The Bloody Hammer and the Brewer's Wife

Craemer's case was closed yesterday afternoon and court adjourned until 9 o'clock tomorrow morning. The prosecution of the supposed murderer of Mrs. Philippine Meller is complete and was mapped out by numerous witnesses. Some doubt was thrown on the case by the failure of an important witness to identify the wooden hammer found in the possession of the accused; by the statement of Bert Gayer that a bribe had been offered him to withhold his testimony; and by the introduction in evidence of a revolver, proved to be a roomer's, found near the walk by Meller's house a week or two before.

Interest in the trial continued unabated and many women were compelled to stand. One of the problems of Monday is whether Craemer will put the defendant on the stand in his own behalf. Attorney Soderberg has not yet decided. The only other witness for the defense is Mrs. Craemer.

Coroner Horton was the first witness called. He described the wounds of the murdered woman and said the immediate cause of death was a fracture of the skull with hemorrhage, which must have been fatal within a very few minutes. He said: 'The body had not become cold when I reached at 9 o'clock in company with the chief of police, and the murder could not have been committed very long before that time. My opinion is that the wounds were inflicted with a blunt instrument. I saw in the house a hammer which Chief Rogers found in the front room. The hammer was covered with blood, and from the nature of the wounds I can form a belief that the murder was committed with the hammer.'

John Meller, husband of the murdered woman, was next called, and all eyes were directed upon him as he took the stand. His testimony was given in a low tone, and in a voice that at times quivered with emotion. He said: 'I was the husband of Philippine Meller, and we lived with our family of two girls and a little boy in this city not quite a year, during which time I was employed at the Bay View Brewery. When I went to work there I took Craemer's place at the request of the foreman. I first knew him about the time I came to Seattle. He worked at the brewery up to last November. Up to about a month before the picnic given by the Liederkranz, August 12, I had saved $240 in gold, which my wife had. I carried it in a wallet in my pocket. Just outside the gate to the picnic grounds I gave the money to my wife, that she might take care of it when we got home. We kept the money there, either in a little satchel in the closet or in the trunk in the front room. There was no other money in the house—not a cent. Just before I left for the Brewers' Union meeting Monday evening, Fritz, the baby, sat in his chair on my left-hand side at the supper table. I had that day received my last week's pay, $15.06, and I gave it to my wife. She had saved the $240 by my giving her every week my wages. I have not seen the money since, although I have looked all over the house for it. The trunk was not kept locked, and after the murder everything in it was thrown about on the floor.'

Mrs. M. A. Hear, who lives near the brewery, two blocks from the Meller home, testified: 'On the morning of August 14 I was in the vicinity with Mrs. Whipple, and saw Jennie Clark with the little Meller girls at the foot of the steps leading from their home. Jennie said the house was on fire, and we two went up the steps, the oldest child following us. Jennie went into the house ahead of me, caught up the baby and ran with it to Mrs. Peterson's, three or four blocks away to the south. When I reached the center room Mrs. Meller lay on the floor apparently lifeless, and about two feet away from her body was a fire kindled among bed clothes, carpet and three chairs piled up together. There was a small lamp on the floor. I looked for water to put out the fire, but couldn't find any, and then I ran to the door to tell the people that the Meller house was on fire and that Mrs. Meller had been murdered. When I first went to the house I did not see any blood, but when I returned there was a bloody towel in the kitchen and it looked as if someone had wiped his hands on it. The first thing to attract my attention at the foot of the stairs was the crying of the children.'

Chief Rogers testified that when Craemer realized he was suspected he became much excited and very nervous. 'I offered him the hammer. He drew back. His hands shook violently and he refused to take the hammer until I had offered it to him the second time.' On cross-examination Attorney Soderberg asked, 'Would you not expect any man to draw back under like circumstances?' The chief replied, 'I expected him to.' 'Would not any man except a butcher have done the same?' 'I would not expect an ordinary man's teeth to rattle and his hands to shake and his whole body to quiver—for him to go into a fit over a thing of that kind—as Craemer did.'

At a subsequent search the chief found $140 in gold concealed in a miter box, along with some dusty molding, stuck away among the rafters of a shed to the rear of the house. The money was in a red Myrtle T. A. B. tobacco box, new and not at all dusty, and was in two packages, one containing twelve $10 pieces and the other four $5 pieces, the whole wrapped in a Post-Intelligencer of June 3d. Craemer accounts for the $140 by saying it was paid to him in Tacoma on the day of the murder by a man named Jack Quincy, who had owed him $140 ever since the defendant was a saloonkeeper in Los Angeles some years ago.

Sheriff Woolery said he picked up the piece of hammer handle in Craemer's yard, very nearly midway between the fence and the woodshed. G. Smith, an intimate friend of Craemer, identified the piece of wood by a paint spot, but amid intense excitement exclaimed: 'This piece of wood does not belong to the hammer handle.' Smith further testified that Craemer was drinking in the Occidental saloon at 11:30, 12:30 and 1:45 P.M. August 13. This closed the case for the state, and the defense will state its case at 9:30 tomorrow morning.