"My Dear Sweetheart: I am becoming desperate. You must arrange a meeting. True love cannot be trifled with in this fashion. You know my love for you and I cannot stand this thing much longer. People have been killed for less, and more may follow. Don’t get the idea this is a threat, or that I mean it that way, because it is the real thing. Be true to me. I love you."

YOUR OWN SWEETHEART

This letter, Sheriff Chandler believes, explains why the Hudsons were murdered in their beds in Paola on the night of June 5^th. It is supposed to be a threatening letter of the "affinity" to Mrs. Anna Hudson, and was written from Kansas City. It bore a Kansas City post mark, dated May 27^th. The writing on the envelope was identical to that in the letter.

The letter was found on the stairway between Jacob Koehler’s restaurant and the W. T. Potts grocery story, at the southeast corner of the square, last Monday forenoon. Pinned to the envelope was a note, which said the writer believed the enclosed letter should be turned over to the proper authorities. The letter, if this be the one, has been sought since the coroner’s inquest, Friday, the day after the discovery of the bodies, when G. W. Coles, a section hand, testified it its existence. Cole said Rollin Hudson showed him the letter the Sunday morning previous, but didn’t reveal it’s contents.

The letter was found by William Wilgus and Jack Lyon. Before turning it over to the city authorities, Judge Kent read the missive a time or two. The letter, as he remembers it, reads like the above. It contained three and one-half pages and was the work of an uneducated man, Mr. Kent believes. The body of the epistle was incoherent, he says and was evidently written in a burst of jealous passion.

The letter is now in the possession of J. L Ghent, the Kansas City detective, who has been assisting Marion Chandler, sheriff of this count, on the case. Mr. Ghent left last Tuesday for Akron, Ohio, and will make hand writing comparisons. He is seeking to find Roy "Hookey" Adams, an alleged former sweetheart of Mrs. Hudson. The county commissioners have appropriated $100 for expenses in the double murder crime, and a reward of $300 has been offered by Governor W. R. Stubbs for the capture of the murderer.

There was no new evidence introduced at the re-convened coroner’s inquest last Wednesday afternoon. Dr. J.V. Ferrell, coroner told the jurors that the fatal letter, practically the only tenable clew the authorities had, could not be produced. The verdict of the jury was that the murder was committed by some person unknown to them. The jury was composed of D.F. Amick, C.M. McKoon, F.W. Schmitz, Jack Lyon, William Wilgus and John Yeater.

A SECRET METTING PLANNED?

Was the affinity of Mrs. Hudson in Paola the Sunday following the quarrel of Rollin Hudson and his wife, Decoration Day? Was there a secret meeting between them, two miles in the country, on that morning? These are the questions now puzzling Sheriff Chandler and his assistants. Last Wednesday, Mrs. G.W. Cole, who lives across the street south of the Hudson cottage, brought out this new feature of the case. On that Sunday morning Mrs. Hudson had refused her invitation to breakfast, although she remarked to the neighbors that she hadn’t eaten a thing except a few crackers. Mrs. Cole says when she left the house she noticed Mrs. Hudson was seen to leave the house and go west, in the direction of the Frisco depot. She did not return until after 11:00 o’clock.

John Powell and his wife and Dock Reed and his wife, of this city, stated Wednesday that they were out driving that Sunday morning and passed Mrs. Hudson two miles southwest of Paola. This was about 9:30 o’clock. The woman was greatly agitated, Reed says, and inquired of them the shortest way back to Paola. She did not want to take the main road, she said. She told to cross a field and to follow the Missouri Pacific railway track. Reed and Powell both state that they say no man in the vicinity at this time.

NOTICE

To Whom It May Concern:

If the person or persons who placed the Hudson letter in Justice Hanna’s stairway last Monday, will call at my office, and explain how same came in their possession, I assure them that they will not be implicated in the crime nor placed in jeopardy in any way and all information will be treated confidential, both as to facts and names.

F.M. Chandler

Sheriff of Miami County

CROWDS VIEW BODIES

Thursday evening, June 6^th, the bodies of the Hudsons, who were found murdered in their home, on West Wea street that afternoon, were conveyed to R.M. Johnson’s undertaking rooms, where they were kept until shipped to Massillon, Ohio, Tuesday afternoon. All day Friday and Saturday throngs of people from town and country visited the chapel, where the bodies of Hudson and his wife were shown. Mr. Johnson worked all of Thursday night and Friday morning on the corpses, getting them in a presentable condition. It proved a difficult task, but was successfully accomplished.


(Back To Summary)

PSYCHIC READINGS

Misty's Reading, Paola KS

Joyce's Reading, Paola KS

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

Murderer Came In The Night  (Western Spirit, June 14, 1912)

Found The Affinity Letter?  (Western Spirit, June 14, 1912)  

Fiendish Double Murder  (Miami Republican, June 14, 1912) 

No Clew To Hudson Murder  (Western Spirit, June 21, 1912)