Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1905-05-04
RICHARDS HAS
DISAPPEARED
Convicted Former Government
Official Drops Out
of Sight.
is UNACCOUNTABLY MISSING
Left Des Moines With the Under
standing That He Was Going to
Fort Madison to Surrender to the
Prison Authorities.

Des Moine3, May with forty.
eight hours having elapsed since for.
mer United states Marshal William
Richards babe his Des Moines friends
goodbye and announced that he was
going direct to Fort Madison to COM
mence his sixteen year sentence in
the state penlLCnLlary, the prison
door has yet tc SWING open tC receive
the former official lie left DeS
Moines at 40 Saturday morning. He
was supposed to have gone direct to
Fort Madison and word was sent to
the warden and turnkey to be ready
to receive him. At midnight last
night the prison authorities an
nounced that they had not seen
Richards and knew nothing of his
whereabouts.
Where lie is now is a mere matter
OF conjecture.
1t was believed in Des Moines yes.
terday that he had gone to his old
home in Creston to spend the last
few hours of his liberty with his
wife and family. Inquiry in that city
proved that he had not been there
since the first of last week.
bOuDlluE5 OuSS, hHS
mysterious disappearance of the IA
nous old peace officer some years
ago when the first charges were made
against him, believe that he has dis
appeared and is seeking to avoid his
arduous sentence. Those who know
him best scout such an idea.
The only place where 1t is known
that natural instincts would draw
him from his Journeys to the state
prison is in Illinois, where he has
relatives living and to whom it might
be natural that he should want to
make visit
Des Moines, April 30.-W. A.
Richards decided not to persist in
asking the supreme court to rehear
his case, though he could have put
prison at Fort Madison for several
months, and went to Fort Madison
Friday night to give himself up to
the warden yesterday.
His friends were confident that it
was useless to ask the court to re-
open his case They believed the
court would quickly overrule his pc
titiOn for a rehearing. The matter
would have been decided at the sit
ting of the court which begins next
Tuesday.
With sixteen years sentence hang
ing over his head it seemed folly to
try to postpone the prison doors for
a few weeks for at the other end OF
the sentence a few weeks may mean
a chance to die a free man.
However, an effort will be made by
Richards and his friends within due
time. to secure a parole. In view of
the time that he was member Of
the marsha's force in this state, AID
the $500 arrests made by him. his
friends believe that some governor
will be glad to exercise clemency in
Richards behalf. since the rule as to
prisoners nowadays is to parole
them if they show a desire to live cor
rectly.
Richards. besides, was penniless.
He has no means of livelihood while
fighting for his liberty. His Occupa-
ton was taken from him by the ac
cuSatiOn which was made against
him. His trends were loyal but he
could not live off of them. He con-
cluded that the best thing to do was
to give up and go to prison with the
hope that he could leave it's walls be-
fore he is carried from them in
box or totters from them an enfeeb-
led and decrepid man of three score
and ten