The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-12-16
Stranger, Much Desired Person
in Bernhardt Case.
Whether He Is Walter Button
Not Known as Yet.
BUTTON GIVES CLEW.
Resembles One ON Blue Shirt
Worn by the Hunted.
FeagIe Protests Innocence in
johnson County Jail.

Kansas City, Mo-, Dec. 16.-Beyond
any question, the most desired person
in connection with the Bernhard muir
oer, SO Tar as the authorities are con-
cerned now, is the man who has come
to be known as the mysterious strang-
er. Several officials have searched for
him, and, while finding traces enough.
have failed to find the man himself.
Chlef thinner, of the Kansas City,
Kan, police, made a try at it Thurs
day afternoon. He tracked the mys-
terlous stranger as far as Bolton and
there lost the trail.
The most curious thing about this
man is that, while scores of persons
know him by sight, nobody is able 70
recall his name. He has been work
ing in that country for ten years, 60
him. But nobody seems to know anv-
thing about him, or tell where he came
from.
Whether he is the man. Walter But
ton, or not is not known. There are
those who think he may be Button. the
man who got a letter while he was
working at the Bernhardt farm. But
nothing has developed thus far which
would go TO show that the two are
really one man.
The mysterious stranger first came
into the Bernhardt story Monday, when
a hotel keeper at Olathe remembered
him. The man had stopped at the ho-
tel, and, in conversation, had said he
formerly worked near Olathe He was
rather taciturn and said little about
himself. He wore a corduroy suit and
blue flannel shirt with pearl buttons
Later, Mrs. Bartlett and two school
children remembered seeing this man
at 5 O'Clock Wednesday afternoon on
road two miles east of the Bernhardt
home. The school children saw him
afterwards mile down the road to-
wards the Bernhardt place.
When Edward p. Boyle. inspector of
detectives. searched the barn where
the bodies of the three men were hid,
he found a small pearl button. This
is said to have resembled the ones on
the blue flannel shirt of the mysterious
stranger.
Preliminary on December %.
Il give my word before God that I
am not guilty. gave you gentlemen
credit for better sense" said FeagIe
just after he had been arraigned be-
fore Justice of the Peace A. L. Hayes
guilty to the charge Of murder. His
preliminary examination was set for
December %.
No one in Olathe except the officers
knew that Feagle. had been. returned
there and after the arraignment he
was walked down the main street of
the town by a deputy sheriff and
placed. in the county Jail. Sheriff
Steed issued orders that no one be al
lowed to see him.
A few minutes after Feagle had been
locked up his sister-in-law, Mrs. G. @.
Feagle, Mrs. Monroe and their attor-
ney, E. K. Robinette, arrived in Olathe
and demanded to be allowed to talk
to the prisoner. This permission was
refused
Take me to the Bernhardt farm.
Let me see what has happened there.
I never was near the place and know
nothing about the house or barn.
begged the accused man after being
placed in jail.
''I know nothing of the murder" he
continued land have not the least idea
of how the four people came to their
deaths''
Prosecuting Attorney Little came TO
Kansas City to talk with Inspector
Boyle, of the local police department.
regarding Sam Bailey, who still is held
for investigation in connection with the
murder.
Bailey Makes Afidavit.
Sam Bailey. held for investigation in
connection with the Bernhard mur-
ders, in an affidavit declared that John
Feagle told him he would kill the Bern
hardt family. Bailey says Feagle made
this threat after quarrel with George
Bernhard.
Only a short time before the day on
which the Bernhardts were last seen
al1Ve Bailey says Feagle uOIQ MIN OF
dispute he had had with his neighbors.
This time, the affidavit asserts. Feagle
said he would be avenged on them by
killing both George and his mother.
The police are working on the theory
that each of the four victims was
killed at a different time. This belief
! is caused by the fact that when the
| pickaxe handle was examined carefully
| it was found to be covered with three
separate coats of blood.
Coroner's Jury Resumes Work.
! Kansas City, Dec 16.-The coroner's
! jury that is investigating the murder
| of four persons at the Bernhardt farm
in Johnson county, Kansas, resumed
| its sessions at O1athe, Kansas this
morning John Feagle, who is in jail
| at Olathe in connection with the
crime, will be subjected to a severe
sweating process, the officers at
| Olathe said.
The coroner's inquest was interrupt
ed while the county officers went to
/ the Bernhardt farm to search for fur
| ther evidence. In a haystack they
found the head of the mattock, the
| handle of which it is believed the muir
derer used to kill the three men and a
| clock weight, similar to the one with
which 1t is believed Mrs. Bernhardt
| was killed.
The sheriff will go to Cottonwood
Falls, Kan. late this afternoon to get
| Walter Button. a former employee CT
| the Bernhardts- Button is wanted
merely as a witness at the inquest.
I
Weather Is Pleasant
/ The fefnuerat11re got back to