Two mildly excited women walked around the little yellow house that stands on the embankment of No. 710 West Wea street last Thursday afternoon. The Hudsons lived there, but the house had been silent all day and these two women were neighbors and the strange quiet worried them. So they walked around the little cottage, peering through the half shaded windows, their voices falling to a half subdued hush as they stood before the drawn curtains of the bedroom; and presently, courage and curiosity rising above an over-powering sense of dread, the two women began to call the Hudsons again and again, but their shrill, excited voices fell "upon ears that heard not."

The women seemed to understand all at once and were afraid to go in. Another woman, attracted by the sounds, entered the yard. More bold than the others, she walked upon the porch and pushed open the door. The sight of what she saw caused her to pull the door shut quickly, and she swooned in the yard when she started to her home.

Herman Hintz, of this city, was passing in a buggy. He was hailed by the women and asked to go into the house. He entered slowly, for the faces of the women were pale and their hands clenched as they waited his return.

A moment and he came out quickly, his arms raised above his head, gasping, his face ashen.

And he suddenly cried out to the three women who were unable to speak, "My God, they have been murdered." And he ran away up the street. "They have been killed in their bed!" he flung over his shoulder. And then one of the women went to the front door and peering through the half-drawn blind, saw two forms huddled on the bed. It was an awful sight—gruesome, sickening.

Presently, like a flood, half of Paola came to the scene and paled at the work of a fiend. And it is said many of the spectators who viewed the horrible sight, went to bed that night with their lights in their home burning.

The Hudsons had been killed sometime Wednesday night, June 5^th, with a coal pick, stolen probably from the Frisco railway yards, a short two blocks distant. Their skulls were crushed and their features hardly recognizable. No evidence of a struggle was shown. They lay upon the same pillow of the small iron bed, their arms clasped partly about each other.

Rollin Hudson and his young wife came here April 10, 1912 from Massillon, Ohio, but about them Paola knew little, or nothing. They boarded with G. W. Cole and a family a short time and then went to housekeeping in the Akers cottage, directly across the street north. Mr. Cole knew Hudson a year ago, when the two worked together on a railway section at Centerville, Kansas. Hudson was there two months, when he returned to Ohio.

Developments in the case the first few days following the tragedy, only tended to deepen the mystery of the double crime. A stranger—a young man wearing a blue serge coat and a straw hat—appeared at the Hudson home about 8:30 o'clock Wednesday night and about him and the announcement that Mrs. Hudson had a lover other than her husband, clings the only apparent thread of the mystery.

Although Hudson and his wife had been married two years, it is generally known that their wedded life was not a happy one. Three times did they separate. Only one theory is suggested by facts and circumstances connected with the murder and that is suspicion of another man in the case. The officers are now seeking to run down this possible clew.

Investigation has brought out the fact that the last separation of the Hudsons, on Memorial Day, was brought about by Hudson's unexpected return home, when he found a photographer there taking a picture of the house. He remonstrated with Mrs. Hudson, declaring that they could not afford the pictures and the photographer left. Later in the day, Hudson went away and did not return home until Sunday evening.

It was late Thursday afternoon, June 6^th, when Mrs. Sherman Stump, who lives across the street west of the Hudsons, not having seen Hudson or his wife about the house all day, spoke of their absence to neighbors. A visit of some unknown man to the home of Jos. Longmeyer, a few doors away, the night previous, caused Mrs. Stump to become suspicious. With Mrs. S. J. Musick she went to the house about 3:30 o'clock and made and investigation, in which they were joined by Mrs. William Pryor, who lives directly east of the Hudson home, and later by Mr. Hintz, who first discovered the real nature of the crime.

The bodies of Hudson and wife were covered with a comforter. It was evident that deed had been committed with a coal pick—or, there is a vague possibility, the sharp point of an ax or hatchet was used. Hudson was barely recognizable, the left side of his skull being torn away and a dozen other blows having rendered his head nothing more than a bloody mass.

What is believed to have been the first blow struck was received by Mrs. Hudson and one which would have caused instant death, was over the left temple, leaving a gash three inches long and tapering in width. A gash across the forehead, and another over the left eye, ranging downward, gouging out the left eye. After the bodies had been covered, other blows were struck, the comforter spread over t hem having been cut in several places.

