The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-11-21
Mrs. Mary Nickum Hit on Head
With an Axe.
Body Afterwards MutiIated In
ShOckingly Brutal Manner.
STRUCK FROM BEHIND.
Woman Had Gone to Pantry
for Midnight Lunch.
Evident That She Was Given
No Warning.
WEAPON HER OWN.
Was Taken from Coal House
Near Building.
Officers Are Unable to Find a
Clue.
Woman Had Gone to Pantry
for Midnight Lunch.
Evident That She Was GiVeI
No Warning.
WEAPON HER OWl
Was Taken from Coal House
Near Building.
Officers Are Unable to Find a
Clue.

Mrs Mary A. Nickum, aged IS, fol-
fifteen years a resident of Topeka and
proprietor of the Nickum hotel at $40
East Fifth street, was horribly assault
ed and mutilated by a murderous
assassin in her hotel at about L or 2
O'Clock Sunday morning, and died at
7:45 Sunday evening at Christ hospital,
making any statement as to the iden-
tity of her unknown assailant
Everything indicates that the muir
der was committed by someone
whose sole motive was hatred or re-
venge. Valuables in the house were
uudisturbed. Mrs. Nickum has two
divorced husbands living. with whom
she has had trouble. The police are
trying to find out whether Mrs.
Nickum has had trouble with any of
her employees or guests at the hotel.
No arrests have been made.
No murder in the history of Topeka
equals this one for fiendish brutality.
Mrs. Nickum appears to have been
just preparing to eat her lunch, after
waiting until after the arrival of the
midnight Santa Fe trains She was
found in small pantry, adjoining the
front office on the north, lying in a
pool of blood, her skull crushed in by
one or more blows from an old ak
which the murderer had taken from
the coal shed in the rear of the hotel
and had left in the room. Blood was
spattered over the furniture, floor and
walls, in some places to a height of
After striking Mrs. Nickum in the
head, the murderer had taken a
butcher knife with which Mrs.
raising the woman's skirts had deIib-
erately mutilated the body in an un-
speakable manner. This frightful
wound was not found by the doctors
until after Mrs Nickum's death.
Means Are Heard.
At . o'clock Sunday morning
Stella Brown, a girl employed at the
Nickum hotel, and whose room was on
the first floor, was awakened by hear
ing Mrs. Nickum moaning. She
thought that Mrs. Nickum was suffer-
ing from nightmare, and went to
awaken her. The sounds were not
from Mrs. Nickum's room, and follow
ing them the girl came upon Mrs.
Nickum lying in the little pantry on
the first floor. The girl called another
girl, Grace McLane, to her assistance.
They raised Mrs. Nickum to sitting
posture, and she murmured something
about a man and an ak and then re-
lapsed into Inconsistencies. The
McLane girl then tainted from fright.
DIR. c. B. VanHorn was the first
physician to reach Mrs. Nickum. He
called DR.. w. d. Storrs. city physi-
clan. and the victim of the assault was
at once removed to Christ hospital.
Sunday morning, a large portion of
the skull being removed, together
with blood clots. The physicians
found the skull to be crushed in a
Nickum was kept alive with great
difficulty while the operation was in
progress.
The crime was committed by some
person whom the police have been un-
able to locate. 1t was at first thought
that robbery was the motive, but the
officers are in doubt about the theory
and the mutilation of the obdy ris-
proves it. There were no indications of
robbery about the hotel office and rela-
tives found nearly 5000, all the money
she was known to have in the dresser
in her room
While Mrs. Nickum was not known
to have any enemies, it would appear
that the miscreant came into the hotel
with the intention of committing a
murder, as he carried an old rusty axe
which was used to break coal in the
coal house back of the hotel. With this
weapon he struck the woman on the
head. as she stood in front of a cup
board in the pantry. She was evidently
preparing her midnight lunch at the
time a cup of coffee and some cele-
ry and bread and butter were set out
She fell to the floor. and the assailant
struck her again. with the fiat side of
the axe. From broken arteries IN her
head the blood spurted all over the
room, and out into the hail through an
open door. The walls of the little pan
trv. which is about eight feet square,
were splotched with blood. and there
was blood on a window curtain about
seven feet above the floor. When she
was stricken down she had lamp in
one hand and case knife in the other.
The lamp went out as she dropped it,
The cupboard door was open, and the
inside of the door and the dishes were
covered with blood The room present.
ed a horrible sight
All the city detectives and all the
spare policemen have been working on
the case. No footprints or other clues
were found, but it Is naturally supposed
that the murderer was spattered with
the the blood of his victim.
Stella Browns Story.
Stella Brown, the girl who first found
the injured woman, said to State
Journal reporter: Il was awakened by
sounds of moaning, and l thought Mrs.
Nickum was having nightmare. 1t was
about , o'clock, and l supposed she
vas in bed by that time. When 10
Gated the sounds in the pantry 1 ran in
and found her with her head near the
dining room door and blood all over