Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-07-02
THE WIDOW WOOD.
The Wife of the Victim of James
Brennan Writes.
THE SENSATIONAL KILLING DESCRIBED
She Believes 1t a Plot COncOcted By Judge
BotHin, O'ConnOr and Other Hugotons
The Funeral of Sam Wood at
Strong City.


The work of tho Kansas state senate Is
completed. Ny husband, Col s. \. Wood,
was murdered in my presence yesterday.
The brave, true hearts stilled in death.
You remember the attempt OF O'Connor
| and Aureil, of Hugoton, to arYest him last
winter on a charge of bribery. he gave
| bond TO appear at court In Hugoton this
| month. a number OF our neighbors went
| with US to Hugoton, though no one seemed
| to apprehend any trouble. We reached HUI
goton not later than II O'Clock, and as soon
| as IL was known that we had come Judge
Botkin adjourned court until p. m Col
| Wood drove our buggy, with Mrs. Car
| penter and myself, to the door of the
| church which was used as a court hou1e,
| left US sitting in the buggy and went In to
| examine the docket While he was In the
| room OCOnnor and two or three others
! came into the Yestibule or entry. One man
| remained leaning against the outside door,
| which was wide open. He had his right
| hand in a pocket at his side or back.
| OConnor and another man walked toward
| the main street. with their heads close to-
| gether, as though whispering. Judge Bot
| kin came out and said: Hello, Jimmy
| Then he stepped TO our buggy and shook
| hands with Mrs. Carpenter and myself In a
| very friendly manner-though had never
| met him beforehand then walked toward
| the main street. The man, Jim Brennan
| still remained leaning against the door.
| Col Wood came out OF the court room into
the vestibule and stepped out upon the
| ground. As he did so he turned his back to
| Brennan, when Brennan quickly drew his
/ pistol and shot him in the back or left
! shoulder. Col. Wood raised his hand, looked
around and ran along the south side toward
the west end of the church. Brennan ran
| after him and shot him again in the back.
had got out of the buggy and was trying
| to get between them and had almost reached
my husband when Brennan put the pistol
L ,1rN LII -I,1e ~ 81
| head, and he fell and died in about I'VE min
utes.
A crowd soon collected, among them Judge
i Botkin and O'COnnOr. Sheriff Cam at
/ tempted to arrest Brennan, but he resisted
/ Cam with pistol in each hand Attorney
| b. E. Johnson caught Sheriff Cann's hand
/ and pushed it down, telling him not to shoot
/ Brennan said he would not surrender to
/ him, but would let Sheriff Frank Weir, OF
| Morton county, take him Judge Botkin or
/ dered Weir to take charge of Brennan and
he did so. In the meantime Judge Botkln
| stated to the crowd that there would be no
more court-that court would be adjourned
/ for this term.
| O'Connor sWcre out a warrant before
| Davis Justice of the peace, and Constable
| Aurell arrested Brennan. He was then taken
/ by Aurell, Weir and other friends to Morton
county. His preliminary examination is set
| for some time in July.
| This Jim Brennan has been for more than
! a year a devoted attache of Judge Botkin, at
/ tending his court at different places with
| him. He has been at every meeting of our
| county commissioners, armed and in the
| room with them, ever since the beginning
of the county commissioner and county at
| torney contest.
These facts have been given me by men
| who witnessed them. My husband was dy-
| Ing and did not watch the crowd There is
not the least doubt but that this murder was
,z1a Ir- I'll.
other citizens Of Hugoton. Every oircum
| stance confirms this conclusion. One Incl
| dent will give:
A little son of ex-Judge Nash said In the
| presence of Mrs. Fleming, Of Ulysses, as we
drove into town: There comes Sam Wood
| and they are going to kill him to-day" A
girl quickly told him to keep stilI-that he
was talking too much.
Some men with whom talked in Topeka
last winter will remember that told them
that if Judge Botkn was not removed from
this district my husband would be killed, and
| the murderer would have judicial protection.
The members of the Kansas state
senate who voted to sustain Bot
kin and the governor who coTertly
! labored In his behalf are responsible for
the murder OF Col Sam Wood His
blood viii be required Of them. ] have not
the slightest hope ehas any q shese murder
ers, whether in ef5elal or unofficial stations,
will ever be brought to Justice. But do
know, and thank God that His eternal jus
tice never fails. 1 shalltry to be patient and
strong. 1 can only hope and pray time may
fly swiftly and that 1--WE shall not be sun
dered long" Mrs. S. n. WOOD.
WOODsDALE, Kan, June a.
SAM WOOD BURIED.
STRONG CITY, Kan, June 29.-The
body of Col. Sam Wood arrived at this
place at / o'clock Saturday morning, ac
companied by delegation of six citi-
zens from Woodsdale and by Jonathan
Wood and John d. Wood, brothers of
the deceased, and Mrs. Wood and her
two sons, William and David Wood
The trip from Woodsdale to this city
was very trying on Mrs Wood. The
funeral procession left Hugoton Thurs
day night for Hartland, seventy-five
miles distant, and the body was placed
on the train Friday morning.
The killing has seemingly unsettled
the minds of the entire escort. 1t is
composed of the following citizens of
Woodsdale: J. e. Thomas, James Ger
rond, W. P. Mcclure, Lewis Former, E.
NJ. Watrous and J. J. Smith. The story
of the murder was told on the train
over and over again. Mrs. Wood seemed
" nave d ucSATc W Lc1A n6I SDOIy
to every newcomer, and the unfortu-
nate woman, unnerved by the trying
ordeal through which she had passed,
refused to take any rest
]. E Thomas, who was on the coro-
ner's jury, corroborates Mrs, Woods
account of the shooting. The verdict
of the jury was that the shooting was
premeditated
The arrangements for the funeral
were completed at noon to-day. Peo-
pie began arriving in town by 10
o'clock, and the townspeople all turned
out Short services were held by the
Odd Fellows at 1880 o'clock, after
which the procession started for Cot |
tonwood Falls. The use Of the Presby- |
terian church, the largest in the city, was
rendered for the funeral, but there |
were no religious services other than |
prayer by Rev. Mr.. McLain of the |
Meth odist church and few songs by |
the choir. The Rev. J. NJ. Wood, of
Ponca, L T., brother of the deceased,
delivered short address, and was fol-
lowed by W. F. Rightmire and Judge
Webb of Topeka The remains were
inferred in the Cottonwood Falls ceme-
terry.