The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-02-24

tify. He had himself declared fire.
Quently that it would mean ninety-ni
years in the penitentiary for him If she
did. 1t may also be safely declared,
1 If the assumption of their relations up
Ito this time is correct, that she longed
for an escape from the ordeal she
must undergo on the witness stand.
1t is then the theory that Cruise sent
her a powder or a drug, assuring her
that it would make her slightly sick,
perhaps create fever or nausea, and
that in this condition she would not
be obliged to come to Wichita. Her
system not being in just the right con-
dition to receive it, or perhaps mis-
take, if it was compounded by an anna
teur, death resulted, it is argued. This
might explain her declaration: HE
Cor they) made me swallow some
thing" And her request of the physi-
clan, when he arrived. to Leave me
alone" might be explained by the
argument that, altho deathly i'll, she
still had confidence in the drug which
had been given her.
Letter Addressed to Her Father.
That this drug, if such it was, came
in the letter she received the evening
of her death is hardly probable, for it.
had been addressed to her father. and
Cruise had no means Of knowing he
would not open it. The propounderS
of the theory point out many plausible
manners in which it might have been
received. Further, the letter was
opened, read and burned in the pres
ence of the family.
Under this argument however, it is
difficult to reconcile her only other
statement after she ran to her moth
She is there all alone and he Cor
they) will go in and kill her" Some
argue that the deliverer of the fataI
drug may have come to the back door
and called her out, which would also
explain why the back door was open.
kathleen told Miss Longaker that
night that Cruise had said in his let
ter: please do not ever marry any
one else. 1 could not stand it" What
vision was in the Wichita mans mind
at this time? The gray walls of the
state prison or a far country where he
should go if he could only get his trial
postponed because of Miss Foley's
failure to appear because of illness?
Cruise had repeatedly urged Miss
Foley to leave the country. She made
no promises. Under the theory above
set forth it is assumed that, while she
wished to avoid the trial. she could not
leave because her mother refused to
go, and that the sickness was the only
refuge.
Advocates of the suicide and acct
dental poison theories both claim
score in the fact that Miss Foley ironed
q Clean anu LUX Will ilCl
to the Whitcomb home that night,
and that she took a bath prior to re-
firing. This is seized as an indication
that she expected either sickness or
death, a1tho, normally. it might indi-
cate neither And her statement to
Miss Longaker that she would "see you
in the happy 1and" was regarded,
under the circumstances. as indicating
that she either knew death was close
or that she feared the results of the
sick powders might prove fatal, in
spite of her confidence in her lover
Argument Against Suicide.
A strong argument against the sui
eide theory is the fact that Miss Foley
was a Catholic, q religion which
kfrowns upon the destruction of ones
own life as the gravest of crimes Ex-
aminations by physicians also failed
to reveal any physical reasons why
the young woman should have hest
tated to face the future.
The strange couple seen by the girls
while they were talking in front of the
Whitcomb. home is perhaps also en-
titled to the serious consideration of
the investigators. The theory of
murder was explained in The State
Journal Tuesday.