The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-03-30

place they noticed man on a hill spying
them with a glass when they were a mile
away.
Soon after Mrs. New began serving her
sentence in the penitentiary Warden Lam
dis learned that she was penniless; that
her lawyer had taken to himself all OF
her property. Warden Lands believed she
had been dealt unfairly with in her proper
ty rights, even if she was guilty, and for
the sake of her two orphaned nieces, who
were penniless, too he set on foot an in
vestigation which resulted in the life SEN
tence of Mrs. New being cut down to forty
years.
This was done to give her legal stand
ing in court. As a life convict she was Ie-
gally dead and could not sue or be sued
sue. She began suit in the court at Eu-
reka to recover from her lawyer part al
least Of the 5000 farm he had got from
her and this suit is now pending.
Alvin Ballard was sentenced in Wichita
last March to eight years in the peniten-
tlary for horse stealing.
Ballard IS q years of age. For five years
he has been a rowing thief, nearly always
in the company of Frank Allgood, ''BilP'
Turner and Matthes. His mother is a good
looking woman and Frank Allgood lived
with her. Mrs. Ballard ard her husband
"Scotty' Ballard lived in Sedalia, Mo. The
sheriff here has a photograph of Frank An
good and Mrs. Ballard taken together, she
clinging to his arm. He has another pho
tograph of Mrs. Ballard dressed in mems
clothing In spite Of her connection with
Allgood and other disrepUta bles, Mrs. Bal
lard dressed neatly, is modest in her bear
ing when she wishes to be, and she loves
Ter boy Alvin.
When Sheriff Simmons of sedgwick coun-
ty, took Alvin Ballard to the penitentiary
he said to w. P. Fleeman, one of the
guards:
keep your eye on this boy Ballard, be-
cause he is a member of an organized gang
of thieves that we have been trying to run
down. If you can get his confidence he
may tell you a whole lot"
Fleeman began at once to work on Bal
lard When Billiards. mother and two sis
tiers came to visit the convict Fleeman
took them to his home and treated them
well. This kindness impressed Ballard
greatly Soon thereafter he began TO talk
reticentiy at first. 1t took months of care
full coddling on the part of F1eeman and
the warden before Ballard gave in and
said:
well I will tell the whole business from
beginning to end"
1t was a wonderful story he told. 1t dis
closed such gigantic thieving operations
that the warden did not believe it. Ballard
drew maps of whole counles, marking
where horses, cattle and buggies had been
stolen, driven off and sold. He told of one
livery stable that had twenty-four stolen
buggies in it, He told of ffty-seven horses
stolen in Douglas county.
Last of all ne told about the murders OF
Joseph New and William Coulter. The
warden investigated the stories of the
thefts first. He wrote to sheriffs in differ
ent counties and learned that stock had
been stolen at exactly the places Ballard
told of.
Then he began to investigate Billiards.
story of the murder of New. This is the
story Ballard told:
Frank AIlgood, Bill Turner and myself
was together in and around Wichita, steal
ing horses mostly. Five weeks before New
was killed we suspected he had money
We went up to Eureka and hid out in the
| blackjack with our horses and watched
New eleven days before we killed him
We drove up to Dobbs' blacksmith shop in
a buggy driven by two horses and leading
| a horse behind
'Dobbs was sitting in a box sorting po-
tatoas. We asked him if he could shoe the
led horse. He said he could not because
| ne had hurt his back. The next time we
saw Dobbs he was walking with New and
we lodged out OF the road to keep them
from seeing US.
Thursday, before the killing, Allgood
and I went to Eureka and watched New
and Dobbs buy two loads OF lumber al
Houston's lumber yard and Twas standing
/ right by News wagon when he took a shot
/ pouch out of his pocket and paid for the
! lumber. He seemed to have a good wad
! of money in it. Saturday afternoon we
drove past News and saw him and Dobbs
building corn crib.
Saturday night we watched around the
! New house awhile and then hid in the
! schooIhousa all night. Sunday morning