The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-10-19

were frightfuliy chopped and mangled
by the weapon. Mrs. Snowman alone
was lying outside of the bed. She alone
had made q struggle with the murder
err She had been outraged and hGrri-
bly, mutilated besides the wounds on
her head with an ak
Mrs Shook a neighbor woman dis
covered the crime Monday evening at
o'clock. BIoodhounds followed the
trail of the murderer several hundred
yards from the house and along the
railroad tracks to the Frisco section
house where it was lost.
VIII Snowman was a quiet. inOffen-
SlVe man ana had no enemies that We're
known He had lived here many years.
His wife was a home woman of good
character and attended only to her own
affairs. Yet all this family were hOr-
ribly murdered without apparent cause.
No Word of Marzyck.
Not q clew or a suspicion worth While
can be found and substantiated by the
officials excepting only the man Mar
zyck, who had sworn vengeance be-
cause OF testimony that Snowman and
his wife were expected to have given
had Marzyck stood trial five years ago
for stealing a load of wheat. He plead
ed guilty and was sent to prison He
corresponded with the Showmans dur
ing his prison life. He has been free
he is at This time. He was last heard
of in San Francisco living with his
parents. That's all. And yet more
horrible crime has been committed N
a peaceful and law abiding community
than was ever done for gold or re-
venge. The only cause suspected is
trifiing compared with the tragedy.
Unless something unsupported turns
up to aid the authorities or unless
Marzyck is found the mystery will con
tinue to battle every one and the crime
will remain unexpiated-
SIeepIess Women in Terror.
The terror of the women of Ellis
worth is something to speak of. Hard
ly a woman has slept since the tragedy
was discovered. No one feels safe IN
the eddy of such a terror If a family
as poor and inoffensive as the Show
mans is butchered while asleep with
out apparent cause, then who is safe
1t may sound foolish from distance,
but to those on the ground it is not
foolish. The thing preys on the nerves
and gets in the blood. 1t must be the
death of the little children that makes
it so bad. The poor little Riddles. In
the time of the Indian outrages in
pioneer days children died that way,
but that was so long ago that people
are not now to be recOnciled to such
things.
Many people believe that the muir
derer is in the vicinity There is no
proof to the contrary. The man capa-
BILE of the Snowman massacre is capa-
BILE of anything.
An alarm reached Ellsworth We'd
nesday from the Nopat home to the
effect that Marzyck had been cornered
out there in a celler and was being
held at bay. In ten minutes fifty vii
layers and as many farmers were on
the spot The farmers were armed
with WinchesterS and ShOtgunS and
came fearless to kill. Had Marzyck
been caught then at that place he
would have been a dead man in ten
minutes. surrender or no surrender,
guilty or not guilty; law or no law.
Nothing could have saved him
Another straw that points towards
Marzyck is the fact that the town mar
shal's house was entered by someone a |
few nights ago. The marshal had ar
rested Marzyck many times and was
included in the mans threats Old
man Nopat, who married Marzyck S
wife. is so scared that he is in daze
all the time. He expects to be killed |
any minute and so does his wife
Charles Marzyck, the ex-convict, !
was convicted of forgery in Colorado
Springs. where the six members of the
Wayne and Durham families were
murdered, and was acquainted in
Monmouth, Ill. where three persons
We're slain, according to a statement
made by Mrs. Minnie Vopat, Marzyck' s |
divorced wife. The weapon used in
each instance was an ak
Nfarzyclx Seen Near Ellsworth.
Marzyck is believed BY some people
to be still in the neighborhood. He
was said to have been seen last night
by James Vopat and another Slav in
the fields of the Vopat farm. four miles
southwest of town A little later he
was recognized by another farmer,
Bert Root. who lives a mile from the
Nopats.
Marzyck was running through a
wheat field. But these reports lack
conference and foundation and are not
generally believed here
Nine persons remain here to COM
plete Marzyckfs vengeance if he is
seeking revenge. They are James
Vopat. the farmer from whom he stole
the wheat and whose name he forged
to checks; Nopat's wife, Minnie, who
was the convict's wife, their two chill
dren: John katke. the father Of the