The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-29
ONE SHOCK KILLS.
Ccontinued from Page one.)

free access to ale which was furnished,
commenced moving their goods to the
Brennan house. In one of the back
rooms was large black trunk which
Mrs. Farmer asked one of the men to
tie with a rope. Mrs. Farmer lifted
the ends of the trunk while a clothes
line was wrapped around it and tied
securely. Mrs. Farmer said "she had
stuff in there she didn't want broken"
and had two men carry it to the Bren-
nan house while she walked along and
directed where it should be placed in
a back room where other things were
piled upon it. She then proceeded to
do some washing.
employed by Brennan went to the
house and asked where Mrs. Brennan
was Mrs. Farmer told him she had
gone to Watertown to get her teeth
fixed" She sent for the parish priest,
told him similar story and had him
bless the home.
On the following Monday the sheriff
with several others again visited the
Farmers and asked Mrs. Farmer to
produce the deeds, and after some de-
lay she pulled the black oilcloth en-
velope from a cradle and showed the
papers. Then a search of the house
was begun. Inquiry was made in re
gard to the trunk tied with a, clothes
line whereupon Mrs. Farmer denied
that she owned it. saying 1t belonged
to her husband, and he with an oath
said 1t did not belong to him. The
rope was removed. the lock broken and
in the trunk the sheriff found the body
of Mrs. Brennan fully dressed The
head and face were horribly mutilated
by many blows from blunt instru-
ment but the body was not injured.
The turban hat which the woman
wore was missing but the burned wire
framework of a hat similar to the one
she wore was found in Mrs. Farmers
stove.
Denied 1t at First.
Mrs. Farmer and her husband were
arrested charged with the crime which
the woman at first denied. Then she
stated that Mrs. Brennan was in her
house and stood by the door looking
out of the window and that she step
ped up behind her and hit her with an
axe. Subsequently she said to the
sheriff that she had not told the
truth; that Jim did it. She said Mrs
Brennan had been with her uptown
and that when they came back Jim"
was angry because she had left her
baby at a neighbor's. She said she
then went for the baby and on her re-
turn Jim" was just putting the body
in the trunk.
At the Jail Mrs Farmer made an
other statement in which she said that
Mrs. Brennan came to her house and
said she was not feeling we'll. She said
that Mrs. Brennan said 'she would
give anything if she would take that
old axe that laid there and knock her
brains out and I said all right, here
she goes. I takes the axe and kills
her. She said then she put the body
in the trunk, washed up the things
that were bloody and burned up the
things from which she could not re-
| move the blood. She said Mrs. Bren-
nan was sitting down in a chair by
the window when she killed her.
The cases of Mrs. Farmer and her
husband were appealed to the court of
appeals which has yet to determine
the husbands case Mrs. Farmers s
conviction was affirmed and E. r. Will
cox, her counsel asked the governor to
appoint a commission to examine into
the woman's mental condition, ex-
pressing the belief that the woman
was insane.