The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1898-12-16
H LOOKS BAD FOR COLLINS
Frances Babcock Testifes Against
Him.
COLLINS SUSPECTED HIMSELF.
His Letter to Her Immediately After
the Murder Read In Evidence He Al
ways Talked About Negroes Following
His Father to Kill Him.

TOPEKA, Kan, Dec. 9-Miss Fran
ces Babcocl, for love of whom John
Henry Collins is said to have murdered
his father, testified yesterday and, if
the judgment of many who have fol-
lowed the case closely can be relied
upon, she has sentenced Collins to i'm
prisonment for life at hard labor
This pretty, demure society favorite
of Lawrence told in an unreserved but
very modest way of her association
with John Collins. He confided to her
many of his secrets, although she de-
MED that they were engaged, AMI these
secrets to remarkable degree confirm
the charges made by Johnson Jordan
and Jesse Harper.
John told her shortly before the
murder that he expected soon to have
enough money to pay all his debts.
He said his father was being "shad-
owed" by negro assassins and was in
fear of his life. Miss Babcock noticed
the absence of his diamond and watch
and he accounted for both of them eva
sively.
On the morning of the murder he
wired Miss Babcock a significant mes
sage to ''tell nothing" Later the same
day he called her up by telephone and
enjoined her to secrecy in all that he
had told her. Then he wrote her let
ter, before his father was buried and
before any suspicion rested upon him,
in which occurred this paragraph:
"The man who did this deed did an
other thing equally as dastardly. He
arranged everything so as to throw
suspicion on the only other man in this
house, myself"
The letter Collins wrote to Miss Bah
cock was submitted as evidence. The
letter is as follows:
my Dear Little Girl: I received
your letter this afternoon. Leonard
came up and will stay with me- Grace
and Mamma are almost Frustrated as
well as myself, but as long as we do
not sit still and think of the awful
ness of the affair we can keep up.
l send extracts from extra editions of
the Journal and Capital which
will tell you more than 1 can.
AS yet 1 am so dazed and stunned
that l cannot bear to think of our
bereavement. The police seem as yet
to have no definite clue. There are
rumors of man having been seen
shortly after the murder hurrying
away from the neighborhood, but then
there are lots of rumors. 1t was a
Providential accident that 1 happened
to be at home. Had l found the doc
tor in time would have come back to
Lawrence on the afternoon Union Pa
CT fic train.
THE man who did the deed did an
other thing equally as dastardly. He
arranged everything so as to throw
suspicion on the only other man in the
house-myself. Even if nothing ser-
GUS comes of it, there will be sus-
picion in the minds of some people and
it will always be blight on my repu-
tation in their minds.
"We can hardly realize that we have
lost a kind and noble father who was
the center of our home life. l think
as we realize this more and more the
sense of desolation will be something
awful. think our keenest sorrow is
yet to come.
Remember what told you and be
careful until can see you. Do not
let anyone catch you off your guard
nn6 ha1iaua M Iocc 7 fall -,
person. God bless you, my dear girl,
and keep you until can see you again.
l hope your little home may never be
visited by such an awful affair. Good
bye.-John."
The remarkable things about this
letter are that in it John speaks of
suspicion against himself at a time
when no one else on earth suspected
him, and his caution to Miss Babcock
to tell nothing about conversations he
had held with her about negroes shad-
owing his father. One of the strong
points against John is the anxiety he
showed to keep Miss Babcock from
telling these stories about the negroes.
Johnson Jordan, the eX-convict and
negro tough, told how Collins had
paid him SIS and gold watch to kill
his father. Jordan says he never in
tended to do the deed, but was work
ing the kid" for all he could Collins
became Disguised with Jordan's fail
ure to keep his part of the agreement,
and early in the morning of May 10
last he took his fathers double bar
relied shotgun and killed him as he lay
asleep in bed. Jordan, believing the
crime was likely to be committed on
that night, had gone to Emporia,
where he made himself conspicuous in
order to be able to establish an alibi !
in the event John accused him of the
murder.
According to the testimony, Collins
to Jordan that james S.
Collins was not his father, although |
the public generally supposed he was,
and he wanted him put out of the way
to shield him from disgrace and to get
Sc, 900 of the insurance money, which
was in his favor.
A S3O,OOO,OOO Flour Trast