The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-05-17
EARL SIMS ASSISTED

I The. confession leaves no loophole
forS ButlerE ands Nelson. according to,
Officials ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS be
made ofSSinis. is. not knoWn. His fos-
terifath@r.. Frank gsims. the; police say,
has had a. great deals OF trouble with
thes boys ana Ehas{ made efforts to get
him out of trouble many times; The
most recent occasi on was when Sims
was caughtsb BY. tfAs Omaha policeSafterl
ro6bfng { as DRUGGIST. Frank Sims, at
'fhatl time, went tososna hasand brought,
the boysh ome:-s SINCE them het has kept
rim 4wheTe the ;. Topeka police could
caHs.upoh. him, at anytime.
8 YoungsSifns's confession follows:
=, Earl sFcranklinxS ims, of lawful age,
being sfirst. duly sworn upon oath, de-
poses and1says: That on the Sth day
Of April, 1876 about $50 o'clock in
the evening, that. he met Miss Maud
Thompson, at the Mills Dry Goods
store. s(Pe1letiers), that they went to
the sRoehr music store for her sister;
that theys took street car and went
to + the girls home. near the end of
the bowman Hill car line.
''Abuot II o'clock that night he
boarded a Lowman Hill car at-the end
of the line, got off at Norris street in
North Topeka, and went to Wilson's
cafe; that he remained there about 20
minutes; that he then walked down
the dixie to the Santa Fe bridge over
:127 Adams street, where he met Bill
Butler and. Bonnie Nelson.
They then got two guns, Butler
took one and he. (Sims) the other,
and went over to Fritton's grocery
store at Fourth and Branner streets.
He (Sims) remained across the street;
Butler went into the store by the rear
door, by breaking the glass and I'M
fastening the door. According to ar
rangement Nelson was to go around
by the Santa Fe depot for the purpose
of notifying Butler and Sims if he
heard the explosion and if the police
got busy, he (Sins) was to remain
across the street opposite the store
and if any police showed up was to
fire his gun, which would be a sig
nal to Butler. After Butler was in
the store about 5 minutes, he (Sims)
heard the explosion. saw lights lit in
several houses, saw one man come to
his door in tine house opposite the
store. In about five minutes Butler
whistled, which was the signal for
Sims to come to him.
HE (Sims) Joined Butler in front
of the store and they went north on
Branner street one block and turned
west one-half block and went north
down the alley, where they took the
money out of the money drawer, put it
in a cigar box and threw the money
drawer and some papers away in the
alley. They then went diagonally
across the street TO the Santa Fe fence,
one-ha1f block west OF, the Lake street
viaduct, down around the boiler and
coach shop and out on Adams street
near First street, across Adams street
and up the alley in the rear of the
house at 127 Adams street. When
Butler and he (Sims) got back to the
house, Nelson was there. 1t was about
O'Clock in the morning when they
arrived at the house. Bonnie Nelson's
wife and Hazel Estis were up and
dressed when they got there. Bill
Butler threw the box down on the ia
BILE and said to the women. Well live
for a while.
Bonnie said he would take care of
the stuff and took the box and the
papers and went out doors. The pa
pers were some that they could not
tell what they were in the dark alley
and were not thrown away before.
Bonnie took the papers in the cellar
and burned them. He (Sims) didn't
know what he did with the money.
Butler took five dollars out of the box
and gave it to him tSims). Most of
this money was in silver quarters. But
Ter would not let him (Sims) go home
that night. He said he was afraid the
police would see him out at that hour
of the morning and pick him up. But
Ter also sale he would shoot him
(Sims) if he ever told anything about
it. He (Sims) went home that morn
ing about O'Clock. after sleeping for
a short time on the couch in Buffers
house.
"A little after o'clock that same
morning Sunday he went away on
an all-day picnic and returned home
about II O'Clock that night. When he
came home his mother told him that a
handkerchief bearing his initials had
been found in the store where the safe
had been robbed. He then pretended
to go to bed and go to sleep When
he thought everybody was asleep, he
got up and went over to Buffers
house on Adams street and told him
what he had learned about the hand
kerchief and he (Butler) said, Christ,