The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-12
LETTER IS FOUND
Threatening MiSSive in Muir
der Case at Justices Door.
Officers Refuse to Make Pub,
lie Its Contents.

Paola, Kan, June 12.-It was learned
here from a reliable source that the
letter which Mrs. Rollin Hudson q
supposed to have expected and received
May 80 was found against the door OF
the office of I. L. Kent, the justice of
the peace.
The letter was found on the stair
way between restaurant owned py
Jacob Koehler and w. T. Potts gro
Gerry store on the public square. Pin
ned to the envelope was a note which
said the writer believed the inclosed
letter should be handed to the proper
authorities.
EeDear Sweetheart 1t Began.
The letter was found by William
Wilgus and Jack Lyon, retired farm
ers, and given by them to I. L. Kent, a
justice of the peace. Before handing
it to the county authorities he read
the letter several times. He said it
my Dear Sweetheart: am becom-
ing desperate-for true love cannot
be trif1ed with
Farther down, Judge Kent said, the
letter read:
"PeopIe have been killed for less
and more may follow"
Kent said the letter was written with
a lead pencil in a bold, scrawling hand.
with some of the words in letters an
"It was the work of an ignorant
man." Kent said, 'i1legible in places,
evidently written in a burst of Jealous
passion. The body of the letter was
incoherent. 1 believe it spoke of his
seeing Mrs. Hudson pretty soon, ar
ranging a meeting, or something like
that In one part in particular the
writer threatened her unless she did
what he said-it read something like
this:
'sDon't get the idea this is a threat
or that 1 mean it for a threat-be-
cause this is the real thing!"
when Mrs. Hudson Got 1t.
The letter, Judge Kent said, was
signed Your sweetheart" Decoration
day James A. Jones, substitute mail
carrier gave the letter to Mrs. Anna
Hudson. He said she met him two
blocks east of her home, breathleSS, and
demanded = letter. That day, the neigh
bors have said, the Hudsons quarreled,
and late in the afternoon Rollin Hud-
son disappeared. Coe met him Sunday
and Hudson spoke of the letter. Sun
day night he returned home and
reconciliation followed.
That was the end of the letter writ
ing. apparently. Monday the swine
faced" man was seen in Paola. The
Hudsons were the subject of his inquir-
les: and Thursday the murder was
discovered.
The county authorities, it is said,
are now connecting the letter with a
phase of the case advanced by J. s.
Hudson, the father of the murdered
man. He said the police of Massillon,
O., and Canton, o., were searching for
a man who had been in love with Mrs.
Hudson before she married, on whose
account the Hudsons moved west. Hud-
son, Sr., says the man left the Ohio
city three weeks ago.
slayer Beating His Way.
Most important of developments was
the statement of A. L. Johnston, trav-
cling man who declared that on We'd
nesday night, at Has. a man answer
ing the description of the mysterious
visitor to the Hudson home, attempted
to board a Missouri, Kansas & Texas
train and beat his way out of town.
The man, he said, would not have
attracted his attention, only for the
fact that he was intensely excited and
made numerous attempts to board the
train in spite of the fact that he was
repeatedly forced back by the con-
ductor. 1t is the belief of Johnson that
he finally boarded the train which was
bound for Kansas City.
Miss Loretta Longmeyer declares |
that at about 1880 she saw a man an
swering the same description in her
home and that he apparently was bun