Hobart Weekly Chief (Hobart, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 21, 1909 Page: 1 of 8
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HOBART WEEKLY CHIEF
°klm. Hitto ■ Official Paper of Kiowa County. Largest Bonafide Circulation of Any Publication in the County.
22*LStioi iv — .
VOL. 8.
HOBART, KIOWA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA, THURSDAY, JANUARY Jl, 190«>.
NO. lb
IN THE DISTRICT COURT.
7he Roop Trial Still in Progress.—Case will Prob•
ably not be Given to the Jury Before the
First of Next Week.
Jenkins' Dying
Statement
I «u sitting in the dining
room—I vu eating dinner
and J act, the porter, said.
Roop wants to sas me. Scott
walked out with Tom Con-
ner, and Aliee, my sister,
2 went out with them. Roop
aaid, "I want te see yeu."
We went up stairs to room
No. 1. Mrs. Roop followed
us. He shut the door and
locked it, and aaid, "Jeaa,
you have got to fight me."
We were juat ineide door—
he pulled gun. 1 eaid, "Scott
don't shoot." He ahot, and
said, "take the gun," after
I had got it from him.
When he drew the gun, he
pointed it towarda me, and
1 grabbed it and wrenched
it out of his hand.
Signed in the presence
of—
Dr. Holland,
Father Kicks,
Dr. Roop,
Miss Reagen,
M. Roop,
Mrs. M. Reagen,
Lafe Knowles,
John Parham.
between the attorneys for the
proaecution and defenae, sub-
mitted a* evidence and marked
exhibit "A."
The above is purported to be
the dying statement ot Jesa Jen-
kins and was, after a lively tilt
Exhibit "B" in ths oase ia in
the form of a letter whioh the de-
fenae have introduced to prove
that the inaanity plea which they
set up in the opening statement
ia well taken. It is claimed that
the letter waa written by a aiater
to Roop juat prior to the murder
of her two children and her aui-
oide. The letter aa submitted ia
aa followa:
Blue Spring, Neb.
Oct. 2, 1888.
1 write this to clear any
and every one. (Jeorge was
too goed to me. I take them
along with me for I can't
see their future and I take
mine for I know I am going
crazy and that would be
more than to die. O Ood I
have prayed for the right.
I have fought to keep up
before I said anything and
thought I would.
Lula P.
aoooooooooooaoaoooooooooQC
The faot was established early
in the trial that the lineof defense
would be upon insanity and that
the state would endeavor to es-
tablish the fact that the crime
was committed while the defend-
ant was under the influence of i
liquor.
In his opening statement to the
jury, Thomas Conner made the
statement that Roop wan insane
now, waa inaane at the time Jen-
kina waa ahot, and was in fact
inaane at the time of his birth.
Proaecutor 8tandeven immedi-
ately aaked the oourt to diacharge
the jury in this trial and impanel
a jury to paea upon Roop's sani-
ty. Council for the defenae of
fered a very vigoroua proteat to
thia on account of the jeopardy
in which it placed their client.
After much argument and a
recess taken by the court to look
up the authoritiea on the point,
the motion waa finally overruled
and the trial waa proceeded
with.
Early in the trial the linea of
proaecution and defense were
clearly drawn, that of the proae-
cution being that the deed waa
done while the defendant waa un-
der the influence of liquor, and
the defenae aeeking an acquittal
on the ground of insanity.
Clifford Ball, the firat witneas
oalled by the atate, and who waa
a guest of the house at the time
of the tragedy, testified that he
did not deteot the amell of liquor
upon the defendant the morning
on which the killing took place.
Jack Pearaon, porter, teatified
that defendant had been drinking
heavily the night before.
J. P. Williams, another guest
at the hotel, gave the first de-
tailed account of the occurrences
surrounding the tragedy, which
was in substance as follows:
"Roop came to my room about
10:30 in the morning and told me
GROWTH
We invite our customers to look at the growth in
deposits of this bank, as shown below, and prov-
ing this A GOOD BANK in a QOOD TOWN AND
COUNTRY.
FIGURES
.Ian. 1, 1902
t 68,427.6;*
Jan. 1, 1903
93,990 00
Jan. 1, 1904
96.007.96
Jan. 1, 1905
63,'. 87.94
Jan. 1, 1906
122,961.43
Jan. 1, 1907
199,779.29
Jan. 1, 1908
191,667.18
Jan. 1,1909
262,164.27
CITY STATE
BANK.
Jt Good Bank in A Hood Town. D.
I. WOLFISGER, Cashier.
Hobart's Big Department Store
Reserves this Space to Keep Their
Patrons Posted on the Question:
"WHY IS A BARGAIN?"
^ix/e$J/c7e
that ho wanted to aee me. 1 lett
my room and we went to another
room. After we were in the room
Roop said to me,'I'vegot to show
these fellows where I am at." At
Roop's request I turned the key
in the door. Then he opened a
bill book and showed me a die-
oharge he received when he waa
mustered out of the army. In a
few minutes he produced a bottle
of whiskey and asked me to take
a drink, but I refused. In a lit-1
tie while I left the room. Some,
time later, while I was sitting in j
my room talking to my wife and
Mrs. Stewart, Jenkins and Roop
entered the room just across the
hall from my room. In a few
minutes Mrs. Roop came up
stairs and called to Soott to open
the door. My wife told her that
Jess was with him, and she then
came into my room and sat down ,
on the bed. Just then a pistol
shot rang out and Mrs. Roop
screamed and said aomethiug 1 i
did not understand, and 1 rushed
out of the room and to the door
of room No. 14. Jest as I was
trying to break the door open,
Jenkins opened the door and
came out into the hall. He was
holding a revolver by the barrel
in his left hand and the right
hand was pressed against the
left side of his abdomen. When
he saw me he said: 'Williams, he
has shot me.' I assisted Mr.
