The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-12-14
sent His harras-ing 0, the girl and

sent. His harrassing OF the girl end
5lackening Of her character continued.
Son and sweetheart sought TO over
come his opposition. The girl appealed
to him as strongly as she could Kern
refused TO permit the marriage, still
villified her name still called her back
| To him whenever he chose. The son.
weak-minded. looked sullenly en- The
woman, stung to the point where en-
durancc was no longer possible, acted.
| The merry-making in the Big Woods
| on the Fourth Of July was hardly over
when Delilsh. in a conversation with
| would never consent to their union and
that if they wished TO live together ne
| would have 10 be put out OF the way
/ The boy consented to this and the
! woman waited.
| On Aug. 81 the elder Kern met Deiilsh
| and suggested that she meet him the
next morning near certain oak in the
Big Woods. she consented as she had be-
| fore But in her heart there must have
been the saying Of that other DeIilah OF
| days gone by: Thou hast Knocked me
| and told me lies
| She left Kern and went to her home
with her brother and Will Kern. In the
! stall OF the barn, while her brother was
| feeding The pony, she told VIII Kern
| that she would meet mis- father the next
morning. The following day was Mon
| day. She rose early and drove away
| ct o'clock toward the oak in the timber
where sie was to met Jerome Kern. Her
| way was through the fields and she must
let down the gates to pass. At the sec
oRd gate she looked up and saw jerome
went on down a hill to the appointed
tree and stood there waiting for her
Sne drove toward him knowing, as
she said afterward, that she would kill
| him. Her coat was buttoned close 10
her tnraot. Inside it she had revolver.
She climbed out OF the wagon and took
the rough caresses OF Kern. She sat
down at the foot of the tree and ne knelt
before her. Quick then. in the moment
Of his defenselesness, she pulled the pis-
tol and shot him in the throat. He
whirled about on his knees gasping the
pet name ne had often called her,
Lille
She fired again, the bullet striking
him in the right Of the back. He fell
Hcrwald on his face. His clothes caught
fire from the flashing powder and he
was burned. The woman did not notice
this, but drove home and put the horse
away. At dinner time Willie Kern came
and she told him where his fathers
body could be found. He went down
the road through Baskin's woods, past
the bee tree, end saw the body. The
next day other people found it, but the
reasons for the crime and who commit
ted IT were unknown.
Later, through the work OF Sheriff
Paroot, his bright daughter, Nora, and
States Attorney d. A. Long, Delilah
Fails snd young Kern was arrested.
The boy was the first to weaken and
admit what ne knew of the murder. Con-
f,onted by him, the woman told the true
story, closing her confession with the
statement: when 1 first began to
pray to God 10 give me strength TO car
~ this through and after I did it I proy-
ed that He forgive me. / think I was
born to do al This" Both she and Kern
immunity from punishment.
OF the case, one OF the most Temarka-
bic Bremen county mas ever known,
States Attorney Long says:
'T will make a confession myself, and
it is this. that throughout our work we
never expected to obtain the extra ju-
dicial confession of both parties as well
as their pleas Of guilty in open court 1t
would have been hoping too much in
the beginning to expect the two defend
ants would voluntarily say the words
that must place them behind the bars
for life or lead them to the scaffold If
the authorities might 50 desire.
"You sxill appreciate the force Of this
all the more If you consider the fact
that Delilah Fails was a woman with
nerve sufficient to plan this murder de-
liberately for weeks, with nerve suffi-
cient to shoot Jerome Kern in cold
blood and then to mingle with the wild
ow and relatives and friends OF her vic
tim in the role OF chief mouIner and
sympathizer. The ease and ability with |
which she was able to tell her false |
stories since then can easily be account |
ed for when we consider the force that |
the woman required TO do these other |
things"
WAS A WEAK COWARD
eat the moment that the sheriff and !
myself looked across the burnt and |
nackened corpse Of Jerome Kern lying |
there under the spreading branches OF |
the big forest king, where his life went |
out. and saw Willie Kern standing be
youd with guilt written on his face. and |
fear apparent in his features. and with
out the courage TO look upon the work \
that he had caused ID be done, we knew
tnen, intuitively. that the boy had guilty \
knowledge Of bis fathers death
"A second revelation came an hour OF
two later, when we rad followed him /
and the coffin containing MS father to
the humble home. where the orphaned
baby sister and the heart-broken moth
er hsa been awaiting the boys home
coming for q day and hslf- We were
curious to know what the guilty yoatTs
action would be; would ne break down /
when he met the mother whom ne had 4
widowed? You can imagine our sur
prise and our quick conclusion wi1en we /
noted that the boy never went . com