The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-03-30
Murderer of Edna DinSmOre
Appears Before Court.
Trial Set for WyandOtte COun-
ty in May Term.
MOB VIOLENCE WAS FEARED
Strict Secrecy Surrounded HIS
Journey to Topeka.
Brought From Lansing and Re-
turned in Motor Car.

Between o'clock Thursday even
ing and 5 o'clock this morning Fred
Bissell, degenerate murderer of j.
year-old Edna Dinsmore, was brought
from the state penitentiary at Lans-
ing to Topeka, arraigned in the court
of Topeka, bound over to the district
court, granted a change of venue and
taken back to the penitentiary.
Sheriff Hugh Larimer and Deputy
Robert Miller left Topeka at o'clock
Thursday afternoon in an automobile
and drove to Lansing. At s o'clock
they tarted back to Topeka with Bis
sell in the car. At IL o'clock they
were at the courthouse.
Rad Lee, judge of the court of To-
peka; George H: Whitcomb, judge OF
the second division of the district
court, and Robert Carver, county at
torney, were waiting. In the court of
Topeka Bissell waived his preliminary
! hearing and Judge Lee bound him over
to the district court.
| Downstairs Judge Whitcomb was
waiting for the completion of the for
! malities in the court of Topeka. When
Bisseu was taken before Judge Whit
comb he pleaded neither guilty nor
not guilty. Instead he filed a written
application for a change of venue.
Fear of Fair Trial.
Bissell argued in the application that
he could not get a fair trial in Shaw
nee county: that because of the no.
toriety given to his case people were
prejudiced against him and that no
twelve men in the county could hon
! eSt1y give him fair trial.
| No opposition to his application was
made by Robert Carver, county attor-
ney. Judge Whitcomb allowed the
duplication and specified that the case
4 should be transferred to Wyandotte
{ county. Bisse1 will be tried on the
charge of murder in the first degree
in the Wyandotte county district court
during the next term, probably in
April.
Curtains Were Down.
! By the time all these formalities
had been completed it was o'clock
this morning. Not person outside of
those who had business in connection
with the case had discovered what was
glare of light and where there was
| light the curtains were drawn. For al
most two hours the man a mob at
tempted to lynch less than year ago
was in Topeka and enjoyed perfect
safety.
At o'clock Sheriff Larimer and
Deputy Miller loaded Bissell into the
car again and started back towards
the state penitentiary. A telephone
message received today stated that
they arrived there without trouble at 5
o'clock this morning. Within short
time BisseIl will be taken to Wyan-
dotte county to await trial
| Cold BIooded as Ever.
Bissell was the same cool. calm in
dividual last night that he was in
April year ago when Shawnee county
officers saved his life by whisking
him out of Topeka, and later out of
Lawrence ahead of a mob. He was
the same cold blooded Individual who
J expressed doubt all thru a wild night
ride from Lawrence to Lansing that
ANYBODY in Topeka would harm him
! even if they caught him; the same
! fellow who withstood all efforts to
J bring about confession for three
days after he was in the penitentiary
He's the same fellow except that
now he has some idea of making a
! fight. He really believes that he can
] make a fight in court with some
chance of evading life Imprisonment
Most Horrible Crime
Bissell's crime is remembered by all
i Topeka. 1t was one of the most hor-
rible crimes on record in this county.
| On the morning of April Is, last year,
| according to his own signed con-
! fession, he lured little Edna Dinsmore
! who thought he was a trusted friend
out to a lonesome vacant house on
her person. choked her with a band
/ age, threw her headlong down a
stairway into a cellar and calmly
walked back to the business section
and loafed in a pool hall Later he
went back. and finding her still alive
! he set fire to the house to cover the
evidence of his crime.
1t was the fire that exposed his
crime. 1t took the fire departm ent
/ to the vacant house and firemen dis
| covered the broken little body in the
water at the foot of the stairs after the
fire was extinguished. Bissell was in
the crowd that watched the fire. He
left while the firemen were still there
and began buying old shoes in the
: neighborhood. A postman noticed his
peculiar actions and played a
| ''hunch.' He reported to Chief Par
sons and Parsons picked Bissell up
within three blocks of the fire half an
hour later.
City Was Wrought Up.
| Questions failed to connect him
with the crime and he was released.
But later in the day there were de-
veIopments that pointed strongly to
| him and he was arrested again. He
cate that he knew something: that he
| knew Edna Dinsmore at least All of
] Topeka was wrought up that night
and between evening and morning he
was taken by the sheriff to Lawrence
/ and placed in the Douglas county Jail
1t was the following night that d
mob stormed the city Jail. the county
Jail and failing to find Bissell loaded
into automobiles and drove to Law
renee intending to raid the Jail there
and take Bissell. Sheriff l.. L. Kiene
and Robert Miller were in Lawrence
Continued on Page Two.)