Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-09-14

Ing OF his home. So far as l could
learn on my arrival at De Smet several
months later he had not been seen by
any of the neighbors after the 9th of
the same month. He had babe no one
4 good-by and none of the townspeople
7 had seen him leave. Mrs. Bailey went
/ blithely about her daily household
/ duties, and when questioned concern
Ing the absence of her husband, eX-
planned he had business interests in
California and had been summoned
thither by telegraph. Of course, there
was some gossip over the hasty and
unseen departure of the lawyer but it
turned more on his having deserted his
| wife On account of her frivolity and
freedom of action with other men than
on anything more serious.
! For two months Mrs Bailey lived in
De Smet, and then she announced mat
her husband did not intend to return
there, and that she intended to leave.
The newly bought furniture was sold
at sacrifice and other preliminaries
to her departure quickly arranged.
Elgln, H., was given as her destina-
( ton, and later this was found to be
the place to which she went. Thus the
Baileys faded out of Dakota
On my arrival at De Smet went to
the bank of Kingsbury. l had sent in
an assumed name, and while waiting
to be admitted voice called OUT
Hello. Tyrrell, is that your"
l found the speaker to be Mr.. Ruth.
who had served on jury before which
had had counterfeiting case in St.
Paul. There was no further chance for
me to conceal my identity or my mis-
sion. The Ruth brothers placed their
services at my disposal. From them
ascertained that Bailey had deposited
several thousand dollars in the bank
when he first came to De Smet and
that he had withdrawn it soon after
ward. From the same source learned
of the arrival and departure of the
baileys and of the gossip that attended
the disappearance of the lawyer.
The facts gathered up to that time
touching the career of Nellie Bailey
were such as to strengt hen my rapidly
forming opinion that the woman was
capable Of deeds more desperate than
Hlrtlng, although nothing in itself
more serious had been unearthed If
was not difficult to imagine, however.
the lengths to which such woman
might go to free herself from the
thralldom OF marriage to jealous hus-
band for whom, l was convinced, she
bore no real affection. Her husbands
possession of several thousand dollars
in cash, coupled WIN her 4nordinate
love Of feminine fnery, rendered
stronger any other motive she might
have had for wishing her husband out
of the way.
The withdrawal of his funds from
the bank and his sudden disappearance
from De Smet presented themselves to
me as additional grounds for harbor-
ing the theory that had been forcing
itself on me-that Shannon nailey had
been murdered by his wife.
From ire depths of his infatuation
for his hayward wife l found it DIM /
cult to believe that he would volun-
tarily absent himself from her for two
months. While she claimed to have /,
been in communication with him | |
could find no trace OF any exchange of |
letters between them, a fact that still |
further strengthened my belief that if |
the facts could be obtained they would |
tell story of a peculiarly deliberate
and atrocious crime
At this juncture a bit of informa-
tion-startling to me in view of the
theory | held-was introduced into the