WIFESLAYER FEELS REMORSE.
"She Was the Best Woman in the
Whole World," Says Fletcher.
E. C. Fletcher, the teamster who stabbed his wife to death Monday night on the front porch of her father's house, 530 West Eighth street, is still being held by the police pending action by the coroner's jury. The coroner said last night, however, that he ha not yet set the date for the inquest so it may be necessary for the prosecutor to file a charge against Fletcher without waiting for such action. That possibly will be done today.
When Fletcher was placed under arrest his first words were:
"I hope she ain't hurt much."
Later Bert S. Kimbrell, an assistant prosecutor, took his statement. he talked freely because he did not know his wife was dead. "Yes, I hit her," he said. "I guess I had a knife in my hand at the time. Yes, it was a knife. I love her and hit her because she would not come back to me and go to Oklahoma away from her relatives and this d--- town. I just hit her once but I lost my temper."
The bloody knife with a blade three inches long was found on Fletcher. He admitted that it was the one with which the murder was done. When told that his wife was dead he said simply, without the sign of a tear or the least emotion, "Well now I am awfully sorry for that, for I certainly loved that woman. She was the best woman in the whole world."
