Arizona republican., 1912-05-08

"P. Q. Box I, Phoenix. Ariz. ! "I divide the land in acre tracts but would want mostly cash if
 divided it. But 1 think we can ar irange the cash part of it on any kind
 of trade you want to make. "F C." In Coffmans pockets were found T
 note, several letters. stamped. ad- dressed and ready for mailing q bus- 1 mess card of the Spaulding firm, on 1 the reverse side of which was scrib- blcd a city address and the number of a pOstoffice box, a gold watch. and l$1595.
 The note was unsealed, and was as follows:
 | Phoenix, Ariz., May. :. | Notify Ben II. Coffman. Bremen. 1 Kentucky. Have my remains embalm-
 ed and sent to the above name. Cost not to exceed $500. Also notify ]. R. l Kohl of the Salt River Valley Nur- sery and l.. C. Brown of the Phoenix restaurant to sec that my remains
 are cared for. Mail the letters I have F. COFF'MAN." The letters were addressed to
 John Armstrong, of this city. L.
 C. Brown, Phoenix restaurant, Ben 1 Ccffman, Bremen. Ky. and Miss Nan
 nie Coffman, Sacramento. Ky. They
 are all held by Coroner Johnstone. | shortly after the shooting MT
 Brown. to whom one of the letters
 was addressed called at the coroner's office in response to a telephone sum
 mons and the letter was opened in
 his presence. This letter read as fol- lows:
 1 Phoenix. Ariz, May. :. l MT. L. C. Brown,
 l City.
 Dear Friend:-I am going to please
 ask you to have my trunk, suit case ! and telescope sent to Ben H. Golf
 man. of Bremen, Ky, Muhlenburg Co 1 Above things are at the Salt River Valley Nursery Also see that my l remains are prepared and sent to above name. Charges to be light T have been swindled out of my
 money in a land deal, and now l am
 going to carry things to limit
 was doped and druggcd and my mind was 50 unbalanced l didn't know what i I was doing when I closed the deal. Yours truly. "F. COFFMAN." E. T. Gillett. father of the victim of the tragedy. was in d heart broken condition when seen yesterday after noon by q representative of The Re publican. This tragedy is an awful | thing he said. "I never thought any thing like this would happen" Mr Gillett's home is at 3S0 North | Third street but for several days he with his wife. has been staying at the home of his son. Malcolm Gillett, 1 320 East Willametta street. The wife 1 of the victim had submitted to an operation some weeks ago and is not strong physically. although she is by i no means i'll and has been recovering nicely. She, was of course. terribly | shocked by the tragedy, and is heart broken over the calamity that has bcfallcn her.
 | T did not know this man Golf man." Mir. Gillett said. although I have heard sSialcolm speak of him | Frequently. gPhis deal between them 1 took place a week ago last Saturday l Malcolm sold to COffman ten acres 1 of land east of the Indian school for $125 an acre. or some such price. The
 deal was made through the Spaulding real estate office. Afterwards Golf | man went to Spauding and wanted
 to sell again. He told other people
 he would take $100 an acre. He seem ed to think that in some way there | was something wrong with the title: 1 but there was not, and even if there l had been he was fully protected by a
 bond given by Mir Coggins abstract company. This bond guaranteed the title and contained an indemnity
 clause guaranteeing the full amount.
 But somehow Coffman couldn't seem to understand it He talked to imy son about it and he also talked to Mir. Coggins. They both tried to explain :t but it seemed to do no l good l think. although I am not
 certain of the fact. that he went to some lawyer to consult regarding the little
 Several times Malcolm spoke to
 me about the man and said he acted crazy-that he couldn't understand
 what he was told. l think he got the II idea into his head that he had been
 swindled Also. I think he was sick.
 IL is probable his mind was not just
 right and I think when he got to N studying oyer this matter his mental |i condition became worse ana then ne conceived the idea that he had been swindled and started out to do the shooting"
 Malcolm Gillett. the victim. was not quite 34 years old He has been em- ployed in the surveyor generals of flee F or F years. He was married q year ago. Mrs. Gillctt is q cousin
 of the wife of J. E. Girand, former territorial engineer.
 There were two sons. Malcolm and Leslie The last named is employed in the government mineralogical ser vice. with headquarters in Santa F'e. He has been informed by telegraph of the tragedy and the funeral ar engagements are held in abeyance pending his arrival.