitulation and Present Status of the Case - Today's Proceedings STATUS OF THE CASE How the Second Week of the Trial Opens - Recapitulation of Evidence, Diagram of the Scene of the Murder, Etc. What is the present status of the Bennet murder case? How much has been established by the state in the week that has thus far been consumed in the trial? What has been proven? Has sufficient motive been discovered for the commission of such an atrocious crime? Is the evidence so far adduced formidable enough upon which to base a fair assumption of guilt? Will it prove invulnerable when the crucial test of defense is applied? Has the testimony been consistent, cohesive and forged regularly and methodically together like the links of a chain? The foregoing are a few of the many questions that may pertinently be asked at the opening of the second week of this noted trial. Who can answer them correctly and without prejudice? Every individual who has closely watched the progress of the case has his or her own opinion, or else is completely at sea. The province of a newspaper is to give facts as they exist or appear to exist, without prejudice, without fear or favor. To prejudge this case would be to inflict serious injury upon one side or the other and forestall, if not subvert the ends of justice. Let the case be fought out upon its merits and the verdict rendered after the evidence is all adduced, weighed, sifted and critically compared. In order, however, to refresh the minds of casual readers and give new readers an intelligible idea of the case to date, so that its further progress can be followed with clear understanding of what has proceeded, a brief recapitulation or synopsis of the trial is herewith submitted: One prime fact had been most conclusively proven, even if it had not been known before this trial began. That is that Anna Wiese was most brutally murdered, on the night of August 26, 1893, by some person or persons with a motive as malignant as ever ctuated(?) the soul of a fiend. Counsel for the prosecution ably stated the potential factors in their structural theory of the crime and its author, claiming that the state would be able to prove, by an accumulation of circumstantial evidence that is conclusive and incontrovertible, that Mrs. Emily Bennett is the murderer, her principal motive being to prevent the moral ruin of her son by a former marriage, (Arthur Sherlock) by criminal relations with Miss Wiese, the murdered girl. It was intimated that probably the girl and Sherlock met that night on the road; that Mrs. Bennett intercepted and interrupted them and then arose a quarrel which ended in the murder. If so, the whole tragedy was brief, as the time was short from the moment the girl left Hill's until her screams were heard. Defendant's counsel made an exhaustive statement of their side of the case, confidently asserting their ability to disprove every allegation against their client, explain away every apparent criminating circumstance and establish the innocence of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. County Surveyor Bremner was employed to draft a plat of the scene of the murder and surrounding country, and an accurate map was submitted in evidence. The diagram below will give the reader a correct idea of the principal points of interest and their relative locations.
Dr. David, county coroner, who held the post mortem examination on the body of the girl the same night of the murder, and subsequently an autopsy to discover whether she was enceinte, gave the result of his investigations, describing the character of the wounds inflicted, etc., and especially relative to the finding of hairs in one of her hands and upon her shoulder. Dr. W. S. Devine explained the features of the autopsy, and what it revealed, corroborating the testimony of Coroner David that the hymen had been broken. The medical testimony indicated that the girl had sustained illicit relations with some man, although she was not pregnant. Sheriff Pence testified at great length, his story covering every essential point and development from the night of the murder to the arrest of the accused. He described the finding of the body by the roadside, the bloody and broken club near by, the finger prints on the barb wire fence, the stains upon the fence and door at Bennett's, the discovery of a stained waist in Mrs. Bennett's trunk, and other circumstances that led up to her arrest. |
Undertaker Ben Dixon, of Gladbrook, who dressed the body for burial, minutely described the wounds, condition of the clothing, hair, etc. This with the testimony of previous witnesses established the fact that criminal outrage had not been attempted. Henry Russie and his hired boy, Perry Greggs, related the circumstances of the murder; how the girl had left Russie's place to spend the evening at Arthur Hill's; that they were up with a sick horse, and shortly after 10 o'clock heard Anna scream in the slough south of Russie's place and nearly half way to Hill's; how they hurried in the direction of the terrified sounds, to find the girl dead; that they at first supposed she had fainted and the boy was dispatched to Hill's for help; that upon the latter's arrival it was discovered that her throat was cut and that she was saturated with blood from head to foot, and how the entire community was aroused and searched for the murderer. Mrs. Russie corroborated the story of her husband and the boy, and further told of how Anna was dressed, etc. The last moments of the murdered girl on earth were described by Arthur Hill, at whose house she was visiting on that fatal night, and T. P. Low also related the fact of having driven past the house about 10 p.m. and seeing her sitting in the doorway. Albert Isenhart, the alleged lover of the murdered girl, and who escaped lynching the day following the tragedy by being about 100 miles distant, in another county, testified of his relations with the Bennetts, at whose place he stayed for a time, and acknowledged that his last meeting with the girl was not a friendly one. Sheriff Boylan, of Hardin county, and ex-Sheriff Foster, of Tama, detailed the finding of apparent blood stains upon the casing and door knob of Bennett's house. Mrs. George W. Sprecker, a neighbor of the defendant, testified regarding the extreme uneasiness and agitation of the accused immediately after the murder and whenever it was subsequently mentioned. Probably the most important testimony introduced was that of Dr. Cottle, on Saturday. He occupied the stand all day and described very minutely the result of his microscopical examination of the hair taken from the hand of the murdered girl, also that from her