Wm. Benz's Throat Cut By Unknown Person Or Persons

WM. BENZ'S THROAT CUT BY UNKOWN PERSON OR PERSONS

Coroner's Inquest in the Case at Dexter Was Held Yesterday

No Motive Shown -- Benz's Life Apparently Happy -- two Coffee Cups and Unrecognized Piece of Paper the New Points Brought Out

     The mystery surrounding the death of William Benz in Lima Friday, August 21, is a deep as ever, although the inquest was held in Dexter yesterday. About 700 or 800 people crowded into the Dexter opera house to witness the inquest and deepest interest was manifested. Prosecuting Attorney Duffy and J. F. Lawrence were the lawyers present who assisted Coroner Watts in the examination. The case was tried with five jurymen - Henry Phelps, George Higgins, Simon Schairer, Harry Pratt and James Hanna - one juryman being excused.

     The inquest developed the fact that there was absolutely no motive that there was absolutely no motive for suicide. Benz lived happily, had a good and well stocked farm, was not pressed for money and was happy with his wife. No motive for murder was shown and no suspicion cast on anyone. The facts bearing upon the question of murder may be summarized as follows:

     1. Quantities of blood fell in the dining room as well as the woodshed to which a trail of blood led, but there were no bloody footmarks. If Benz walked to the woodshed he avoided stepping into the blood and if he was carried, the murderer also avoided doing so. If Benz walked he stepped over or around pools of blood.

     2. The blows from the hammer were not sufficient to kill, although the one blow which fractured the skull was a hard one and would probably produce unconsciousness more or less prolonged.

     3. The blows were on the right side of the face and not on the head excepting a light blow on the forehead.

     4. The blood in the house fell perpendicular and between the house and shed spurted forward. This would fit as well into the murder theory the body being carried face downward in the house and shifted sidewise on leaving it.

     5. There was a hord blow on the breast bone.

     6. Blood had spurted to the ceiling as well as fallen in pools on the floor.

     7. A slip or paper with a memorandum "White Table Cloth" and on the reverse side written crosswise "April 2-16-23-30. May 7-14-21-28" in unknown handwriting and which slip no one of the family had seen before, was found in the dining room near the table. To the reporter the words White Table Cloth seemed to have been written in large letters as by a child or one who had learned writing since the vertical system came into use, while the dates were in smaller handwriting not unlike a woman's.

     8. The dinner Mrs. Benz prepared before leaving had been eaten, but Benz had apparently used his bread and milk spoon, which was not on the table but which he knew where it was.

     9. Two cups with four spoons were on the kitchen table in which had been coffee, but no milk. Benz always used milk. Mrs. Benz had left coffee on the kitchen stove for him.

     10. Benz had arranged that morning to haul oats the next day.

     11. Benz's married life was a happy one. Even Yaeger testified to this. He was not pressed for debts and the testimony showed was not of a morose disposition. He had a good and well stocked farm.

     12. No on has been found who saw anyone about the house or farm.

     It will be noticed that mystery still surrounds the case. At the inquest Coroner Watts presided impressively, the testimony was rapidly taken by a good stenographer.

     The first witness sworn was Mrs. Lydia C. Benz, wife of the deceased William Benz. She testified that she left her home in Lima township Friday morning, Aug. 21, at 9:30 o'clock, to go to her father's, William Aprill, in Scio township. Her husband had harnessed up her horse for her. She returned home between 7:30 and 8 o'clock the same evening. As she came along to their farm she noticed the cattle were still in the field. She stopped her horse and opened the gate and let out the cattle and they followed her home. When she arrived there she unhitched her horse, put him out and went to the house. At the back door she noticed blood, and at once thought her husband had broken his arm or hurt himself. The kitchen door was unlocked and the key outside, although when she had locked the door and hidden the key in a new place so that Fred Yaeger would not be able to find it. She found more blood in the kitchen, and considerable more in the dining room. She screamed, calling for her husband and looked around, but not finding him ran out of the house to go to a neighbor's. When on the road she met a boy, Hugh Quinn. He was driving and went with her to the nearest neighbor's, Louis Traub's. Then they all, herself, Traub and Quinn went back to the house and searched for her husband, they finding his body in the woodshed. In the dining room she found their hammer. The sheath of her husband's razor was under the dining room table. She had, in the morning, when she went away, left the hammer on the kitchen table. Her husband had wanted it to nail boards on a fence. Her married life had always been pleasant. Her husband never spoke of suicide and apparently was happy. He had purchased the farm from Mr. Yaeger for $8,000. They had given a mortgage for $4,000 payable in seven years from last March, with 4 per cent interest. There was no interest due until next March. Their house stood quite a ways back from the road. The farm consisted of 145 acres. They had 19 head of cattle, five horses, 75 sheep and a lot of farming utensils. Her husband was not pressed for money. She thought there was about a quart of blood in the dining room. She indicated on the table a space about 10 inches in diameter, which she said as covered with blood about a half inch thick. There was blood on the side of the dining room table and also a little blood on the back porch and a few drops from the stoop to the woodshed. When she went away in the morning she left her husband's dinner on the table, consisting of four slices of bread, two slices of cake, butter, honey and a pitcher of milk, which had all been eaten. She had forgotten to put spoons on the table. Her husband always ate his bread and milk with a big spoon. He knew where the spoons were kept. There were no spoons on the dining table in the evening. The next morning she found in the kitchen two cups and four spoons and a little coffee in each cup. There was no milk in the coffee and her husband always drank milk in his coffee. (a piece of paper was shown Mrs. Benz.) She said there was a little memorandum, "One white table cloth" on it. She testified the writing was not hers or her husband's and she did not know whose writing it was. She had never seen it before.

