Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1902-05-10


make them sensational instead of get
ting at the real facts of the matter. All
of this has tended to poison the minds
of many, and is largely. responsible for
the condition of affairs today
There are those who point to the
bloody clothes of Elmer Collins as
evidence that he killed his wife, but
there does not appear to be any good
reason why these articles should con-
meet him with the murder. Collins
stated from the very first that when he
discovered the limp form of his wife
in the stable. that he picked her up and
carried her into the house and placed
her on a couch. 1t would not be possi-
BILE for him to have done this without
getting blood upon his clothing. When
the State detective on the afternoon of
the murder.a asked Collins what he had
done with the clothing which he wore
that morning he frankly told him that
it was upstairs in the clothes basket.
And there it was found. If Collins had
killed his wife it does not seem at all
probable that he would have placed his
bloody clothing in the family clothes
basket. The story that the body of
Mrs Collins was cold and stiff when
the neighbors reached the house, has
been clearly disproved. Some people
claim that the murdered woman carried
a liberal life insurance policy. but this is
untrue, so the husband would not have
profited i'm financial way as the result
of her death. The rumor that the two
did not live happily together is positively
denied by the father of Collins as well
as the father of the dead woman. There
have been score or more of such stO-
ries as these going the rounds, and it is
a poor day indeed that does not develop
one or two new ones.
If those who are trying to fasten the
crime of murder upon Elmer Collins
have any more evidence yet to offer
against him they should do so without
further delay. No man was ever con-
victed of the crime of murder upon such
fiimsy evidence rs has been brought out
here against this one.
Much stress has been laid upon the
evidence of the 5-year-old child of Col
Inns The first week the Pinkerton de-
tectives were engaged on the case De-
tective DeMayo was closeted with this
child for an hour or more. and from his
report it would appear that if there is
any one thing that would tend to free
the father from the charge which many
place against him it is the simple and
straightforward story which this inno
ent little & irl tells. There are all sorts
of stories told in Laurel as to things the
child is reported to have said. many of
them almost impossible of having been
conceived in the mind of one so small,
yet many persons appear only too glad
to believe them. The child told Detec-
tive DeMayo how her father dressed her
and her little 2-vear old sister that Sat
urday morning, while her mother was
getting breakfast for them i'll the kitchen.
Collins and his wife had eaten their
breakfast before the children were
called. The mother gave the children
their breakfast and as soon as they had
finished they prepared to start to the
field with the father. When they rode
away from the house the mother was
preparing to feed the chickens, and this
was the last time either the husband or
the two children ever saw her alive. The
little girl repeated the story that Collins
told the morning of the murder, as to
how his wife intended to follow them
to the field later with the tomato seed
and the $50 in money, and how, when
she did not come. her father took them
and started to the house to look for her.
They went to the house and called sew
eral times, but hearing no reply they all
three went out to the buildings And
there i'll the stable they found her GOV.
cred with blood, and the child told how
her father fell upon the body and cried
and called her name. and then how he
had picked the mother up and carrying
! her into the house placed her upon the
couch. Then he carried the younger
child in his arms and leading the
5-years old girl by the hand he went to
the home of a ncighbor close by and
told them of what had happened.
This is the evidence of this little girl,
who doubtless does not even know what
an untruth is, told with all the innocent
frankness of one of her age. Surely it
is not possible that she could have so un
derstood the suspicion directed against
the father as to be able to plan to con-
ceive such story as this. And yet
there are people in Laurel who pretend
to believe that the child was coached by
relatives and was told what to say TO
anyone who talked to her.
There does not appear to have been
anything in the past life of Elmer Col
lins that would have given him any rea
son for killing his wife. To be sure
there have been stories told about him
upon the street, but so far as one can
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