The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-02-01

| Marion Williamson was visited in the
| county jail yesterday afternoon by an
| Eagle reporter, who found him ready
| and willing to talk
After the usual greetings and con-
| graduation upon the verdict given in
| his case, Williamson said:
.'Of course the verdict is a relief to
me- a relief which no one but those
who have passed through the terrible
| ordeal which / have passed since the
| morning of November IS, can realize.
| While this is true my great work IS not
| done, nor Will it be done until I have
| brought TO justice the guilty parties and
! have convinced every man, woman and
/ child in SedgWick county that notWlth-
/ standing all the circumstances and
! trumped up testimony brought against
me, that I had nothing more to do with
| the murder of II. H. Leonard than Mr..
! Davis, the prosecuting attorney, had.
| You remember the day l was ar
rested when you came TO see me in jail
and Mr.. Davis stood by and listened 10
/ every word that was said?' asked VIII
! hanson of the reporter.
He was assured in the affirmative and
| told to go on.
AT that time did not recognize Mr..
/ Davis, although 1 may have known
| him before. Mr.. Davis turned 10 you
! in the hallway or near the stairs and
! said: That man is not guilty. He
! tells too straight a story DO you re-
member that?'
He was answered in the affirmative
| again.
We'll, I VIII see the day, if there is a
| God IN heaven, and there is one, and I
/ VIII tel you how l know That Mr..
Davis will be willing TO announce in
public or anywhere else, that the YER
! dict lre gave that day was a true one.
Il have no i'll feeling against Mr..
Davis in the least. and believe that he
only tried TO do his duty in the case. I
am informed that he held 10 the same
opinion as 10 my innocence until he
! found, or my coat was found at the
| Manhattan hotel, with blood on.
THE finding of blood on my coat was
as great a surprise to me as TO any
! body in the world, and if I was TO be
killed today for not telling exactly how
that blood got on my coat l could not
do so. 1 could tell how it might have
happened, but not positively how it did
happen.
Il wish the people of Sedgwick coun-
", and in fact, the world, knew ex-
actly everything that occurred that
Sunday night, and then they would
imagine themselves in my position
from my work without a moments
warning, placed in a cell without the
privilege Of communicating TO any one
1t had always been my disposition to
go quietly about my work, and ! never
made many warm and personal friends
like some do.
This was not all I was without
money, and had never been around
court and knew nothing about what |
would be required Of me 10 prove. |
had never been on the witness stand /
but once in my life time. After l was |
arrested 1 learned for the first time |
that a great and revolving crime had |!
been committed.
Public sentiment ran high and the |
righteous indignation of the people call |
ed for vengeance. The state was at /
liberty, but the defendant, that was |
me, was completely shut out from look |
ing up things in his favor.
g I also realized that public sentiment |
is always in favor of the woman I |
had nothing on my side but the con- |
SciOusness of my own innocense, but /
how could 1 prove this to the court was |
the question that bothered me, as 1 was
shut in my little cell.
4 had never been what you would |
call a religious man, but when / began
to see my utter helplessness got down
on my knees and prayed that God
might raise I'D some means whereby 1
could prove my innocence. l prayed |
earnestly, and there came to me n
sweet calm that l can not express.
You don't know how l felt the day
when l heard about them finding une
coat with what they said was blood on /
it, but after a little while l became per-
fecuy convinced th@t 1t was not blood, /
but thought it was paint, and this ceas-
ed to worry me.
Then the next thing I heard was that |
Charley Luling had started the report /
that l had been arrested in the Miller
murder case. l knew that this was |
false but it was creating prejudice /
against me.
The next thing that I heard they
trumped up against me was that 1 was
an Anarchist, and that Charley Bur
rows had said that 1 was always read
ing Anarchist literature, when the fact |
was had never read an Anarchist book
in my life.
THE next thing I heard was that
Leonard had came into the Manhattan |
with me. or was seen following me-
This might have been possible, as l un-
derstOOd he had been drunk and was
probably looking for something TO drink .
and it began to look pretty blue for
me.
Il knew I had been on the West Side
in a buggy with Mrs. Leonard the day
before the murder, and I knew this
would be truRiped up against me. But /
I believed somehow, l can't tell why.
that this circumstance would end IN my
favor. Now l was no lawyer, but /
when I sat in my cell and began TO
think the matter over about me being
out riding with the woman the day be-
fore the murder. il seemed to me that
the jury would put that down in my
favor and as currObOrative of the truth
as l told You and Mr.. Davis the day I
was arrested.
is It reasonable TO suppose that If
had been contemplating such a damna-
bic deed as the murder OF poor Mr..
Leonard that I would have gone out
buggy riding in broad daylight with the
woman in whose house the crime had /
been committed? This is the way /
would reason IN my cell by day and
night
All this time I had no attorney and
in fact did not know what the Charges
would be against me I was sitting
one day figuring out my own case when
Mr.. Helm came in. l knew him very
Wei. as he had an Office in the Fletcher
block while I was The engineer At the
building. Il seemed 70 me as though I
he had been sent 10 me IN answer .
prayer. 1 had a favora BILE opinion or
him. as one time Mr.. Fletcher gave me
an order on him for So and he paid IL
Il concluded TO tell HIM everything
which was exactly the same I told you
and Mr.. Davis the day I was arrested.
N-han ] WAS done he reached his hand I