Mexico weekly ledger., 1888-07-26
STILL UNEXPLAINED.
THE KANSAS CITY ..TIME:s" ON
MOSBY'S DEATH.
An Interview with DIR. j. w. Ellis,
who was Assigned to Mosby's
House as a Visitor to the
State Lectureship.
Very little light is thrown upon

Very little light is thrown upon
the mystery surrounding the killing
OF Prosecuting Attorney Mosby ut
Mexico, Mo-, by additional reports
from that place, says the Kansas
City Times. The citizens of Mexico
are not inclined TO talk much about
the matter rs Il rule, declaring their
belief that the less the affair is dis
cussed the better it will be for all
concerned. The MYSTERY might be
cleared up by Mr.. and Mrs. Marx
Stevenson, but thus far they adhere
TO the story told by them at the in
quest when both of them declared
that they had not known Mosby.
DR.. 7. w. Ellis of Plattsburg was
i'll the city yesterday on his way
home from Mexico, where he at
tended the meeting OF the Missouri
| State Christian Lectureship. He
was in Mexico at the time of the
shooting. In fact, with Mr.. 4. F.
Smith, chairman OF the State pro
hlbltion committee, he had been
assigned to the residence of Mr..
Mosby for entertainment, by the
committee having the meeting in
charge. 1t so happened, however,
that Monday night DR.. Ellis and
Mr.. Smith went to the Ringo house
and owing to certain circum-
stances they remained there during
the night instead OF going to Mr..
Mosby's- Had they followed out
the original plan and gone to Mr..
Mosby's resideaee the probabilities
are that he would not have been
shot.
II had a talk with Mr.. Fry, who
was Mr.. Mosby's law partner"
said DR.. Ellis, "and his theory is
that Mosby went to the Stevenson
house by mistake. He said that
Mosby had confided his affairs to
him very much and he had never
heard him mention the name of the
Steyensons. He had never said
anything that indicated that he
knew Mrs. Stevenson or had had
anything to do with her. Mr.. Fry
expressed the greatest faith in the
high integrity of his dead partner
and said that he had always been
faithful in his church work.
"About 3 o'clock Monday after
noon Mosby left his office and going
to a saloon took !, drink. When he
| came back to the office he asked if
| a certain man, not Stevenson, had
been in to pay his rent. Mr.. Fry
replied in the negative, ~whereupon
Mosby remarked that the man
would be in aud went out again.
Later in the afternoon Mosby re-
turned and again asked if the man
had been in, and when Fry again
answered no. he said angrIly i
Pm going to have that rent Mr..
Fry believes that Mosby had no
intention that night of going to
| Stevenson's but was going to a
house next door to collect rent and
and by mistake in the darkness got
to the wrong house. There is
also Il diversity of opinion as to
whether Mosby entered Stevenson's
house at ALL" continued DR.. Ellis.
"From the range of the bullet,
which was downward, some hold
that he must have been shot before
he reached the doorway, as he
would have had to step up about
eighteen inches to enter the house.
They argue hat the direction taken
by the bullet is just such as would
be given by a man firing at another
from behind q doorway just as he
reached the house. Others hold
that the range of the bullet indi-
Gates that Mosby must have been
in a crouching attitude when shot.
The only positive evidence which
exists to the etfeo. that Mosby had
entered the house before he was
shoti is that Of the Stevensons. A
man living near there, however,
says that he heard the three shots
and that the first one had a sort of
smothered sound as If it might have
been fired in the house."
The fact that Mosby was an
elder in the church and superin-
tendent of the Sunday school added
to the sensational nature of the
affair.
r~