The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-03-31

"As a means of possible future idcn-
LITIGATION of the body the defendants
had it photographed, took a cast of
the teeth, took a portion of the hair
and preserved the vaccine sores.
"A coroner'S inquest was next neld
as provided by law, and jury inpan
eled; witnesses were called; warran z
was issued for the arrest of John +
Brown on the charge of murder. Atl
this inquest Mrs. Hillmon was present
almost the entire time, and was repre-
scented by her counsel Mr.. Borgal-
thauS, although today both of these
latter facts she denies. At this fndue
she testified that she did not know her
husbands height as she had not meas ,
ured him, that she did not know the
condition of his teeth. and knew very
little about him; and on being spe-
officially asked if she identified the BODY
as that of her husband, she replied.
If that is not Hillmon, who is it?'
TheSe facts were sworn to by all of
the corOner'S jury who are now living
in Kansas, and all are men Of the
highest standing. I wish I could tell
you what the verdict of that coroner's
jury was. an inquest held in his own
town, ana where his friends lived, put
the court having ruled this verdict out
am precluded from giving it to you
Some time after the inquest we findf
John II. Brown going to Levi Bald
wins where Mrs. Hillmon is staying.
and ascertaining that she was then
in Lawrence, Levi Baldwin makes him
self busy in hurrying off to Lawrence
on horseback to bring her back to his
place, where Brown was waiting for
her; can you doubt for & moment that
Brown told Baldwin the same story as
he subsequently told Mrs. Hillmon
when she arrived at Baldwin's, name
ly, that the body at Lawrence was not
that of her husband, but that of a
stranger whom Hillmon had murdered.
Here is Brown telling them that the
body which Baldwin and Mrs. Hill
mon claimed that they identified as
being that of Hillmon, Baldwin, a
strong man, and Mrs. Hillmon a cOur-
ageous woman. And yet, on being told
what they now claim to be an out
rageous lie and falsehood, they meekiy
accepted the statement of Browns as
true, and arranged for Mrs. Hillmon
to meet Buchan in Leavenworth to Sc
cure the delivery of the policies. You
can easily imagine Brown telling Bald
win and Mrs. HillmOn that the Zig
was up" and each of the three con-
spirators are seeking to protec' them
selves by undoing the evil which they
had done.
ION arrival at Leavenworth w. ].
Buchan and John H. Brown meet Mrs.
Hillmon. Mrs. Hillmon Immediately
goes with Buchan over to Mr.. Wheat,
who has the insurance policies, and de-
mandS that they be delivered to her
Notwithstanding her persistent de-
mands, Mr.. Wheat refuses, claiming
that he has $4,000 lien upon them for
attorneys fees. Failing to get the pol
icies she Immediately signed the- re-
leases which released the company
from all liability under the policies:
and this without one dollar of consid-
GRAFTON having been paid. or promised
to be paid. Would she, gentlemen.
have voluntarily resigned such an
enormous fortune if she had not known
and been convinced that the body at
Lawrence was not her husband?
We now come to the Identification Of
the body and the differences that exist
between that and John w. HiIlmOn:
and in this connection desire you to
look first at the picture of Hillmon
produced by the defendants which was
sent out by Mr.. Hillmon to his rela-
tiveS as being a good picture of him
self, and which was recognized as such
by all witnesses for the defense. and
by most of the witnesses for the plant
iff And, on the other hand, I ask
you to look at the picture of HilImon
produced by the plaintiff picture
which did not appear at the coroner's
inqueSt-a picture which was produced
three years after the shooting-a pic
ture produced by that arch cOnspira-
tor, Levi Baldwin, a picture with the
photographers name cut Off-a picture
produced mySteriOusly from some
where, neither Baldwin nor Mrs. Hill
mon dare say from Where-a picture
which Hillmon's relatives say bears a
slight resemblance to Hilmon. but one
which they would not recognize as be-
ing his. In fact, gentlemen, a picture
which I might call a tramp picture
You will notice that this picture has
a large Roman nose, and has a nose
entirely different from that of all the
other pictures of Hillmon a picture
with the nose purposely made to re-
semble the nose of the side photo
graph of the cadaver. And it is upon
this nose that they ask you to find that
the body lying at Lawrence was the
body of HillmOn- Examine the juno
ture of the nose at the forehead in this
picture and you will find that the nose
runs straight into the forehead, and
how narrow the nose is at the juncture
of the forehead and the nose between
the eyes. Now examine the nose in the
front view of the cadaver and you find
that the frontal bone comes down and
joins the nose below the eyes, and that
the width of the nose between the eyes
is at last twice as much as it is in the
picture which they claim to be Hill
mon. You will more clearly under
stand what I am describing by taking
Mr.. Wheat's face as that of Mr. Hill
mon, and Mr.. Bankers face as that Of
the face of the cadaver, and the differ
ence will be apparent to you: convinc-
ing you without the shadow Of a doubt,
without any other evidence, that these
are different photographs. Notice
again in the photograph of the cadav-
(COnfinued on Seventh PaZe1