The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-08-06

breakfast the morning Of the muroer
hat Higgins had been killed. why old
you not send your boy 10 tell Htstsins
w.se2"
L was excited BY the news and be-
sides ft was none OF my business
wouldn't il have been wiser IN you
% have destroyed the overalls over
which Higgins blood had spurted2"
To this point Swigert had preserved ..
surlv calm OF manner. The question
touching the blOOd-stained garment
seemed to bring before his vision vivid
picture of his deed as it had not before
appeared to him. Arising exciteoly
from his cell bunk he exclaimed;
stop ] killed him"
stopped suddenly, checking his emo
ton. and then, with a CLEAN OF cum
ming in his eye, added
We quarreled and then he struck
me [ had to kill him to save my life
But he had gone too far his m
Quisitor followed up his advantage with
a rapid volley OF other questions based
on my discoveries. The prisoner
listened, wild-eYed. without responding
for several minutes and then con
fessed. His story was substantially as
follows:
I had known Kean Higgins for sew
eral years and had worked FOR him a
great deal Two years ago We quar-
relied over a settlement of wages and
he refused to pay me SO ne owed me
/ asked him for it frequently and he
would only laugh at me- This made
me very angry, but had no thought of
killing him until last June. when my
! daughter told me he had come to my
/ house in my absence and inSu4ted my
/ wife Even then L did not really intend
! to Kill him. as I thought there might
: be some mistake. My wife is not right
in her mind, His visit to my house anu
his insult 70 my wife was repeated.
/ This worked on me 50 much that L
| scarcely knew what to do l am q
] poor man and Higgins had plenty OF
/ money. so I knew ne had the advant-
J age of me if went 10 law with him.
I I knew he went to mass early every
/ Sunday morning and determined to
have il out with him. I put the reYol-
! yer in my pocket and started down the
hill to the bars that I knew he would
( go through. On the way down I picked
/ up stone. When ] reached the bars
/ I hid myself in a corner of the fence in
/ the grass. AS soon as he passed through
the bars 7 followed him and asked him
! for the S25 he owed me. He laughed at
g why did you insult my wife2' I
then asked him
Again he laughed in my face, and il
made me so furious / struck him. Mad
| dened BY his taunts. shot him three
/ times as he lay on the ground. The
/ bullets went through his neck and the
blood spurted over the legs of my over
alls. When I saw he was dead I went
Swigert was tried and convicted of
| murder. In his defense his daughter,
I Kate, sWOre that Kean Higgins had
| come to the house in her fathers alb
sence twice, and it is probable that had
| il not been for this testimony her
father would have been hanged for his
crime. While the truth of her testi-
mony. conflicting as it did with all that
was known of the character OF the
| murdered man, was doubted by many
it had the effect of changing the sen
tence from hanging to a life term in
the penltentiaTy.
Thus was given one demonstration of
the value % circumstantial evidence.
and the initial circumstance I'm the
chain was furnished by the murderer $
own son.
Copyright, 1905, by Marion G. Sheitlin.
The next Secret Service Story will be
1.-The A. T. Stewart Tomb Mystery, -
which win appear next Sunday.