The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-02
brought to the fore as at this


The theory was carried farther when
Mr.. Hayden asked Steele if he found
| other avenues by which persons could
! enter or leave the house.
Yes, % was the reply. by the balco-
ny upstairs and through the dining
room window which was open"
Odd you make a search for the
gun case Friday?
0-Whv not7
Q.-Why did you not as chief of po-
lice find out about the gun case until
the following day when others knew
about it at once?
Al found leather gun case in the
closet and presumed that was the one to
which they referred.
-Q.--What kind Of a case was it?
Q.-You did not find a canvas case?
A.-Not until afterwards.
Odd you see John carrying a re-
-Vro4ver?-
A.-Yes.
Q.-Have you never told this before
when you testified. except yesterday?
o.-What did you do?
A.-Told Sheriff Cook and the county
attorney.
.Q.-Yet you were making a search for
q lost revolver?
A.-Yes.
Q.-when did you talk to John about
ABOUT the time I made the first
search.
Q.-Where?
Q.-Was yesterday the first time you
said John told you his fathers pistol
had a blue barrel?
Al do not. know,
This statement does not appear in the
evidence at the inquest or preliminary
Q.-You said Yesterday there were on
ly four bedrooms upstairs. Is that your
recollection today?
7 ~ ar1~wr
Odd you say at the inquest there
were six or seven rooms on that floor?
A.-Perhaps I did
Steele Did Not Suspect John.
Odd you have a suspicion at that
time that John had murdered his faith
"Object," said Mr.. Stafford.
"Overruled," said the court.
Al did not.
Odd you then know that Mrs. Col
Inns had been shot?
Al think so.
The evidence at the inquest showed
that Steele had sworn that he suspected
John Collins of the murder when he
learned that Mrs. Collins had been shot
also. This was produced.
The examination of Steele was the
most trying of any yet made. He is
deliberate in the extreme, and an aV-
erage of five seconds elapsed before he
responded to questions from the attOr-
neys. The delay was tedious and Wor-
was first a case of taking the witness in
one direction for a few moments, then
bringing him up sharp against contra
dictOry statements at either the prelimi-
nary or the inquest Steele once testi-
fed yesterday that he had failed to
search two beds upstairs in the Collins
residence; today he said that was
wrong, as there wsss-butsone bed which
he did not search. He said today he
made a thorough search of the closets.
At the preliminary he stated that he
made a, hurried search. The witness
said he searched Johns room but in
such a manner that he might have run
over a pistol, and said he might have
missed a pistol in other rooms.
Odd John answer all questions
freely?
A.-Yes.
Q.-Was he free and willing to show
you the house?
Ayes.
Odd you make a memorandum
of the conversation with John and Mrs.
Collins2
Ayes
Q.-Where is it?
Al do not know. I lost it.
Q.-Why did you not preserve it?
Al misplaced it.
Q.-Have you given it to any one?
A.-No.
Q.-Is it in your possession?
A.-No.
Q.-How do you know?
Al looked for it.
Q.-When?
A.-Last of June.
Then came the evidence from the pre-
liminary at which Steele had sworn that
he had made no memorandum. He
fatty denied today that he had so testi-
fed at that time and today insisted that
he had made such memoranda.
Q.-HoW much of a statement did you
write?
A.-FOur or five pages.
The prosecution here objected to the
cross examination in this direction and
the court sustained it. The defense
claimed a right to make such examina-
ton because the custom was such that
Chief of Police Steele should have writ
ten a statement of the result of his ex-
animation, and since it has mysterious
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