make the statement of my own free will, and swear before
Almighty God that it is the truth. I am an illegitimate son of Elihu
Clark. My mother, Harriet Burgess, has since married and is now known as
Hattie Thorwald. She will confirm the statements herein contained.

"I was adopted by a woman named Hines, of the city of Omaha, whose name
I took. Some years later this woman married and had a daughter, of whom
I shall speak later.

"I attended preparatory school in the East, and was sent during
vacations to a tutoring school, owned by Mr. Henry Livingstone. When I
went to college Mr. Livingstone bought a ranch at Dry River, Wyoming,
and I spent some time there now and then.

"I learned that I was being supported and sent to college from funds
furnished by a firm of New York lawyers, and that aroused my suspicion.
I knew that Mrs. Hines was not my mother. I finally learned that I was
the son of Elihu Clark and Harriet Burgess.

"I felt that I should have some part of the estate, and I developed a
hatred of Judson Clark, whom I knew. I made one attempt to get money
from him by mail, threatening to expose his father's story, but I did
not succeed.

"I visited my mother, Hattie Thorwald, and threatened to kill Clark. I
also threatened Henry Livingstone, and his death came during a dispute
over the matter, but I did not kill him. He fell down and hit his head.
He had a weak heart.

"My foster-sister had gone on the stage, and Clark was infatuated with
her. I saw him a number of times, but he did not connect me with the
letter I had sent. My foster-sister's stage name is Beverly Carlysle.

"She married Howard Lucas and they visited the Clark ranch at Norada,
Wyoming, in the fall of 1911. I saw my sister there several times,
and as she knew the way I felt she was frightened. My mother, Hattie
Thorwald, was a sort of maid to her, and together they tried to get me
to go away."

Bassett looked up.

"Up to that point," he said, "I wrote it myself before I saw him." There
was a note of triumph in his voice. "The rest is his."

"On the night Lucas was killed I was to go away. Bev had agreed to give
me some money, for the piece had quit in June and I was hard up. She
was going to borrow it from Jud Clark, and that set me crazy. I felt it
ought to be mine, or a part of it anyhow.

"I was to meet my mother in the grounds, but I missed her, and I went to
the house. I wasn't responsible for what I did. I was crazy, I guess.
I