The Cairo bulletin., 1907-11-02
FRIENDS UPHOLD
ACCUSED MAN
MURDERER or GIRL SOURCE OF
MUCH INTEREST IN
KANSAS.
INNOCENCE PROFESSED
BY Man Held For Deed--case ne
manned Mystery Fer Nearly TWO
s--Deveopment Are
Awaited Anxiously.

lola, Kas, Nov L. From center 10
/ circumference Allen county continues
stirred over the mystery attending
the alleged murder Of Miss May Sapp,
fci which Samuel + Whitlow. brsi-
ness man OF prominence and high
standing. has been arrested and mus /
stand trial Opinion Is divided on the
lqtcstion Of the guilt or innocence Ct
the acersed man. and further deve'oE-
nents in the strange case are eager'y v
awaited by the people. Whitiow
continues to declare his innocence
snd his family and many friends are
standing by him.
1t is more than four weeks since
the alleged murder occurred Miss
May Sapp, the victim, was the 20
year-old daughter Of ]. N. Sapp a
prominent farmer of Moran. a village
on the eastern edge of this county.
On the night Of September n the girl
was found dead in the yard of her
fathers home. Her throat was
slashed presumably with razor that
was found close by. Her mother ha
reached her side in response to the
girls screams bun she died without
say positively whether her daughter
had screamed Mother of Murder"
For nearly two weeks the case re
NAMED mystery. Then the com
munity was startled by the arrest of
Samuel F. Whitlow in connection
with the case. Whitlow, a grain and
feed merchant, is forty years old and
has wife and three children Until
involved in the present case he had
always borne a good reputation
Upon his arrest Whitlow made re-
markable confession. the substance of
which was that Miss Sapp had com
mtted suicide because of her un-
requitted love for him. He formerly |
was a school teacher and Miss Sapp |
was one of his pupils. They had been
friends for several years, He de-
clared that he and the girl had never /
been intimate He said that the girl
had become infatuated with him and
had repeatedly urged him to leave his
'amily and run away with her. He
said that on the night of the tragedy
he met her at the rear of her fathers
lcuse and told her that their rela-
ions must cease, whereupon she
lrew 4 razor across her throat.
One of the remarkable features of
he case was a diary which Whitlow
,roduced and in which he purported
@ have set forth from day to day the
TO which Miss Sapp had
subjected him because he did not r,:
urn her love. He declared that the
yirl was in the habit of coming to his
louse at night and leaving locks Of
ler hair cn the doorknob and dis
urbing things in the yard in order
hat he would know that she had been
here In his diary he set forth his
( Instant fear that his family or the
emily OF the girl might learn of her
nad infatuation.
The coroner's jury. however did
ct accept Whitlows tale as wholly
rue and the result OF their investiga-
ion was that he was held on the
barge OF murder. The parents of the
cad girl testified that they did not
o'ieve their daughter had committed I
uicide aud so far as they knew dill
ot possess the rasuT with which the J
eed was cc.umitted. The suspicion q
gaiust Whitlow was further strength I
ned by the testimony of his wife that {
he knew he had gone to the Sapp q
cme on the night Of the killing and {
hat on the following morning she I
al found blood stains ON her hus- /
and's jacket.