The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-11-08
KILLED MRS. SHORT
Fred Tanning Confesses to
Woman's Murder.
Put Rough on Rats in Her
Coffee.
AFTER HER MONEY.
Charges That Mrs. Minnie
English Planned the Crime.
Woman and Man Are Both I'm
der Arrest.

UcI Arrest.
Fred Tanning, a haIf-breed indian.
has confessed to the murder of Mrs.
Mary j. Short. who died two weeks
ago today, supposedly from heart dis
ease.
II gave her Rough on Rats and
she died in half hour L put it in
her coffee" he said 81 killed her be-
cause I wanted her money. Every
to me at her death
The startling confession came from
Tanning in Sweating at the county
jail where he had been taken, charged
merely with stealing some money
from the possessions of Mrs. Short af
ter her death. But the relentless
county attorney, ]. j. Schenck,
pressed his rapid fire questions in the
presence of Coroner H. H. Keith, AS
sistant Attorney w. E. Atchison,
Deputy Sheriff Ben Judkins and Rev
c. A. Finch, administrator of the es-
tate of Mrs Short so skillfully. that
the prisoner had become dazed APP
parently and made the startling and
unexpected disclosures.
Mrs. Short was the widow of
notorious SANDY" Short. gambler
Oh the pdlInN UdSS VI IOPChd WHY
was killed in a pistol duel with Patrol
man doc" Ward twenty years ago
Tanning had come to the widow but
two years ago claiming that he was a
nephew of her late husband and asked
that he be allowed to take care of her
the rest of her life. They have lived
in the basement of a flat since, she
doing the cooking and the keeping OF
the place and he lending what support
he cared which wasn't much.
That the widow had more than
very little money was not generally
suspected. The administrator for the
estate, Rev. Charles A. Finch, estl-
mated it's entire value not above $3.50.
Put in looking through the rooms
after the death of Mrs Short, a few
:etter from a sister, Mrs. Fannie
Mather, at Seattle, Wash. So far as
could be learned this sister was the
sole relative of the deceased She was
summoned and arrived to arrange the
funeral.
In talking with the women friends
of Mrs Short, Mrs. Mather learned
that the widow had some money about
her person the day before her death
The sister Immediately began an in
yestigation with the help of the au-
tnorities resulting in the arrest of Fan
ring charged With-the theft.
The confession now brought forth
Slows that the halfbreed Indian -pois-
Oned the woman LOT LHdI pdItIy SUN
of money. 80" Rs
Another Woman in the Case.
7 But there is another woman in the
case. -. 1t has developed that Tanning
extorted money from the woman con-
;inually, giving it to Mrs. Minnie Eng
iish, with whom he lived a large part
Of the time at 210 East Fifth street,
'shere he was arrested.
II wanted the money to go into the
CT Mt h11S with Mrs English
at Iola," said Tanning. "She was the
cause of the whole affair. She made
me do it threatening to kill me if I
cid not get the money She told me
What poison to use and how much
of it
II had given her some once before
just to make her sick and get her
money. 1 did not mean to kill her. But
this woman is at the bottom of it, she
made me do it.
That Mrs. Short had had as much as
$1,000 at one time was the statement
OF Coroner Keith who said she had
brought that sum to him one night ask
ing him to keep it in his safe for her
over night. This entire sum, it is the
confession of Tanning, he forced the
widow to give to him.
He had met Mrs. English alias Mrs.
McCauley. at a band concert in the City
park a short time previously and Mrs.
Short had invited her to come to their
home which Mrs. McCauley did. She
and flaming later became infatuated.
She seems to have exerted a sort of in
fiuence over him from that time on.
When she learned that Mrs. Short had
the 81, 900 she forced flaming to get it
and give it to her. SO the man claims.
She Immediately went out to Salina,
was gore five weeks and returning told
Tanning it was none of his business
what she had done with the money. He
also claims that she forced him to get
other sums of money for her. She would
threaten to kill him if he did not. he
says, and he in turn would 60 to the
widow and threaten to kill her if she
did not give him the money. Tanning
claims that in all he has thus secured
the sum of 81, 461. 60 and given it to Mrs.
McCauley. 49,
The woman has been taken into Gus
tody and will be charged with being an
accessory to the murder of the widow
of Sandy Short.
Fearing a change of heart on the
part of Tanning and the liability of his
reconsidering his confession and q
pleading not guilty when it comes to
trial. the authorities have ordered an
examination of the stomach of Mrs.
Short for the trace of the poison. Prof
Frank B. Dains. of Washburn college
will make a chemical analysis of the
organ and its contents in an endeavor