Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-11-21
CLAY COUNTY'S MURDERS.
NO WONDER THE GOOD CITIZENS
ARE THOROUGHLY AROUSED.
For Two Years Murders Have Been Of
Frequent Occurrence and Some
of Them Have Been
DiabOlical.

The wave of crime that has swept over
Clay count for the past two years and
caused the law-abiding people there so
much modification and righteous indig-
nation is a condition that has confronted
the people of other counties in the state.
Crime. 1t appears, comes in waves. Wheth-
er there are occult influences that produce
these very undesirable conditions or wheth-
er they come of their WI accord, and, Xix
Topsy. Just happen Is something over
which different opinions are held. Clay
county has had quite enough Of it, so the
people there are free to state, and they are
supporting the efforts of the officers and
courts in their endeavor to apprehend GRIM
inals and enforce the laws in a way that
makes punishment very certain.
Less than two years ago the wave hit
Clay county. The first was the murder
of an old hermit who was supposed to be
the possessor of money. whose home was
in 4 lonesome place not far from Smith,
Vile: Only a few months later and be-
fore the citizens had unearthed the leas:
clue to the murderers. the second murder
took place near Excelsior Springs. where
another hermit. whose gold was supposed
to be boarded in his hovel. was butchered
and the house pillaged. There has never
been the slightest trace discovered of who
did these murders.
Still later. and while feeling was high.
the murder of Mrs. Bette Foley and her
daughter, Fannie. at their home not far
from Liberty. shocked the whole country.
The arrest of William Foley, son and
brother of the murdered women. and the
trial and hung jury. have served to keep
the case very prominently before the
public.
While that was still undecided. the kill
ing of Schamel by his neighbor. Frank
Wade. near Excelsior Springs, a few weeks
ago. gave Clay county another rude shock.
TIL hunt for the man was taken up with
Vtgor and he has been caught, tried, con-
victed and is doing time in the state pen
itentiary now, where he will remain for
twenty years.
While he was in Jail, the heartless muir
der of Belle Carr by her father and the
uncovering of that crime gave the people
Of Clay and other counties a stirring up:
the like of which they never experienced
before. The wave appeared to reach its
elimination in that horrible affair.
Clinton county. that lies just north, Of
Clay. had its experience with a crime
wave several years ago while Judge San
dusky was on the bench of the circuit
court there. The wave that hit Clinton
county was not murder. but criminal as
sault. and at one time there were in the
county eleven men under arrest for that
crime. While some of the cases were de-
ferred from time to time and finally man
aged to fail in conviction, there were 9TH
ers convicted and several got terms in the
penitentiary. AT one time in Lathrop a
fynching was averted only by the prompt
showing of official resistance. The cases
were particularly brutal in many instances
and as they continued to take place the
no bounds. The wave came and spent its
force and retired and since that time the
county has been quite free from anything
Of that character: 1t required much moral
sistance to stop the wave just as it will
in Clay now.