Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-12-11
HOW THE EVIDENCE AGAINST HIM
WILL BE EXPLAINED.
DEALINGS WITH THE NEGROES
1T IS CLAIMED HE GAVE THEM
- MONEY TO GAMBLE WITH.
No Dependence to Be Placed Upon the
Suicide TheOry-Credibility of
States Witnesses to BE At
tackled Opening
Statement.

Statement.
| TOPEKA Dec. 10.-(Special) The de-
fense in the Collins murder case. as out
lined by Attorney A, A. GODDARD to-day,
VIII be that ]. S. Collins was killed by Il
| negro, who was seen TO escape over the
roof of the back porch with his shoes in
his hand; that John Henry Collins was
| asleep in his room at the time; that John
| never negotiated with Jesse Harper or
Johnson Jordan. the tough negroes. to kill
| his father, that he did give them SO to
gamble with, the understanding being that
| they We're to return him the original cap
ita1 and half. the winnings; that, after
| getting him in their clutches, they worked
| hlm out of his watch and chain under
threats of exposing the gambling transact
ton, and that, while it does not make the
| direct charge. yet it strongly suspects
that, in order TO further injure John, they
| planned and executed the murder. so as
to place the responsibility of the crime on
| him. -.e~---.-..
This. in substance, is what Attorney
| GODDARD told the jury that the deferse ex-
| pected to show by its testimony Nothing
was said about the suicide theory. Mr.
GODDARD said that that theory was mostly
newspaper talk 1t is admitted that John
was hard pressed for ready cash, ard the
| claim set up that, with the hope of get
| ting enough to pay his debts he gave the
negroes ms IaSt SO to gamble with.
The defense has not subpoenaed its en-
| tire list Of witnesses and will not do so
until Monday. A few days ago enough:
were summoned to run the first day. Near
| ly all of its witnesses reside in Topeka
| and no trouble is anticipated in getting
| them when they are needed
johnson Jordan was recalled to the wit
ness stand the first thing this morning for
brief cross-examination. -l /,
He was asked: =
Did you tell Bud Lewis that you killed
! ]. S. Collins?'
NO, sir
Did YOU kill j. s. Collins?"
No
Did you not tell Bud Lewis that you
and Jesse Harper went to the Collins home
that morning of the murder in cart,
that you pulled off your shoes and went
into the house and shot Mr.. Collins; that
| Jesse got scared and drove away, and
| that you rushed out and ran all the way
to Crook k-Wright's in your stocking feet?'
NO" 80. -z- 9.
Jordan was then excused.
The defense will no doubt produce Bud
Lewis as witness to swear that Jordan
did tell him the story as related =
MIR. GODDARD then made the opening state
| ment of the defense to the jury. He talked
for an hour, and touched briefly upon the
| many things the defense expected to show
by its witnesses. He said, in part:
MIR. GODDARD began: ''On behalf of the
defendant. we wish to say that the witness,
Joseph Smothers, who has appeared on the
! stand before you. is utterly unworthy of
belief. That his testimony as given here
contradicts in many particulars the testi-
mony given by him at the preliminary ex-
animation. That he has told that he will
receive a considerable sum Of money as
payment for testifying in this case. That
he has told that he is one of five persons
who know by whom the murder was COM
mitted, and that he knew that purchased
testimony would be used at the trial
I'VE will shaw that the witness Jesse
Harper is utterly unworthy of belief; that
he rs contradicted by his previous testi-
mony given in this case, and that his
statements made with regard to the case
are all, or nearly all of them, absolutely
false. We will show that the witness
Cornelius Carter, who attempts to cor
roborate Jesse Harper, has testified falsely
with regard thereto, and that he was not
employed at the time or place stated in his
testimony or as stated in the testimony Of
Jesse Harper. We will show that the
testimony Of the witness Ed Miller who
told about the attempt to purchase poison
by John Collins at Lawrence, is absolutely
false, and that a witness was present who
heard all of the conversation which took
place between the defendant and Ed Miller
at the time named in Miller's testimony,
and that nothing whatever was said with
regard to poison in that conversation
We will show that the testimony Of the
witness johnson Jordan Is false In almost
every particular. Aside from his appear
ance and demeanor while on the stand, and
his testimony, which shows that he and
his associates are thugs. gamblers, conf
dence men and the associates of prosti-
tutes. We will show that he has attempted
to blackmail Mrs. Collins and to secure
considerable sum of money from her for
not testifying in this case We will show
that he has stated that he obtained the
So and John Collins watch from him TO
be used for gambling purposes and that
he has stated at least two different
occasions and in the presence of several
witnesses that it was he himself who
killed James s. Collins.
We will show that Miss Babcock is mis-
taken in some of her statements. Not
that she has attempted to wilfully tell
that which was not true, but rather that
her mind and fler memory have been in
fuenced by others. We will show that
the witness Harbaugh, who testified on
the stand yesterday, it utterly and abso-
lutely unworthy of belief. and that this
man, who has both money and reputa-
ton to gain by securing the conviction of
John Collins, is unscrupulous and unprin-
cipled. We will in particular show that
a falsehood, which Is adroitly injected into
his testimony. and which he hoped would
escape our notice. was done with the ma
licious purpose that the attorneys for the
state might in their argument. claim that
John Collins was left handed. and that
the gun which was found in the hall was
evidently placed there by a left handed
person. We will show that his testimony
to the effect that the defendant wrote the
name of Ed Lange with his left hand was
false. and that the defendent never writes
with his left hand
With regard TO the character of ]. s.
Collins, deceased, we will show that he
was a man who was prominent in busi-
ness, social and fraternity matters in this
city. That he was man of high charac-
ter. integrity and good standing here. That
he was fond of participating in public
professions and pageantS. and was usually
chosen as a leader on such occasions. That
he had for many years been engaged in
renting and selling property for other peo-
pie. and that he had large list of prop
erty which he kept for rent much of