Sharp County record., 1879-10-09

ance companies. The Baldwins and
Brown agreed that such course would
be advisable and the corpse was brought
into Medicine Lodge, placed in another
box, and started for Lawrence April z
On the morning of the Sd of April, the
alleped corpse of Hillman, and those
who had been to Medicine Lodge, reach
ed Lawrence. Maj. Wiseman apprlsed
the Coroner and the States Attorney OF
his convictions and doubts about the
corpse being the body of Hillman, and
an inquest was held to ascertain II HILL
mans body was or was not contained IN
the coffin. The result of the inquest,
after six days careful investigation, and
the corpse being viewed by many who
knew Hillman, was, that the corpse was
person unknown to the jury, and, IN
the opinion of the jury, it was the
corpse of some man who came to his
death
IN A FELONIOUS MANNER
at the hands of one j. H. Brown (Hill-
mans partneD. Brown, the BaldwinS,
and Mrs. Hillman were the first witness
es examined. Brown detailed minutely
the Journey he took with Hillman from
Wichita to the spot where the alleged
shooting occurred, how it was done, and
that it was Hillman who was shot by
him.
Mrs. Hillman swore that the corpse
she saw was that of her husband; that
she recognized it by general appearance,
not by any special mark. Other wit
nesses, of high standing, swOre that the
corpse was not that Of Hillman; and
this was also the testimony Of Mrs. Nc
Coy, Il sister of Hillman's.
With the developments which the IN
quest brought out, the atmosphere about
Lawrence grew too hot for MIR. ). ii,
Brown; and, when he was sought after,
he could not be found. He walked Az
miles to WyandOtte, opposite Kansas
City, procured a horse, and started over
into Missouri.
A WARRANT FOR BROWNS ARREST
was issued after the COroner'S verdict.
Was Brown a murderer of some I'M
fortunate mortal, whose life was made a
sacrifice to win for others the coveted
prize of $4,000? What were the cir-
cumstances surrounding this bloody
tragedy in the wilds of Southwestern
Kansas? Where is Hillman? What
were he and Brown doing in their years
of wanderings? The light the slight in
vestigation has thrown upon the case is
sufficient to convince the ajority of the
people that Hillman is still alive.
With determination to unravel the
mystery as to the corpse which was
brought to Lawrence, Major Wiseman
returned to Wichita, and found num-
Der of persons who knew Hillman. The
Major was armed with the photographs
of Hillman, Brown, and the dead man.
The dead's photograph was Immediately
recognized as that of one
FRANK NICHOLS.
At Wichita the Major found Nichols's
baggage in pawn for an S1S board-bill.
A Sketch of Frank Nichols's life was OBJ
tanned by inquiry, and by reading the
letters and memoranda found in his bag
gage. He was born in Germany. His
father died when Frank was less than a
year old. His mother came to this
country, and died at New Orleans when
he was but IS months old. He was rails
ed by some charitable people in New
Orleans, and, after growing to man.
hood, wandered over the country. His
letters show that he lived at Fayetteville
and Dardanelle, Ark. also at San Fran
cisco, Cal. but for the past three years
he had lived in the vicinity of Wichita,
part of the time working on a farm, and
when not so employed would generally
stop in Wichita. He boarded at the
same hotel that Hillman and Brown
stopped at, and became quite intimate
with them. He left Wichita March 2
and went to Oxford, 35 miles south, to
collect some money due for work, stat
ing to some of his friends that he in
tended to
HERD CATTLE FOR HILLMAN & BROWN
at $40 a month and found, and asked his
friends advice in regard to this matter.
He stated further that Hillman had
plenty of money, having showed him a
handbook containing records of de-
posts in bank in Lawrence of some
$4,000. His friends advised him to ac-
cept the situation offered; and he told
them afterwards that he had, and, be-
fore leaving Wichita, promised to write
to them; but, up to date, they have
never received any letter from him.
Hillman and Brown left Wichita at 3 p.
M, March 5, and went south instead of
west-a different route from that de-
scribed by Brown at the inquest
camped on the CowSkin, nine miles south
of Wichita; the next day they camped
on the Nenescah, near Soudan; the next
day they fed at noon at the town of
Wellington. In the vicinity of
this place they met Nichols, as
previously ly arranged. After dinner they
started on their journey and went by the
way of Anthony and Medicine Lodge. to