DIAMONDS MAY CAUSE
ARREST OF MURDERER.
POLICE CLAIM TO KNOW WHO IS
WEARING MASON'S SPARKLERS.
Form Clark Wix and Refuse
to Tell Who Else
They Suspect.
Diamonds, obtained and worn under unusual circumstances have given the police, so they think, a clue which will speedily lead to the solution of the mystery of John Mason's death. On Sunday, January 26, Mason, a young horse trader, disappeared from the house at 1403 Main street, where he roomed. At the time of his disappearance he was supposed to have had on his person $585 cash, a large gold watch, a ring set in a large diamond and a horseshoe scarf pin containing 18 diamonds. The body, stripped of its wealth, was found Sunday on a sand bar near Camden, Mo.
Several weeks after his disappearance detectives, who were working on the case, learned that one of his acquaintances had tried to borrow money from him, and that Mason refused to let him have it. This man is said to be a prominent business man of Kansas City and the police refused to give out his name until something more definite is known about him. This man, according to the detectives, is wearing a ring, the setting of which corresponds identically with the ring worn by Mason on the day he was lost trace of, and the man's bank account suddenly jumped up $900. It is intimated that this man will be arrested on a formal charge today.
Besides this one ring there were other ones, all diamonds, which figured largely, it is said, in the arrest of Clark Wix, a liveryman. Wix is supposed to know something of the disappearance of Mason.
The time limit for Wix's imprisonment for investigation ends this morning when a definite charge will be placed against him today or he will be released.
That Mason, for the body found at Camden was undoubtedly that of Mason,m was murdered, seems to go beyond question. . The wound on the back of his head just behind his ear, was made by some blunt instrument, presumably a hammer. On his write wrist the flesh has become decomposed, and in that place only it is broken. This leads the detectives to believe that there was a struggle when the murder was committed and that Mason was struck severely on the wrist or the skin was bruised and torn by twisting.
Phil Kirk of the Kirk detective agency says that he does not believe that Mason's body was in the water over two or three weeks. The body was well preserved, which would be impossible if it had been in the water since January 26. It is Kirk's belief that Mason's murderers committed the deed in the center of the business district and then carried the body to the river front in a hack. It would seem, according to his idea, that the murderers, for he has no doubt that there was more than one, buried him in a shallow grave in the sand on the river front. The high water of the past two weeks has served to do away with the old water line and much of the sand bank has been washed away. It was with the rise of the river that the body came to the surface. If it had been in the river long it would have floated further down stream than Camden.
The police officers are trying to connect the murder of Mason with the murder of Thomas Fanning, a wealthy stone mason who was killed in his home at 1818 Olive street in January, 1907. Just what this connection is Police Captain Walter Whitsett has not yet divulged to the public.
Early this morning two detectives, an undertaker and Mrs. John Mason left for Camden, where they will view the body and look further into the circumstance of its being found. The body will be brought to Kansas City today for burial.
