Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1912-08-23

OF De0, anu cOulo not see any reor
SON for his going down stairs with
out his clothes. or. at least barefoot.
ed. A peculiar circumstance was that
he had two large revolvers in his
room. and they were found where they
were usually kept. II naturally
struck me, that II he had heard
thieves working in the lower part Of
the house he would have armed him
self, before starting out to make an
investigation. Any sane man would
have taken that precaution. More
over l could not understand how a
pistol shot could have been fired In
the house without arousing the fam
lily. The safe had been cleaned out
entirely, and even papers had been
takenDwhich were Of no value or use
to any one except Mr.. Temple.
thought a few days later that l had
found solution to many of the pecr-
liar circumstances, but in fact was
miles away from the truth.
After Mr.. Temple was buried q
search was made for his will, and one
was found in his desk in his office
in this city. II was dated ten years
before his death, and it gave Robert
Temple, the Oldest boy, one-third Of
the estate, after providing for Mrs.
Temple, and the remainder Of the
estate was divided equally among the
four children. Bob Temple seemed
| to be the only one who was pleased
over the will. The day after the win
was read received word to call upon
Lawyer Trumbul, Mr.. Temples law
yer. He informed me in the pres
ence of two of Mr.. Temples children.
that several months before his death,
Mr.. Temple made a new will in which
Bob Temple had been left small
allowance, instead Of the bulk of the
estate. Mr.. Temples reason for do
ing this was to prevent Bob from
squandering tie money in riotous liv-
ing and gambling, and the lawyer was
positive that the will had been kept
in Mr.. Temples safe at home. He
had seen it there two days before the
robbery.
With this information in my mind
1t seemed to me that the person most
interested in the death of Mr.. Temple
was his son Bob. and the more
thought of it the stronger became my
conviction that Bob had a hand in
the robbery. The way l figured 1t
out was that Bob, who spent most
OF his time away from home with a
fast set, had found out about the
making of the will which cut him on.
He put up a job to get the will, and
brought the thieves to the house and
let them in with his keys. They went
to work on the safe and the old man
heard them. He called from his room
to know who was there, and Bob an
swered. Then the old man came
down to see what was going on. Bob
knew that stealing the viii would
amount to nothing without the old
mans death. I believe that 1t was
the intention of Bob to kill the old
man before he left the house. When
Mr.. Temple entered the room Bob,
or perhaps one of the crooks, shot
him. Then the way was easy for the
thieves, and easier for Bob to win his
fortune. The evidence pointed in
this direction, and some enterprising
reporter got hold of some of the facts
and published story about the loss
Of the WILL and some facts which
Bob Temple would have to explain.
"Bob's family turned against him
bitterly, and | was on the point of
putting him under arrest when Law
yer Trumbul received a letter con-
tanning the missing win from a per
son who said that he was one Of the
crooks. The letter gave another
piece of startling information to the
effect that Mr.. Temple had not been
shot, and the wound in his forehead
had been made by falling against the
safe. To verify this the body was
exhumed. and the wound in the head
was found not to have fractured the
skull. found on one of the hinges
Of the safe a few spots of blood, and
the sharp point of the hinge had un-
doubtedly made the wound.
with the shadow of suspicion re-
mayed from Bob Temple. | took him
into my confidence and found him to
be the best one in the family after
all. in spite of his wildness. He told
me all about his habits, and recalled
that one day he had spoken to Chan
Wooley about his fathers wealth and
the valuables that he kept in his safe.
I became a regular visitor in Wooley's
gambling house. and one evening
noticed ring on the finger of one of
the dealers which resembled one that
had been taken from Temples safe.
After the game l arrested the dealer.
accused him Of committing the rob
berry and murder. He told me the
ring had been given to him by
wooley. / got a sample of Wooley's
handwriting and found that It was
similar to the writing In the letter
written by the crook who returned the
will. | arrested Wooley, and when he
learned Of the evidence against him
he admitted his guilt. but would not
give away his partners. He suffered
punishment alone, and crooks every
where sounded his praise"
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