POLICE OFFER A CHIP AS
EVIDENCE AGAINST WIX.
Bit of Wood With Message on It Is
Placed in Hands of the
Grand Jury.
With a charge of murder in the first degree against him, Clark Wix was taken before the grand jury yesterday to testify in the investigation into the death of John Mason, a horse trader, who police claim was murdered by Wix on January 26. Mason's body was found in the Missouri river near Camden on May 31.
At a preliminary hearing before Justice of the Peace Mike Ross a few days ago, Wix was released on a $10,000 bond. Yesterday afternoon Wix was held in the witness room of the grand jury, but was not called to testify. He will be called again this morning. It is unusual for a grand jury to summon as a witness any person charged with the crime being investigated, and the attorneys for Wix believe the grand jury doubts whether the police have sufficient evidence to indict him.
According to the attorneys the grand jury probably intends to work along altogether different lines than the police have been working on. The police interested in the case were at the court house yesterday with their evidence against Wix. A small chip of wood was in the hands of the grand jury yesterday as evidence. The chip was found on Santa Fe street near Fifteenth by a man who desires the chip returned to him. Upon one side of the chip of wood was the word "Help" and "over," On the opposite side was the following: "Help -- I am in prison on an island one mile north of Quindaro. Was brought here by Clark Wix." The police believe the handwriting on the chip is that of John Mason, the murdered man.
