The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-14
RISEN FROMTRE GRAVE
v1RDERoUS LIFE INSURANCE
rRAIJD EXPLA AIMED AT LAST.

cor q Living Mdn--JOon- w. Alllmons
- KANSAS, Deliberately Murders a
Men Who Resembled Himself and
eards the Body to His Friends for
Identification
From the Nelc York World.
I, has taken ten years TO lift the veil
tieb shaded most cleverly constructed
= in which murder, perjury aud at
,,nts 70 defraud were. component parts.
,rinr the ten years crime was suspected,
i il was not known certainly that any
ir0e rad been committed, but one I'M
oked-for event has opened the viaw to
.norama of crime.
Tobu w. HiIlmon. is risen from the dead.
Tbs federal grand jury declared that he
.bar was murdered or was accidentally
ilsd and a decree was entered against a
r. Insurance company for the amount of
"a nolicies issued upon his life. Hundreds
"A Waved the dead body, and pronounced
70 be Hillmon. The young woman whom
had welded mourned over the coffin.
IA few years after the burial found
~ love and a second husband.
Hnlmon. after ten years of hiding, has
osn found at Topeka, Kan, where he will
aye to answer not only for his attempted
and on the insurance company, but for
bnllet-hole In the forehead of the CORPSE,
beh was supposed to beshis own lifeess
NV The story of this bloodthirsty plot
secure a S25, 900 policy is one of the most
narkabe in the history of life insurance
h was taken for granted by every one
rcept the agents OF theinsurance company
1at long ago the worms bad finished their
eost on all that was mortal of John w.
illmon. But the company has never
bplded and the suit on the policies now is
ending in the supreme court of the United
tafgs. The LITIGATION will have sudden
nd for few days ago the people of South
n Kansas, where Hillmon had been we'll
Known. were astounded by the Information
lat he had put in his appearance among
"a living and had been placed under
rrest. In addition to tue charge that he
nd attempted to defraud the insurance
ompany he may be arranged ON an H.
Ictnent for murder.
In December, 1878, Hillmon and John H.
rown left Lawrence, Kan, to look for
liable location for cattle ranch. They
ent to Medicine Lodge, near the border
he of Indian territory. There they found
of the rains had swollen the streams to
Ell an extent that they could not proceed.
rown remained at Medicine Lodge and
&illmon returned TO Lawrence. While at
awrence Hillmon had his life insured for
s. 900. and, in further preparation for the
ngerous trip he was about to make
nong the Indians, had himself vaccinated.
his was in the latter part of February. Ia
e early part of March he returned to Med
inc Lodge and joined Brown.
THE MYSTERIOUS CORPSE.
Together the men started by wagon
cross the prairie. Their first camp was
tcbed on the banks of Crooked creek.
here they remained two days. Near the
ose Of the second day, March IS, 1879,
rown drove TO the nearest farm house and
i'd that his companion, Hillmon, was
ing dead at the caup. Three or four
hen accompanied Brown to the spot. On
be ground, evidently just as it had fallen,
has the body of man who was the exact
Uunterpart of Hillmon. A bulIet-hole was
the ceater of the forehead. Brown
aimed that the shooting had been acct
Entail Hillmon, he said, had placed the
as in the wagon with the muzzle pointing
Inward. Brown claimed that he was TAX
e the blankets from the wagon when the
ammer caught, the gun was discharged
BID the bullet killed Hillmon instantly.
Tie body was left in the camp until the
ext morning, when cal justice of the
eace held an inquest. A verdict of acct
entail death was returned. Then the body
as taken to Medicine Lodge, where the
broaer of Barbour county held another in-
hest and second verdict of accidental
Path was returned. Brown was the only
illness. No one who saw the body had
ny doubt of it being any but that of Hill
ION, and the funeral was held and the dead
an buried at Medicine Lodge.
But agents of the insurance company
Fere sent to Medicine Lodge and they in
sed upon having the body exhumed.
elatves OF Mrs. Hillmon, who were there
the time, offered no objection, and the
Ody was taken from its grave, carried by
agon to the nearest railroad point, dis
hnee of $50 miles, and thence by rail to
lawrence. At Lawrence. the body was
laced in an undertaker's Office and nearly
very resident of the little city examined it.
Bilmon was well known to almost every
pc in the place, and one-half of those who
kw the body declared it to be that of Hill
hoa, while the other half as positively as.
bred that it was not.
Three physicians made a most rigid
Ramination of the corpse, employing the
horoscope and taking detailed notes in
eference to every inch of the body.
1easurements were made, and the body
as found to be feet II inches in length.
mere was small mole on the back near
ne Of the shoulder blades. The body was
picture of perfect physical manhood.
mere was even remarkable absence of
ears. The only scar found was a very
nall one on one Of the fingers. 1t had evil
entity been made by penknife. Dentists
xamned the teeth, and a cast of the inside
me mouth was made. Not an unsound
Goth was found, and the set was complete
Peyond this it was shown that the man had
cen in perfect health.
WAS TITIc MAN rurr
There was really little ground for the
uSplclon on the part of the insurance CO H.
any that the body was not that of Hill
loh The objections TO the payment of the
mount of the policies seemed insane But
uefe was more than one mysterious disap-
0arance at the time the fatal shot was fired
Inc camp on the banks of Crooked
eek Frederick Adolph Walters, a young
ian Oh about the same age as Hillmon, left
y nome In Fort Madison, Ia, in the early
rIng OF 1873 for Kansas. He drifted
toVuG from one part of the state to another
u ABOUT year. The last letter he wrote
We members of his family was dated
michlta Ia the early part of 1879
on Wichita he went to Law
s sSs, where some of the walters in the
o'ei remembered having seen him. While
mS IN Lawrence he seemed ill and de.
.lueht On March 2, 1879, he wrote a
sltsr to his sweetheart who lived in Fort
-~alson. 1t was such a, letter as a sensible
Oaeg man would write. 1t spoke of his
enectual efforts to find lucrative employ
1sH' and he seemed to be discouraged over
a.. gutlook. One sentence was very sug-
e'n wv. IN the light of subsequent events.
II nothing better furns nm will 90 with