Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-09-03

II
waite detective and who knows the his
tory OF the case thoroughly, produced
the following statement, which he de.
clared was made to him by Rev. Lyr
G. ]. Kelly. during 1918, the year aftei
the tragedy:
Il was in the town Of villisca, Iowa
on the night OF June 3. 1912, went Il
church service, went home with The
minister who, with his family slept IT
the yard, while slept in the house
and after / retired. an irresistible de-
sire TO murder came over me 10 such
an extent that could not sleep. About
o'clock in the morning. without
knowing what was doing, l got up
went 10 the Moore premises. got IA
AK from their woodshed, entered theii
frnnt door. and murdered everyone in
the house with the AK, | wiped my
face off with some bed linen and also
the AK which l then leaned against the
wall. / then first realized what l was
doing, then went 10 the river 20
wash. ! then went back to the min
tster's house where l remained until
train time the next morning, when
went to Henderson, Iowa
Refused to Sign.
Kelly dictated the statement to me
and was about to affiN his signature,
when sudden impulse caused him to
reconsider the signature" said Mr.
Longnecker.
The Omaha detective gained the con-
tidence OF the Rev. Mr.. Kelly when the
latter was ostensihly or otherwise
working on the yillisca case and fire.
quently visited Mr.. Longnecker in his
office in the Karbach block at tina;
time,
Il am convinced that Kelly is the
ak murderer" declared Longnecker.
Mr.. ,Longnecker made this further
statement: When Kelly was residing
at Sutton, Neb.. he was attended by
DR.. Straight, who wrote to me dur
ing February Of last year. to warn
me that Kelly had threatened my life.
have DIR. Straight's letter on the
subject
Detective Longnecker was one of the
first men TO investigate the ak mur :
ders on the day after the tragedy.
Strong Cireumstantial Evidence.
There is some strong circumstantial
evidence pointing to Kellys guilt.
Several witnesses have told of his ar
rival at Macedonia on the early train
Monday morning and relating the full
details OF the yillisca tragedy nearly
two hours before the crime was dis
covered at viilisca-
A few days after the murders. Kelly
went to Council Bluffs and left a pack
age OF laundry at the office Of the
Bluff City laundry on North Main
street. 1t was late in the evening. long
after the laundry office had closed. He
thrust the package thru an opening in
the door. He enclosed a note direct
ing the laundry to be sent to Macedonia
and signed it with part Of his initials.
When the package was opened the
next morning. the witnesses said. 1t
was found to contain a lood-stained
shirt with Kelly's initials on the band.
The laundry has an agency at Mace
donna Kelly acted strangely when he
called for the laundry Saturday eve
ming. He asked numerous questions.
indicating fear that the blood stains
had been noted. He az first denied
the laundry was his, and appeared
very nervous and excited. - a.
fFeacheo on .6iooo Sacr3ne0. ~
Thereafter his mind continually
dwelt upon the murder. and he
preached scores of times on the text
''Slay Utterly" advocating the neces-
sity for blood sacrifice. and declared
It must be human blood.
Kelly has confessed a number OF
times. His first avowal. when ar
rested at Winner. S. D.. for sending
lewd letters to Council Bluffs young
woman. who had answered his adver-
tisement for artists models" He was
then declared insane and sent to the
government hospital in Washington, D
c., but was paroled after several
months.
At that time witnesses say his one
theme was the Villisca murders and
he preached constantly from the
bloody text. In the last year ne has
Confessed to other crimes. amons
these being that he had sunk the
Lusitania. He labored for days to
convince Attorney Mitchell that he
placed a bomb aboard the ship that
caused it's destruction, and gloated
over the great blood sacrifice il
brought about.