Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-04-26

found in the ccater Of his back, wniIe
| upon the broken ring of his suspenders was
| found welded a charred and battered bullet
While at the office of the doctor he was ar
' rested and conveyed To jail Upon his per-
son were found IA number of papers which he
had prepared for Kingsley to sign, among
them confession on the part Of Kingsley
that he had been on terms of intimacy with
Billings wife, forged aiiidavts Of responsible
persons alleging that they had witnessed
their criminal relations, a confession on tho
part of the wife herself. forged information
before Justice of the peace charging Kings
ley with this crime and, lastly, deeds, notes,
and mortgages which not only made Billings
the possessor of all Kingsley's earthly pos.
sessions at that present time, but gave him the
power TO draw Kingsley's salary and control
his earnings until the year 1880.
Kingsley was young man of fine appear
ance and brilliant prospects But two days
before the tragedy he had betrothed himself
to the daughter of leading citizen of
Waverly.
Billings originally came from Boone coun-
ty, Illinois At the beginning of the war he
enlisted as "A private in the First Minnesota
regiment, and served valliantly throughout
the rebellion with much credit to himself, re-
turning as commander of his regiment In
1867 he was appointed assistant states attor
ney in kentucky under Bristow, and came to
Waverly after serving in that capacity a
couple of years. About eleven years ago,
by some means, he managed to become di-
vorced from his first wife, by whom he had
two grown children, the younger of whom
is now practcing attorney in Nebraska.
The latter is here as one of the attorneys for
the defense. No sooner had Billings secured
a divorce from his first wife than he eloped
with o. school Girl his nrasant
wife.
Billings has continued to assert that Kings
ley was intimate with his wife, and that he
(Bilings) prepared the documents found upon
his person to compel Kingsley to provide
means for her support while he himself in
tended to go away and die. The forged state.
ments he said We're prepared to force Kings
ley to admit his guilt His wife corroborates
his statements, and seems muth attached to
him. spending much Of her time in Jail with
him She testified particularly regarding the
alleged criminal intimacy, fully admitting
her own wrong.
The prisoner was seen last evening. He
bad just partaken Of hearty supper, and,
under the circumstance. was in excellent
spirits. lie said that he had no objection TO
being interviewed; that lac was perfectly in
nOceut, and where conscious innocence was
there was no need of cohccalment or suppress
sion, Upon asking the prisoner if the yer-
dict surprised him, he responded: II am not
surprised at the verdict. have expected
nothins, else, looking for nothing else in this
community after 81 change of Venue was re.
fused. look upon 1t as scheme completely
full, all the way from certain parties 70 the
judge. The arbitrary and tyrannical rul
ing of Judge RuddIcli refusing me change
Of venue when he knew and every
n lp On M
place To try this case, of course prejudged
and settled the whole matter so far as this
trial was concerned But in the ultimate |
think it beneficial for it would have to 20 to
the supreme court in any event, and it was
perhaps as well to have it forced there in this
way. | have reason to be surprised at the
verdict, for even in the garbed testimony
published by the press there is not word of
testimony connecting me with the death of |
w. s. kngley, and any sober minded man
must know it, There is no testimony in the |
case but what corrobOrates the statements 1 |
have always made There are only few
disputations and those are unimportant The
jury had nothing upon which to predicate
verdict except the argument of states coun-
sci"
Touching the question of whose revolver |
it was that was found by Kingsley's hand |
several witnesses were sworn, and some of |
them testified to the possession of a revolver
by Kingsley, but the evidence on this point
was very conflicting, Billings had no revolt
yer when arrested. On this point he said in
the above interview: at is not the duty of |
the defendant to prove the revolver as Kings |
6y's, and is the duty of the state to prove it |
mine, which they have absolutely failed to |
10, or that it was ever in my possession"
1t is admitted by all that the evidence is |
purely circumstantial There has not been |
Dne particle of evidence to show that de- |
fendant had revolver or fired a shot, or was |
present when the shot was fired from which |
Kingsley fell |