The Washington herald., 1908-05-23

Dowagiac, Mich, May 22.-suspected OF
wholesale murder equal To. If not exceed
ing. the crimes committed on the farm of
Mrs Guinness. near Iaporte. James
Brimmngstau. forty-one years old. is
under arrest on complaint Of his wife.
Mrs BrimmingstaH declares that she saw
him kin David HUFF In .heir house here
on June is. 1907, but that under threats
Of death she has been compelled by her
husband 10 remain silent until now.
4 love Jim just as much az 1 ever did,
she said TO Prosecuting Attorney T. ].
Bresnahan this afternoon. but I feel it
my religious duty TO tell what I saw
take place that night
She then made the following sworn
statement:
About twenty minutes after z on the
morning Of June Is. 1897, I was awakened
by the sounds Of a scuffle. and I got up
and looked into Mr. Huns room. and saw
my husband on top OF the bed, and he
was holding pillows over Huns head.
heard the old man say: stop Quit that.
That's enough
Told to Remain silent.
Pretty soon Jim came out Of the room
and l looked in there and saw the old
man lying on the bed, looking as though
he vas dead. ! said to Jim: Is he
deadg And Jim said: Yes, and don't
you ever open your head about it" Jim
called in the neighbors right away and
told them that the old man had died
Then he dressed him up for the casket.
so that when the undertaken came he
was ready TO put in the casket Jim
had threatened TO kill me If 1 ever said
anything about it, / want ycu to pro-
tect me and my babies
On the day that Hun was found dead.
Brimmingstall told neighbOrs and the
coroner that the old man had fallen
down. and that lie found Huff trying to
take his shirt of. that he had the gar
ment wrapped around his head. and that
Hun died in his arms Last night Brim-
mngstall told the officers that HuT had
fallen over cot and that he died i'm
medately afterward
said 20 Have Made Threats.
Brimmingstall is said to have quar-
relied with Hun the day previous to
HUNS death, and It is also alleged that
Brimmingstau said at that time that Hun
would never quarrel with him again.
The prisoner is also suspected of the
death Of Smith Hotrum. whose body was
found in the river here two months ago
Brimmingstall to-day told the prosecu-
tor that Hotrum had stumped his toe
and fallen off the bridge. but the prose-
cutor declares that the lungs OF Hotrum
when the body was taken from the
stream contained no water and that
there was a mark on the head which in
dicated that Hotrum had been struck by
"a blunt instrument.
The officers are now Investigating the
death OF an unidentified man who was
found on the railroad tracks near Br:m-
mingstall's house some time ago. The
cause of his death was never learned. and
the police here are of the belief that the
man was another OF Brimmingstans
victims.
To the prosecuting attorney to-day
BrimmingstaH confessed to six murders
when he was seventeen years old he shot
two brothers named O'Brien. When he
was nineteen years old he said that he
Saot a man of a horse. but never learned
who it was he killed.
Killed Conductor in Missouri.
Brimmingstall told the prosecutor that
when he was twenty years old he killed
a conductor on a Missouri Southern Rail
road train, hitting him with a coupling
pin. In 1889 Brimmingstall said he KILLED
man in free-for-all fight in Arizona
The prisoner also admitted that 10 1900
he shot into a crowd in a town in Mis-
souri and had killed a man. lie said that
there was no reason forthis firing
Brimmingstaifs first wife was a squaw
The woman and her child were found
murdered one morning. BTimmRgstaH
denies that he killed them.
He then married again BY his second
wife he had three children. The family
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