The Murder of Anna Wiese
Green Mountain, Iowa

EVENING TIMES REPUBLICAN

THURSDAY,  NOVEMBER 9, 1893

Continued...

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.

THE STORY OF THE MURDER

Details of the Crime and the History of the Case

In view of the startling developments above recited, it is in order to recall the details of the murder and to outline the subsequent course of the investigation; for there has never been a criminal case in Iowa that is likely to arouse more interest than this one and never a crime committed within our borders that was more atrocious.

Annie Wiese, a girl of German parentage, 22 years of age and employed as a domestic in the family of Henrie Russie, whose home is three and a half miles north and a mile east of Green Mountain, spent Saturday evening, Aug. 26, at the residence of Arthur Hill, half a mile south of Russie's. At about 10 o'clock she started home alone; but when about half way between the two houses, beside and extensive slough, she was brutally murdered. Beaten on the head with a maple club, which lay broken in three pieces at her side when her body was found; stabbed a number of times in both back and breast, probably by an ordinary knife; her throat cut from ear to ear with the same weapon, she presented a most pitiful spectacle when the foul deed was discovered.

But a very few minutes after she is known to have left Hill's house Russie heard her scream and hastened with a boy in the direction of the sound. But before they reached her she had expired, giving two or three dying groans that were plainly heard. Neighbors were at once notified and search for the assassin commenced. The body lay on its back, at the side of the road, in a ditch left by a grader. There were two pools of blood close by. East of the road was a slough, then grown up with tall weeds and fenced in by a barb wire fence, on some of whose wires were the prints of bloody hands. Just inside the fence the grass was trampled down as if someone had been lying there. About the body there was little evidence of a struggle. The club was of dry wood, about two inches in diameter and plenteously stained with blood.

SEARCH FOR THE MURDERER

Search was kept up diligently by the neighbors all that night. Coroner David and Sheriff Pence were on the ground by 2 o'clock and the inquest was held as soon as possible. The whole territory for miles around was ransacked without a sign of a clue, though it was a bright moonlight night and it would seem wellnigh impossible for the butcher to escape in so short a time.

The next day suspicion began to attach to Albert Isenhart, a lover of the girl, who was subsequently able to prove an alibi to the perfect satisfaction not only of the officers, but of the excited neighbors as well. Isenhart was located at Rolfe and arrested, but was released in a day or two and wholly exonerated. The evidence against him at first sight appeared so convincing that sufficient foresight was not used in caring for the dead body. Of course all the girl's clothes were kept, as well as the club and some hair that was clutched in one of her hands and another bunch found on her shoulder; but many other little things might have been observed then that would have materially aided in the development of this singular case, as witness the repeated exhuming of the body for medico-legal purposes.

Before Isenhart was arrested a reward of $500 had been offered for the apprehension of the murderer; then neighbors of the dead girl added $500 to the amount and still later the sum was raised by Governor Boies to $1,500. Such a reward was a great incentive to worshippers of mammon, and the whole surrounding country was soon full of detectives - genuine and would be. Some of the work of the latter sort was shown but a short time ago, when N. C. Hutchens, now under indictment for kidnapping, had Horace Hill arrested for the dastardly deed that is the subject of this story, though all the world is now convinced that the young man is entirely innocent.

WHO HAVE BEEN AT WORK

Sheriff Pence has worked very actively in the case from the very start and County Attorney Carney has taken a deep interest in it. Sheriffs Foster of Tama and Boylan of Hardin also rendered valuable assistance at various times. Governor Boies took a personal interest in the matter; and - by the way - as soon as he had heard the whole story, declared it his belief that a woman was the murderer. Other officers have assisted, besides other persons not officers. Very early in the investigation it was decided that professional talent would be valuable, and Barney Shultz, of the Pinkerton agency in Chicago, was secured. He remained for some weeks in the immediate neighborhood, going back to Chicago a couple of weeks ago, silent but looking wise.

After the Isenhart fiasco, popular opinion commenced to tend towards a belief that no chance murderer could have done the deed and gotten away undiscovered. The more the case was studied the more evident it seemed that some person living in the neighborhood, familiar with the surroundings and acquainted with the girl's whereabouts that evening, must have been the assassin. Terrible stories were told about various neighbors, and half clues were discovered by talking public till it was almost impossible to tell truth from conjecture. At one time the officers themselves were on the point of making an arrest, when their course was slightly but effectually diverted by an examination of specimens of hair.

HAIR CUTS A BIG FIGURE

For the hair found clutched in the dead girl's hand was early recognized as either a very important or a very useless bit of evidence. If it was her own, no clue; if it was not her own, it belonged to the murderer. On Oct. 6, the body was exhumed for the second or third time and specimens of Miss Wiese's hair were taken from all parts of her head. Dr. C. C. Cottle was secured to make a microscopic examination of this and compare it with what was found in her hand and on her shoulder. It was not the same. Samples of hair from a large number of the neighbors were then secured and examined carefully by Dr. Cottle and Dr. Walter Haynes, the noted expert of Rush Medical College, Chicago. And the hair from one of these persons matched with apparent perfect accuracy that found in the hand of the deceased, while none of the others are at all like it. That person is the accused.

Such is an outline of the course of the investigation without going into details. Sheriff Pence has had general charge of the investigation and has done faithful and efficient work. He has been in constant consultation with County Attorney Carney, whose legal acumen has been of great service. Detective Shultz has been of great service and is a shrewd, discreet officer. Dr. Cottle's microscopic work has been painstaking and thorough and his conclusions were the same as those of Professor Haynes, the Chicago medical expert, - no small recommendation for the Marshalltown physician.

THE ARREST EFFECTED

A telegram from Sheriff Pence at Green Mountain was received here by Deputy Wildman shortly after 1 o'clock, stating that Mrs. Bennett had been arrested and officers were on their way hither with her. She will of course be arraigned very soon, but it is probable that no attempt will be made to try her during this term of court. While the circumstantial evidence is very strong, there is a disposition to give the accused the benefit of every doubt and she will be accorded a full and fair hearing. Nothing can be stated at this writing as to the nature of her defense. Certain it is that the case will now begin to attract even wider attention than in the past and eminent legal talent will be employed on both sides.

The officers reached town with their prisoner at about 2:15 accompanied also by her son, Arthur Sherlock. They found Mrs. Bennett lying on the bed with her dress and shoes on, but claiming that she had typhoid fever. She said little about the case except to assert her innocence. She did not weaken in the least and was not at all talkative.