| Show developments in the herman murders mm elms mi also pastors bloodstained overalls binks in the chain of evidence being firmly welded which fasten beyond a reasonable doubt around the scandinavian preacher the guilt of miss clausen miss samuelson and possibly other sau lake slay 25 this has beani n exciting and eventful day in the in of the scandinavian methodist church tragedies the net results lacing a chain of circumstances which taken aith ai those previously discovered fastens the guilt of murdering miss clausen on the francis hermans beyond a reasonable doubt and also goes to show that miss samuelson fell a victim to the pastors satanic actions and that be may also have had other victims the work of excavating the floor of the basement of the church began at an early hour this morning A vast amount of earth was removed and quantities of bones found in various of decomposition some were plainly identified as human bones others were in such a condition that it was impossible to tell whether they were human or the bones of animals and others were plainly as being those of cattle and fowls the general appearance of the place was such as to suggest the idea of a cemetery and there is no telling how many human beings have been interred in the basement of the eacret edifice at a certain spot beneath the where the soil evidence of having been recently disturbed the sole and heel of a comans womans were found near the surface and a little deeper down in the a pair of bloodstained overalls which it is claimed by the tenants 0 the church were worn by their pastor while he was engaged in laboratory and other work separate and apart from his books the overalls were bloodstained on every part ed john eon the young man whose room was heated to such a high degree of temperature the day the minister built the big fire in the furnace declares that hermans had them on when the latter was met by him on the basement stairway with a gunny sack under his arm he said he also wore a jumper of like material at the same time bat all efforts to find this article of clothing were futile then came a piece of confirmatory fir evidence as to what became of it the furnace ashes on being sifted were found to contain the requisite number of steel buttons for such an article ot apparel and the strong point is that they correspond exactly with those on the blood saturated overalls miss clausan wore five or six artificial teeth and a further examination of the ashes taken from the furnace resulted in the finding of two artificial teeth with metallic rivets eulilar to those worn by the dead girl this the detectives found in a second hand store classens Clau sens trunk which the pastor claims to have sent to her by an unknown some weeks after her disappearance the trunk it transpires contains the wearing apparel of the missing girl amone alio articles of clothing was the dress in which miss clausen had the photograph taken now in the possession ot the police in addition to this it now bankens thai hermans eold the trunk and clothing himself and that he disposed of the girls guitar at the game time the date of this transaction was december alth last just t months and days after the girl b p feared whether tho bones found in excavating the basement of the church include those of blies samuelson the other girl who it would appear fell a victim to the pastors lust and bloodthirsty ness cannot be yet determined the search in abo church and surroundings ia not by any means yet concluded and further discoveries can be expected it has been established that hermans was criminally intimate with the samuelson girl and that he performed an abortion on her a few weeks before her disappearance in january last A few days prior to her disappearance the pastor had a large box made at one of the lumber yards and some of the officers hold to the theory that tho boada found in the church are too old to be those of a person only dead since jannary and that the preacher packed the remains in the box and either chipped it away or else took it along with him when ho left tor kansas city on may C it has further developed that both girls had entrusted to mr hermans considerable money for sate keeping or investment miss clausen it is known gave him very shortly before her disappearance pe arance and miss samuelson elson had also civen ham several su mg of money while she was living with him hermans drank heavily at times and kept a stock of wines and liquors at bis study the officers anre keeping up tho search in and around the church and the place has been visited by thousands of curiosity today dr meacham who made an analysis of the stains upon the Tr arious articles found in the cellar eaid that while ho was not prepared to state that the stains were those caused by human blood owing to the fact that dorinn the long period that bad elapsed sinco the perpetration of the deed the blood corpuscles corpus cles had become contracted making it a hard matter to distinguish it from the blood of animals each as horses dogs etc nevertheless he cm pronounced the stains that he bad examined upon ibo lower door of the and upon the barrel found in the cellar to be undoubtedly blood stains beyond that be was prepared to give no further statement except that be would operate with a final teat this evening upon the articles including the smears on the paper the officers have no tidings of the missing preacher the governor of the state has been asked to offer a large reward for his capture and it is expected his excellency will do so today Hermans Minnesota records minneapolis minn may 25 rev francis hermans who is wanted in salt lake city en suspicion of having caused the death of henrietta clausen and annie samuelson is not unknown in minneapolis ho came to minneapolis Minnea poli iu 1893 through the instrumentality of elder jacobson and took the charge then vacated by rev over which he presided about six months alter which he removed to west superior meanwhile hermans who claimed to have been a widower while in scotland had married a miss bertha wangen of minneapolis shortly afterwards mrs hermans proved of unsound mind and it was necessary to send her to an insane asylum A tew hours previous to the time set for her removal ehe suddenly died although circumstances in connection with her death were somewhat suspicious no action was ever taken in the matter A year after this hermans won tho hand of miss linn of iowa the ceremony being performed in minneapolis during this time he was a resident of west superior where he resided until the fall of 93 a few months after his second arora west superior he removed to salt lake city where his second wife died shortly after his removal there during the month of april of the present year bev hermans was in minneapolis visiting friends and relatives he also paid B visit to west superior and afterwards he went to iowa and from there to chicago where he was met by his friend elder jacobson of this city while there hermans received sy telegram from salt lake requesting his immediate return he departed at ones and since then nothing has been heard of him by his friends here bev hermans was making a tour of the country soliciting and collecting means for his salt lake church having been duly authorized by the bishops to carry cut this mission his second marriage here made his third step in the matrimonial line it bis statement in regard to being a widower when ho arrived in this country is arne while here the last time be spoke to an intimate friend of a love affair lie bad on his bands at salt lake city claiming that a young woman there was very much in love with him but ho had sot then made up his dmd as to whether be would marry her or not lie stated that before his departure from salt lake city the young lady in question had sent lier trunk to hia house with the information that ehe herself would follow no names were mentioned by hermans and it is not known to what woman be referred his statements here and the fact that his two wives known of here died under suspicious circumstances leads to the belief among his friends in minneapolis that the crimes laid at hia door were committed by him |
