Miami Union

December 4, 1875

HARTMAN, DR. ABRAHAM - Dr. Abraham Hartman, a resident of Tippecanoe, and well known throughout the County, was drowned in the Miami Canal, at Tippecanoe, last Wednesday evening.  His body was not recovered until Thursday evening.

Miami Union

December 11, 1875 

HARTMAN, DR. A. B. - Tippecanoe's Tragedy - Dr. Hartman not Drowned but Murdered and his Body Thrown into the Canal. - The Suspected Murderer in Jail.  About the time of going to press last week word was received that Dr. A. B. Hartman had been drowned in the Miami canal at Tippecanoe, on Wednesday evening, Dec. 1, and mention was made in these columns to that effect.  At that time the inquest was still in progress, and it was at this that the discovery was made that Dr. H. had been dead before his body struck the water.  This was evident from the fact that the body had not filled with water, which always occurs in the cases of actual drowning.  This, with the discovery that his neck had been broken, satisfied all that foul play had been enacted.  The evidence elicited at the inquest was such as to implicate Franklin Kauffman.  Hartman and he had been together during the evening, with several others, and had been quarrelling.  James Klinefelter testified that he saw Kauffman and Hartman standing near the lock and heard angry words issuing from Kauffman.  This was a short time prior to the Dr.'s going into the water, as is evident by the stoppage of his watch.  The chain of circumstantial evidence is strong against Kauffman, and probably will implicate several others.  On Monday of this week Kauffman was taken before Squire A. H. Wesler, and by him committed to Jail on the charge of murder in the first degree.  Kauffman is a young, unmarried man, of about twenty-eight years.