The Topeka state journal., 1897-11-19
KETCHAM' BRAIN
Another Step in the Attempt
to Defeat Mrs. Ketcham.
Dead Mans Relatives Have His
Brain Removed
FOR USE IN EVIDENCE
To Prove That His Mind Was
Unbalanced.
hetcham Family viii Force the
Fighting in Court.
THE WIFE'S STORY,
Mrs. Ketcham Tells of the Mill
Waukee Trip and Marriage.
Hackman Says Bridegroom Was
"Sawed Off Fellow"

Chicago. Nov. 19.-Another step IN
the attempt to defeat the supposed
plans of Mrs. Wallace Ketcham that
will be taken will be the removal of the
brain of John Ketcham at Toledo so
that it can be examined by experts.
Attorney Purnell interviewed several
chicago experts and they told him that
II John ketcham was in the mental
condition his friends describe just pre-
Vious to his death it will be compare
lively easy to prove by an examination
OF the brain that he was mentally un-
sound Mr.. Purneu wired George H.
ketcham to have the brain removed
and received word within half an hour
that his advice would be followed.
A report of the result of the examina-
tion of the brain would probably be re-
ceiVed in a day or two, and it will con-
stitute part of the record of this case,
which promises to be one of the most
sensational of it's kind that has ever
turned up in Chicago.
1t has been definitely decided by the
ketcham family that when George H.
ketcham returns to Chicago Monday
morning Mr.. Purnell shall take steps
to have an administrator appointed to
look after the estate. The application
will be made in the names of the moth
er and brothers and sisters, who Will
set up the claim that they are the only
legal heirs Mr.. Purneu Will not wait
for the alleged widow to file the mys-
teriOus will, whose existence is still a
matter of speculation, except for what
Mrs. Wallace Ketcham and her lawyer,
Hansen, have said about it.
I do not know what their plans re-
garding the will are" said Mr.. PurneU
last night, but you may depend upon
it that we are not going to wait on
them if they should make up their
minds not to file it for seven or eight
months. We will force the fighting
We Will compel that woman to show
her hand If she has a will she viii
have to produce it not later than next
Monday or Tuesday, for we propose
asking Judge Kohlsaat to appoint an
administrator. I guess that viii open
the fighting, and if Judge KOhlSaat is
prepared to go ahead with the case we
will endeavOr to bring it to a speedy
conclusion. We have all our facts
ready. We know all about John Ketch-
ANS life in that house, and we know
all about what that woman was doing
during the two months he lived there"
Mr.. Purnell is investigating a report
which reached him Tuesday to the eff
feet that when Mrs. Wallace Ketcham
went to New York about six weeks ago
she negotiated the sale of $35 900 worth
of bonds that belonged to Ketcham.
out whether the story is true, but he is
engaged in making inquiries among
New York brokers and bankers, which
will eventually lead to its confirmation
or denial. Owing to Mrs. Wallace
Ketcham's peremptOry refusal to see
newspaper men she could not be inter
viewed about the story. Ketcham's
friends who We're asked about it said
they would not be surprised if the StO-
ry was true, for they said John Ketch-
am always carried bonds and coupons
cut from bonds around in his pockets
just as an ordinary man carries let
ters and kilograms and papers. and
he had been known to have $4,000
worth of such paper in his pockets at
one time. He was an extensive hold
er of bonds of the Chicago club, the
New York Central railway, the North
Chicago railway and Toledo city muni-
cipal bonds. Whether he had any of
h baT hn loft Aud
tOrium to take up his residence perma-
nently with Mrs. Wallace is a matter
of speculation.
The exact status of Ketcham's af-
fairs will not be known until the pro-
bate court issues an order to have his
box in the Illinois Trust and Savings
banks safety deposit vaults opened
and the contents inventoried. At the
same time that Mr.. Purneu asks for
the order to open this box he will ask
the court to superintend the opening
of the vault in John Ketchams old Of
fee on the 18TH floor of the MOnad-
building