Jenkins down stairs, and on the
way he said, 'If I had known he
was going to hurt me I could
have prevented it.'
Sheriff John W. Parham testi-
fied that after Roop had been
turned over to him he acted like
a crazy man. "His eyes were
dilated ar.d he seemed very
wild. 1 repeatedly oautioned
him about making any statement
as it might be used against him
at the time ot the trial, but he
would not keep still. 'I shoe him,
and I shot to kill,' was one state-
ment he made, as testified to by
the sheriff. The man had every
appearance of being orazy.I couli
not smell whiskey, although i
was very oloso to him, and from
his aotions I would not have
taken him to be drunk.
The testimony of Dr. A. W.
Holland showed that he bad been
oalled to render professional ser-
vices to Jess Jenkins after the
shooting ocourred. The doctor
described the wound as one that
was necesssrily mortal."He knew
when his statement was made
that he was going to die, and he
wanted his right in the Catholio
church," said Dr. Holland in
answer to the question as to
whether or not the unfortunate
man knew he was to die.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorn-
ey Oscar Simpson testified that
he was present at the time the
dying statemeut was made, and
that he wrote out the statement
word for word as it was spoken,
Cousel for defense objected to
the statement being admitted as
evidence on the ground that it
was not a dying statement, in
point of law. The court over-
ruled the objection. Officer Kutch
who arrested Roop, said that he
oould not see that his prisoner
had been drinking, and that he
acted rational. Roop cried on
the way to jail and made the
statement that he had put the
pistol up to Jenkins' side and
shot him to kill.
Attorney Lafe Knowles was the
next to testify. He said that he
was present when Jenkins made
the dying statement, and told the
jury that he heard Mrs. Roop
ask her brother if Scott was try-
ing to kill him. Jenkins ans-
wered that Scott was not trying
to kill him, but that the gun was
discharged while he had hold
of it.
Soott's father, Dr Roop, told
the jury that his son had reoeived
several injuries on the head
while a young man. He was
asked to tell the jury the circum-
stances surrounding the death of
his daughter, Mrs. G. W. Buffen-
barger. Many eyes in the orowd-
ed court room were tear- laden as
the aged man related the sad
story of his daughter's suicide.
Mrs. Buffenbarger was 22 years
old at the time of the tragedy
and was living at Blue Springs,
Neb. Her home was a happy
one. and there was no cause for
the terrible deed she did. As the
note she left by her side says she
knew that she was losing her
mind and did not want to leave
her children to suffer, as she
knew they would. Dr. Roop told
how she had strangled the two
little ones with a oord, leaving
them lying on the bed. The un-
forunate mother waa found on
the floor where she had fallen
after shooting herself twice in
the breasts. The husband, G.W.
Buffenbarger, told practioally
the same story concerning the
tragic death of his wife and chil-
dren.
Scott's mother testified that hsr
son had been injured while a
boy, and that until he waa twelve
yeara he had severe nervous
spells. "My boy waa always of a
sweet disposition and kind heart-
ed at all times." Mrs. Roop alao
testified as to the manner of the
death of her daughter and tw.
little grand children.
Mrs. Scott Roop, wife of the
defendant, was the first witnese
called Monday morning. She
teatified that her husband wait
more or less addioted to the use
of liquor; that he quit drinking
about fifteen months before they
were married and that he did not
resume the habit until about a
year and ten months after they
were married; that she had been
married about eight years. Also
that the habit had been growing
upon him for the past five years.
On the day before the homicide,
said Mrs. Roop: "I saw that he
was greatly excited and I went
to him three or four times and
asked him to lie down, to which
he replied, 'Alioe, don't wofry
about me, I'm alright.'" The
afternoon session opened with
Mrs. Roop still on the stand, but
she was not allowed to answer
some of the more important ques-
tions asked ne,r upon the ground
Continued on last Pa«e.
Something New In
Kitchen Ware
The "1892" Pure Spun Aluminum Ware ia rapidly
coming into use fur cooking purposes. It ia taking
the place of agate and enamel ware becauae while it*
first cost is a trifle more than ordinary ware, it ia
really much cheaper in the long run, as it ia guaran-
teed for twenty-five years and will last practically
a life time.
The genuine "1892" Ware, made only from pure
SPUN (not cast) Aluminum, will not crack, scale, peel,
break, scorch or burn.
It looks like silver but weighs only about one-
quarter as much, is easily cleaned and handled, and
will not rust) corr« de or tarnish. Absolutely pure,
non-poisonous and wholesome; saves money, time and
doctor's bills.
Be aure you «e« the original and «en-
time ware stumped with Che MtJlOf
Croat*. At your dealer#
BOLOM BROS.
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Worrall, Cyrus M. Hobart Weekly Chief (Hobart, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 21, 1909, newspaper, January 21, 1909; Hobart, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc270166/m1/1/: accessed April 20, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.