Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-11-20
mrs. TOMPK|NS
NOT POSITIVE
As TO JONES
Witness in AK Murder
Slander Suit Not Certain
as to Picture.
TELLS OF HEARING
MURDER PLOTTED

Man NTH Whisksrs" Who Was
Amens conspirators Who Planned
Moore Crime.
ss (By Staff Correspondent.)
Red Oak, Nov. 20.-Mrs. vina Tomp-
x.ns OF Marshalltown, took the stand
today in the 100000 suit for alleged
SANDER filed by former State Senator
il. r. Jones against Detective J. N.
Wslkerson of Kansas City. and now on
trial in the Montgomery county court.
Mrs. Tompkins Testimony dealt with
msstinE said to have been held In
y Sla,ighter house on the banks OF the
East Nodaway river near villisca,
prior to the murder Of the Moore fam
ijy. ii. 1912, and at which. it is as
serted the murder was planned
The witness said she and her nus
band were camping on the bank Of the
river, and that she had been In the
habit of going to the slaughter house
Tor firewood. She said that in the fall
OF 1s1i she heard three men planning
q Sob" the nature OF which did not
develop during the conversation. 4
she testified that, an elderly man,
with whishers," asserted by the de-
fcnse to be Senator Jones. said that
ne could get an the money at once, not
~ rnv ~ hut hv dFA wing
small amounke.6rom several banks.
On cross examination tho witness
refused to identify . picture Of Senator
Jenes as. the elderly man with
whiskers."
On direct examination Mrs Tomp-
kins had been shown Senator Jones
picture and had asserted that she
Thought ,ths picture looked like the
man she had seen at the slaughter
house. J; E q q !. .,s. ...ssss J.
q: Rinosously Cross Examined.
n Mr. Tompktns occupied the stand all
,r,ornipg., her direct examtnat lon by
counsel for deEenses consuming about
an hour, followed by rigorous ex-
ThauStiye cross examination.
ON direct examination Mrs.. Tomp-
kins said that In the fall OF 1911 she
camped for about week near villisca:
that She had gone down by an old
slaughter house one evening to get
Some kindling and heard three men
talking in clump Of willows. One
man was short and heavy set, the other
was taller and the other was an old
ish- like man" she said.
did either one have whiskersT VIII
sknrson'a @att0rney asked R
.sYes."
BY comparison with Mr.. Jones. she
said the mans whiskers were longer
than those the senator now wears.
Asked about the conversation she heard
she said:
They were talking about money. ]
at nrst thought they were gamblers"
How viii we get the money!" she
said one asked.
~ can't get the money all at once
hut 1 can ret 1t. I don't dare draw 1t
out of this bank but i can get 1t from
another she testified the old man re-
piled.
Asked about a conversation between
the Aman with the whiskers and the
younger man she said the younger
said:
WED bett cut that out"
.fShut up. What are we going to dc
about the girl" she said the old man
answered.
.we'll have to get him out Of the
way anyway" she delared the old man
had said. She further said that the old
man had remarked something about
someone working for him. Mrs. Tomp-
skins said tshe first told the detective,
\ WiIkerson, about this in Marshalltown
about two years ago and when he had
tossed T. picture In her lap Of Senator
Jones she had said, that looks like
the men was telling you about"
Feared For Her Life.
On cross examination Mrs Tompkins
Admitted. it was three years after the
incident happened that she told any
body of IL. She said she told ,wilker-
son % it about two weeks after the
Bins 1sland, III, murder. at the home
Of = ''kind Of detective named Fred
], Hdushkirk. neighbor in Marshall :
town At that time, however, not tell
Ing MI 0f the conversation. She said
she feared for her life. She told all
si1e knew, she said, to Wi1kerson about
two weeks later after a fortune teller
In MarDhalltOwn had told her she had
"a terrible burden on her mind and that
sl,e should tell 1t to the first man she
4 met TN whom she had confidence.
@ Two Stories Conflict.
Attorney Beeson, conducting the
cross examination, read questions and
4 answers from a typewriter copy, pur-
portink to be the reproduction OF q
conyersation had with Mrs Tompkins
: IN her home by Senator Van Law and
taken down by a court reporter. In
this she said she didn't know what
ths three men said; that all she heard
Ms that they were talking about
money. it.sseemed to her they were
gambling; that she was forty or fSty
ret from them; that sthey.' had been
to scare her and get her to say
Jhe said things that she didn't say
tnd that she had bsen promised a Tot
: :, e =. ev.. ff she would Nell something
he' could set hold of somebody.
esss she said, referred TO Houghkifk,
W1th this statement p.ainkin hopes