The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-09-16

place of vantage where the workmen
| can readily set to work to open the
vault The vault and contents weigh
| close to one-half of a ton and it will
take some time before. the actual
autopsy can commence on this ac-
count The attorneys for the Perkins
estate hope that sufficient time will
elapse to permit them to secure the
writ of supersedeas from the higher
court which will tie up the exhuma-
ton for a. further length of time.
In commenting on the claims made by
the defense that the court had not the
power under the law to enforce it's order
for disinterment should it issue such
an order Judge Mcpherson stated his
position concisely in the following
words:
This court has all the power neces-
sary to enforce obedience to it's orders
and will see that they are enforced
There is a section of the criminal code
which makes it a penal offense to tn
which makes it a penal offense to
thwart an order of this court The court
this life insurance policy in case its
orders are trampled on"
Judge Mcpherson Reviews Case.
Later he continued in the following
language to establish the power of the
court and stated the grounds upon
which he issued his order for exhuma-
ton, that it was to eSta blish beyond
peradventure the exact cause of death.
He said:
''It has been said that this is a court
of limited jurisdiction. In one sense, it
is but when this court takes jurisdic-
tion it has all of the broadest powers of
any court of chancery in Europe or
America.
I'VE have case here where one
man, inside of eight or ten months, ap-
piled for $1.30O,000 in life insurance, and
of this amount, $40, 900 was actually af-
terwards in force, taken out bya gentle
man whose estate, taken in dollars and
~
to carry this enormous amount of in
surance. unless he converted the entire
estate into cash, and then it would only
pay the premiums for a few years.
'The proof shows that he covered the
first years premiums by giving his
notes to state agents At the time of
his death these notes were almost ma
turing. The time was also approaching
when these policies would be cancelled
by the companies unless more premiums
were paid. Even the figures given by
the executors show that he could not
have carried that large amount of in
surance without turning his entire
estate into money. All this, however,
is but a circumstance.
1.-The evidence shows that on June
he purchased morphine poison and
could not have bought it for the pur-
pose he claimed at the time the sale
was made. The fact that he bought it
publicly proves nothing. Under the laws
of the state of Kansas he was COM
PEELED to buy it publicly in such way
that record of the sale would be mada.
This morphine was bought only eight or
ten hours before his death. DHring that
time he changed his clothes once. That
morphine is still unaccounted for. 1t
must be in one of three places: In the
pockets of the clothes he wore at the
time that he bought it, in the pockets
of the clothes he wore at the time Of
his death or somewhere in the circula-
tion of the man himself
"On the day Of his death his actions
were in harmony with the contention
set up by bis executors, but they were
also in harmony with the scheme to
commit suicide. This court doesn't say.
He fell from a place that he had been
told was dangerous. No bones were
broken. The fall may have been the
real cause of death. and again the fall
may not have. This court doesn't say.
..The object of this court al this time
is to get at the truth. If the court is
powerless to get at the truth, then all
court houses ought to be torn down 1t