how the clues, which lead to the arrest of the young
man for his father's murder, were obtained—
kansas' most sensational murder case.
no crime committed in the west in recent years was surrounded with more mystery than was the murder of j. s. collins, which occurred in topeka, kansas, in the spring of 1898. mr. collins was slain while asleep beside his wife in their home. the weapon used was a shotgun, and one or two of the shot struck the shoulder of the wife, making slight, though painful wounds.
the murdered man had been a prominent insurance and real estate man of the kansas capitol, where he had lived for many years, and was well and favorably known to the citizens of that city, as well as throughout the entire state; in fact, he was considered one of the state's most prominent citizens. at the time of his murder he was about fifty-five years of age, had a wife, one daughter and a son, john.
the collins' occupied a comfortable home in topeka. john, the only son, was a student at the state university at lawrence, kansas, where he was being prepared for the ministry. he had been a student at lawrence for two or three years before his father's murder. he boarded at the school and occasionally visited his home in topeka, usually on sundays and holidays. the collins home, which was one of the best on one of the capitol's most prominent residential thoroughfares, was disturbed early one morning by the discharge of a gun in the sleeping room occupied by mr. collins and his wife, which was situated on the ground floor. mr. collins had been shot and died instantly, and his wife, as stated above, received one or two grains of coarse shot in her shoulder. other occupants of the house that morning were miss collins, a young lady about eighteen years of age, and john collins, jr. both of them occupied rooms on the second floor of the house. there was also a servant girl in the house. it was in the early part of the summer and the windows were all screened with wire. john, apparently aroused by the shot which killed his father, dressed himself hastily and aroused the nearest neighbors. it was at an early hour in the morning, but after daylight.
the police were sent for, and on their arrival ascertained that the doors of the house were all intact and carefully locked; but a window screen in the rear of the house on the second floor was found to have been cut, leaving a hole large enough for the passage of a human body. this window was immediately above a one-story addition to the main building in the rear. after the police authorities had finished their investigation of the premises they arrived at the conclusion that the murderer must have entered the house by means of a key, and after having shot[pg 200] mr. collins escaped, going up the main stairs from the lower hall to the second floor and then gone to the hall at the end of which they found the window before described, had cut the wire screen and jumped out of the window onto the roof of the one-story addition, and then to the ground, a distance of about ten or twelve feet, and in that way made his escape.
the murder created a great sensation by reason of mr. collins' high standing in the community. a number of the more influential citizens of topeka who were friends of his, formed a committee for the purpose of locating the murderer and causing him, or them, to be brought to justice. these gentlemen wired me at st. louis, asking me to come to topeka to investigate the case. i went to topeka at once, arriving there, if i remember aright, the third day after the murder had been committed. i reported to the gentleman who was chairman of the committee, and at once began my investigation, by examining the premises at which the murder had been committed. i interviewed the widow, who, by the way, was mr. collins' second wife, her step-daughter and step-son, john collins. mrs. collins was a woman between thirty-six and forty years of age, of the brunette type, rather above the medium height and inclined to be slender. she was very attractive and considered a good-looking woman, intelligent and refined.
miss collins was also above the medium height, nice-looking, well educated and intelligent.
john collins had just passed his twenty-first birthday, was about five feet, eight or nine inches tall, light brown hair, fair complexioned, well built, pleasing in manner and a very fine looking young man.
[pg 201]
after i had consumed about four days in my investigation, i became satisfied in my own mind that the murder had been committed by some person who belonged in the house, and that the house had not been entered by an outsider. i had discovered that mr. collins had been killed with his own shotgun, a high priced firearm, which he always kept in a leather case, and usually placed on the upper shelf of a clothes closet in his bedroom. this closet was unusually large and extended from the floor to the ceiling. the ceiling being very high, an ordinary sized man could not reach the shelf where the gun was kept without the aid of a step-ladder, or possibly it could have been reached by a tall person while standing on a high table.
mr. collins had not used his gun for months before the murder, and it had always been his custom after using the weapon to clean it thoroughly, take it apart and pack it in the case. it was, therefore, necessary for the murderer to take this gun case from the shelf, put it together and load it with the ammunition, which was also kept on the high shelf. all of this could not have been accomplished by any outside person without having been discovered by some one of the inmates of the house.
i also learned that john collins had left his lodgings at lawrence on the evening preceding the murder, going to topeka and directly to his home, where, he claimed, he retired for the night at an early hour. he also claimed that he remained there until aroused by the shot that killed his father. i also learned that the young man had formed the acquaintance of a very estimable and wealthy young lady at lawrence, with whom he had become infatuated. he had paid much attention to her for months, and finally she had informed him that her mother had [pg 202]decided to purchase or lease a cottage at long branch, in which to spend the summer months. i surmised that when he learned that she intended to accompany her mother to long branch for the summer, young collins decided that his sweetheart was liable to meet some of the many fortune hunters who frequent the resort during the summer months, thus endangering his chances of winning her, so he had made up his mind that he would arrange, if possible, to spend the season at long branch too, so that he[pg 203] might guard the affections of his good-looking, or i might truthfully say, beautiful young lady friend.
