The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-26
MIR. JETMoREs SPEECH.
Closing the Prosecution on Saturday
Afternoon.

Afternoon.
County Attorney Jetmore closed the
speechmaking in the Collins trial Satur-
day afternoon.
Mr.. Jetmore displayed in his speech
probably more oratorical ability than
any of the preceding attorneys on either
side, and it formed strong close for
the state. He said:
May it please the court, gentlemen
of the jury; 1 keenly feel the response
bility that is upon me in closing this
case for the state and I realize that
viii be unable to present to you the
facts and circumstances as ably as the
gentleraen on the other side. I also feel
keenly the insinuatiOn that there would
in a verdict of guilty by you gen
tlemen- The insinuatiOn is false.
I would that the defendant in this case
were not bound round by this chain of
circumstances. 1 would to heaven
could do something for that unfortunate
mother and that unfortunate sister and
those unfortunate relatives. [ have
waited, as has waited the whole state
of Kansas, and might say the whole
United States, for four long weeks to
see the defense advance something that
would prove the innocence of this young
defendant. But, gentlemen of the jury,
the defense has failed. On the 18th day
of last May at o'clock in the morning.
John Henry Collins cruelty murdered
his father with his own gun, and is
therefore guilty of the crime charged in
the information of the state.
I'VE have had a great many things to
contend with in this case, gentlemen,
aud our patience has been SOrely tried,
but we have at all times tried to keep
down any feeling there might be in the
case. The defense has tried every means
at its command to take US at a dis
advantage, and as an instance of this
want to refer to that duplicate of the
last portion of the johnson Jordan let
ter introduced before you by Mr.. Hay
den. Gentlemen of the jury, that dupli-
&c nh cl1Ah of O Ia CT
of that letter and not a creation of pen
and ink. OF course it corresponds to
every detail in the original, and these
gentlemen produced it here before our
witnesses and endeavored to have them
swear that it was done with pen and
ink. That, gentlemen, is on parallel
with a great number of things the de-
fense has forced US to contend with in
this case.
''The man who killed J. S. Collins was
thoroughly familiar with the Collins
home. He knew how to fire J. S. Col
Inns gun, and he knew that Mr.. and
Mrs. Collins kept revOlvers under their
pillows in the folding bed. believe the
electric light in that bed room was fixed
so the light could not be turned on by
the same person who took those re-
Volvers from the bed and fired the fatal
shot. And I believe that John Collins
took down. that folding bed while his
father and mother were away from
home on the evening preceding the muir
der, removed the reVolvers, took his
fathers gun and the shells from the
closet and took them with him upstairs
to his own room.
IF it had been any outsider who had
gone there to murder ]. S. Collins, he
would have been armed to the teeth.
He would not have gone to that Collins
home depending on securing J. S. Col
Inns unloaded gun from the closet in
his bed room. He would not, after the
murder was committed run upstairs to
make his escape instead of escaping
through some of the doors or windows
on the first floor. Gentlemen of the
jury, clearly indeed, it was not an out
slider who committed the crime.
Gentlemen, the defense has intro
duced a great number of witnesses in
this case to state that far as they
knew John Collins was a good, kind,
courteous boy. The state does not pre-
tend to say that up to the time of his
going to Lawrence John Collins was
not as good as the best of young men,
but it does pretend to say that after
leaving this city he started to lead a
double life. This double life, 1 say, be-
gan long before he started to associate
with these negroes, a year or more.
By this mean that he held himself out
to the world as an exemplary young
man, as a lay reader at Haskell insti-
tute and other places in Lawrence,
and that he was not an exemplary
young man, that he was no better than
any of his associates. He ran in debt.
He pretended to have resources to draw
on that he did not have. The counsel
on the other side tell you that his in
debtedness was but one hundred and
sixty odd dollars, and the amount was
not large enough to worry him. 1t was
large enough to worry him, gentlemen,
because he had but an income Of SIS
per month and out of this had to come
his running expenses. 1t did worry