Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-07-22

Tirnes-Her Main Points Corrob-
grated by Other Evidence-It
May Take the Jury Several Days
to Reach a Verdict.
The horrible crime at Moundsville,
Tuesday afternoon, resulting in the
murder of little Stanley Mason, aged
10 years, and the probably fatally
wounding of his Observation-Disclosures
old brother, Willie, surpasses in fiend-
ishness anything ever occurring in this
portion of the country. The entire abb
sence of any conceivable motive for the
murderous deed, and the horrible man
ner in which the little victims were
beaten, cut, bruised and slashed, before
death and Inconsistencies mercifully
came to their relief, stamps the perpe-
traitor as a veritable devil whom Satan
himself would, disown and deny place
in the bottomless pit, or else a maniac
utterly irresponsible for his awful work
and whose being at large is a danger
and menace to any community. The
mystery has not yet been solved-it
may be many days before it is-but the
authorities are putting forth
THEIR UTMOST EXERTIONS,
and nothing will be left undone to cap
ture the guilty party. Up to last even
ing two arrests had been made, but in
neither case was there the slightest
evidence upon which to hold the pris-
oners, and both were discharged. Among
the population of the town and sur
rounding country, which is wrought up
to a high pitch of excitement, there are
many theories, none of which have as
yet proved of any value; but the pre-
ponderance of sentiment is in the di-
rection of insanity as the mental condi-
ton of the murderer-this is mainly for
the reason that no other reasonable mo-
tive would account for the murder OF
two children, and this hypothesis is
strengthened by the nature of the
wounds inflicted. They indicate that
-FOUR DISTINCT WEAPONS
were used upon each boy-first, small
switches, cut from neighboring bushes
or trees; secondly, stout clubs made of
the branches or roots Of trees; third, a
sharp knife or some small instrument
capable of making small clean-cut in
cisions, and lastly, the garden hoe,with
which the finishing strokes were made.
Switches and sticks, smeared with
blood. were found and turned
over yesterday by the author
tiles in the immediate vicinity of
where the childrens' bodies were discoy-
cred Tuesday evening, and close to
where the bloody hoe was also lying,
but up to last evening nothing in the
nature of a pen-knife had been seen.
All these indications suggest that the
little boys were literally tortured for a
long time by the murderer, who beat,
hacked and chopped his vic
tins until his vengeance, mania
or whatever else was the inducing mo-
tive. had been fully gratifed, when he
administered the coup de main with the
hoe. and then fed from the scene of his
crime. leaving, as he supposed, both
boys dead. Stanley, the oldest, lnger-
ed until twenty minutes of three o'clock
this morning, when death ensued.
Willie, the youngest, was still alive
last evening, but his recovery from his
horrible wounds is not expected.
A Register reporter visited the
SCENE OF THE MURDER
Yesterday afternoon and made a care
full examination of the bodies Of the
TWO bows. of the hoe, clubs and switch
es. noted the nature of the wounds and
all the surroundings and circumstances,
so far as they could be ascertained.
There were hundreds of people at the
Mason home and its vicinity during the
day, and by night the grounds about
the house had been tramped over so
much as to make any effort to obtain a
trace of the murderer by his footsteps
futile. The house stands on the hin
side.about two hundred yards northeast
of the corporation line of Moundsvilie,
and is a small and dingy affair, consist
ing of but two rooms. In one of these
rooms. yesterday, the body of the dead
boy was lying, and close by was Will
lie. still living and Under the care of the
physicians.
THE BODY OF STANLEY
was found Tuesday lying about fifty
feet to the west Of the house, on the
hillside. which is there covered with
grass. IL Mas naked when found, ex-
cept the shirt, which had been torn off
the body and tied tightly around his
thighs kThe lads other clothing was
scatt "a about the vicinity on the
grouM The younger boy, Willie, was
fourK about midway between the spot
whfe Stanley lay and the house. His
cloAhing and shoes were on, and the
c6bthing was badly stained with blood.