The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-12-17
ghe auiehs nai1u aee Saturday ornne nsrembsr IL
Had you ever spoken to her aeou, mar

HAD you ever spoken TO her about mar
riage?''
Eyes. SIR
WAS there a Engagement"
mo. SIR
What was the understanding
81 was to go at some future time and |
speak, to her mother II our relations con |
tinued pleasant
John said his father had told him over
and over about being held up near the |
starch factory by two men and woman |
His father told him about a negro follow |
ing him with a knife and trying to ho-d |
him up That negro was the husband OF
woman who had done washing for the fam
lily; and about a negro coming into the Of
fee and frightening him. His father talked
frequently about his fears Of negroes
Did you tell Miss Babcock those stories
she told?'
81 told her good many stories about ne
groes. told her a great many things that
! were true and a great many things that
were untrue"
How did you come to tel her the IN
truths?'
81 was very much worried about my
watch She noticed il and asked me about
it, was ashamed 10 tell her about my
dealings with the negroes because she was
one of the purest girls I ever knew. SO I
told her what was not true
John Henry Collins was so confident of
his acquittal before this mornings devel-
opments that he had planned he'd he would
spend Christmas and what his future work
/
/ talked over for Christmas day at the Col
Inns home and John promised his attorney,
| Clerence I. Spellman. that he would spend
| day or two with him in Kansas City
/ between Christmas and New Years Day.
/ John intended TO go into the United
/ States army. He applied to friends sup
posed 10 have influence in army circles to
! get him an appointments in the service.
| The members of the Collins family were
sure that John would be acquitted. How
1 firmly his stepmother believed this was IL
! Illustrated yesterday when she asked Mr.
/ Spe.lman to go uptown and buy John a
new necktie. She said:
Don't buy an expensive tie, because
John may not like il after you get 1t. He
was always very particular about his ties
and selected them himself. Buy him a
cheap tie that will do him for a few days
| til Inc gets out, and then he can make his
own selections.
| In the eyes of the Collins family John is
the most unfortunate, most prosecuted and
long-sufferlng boy that ever lived. In muir
/ der trials usually few relatives or friends
| of the murdered one sit in court with the
attorneys for the state, mutely demanding
4 fa- a
TOOTH" but here the state is a.one and IN
aided None of the slain mans kindred or
! friends is giving support TO the state. But
/ his widow. his daughter. brother. his uncle,
/ his nephews and nieces are clustered
around the young man on trial. proclaim
ing that he is innocent. testifying in his
behalf and hoping for an acquittal. This,
of course, is great help to the defense,
and if The state does secure a conviction
in the face fit, it will be because the evil
! dence of guilt is so plain that no man could
err in declaring the verdict.
The instructions of the court to the jury
will be that if they have a reasonable
doubt that John is guilty he must be ac-
! quilted. Nearly the whole of the evidence
/ for the defense so far has been TO raise
| this reasonable doubt. not by directly dis
proving the evidence for the prosecution,
1 but by showing that there was a strong
bond of affection between John and his
father and that after the murder John
touched his fathers body and showed no
reluctance to go in the room where the
/ body lay and look upon the dead face.
| Witness after witness, among them some
! of the best people in this city. have testi-
/ fed TO the good character of John, his
kindness and generosity. and the love he
! seemed to have for his father. The de-
! Tense has subpoenaed every person they
| could find who saw John in the room where
the body OF his father was.
W. II. Thompson, clerk of the Kansas
court of appeals told late yesterday after
noon that he was one of the Knights Tenn
plar who guarded the body of Mr. Collins.
He said:
II was standing guard al the door Of the
room where the body lay in the coffin.
Some ladies brought flowers and John
came into the room with them and helped
them arrange the flowers on the coffin
saw John bend over the coffin and look a
long time at the dead faceAf his father.
] saw the tears come into his eyes and as
| he went out of the room he was crying"
Judge George A. Huron tod about the
funeral Of Mr.. Collins. While John was
standing beside the grave Chief Of Police
Steele told him to go TO the jail with him
for protection because the people OF To-
| peka suspected him OF the murder and
mob might lynch him. John put his hands
on the shoulders Of the chief. looked finn
straight in the eyes. and said:
/ Chief, 1 was born in Topeka and have
lived here all my life. I am not afraid 10
face any croGi Of Topeka people. II you
J wish TO arrest me you can find me at my
! home any time