The herald., 1898-12-25
COLLINS FOUND GUILTY
OF COLDBLLooDED MURDER OF
HIS FATHER
THE MANS LIFE WAS INSURED
The Villainous Youth Had No Other
Object But to Obtain Money for
His Own Use
Associated Press Special Wire


TOPEKA, Kas., Deg 24.-"Guilty OF mur-
der in the first degree, was the verdict fe-
turned at 8 o'clock tonight in the case OF
young John Henry Collins, charged with
the murder OF his father, James ). Collins,
prominent real estate and insurance agent
of Topeka, who was shot as he lay asleep in
bed early one morning in May last
John Henry Collins, the convicted man,
was a student in the Kansas state university
and a licensed lay-reader OF the leading
Protestant Episcopal church Of Topeka. The
motive of the crime was found in the youths
greed for money which would come to him
upon the death of his father. The elder Col
lins carried S26 COO lie insurance and 1t was
provided that OF this amount 5000 should
90 to the son.
The Young student was enamored OF Miss
Frances Babcock of Lawrence, whose fam
lily is considered wealthy, and the trial de-
veloped the fact that Collins had lived be-
yond his allowance at Lawrence, that he
had contracted numerousb bills al the univer
sity town which he could not pay, and that
he had planned to join the Babcocks when
they went to spend the summer at an At
antc coast resort
Jesse Harper OF Lawrence and Johnson
Jordon of Topeka, two OF the most noto'
rious negroes in Kansas, were important
witnesses against the youth They swore
that, working through Jesse Harper, Col
Inns had hired johnson Jordon to assassin
ate his father. The negroes after securing
money and valuables from the youth, re-
fused to carry out their contract, and then,
according to their testimony, Collins boast
ed that he would "do the job himself.
He came to Topeka from Lawrence, plead
b 9 sickness, retired at the usual hour, and,
according TO theory of the state, arose be-
fore daylight and shot his father as the lat
ter lay asleep in bed.
One OF the youths first acts after the mur-
der was to run to telegraph office and dis
patch message to Miss Babcock, in which
he said: Father is dead; tell nothing"
The investigations OF the detectives de-
veloped information that Collins had told
Miss Babcock wild stories about his father :
Lie being threatened by negroes. They also
produced numerous letters which Collins had
written to the negroes whom he had hired to
kill his father; in fact the story of the
negroes was corroborated in every detail,
and they even produced the watch and dia
monds which Collins had given them as a
pledge for the money which he promised to
pay when he should realize upon his fathers
life insurance.
Miss Babcock was among the witnesses
for the state, and told of the wild stories
which Collins had related to her about the
threatened assassination OF his father.
Mrs. Collins, the youths stepmother, who
lay beside her husband when he was shot,
has from first to last urged the innocence of
her stepson, and in all her testimony there
was not one word which would implicate
the youth.
The jury which returned the verdict Of
guilty deliberated about five hours. But
one ballot was taken, the verdict being
unanimous from the first.