The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-31
Girl Accused of Collyer MUIR
der Expert With Gun.
Father Taught Her To Use Re-
yolver When Mere Child.
DIME NOVELS her FAvOR|TE
Tales of Frontiers Bloody Days
Delighted Her.
Citizens Complain Bond Was
Fixed Too Low.

Wakeeney, Kan, Jan. 31.-When
other girls of her age were playing
with dolls. Madeline Briggs, held We'd
'nesday afternoon under $1,000 bond
for the murder of Mrs Charles W.
Fisher at Collyer, Saturday night, was
learning how to handle revolver
and rifle. Stories to which she has
listened all her life have been of early
frontier days. tales of killings. of In
dian fights and massacres. Her read
ing of late years has been from books
filled with the same red strain, so
friends of the family said today. Dime
novels with a thrill on every page
have been her favorites, it is asserted.
All this does not fit into the picture
the 1S-year-old girl, best known as
Made Briggs, made as she sat in the
office of Sheriff Pete" De Boer, while
her father, John Briggs, hunted men
willing to sign the bond exacted by J.
H. Acres, justice of the peace, who,
after the preliminary hearing held
Miss Briggs for trial at the next term
of the district court, which is set for
March IS.
Has Childish Face.
There was nothing about the slen-
der little girl to suggest it could have
been she who knocked at the door of
the Fisher home Saturday and then
shot down her neighbor when Mrs
Fisher stood in the doorway talking.
Her face, almost childish, quivered as
she clasped and unclaSped her hands,
but there was no sign of tears. Her
eyes were cold and clear and almost
hard. Only in them could one get
glimpse of what must be deep down
in her heart.
while members of the coroner's jury
swore she had told them Saturday
night she had fired the shot which
killed Mrs. Fisher and there had been
no denial E. A. Rea, her attorney,
said the girl would not tell her story
until she go@s on the stand in her own
defense in March.
Many surmises are being made as
to possible motives which led to the
murder. In only one thing do all
agree If John Briggs had not taught
his daughter to use a revolver, had
not Dragged OF her ability as a marks
woman, the tragedy never would have
occurred. But Briggs is proud of his
daughter.
I've got another. girl just like her."
They can shoot bird on the wing
any time" 4s.e 1.z51 -x
b. oan Her Bond Too Low? 81 sa7s
In Collyer they say nobody can tell
the stories Briggs can tell Collyer
feels that it was the vein of bonn bast
IN old John Briggs, turning to sterner
stuff in his girl, Made. that sent the
bullet thru Mrs. Fishers heart. And
the town is growing bitter against the
girl as well.
At first the feeling was one of SYM
pathy and pity. Today there was a
change when Judge Acres fixed the
bond at $4,000. Mutterings filtered
thru the big crowd which filled every
seat in the courtroom and overflowed
into the corridors. The amount was
too low AS County Attorney Parsons
left the courtroom for his office on
the floor below a pack of men and
women, most of them from Collyer
surged around him protesting the state
should never have accepted bond in
SO small a sum- For a moment ii
looked as if there would be a fight
but Parsons explained it was the bust
ness of the court to name the amount
of the bond and that he had nothing
to do with the matter