The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-11-26
LUCAS HAS A MAN
Sheriff Locates Individual With
Light OVercOat.
Expected to Return With Him
Tonight.
MIR. FLEMMING'S STORY
He Ii the Person Who Told Of
Mysterious Stranger.
His Testimony Is Contradictory
and Uncertain.
j. j. Kinney Says Evidence Is
"Lying Around Loose"
MIR. FLEMMING'S STORY

Sheriff Bert Lucas is expected to re-
turn from the east this afternoon
bringing with him a prisoner charged
with the murder of Mrs. Mary A. Nick
um. The name Of the prisoner is not
given out for the reason that the sheriff
may fail to get his man. He is the tall
man in the light overcoat and dark hat
who was seen to enter the Nickum ho-
tel by David w. Flemming at 1 o'clock
on the morning of the murder.
Everything indicates now that this il
the man who killed Mrs. Nickum. He is
said to be a former boarder at the
Nickum house, who was thoroughly fa-
miliar with the habits of Mrs. Nickum
and the arrangement of the house. He
knew where the axe was kept.
! The officers are confident that this
tall man Mr.. Flemming saw enter the
| hotel at 1 o'clock in the morning was
not H. S. Beck, the Pierce, Neb., man
who came in on No. II and took a room
at the Nickum house shortly after mid
night.
Bits of evidence collected by the sher-
| iff during the past few days have serv-
ed to gradually eliminate certain fea-
lures from the case, and to bring the
officers to the conviction that the mur-
der must have been committed by the
man in the light overcoat.
| David A. Flemming, the only man
who saw this mysterious stranger enter
the hotel, gave conflicting testimony at
the coroner's inquest; his testimony was
also vague and uncertain in some par
| ticulars When asked this morning by
a State Journal reporter to further ex-
plain these statements, Mr.. Flemmtna
| abruptly refused to do so.
i've made all the statement I'm go
| ing to-" he declared. Anybody that
wants to know what said can find out.
and l won't say anything more"
| a
for Mr.. Flemming. though he is not
suspected of completely In the crime. 1t
seems strange that he should refuse to
! talk about his testimony, unless he Is
afraid of tangling himself up
Mr.. Flemming testified that after
leaving L M Blitz's jewelry store whers
he works, he started for his home down
| in east Topeka
This was about $50 o'clock. He did
not succeed in getting any further
than across the street, however, ac-
cording to his testimony. He stopped
at Pete Allendorff's candy shop and
stayed there till 1880 o'clock. He did
not tell what he was doing there SO
long. While there he met man
named David Pokalowski. He and Po-
kaIowski went out of the store to-
gether, and according to Flemming's
testimony, stood there on the corner
of Fifth and Kansas avenue from
1880 until Flemming looked up at the
postoffice clock and discovered that 1t
was 10 minutes of L O'Clock. This
makes an hour and twenty minutes
that they stood there on the corner.
Flemming says in his testimony that
he went down Fifth street to Monroe
on the south side of the street and
then crossed over to the north side.
When he came to telling about see
ing a man at the hotel, Mr.. Flem-
ming's testimony is considerably
mixed. He first said to the jury;
when 1 was about fifty feet from
the hotel, 1 saw some fellow come up
from the north of the hotel; he came
down that street that runs between
Fourth and Fifth streets; then he
turned west on the sidewalk, and came
toward me. He stepped UP on the
porch of the hotel, and seemed to
have some difficulty in opening the
door. Then he went inside
Later on in his testimony Mr..
Flemming stated that he first saw the
strange man standing on the corner
by the hotel; that he wasn't sure about
seeing him come down from the direc-
tion of Fouth street.
Mr.. FIemming was sure that the
man wore a light overcoat and black
hat, and was tall. He said that he did
not see the mans face, but that from
the shadow which the mans face cast
he could tell that the man had no
beard He could also tell that the
man was white
Mr.. Flemming may have given the
officers more detailed information
about the uncertain points in his tes-
timony, but unless he has done SO, it
is OF doubtful Value.
According to Mr.. Flemming's testi-
mony, he was able to see Mrs. Nickum
through the front window of the hotel
office as he went past. She had
started to walk out into the back
room, and looked surprised. That was
all that Mr.. Flemming saw as he
walked past the hotel.
OF course the F'lemming statement
is of the utmost importance, unless it
can be shown that the man in the
light overcoat was one of Mrs. Nick
um's boarders, and so far there is no
evidence to indicate that any of the
boarderS went into the hotel so late.
Francis NJ. Flaherty, a regular
boarder, came to the hotel at about 1
a. m, tried the door and found it
locked, and went away to spend the
night with a friend. He did not see
any lights in the house at that time,
except one turned down low in the
hall.
Carl Smith, the boarder who was
first called by Grace McLain at
o'clock the next morning, says that he
found the front door locked with the
key, instead of with the spring lock.
The supposition is that the tall man in
the light overcoat locked the door
with the key as he went inside. as It
was Mrs. Nickum's custom to lock the
front door with the spring lock.
The murder was undoubtedly COM
pnitted by some one who was perfect
ly familiar with the premises, and
knew where the axe was kept
Friday afternoons developments
served to further establish the inno-
Brown was examined by a doctor, and
I,ar oIoiv,a fo hain~ af7icfad urff1, 6aar