The
late Alice McQuillan Dunn and her husband Frank Dunn1
According
to the officers who heard the confession today, the men say they were promised
$10,000 if Mrs. Dunn was killed, and of that amount, $6,000 was paid after the
agreement was reached. According to the men, the plot also included killing J.
McQuillan, Mrs. Dunn’s father.
The most startling fact is how close the actual murder was to the original plan discussed in Mont. Mrs. Dunn was to be shot at night and the murder was supposed to appear as an attempted robbery.
Ten days after Dunn’s visit to Mont., one of the men came to Minneapolis, where he lived in a hotel. According to the confession, soon after, he came to St. Paul and boarded with Dunn at a house next door to 210 N. Smith Ave., where Mrs. Dunn was living. After the separation, Mrs. Dunn remained living in the Dunn property and her husband moved next door.
The most startling fact is how close the actual murder was to the original plan discussed in Mont. Mrs. Dunn was to be shot at night and the murder was supposed to appear as an attempted robbery.
Ten days after Dunn’s visit to Mont., one of the men came to Minneapolis, where he lived in a hotel. According to the confession, soon after, he came to St. Paul and boarded with Dunn at a house next door to 210 N. Smith Ave., where Mrs. Dunn was living. After the separation, Mrs. Dunn remained living in the Dunn property and her husband moved next door.
House at left is 202 N. Smith Ave., where men brought from Montana say
they watched Mrs. Alice Dunn in murder preparations. House at right is 210 N.
Smith Ave., where Mrs. Dunn lived alone after her separation from her husband.
Figure 1 shows bay windows in dining room of rooming house where alleged
blackmailers say they watched Mrs. Dunn's movements across the way. No. 2 ,
bathroom window, where observations are also alleged to have been made. No. 3, Dunn’s
room, occupied after he and his wife separated. No. 4, bay windows in living
room where Mrs. Dunn sat and sewed. No. 5, Mrs. Dunn's bedroom. No. 6, barn,
used by Dunn in his teaming business. X, porch where Mrs. Dunn reclined in
hammock when alleged blackmailers say Dunn pointed his wife out to them, saying,
"There she is. Take a good look at her."2
The man said that Dunn pointed out his wife to him so
that he would be sure to “know her.” The confession goes on to say that Mrs.
Dunn’s habits were told in detail to this man, everything she was accustomed to
doing, the route she took when she visited her parents, the friends she
visited, in fact every detail to assist the man who was hired to murder her.
The second man then came from Mont. to St. Paul. Both men say they never intended to commit the crime, but decided to get as much money out of Dunn as they could, because they needed it badly at the time.
Once, Dunn showed his wife swinging in the hammock at the house next door to the two men. “There she is,” he said laughing. “Get a good look at her.”
The man who says he lived next door to Mrs. Dunn for 10 days was told by Dunn that the woman had forced him to fix up the house more elaborately than necessary, that besides this expense, there was also the alimony to pay and that Mrs. Dunn had never been anything but an expense to him.
Dunn is being held in the Ramsey County jail. His wife, from whom he was separated and to whom he was paying $70 in monthly alimony, was shot to death as she lay beside her sister in their bed in her father’s home.
The Bismarck Tribune; “Dunn Was To Pay $10,000 For Shooting; Two Montana Men Confess They Were Hired on Previous Occasion to Murder Wife; That Plot Failed But $6,000 Was Paid Down”; May 01, 1917; p. 1.
St. Paul Daily News; “Dunn Tells Names of Accusers. Says Al Brown and Man Named Ferdig Confronted Him at Police Station. Suspected Husband of Murdered Woman Becomes Haggard in Cell.”; May 1, 1917; pp. 1 & 2.
The second man then came from Mont. to St. Paul. Both men say they never intended to commit the crime, but decided to get as much money out of Dunn as they could, because they needed it badly at the time.
Once, Dunn showed his wife swinging in the hammock at the house next door to the two men. “There she is,” he said laughing. “Get a good look at her.”
The man who says he lived next door to Mrs. Dunn for 10 days was told by Dunn that the woman had forced him to fix up the house more elaborately than necessary, that besides this expense, there was also the alimony to pay and that Mrs. Dunn had never been anything but an expense to him.
Dunn is being held in the Ramsey County jail. His wife, from whom he was separated and to whom he was paying $70 in monthly alimony, was shot to death as she lay beside her sister in their bed in her father’s home.
The Bismarck Tribune; “Dunn Was To Pay $10,000 For Shooting; Two Montana Men Confess They Were Hired on Previous Occasion to Murder Wife; That Plot Failed But $6,000 Was Paid Down”; May 01, 1917; p. 1.
St. Paul Daily News; “Dunn Tells Names of Accusers. Says Al Brown and Man Named Ferdig Confronted Him at Police Station. Suspected Husband of Murdered Woman Becomes Haggard in Cell.”; May 1, 1917; pp. 1 & 2.
1St. Paul Daily News; April 27, 1917; p. 1.
2St. Paul Daily News; May 2, 1917; p. 1.
Murder of Alice McQuillan Dunn; see April 26, 2015 blog
St. Paul Police Chief John O’Connor tells reporters he expects to arrest a man he thinks was paid a large sum to murder Alice McQuillan Dunn.; see April 27, 2015 blog
Elks are willing to pay the expenses of detectives; believe Dunn innocent; see April 28, 2015 blog
Two St. Paul detectives are in Mont. interviewing people who knew Mrs. Dunn when she worked there; see April 29, 2015 blog
Dunn and Connery murders linked; see May 4, 2015 blog
Chauffeur identified photos of Joe Redenbaugh and Frank McCool as the two men he drove out of St. Paul to Chaska the night following Mrs. Dunn’s murder; see May 8,2015 blog
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