The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1907-08-03
DOUBLE TRAGEDY
BEAUTIFUL GIRL FOUND DEAD
AND SWAIN FOLLOWS.
MysrERYpEEPER EACH n0uR
Rich Man Of Chicago 10 Brought Into
the Tragedy. but Denies any
Connection.

| SS"H~Se'S''.
| Since finding the body of Miss Laura
Mathews, an actress, on the Broad
moor road, near Colorado Springs.
Monday morning, new mystery has
been added to the tragedy. Miss
Mathews was found by the roadside
with a bullet hole In her head. and
the supposition was that she had com
mitted suicide.
ON Wednesday morning Amos Rich
ards Rumbaugh, a dashing young mill
tary man, blew his brains out when
summoned to testify at the inquest. A
dispatch from Colorado Springs says:
4 bullet fired into his own brain,
the answer OF Amos Richards Rum
baugh TO the sheriff's summons for
him 10 testify at the inquest into the
death OF beautiful Laura Mathews,
has deepened the mystery enshrouding
the tragedy on Broadmoor plain and
Rumbaughs attempt at suicide. The
detention of Tillie Green, the young
womans nurse, has emphasized the
theory OF foul play which the author
tiles at first believed.
Involving the names Of two Chicago
millionaires and associated with a
score Of actresses and men Of the
world, the mystery Is the greatest that
the authorities OF the Pixies Peak re.
gion have been called on to solve. and
today a systematic probing was begun
which will not be ended until the min
utest details have been uncovered.
Rumbaugh cannot survive the at
tempt on his life. His brain was torn
by the bullet, fired while he lay in bed
today. Even should he live for a
brief time. the secret of his life, which
| t., holt clr IL, ha
that Laura Mathews held, will die
with him. for he will never speak or
even think again.
1t is a suicide pact, some say. But
in the light OF additional facts brought
out in the evidence, the mystery takes
on a more serious aspect. Until 1t is
solved to the satisfaction of the pub
lic the authorities declare, they will
hold those they now believe can throw
light on it.
TNlie Green, less than fifteen min
utes after Rumbaugh was found dying.
was placed under surveillance at the
sherif's Office and is now virtually un-
| der arrest. She was removed from the
sheriffs office at midnight and placed
IN charge of the matron, but is not
confined in the county jail.
He will kill you in ambush" were
the words that came to Laura Mat
thews over the telephone in her room
at the Acacia hotel Sunday afternoon.
WHAT" gasped the girl, and the
mans voice at the other end repeated:
He will kill you in ambush
peal of laughter followed on the
girls part. And what she said after
ward may never be known Everett
kingsbury, son of E. l.. kingsbury.
l mr. Of h.,
ern railroad, heard the words that. in
the light of recent developments. ap-
peer to have much meaning Kings
bury eighteen years old, is employed
as bell boy at the hotel and was oper-
ating the telephone exchange Sunday
afternoon during the girl operator $
absence. He was unaccust omed to the
work, and when mans voice called
up and asked to be connected with
Miss Mathews room he put the party
on double line.
in order to know whether they had
disconnected it was necessary for me
to put the receiver to my ear and |
heard the words just as have stated
thcm,' said Kingsbury IL thought
nothing of it until heard of Miss
Mathews death and then 1t occurred
to me that she had been talking with
this party just before she went on her
horseback ride
Mystery 10 Deep.
So deeply dyed in mystery is this
affair that developments have tended
to disprove the theory of suicide. al
though the authorities are vet unwill
ing to believe that Miss Mathews was
murdered The earmarks of a crime
are show, however, and in view of the
startling features unraveled today the
Investigation will be continued.
Instead Of being taken east for bur
ial, the body of Miss Mathews will Law
In the casket that. according to Miss
Green. she chose for herself week
before her death. At the undertaking
rooms hundreds Of people tried to get
a glimpse Of the body
Several peculiar points in the sun
posed suicide Of Miss Mathews ar,
puzzling.
The testimony at the inquest broueh,
out the fact that mans footprints led
from the road on Broadmoor hill to
the spot where Miss Mathews body
was found by a milkman early Monday
morning. Sergeant Railsback of the
police department. who responded tc
the call for the ambulance, stated on
the witness stand that he saw the
made some time previous to the
tracks. but believed they had been
Of the horses hoofs and the footprints
OF the girls where she had dismounted
He thought that possibly it had rained
after the footprints had been made
and In this connection it rained Sunday
night at about the hour Miss Mathews
Is supposed to have ended her life
The testimony of Railsback regarding
the footprints OF the mysterious man
was corroborated by Charles Finney
the dairyman that found the body.
Handbag Broken.
Another circumstance is the condi
tion Of Miss Mathews handbag, the
leather handle Of which is broken a,
one end, indicating that there ma,