     Hugh Quinn and Louis Traub were sworn and testified to the finding of the body and also to the fact that Benz had talked to them to help haul oats the next Saturday. Mr. Quinn had worked for Benz some months and lived in the family and took his meals with them. He thought the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Benz had always been pleasant.

     Dr. Theo. Klingmann, of Ann Arbor, who assisted by Dr. Honey of Dexter had made the post mortem, was the last witness examined before dinner. He testified that the wound made by the blow of the hammer close to the right ear, in front of it, had fractured the skull back of the ear. No blow had been given at the spot where the skull was fractured. He described the wounds he found on the forehead and breast bone. The blood must have come from the wounds in the throat. It was possible, but not probable that at man could inflict all the wounds upon himself. Benz was alive when the body reached the woodshed. He thought it was possible for the body to have remained hanging from the cider barrel, by the left arm placed in it, if the body was alive at the time the body was placed there.

     After dinner Dr. R. B. Honey of Dexter, testified that he was called to the Benz farm Friday night August 21, and examined the body which he recognized as William Benz between 10 and 11 o'clock that night. He saw the body before it was removed from the woodshed and the blood stains. There was a big pool of blood at the right of the dining room table and blood on the other side of the table, scattering drops of blood led into the kitchen. At first he did not see the hammer but later saw it between the table and the door leading into the front room. He described the wounds made by the hammer and said the skull had been fractured by a blow about an inch and a half from the right ear on a line between ear and the eye. The fracture extended to the back of the skull. The doctor showed the location of the wounds on a human skull. The blow on the breast bone left a mark which when he first saw it was as large as a quarter dollar but which when he saw it at the post mortem Monday was then larger than a silver dollar. He didn't know whether the fracture of a skull would produce unconsciousness. It probably would. It was not necessarily fatal.  A man receiving such a blow could recover consciousness. The body when seen in the woodshed was against a whiskey or cider barrel, the head hanging by the side of the barrel and the body kept from falling by the elbow being in the barrel up to the shoulder. There were at least two distinct cuts from the razor in the neck. The skin showed that it had been cut by at least two strokes. It was his opinion from the blood that the throat had been cut both in the dining room and in the woodshed. The throat had been cut from about one inch of one ear to an inch and a half of the other.

     Sheriff Gauntlett described the blood stains as he found them Saturday between 10 and 11 o'clock. The drops of blood leading from the dining room through the kitchen all spattered equally in all directions from which he deduced the conclusion that they fell perpendicular, but the drops of blood on the porch and path spattered forward from which he deduced the conclusion that at this point they had spattered forward. There were no bloody footprints. He looked carefully for them.

     Deputy Sheriff Peterson testified to his conclusions that Benz had hit himself with the hammer in the yard, where there was blood and then cut his throat in the dining room and kitchen. He could testify to no reasons why Benz should commit suicide. There were marks made by a bloody hand in opening the cupboard door where the razor was kept and blood spots inside the cupboard. There were no bloody footprints.

     Miss Emma Aprill identified the mysterious slip of paper found in the dining room Saturday morning.

     Chris Kuhn testified that last spring he had been riding with Benz. They had a pint of whiskey and a gallon of beer. Benz said the was having trouble with his folks- meaning his father. He didn't say what trouble. He said if he couldn't do anything else he could go to the river or- and witness drew his hand across his throat.

     William Benz testified that he had never had any trouble with his son. There was no hard feeling between them. He went to his house and was prepared to help him financially. There was no reason why his son should be morose and he was not.

     William Aprill testified to the purchase of the farm for $8,000, a 4 percentage mortgage for $4,000 being given, none of the principal of which had to be paid until seven years, the first interest falling due next March. Benz was apparently happy. Mr. Aprill reached the Benz house after Dr. Honey and the coroner. He described the blood stains. There was no bloody footprints. There was a big pool of blood by the door of the dining room that he had swept out that the body could be brought into the dining room without making tracks. Mr. Aprill did not think a man who had cut his throat could walk through the blood spurting from the neck in such quantities as was on the floor without tracking it. He thought that the body had been carried so that the blood would fall to one side of the person who carried it.

     Fred Yaeger worked on the Benz farm till July 21. He was on the farm Tuesday preceding Benz's death. He and Edward VanFleet left Dexter Wednesday and drove to Jackson. They left Jackson at 3 o'clock Thursday afternoon, slept at a school house and drove into Manchester at noon, Friday. He hired out to a circus that day. He told whom he met and told a perfectly straight story which was corroborated by Edward VanFleet, who also testified. When at the Benz house Yaeger ate with the family. He never saw or heard of any trouble between Benz and his wife. They seemed to be happy.

     The lawyers didn't care to make any remarks and the jury brought in the following verdict: William E. Benz came to his death on the 21st day of August, 1902, between the hours of 10 o'clock a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on his farm in the township of Lima, by having his throat cut by a person or persons unknown to the jury.

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