The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-09-04
Suicide of Frank Powell Was
the Final Chapter.
Loved Pretty Sister-in- Law Who
Married and Then Eloped.
DIED FAR FROM HOME.
She Was Brought Back to
Friends in Coffin.
Powell's Final Request to "Be
Buried Beside Clara" Denied.

A pitiful double tragedy has just been
finished within twenty miles of this city
The last chapter was writetn in Topeka.
1t was ended by the suicide of Frank
Powell in Topeka last Sunday. and the
story of it reads like a romance. Two
lives were given up because of a hope
less infatuation. Black-eyed Clara
Kelly, a belle Of the village of Mayetta,
and sister of Powel's wife, was the 9TH
er leading figure in the drama.
OF the two Kelly sisters, Powell made
the mistake five years ago of marry
ing the wrong one.
The younger Kelly sister and real OBJ
ject Of oPwelps affections, died tragical-
" herself. 1t was when her body was
laid to rest in the little burial ground
by the school house at aMyetta, two
weeks ago last Sunday, that Powell
took morphine by the graveside, deter
mined that life held no more charms for
him.
by the marriage of Clara Kelly on the
28th of July last in Kansas City. She
had been working in Kansas City for
a couple OF years. Powell made trips
to Kansas City regularly up till the
time of her marriage. Clara soon tired
of the married state, if events are any
criterion and wanted to go to Mayetta
on visit Mr.. Smith, her husband, OBJ
jected for some time, it is said, but
finally consented and Clara started for
Mayetta. She did not arrive for
week or more, and when she did come it
was in the baggage coach ahead.
From Kansas City Mrs. Cyara Smith
e1oped and went to Canada with Oliver
Owens. q travelling salesman. She died
in Canada of an internal hemOrrhage
and the body was shipped back to
Mayetta from Buffalo.
The town of Mayetta. was stirred to
its profoundest depths when pretty
Clara Kelly came home. 1t was the
saddest homecoming any of it's daugh-
ters had ever experienced The bride of
less than a month. passed away among
strangers far from home and friends
and in an alien land, sent home cold in
death and unattended There was much
mystery about the affair. No wonder
people doubted that this casket con-
tained all that was mortal of Clara
Kelly. Little wonder that ceremony
was not waited for and that a girl
friend tore off the cover of the casker
ITS CIara.'' she cried. and broke
down utterly. The husband of the dead
woman was there. He forgave and went
with the funeral procession to the lit
tie church, where all the town took
look into the casket, and the laid the
body TO rest in the little burying-
ground.
That night Frank Powell who had
loved and lost, not once but twice, took
morphine for the first time to end his
miserable existence. He had lost
Clara by his own marriage, by her
marriage, and. TO complete the robbery
to the full, death had stepped in and
taken her forever away.
That Sunday night he was brought
into the town from the Kelly farm. two
miles out, a. broken and desperate man
At the hotel where he boarded he rayed
and fought under the influence of the
terrible drug he had taken. He raised
a chair and stood off half a dozen men
with it, He started for the hotel din
ing room for the carving knife to kill
any who tried to stop him In this he
was prevented and then he ran out on
the street and up and down it, threat
ening death to all who tried to stop
him and to himself. He was clad only
in night garments, having been reused
from bed when a physician was called
to treat him for the Opiate he had
taken.
From that time on until he finally
succeeded in Topeka, nearly two W eks
later. Powell had but one aim. That
was to get morphine. He could not get
the drug in Mayetta- He went to Hol-
ton and tried in vain, for word had
been sent ahead of him and the dealers
were warned. He closed up his ba Der
shop and moved to Hoyt but he ul5
not get morphine there His story had
not come ahead of him to Topeka, and
hither he cane last Friday nfgf t. and
his end was told in Mondays papers
UGLY STORIES SET AT REST.
There We're ugly stories afioat while
Mayetta has been living through it's
double tragedy If some of them were
true they would add grimly to the
tragedy, which is pitifuI enough now.
One startling rumor was to the effect
that the body of Clara Kelly had come
home IN a pine box and that an ex-
change of coffins was made at May
eta As it was circulated the forgiv-
ing husband had said: This coffin is a
cheap affair; I'll get a better one
Investiga as made by State
Journal reporter on the spot, today. ex-
ploded this pretty fiction. The body
came to Mayetta in a handsome black
casket. metallic, and weH-embalmed.
Mr.. Ashton, a hardware merchant, has
the undertaker's death and shipping
certificates furthermore. He took
charge of the body when it arrived, for
the family of Clara's parents, Mr.. and
Mrs. John Kelly.
But the most startling report that cir
culated over the countryside was that
the whole affair was an immense de-
ception Of some kind. DR.. w p. Brock
EFT heard among his patients the talk
that the body in the casket was not that
Of Clara Kelly at all but a wax figure.
And there were citizens who wanted the
body exhumed to determine whether the
whole town had been deceived or not
They saw the grim. joke on the hus-
band, who had forgiven. and especially