guardianship of her children. But in July 1923, before she had
enacted these changes, she, too, died of suspected poisoning.
Morrison stole much of her fortune. According to letters that
Morrison wrote, he planned to sell a portion of the estate he had
swindled to none other than H. G. Burt, the banker who appeared
to be involved in the killing of Vaughan. Tillie’s death was never
investigated, though Morrison admitted to an associate that he
had killed her and asked him why he didn’t get an Indian squaw
and do the same. Marvin Stepson, who had spent years
researching what had happened to his grandparents, told me,
“Kelsie murdered them both, and left my father an orphan.”
Marvin Stepson is the grandson of William Stepson, who was a
victim of the Reign of Terror. Credit 72And that was not the end of the plot. After William Stepson and