The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-23
HE SEEKS ARREST
Charles III. CrOsSIey Wants to
Be Accused of Murder.
Secret Inquest Held to Run
Down RumOrS.

Louisburg, Kan, Dec. 29.-Charles
H. Crosley wants the coroners jury
to hold him for the murder of George
c. hIcElheny, the postmaster, who was
assassinated the night of October 4.
Crosley, 60 years old, and one of the
respected men of the town, has been
connected with the killing by village
gossips who have welded fragmentary
rumOrs into what they are pleased
to consider direct evidence. The gos-
sips are responsible for a secret in
quest into the case.
A jury has been taking testimony
behind closed doors and a score of
witnesses have been examined. Nearly
as many more remain to be called. DR..
J. V. Ferrel, coroner, hesitated to call
the inquest and did so only when
Crosley and his friends insisted that
he do so. Two detectives from Kan
sas City. who have been working on
the case since the day following the
murder; Marion Chandler, sheriff;
E. J. Sheldon, county attorney, and
B. J. Carver, who will succeed him
January 1, are the only persons adj
mitted to the jury room. Witnesses
are not subpoenaed until their testi-
mony is desired and on leaving the
stand are pledged to secrecy.
No Facts Made Public.
For that reason it is difficult. to
learn just what facts the authorities
have developed. Meanwhile Crosley is
a place he has held eleven years,
openly expressing his hope that the
jury will hold him in order that he
may clear his name and silence the
be allowed to testify and Doctor Fer
rel has said that he will be called to
the stand today. In a signed state
ment Crosley said:
II am innocent of this charge and
will welcome an opportunity to prove
that this trlQ.''
And a majority of citizens stanchly
profess their belief in Crosleys inno-
cence.
Gossips Get Busy.
It was several days after the muir
der that one citizen remarked to an
other that he had heard Crosley,
whose daughter was assistant post
master under McElheny, say that he
would kill someone. This circulated
until finally someone added Nc
Elheny's name. When Crosley heard
this rumor he at once traced it to its
source and obtained a full retraction
in the presence of three witnesses.
Then it was said that Crosley, the day
following the murder, had had pair of
shoes, that did not need repair, half soled.
It was limited that was done to prevent
their being fitted into the tracks left by
the murderer. a statement from the
shoemaker destroys that as evidence.
Those statements and the fact that the
bloodhound trails went to the depot from
the McEIheny home, nearly a mile away,
and refused to go further are believed to
constitute the evidence submitted to the
jury. Crosley was among the men who
stood in line i'm the street for the blood
hound the day following the crime. He
also was near the bloodhounds the night
of the murder while they were at the de-
pot.
In his signed statement Crosley said:
Il did not kill George V. McElheny I
had no reason to do so. He was one OF
my best friends. Had 1 sufficient reason
to kill him or any other man I would
have done SO in daylight and there would
have been no need for any detectives.
Il welcome arrest because I have SUI
ficient evidence to show that L could not
possibly have committed the crime.
George was killed about $50 o'clock in the
evening. can prove that I reached my
home at $50 o'clock and was playing son-
taire when the shot was fired. A relative
of the dead man was at my house at the
time and another relative talked with ne
over the telephone ten minutes before tie
murder. My house Is nearly q mile from
the McElheny home.
Another thing, have not owned a
shotgun for more than twenty-five years
and I have not fired one in five years. I
never have borrowed one I have obtained
denials from two persons whose state
ments are said to have led to this slandel-
Gus gossip and I am more than willing 10
face any man who has anything upon
which to connect me with this murder
Members of the McElheny family, ana
they are numerous in this vicinity. with
out exception have the utmost confidence
side in the postoffice the widow of the
slain man and the daughter of the man
who asks an opportunity to face his ma
lignerS work each day.