The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-03-27
~she'n be here in the morn

replied "'she'n be here in the morn
/ ing
/ gested.
q honestly don't know don't
even know whether she has ever really
been married at all. I think she was a
widow when she first moved to Lin
coin. and I am quite sure that she
married Scott Smedley there-at least
she met him there and came here with
him last fall.
''I have heard here speak of Wells
frequently, but she always spoke just
as she would of any other friend The
first / knew about her securing any
in the Denevr papers. Neither my
wife nor even knew of her arrest
until then While we were apart
heard from her very infrequently. and
there was one period of two years
when I knew nothing of her at all. :"
All Mrs. Simmons would say, in ad-
dition to what she told the Post Fri
day, was that she is exceedingly glad
found and that the Srnedleys are COM
ing home s'They will be able to tell
US the truth about it," she added.
Il never knew anything so scurril-
Gus as the way some of the Denver
papers have handled this case and
have brought my husband and myself
into it. Long interviews with me
have appeared in the other papers,
those from the Post since the Smed-
leys were arrested. The other inter
views are absolute fabrications."
BY a Topeka Man.
In connection with Claude Sim
mons statement that he knew moth
ing of his sisters experience in Kan
sas, the statement made last night by
]. E. Hanway, a former prominent
Topeka man who is now in Denver, is
worthy of attention.
together in Kansas much of the time
until about two years ago." he said.
land Claude was working in a livery
stable at Lindsborg when his sister at
tended school there and passed herself
off as the wealthy daughter of Major
William Sims of Topeka. Sims had
no daughter. The Simmons family
lived on a farm half way between
Perry and Granville, Kan, and the
father was killed on the street in
Perry about four years ago. The
murderer was arrested, tried and ac-
quilted. Neither of the children left
home until after the father was killed.
Their mother died several years be-
fore that and their father had mar
ried again. The stepmother still lives
on the farm near Perry
Edith married Emory WilletS, a
middle aged farmer living near the
Simmons place, when she was about
10 years of age. She lived with him
for q time and then began to make
periodical trips to Topeka and Kansas
City. Once while she was away
Willets fell i'll and his parents took
him home. Edith returned soon after
ward, went to the Willets home and
was refused admittance. Nothing
daunted, she went to Topeka, Sc
cured two policemen, went back to tile
Willets nome and the policemen broke
down the door, Several shots We're
fired and a general ruction followed, /
but Willets' family were finally
pacified and Edith took her husband
home. The policemen were later ar
rested and tried for entering the |
Willets house.
Later Edith went away again, this
time to Salina, Kan In the National !
hotel there she met W. F. Elliott, |
man. 1t was a case of love /
at first sight on Elliott's part. She re- |
peated the fiction about her father,
Maj. Williams Sims of Topeka. He be-
Iieved it, proposed at once, and on the
following day they went to Abilene and /
were married.
''That same day they went to Man
haitian, where 1 met Elliott and told
him the truth. He wouldn't believe me.
From Manhattan the two went to the /
Simmons farm, collected a check for
5000 as Edith's share of her fathers
estate and then went on to Rerington,
Kan, where several days were spent in
nigh living. Elliott resigned his position
and told the house he had married an
aeiress and was going to Florida. At |
Atlanta, Ga, Claude Simmons, who had
married a Miss Thompson of Perry q
short time previously, Joined them, with
MS wife, for a few weeks, but later re-
.urned to Perry. The Elliotts went
from Atlanta to Texas, where Elliott
vanished.
1.-The next heard of Mrs. Willett-Elli
1tt was in Shawnee, Okla, where she
5ried to sell property in Topeka to
Shawnee banker. He wrote to Perry,
earned her history, and called the deal
off Edith Travelled for some time
through Kansas, Missouri and Okla
1orna and finally ended in Lincoln,
where she met Smedley and Wells.
edith had been married to Willett
or some time when she went to Linds-
BORG to school. She posed as unmar-
led while there, and had half the
young men in the town at her heels
Among others was a son Of the man
With whom she boarded. She became
engaged to him. His father investigat-
ID. however, and cut the romance short,
Her. ENHANCEMENT with S. J. W. Bundy,
he station agent at Ellis, Kan, and
lis subsequent attempt at suicide are
still recent history around Lindsborg.
She married Elliott in the summer of
ooo