The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-08-14
FIVE ARE DEAD
AT WINFIELD


carried out such deed He was reputed
to be a very bright young man, about
80 years old, aud his friends could
scarcely believe that he could ever dc
| such a thin gas wantonly shooting into
| a great crowd of friends 1t was i'm
possible last night TO learn who the young
| man'sp arents were or whence he came
TWIGG'S LETTER TO PUBLIC.
| Twigg had room in the Thompson
block. and when officers went to this
room they found a letter in the trunk
addressed to the public. 1t was in an en-
veIope, written on good paper, and in a
good. steady handwriting. 1t is as fol-
lows:
| winfield, Kan, August, 1903.
Il would like to say to those who have
( interested themselves so much in my well
! fare (that seems to be the public in
| general that l do not and most likely
never will know the real cause of being
| treated in the manner in which I have
been treated. I do know that have never
killed any person, that 1 have never stole
anything. and that l have always been
honest, and never violated any laws of
our country TO my knowledge. These
things I know to be true. Now, the ques-
ton arises in my mind as TO the real
cause of the trouble. Can ii be that l
have been followed up since l was sus-
picioned of something in Winfield over
four years ago. or can ii be because of
something l might have said about hav-
ing been Swallowed. or is it because of
my girl affairs here some eight or nine
years ago? 1 am inclined TO believe that
II is the latter, and il So 1t is certainly
very unjust. If / was sure that it came
from the girl affair. / would go into de-
tails and tell everything. but as I am not
sure and have no way to find out, 1 will
keep 1t for her sake. what I have not
already told TO a friend of mine Now
there is one thing that I have to regret
and that is because l did not settle this
thing with Lieutenant MyTon c. Bow
dish and Contract Surgeon O. w. Woods
while l was a patient az the Banate. in
the Philippines. Then / could have got
ten what was due me, and this thing
would have been over long ago. / would
have settled these things then and there.
but lived in the hopes that there would
be some end to the thing some time, but
II seems not. At least, there is no end
in sight yet and l have no way of know
ing that there ever will be. The past
few years has been a long long time to
me- OF course, you people who have
been deeply interested know the way you
have treated me. You know you doped'
me until l was forced TO give up about
a 500 month position. You know that
you drove me from place to place in the
same manner and forced me to give 10
a neat little sum Of my hard-earned money
TO railroad companies, money that 1
went through the danger OF war and dis
eases both In Cuba and in the Philip
pines TO get You also know that you
watched my mail and after finding out
my friends and correspondents, you told
them some kind of a story about me that
caused every one of them to drop me and
turn me down cold.
Now, ladies and gentlemen. knowing
this as you do, and as 1 do. do you think
vii give up and sit down in a corner
nothing? Nay, nay, Pauline, not l. l
have given up positions. I have taken
your dope l have taken your insults, and
I have done nothing. But you will find me
there delivering the goods in the end
You should let this be a lesson to you in
the future, and when you are about to
make big things out of little ones you
should count this up and look at it on
both sides and be sure you are right be-
fore you so ahead. You may think your
theory is all right but if common sense
does not teach you, experience will
Your brain may be ali right in quality,
but there may be chance for them to be
lacking in quantity. l believe this is all
I have TO say, SO 'adiosc'
GILBERT"
The letter shows that the man was in
sane. and that the deed was contenl-
plated and carried out deliberately.
Twigg hauled his shells to the alley in
a little red toy wagon. and about a
dozen empty shells were picked up scat
tered about the mouth of the alley. The
shotgun was twelve-bore, double-barrel
gun, and the shells were loaded with
twelve No 5 buckshot. The revolver was
a Smith & Wesson. Only one shot was
fired from it, and this one entered the
temple of the insane man. ending his life.
DR.. Cooper. the coroner. and Officers
Cal Ferguson. Nichols and Dick Kruger
did excellent work in quoting the citi-
zens and in directing the taking care Of
the dead and injured.
Many people had miraculous escapes
from death or injury from flying bullets.
John T. Dunning. of this city. superin-
tendent Of the Metropolitan Life 1nsur-
ance company, was in the crowd and it
was only by Il hairs breadth thai he
escaped a bullet passed through the
lapel Of the right-hand coat pocket. cut q
hole through his trousers and struck his
watch guard. cutting it into several
pieces. other bullets whistled close by
him, for he was standing within a very
few feet Of the mouth Of the alley in
which Gilbert Twigg stood.
EYE WITNESS STORY.
1t was Mr.. Cunning who first notified
the Eagle Of the terrible deed. and it
was through him and the manager of the
Missouri and Kansas Telephone company
that the names Of the dead and fatally
injured were secured Mr. Dunning was
all excitement as he talked over the long
distance phone. Ordinarily he is n very
cool man. out MS close call from injury or
death and the terrible sight Of more than
score OF people dead or dying and in
jured, lying or the ground. unnerved him.
1t was awful" said Mr.. Du-nins II
have never witnessed such a sight In all
my life. and hope that ! may never do so
again Everyone jumped az the first shot
but they did not have time to step more
than a few feet before the entire shooting
was over. The shotgun vouey came nrst
and thsra vas 8 slirht intsrrnissirr, h