El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-12-28

house. Netgkbors began 10 crown III
to the Collins home directly. Mr.
ter the FIRST shot was fired. The tQo-
lice arrived at $50 and took charge OF
the house. at that hour Mrs. Col
Inns and CT ace were still in their night
robes; John, after retaining from
Lange's house, had put on his day
clothes and, with his mother and sis
ter, was standing by the bedside,
where Dr. Nefft was examining the
frightful wounds which had cost J, S.
Collins his life.
Mrs. Collins told the officers that she
had been awakened by some unknown
cause that morning just before the
murder. She heard the clock strike
Is. The room IVES quite dark anc
she slept again. A moment later the
first shot rang out. Mrs. Collins leap
ed from the bed and reached for the
key by whick the electric light may
be turned on. The second shot blind
ed her, and in her fright she could not
find the key She heard footsteps
rushing through the doors which lead,
from the bedroom into the parlor and
on out into the hall.
"Helen, i'm-shot!" mOaneG her hus-
baad.
Are you badly hurt?" che asked,
lighting the room at last and hurrying
blood.
Eyes, I'm hurt bad; get the camphor
and rub it on my back,' he answered
family. But che saw at glance that
he was frightfuliy wounded. She I'M
locked the door which led directly
from her bedroom into the hall 'and
called loudly for John and Grace.
stairs. By electric light, which now
stresmed into the hallway, they saw
lying at the foot of the stairs the weap-
on with which their father had been
slain. Mrs. Collins called their atten-
ton to it, saying:
"There is the gun that killed your
father!'
THE INQUEST.
At the coroner's inquest the testl-
mony disclosed determined effort to
hold John responsible for the crime. |
Among the witnesses was Miss Frances
Adelaide Babcock, beautiful Law |
renee girl, with whom John Collins
was desperately in love. She was a |
recipient of one of the numerous tele |
grams which the boy sent forth the
of the murder. Hers read,
Father ia dead. Tell nothing" She |
told the Jury that John had told her
that his father was constant
ly Swallowed by negroes; that his life
was In danger, and that she took the !
"Tell nothing" to mean that
she must say nothing about these pre-
John Collins, when asked to tell I'M
der oath what that telegram to Miss
BsbcocA meant, said that it referred to
that he had told her, and
further. When pressed for an explana-
lion, he said that he wanted time ito
think it over"
The jury found that J. S. Collins had
come to his death by gunshot wounds
inflicted by some person or persons un-
known. The county attorney then an
aounced that no warrant would be is- |
,ued against John Collins unless more |
evidence could be adduced. |
Ind. 30 far as the general public was
the tragedy dropped out OF
lotice and became almost one of the |
forgotten mysteries.
But the authorities were not idle. |
The Preferred Accident Insurance |
company, in which the deceased had |
been policy holder, sent a detective
20 Topeka to investigate. The Masons
hired Dell Harbaugh, st. Louis de-
;ective, formerly of Lawrence, to fer
.et out the murderer. He interested
!. J. Kinney, q detective of the Santa
Re system, and the Topeka authori-
les co-operated with the outsiders
n the difficult task of un-
sveling the mystery. June 8, less than
month after the murder, John Col
ms, johnson Jordan, Jesse Harper and
Crook Wright were arrested and lodg-
ID in Jail at Topeka, charged with the
murder of j. 8. Collins. The detect
yes had forged chainof extraordinary
evidence; they offered