Very inquesting...

To the defense of all involved in the investigation at Colorado Springs, the victims were not discovered until nearly three days after they were murdered. If the killer was mobile (and it seems he was) then he was long gone from the city by then and certain missteps could be forgiven since the Colorado Springs authorities really had no hope of catching a mobile serial killer in 1911. But on the other hand if this had been an acquaintance murder then the investigation would have been an even bigger failure. At the inquest held ten days after the crime's discovery and ten days after the swearing in of the jury over the victims' bodies as they lay in the morgue, four witnesses were called, neither of them able to shed any better light on the crime than what the newspapers had already reported.  

Two people mentioned in newspaper reports were never called to testify; the milkman who on the morning of September 18 (around 2:00 a.m.) saw a peculiar man leaving the neighborhood on a bicycle and the miner, C. Marshall, who saw a man loitering in the area around midnight on the 17th. Marshall got close enough to the man to see a mustache but we don't know the context of the sighting (where in the area was he seen, what clothes he was wearing, what was the suspicious behavior noticed, ect...). The description given by Marshall was vague at best; medium height, mustache and wearing a soft hat. Who knows what details further questioning could have brought out. Also noticably absent from the witness list were Tony Donatell, Arthur Burnham, John Merritt (Anna Merritt's brother) and at least one person (a woman) who had paid for the use of the Burnham's front porch hammock a week before the murders. At least three people walked past or visited the Burnham's house on Monday September 18th; Grant Collins' son actually knocked on the front door in an attempt to deliver the Burnham's grocery bill. He tried again on Tuesday and ended up leaving the bill tacked to the front door. Anna Merritt's niece walked by the house on Monday and Tuesday and not only told her aunt the Burnham children had not been to school those days but told her the house was closed up. Anna herself walked by Monday morning on her way to and from the Meskimen-Collins grocery store and testified not only did she notice the house looking empty but had made a conscious decision not to visit since she was very busy that day. The Burnham's nearest neighbor, Mrs. C. L. Brown, was also not called to testify even though she may have been the last person, other than May Burnham's sister, to see any of the family alive. Would any of the above individual's testimony have helped the investigation? In short, probably not but the more information an investigator has, the better the chance of finding a lead.

At Last the Coroner's Inquest - Part 2

Henry F. Wayne

Much thanks to Sandra at the Pikes Peak Library in Colorado Springs.

Now don't get excited, I still haven't found the actual Coroner's findings or listing of evidence submitted. What Sandra did find for me was a brief summery of the Coroner's Inquest in the Colorado Springs Herald and I think it gives me some new things to chew on and more fuel for my WAGs and SWAGs.

El Paso County Coroner Leonard Jackson called only two witnesses outside of the
doctor who examined the bodies. Dr. E. L. McKinnie viewed the bodies at the
morgue and it isn't stated if he saw them in the context of the crime scene. He found that May Burnham was "the worst battered of any of the victims." She had been struck four times and he noted she was wearing a nightgown or a wrap. Nellie Burnham had been struck on the back of her head which was consistent with the finding she had been attacked while attempting to crawl over her mother's legs. The Burnham children were dressed in their underwear. Henry Wayne had been attacked while lying on his back and the frontal bones of the skull and facial bones were collapsed from the attack. Dr. McKinnie stated Henry had been the next "worst battered" of the victims. Blanche Wayne had been lying on her side when attacked and had been hit with the blade of the axe near her temple then was hit with the blunt end of the axe. No mention is made of the state of dress or undress of the Wayne's bodies.

Officially the Jury returned an "open verdict" which basically means they had no suspects and no idea where they were going to find some suspects. It is the last aspect of the jury's findings that intrigues me.

"[W]e further find that the killing of the above named persons was done with felonious intent."

I'm not a lawyer but I can Google. Felonious intent means the murders happened as a consequence of some other felony action. An example would be if a burglar was surprised by the homeowner and, while attempting to escape, struck the homeowner with a fire poker and killed him. The original intent of the crime was burglary, a felony, and as a consequence someone was murdered. According to Wikipedia, the current interpretation of "felonious intent" has been in effect since the 18th century so this is how the jury in Colorado Springs would have understood the finding as well.

