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Show i ; 4 - ' 1 , 1 1 h ' ! " ' ' - V lilt J. 1 x-. All ncslitutlca ' V.'ithin His Porrer to' riclLsr cf Victim, and Pe:; I: Kot, Applaud. I.TCHAL. Kan., Jan. 30. A remark-- remark-- crl;..::, u case has come under the e, cf the authorities here through crn version to Christianity of W, L J'V '"'ts- L:st June Coombs shot and V! 1 Arthur Smith, an elgKteen-yeSr--! boy, and escaped trial because his 'v"c had attracted to much attention t-at it was Impossible to obtain a Jury . the county. 'At a revival .. meeting Coombs was cc averted and he has announced his : ; -ntion of going into court and ask i - T that he be sentenced for his crime. - tne mother of the boy he shot he I t -deeded his home here and has I ror .ised her that if he is not made to ray- the penalty of his crime he will ray $20 a month as long as he lives. Coombs is a section foreman on the Chicago,. Rock Island & Pacific rail- , way. . A I'ay Not Be Sentenced. . J The surprise of this new develop- i ment in the Smith murder case has set I the people of Liberal into a frenzy of j pactional excitement. There is nothing the town cannot do for Capt. Niles, the Salvation Army revivalist, who has secured se-cured Coombs conversion. It is not believed be-lieved that Coombs will be placed un- j der sentence for his crime. .Coombs Ehot and killed Arthur Smith on account of a quarrel between Coombs son and the two Smith boys. On the Coombs place, about a mile out of Liberal, is a small lake, frequented by the town boys as a swimming hole. Among the boys were the son of Coombs and the two Smith boys, of n horn Arthur was the older. Triyial Quarrel. ' The boys quarreled over some trivial matter, and on one occasion the younger young-er Smith boy was badly used by young Coombs, who had found him alone. At the next meeting Arthur Smith caught and held Coombs while the younger brother administered to him a sound thrashing. On the following day the! senior Coombs went to the carwhere Arthur was working and ordered him uever. to appear at the lake again. Smith made some taunting reply and threw coal at Coombs, who drew his revolver and fired three shots, all of them taking effect in the boy's body. Smith died ten hours later. . j Y7as Talk of Lynching. j The shooting created great exclte"-rent exclte"-rent and there waB talk of lynching, i Coombs was held for trial-' without bond, but was subsequently released on t a beas -corpus proceedings, rfiia bond was $5000. , . , ' When- his trial was called It was found impossible to secure a Jury and Coombs was released on bond. Two weeks ago a Salvation Army Captain, N'iles. accompanied by his son and daughter, arrived at Liberal from Beaver City, Okla., and opened a revival. re-vival. In the course Of a week Coombs! announced his conversion and finally went with Capt. Niles and others to the mother of Smith, who is a widow, ind confessed to killing her son. He stated that he had sought the boy to kill him." He promised that so long as he earned money he would give her $20 Out of his monthly wages and that he r. ould turn over to her his town property prop-erty as part recompense for the death ot the boy, which he did. |