The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-08
DID you go to Hummer's house

Odd you go to Runners house
that night?
Ayes, sir.
Q-What did you say to VIII Hum
mer?
Al asked him to show me the mar
rfage certificate and he said he didn't
have any because the man who married
him didn't have a certificate but that
he would write for it and have it by the
next Monday. asked him if they were
married and he said they were.
ried?
Ale said Meriden.
Odd you tell him any message
from your father?
Al told him that papa wanted him
to right things and have the certificate
by the next Monday.
Odd you ever hear Hummer threat
en- your sister?
Ayes, sir He told me the Sunday
before the shooting that she wanted to
go home and that If she ever left that
house and came back he would fill her
full Of lead.
Q-Had they been quarre1ing?
Ayes, sir He was quarreling with
her because she had been talking pleas
like.
Marshal Strauss and Sheriff Cook were
the last witnesses for the state Marshal
Strauss testified as to the character of
the bullet removed from Lucinda Hen
bricks head, ard Sheriff Cook told of
the arrest Of Hummer. He said that
Hummer told him that the girl could
have been shot but once as he fired but
one shot, and that was an accident.
Mrs Martha A. Clark, who lives
across the road from the Hummer fam
lily in Oakland, and who helped Mrs.
Hummer nurse her son Will during his
Illness in the summer of 1897 was the
first witness examined for the defense.
Mrs. Clark's testimony was more hu-
merous than otherwise, especially dur
ing the examination by County
Attorney Jetmore, ard several times the
bailiff was obliged to rap for order to
arrest the LAUGHTER her answers pro
volIed. On direct examination she tes-
tilted a s follows:
Q-Do you know the Hummer family?
Ayes, sir
O-When did you become acquainted
with Will Hummer.
A-When he took sick. several months
after I moved to Oakland. I helped
nurse him.
O-How long was he sick?
About three months.
was?
Al never heard the doctor say but I
thoueht there was something the mat
ter with his mind
O-Fow did his sickness start?
Ale ate some taffv the neighbor
girls ma de and he suddenly got it into
his head that he was poisored.
Q.-From his conduct did you think
his mind unbalanced during the time
he was sick?
A.%Yes Sir. When heard he was
married went right down to Mrs.
Fummer and said right away to her,
''Why, who would have him?"
O.-You said that because of the con-
dition of his mind?
Ayes sir.
Odd you see this young lady who
was supposed to be his wife?
Al saw her at the house once. and
then I went right back to one of my
neighbOrs and remarked that I didn't
think either Of them acted right. He
was ffashy and thought he always
looked wild out of the eyes. They SEEM
ed to act a good deal alike.
Cross exa mination.
Q.-When were you called upon to
nurse Mr.. Hummer?
A.-Last summer, a year ago.
Q.-You never talked to him only
when he was sick?
A.-That was about all
Ole thought he was poisoned and
was going to die?
Ayes, he did.
Q.-Isn't it common for a sick person
with fever to think about dying?
Ayes sir, guess it is.
Q.-When he was sick did he scream
Ayes sir He would call out "oh
DID the Lord come when he called
him?
A.-No sir, I guess not.
Q.-But when he called for the Lord
you went to him and held him?
Al went to him but I never held
him. He always lay in bed.
Odd he pray?
Ayes sir.
Odd you ever pray with him?
Ayes sir, with him and for him.
Q-Were you ever with him alone only
when he was sick2
Al drove up town with him one day
to see a medium and have him pray for
him.
Odd you see the medium?
A.-No sir He wasn't there when we
got there.
Q.-You say you went to the house to
see his wife. Did you see herr
Ayes sir.