The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-19
STILL AT WORK.
Continued from First Page.)

Collins, with the two babies, John and
Grace, in his home, advertised for
hOusekeeper. The advertisement was
answered by Mrs. Helen Meade,a widow
with two children, from Vermont, who
was visiting her sister, Mrs. Morehouse,
In Topeka She was engaged as house
keeper. Five months thereafter Mr..
Collins and Mrs. Meade were married.
She was eleven years older than he.
Mrs. Meade's daughter, Carrie, p years
old, and her son, Grant, lived with her.
The relatives and friends of Mrs. Meade
did not approve Of her marriage to Col
Inns and it was long time before they
became reconciled to it.
Mrs. Meade had 81, 500 when she mar
ried Collins, and it was this money
which gave him his first good start.
Deacon Swallow died and Collins sue
ceeded to the business. The Kansas
boom came along, Collins invested
shrewdly and became moderately
wealthy. He built a big house, moved
into it and became proud of his sue
cess.
Not long after the marriage Carrie
Meade died. Part Of the 81, 500 which
Mrs. Meade had when she married Col
Inns belonged to Grant Meade by inner
ltance from his father, but Collins used
1t all in his real estate business. 1t is
said that Grant Meade often asked for
the return of this money, but Mr.. Col
Inns put him off and never paid it. Grant
Meade became a railroad brakeman He
is man of most estimable character.
The most marked characteristic of
rade. He Joined all the secret societies
that had uniformed attachment and for
years and years there was never a
street parade in Topeka that was not
led by Jim" Collins. Two days before
his murder there was a parade in the
morning and a parade in the afternoon
and Collins led them both.
Then Came the Decline.
After the Kansas boom collapsed the
property of Mr. Collins shrank so that
for or fVErn hnf - n = 7ics
expenditures exceeded his income. He
was in a very bad way financially when
he died. He had borrowed wherever he
could; he was pressed by creditors on
all hands and he saw no way out. He
had a hard time paying the premiums
on his SIC, 900 life insurance, and short
ly before his death he had threatened
to let large amount of the insurance
drop. He was unable to pay the debts
which his son John had contracted in
Lawrence. Mr.. Collins had even planned
to take his boy John out of the uni
versity because he was not able to pay
his expenses there.
John Collins resembles his father in
looks. Grace Collins appearance brings
her mother to mind. Mrs. Meade has al
ways been known as a good Christian
woman. Her love for her step children,
Grace and John, was so strong that all
who knew the family remarked 1t. She
gave John and Grace a religious train
ing and during Johns first year at the
university he was noted for his piety,
MS good D6naN1Or, MS COucI1y QeInednOE
and his kindness of heart to everyone.
He studied hard. He boarded at the
Beta chapel house and he made no Sc
cret of the fact that the first thing he
did when he arose in the morning was
to kneel by his bedside and pray. He
was sometimes scoffed at for this. John
intended then to be an Episcopal clergy
man and was preparing for it by a
course of theological reading. He was
commissioned as q lay reader in the
Episcopal church and used to hold SER
vices each Sunday at the Haskell IN
dian school at Lawrence. He made such
a good and lasting impression there
that not one of the Indian pupils at that
school believes that he is guilty of the
crime of which he is charged.
In those early days of his university
life Johns father visited him often at
the chapter house and several times
stayed over night and slept with John.
There is no doubt that in those days
John loved his father and was proud
of him. John kept his fathers picture
habit of boasting about his fathers
good qualities He talked so much
about his father that his school mates
used to tease him about it.
His College Life Changed Him.
In the last two years of Johns life at
school he learned to gamble and drink.
He seemed ambitious to be known as
the fastest and most rakish young
man at the university. He started on
pace that his fathers failing financial
condition would not permit him to keep
up If he is guilty of the murder Of
his father his motive in doing it was to
get liberty from parental restraint and
to get his hands on the insurance money
and his fathers estate and business. If
he is innocent there was never a boy
lived who was more prosecuted or who
deserved more pity and sympathy and