The  Shelby  Republican
 Friday, February 16, 1906
Page 3
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SELLS  SECOND  FARM  IN  SHELBY  COUNTY
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Sylvester  K. Bankert  sells  another  farm  of  25  Acres  in  Hanover  Township
to  Charles  Kemp  for  $2,400 -- Will  Use  Money  To  Fight
For  The  Liberty  Of  His  Wife,  Anna  Bankert.
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(From Tuesday's Daily.)
            The second piece of real estate owned in Shelby county by  Sylvester Bankert, whose wife,  Anna Bankert, is on trial at Rushville charged with the murder of  Norman Cook, has been sold.  The transfer of 25 acres of land yesterday in Hanover township, Shelby county, is shown in the office of county recorder  Van Lee.  The price was $2,400 and the buyer is  Charles Kemp.  Two weeks ago one other piece of land owned by Bankert was sold in the same township to  Sallie A. Barnes, fifteen acres at a price of $1,500.
            Bankert has already spent thousands of dollars in his effort to keep his wife out of the penitentiary and the transfer of his two farms is taken as in dication[sic] that he will spend his last dollar in her defense.  No expense has been spared in all the long legal fight to furnish her with the best of attorneys.
            When the thrid day of the Bankert trial opened yesterday morning,  Mrs. Emma Johnson, of New Castle, and her little daughter, Edith Cook, daughter of the murdered man, were found seated with the attorneys for the State.
            Mrs. Bankert work a dark colored shirt, a cream colored waist and a black hat.  Her sister, Mrs Baker, sat with her.  Sylvester Bankert, the husband, did not enter the court room until long after court convened.
            The crowd in attendance in the morning was not so large as that of Saturday.  With the exception of Mrs. Bankert, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Johnson and little Edith Cook, no women attended the trial.
            Ora Herkless, county surveyor, who made a map of the Bankert house and premises at the solicitation of the State's attorneys, was the first State witness.  He explained the map and measurements and described the rooms.
            Dr. W. S. Coleman, coroner, was the next witness.  He told of his being called to the Bankert home shortly after 7 o'clock on the evening of the shooting and of what he found when he arrived there.  Cook lay on the floor in the north bedroom bloody from head to foot, groaning ... [several paragraphs are missing from my copy - pmf]
            ....
            "I don't remember," was the reply.
            "Did you hear Cook say anything."
            "I don't remember."
            "What did Sadie do when Cook asked for water?"
            "She got it."
            "What did Sadie do then?"
            "I don't remember."
            "Did you hear Cook say anything?"
            "Not that I remember of."
            "What did Wes do?"
            "Nothing."
            "Where was he?"
            "In the door."
            "Did you go out of the room?"
            "No, sir."
            "Wasn't you in the room?"
            "No."
            "Didn't you say a minute ago that you were in the room."
            "No, sir."
            "Did Sadie come back with the water?"
            "I don't remember."
            "After Cook asked for water did you hear any more shots?"
            "No, sir, I don't remember."
            Several questions Willie was unable to answer at all.
[All three Shelbyville newspapers were filled, for many days, with the accounts of this trial.]
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming
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