The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-01-18

oyster soup, plate of turkey and or an
berry sauce. bread and butter.
Not word or sign from him.
"Your mother told me you are i'll, so
have brought you something to eat"
Eyes, am sick; Eve been in the hos
pital for two days"
Your mother and father and the chill
dren are we'll and would like to see you"
No answer.
"Will you eat something?"
Then he sat down and took few
spoonfuls of the soup, but laying the
spoon down, said:
II don't feel like eatin'; my aunt
brought me some things today. but I
couldn't eat.
"My mouth and throat is foo SORE"
81 think, David, that your little sister,
Margaret, is a very pretty child"
"Yes, think she's kinder good lookin',
too"
No interest in his tone, not word VEN
tured about the family or my visit to
them Only a deep drawn, quick. nerv :
Gus sigh, which he echoed and re echoed
during my three hours talk with him,
showed any life or expression. l shall
remember that sigh always, and yet l
could not tell whether it was indicative
of remorse for his deed or fear of its con-
sequences. More likely the latter, as
he expresses no sorrow for the boy that
he says he killed accidentally.
Then l went on talking to him.
I had some trouble in getting him to
look at me when he talked.
l discovered that his mother was right
about his hair, it is brown and thick.
His eyes may have been blue when he
was a baby; now they would be called
blue gray.
He does not open them wide; they
look weak and the iris Of one of them
the left one. is distinctly larger than
the other, which gives him a sinister
expression.
His face, especially his forehead, is not
wide across, and is proportionately very
long.
His eyebrows are thin oblique line,
which help to make his half closed eyes
seem little more open than they really
are.
his nose is prominent with the septum
protruding perceptibly. This is said to
be a sign of versatility and may be re-
sponsible for the many stories he has
told.
The mouth seems a cruel mouth. 1t
looks so to me- 1t is small, the lips are
thin. 1t is hard set and apparently the
muscles about it have become useless
from disuse.
The lips have no expression. They
are colorless; not clearcut but just q con-
tinuation of the surrounding flesh. with
no expression, which / can find He
does not quite close them when he talks,
though his small teeth do not show. He
complains of his lips; says they are
chapped and hurt him.
His ears, as his eyes, are examples of
an almost startling asymmetry being not
at ell alike. His hands he clasps, one
over the other on his lap and seldom
moves them.
oso af
deep drawn, oft recurring sigh can be so
construed.
He lets his glance fall on his rough
hands occasionally with a complacency
that would not suggest that he could see
blood there invisible to other eyes.
He wears a black sateen shirt with the
collar turned down, exposing a rather
thick neck. His coat is ragged and dir
ty His trousers are worn, too, and a
pair of much worn shoes are on his thick
short foot.
"What is your full manner" 1 asked.
David Rutherford Coulter"
"How old are your
Eighteen the 22nd of October, about
a week before the accident happened"
"Have you any religious belief"
Yes, Pm a member of the Christian
church; 1 was baptized about five years
ago The old gentleman and old lady
do you mean your father and moth
er?'
"Yes NOM" This was the answer
to many questions.)
"Wbat do you think becomes of people
when they die?
81 don't know. l wuz always learned
that when Teller took life what he
couldn't give, that wuz the objectionable
sin
"Then you must feel terribly to think
you killed that boy; isn't it a dreadful
feeling to know you have caused the
death of human beingw
No change of color, expression or tone.
eyes, it is turble. but it amt sin when
a Teller does it accidental"
elf it was accidental, how did he hap
pen to have two bullet holes in his
head?"
"Why the gun must "a stuck ball and
had two balls in the barrel that went off
with that one shot"
Would that be possible?"
eyes, nom, and l can bring wit
nesses to prove that that gun sticks
balls"
He talked freely. but not eagerly,
and never for a moment did his stoIidity
desert him.
He was never betrayed into ges-
ture even to illustrate his remarks
though he told me in detail. three times
the story of the shooting.
you see, nom, it was this way: I
had started to go to a farm where
heard they wanted hand, aud this boy
overlook me. He asked me to ride. He
was goin' my way, an I'd as we'll to ride
as to walk, so l got in. He said he used
to have a gun like that and asked me to
let him shoot it.
II hessitated missing sound of 81 and
he said he believed he was better mark
than me, SO give him the gun and he
got out and shot at a mark. He shot
at the "a in Pearline that was tackled on
a telephone pole.
"Then l got out of the wagon an shot