The Morning News

FRIEND TURNS OUT A FIEND.

WEALTHY TENNESSEAN LURED AWAY TO BE MURDERED.

His Assailant a Man He Had Known Since Boyhood and With Whom He Had Been on Terms of Intimate Friendship For Six Years-Beaten Insensible With a Hammer, Robbed of $6,000 and Left For Dead-Chances Against Victim's Recovery-Murderer Arrested.

St. Louis, Mo., June 16.-C. D. Collins, a wealthy Tennessean, was lured to his probable death Tuesday night by a man he had known since boyhood and with whom he had been on terms of intimate friendship for six years.

His assailant is Martin Ensley of Memphis, whose father, Col. Enoch Ensley, was one of the most prominent planters of the south.

Ensley induced his companion to visit Meramec Highlands, a summer resort fifteen miles from here. On the plea of illness he led him to a clump of bushes about seventy-five yards from the hotel. There, stepping behind his victim, he dealt him blow after blow on the head with a hammer he had purchased, presumably for the purpose of committing the murder.

When the pounding had reduced Collins to a state of insensibility, Ensley stooped over the prostrate body and tore from a vest pocket a roll of bills that amounted to $6,000. He started up the hill and passed the money to an accomplice, who is believed to have escaped on a street car.

Then the murderer ran down the path leading to the Meramec river.

Two men saw the assault and robbery and witnessed the transfer of the money and the escape of the principal and his accomplices. Charles Feiter, a baker employed at the inn, and a gardener who had been engaged about the grounds a fortnight, were the witnesses. They ran to the inn and notified Night Watchman Busch and told him the story. Collins was removed to Kirkwood, where a physician dressed his wounds.

Ensley, when arrested, protested his innocence, claiming that he, too, had been assaulted.

All this occurred about midnight. At 2 o'clock this morning, two deputy sheriffs from Clayton, the county seat, arrived at Meramec Highlands. They searched the grounds for a weapon and discovered a new hammer covered with blood. On Ensley was found $600, which at first was supposed to be part of the stolen money. At daybreak, Ensley was driven over to Kirkwood, and identified by Collins as his assailant.

Memphis, Tenn., June 16.-The Associated Press dispatch, announcing the murderous assault upon C. D. Collins at St. Louis last night, by a man supposed to be Martin Ensley, formerly a well known resident of Memphis, has created a decided sensation here.

Many friends of the Ensley family are inclined to discredit the report.

Martin Ensley is one of the best known ex-residents of the Pine Bluff. He is a son of late Enoch Ensley, who was one of the widest known residents of the south, an extensive mine owner near Birmingham, the owner and operator of the largest plantation in the south prior to the war, a money lender and leader in politics and society.

Martin Ensley married Miss Bettie Selden of Memphis, one of the most prominent society belles in the state. The couple did not live happily together, and about a year ago Mrs. Ensley brought suit for divorce, charging non-support. Ensley made no defense and a divorce was granted. A bill in court recently in an item referred to the reduced state of Ensley's finances.