The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-12-20
SAFE IN JAIL.
Mr.. and Mrs. Cunningham Are
Locked Up.
No One Is Allowed to See
Them.
LUCAS is CAREFUL.
Says That the Man Confessed to
Theft.
Has No Evidence That He Com
mitred Murder.
THE TELL TALE KEY.
One Found at Nickum Hotel an
Important Clue.
County Attorney Hungate Be-
gins Sweating Process.
THE TELL TALE KEY.
One Found at Nickum Hotel an
Important Clue.
County Attorney Hungate Be-
gins Sweating Process.

Sheriff Lucas arrived today with
Mr.. and Mrs. W. B. Cunningham. Mr.
Lucas says that the man has confessed
to the theft of the Woodward auto
mobile and that he is not suspected of
the Nickum murder.
Still Sheriff Lucas allowed no one to
see Cunningham. No one but the Of
fcers and prisoners were admitted and
then the outside door of the Jail Office
was locked. Why all this secrecy and
precaution if Cunningham is charged
only with theft, a crime which he has
already confessed. There is nothing
TO be gained by such a course 1t has
been ascertained that Cunningham
didn't leave Topeka until early in the
morning after the Nickum murder,
still the officers do not suspect him of
the crime.
W. B. Cunningham and Vashti Gun
ningham, charged with stealing Ches-
ter Woodward's automobile the night
of November 19, are now locked UP
in the county Jail
Cunningham has confessed to Sheriff
Lucas that he took the automobile
from the garage and he informed
Lucas that he left the machine at Col
hnsville, Ill, a short distance from st.
Louis
Sheriff Lucas says he has no evi-
dence that connects Cunningham with
the murder of Mrs. Nickum.
Mr. WilkerSOn said: From the de-
velopments in the case 1 do not now
believe that Cunningham can be i'm
plicated in the Nickum murder"
Tell Tale Door Key.
County Attorney Hungate admitted
this morning that the officers had a
clue which led them to suspect that
Cunningham was mixed up in the muir
der After the murder it was found
that the front door of the Nfckum ho-
Tel ONCE mad been locked by pass
or master key which did not belong in
the house. The pass key was used to
lock the ordinary lock in the front
door and was left in the lock. The
usual way for Mrs Nickum to lock the
front door was with the spring lock
she had placed on the front door few
weeks before her death. Sheriff Lu-
cas- has the pass key. Mrs. Helen Fer
guson, the woman for whom Cum
ningham had an infatuation. told
Sheriff Lucas while he was in Inde-
pendence that Cunningham possessed
just such key as was found in the
lock at the Nickum house.
Another clue of the officers which
pointed to Cunningham in connection
with the Nickum murder was a letter
he had written his wife stating that
he was without money and that he
was desperate.
Sheriff LUCAS, Deputy Sheriff Will
kerson and Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham
this morning at IL o'clock. They
came from Kansas City on the Union
Pacific. Sheriff Lucas would allow no
one to see the prisoners and the front
door of the Jail office was locked and
none but the officers and their prison.
ers were admitted to the Jail.
Mrs Cunningham was dressed en-
tirely in black. She wore a seal skin
cloak and muff
Mr.. Cunningham wore a fancy vest
a suit of mixed cloth and a stiff hat.
Hungate Visits Prisoners.
This afternoon County Attorney
Hungate visited the two prisoners in
thelr separate cells to secure from each,
II possible, a detailed statement as to
their Whereabouts the night of the
theft of the automobile.
Cunningham has attempted to shield
MIS- cunningham and she has stated
that she did not know that the auto
mobile was stolen, but as she wrote
letters to Topeka which would be cal
cuIated to keep suspicion from them.
she evidently knew about the theft
She wrote to friends in Topeka that
she and her husband checked their
trunks through to ST. Louis while the
trunks were still in Topeka Other
letters tend to prove that she knew
the character of her husband.
Inc trailing and arrest of the Cum |
nInghams was brought about through
Mrs Helen Ferguson. The Fergusons |
and the Cunninghams had been friend |
ly at Bartiesville and Independence. |
cunningham was infatuated with Mrs |
Ferguson, a fact discovered by J. NJ |
Wilkerson.
Sheriff Lucas knew that Cunning
ham would write to Mrs. Ferguson |
and he kept a lookout at Independ- /
ence- He discovered that Mrs. Fere1l- |
son received a letter from Cunning |
ham
Trapped by Woman
Then Lucas and Wilkerson enpIoved !
Mrs. ferguson to aid them. She made
an appointment to meet Cunningham AT /
Lima and when the train she was on |
reached the depot at Lima Cunninehanl
was there Detective Joe Heffern was
also there. Cunningham had been de-
Scribed to him by Wilkerson and the /
detective grabbed Cunningham and in
formed him that he was under arrest |
Cunningham tried to free himself hut |
as Heffern weighs 240 pounds and Cum
ningham is a small man the struggle /
was short.
After his prisoners had been locked |
up in the county jail Sheriff Lucas said:
Mr.. and Mrs. Cunningham are arrest
ed on the charge of stealing Chester /
Woodward's automobile and before we !
reached Fort Wayne he confessed to |
taking it and told where he had left |
it, We stopped at St. Louis and left /
the prisoners there while Wilkerson and |
went to CollinsvilIe to make sure that /
the machine was there. We found il