Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-07-09
MAseMEETINe OF ioWANs At
OMAHA DRAWS LARGE CROWD
TO HEAR ADDRESSES.
RESOLUTIONS CONDEMN
tcMA ATTORNEY GENERAL
New Anti WiIkerson Law and Mont
sonery County Officials Also Scored
Father Of stiliinser Girls Presidss
Moved 70 Tears During His Aa'
drsss--Meeting Opened With Prayer

Council Bluffs, July s-Fffteen hum
dred persons sweltered in the heat OF
the Boyd theater at Omaha for nearly
three hours Saturday afternoon al the
MONTGOMERY county indignation meet
ing. addressed principally by j. n
Wilkerson, former Burns operative
VINO has spent several years invesUgat-
Ing the famous Villisca ak murders. ID
the audience were perhaps between Wv
and 500 citizens Of western Iowa "ho
Travelled by train and automooAe IL
Omaha to attend the meeting Inc pa
ance of the crowd were Omaha people
drawn mostly out of curiosity, TO WatcH
the proceedings and hear Of the Wloeis
bersISed case and its various phases
and developm ents
Promptly at o'clock, the detective
ACCOMPANIED by Mrs. Wiikerson, enter
ed the theater, marched down the main
aisle and mounted the stage. Mrs. VIII
kerson. taking a seat in box. At the
same time. nearly half a hundred OF
,wilkerson.s. most ardent supporters
filed on the stage from the wings ana
TOOK seats "A2CI AdO SCNEi CO. 49,
them across the stage. Townspeop'e Oh
Red Oak and, Villisca and farmers OF
the community comprised this delega-
ton. AS Wilkerson came on the stage
Ed Peterson, prominent Montgomery
county farmer. welcomed him with
Sandclasp.
Stiiiineer Presides.
Williamson opened the gathering ny
asking Of the Iowa people whom they
would have for their chairman. Some
;one mentioned the name OF Joe Stlllln-
ger. which was promptly seconded. the
nomination being put to vote and
unanimously carried. Mr.. Stillinger IS
father of the two little Stilinger girls
who were killed by the ak man while
4hev were spending the night n the
Toe Moore home.
Opened With Prayer.
Rev Mr.. Ewing, pastor Of the Pres
byterian church at Vtlliscs- then in
l~oked divine blessing on the meeting
net,tioning that the truth and only
the truth be known" and thai right
sand only right shall prevail Rev. Nj
Ewing was one Of the defendants in
tthe original Jones SANDER suit and in
Testimony introduced al the slandeI
trial last fan was named as the min
kster who offered invocation al one Of
1.-The wiIkerson meetings held prior &c
tthe filing Of the SANDER suit IN a pas
sture south Of vIllisca-
Mr.. Stillinger then took charge o!
the meeting and began by explaining
why the gathering was called
We're here" said he, "in the interests
OF humanity and we're here because
there's been a ban put on free speech
lin Iowa" He then continued to point
sout that since Attorney General Eav-
,ner got his new law in Iowa that Il
Eany one wishes 10 find fault with ar
toffic!al the safest thing to do Is to &C
down IN the secrecy Of his cellar. wher
taH the folks are away from home
istick his head in a barrel TO unbUrder
himself Of his denunciation and Their
deny having said one word and claim
frhat he was Just grooming because h
HAD touch OF the belly ache Thi:
brought scattered applause,
why they've tried to put a paddock
,cn our mouths by this new law" Mr.
tStiIlinger continued.
The father Of the murdered girls the,
went ahead &c tell Of some o. his ex
tper1elces with Attorney General Hav
trsr In connection with the recent grant
Jury investigation al Red Oak into tn
lax murders. Stillinger said that ate
the had gone into the grand jury room
tand the attorney general had put hi
first questions 70 hin Re was satisfies
THAT he was one-sided. HE squeezed
levidence out Of our witnesses unit
there was no indictment against tn
one We were after" Stillinger said.
Stillinger told Of a conference he an
four other men had with Mr.. Havne
at the time of the grand jury invest
cation, when the attorney general va
explaining 10 them why there could b
10 Indictment Of a man whose nam
has been associated with the murder:
t.You can clearly see that there coul
be no indictment. wouldn't they bran
Us as a set OF asses # we'd come dow,
here and indict F. F. Jones with no evi
dence 10 convict him was a statemen
Stillinger attributed TO the state at
torney
The Grand Jury.
Coming to his appearance before tn
grand jury. Mr.. Stillinger was visibl
affected and his voice choked. He wa
soing to talk about his two little girl
and he asked the audience that the
bear with him. The father said that on
sof the first questions propounded {
him In the grand jury room wa!
'were your girls in the habit of havin
gentleman company regularly ?"
II positively will not answer that
Stiilinger said he answered, asking i
surprise Of the attorney general if h
knew the ages of his little girls. Still
niger intimated that thru the i,,uT5a=
of his daughters the state was seekin
motive for the crime They're grab
bling at straws and they want a mo
tive" he said We've never been abb
to keep from thinking about the mo
tive" he continued. referring to othe
suspects in the case
e Its whispered around viiIisca tha
this man Kelly was after my daughter,
them to drag the memory of my dea
children to cover the rottenest-" an
his words were lost in an ,outburst &
applause.
A Touching Scene.
Otil1inger nearly broke down com
pietely at this juncture and 1t was wit
difficulty that he restrained himsel
He scbbed audibly and for several mo
ments paced back and forth on tn
stage 70 regain mis- comP0saTe. 1 Wal
to tank some more" he finally manage
to say. but again commenced sobbinf
4 was a touching scene. Z want 70 tai