So what might have been the “felonious intent” the jurors had considered? If you read that Wiki entry you will see what the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code lists as crimes contained in the Felonious Intent clause; robbery, rape or forcible deviant sexual intercourse, arson, burglary, kidnapping, and felonious escape. I can remove robbery/burglary from the list since it was well documented that items of value were left in plain sight throughout both crime scenes. Investigators originally thought an attempt to set fire to the Burnham cottage had been made but as I wrote earlier, the scorched curtains were explained by too much powder being used by a photographer, so arson is out. Felonious escape and kidnapping were not considered so that leaves rape and/or forcible deviant sex. This leads me back to my previous post where I proposed the bodies may have been posed or assaulted in some way after death. The jury seems to have considered something while listening to the evidence. This of course is all speculation. I can’t begin to be certain of anything unless I find an accurate description of the crime scenes somewhere but until such time, I will stand by my deductive reasoning and leave it at that.

P.S. The two other witnesses were Nettie Ruth and Anna Merritt. Pretty lean list considering all the speculation flying around the neighborhood. Why not Mrs. Evans who loaned out what turned out to be the murder weapon and supposedly heard a scream on the night of the murder? How about the mine worker who saw a man loitering in the area about midnight the same night? Wow. Even by the standards of 1911 criminology this case got botched badly.

At Last The Coroner's Inquest!

Criminal investigation in 1911 was certainly not what it is today. The use of fingerprints for identification of criminals had only been introduced five years before and the practice was very slowly making its way West. For most police forces, the Bertillon method (anthropometry) was still in use. Criminal apprehension at the time was clumsy and often involved “deputized” vigilante committees who tore off into the area searching for hobos, vagabonds, lunatics, and quite often, “coloreds.” IMHO the fact that crimes were ever solved is amazing. Typically a suspect would be captured, jailed and interrogated until he finally confessed and if he didn’t confess there usually wasn’t anything else the police could do unless the case had, sometimes literally, a smoking gun.

The Coroner’s Inquest, although not as important, is still used today in many counties and municipalities around the country. It is basically a forum used to assist the county coroner in the determination of a person’s death. It usually consists of six jurors who are sworn in to hear under-oath testimony from witnesses, be presented with evidence and given a tour of the crime scene. Inquests are usually held within twenty-four hours of the victim’s discovery in order to get the freshest recollections possible. A jury was sworn in “over the bodies” of the Waynes on the night of September 21st but it was almost 240 hours later by the time El Paso County Coroner Jackson convened the Burnham-Wayne inquest. By ten ‘o clock in the morning, Saturday September 30, 1911, the Burnhams had been buried eight days and the Waynes had been shipped to Indiana. The crime scenes had been so scoured over by souvenir hunters that they were worthless and numerous “theories” had been printed for public reading in the newspapers. To say the Springs inquest was unproductive would be an understatement. Witness’ recollections began to evolve until, a full ten days after the actual murders(!), they began to “remember” hearing screams on the night of the crime. It also didn’t help that a second axe was found under the front porch of a vacant house.

After the release of Arthur Burnham and Tony Donatel, the police began to question anyone even remotely associated with the Burnhams. Hardly anybody knew the Waynes but it was believed Henry was Blanch’s second husband (not true) so they were busy looking for him. Anna Merritt’s brother, John, became a suspect after

[the police] asked him four questions and found that he was inclined to be evasive in his replies, and [they] thought [they] would put him back in jail until he would be willing to talk.

Joseph R. Evans, the one whom Blanch Wayne had borrowed the axe from, was placed under arrest after it was determined he talked too much. With the arrest of those two men it could easily be reasoned that both Mrs. Evans and Anna Merritt would be much more guarded with their testimony to the jury.  Further cause for consternation was Denver Police Chief Hamilton Armstrong's belief the crime scene indicated a female killer(!?).

To date, I have been unable to locate either the coroner’s summery or a listing of evidence presented to the jury. It is likely these documents are crumbling away in an unsorted storage box somewhere but if anybody has any idea where they might be found, it could be a warm breath on a very cold case.