superintendent of the st. louis office of the furlong secret service
company who did some clever work on the collins case.
the elder mr. collins had been considered to be more wealthy than he really was at the time of his death. he had met with financial reverses, and really had but little more than his home in topeka when he was murdered, but he was carrying thirty thousand dollars insurance on his life, ten thousand to his wife and ten thousand to each of his children.
having secured the above information i sent one of my operatives, j. s. manning, to lawrence, kansas, with instructions to quietly ascertain all that he could as to the habits of the young man collins and his associates. mr. manning's investigation there developed that young collins had been spending considerable money in buying flowers, carriage hire and entertainments. he had no means of defraying these expenses other than twenty-five dollars a month allowed him by his father for that purpose. mr. manning also learned that there were a couple of colored hack drivers in lawrence, who had been patronized by the younger collins. upon receipt of this information from mr. manning, i sent d. f. harbaugh, who was then in my employ, to lawrence. mr. harbaugh had lived in lawrence, kansas, for a number of years before he entered my service. he had been in the livery business there, and had been a hack driver. he was personally acquainted with the colored drivers before mentioned, but these men did not know that he was in the secret service work. for this reason mr. harbaugh found it easy to find out everything that the hack drivers knew about john collins. after renewing their acquaintance harbaugh learned from them that collins had approached them and entered into a verbal contract to kill his father for a [pg 204]certain sum of money, part of which he had paid at the time the agreement was made, he agreeing to pay the balance after the murder had been committed.
they told harbaugh that they had no intention of attempting to murder mr. collins, but had promised john they would do so to work him for what money they could get out of him, knowing, as they did, that he dare not expose them when they failed to carry out their agreement. the murder was to have been committed on or before a certain date. the date passed and mr. collins still lived, whereupon, john became anxious and expostulated with the colored drivers. they told him that they were entitled to more money than what he had agreed to pay them, and he gave them an additional one hundred dollars, as well as a gold watch his father had presented to him on his twenty-first birthday. this money young collins had secured by borrowing from his friends and through drafts he had drawn on his father, as we afterwards learned. there was then another date set for the murder to be committed by the hack drivers. when that day arrived and passed young collins again remonstrated with the drivers for not having carried out their agreement, and they coolly informed him that they had concluded that if his father had to be killed that he had better do the killing himself, that they positively would not commit the crime, and that they had never intended to do so. learning this, young collins became desperate and left lawrence and went to topeka, as before stated, and without doubt killed his father with his own gun.
when this evidence was obtained i reported it to the gentlemen who had employed me, and they then decided to hand my report over to the prosecuting attorney at lawrence. at the request of the prosecuting attorney the[pg 205] county commissioners at topeka employed me to complete the evidence, so that collins might be arrested and prosecuted for the murder of his father.
john collins was immediately arrested, placed in jail without bond, and in due time the case came to trial. the trial caused a great deal of interest in the community, by reason of the fact that the elder mr. collins was so well known, and the killing had been done in such a mysterious manner. the trial attracted great attention throughout the entire country. all of the leading western papers had special reporters present, and all the sensational features were "played up" (as newspaper men call it) as they developed. the court room was crowded, and many noted lawyers were also in attendance to watch the legal battle, which at times waxed very warm, as all the counsel on both sides were very able men. prosecuting attorney jetmore was at his best, making one of the greatest fights i ever saw to get his evidence before the jury. among the spectators during almost the entire trial was the late justice brewer, of the united states supreme court at washington, who was visiting his daughter, who was the wife of the prosecuting attorney, mr. jetmore, in topeka at the time the trial was on. at the close of the case mr. justice brewer complimented me very highly for my work in solving the mystery.
during the trial a great many people got the idea that i had been employed by the insurance companies, believing that the companies were trying to avoid payment of the thirty thousand dollars insurance, by proving that the son had killed his father. this opinion was erroneous. the people who employed me in this case were citizens of topeka and lodge friends of the murdered man, and were in no way connected with the insurance companies interested[pg 206] in the case, and were merely acting as good and law abiding citizens, and just as soon as i had satisfied them that john collins was the murderer, they immediately turned the evidence, as far as had been obtained, over to the proper state authorities.
the trial lasted more than a week. collins was defended by two of the most prominent attorneys at that bar. they labored earnestly and to the best of their ability to clear him, but he was found guilty of murder and sent to the state prison to await the governor's action in fixing the date of his execution; but, in as much as it has always been the custom in kansas for the governor to never fix the date for execution of a person found guilty of murder, the prisoners are usually kept in the prison, and a sentence of death in kansas usually means a life term in the penitentiary.
there has been an effort made by friends of young collins and the family to obtain a pardon for him, but up to this writing i understand it has been unavailing.
i will say here that the colored hack drivers, before mentioned, from lawrence, took the witness stand for the state against john collins, and produced the watch that he had given them, which had been presented to him by the elder mr. collins upon the anniversary of john's 21st birthday. this watch, with the testimony of the colored hack drivers, in which they detailed the contract they had made with the younger collins, all of which was corroborated by circumstances that were not, or could not be, contradicted, led to the conviction of the son for the murder of his father.