The Hudsons were last seen alive about 8:30 o'clock Wednesday night by Mr. and Mrs. William Pryor. They were sitting on their front porch when a stranger, of medium height, and wearing a dark colored suit, went upon the porch of the Hudson home. Hudson opened the door, Mr. Pryor says, and the stranger was admitted instantly. Mrs. Pryor says she did not see the man leave the house and when she retired about 10 o'clock, she noticed that the house was dark.

From the only traces which the murderer left, revealing the plan of the murder, the authorities declare he entered the home by an east window, the screen of which was removed and left leaning against the house. This window leads to an unused bedroom, through which he must have passed to the scantily furnished dining room, through the front room and from there into the bedroom occupied by the Hudsons.

The motive of robbery, at first adopted by the officers, was discarded when they found several articles of jewelry belonging to Mrs. Hudson. Her locket and rings were still on her body.

A glance at the interior of the house leads one to the conclusion that the household routine had been suddenly interrupted the night before, as if the appearance of an unlooked for visitor and friend had been the excuse to leave everything untouched until the next morning.

There are five small rooms in the dwelling. In the dining room the remains of an evening meal were upon the oil cloth covered table. On the cold stove reposed a coffee pot and there were some half shaved kindlings on the hearth. The snow white apron of the house wife lay across the back of a chair. In the room, which had been used as a laundry and store room, was a large wash tub filled with soapy water and clothes. A pan of half picked strawberries was resting upon a pantry shelf. Over the parlor table lay a profusion of embroideries and dollies—all unfinished and suddenly set down.

It was very apparent that they had entertained a person well known to both Wednesday night, for even the photographs and post card album was open—a bundle of old letters, also—all for the purpose, no doubt, of calling to mind old scenes of the past. The slayer worked quickly and quietly. No one heard a cry, unless it was Mrs. Cole and she was not sure.

F. H. Scheer, of the firm of Peiker & Scheer, and James Nolen, who is employed in the meat market, say that a few days prior to the murder, a young man, wearing a straw hat and answering in a general way the description of the man who entered the Hudson home last Wednesday night, called at the store and made close inquiries regarding Rollin Hudson. Later, he inquired at other business houses about the Hudsons, asking particularly in regard to motor car repair shops and flour mills. When in Ohio, Hudson worked as a mechanic in a motor car factory. So strong is the belief of the police that this stranger was connected with the murders, that his description has been sent out over the country with orders for his arrest.

When at Centerville, during July 1911, Hudson, in a conversation with G.W. Cole, said he and his wife had recently separated and that he came West to try and forget her. He mentioned another man and said that his wife was untrue to him. "He cried while telling the story and I did not press him for details," said Mr. Cole, last Friday. "He seemed to be deeply in love with the woman."

Cole and Hudson were neighbors and frequently exchanged confidences. Sunday evening of last week, they were together at the M. K. & T. coal chutes. "Why don't you return to your wife, Rollin," Cole says he asked. The young man did not relish the suggestion, apparently, for he replied hotly: "You wouldn't want to live with a woman who proved herself to be false on three different occasions, would you?"

He again referred to a man in Ohio, but mentioned no names. He drew a letter from his pocket, Mr. Cole says, with the remark that it contained facts relating to former meetings with the man. It was addressed to Mrs. Anna Hudson, general delivery, Paola, Kansas. The husband intercepted the letter, he said.

While the two men were talking, Mrs. Hudson approached. She was attired in a house dress and had just come down from the home, a short distance away. She had been weeping, Mr. Cole says, and asked her husband to come back and live with her. Hudson, is said to have again accused her of infidelity. When Cole left them, a reconciliation was being talked of. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson were seen going into their home. Mr. Cole says he did not talk to Hudson again. Apparently they had made up their quarrel, because he saw them sitting on the porch next evening, with their arms about each other.

