IN QUARREL OVER GIRL.
Early Morning Murder on the Inde-
pendence Public Square.
As the result of a quarrel over Fannie May Hughes, to whom both at been attentive, Van Tappen shot Clyde St. Clair at the southwest corner of the public square in Independence at 1:20 o'clock this morning. The bullet went through the forehead and St. Clair died without a word. His body lay on the sidewalk where it had fallen for more than two hours, until the coroner could reach Independence.
Last night there was a dance at the home of the girl's father, J. Melvin Hughes, who lives on a farm four mile northeast of Independence. Both young went. They returned early in the morning and were discussing their differences when the shooting occurred.
Tappen, who lives at 134 South Pendleton, went to police headquarters in Independence and gave himself up to Sergeant W. W. Twyman.
In a statement he made there her said that St. Clair had drawn a pistol and that thereupon he, Tappen, had fired. After St. Clair, who was the son of George St. Clair, Independence street commissioner, fell dying, Tappen took his pistol. Both the3 weapons he laid on the sergeant's desk when he went to surrender. Tappen is 23. So is St. Clair. Tappen and St. Clair had been the best of friends, it is said, except on the subject of Miss Hughes.
Fannie May Hughes, although less than 19 years of age, is divorced. A year ago she received a decree freeing her from the Kansas City man with whom she had eloped. Their wedded life was brief. The gamut of domestic infelicity was run in six weeks. Then they separated.
