People v. Lipsczinska

180 N.W. 617, 212 Mich. 484, 1920 Mich. LEXIS 543
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 21, 1920
DocketDocket No. 116
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 180 N.W. 617 (People v. Lipsczinska) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Lipsczinska, 180 N.W. 617, 212 Mich. 484, 1920 Mich. LEXIS 543 (Mich. 1920).

Opinion

Fellows, J.

At the hamlet of Isadore in Leelanau county in a Polish settlement there was in 1907 a Catholic church presided over by Father Bieniawski. In his household were his sister, then a young girl, his housekeeper, the defendant, her daughter, 16 or 17 years old, and a chore boy named Gruba. There was, near the church, a convent and school where three nuns of the Felician order lived and taught the children of the parish. They were Sister Mary Janina, or Mary John, as she was sometimes called, Sister Angelina and Sister Josephine. Sister Janina was the superioress. These sisters were of somewhat delicate health and all of them remained at the convent during the summer vacation. It was expected that the [487]*487bishop of the diocese would come to Isadore to bless the school on Sunday, August 25th. Upon such events the school was usually decorated. Among the .decorations used on such occasions were some artificial flowers which were stored when not in use under the church. The mother superioress usually saw to getting and putting up these decorations. The church faced on a north and south street and the ground sloped towards the back of the church. The basement under the church followed the slope of the land, no excavating having been done,- and was of uneven height. There was wainscoting around it, and there was a pile of pieces of lumber and boards stored there.

On the Friday preceding the expected visit of the bishop, Father Bieniawski, his sister and the lad, Gruba, went on a fishing trip for the afternoon to a lake not far from Isadore. They left shortly before one o’clock. The Father had been about home during the forenoon and saw Sister Janina several times. She was preparing for the decoration of the school. When they left for the fishing trip the three sisters, the housekeeper, and her daughter waved them goodbye. These five persons were the only ones left about the premises. The sisters were in the habit of taking an afternoon nap. They had separate rooms and defendant says she saw them draw the-shades in their respective rooms preparatory to taking their usual siesta.

Later in the afternoon and near four o’clock Sisters Angelina and Josephine discovered that Sister Janina was missing and communicated this fact to the housekeeper and her daughter. Search was made about the premises and in the neighborhood, but she could not be found. The fishing party returned about half-past seven or eight o’clock and the Father was informed of the disappearance of the Sister. The search continued until late in the night and was resumed the fol[488]*488lowing day. The officers were notified and joined in the search. On Sunday the Father reported to his congregation the disappearance of Sister Janina and requested the men to organize and conduct a systematic search. Some 350 or 400 responded, but of no avail. Detectives were brought in from outside and a large reward offered. These efforts were likewise fruitless. Some two weeks after thé disappearance a bloodhound was brought to Isadore and being given the scent led the searching party through the cornfield into the woods. No thorough search of the basement was made, although some of the searching party went into it. It does not appear that the pile of boards or lumber was disturbed. All efforts to discover the whereabouts of Sister Janina, if living, or the location of her body, if dead, came to naught, and for years her disappearance was. among the unsolved mysteries.

In February, 1919, the officials of Leelanau county received information which caused them to make an investigation. They sought out the sexton of the church and from him learned1 that in the autumn before he had, by direction of, and assisted by, Father Podlaszewski, then priest of the parish of Isadore, dug up a human skeleton in the basement of the church where the boards and lumber had been, and that he had interred the bones in the cemetery. He showed the officials where they could be found. The officials dug at the place indicated and found the bones. The officials summoned the coroners of the county who assembled the bones and determined that the skeleton was that of a female from 62 to 65 inches in height. They also discovered a fracture in the skull. The officials then went to the basement of the church and screened the dirt where the grave had been. They recovered, among other things, pieces of cloth, a cross with an image on it, a piece of cord, a spool, a little metal cross, a part of a scapular, a thimble and a ring. [489]*489It should be stated at this point that upon the trial it appeared that the cloth found in the grave was of similar texture to that worn by the Felician Sisters; that the cord was likewise similar to the cord worn by the members of this order; that the piece of scapular and the cross were like those worn by this Sisterhood. But the most convincing proof of identification was the ring. It was of special design. The inside was of silver, the outside of steel. Sister Janina had graduated in a class of 22, each of whom had been given a ring of this design in which the date and certain characters were engraved. They were always worn by the Sisters after they took their perpetual vows and were left on their fingers at death and buried with them. There were but 22 of these rings made, one for each member of the class. Twenty-one of these rings were accounted for. The missing one— the one worn by Sister Janina — was found in this grave underneath the church. The identification of the skeleton as that of Sister Janina was as near perfect as circumstantial evidence could make it.

Shortly after the finding of the skeleton the defendant was arrested, charged with the murder of Sister Janina. At the October term, after a trial lasting something over three weeks, she was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentence was imposed. It is the theory of the prosecution, and the case was tried upon this theory, that after the fishing party left Isadore that August afternoon there were left but four persons beside Sister Janina: the defendant and her daughter and the two Sisters, Angelina and Josephine. That of these four persons the defendant only was shown to have borne' ill-will towards this nun; that she had on many occasions deprecated her character, and had intimated that she would or should soon leave. It is the theory of the prosecution that Sister Janina, in preparing the school for the visit of [490]*490the bishop, went to the basement for the artificial flowers which were there stored, was then struck down by the defendant not far from the door — glasses similar to those worn by Sister Janina being there found — that defendant, a Polish woman accustomed to outdoor work, moved the pile of lumber or boards away, dug a grave in the sandy soil, buried her victim and replaced the lumber. The proof of the prosecution was directed to the sustaining of this theory.

In the early stages of the trial the. prosecution called Father Podlaszewski as a witness. Over the objection of defendant he was permitted to explain his unusual conduct in secretly digging up the bones and having them buried in the cemetery at night. His explanation was this:. The parish had planned to erect a new church at Isadóre on the site of the old one. Father Lempke, a priest located at Detroit, where he was chaplain of the Felician Sisters, had informed him that there was a skeleton under the church at Isadore and had suggested to him that in order to save a scandal to the church he should secretly exhume the bones and bury them in the cemetery.

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Bluebook (online)
180 N.W. 617, 212 Mich. 484, 1920 Mich. LEXIS 543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-lipsczinska-mich-1920.