The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-01-21
Wife of Murdered Millionaire
Richardson Arraigned.
Jury is Secured and Taking of
Testimony Begins.
NOW AT PLATTSBURG.
Great Interest is Manifested in
the Trial.
Leading Families of the Town
Represented in Court.

Plattsburg Mo-, Jan. 21.--ln the case of
Mrs. Addie d. B. Richardson, charged
with the murder of her husband, Frank
w. Richardson, a merchant of Savannah,
Mo-, jury was secured this morning
and the state presented its case. The TAX
ing of evidence began this afternoon.
The trial has aroused almost as much in
terest in Plattsburg. where the case was
brought on a change of venue, it did in
Savannah. The leading families in the
town were represented in the audience in
the court room today, among them being
several women. Besides the prisoner, Mrs.
Richardson's three small children, John D.
Richardson of Chicago, western manager
for the National Biscuit company, a
brother of the dead man, and several
members of both families were there.
There is a large array of attorneys for
both sides.
Mrs. Richardson was apparently affected
by the reading of the Indictment which
charged murder in the first degree. c. F.
Boeher, in presenting the for the
state. told of the murder at the Richard
son home on the night of December "a, 1900.
Richardson had planned to accompany her
to a Christmas entertainment At the last
moment she telephoned to him at the store
that she had decided sS no not to go Menty
a dead man in his own home" Richard
was about to enter his wife's bed room.
HISTORY OF THE CASE.
The murder for which Mrs. Richard
son is ON trial was committed Decena-
ber "a 1900. Stewart Fife. son of Mr..
Richardson's partner in business is also
under arrest. Mrs. Richardson had
started to a church entertainment and
is believed to have met Fife, returning
to the house with him Witnesses have
been found who say they saw a man
and woman enter the house.
Richardson learned that his wife was
not at the church entertainment, and
went home. He looked in at the bed
wi nd rl1C q
house where he was shot just as he en-
tered his wife's bedroom. Mrs Rich
ardson had been indicted for the muir
der. If she is acquitted she will be on
the stand to testify against Fife. Fife
is known to have had a quarrel with
Richardson about his attention to Mrs.
Richardson, and on the night of the
murder was seen to take a revolver
from a drawer in the store.
revolver with one chamber empty
was found later near the Richardson
used by the murderer. The weapon has
been identified as the one owned by
Fife.
Mrs. Richardson persistently refused
to testify before the coroner's jury, but
made statements to her friends. She
made several statements to those who
visited the house Immediately after the
murder. She said she was on the couch
in the south room, which is her bedroom
and is also used as a sitting room by
the family, and heard her husband
come upon the porch She had turned
out the light before he entered the door,
Boo to him when he came in. She
has declared that she was not aware
of the presence of another person in the
house at the time. Richardson entered
the hallway and exclaimed:
HAS it come to this ?''
Instantly there was a shot, and Rich.
ardson fell to the floor a corpse. Mrs.
Richardson was within three feet of
him at the time, and although the lights
in the room had been turned out there
was enough light from coal stove in
the room for her to see and recognize
her husband.
Mrs. Richardson did not scream, but
says she tried to raise her husband to
his feet Realizing that he was badly
hurt or perhaps dead, she says, she ran
across the street to the house of DR..
w. M. Kerr, and, bursting through the
front door, exclaimed:
Let me telephone quickI Frank is
hurt-he has been shot!'
When they pointed to the blood on
her hands she cried: "Oh, it's poor
Franks blood. Leave it there"
Mrs. Kerr went with her to her home
and other neighDors came in a short
time. They found Richardson dead, but
no revolver was in sight. The nature
of the wound and the absence of the
weapon precluded the possibility that
it was a suicide. Mrs. Richardson said
she did not know how it happened
but to Charles G1azier, the clerk from
short time, she said she knew more
than anybody else.
She heard Richardson speak angrily.
He must have been speaking to some
body.
There were numerous footprints out
side the window of the room in which
Mrs. Richardson was at the time of the
murder. James Summerville and 9TH
ers testified to this These footprints
indicated that a man had been walking
around in an excited manner, peering
through the window. There We're also
tracks of a light buggy having driven
up to the house and then passed on.
The dead man is said to have had
mysterious intrigues- dozen men
have been suspected of completely in
the murder. but they have cleared
themselves.