The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-03-30
MURDER OR SUICIDE.
A Letter from the Prosecuting Attorney
or Madison County, Missouri, to
County Attorney SedgeWiek,
the DecOmPOsed Remains OF
= Man,
Whose Personal Effects Justify the Re
lief OF His Having Had Dealings

Of March 10TH, the following letter ad-
dressed la the postmistsess of that vii
lage was published:
MARGUAND. Madison County, NJ, I
March Is |
There was dead body of man Iound |
near this place with nothing on his PER
son TO identify him. In his pocket was /
found a memorandum with different adj |
dresses. yours one of them. His body |
was very much mulilated, but was that /
of small man with light hair; wore /
number six boots and was we'll dressed. |
The coroDer's verdict was supposed |
murder" as he had been shot through |
the heart. The names in his books were |
A. ID. Greggs, Dan. Davis, Ira HalcoIt, |
&. j. Dumond. These were supposed TO |
be postOffiC e. named in his oook: Law
renee, Kansas; Marysville, Kansas; and |
Falls There were three checks in his
pocket supposed to be for baggage. Ii
there is paper in your town perhaps
they will publish this and send one TO
each Of the addresses.
JACOB LUTIs
Yesterday County Attorney SedgWick
received from j. ID. Perkins, prosecuting
attorney of Madison counly, Missouri,
the following letter which has reference
To the same matter:
Prosecuting Atfy Lyon 90, Kansas:
DEAR SIR: About ten days ago
man WAS found dead in this county, and
had lain so long that he had deceived
and had been mutIlated by beasts and
Vermin beyond ali possible recogni-
ton. The man was in the woods and
had evidently been murdered or had
committed suicide. A bullet had
passed through his skull and revolver
was found on the ground a few feet
from him with one chamber empty. In
his pockets were found a memorandum
book, which contains items of various
kinds but nothing indicating the name
of the owner of the book. It does con-
tain the address of several parties,
among others, A. ID. Greggs, Lawrence,
Kansas. In his pockets were also found
a railroad baggage check from Men,
phis to Cairo. / wrote to Cairo and
found that the trunk with the duplicate
check was there in the Illinois Central
depot, and had been there since the Goth
of December last w. NJ. Steele, general
baggage agent of the main depot at st.
Louis, had the agent at Cairo to open
the trunk to see if it contained anything
10 identify the owner. He did so, and
writes that the trunk contained soldier
coat, pair of good boots, pants, shirts,
bottle of glycerine, labeled Trimble s.
Irwin, druggists, post Office building,
Emporia, Kansas. And he also found
in the trunk, and sent. them to me, the
two following articles, a stencil plate
for clothes, Nv. II. Cunningham" and
an instrument of writing, which IS in
tended to be a lease, dated Emporia,
Kansas, October :, 1881, and states that
Mrs. s. A. Dumond leases to II. Wolf
& Co. her team, buggy and harness
until April LIST, 1882, Sundays excepted,
upon the condition that H. Wolf & Co.
shall, on April LIST. 1882, deliver to Mrs
DumOnd the buggy put in thorough re-
pair and newly painted, the harness in
good repair, and the team in good order,
snd during the time to feed the team
and keep it shod. There is no signature
to the paper.
Now this is the best clue we have to
discover his identity. The inquest fail
ed to throw any light on the subject.
He was SO badly decompOsed that the
coroner could not tell anything about
what kind of man he was, what age,
or complexion, but said what hair they
found was of light color. He was we'll
dressed, had on cashmere dress suit
and reversible Overcoat, dark on one
side and light on the other
You will please make inquiries there
and write me as soon as possible, wheIh-
err or not you can identify him from
what have written.
The memorandum book above mem
toned also contains this item. ASA
Halcott, Cottonwood, Illinois, owns the
place. $3.50 mortgage at 10 per cent. held
by Lesh, Americas, Lyon Co. Kan"
The names of III. r. Fleetwood" and
David Owen" are mentioned in the
book but no place of residence mention
ed ,salso az. w. Blame, Liberty, Neb."
1t is very peculiar book filed up
with quotations copied from newspa-
pers, the price of cattle and hogs, the
price of building material, receipts for
diseases, poetry, geology, music scales
ETC., all jumbled up together. I feel q
deep interest in discovering who he is
because he may have relatives who
would be very glad to know what has
became Ofhim. Please answer at your
earliest convenience.
Very respectfully Yours,
j. D. PERKINS, Pros Attorney,
Madison County Mo.
With = view to obtaining some clue
to the identity of the subject of the
above letter, the writer Friday waited
upon Mr.. Summers, of the firm of Wolf
& Summers. marble and stone cutters
of this city, and learned from him that a
lease answering t. the description of the
one found in the trunk OF the dead man
had been drawn up last October by Mr..
Dumond, then a resident of Emporia,
but owing to some disagreement be-
tween the parties was never signed or
consummated. Mr.. Summers said the
lease was brought to the Office OF Wolf
& Co. by Dumond, and as he did not
know of any one who had copy be-
sides the parties to the proposed con-
tract, he (SummerS regarded it possible
that Dumond and the dead man
might be one and the same.
But upon inquiry we learn
that Dumond went to Yates
Center sometime ago to work as q car
penter on the railroad, and his wife fol-
lowed shortly thereafter, and it is said
both are are now living at that place.
Mr.. Sedgwick is DESTROYS of assisting
the prosecuting attorney of Madison
county, in establishing the identity of
the dead man, and any one who can
throw any light on this mysterious af-
fair, will oblige him by communicating
to him such facts as they may be in pos
session bearing upon this case.
SATURDAY March o.