The record-union., 1897-11-18

CHICAGO. Nov 17.-Relatives of the
late John B. Ketcham will contest his
will if such an instrument be in exist
ence. on the ground that he was not
ONLY of unsound mind at the time he
NAV have signed it, but for ten months
previous.
Ketcham's two brothers and two sis
ters will also deny that their brother
was legally married to Minnie Wallace
Walkup. They claim that he was en-
tirely incapable of making any kind of
a contract at the time of the alleged
marriage, or indeed for nearly year
previous
Attorney James Z. Purnell, who has
charge of the case for the Ketchams,
says he has also proof that John B.
Ketcham has been mentally unsound
for almost a year and that there has
been no proof of a marriage with Mrs.
Walkup offered by the alleged wife.
The attorney has already served notice
on the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank
to restrain Mrs. Walkup from having
access to the safety box in which the
dead club man kept his securities. At
torney Purneu will also notify the
court that the will will be contested as
soon as filed.
Mrs. Walkup's butler, Joe Keller, has
suddenly become a very important fac
tor in the pending litigation. Keller,
according to his story, accompanied
John B. Ketcham and Mrs. Walkup to
Milwaukee on September 4th and was
a witness to the ceremony which made
them man and wife. Rev. Mr.. Roberts
of Milwaukee, who performed the cere-
mony, opens up rather startling possi-
bilities by saying when shown a pho
tograph of Keller, that the picture
much more resembles the man whom
he married to Mrs. Walkup than did
the picture of John B. Ketcham. Sew
eral of the buffers prominent features,
including a small mustache, which was
not a popularity of Mr.. Ketcham. We're
carefully noted by the Rev. Mr.. Rob-
erts as common to both Keller and the
bridegroom on September Oath.
The butler had little to say on the
subject. but volunteered much informa-
ton concerning the events Of the we'd
ding trip. He claims that Ketcham
and Mrs Walkup went to Milwaukee
hotel and hurried from there to the
parsonage, and that Mr.. Ketcham's s
face was not wrapped up in any way.
The Rev. Mr.. Roberts says the bride
groom's face was partly muffied in a
shawl, not, however concealing the
mustache.
AS TO this phase of the situation,
however, neither Mr.. Purnell nor Mr..
Ketcham's relatives have anything to
say. The attorney would neither con-
firm nor deny the statement that the
pending contest may devolve upon the
question as to whether John B. Ketch-
am or the butler, Joe Keller, was the
bridegroom on September 24th.
To add to the sensation caused by the
statement of the Milwaukee minister,
the butler. Keller. has disappeared.
Keller left the Thirty-f fifth street police
station Tuesday night about 10 o'clock,
after having answered numerous ques-
tions with what the police claim were
evasive replies, with permission to re-
turn 10 the Ketcham house. at 3421 In
diana avenue. He did not return to
his mistress home, however. and in
quiry at the different police stations
to-day develop the fact that he had
not been seen since his departure from
the Thirty-fifth street station last
night. The police believe that Keller.
implicitly trusted as he was by his mis-
tress, has left the city in order that no
words of his may involve her in further
trouble
MRS. KETCHAM'S HISTORY.
EMPORIA (Kan.), Nov. 1.-THE
death in Chicago of John B. Ketcham
shortly after marrying Mabel Estelle
Wallace, the widow of John r. Walk
up, the man for whose murder she
was tried here twelve years ago. recalls
the sensational ending of the case, in
which Mrs. Walkups powerful testi-
mony secured an acquittal just as
everything seemed to be going against
her. The prosecution claimed that Mrs.
Walkup had purchased arsenic while
en- route to Fsmporia on her wedding
trip, and that she purchased quantities
of the poison in Emporia. The senti-
ment OF the town was for conviction.
The defense did not deny that Walkup
was poisoned with arsenic. but said
that he took an overdose while taking
the poison for medicine.
The climax Of the case was reached