The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-02-01
STORY OF THE FIGHT.
Detectives Kept on Shooting After
the BiddIes Were Down.


The close of the BiddIe tragedy came
at 5:45 o'clock Friday afternoon in a
snow-covered road two mi s east of
Prospect, Butler county, near Mount
Chestnut. The exact place was at Nc
Clure's barn, where the double team
sleighs, filed with eight officers, three
of them Pittsburg detectives, John
Roach, Albert Swinehart and Charles
McGovern, met the two BiddleS in a
one-horse sleigh stolen at Perrysville,
and at once opened fire on the trio.
The Biddles returned the fire after
jumping out of the sleigh.
Mrs. Soffel was shot through the
breast. Edward Biddle was shot in the
left arm, in the breast and in one leg.
John Biddle was riddled with buckshor
in the breast and head.
The PittSburg officers were m ct at
Butler by Deputy Sheriffs Rainey and
Hoon and officers Frank Holiday and
Aaron Thompson, the latter under COM
mand of Chief of Police Robert Ray of
Butler.
The officers were certain that they
wSke on the right trail and that it was
only a question of time when they
would overtake the escaping con-
demned murderers and their guilty
companion. The Biddles and Mrs. Soffel
ate dinner at J. J. Stephens, at Mount
Chestnut, five miles east of Butler
They had made a detour of the town
of Butler, and after going several miles
east turned north and then west.
The PittSburg officers, only a few
miles in the rear, took the wrong road
for about eight miles, but when they
found their mistake they made up lost
time by telephoning and telegraphing
ahead for fresh horses. They reached
Mount Chestnut not less than half al
hour after the Biddles and Mrs. Soffel.
At this point William Watson, a store
keeper, had fresh horses waiting for
them and the chase for life began
anew.
The two sleighs carrying the eight
officers met the BiddleS and Mrs. Soffel
at McClure's barn, two miles from
Mount Prospect. The Biddles, having
learned that they were almost over
the only chance they had, drove east
ward and met their doom. The Pitts
burg and other officers were armed with
Winchester rifles and revolvers of large
caliber. They shot to kill and their
aim was perfect. The Biddies, tried to
kill to the last of their string, but not
one of the eight officers has a wound as
a result of the battle. When the de-
tectiyeS got within sixty yards of the
fugitives they opened fire. The Biddles
promptly answered with shotguns and
rifles
Mrs. Soffel too stood up in the sleigh
with revolver in each hand and blazed
away at her pursuers. When Ed Bid
die fell and she saw he was about to
be captured she fired bullet into her
breast. An examination by physicians
SiOWS Indl SliC VIII ISCONCI, DIS Tic JUL
let was DETECTED by her corset and the
wound is comparatively slight.
Ed Biddle got a bullet in the breast
which penetrated his right lung.
After the Biddles fell to the snow
covered ground the officers picked up
the apparently Efeless bodies of Mrs.
Soffel and the Biddles and took them
back to Butler, where they also took
the stolen sleigh, patched up harness
and worn-out horse that the trio had
made use of in their flight.
The story of the fight as told by one of
the detectives follows:
The Biddles were sitting on the right
side of the cutter. Mrs. Soffel was on the
left side. When Detective McGovern
called to them to hold up their hands
and surrender Ed Biddle jumped up
and, raising a shotgun, fired at Nc
Govern. He aimed badly and the shot
scattered alongside the road. Almost
simultaneously Detectives McGovern
and Roach discharged their Winches-
ters at Ed Biddle. Both shots took eff
feet. Jack Biddle raised from the seat
(Continued on Sixth Paze.)