Mexico weekly ledger., 1881-12-01
A KANSAS MAN.

Ledger Reporters Find tho Man and
Friends of the "UnknOwn Dead
Cause of His Death Stu a Mystery.
The readers of the LEDGER will re-
member that when we published ar
account of the dead man found neal
Mexico, a couple of weeks since, We
stated that we had reporters at wort
to find out who he was. We have
been successful in our efforts, as the
following viii show:
To the Editor OF the Mexico Ledger.
OswEGo, KAs., November o.
feel that I should publicly thank yor
in behalf of the family of James L.
Welden, the man who was found dead
near your city, Oct. 5, 'S1. Through
your kindness and liberality the fam
lily of Welden have the satisfaction o
finding and identifying him. AS I tel
egraphed you yesterday, the article:
have been fully identified, and an
confident they are not mistaken
How and when he came there is {
mystery which, perhaps, will never
be solved. d. M. BENDER,
Sheriff Labette county, Kansas
B. B. Runkle, foreman of this office
and correspondent of the St. Louis
Globe-Democrdt, telegraphed to thai
paper an account of the finding
of the body, giving minute
description of the same, which was
seen by the friends of Welden ir
Kansas, who wrote to us for full par.
ticulars, and have identified the body
without doubt. We clip the follow.
ing extracts from the Oswego papers,
which throw some light on the
inquiry:
''Last Friday week, Mr.. James L.
Welden. of Canada township, this
county, left his home, saying that he
was going to attend quarterly meet.
ing near Parsons. He came direct &c
Oswego and reached here in the even.
ing, rutting up his horse at Flora s
livery stable, saying that he would
want it early in the morning to go to
Parsons. He then went to the South.
side Hotel, kept by Mr.. Mcbride, and
obtained his supper, after which he
left his overcoat with Mcbride, say
ing that he would be back to sleep.
and that he wanted an early breakfa.,
so as to get to Parsons in time fol
the meeting on Saturday morning.
Mr.. Welden then went to visit an old
friend, Mr.. Elliott, who lives near the
Mo. Pacific depot, and after talking
sometime left the house between eight
and nine O'Clock in the evening, say,
ing that he was gong to stay at the
Southside. Mr.. Elliott requested him
to stay over night, but he would not
This was the last seen Of Mr.. Welden
who is known to be an upright, chris
tian gentleman, and very Jealous
Sunday School worker.
The community where Air WeldeI
lives and his friends did not think i
strange that ne did not return unit
last Wednesday, when Lewis Wclden
a son of the missing man, came tt
town, and, upon enquiring, though
that his father had that morning re-
turned home, but when he returned
himself his father had not done so
Last Thursday evening, q man nance
Ed. Rainey made statement IN Sc
dalia, Mo-, saying tnat he had sho
and killed man in house Of pros
titution in Oswego on the previous
Friday night. He was arrested ant
placed in prison, and a telegram reach
ed Mayor Condor enquirlng as to th'
supposed muider, and to know i
Rainey was wanted. Mayor Condor
telegraphed back that there was n,
one missing in Oswego, nor anybod,
killed that he had heard OF. In til,
meantime Rainey had cut his way ou
of the prison and escaped.
Search was made for Mr.. Welden'.
remains yesterday morning, and 1
young man found a Sunday schoo
paper floating on the top Of the wei
at the pork packery of this city. IL,
attempted to drag the we'll, but dit
not succeed in raising anything ex
cept some very large blubbers, which
showed that there was some foreig1
body in the we'll. This we'll is du!
for fifteen feet and bored to tn
depth of one hundred feet, and is full
of water to the top. Thus far moth
ing is known, but the indications ar
that Mr.. Welden has been murdered
He had when he came to this cit,
over one hundred dollars, and the,
may have been the cause of his dis
appearance. Over one hundred per
sons from Canada township are IN th
city to-day investigating the matter.
The article, taken from the Mex
leo, Missouri, LEDGER, (then follow
the LEDGER's article of the finding Q
the body and the inquest), throw
some light on the matter of the mis-
sing man, Welden, and yet 1t darkcn
the whole matter, unless we say tina
the poor man suddenly turned to
person bereft Of reason, and roamet
where he knew not.
1t will be remembered that on Fri
day night, Oct 14th, at AIR. Elliott s
who lives near the NJ, X. & +. f
depot, Mr. Weldon, when invite
to stay over night, stated that h
had engaged room at the South
Side Hotel and therefore could no
stay as he wished to take an earl
start to Parsons in the morning
where he was going to attend Sur
day School Convention. He had lei
his overcoat at the hotel and hi
horse was in the Livery stable nearl
opposite the hotel, where it we
found week after. This was th
last account to be obtained abot
Welden in this city. He left, or We
spirited away mysteriously; his Coz
was found at the hotel where ha
told the same story. He disappeare
suddenly, mysteriously, and the da
before he was found dead at Mexico
he is reported (private correspor
dence) to have told some mover
that he WAS a citizen of Labette coul
lfv Kansas This We are informed