Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-25

Bailey had really gone to Elgin; and, sec
oud, that she believed it expedient to keep
alive in De Smet the belief that her hus-
band was living. Therefore l went to EIgin.
No difficulty was experienced in finding
that Mrs. Bailey had stopped with one aunt
for two days, leaving to go to another
aunt, with whom she had spent six weeks.
1t required some cautious inquiry. however,
to develop the fact that Nellie Bailey had
brought with her to Elgin her husband
jewelry, among 1t the watch formerly car
ried by him and bearing his name. l rea-
soned that If Shannon Bailey had been alive
it was altogether improbable that his wife
would be in possession of the watch espe
cially as she had reliable timeoieoe of
her own. Her possession of other trinkets
formerly used by her husband gave addi-
tional color to the theory that Bailey was
dead.
Then this fact was learned: The aunt
with whom she was visiting had daughter
about Mrs. Bailey's age, and one day the
two had gone fishing. When Mrs. Bailey
left the house she took a package from the
bosom of her dress and gave 1t TO her aunt
with strict instructions to take good care
of 1t. Curiosity on the part of the aunt
prompted her to examine the packet, which
contained several thousand dollars in bills
of large denomination In Elgin Mrs.
Bailey said her husband was in California.
and I could find no trace of his having been
in Elgin, as his wife claimed in her letter
to her friend in De Smet.
In the course of Mrs Bailey's visit to
Elgin there were many minor events, all
pointing in the same direction. but with
which l shall not incumber this narrative
Ever restless the woman went from Elgin
to Waukesha, Wis. where she at once be-
came acquainted with Robert REESE, the
wenty-eght-year- old son of the proprietor
of the leading hotel of that place. The
young man apparently fell prey to the
Womans wiles without even pretense Of
resistance, and in few days was securely
chained to the wheel of her chariot. The
sudden and ardent attachment between the
two become a matter of general knowledge
and comment, and the parents of the young
man evinced the bitterest opposition TO 1t,
but without avail
Young REESE announced that he was going
to stage play in which the fair Nellie was
to assume the star role. After leaving
Dakota Mrs. Bailey had travelled under
her right name, declaring in both Elgin and
Waukesha that her husband was alive
Her infatuation for young Reise, however
seemed to be as sincere an affair 1t was
in her nature to harbor. enough so. at least,
to prompt her to take the initiative and en-
tice her lover into marriage REESE, who was
much the weaker character of the two,
feebly protested against being made the
instrument through which the crime of
bigamy, as he supposed, was to be COM
mitted by his inamorata, but his protests
were slenced by her vehement and Oft
repeated assurances that Shannon would
never appear to bother them" On this point
she was very positive
1t is not likely that Reise had any con-
ceptiou of the full significance of these
words. Mrs. Bailey insisted on the mar
riage being kept secret until legal sepa-
ration" from Bailey could be brought about.
REESE finally agreed and the marriage took
place without further delay. At Waukesha
as at Elgin. Mrs. Bailey exhibited the watch
formerly worn by her husband, REESE,
among others. having seen it.
X X
Almost Immediately after her marriage
real or mock-to REESE, Mrs Bailey said
she had to make a trip to Kansas to sell
farm she owned there and would then
come back to REESE with $4,000; and, in
connection with this pretense, l succeeded
in establishing a fact of the utmost i'm
portance-that she had been receiving let
tiers from Clement l.. Bothamley during her
stay in Wisconsin. 1t was not my good
fortune to secure any of these letters, but
the fact that such a correspondence had
been carried on was well established. Her
statement to REESE that she was going to
Kansas to sell farm was clearly sub
terfuge to escape unsupported from the
man whom she professed to love so deeply
to go to another admirer.
She left Waukesha still protesting the
liveiest affection for REESE and went to
Newton, Kan, sending to her Wisconsin
lover from several points en- route mes
sages of undying love. Bothamley had
evidently been advised as to the exact time
of her arrival, for he met her at the train
and later took her to his ranch under the
name of Bertha Bothamley, his sister.
The trial of this remarkable woman was
one of the most memorable in the history
of Kansas. She had ample means and had
retained able counsel. Colonel Halo
tn, hi
torney represented the prosecution, as the
crime had been committed in the Indian
Territory where there were no local courts.
The governments array of circumstantial
evidence was marshaled before the jury
with much skill and force by Colonel Hal
lowell and display of correlated facts
produced that would have caused an or
binary defendant to weaken. But the lit
tie bue-eyed woman remained as calm, as
the discriminating circumstances were piled
up against her, as she had been from the
first Counsel for the defense made the
best of the somewhat meager case they
had, but when the evidence was all in
there was wide margin in favor of the
prosecution. After the summing up by
the lawyers Colonel Hallowell said to me:
I'VE up against it. Every man on
that jury knows she Is guilty and not one
of them will vote for conviction"
His knowledge of western juries in cases
curate. After due elaboration the jury
filed into the room and submitted to the
court it's verdct-"Not guilty Judge Fos-
ter who heard the case, said after the trial
that there was not the slightest doubt in
his mind of the womans guilt But she
was free. Robert REESE had come to Kan
sas to attend the trial, and Immediately
after the verdict disappeared with the
woman l believed to be his wife and who
was his lawful wife If the bones and flesh
found in Dakota had been those of Shan
non Bailey.
1 found afterward that while the jurors
almost unanimously expressed themselves
as believing the prisoner guilty they had
applied to the case their sense of rough
frontier Justice. reasoning that Bothamley
had been a man whose early advantages
and intelligence should have led into a diff
ferent life and that if he met his death at
the hands of one woman after he had led
another TO desert home for him, besides
deserving his own wife and children, he was
meeting with no more punishment than he
deserved AS man have no quarrel with
this reasoning. AS an officer of the law at
that time | felt much disappointed at see
ing the hard work of months go for naught,
especially as that hard work had developed
what to my mind was a sound case.
So far as | have been able to learn. Shan