The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-06-13
she CONFESSED
Now Mrs. KelIar RepudiateS
Signed Statement.
SAYS Detective "Scared 1t Out
of Her."
DENIES IN VIOLENT RAGE
Officers Insist That Confession
Made Freely.
Saws Knows Who Real Muir
derer Is and Will Tell.

Ida Nav Kellar, who yesterday con-
fessed in the presence of the sheriff,
county prosecutor and coroner thai
she killed her husband, Arthur Kellar,
and her seven-year- daughter,
Margaret, Tuesday with an axe, today
called Sheriff Jim Prater to her
apartment in the county Jail and re-
pudiated the confession, saying that
the Kansas City detective who 1nVesu-
gated the murders scared it out OF
her" 1t was upon a written confess
sion signed by Mrs. Kellar that the
coroner's jury late yesterday ordered
that the woman be held for the muir
der.
Both Sheriff Prater and Thomas N.
Haynes, county prosecutor, said this
morning that Mrs. Kellar evidently
was influenced by great excitement in
reversing her confession, that the con-
fession was made freely and that upon
the strength of it and other evidence
Mrs. Kellar would be arraigned pro-
badly late today charged with the muir
ders According to Sheriff Prater Mrs
Kellar was in a violent rage when ne
entered her apartment today she
screamed that she had not intended to
say what she did in the confession.
She demanded that an attorney be
sent to her and said she would spend
all the money she had to clear herself
I know who the murderer is and he
will suffer for it, she said Selz1ng the
sheriff by the coat.
She then named a section laborer en-
ployed on the railroad here as the man,
she had mentioned him in her testl-
money at the inquest at having quar-
relied with her husband on the day be-
fore the murder.
Of I,ar hI1Ch ha nd nd
she said had been committed with a
pocket knife of her own, which the
murderer had found in the house, when
the sheriff said the wounds that
brought death to the victims could not
have been made with a pocket knife
Mrs. Kellar was mistaken For more
than half an hour Sheriff Prater re-
mained with Mrs. Kellar, striving to
quiet her and listening to her story.
Mrs. Kellar's surviving children.
girl 8 years old, and boy of ., have
been sent to her mother, Mrs. Otto
Freude at East Lynne, Mo. Because
of lack of proper accommodations, for
women prisoners, Sheriff Prater said
today Mrs Kellar probably would be
taken to Kansas City after her arraign-
ment to await trial.
Harry Arthur, the detective who
drew the confession from Mrs. Kellar
when told that she had repudiated her
story, said the confession had been
elected without compulsion and merely
by confronting the woman with con-
Trajectory statements made by her.
Before she signed the confession he
said he told her it would be used
against her and that it probably would
mean life Imprisonment.
Harrisonville, Mo, June 13-Mrs.
Arthur KelIar has confessed that it
was she who killed her husband a
Ia nd
Margaret, years old, last Tuesday
Kellar and the girl were slain with an
axe as they lay in their beds.
Mrs. Kellar's confession follows:
My name is Ida Kellar. 1 am 80
years old. live at Pleasant Hill Road
and Missouri Pacrific tracks here in
Harrisonville
''On Monday night June 9. I went TO
bed about O'Clock with my two small
est children after putting my little
girl Margaret. to bed in the north room.
My husband, Arthur KeIlar. was sitting
in the kitchen reading. 1 was feeling
awfully tired and had an awful hurting
in my head. L have had this hurting
In my head the past two years Two
years ago / was tearing down hen
house and the roof fell on my head
and knocked me down and I did not
know anything for a half hour.
After going to bed Monday night
June 8. I laid there for some time
do not know how long. I did not know
anything from the time 1 went to bed
with my clothes on, about D. M, un-
til about l a. m. next morning when I
was in the kitchen getting a lantern
to go to Margaret and Arthur. 1 knew
1 had done something awful wrong
and went to get the lantern to see what
1 had done, and God knows 1 would
not have done what 1 did if 1 had
been in my right mind.
After thinking a few minutes I re-
membered being in the room before I
went to get the lantern and Arthur
and Margaret were both asleep | re-
member striking them both with the
axe. but l don't know which 1 struclx
first, but l think 1 struck Arthur first
The blind was up and 1 could see
them both lying on the bed and there
was no light in the room at that time
Couldn't Have Done 1t If Had Known
After striking them. I stood the axe
in the corner by the dresses and it
was then that I went into the kitchen
to get the lantern 1 didn't know what
made me lose my mind. ] don't see
why in the world everything came out
that way. 1 could not have killed them
if 1 had known what 1 was doing. This
was about 12:45, as it was 1 o'clock
when 1 got back from Mrs. Kline's
where 1 had gone to call the doctor
1 know this because I looked at the
alarm clock that was sitting the
chair by Arthur's head, as soon as
returned from Mrs. Kline's.
Before going to get the lantern and
Immediately after striking them, /
picked up a piece of brown paper sack
that was lying on the floor and put it
in a chair about three feet from the
bed where Arthur and Margaret were
lying and set it afire. 1t did not give