THE MURDER OF ANNA WIESE - ARTICLE 7
Green Mountain, Iowa
Evening Time Republican
Tuesday, October 24, 1893

HEADLINES

HUTCHINS HEARD FROM

The Whitten Detective, So Called Writes to County Attorney Carney

He Has Gone to Indianapolis and the Case Against Hill is Withdrawn

PROSECUTION ABANDONED

Young Hill's Accuser Leaves for Other Parts - A Unique Letter

     A somewhat sensational turn of affairs in the Wiese murder investigation came this morning when County Attorney Carney received a letter from Detective Hutchens, declaring his abandonment of the prosecution of young Horace Hill, and worded as follows, the spelling and punctuation of the original being preserved:
     Mr. Carney Sir I hav con clouded to Draw the ute (suite) a ginst horis hill (Horace Hill) I hav Concel a lower (counseled a lawyer) and take evra thing in consideration I dont think i can make it stick and i hant doan iney thing conterry to Law but i will say he did canfess and I will swear to it if i go to the pen. the young Lady i spoke a bout has gon hill was to see her yesterday and she Left this morning and i don't know where she has gon you release the man and do it as quitley as yo can and watch hin and yo will get the wright man and if yo want me wright me and i will cone iney tine i was coning to town this morning but miss the train i hope i hant Don iney harn and what i hav doan will proave to bee good yours truley          N. C. HUTCHENS    yo will find me at Indianapolis Ind
     The public can readily draw its own proper conclusions from the above. Mr. Hutchens' hasty departure is apparently caused by a fear of prosecution, and Mr. Ernst has evidently been greatly imposed upon, for he is generally esteemed as a thoroughly honorable and trustworthy man. In view of this letter and the investigation already made, County Attorney Carney at once decided to withdraw the case against Horace Hill and release him from his bond. T. Brown, who with Mr. Meeker was retained by the Hills, declared this morning that the whole alleged case was a fabrication.
     In the meantime the county officers are following out their theory. Barney Schultz, the Pinkerton detective who has been working on the case, is temporarily in Chicago, but evidence yet accumulate and great vigilance is being shown.

Green Mountain, Iowa
Evening Time Republican
Thursday, November 9, 1893

HEADLINES

HANGS ON A HAIR

Evidence as to Anna Wiese's Murder - Mrs. Emily Bennett Indicted

Officers Arrest Her This Morning - Story of This Remarkable Case

The Accused Woman Brought to Town Early This Afternoon

     The long expected yet surprising event has come. An arrest has been made by the proper officials in the famous Wiese murder case. The grand jury returned an indictment this morning, charging Mrs. Emily Bennett, a near neighbor of the murdered girl, with the crime; and between 9 and 10 o'clock Sheriff Pence and party drove out to Green Mountain in quest of the accused. It has been known for some time that a startling arrest was likely to be made very soon, but few people had any well founded idea who was accused or how soon developments were likely to occur. Consequently the indictment and arrest create a profound sensation.

SOMETHING ABOUT THE ACCUSED

     Mrs. Emily Bennett, the woman under arrest, has lived with her husband, Si Bennett, and a grown son by a former husband, on an east and west road a short distance east of the homes of E. N. and Arthur Hill. It was at the latter's house that Miss Wiese had spent her last evening on earth. Mrs. Bennett is an unprepossessing woman perhaps 45 years of age. She and her husband have lived in that vicinity for several years. They have not enjoyed great popularity among their neighbors, but nothing particularly to their discredit has been known in the past. Mrs. Bennett has been regarded as a rough, mannish sort of woman, capable of desperate deeds, perhaps, like some women, under the away of strong passion.

POINTS IN THE EVIDENCE

     The evidence against her is understood to be largely circumstantial. The state's summary of the case, which must be prepared for defendant's perusal, is not yet accessible; but some of the main points can be given. The Bennetts were near neighbors and acquainted with the dead girl's habits. Mrs. Bennett could easily have learned where Miss Wiese was spending the evening. From the back door of the Bennett house it is only a short distance northeast across a cow yard, a cornfield and into the big slough to where the murder took place.
     In Bennett's barnyard there are many clubs like the one found broken in pieces beside the dead body. Escape to the house after the deed would have been very easy and the blood stains on the fence showed that the assassin fled in that direction. A short time after the murder the searching party called at Bennett's house with the news. The proprietor only opened the door part way and refused to join in the search. He would not let his wife be seen, saying she was frightened and nervous. When Sheriff Pence was investigating the affair next day he searched their house, finding nothing of importance except what looked like a blood stain on the knob of the most frequently used door of the house. A little later the stain was no longer there; Mrs. Bennett had evidently washed it away.
     Suspicion was first directed in Sheriff Pence's mind against Bennett himself. He has a reddish beard, and as the hair in Miss Wiese's hand was of that hue and not like her own, it was supposed to be from Bennett's beard. But Dr. Cottle caused consternation in the official camp when he announced as his professional opinion that the hair in question was not from a man's head or a man's beard, but from a woman. Specimens of hair from a large number of persons living in the vicinity of the murder were examined and compared, with the result that Mrs. Bennett's alone was found at all like the bunch in the girl's hand, while hers is believed to very closely correspond.
     As to the motive it is stated that Mrs. Bennett had threatened the girl and bore a grudge against her, presumably because of jealousy of her husband. Bennett himself is supposed to have known about the murder, though perhaps not directly concerned in it.

Continue November 9, 1893 Article Here

Copyright (c) 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012  The Night Watchman - All Rights Reserved