The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-11-24
Sheriff Lucas Searches the
Nickum Hotel i'm Vain.
Documents Expected to Throw
Light on Tragedy Missing.
MRS. GILL CONFIRMS 1T
Niece Says Mrs. Nicknm Had a
Secret Dread.
Recently Had Lock Put on
Front Door.
MRS. BROWN TESTIFIES
Cook at Hotel Again ON the
Stand.
Her Stat0m0nfs to Jurv Are
MRS. BROWN TESTIFIES
Her Statements to Jury Are
Somewhat Contradictory.

All of the letters received by Mrs.
Mary A. Nickum during the past year
are missing. For some mysterious rea-
son, they have apparently been either
stolen or destroyed.
| Sheriff Lucas has in his possession
numerous letters received by Mrs. Mic
KUN prior to this year, but not a sin
! gle one of recent date.
Mrs. Nickums wrist-bag which she
was accustomed to carry whenever she
went up town shopping, is also miss
ing. 1t may be that the letters are in
the wrist-bag.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Lu-
cas- made a careful search of the attic,
in the hopes of finding letters. He
found nothing. He had already thor
oughly ransacked Mrs. Nickum's pri-
vate apartments without results.
1t is absolutely certain that Mrs.
Nickum has received letters within the
past two weeks, but no trace of them
has been found. Is it possible that the
murder was committed for the purpose
of getting possession of letters in Mrs.
Nickum'S possession?
The mysterious disappearance of all
the recent letters adds to the feeling
of certainty that there is some dark
chapter in Mrs Nickums recent life
which is not known even to her most
intimate relatives. Her deSpOndency,
her fear of some unknown and mysteri-
GUS enemy, her partial revelations to
Mrs. Della Skidmore, all tend to con-
firm the suspicion that Mrs Nickums s
death was brought about soma some
enemy whose hatred has for some rea-
son been recently intensified.
The fact that Mrs. Nickum was anxi-
ously expecting a letter from some
where, together with the disappearance
of all her recent letters, leads to the
suspicion that this hidden danger lay
outside of Topeka
Mrs. s. H. Gill, niece of Mrs. Nickum,
who was well liked by Mrs. Nickum,
and who was probably her most inti-
mate friend in Topeka, said today:
II have known for several weeks that
something was bothering Mrs. Nickum.
The statements made by Mrs. Skidmore
in the State Journal make this all plain
to me. Three or four times within the
two weeks before her murder, Mrs.
Nickum has made the statement to me
that she had something she wanted to
tell me- 1 have urged her to go ahead
and tell me, but she has always post
poned it for one reason or another
Il fully believe now that there was
something of great Importance bother
ing her, and that she could not get up
the courage to tell me about it.
Just a few days before the murder,
she said to me, I want you to come up
and see me. 1 have a lot of things 1
want to tell you. 1 have worried about
them a good deal
Then about week before her death
she suggested that we go to the thea
ter She said, I have been having a
lot to bother me, and real good laugh
would do me good We planned to go
to The Chinese Honeymoon together,
but something happened to prevent it
one of my relatives went away.
THE times that she said she had
something she wanted to tell me about,
I asked her to go ahead and tell me,
but she would put it off. Now that I
look back upon it, it seems very plain
to me that she was worried about some
thing during the past fortnight"
Put a Lock on the Front Door.
Another evidence that Mrs. Nickum
has recently been afraid that some
body was likely to do her harm is the
act that between two and three weeks
ago, she. bought new yale lock for
her front door. to take the place of
the key lock which had been on the
door, She had one of her boarders,
a carpenter named Birg, put it on the
door, and it is still there.
Mrs Nickum told her boarderS that
she was afraid to have the door left
open at night, and she wanted it fixed
during the night the door would shut and
lock after them. 1t was Mrs. Nickum' s |
custom, if any of her boarders wanted
to be wakened early to catch train
or something of that sort, to simply |
give them an alarm clock, and let
them get up and leave the house. She |
did not keep the office of her hotel
open all night. and had no night clerk. |
The following circumstances all in |
dicate that Mrs. Nickum has been the !
victim of a deliberate plan, from some |
enemy whom she knew and was trying |
to prepare against:
A new spring lock on the front |
door.
An attempt made to forcib1y enter
her house a week before the murder.
An unusual anxiety to get letter
from somewhere.
All letters received during the past
year missing
An unnatural fear of going up into
the attic at night.
Great dependency and indications
of mental distress.
These circumstances are not yet
reconciled to either the theory that
the murder was committed by an in
mate of her own hotel, by a 1unatic,
or by a moral pervert.
Mrs. NickJm Had Money.
In addition to the 5000 in cash
which Mrs. Nickum had in the house, l.
she had $500 loaned out through 1
Thomas Eby, a money lender of 513 L
Kansas avenue. 1t is also believed
that she had money in the bank. 1t
would not seem that in such financial /
Mrs. Nickum would be wor- L