The quarrel and separation of the Hudson last Decoration Day had to do with a letter received by Mrs. Hudson. On that morning, Mrs. Hudson met James A. Jones, a substitute mail carrier, two blocks east of her home. Jones noticed that the woman was breathlessly expectant when she asked if he had a letter for her. He recollects handing her a letter and remembered that she was greatly excited as she tore open the envelope. Mrs. Hudson continued on her way up town.

Hudson did not work on Thursday and neighbors declare he was on the front porch most of the day. In the evening they went to the cemetery and there were seen quarrelling; the husband's voice rising at times to a high angry pitch, the wife conciliatory at every turn. When they returned, Hudson, still angry, scribbled the following note on an old paper bag: "Anna—Well, I am going to K.C. Leave my clothes and those too pictures with Charley. I will be back next faul and get them. You will not be bothered with me eny more. Good-bye. ROLLIN"

According to the story of neighbors, told at the inquest held by Coroner J. V. Ferrel, of Louisburg, last Friday, Hudson left home, starting in the direction of the coal chutes, saying he was going after some coal. He did not return until Sunday night. It was on that evening she saw him talking with Cole at the coal chutes.

J.S. Hudson, father of the murdered man, arrived in Paola last Saturday night to take charge of the bodies. He is past 60 years of age. For many years he has been a justice of the peace at North Industry, Ohio. He was astonished when he first heard that Mrs. Hudson was at Paola. "I did not hear from Rollin and supposed that his wife was still at her home in Massillon," he said. Mr. Hudson spoke of the times his son and wife separated, and connected with each circumstance that name of a former lover of Mrs. Hudson. This man's home was in Akron, Ohio, he said, and he had caused Mr. and Mrs. Hudson to move from town to town. Two weeks ago, he learned, while talking with Jacob Axxe, father of Mrs. Hudson, at Massillon, this man had left Akron. It is believed he came West. Mr. Hudson, accompanied by the bodies, left last Tuesday afternoon for Massillon, where the burial will take place.

Rollin Hudson was 21 years of age, according to his father, and Mrs. Hudson was one year his senior. They were married October 24, 1910, at Massillon. Shortly after their marriage, the husband's health failed, and worried by domestic troubles, he came to Kansas. He improved his health and after the second reconciliation with his wife, he again came to this section, intending to make his permanent home here.

On the night of the double murder, Mrs. Joseph Longmeyer was awakened about 12 o'clock by the falling of a lamp chimney in the dining room of her home. She jumped out of bed in time to see a man disappear through the back door. The screen of the rear window had been torn off by this midnight visitor and through this window gained entrance to the home. Sadie Longmeyer, 8 years old, says she saw the stranger leaning over her mother's bed. A kimono, thought by the police to belong to Mrs. Hudson, was found on the dining room floor. Mrs. Longmeyer turned the dress over to the authorities about 10 o'clock next morning, several hours before the discovery of the murders.

A heavy tamping pick, believed at first to be covered with human hair and blood, was found early last Monday morning beneath the Frisco lunch room by Charles S. Gibson. This building is within 200 yards of the scene of the murder. The handle of the pick was missing. Many believed this to have been the weapon used by the murderer. Sid Rawson disposed of this theory, when he told that the pick had been used by him to dig fish worms for a year or more.

After the discovery, a gang of men resumed work in the grass and underbrush in the vacant property west of the scene of the crime, searching for additional clews. Three men, with scythes, cut the long weeds and grass under the direction of the sheriff, covering a territory of three acres, which surrounds the Hudson, Stump and Longmeyer homes. The implement with which the crime was committed is still missing, however, J.L. Ghent, of the Kansas City police department joined Sheriff Chandler in his hunt for the murderer, last Sunday night.

About 11:30 o'clock on the night of the murder, A.L. Johnston, traveling salesman for the Ridenour-Baker Grocery Company, of Kansas City, says he saw a wildly excited man at the Frisco depot. Mr. Johnston came to Paola on this train from the south. "The man attempted to board the train before the passengers had gotten off and the conductor had to use him roughly to keep him away from the steps while we alighted," said Johnston. He was a young man, according to Johnston, and wore a straw sailor hat and rather dark suit of clothes. He says he would remember the stranger if he again saw him.


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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)