The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-03-28
BLACK CRIME
Nickum Murder Is Re-enacted
at Ottawa.
Mrs. Caroline JObes Victim of a
Fiend.
DETAILS ARE THE SAME
Hit on Head With Axe and Body
Mutilated.
Woman a Widow and 60 Years
Old.
LUCAS ON THE GROUND
Topeka Sheriff Satisfied Assail-
ant Is Nickum Murderer.
Believes lit viii Lead to Solution
Of the Mystery.
NO TRACE OF THE MAN.
Entered and Left House by
Window.
Tracked to River Where All
Trace Was Lost.
Topeka Sheriff Satisfied Assail-
ant Is Nickum Murderer.
Believes 1t VIII Lead to Solution
Of the Mystery.
NO TRACE OF THE MAN.
Entered and Left House by a
Window.
Tracked to River Where All
Trace Was Lost.

Ottawa. Kan, March 2s.-The Nickum
murder case of Topeka was re-enacted
here last night in all its gruesome de-
tails Its victim, Mrs. Caroline Jobes
a widow 81 years old, is still alive with
her skull frightfully crushed, but the
doctors say there is no hope of her re-
covery. The body was found to be mutt
lated in exactly the same manner as
was that of Mrs. Nickum. The person
who committed the deed has disappear
ed and the officers are making no head
way.
Mrs Jobes' home is at Wellsville. She
has for several days been staying at
the sanitariun Of Mrs. Eta Semple, a
sister-in-law of R. H. Semple of fTopeka.
Mrs. SemDle gave up her room which
was Oh the ground floor to Mrs. Jobes.
The sanitarium is on Locust street near
the river.
At 2:sO this morning Mrs. Semple
heard groans coming from the room oc--
cupied by Mrs. Jobes. She found the
patient in bed with her skull frightfully
crushed. An axe was standing near the
bed, Indicating that the same method
had been used in the assault as was
used in the Nickum case. The window
was open and the mud on the sill in
dicated that the miscreant had both en-
tered and left by that avenue. There
was mud on the bed and at different
places in the room which apparently
came from the shoes of the man who
committed the assault.
Mrs. Jobes had been struck squarely
on the forehead and probably without
having been awakened. The skull was
frightfully crushed. There was no blood
on the axe but the officers are certain
l4a nf hat
was caused either by the axe or by a
similar weapon. The axe found in the
room had been taken from the back
porch os the house.
The knife with which the body was
mutilated was not found It was evil
IDENTIFY very sharp and had been inserted
in the rectum and drawn forward with
cOnsidera bic force exactly as in the case
of Mrs. Nickum.
There were tracks of a man under
the window and around the house and
those leaving were followed to the river
bridge a half block away where they
were lost No one heard the man who
committed the assault and the first
knowledge of the crime came through
the groans of the victim exactly as in
the Nickum case How he could have
entered and LEFT the house without be-
ing heard is a circumstance which the
officers do not attempt to explain.
Another peculiar fact is that a son
and daughter of Mrs Nickum live
in Ottawa Mrs. Frank Peterson. the
daughter, lives with her husband on the
east side and James Cunningham. a son
of Mrs Nickum, is a barber and lives
on the west side
There is no doubt whatever that the
crime was committed by a degenerate
There was no evidence that robbery
was the motive for nothing in the room
was disturbed though the mud on the
floor indicates that the fiend spent some
time in walking about the room either
before OF after the assault was COM
mitted. He left nothing behind him ex-
cept the axe which belonged on the
premises.
When Sheriff Lucas was told of the
Ottawa case he at once became interest
ed 1T is evident" said he that this
is the work of the same person that
killed Mrs Niekum Every circum-
stance and fact connected with it leads
70 that conclusion The same kind of
q weapon was used, the crime was COM
mitted at about the same time Of night.
the victim was an aged woman and
alone in the room and her body was
mutmatsd in the same shockingly brutal
manner There is more in this than
mere coincidence and believe that
when this JObes mystery is cleared IN
the Nlckum case viii also be solved
Sherin Lucas LETT this afternoon for
ottawa Where he viii do al lhe can to
assist the officers in apprehending the
assailant of Mrs. Jobes.
The officers in Topeka have never
~t aDis 20 prove 70 ttielf own salts
lactlon whether or not robbery was the
motive in the Nickum case Mr..
Nlckum was so Secretive in her btsi-
ness affairs that no one knew whether /
thefe was any money in the house he
SIDE that found in a bureau draxes I
The house had not been ranse cked and
II was plainly evident that the man
who killed her did not hunt for any
money Why then was she killed2 The I
Ottawa case offers the solution: she
was murdered by a moral degenerate
who killed her and nutilated her body
Tor the personal satisfaction that it af-
forded his disordered mind
These two cases are similar to the
famous Whitechapel murders of Lon