From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 6, 1914:

• “Elmer Stebbins, a Clinton man, will have to stand trial in the February term of district court for assault with intent to kill. Stebbins is charged with having fired three shots at Charles E. Harrell, a farmer living about a mile out of town…. According to the story told by witnesses at the preliminary hearing yesterday, Stebbins had been in company with Harrell’s wife a number of times. On the afternoon of Dec. 22, witnesses stated that Stebbins waited in an old and unoccupied house half way between Clinton and the Harrell home and that he was joined here by Mrs. Harrell. Harrell followed her to the house and called her out to talk to her. He persuaded her to go home with him. They started to go and then turned to go back toward Clinton. As they passed the vacant house Harrell claims that Stebbins stepped to the door and fired three shots at him with a revolver. Harrell’s wife supports his testimony. None of the shots touched Harrell.”
• “William Jennings Bryan, the orator, the candidate, ‘The Great Commoner’ as he was called, now a busy man weighed down with the cares attached to the office of Secretary of State, still retains those qualities which made him the favorite of Kansas. Bryan, the spellbinder, is as much so now as when in years gone by the Chautauqua crowds scrambled past the ticket windows and into the big tents and halls to hear him. Two thousand students and several hundred townsfolks hastened to the Robinson Gymnasium on the hill yesterday afternoon to have an opportunity of seeing the head of the President’s cabinet in his new position. That crowd arrived and packed the gym long before the secretary’s special came to Lawrence. Yet for nearly an hour that crowd sat there, the charm of the great spellbinder was already at work. Then, for another hour, the great Democrat held that same crowd, held them with what might have been a boresome campaign speech had it come from others than William Jennings Bryan. For an hour the secretary lauded the powers of Woodrow Wilson, explained the accomplishments of the new administration, he plunged into the realms of tariff, currency, trusts and kindred affairs of the nation, all of them subjects which debating societies would welcome for discussion but which are not calculated to hold two thousand or more students in their seats for an hour and fifteen minutes.”