The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-02-05

door and to the outside door leading
to the main entrance, and if they hap
| pened to catch him without them
they did not doubt they would find
the keys in the outer office. From
there, he said, they we're to unlock
the door to the waiting room, pro,
coed to the door leading into the war
| den's residence and to be let in there
by Mrs. Soffel and emerge to the
street by the warden's front door.
The whole plan, as devised at that
time, he said, was carried out just as
they had anticipated, and he says
they had no fear that the warden's
wife would fail them. When asked if
he believed the story, Detective Rob-
inson said he did, and since he re-
turned from Butler tonight he had
gone to see man, lately a prisoner
in the Jail and he knew the circum-
stances and corroborated them. He
said he had every reason to be-
lieve it.
Under the instructions of Coroner
John L. Jones, an autopsy was held
on the Biddles this morning. The
surgeons in charge were Doctors Nc
Curdy, Bricker and J. Clinton Atwell.
The evidence secured by tn au-
| topsy bears on the statements that
the Biddles intended to kill them
selves rather than be taken alive, and
that Ed succeeded in his attempt
while Jack failed, though his life was
forfeited. DR.. Bricker gave out the
following statement after the au-
top"y:
Jack Biddle was the worst shot of
the two men, although he was in bet
ter condition than Ed when the men
were brought to Jail on Friday night.
He had two gunshot wounds in the
right side in the region of the liver,
the bullets passing up and around the
body and did no damage. They were
removed on Saturday. A bullet
wound was found in the roof of the
mouth, but il was slight and would
not have caused death. This wound
was inflicted by himself with the evil
dent intention of committing suicide"
After the autopsy the bodies of the
'Biddles were taken charge of by an
undertaken, who prepared them for
for burial. Arrangements are being
made to take the bodies to Pittsburg
tomorrow. They will be in charge of
Sheriff R. T. Hoon.
Since the officers concerned in the
flight and capture of the Biddles have
had time to cool off s little, there ap-
pears to be a disposition to be fair
toward each other in the matter of
the distribution of the prize money
and an agreement to divide the $4,000
equally among the four officers here,
the driver, J. A. Snyder, and the
three Pittsburg detectives, has been
practically consented to by all the
men except Detective McGovern, who
is not here today.
The pastors of nearly all the
churches in Butler took occasion to
refer to the sensational capture Fri
day of Mrs. Kate Soffel and John and
Ed Biddle, who died in the county
Jail last night
Rev. Father Daniel S. Walsh, rec
tor of St. Paul's Roman Catholic
church, who ministered to the Bid
dies in their dying hours, spoke
touchingly of them to the members
of his parish in both masses this
morning. He touched briefly on their
statements given out and said that
it was for every person to decide for
themselves as to the innocence or
guilt of the men.
When seen at his residence this
aftrnoon, Father Walsh said:
Besides the statements given out
by the Biddle boys to the newspapers
and officers of Butler county, both Ed
and Jack Biddle made confessions to
me. Eds was made on Friday night.
There was no one present but my
self and Jack dying in the next cell.
Jack did not confess until yesterday.
Their confessions were full and COM
plete and in every particular and they
will never be revealed.
while ministering to them almost
every hour after they were brought
to jail, they would often talk to me
OF how they were wrongly accused of
crimes. They maintained positively
that they did not kill Grocer Kahney
in Mount Washington, and Ed told
me in the most emphatic terms that
he did not shoot Detective Patrick
Fitzgerald.
Mrs. Soffel is reported to be expec-
torating blood at the hospital, and
her condition is not considered favor
able.
ESCORTED BY CONFEDERATES.