Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-11-27
A CHILD WITNESS.
Had Never Heard of God and Did Not
Know She Had n ~SOul-Tells of
Her Mothers Murder.
From the New YORK Sun.

EiJ4. LIZ uIE .uE-
In the crimina branch OF the supreme
court Thursday. Timothy Collins, Z long
shoreman, was put on trial for wife muir
der. 1t was alleged that he had struck his
wife, fracturinE her skull. at their home,
3l5 East Sixteenth street, on April II, last.
The principal witness for the proSseu-
Katie. When the child was called 10 the
witness stand Judge Gildersleeve said:
Katie. do You know the meaning OF the
Yes, sir, replied the witness; at means
a bad word"
of anon an oath ~" INQUIRED Hrgr eSHt the et justice just I e."e N''N
Nope" answered the child.
g. Did you ever hear of the Bible?' A
Q. Did you ever hear of God?" a. "Of
Q. God" A. Nope. Never heard Of
Q. Where do you expect to go VIXEN
Q. D you know what your soul Is"
q. Then you don't know whether you
rave a soul or not" A. Il never had
none"
was not competent to be sworn, but added
that he would permit her TO make a
statement Sasrsar T of Ghs5 w shs k tben ,a aS0I to ! Inc
peat the story which she had told the po-
lice on the day after the murder,
papa and mamma We're nearly all the
! time drunk" said the girl. land they had
fights every night and morning one night,
it was Saturday, cause, papa was always
drunk on Friday. that's how l know 1t was
Saturday, papa told mamma to get pig 5
head for Sunday dinner and tripe for sup,
per. When papa came home he founa
mamma had cooked the tripe and he told
her he would not eat it He said. 1 told
you to get pigs head Mamma said, You
did not; you told me to get tripe.' Papa
Papa. you told mamma to get tripe, cause
l heard you tell her. Papa said he didn't
and he got mad at me. too. Then he tried
to hit mamma with his hand and 1 tol9
her to hide under the bed. She run and
hid under the bed. Papa stayed in the
kitchen for some time and then he tried
was. l told him l didn't know. He said
TO me. You're a liar: you do know where
she is Then he found her under the bed
and he said. She's been there for an hour
and she's afraid TO come out He got down
on his knees in the bedroom and lit a match
and looked under the bed and found her
and dragged her out by the hair and while
she was crying he punched her. Then he
went into the kitchen and sat down on
the lounge. looking over at her where he
had left her.
Mamma got Up. and she took the
floor broom that had hair in it. as if she
wanted to keep him away from her in
She hadn't tried To hit him Yet. but he
saw her TAX the broom and he started
to hit her again. Then she tried TO put
the broom up so she could hit him.. but
she couldn't. because he grabbed the
broom away. He hit her with it. ard
she fell down: 1t was a pretty hard hit.
He had the broom up over his head in
his right hand. and turned it around
his head and then hit mamma with it.
He kind o Grunted when he hit her. be-
cause he had to twist himself to hit her
hard. After she had fallen down, papa
knocked at the bedroom door and told
Mrs. Shehan. to come in. Mrs. Shehan
came in and held mammals head with
her hand. Papa picked her up and tried
to set her on the chair. but she always
slid down. Mrs. Shehan said that
mamma felt bad in her head. and then
Mrs. Shehan and papa put her on the
lounge. Mrs. Shehan went out to get
some water, but she didn't come back.
She kept yelling all the time, Your wife
Is dead. You killed her After that
the policeman came around and took me
and papa to the station house. When
ever papa and mamma had a fight papa
often said that some day he would hang
for her"
Collins took the witness stand in his
own defense. He practically admitted
tie truth of every word that his Gaugh-
ter had said in her statement. Then he
explained that at the time he struck his
wife she had hit him with the broom,
and he did not mean to hit her hard. He
said that when he struck his wife she
fell against the bedroom door. This was
the, fall that had fractured her skull. He
said that he never meant to harm his
wife. because he thought a great deal of
her. He had always considered his wife
insane, he said. On two occasions she
had been in lunatic aSylumS.