Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 121, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1911 — STATE PREPARING CASE AGAINST JOHN W. POOLE. [ARTICLE]

STATE PREPARING CASE AGAINST JOHN W. POOLE.

Bones Are Disinterred and Effort Made to Determine How Kemper Met His Death. Benton County Review. , The state is still engaged tn the work of collecting evidence against John Poole. One of the chief things being done at this time is the work of building a case to substantiate the theory that Kemper was killed with a club or some other blunt instrument as it is contended that the skull could not possibly have been broken up in the way it is as the result of a shotgun wound. Coroner LeSage and Dr. Cook assisted by J. H. Knickerbocker, have wired the various pieces of the skull together in-so-far as they were able to do so. Quite a bit of the back part of the skull is missing. Among the missing pieces are a couple of triangular patches. The doctors refuse to say whether any shot were found in the front part of the skull when it was cleaned. The skull has been sealed and will not be on exhibition again until it is taken to the grand jury room. Last Thursday Drs. LeSage and Cook went to the cemetery where workmen disintered the remains of Kemper and an attempt was made to boil the flesh from the bones. In this they were only partly successful. The thigh bones, those of the left arm and three or four of the cervical vertebrae were recovered.

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The doctors were astonished to find the tAsh in a splendid state of preservation. The progress of decomposition had worked some havoc with the outer surfaces of the body, but underneath the flesh was firm and solid and the task of removing it from the bones was so difficult that the attempt was finally abandoned. Portions of the body were dumped into an ordinary wash boiler and placed on a gasoline stove to cook but sufficient heat could not be generated and as a final resort a campfire was started and after a couple of hours work they gave up the task, having secured the few bones enumerated above. The balance of the body was returned to the grave.

The neck had the appearance of having been cut square off, as though some sharp instrument had been used In severing the head. Dr. Cook is of the opinion that it was thus severed. Dr. LeSage Is uncertain about the matter and Undertaker Knickerbocker says he could discover no evidence that the vertebrae were severed by other means than the natural decay of the tissues, although he admits that it might have been possible that an axe would strike in just the right position to sever the head and not leave any marks on the contiguous vertebrae.

It is the theory of the state that Kemper was killed in the dining room of the Poole home and that a club or blunt instrument was used. The prosecuting attorney ridicules h the idea that Poole killed Kemper accidentally and scoffs at his story that humanity prompted him to carry the body into the house and cleanse it of the blood and mud which covered it after the alleged "accident” happened in the barnyard. He insists that it Is not in accordance with Poole’s other actions in the matter nor compatible with the former acts of his life. While the state is naturally not inclined to take the public into its confidence at this time, it is understood that the prosecution expects to make a strong case against Poole when they come into court Among other scources of information it is expected that a grilling cross-examination will lead Mrs. Poole and her daughter Grace to divulge many facts that are at present much obscured. In plain words they are believed to know more than they are inclined to tell. The son, Emory Poole, will make a willing witness and he does not hesitate to express the belief that his father killed Kemper intentionally. When he is placed on the witness stand he will in all likelihood, tell things which have not yet become known to the public. The field In which Kemper was buried has been ploughed and every trace of the grave has vanished. Mrs. Poole has the same moneygrubbing instinct that obsesses her husband and appears to be giving more attention to the farm work than to her husband’s troubles. The daughter Grace is assisting her and taking the place of a hand in the field. The family were not annoyed last Sabbath by the horde of curiosity seekers who swarmed over the place the Sunday previous, but a great many automobiles and buggies drove past the farm and the occupants stared curiosly at the buildings and their surroundings.

Emory Poole is working for Cecil Conway and still talks freely of the case. He is estranged from his mother and sister, whom he says do not speak to him now. The boy is firm in his belief that bls father killed Kemper in the dining room and used a shotgun for the purpose. He says he is confident his mother knows much more about the case than she has yet

told. He says that she told him she saw Poole bring the sack of clothes from the barn when he started to the Jasper county farm on -one of his trips, and ’he tells of her finding Kemper's razor hidden in a commode drawer among some old clothes, and when his father inquired about the razor a little later she denied having seen it at all. Poole’s brother, William Poole, of Wabash, was in Fowler the latter pan of the week. He visited his brother in jail and went to the farm and visited the family. He says John always acted strangely and his ruling passion was greed. William will render what aid he can to his brother and the meeting of the two men is said to have been a tearful one. John still takes his confinement philosophically and sticks to his story of the affair being an accident. The Benton Review received the following letter which is self-explana-tory:

Willis, Virginia. To Benton Review, Fowler, Ind. x In the year 1904 I saw John Poole near Remington, Indiana, and he hired me to go to his place and work for him. So I went and stayed I think four days and I worked on his farm near Swanington, also I worked with him on the Big Four railroad and he got insane at home one morning and threatened to kill me and I left before breakfast and he never paid me for my work, only enough to take me to Goodland, where I had friends. Dear editor, if this is worth printing please do. W. P. Bowman.