The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-24
GOES TO THE JURY.
Continued From First Page3


/ him that morning IN May and fired the
fatal shots. 1t may have been one of
| the mysterious individuals who Mr. Col
Inns feared or il may have been some
I one else But there is one thing sure
no motive has been shown to substanti-
ate the claim against John Henry Col
Inns There is ten times more motive
| on the part of these negroes who had
| heeced this young man out of all he
had and thought that by killing his
father they would further their pur-
poses by placing more funds in his
hands that they might hope to black
mail him out of, than on the part OF
John Collins. the dutiful son of the de-
ceased.
Gentlemen of the jury. day after to-
morrow is Christmas, the most sacred
holiday of the year, and I expect that
on that Christmas morning while the
! choirs are singing Peace on earth and
good Will to men that there Will be
gathered in this home over on Van
Buren, street, q little family, mourning
the absence of the lost one. but having
1 in their midst the son, who has been
! taught a bitter lesson Of wrong doing,
| but who is guItless of the horrible
] crime Of killing his own father"
Closing Argument by MIR. Hayden.
The closing argument Of the defense
was opened by Attorney Charles Hay
! den Of Holton, this morning. The clos
| ing argument for the state is by County
| Attorney Jetmore this afternoon
In his speech before the jury this
morning Mr. Hayden said:
IF 1 could induce myself TO believe
! the story of Johnson Jordan on the wit
| ness stand I would expect the jury to
/ acquit John Collins on the ground OF
/ insanity. That negro thug told you on
I the witness stand that in discussing the
purchase Of a bomb he told this de-
1 PENDANT that he would get one that
would blow up not only the Collins
1 house and his father and mother and
| sister within it, but every house IN the
| block and every living person in them,
and he says John Collins was pleased
| and assented- He says John Collins
/ laughed at the idea Think of it, gen.
/ tlemen. John Collins, a mere boy, kind
/ and generous in nature, laughing at the
proposition Of blowing up an entire
! block. Why gentlemen. no sane man
/ could have done il, no matter now
! hardened a criminal he might be. I do
/ not advance this idea for the purpose
| Of having you acqult the DEFENDANT on
! the ground OF insanity, but 1 advance
/ II for the purpose Of testing the truth
of that Negroes testimony. Why, gen
| tlemen. I dare say it is the most i'm
| probable story you have ever heard
4 Much stress has been laid by the
/ state on the last portion OF the letter
| written to Johnson Jordan by John Col
I Inns I refer to that portion which
| reads. Burn this letter at once shall
| expect to hear from you twice before
morning. Once by letter and once in a
/ different way Gentlemen, don't be-
| Heve John Collins ever wrote that last
portion of the letter. he told you on
the witness stand that he believed II
| to be a forgery. But il he did write il,
/ gentlemen. il can be easily and plausi-
| bly, explained in reference to gambling
/ deal He expected to hear from him
| once by letter and once in a different
way What different way2 BY the re-
turn of his watch or the receipt of the
| money. That's all il means, gentlemen
| OF the jury, if John Collins wrote 1t,
| and has no reference to murder, as the
| state would have you believe
| Chief Steele has told you on the
| stand that there were three or four
! avenues Of escape for the man who en-
. tered the house to take J. s. Collins
I life. The state says that no one left
/ the house because there were no tracks
about the windows. but this is rendered
absolutely worthless by the testimony
of Albert HeartburC and several other
witnesses. who said that even after Mr.
/ Knowles had walked about outside the
| windows they could find no tracks. How
| the man who killed J. s. Collins left
/ the house that morning we do not
! know But even the state has no hope
/ OF a conviction on the circumstances, as
/ they were found at the Collins home on
! the morning of the murder
1 There has been an insinuatiOn by the
! attorneys of the other side that Mrs
| Collins knows more of the murder than
| she has testified to. Suppose this to be
/ a fact Fasten on Mrs Collins for the
sake of argument. this mOnStrOuS Sug
/ gestiOn. and then try to reconcile the
! circumstance on the morning Of the
! murder with il. Gentlemen. you can't
do it If Mrs. Collins had seen John
( Collins fire the fatal shots and wished
| to shield him, do YOU suppose for
moment things would have been left in
the Collins home as they We're found
/ that morning. Do you suppose that If
/ Mrs. Collins had entered into a con-
| spiracy with John Collins for the muir
/ der of her husband, the doors and win
| dows would have been found shut on
| that morning and the gun found lying
/ in the hall at the bottom of the stairs
! Had Mrs. Collins seen John Collins
sta at -a mi nF ha h1f in
/ act OF numbering his father, do you
suppose for a moment she could have
/ acted toward that boy as it has been
shown she did on the fatal morning
/ Gentlemen OF the jury. such conduct on
the part OF Mrs. Collins in such an
| event would be Incompatible with hu-
man nature.
Gentlemen of the jury, had that old
/ colored man who has worked for the
Collins family for years, been in the
house the morning of the murder no one
would even have suspected John Col
/ Inns, the loving and dutifuI son, of com
hitting the crime. Had Mrs. Helen
| Collins not had shot in her back that
morning the state, gentlemen. would
have much stronger case against her
than they have against the defendant
in this case.
| and every circumstance in this case
must be inconsistent with the theory Of
! innocence before you can return a YER
dict Of guilty Let US see what kind Of
a man this defendant must have been
to murder his own father. He must have
/ been a man of selfish, cruel nature. of
cold blOOded and deliberate disposition.
an absolute brute. and such man.
gentlemen of the jury, John Collins is
not and never has been. and there is
not one Of your number who believes to
the contrary. How then, can you say
a Skin OF Beauty IS Joy Forever"
DR. T. FELIX GOURAUD'S ORIENTAL
~