TREATS BLACK HAND
LETTER AS A JOKE.
J. B. MARKEY HAS NO THOUGHT
OF GIVING UP $10,000.
Note Demanding Money Was Sent
to a Wealthy Farmer From Den-
ver -- Believed to Be the
Work of a Crank.
J. B. Markey, whose children live at 1303 West Thirty-ninth street, but who spends most of the time on his big farm in Harrison county, treats as a joke the "Black Hand" letter sent him from Denver, demanding $10,000 under pain of death.
It was last Friday when Mr. Markey received the letter, postmarked at Denver. At that time he was on his farm near Gilman City, Mo., and the missive had been forwarded to him from Kansas City. Laughingly he handed the letter to his friends and then forgot about it.
Being advised, however, to send the letter to Denver authorities, Mr. Markey did so, and since yesterday morning nothing more had been heard of it. Then it developed that the lives of his children were being weighed against the $10,000.
The letter was poorly written and demanded that the $10,000 be apportioned in designated bills, to be delivered at a certain address on Wellton avenue, in Denver, within thirty days of the date of the letter. No mention was made of the three children. Certain reports, however, have frightened the children, who are ignorant of the exact demands made upon their father.
Yesterday morning W. F. Farren, 3136 Central avenue, a nephew of Mr. Markey, read the letter in a morning paper, and hastened to the Markey home to break the news to the family. Some friends had preceded him and had talked with Miss Markey over the telephone. Though he assured the children that no harm whatever attended them, their fears were not fully dispelled. Last night Miss Markey refused to discuss the matter.
Speaking of the letter, Mr. Farren said:
"It is doubtless the work of some crank who knows that Mr. Markey has some money, and thinks that he can be bluffed into giving it up. Mr. Markey has not the slightest fear of harm resulting form the affair, and treats it only as a joke.
"Mr. Markey has no intention of complying with the demand. He pays less attention to the affair than do his friends."