shoulder, and hair from the head of Mrs. Bennett, finding it to be strikingly similar in its varied characteristics. Matter scraped from under the girl's finger nails had also been microscopically compared with fibers taken from the stained waist found in Mrs. Bennett's trunk, and the similarity was striking. The result of the cross-examination of Dr. Cottle will be found in today's report of the trial. The detective employed upon the case, Barney Schultz, of the Pinkerton agency, at whose instigation Mrs. Bennett was arrested, recounted many incidents of his investigation that caused him to suspect her of the crime, but his evidence was not nearly so direct or convincing as had been anticipate. Maud Stover, an inmate of the county jail at the time of Mrs. Bennett's incarceration, testified that she acted strangely and said that if she had to suffer for this crime others would also suffer. SATURDAY AFTERNOON - Cross examination of Dr. Cottle - The red fibers are cotton fibers; don't know what the black ones are. They float in the air and might be in other places; I did not discover anything peculiar in the color; the black fibers were not cotton linen or silk. I use the microscope incidentally in my practice; don't use the microscope now as much as I did seven or eight years ago; hair cannot be identified absolutely by microscope. If you gave me a lock of hair now I would not examine it and swear whether it came from the head of Anna Wiese. I find peculiarities in this hair examined. I have not tested any of these hairs by chemicals. The peculiarity of construction existing in the hair found in the hand and on the breast and those in the hair of Mrs. Bennett I would say was more of a coincident than a similarity. I will swear positively that the blue that came out in the test of the samples of the waist was from blood; blood will respond quicker than any other substance; milk and many other articles would come out slower; blood will respond to the test at once, while many other articles will require some time. THE SECOND WEEK - Same Crowded Condition of the Court Room - Defendant's Appearance Today - Evidence Addressed Court convened at 1 o'clock this afternoon. Despite the disagreeable weather the crowd in attendance was undiminished. Mrs. Bennett appeared refreshed by her Sunday's rest and presented the usual calm, unruffled exterior as heretofore. She sat farther back from the judge and her counsel today, and occasionally rested her right elbow upon the table at her side with her fingers touching her temple, and closely observed the witnesses, counsel and court. She seems absolutely indifferent to the apparent fact that the state is weaving a network of criminating circumstances about her from the meshes of which she may be unable to extricate herself. No look of fear blanches her imperturbable countenance as the witnesses for the prosecution reiterate the story of her conduct after the murder and corroborate one another in the salient facts bearing upon the crime. Counsel show a greater disposition than ever, if possible, to proceed with the utmost care and diligence, probing every point brought out by the testimony with the skill of a trained surgeon at a dissecting table. Not an inch of ground is uncontested and every scintilla of evidence is subject to crucial analysis. The first witness called this afternoon was Dr. A. F. Walker, whose testimony is as follows: MONDAY AFTERNOON - A. F. Walter sworn - I live at Gladbrook; know Mrs. Bennett; was called to see her Oct. 8, 1893. I am a physician; did not find any particular disease. I went to see her five times; she complained of headache, nausea and constipation, also flushes of heat and chilliness along the spine; gave her some medicine; called at her house on the 11th; found her condition the same; she was in bed; could not find any disease; second day I was there found her temperature above normal; saw her on the 14th, 15th and 17th; she complained of sleeplessness; said she could give no reason for not sleeping; said her pain was not sufficient to keep her from sleeping. The first day I was asked what ailed her; told them I couldn't tell; she might be coming down with typhoid fever. On the 14th I told them she would not have fever. I saw her again the 15th and 17th. I was called Nov. 9th. Mr. Bennett called me; went there in the evening, after supper; said she had not slept for some time; said she had never been sick, only four or five years ago. I would say she was physically well developed; said her appetite was very poor. Cross examination - I treated her about two years ago; when she was at my office she did not appear ill; when I went out to her place I didn't see anything the matter; saw no perceptible indication of disease; in my judgment the medicine was not taken, or did not produce the result desired. Philip Russie testified - Live in Vienna township, about two miles northwest of Bennett's; I was one of the first on the ground; commenced to search about sunup, or a little before; found tracks in the field east of the place of murder; followed the tracks by prints in the ground and broken weeds; they started a little north of east of the place of murder, went northeast to fence; followed fence around to line between Bennett's and Wilkins' there was a place about half way to Wilkins' fence that was a dry pond; no grass in the pond bottom. I found a button in the course as we followed it up. (Shown button) this looks like the button; did not trace it any farther when we reached Bennett's field. The weeds were high enough to conceal a person in a stooping position. I was stooping and looking to find a track that was distinct, and in that way discovered the button. Saw the tracks first three or four rods into the field. Cross - Close at the fence I saw other tracks. I was on the coroner's jury and made this search after the jury got through; the coroner's inquest was held in the kitchen. I don't know who was in the field while I was at the house. I didn't see or know of any one going across them before I examined looking as I did; I found the button about 20 or 30 rods from the road. Thomas Flemming sworn - I live in Vienna township; know Mr. and Mrs. Bennett. I rode home with them Sunday morning from Russie's, heard defendant say "Isenhart is the man; it looks as if he was the one that did the deed." Spoke about there being trouble between Anna and Isenhart. I have known defendant about eight years; have seen her working around the house and I saw her one day working in the hay field; I would say she showed good strength. Cross - I don't know what she went into the field for; know she was working, that is all. | |
