Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-05-08

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 disproyen.
Some people claim that the murdered
woman carried q liberal life insurance
policy, but this is untrue, so the hus-
band would not have profited in q
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 we'll as the
father of the dead woman. There have
been q score or more of such stories 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 flimsy evidence as has been
brought out here against this one.
Much stress has been laid upon the
evidence of the 5-years-old child of
Collins. The first week the Pinkerton
detectives were engaged on the case
Detective 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 innocent little girl 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 APP
pear only too glad to believe them. The
child told Detective DeMayo how her
father dressed her and her little 2
| years-old sister that Saturday morning,
while her mother was getting break
| fast for them in the kitchen. Collins
and his wife had eaten their breakfast
before the children were called. The
mother gave the children their break
fast 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 fol
her. They went to the house first ane
called several times, but hearing nc
reply they all three went out to the
buildings And there in the stable they
found the mother covered with blood
and the child told how her father fel
upon the body and cried and called hel
name, and then how he had picked thu
mother up and carrying her into thu
house placed her upon the couch
Then he carried the younger child il
his arms and leading the 5-years- olt
girl by the hand he went to the hom'
Of a..neighhor close by and told them o
what had happened.
Here is the evidence of this littl
girl, who doubtless does not even know
what an untruth is, told with all tn
innocent frankness of one of her age
Surely it is not possible that she eoul
have SO understood the suspicion
directed against the father as to b
able to plan and conceive such a stor
: as this. And yet there are people i
Laurel who pretend to believe that tn
! child was coached by relatives and wa
told what to say to anyone who talke
: to her.
: There does not appear to have bee
anything in the past life of Elme
], Collins that would have given him an
reason for killing his wife. To be sur
there have been stories told about hill
upon the street, but so far as one ca
learn not single one of them has eve
yet been verified. No one has eve
g showed what he had to gain by th
7 death of his wife, and it would surel
: appear that he had everything in tn
: world to lose. There is one thing hi
Il enemies cannot say against him, and
is very good thing too. No one hf
Q yet pretended to say that Collins We
a drinking man. He was never see
about the hotels of the town and it
said that he was never inside hot
in his life, even to take a meal.