The Washington times., 1901-08-24
MYSTERY OF THE WEAPON.
Ownership of the Revolver OF the
Ayres Tragede Unknown.

! The identity of the owner of the revolt
/ yer with which Mrs. Lola Ida Henry
Blnine is alleged to have shot James
Seymour Ayres at the Kenmore Hotel on
the morning of May Is last is apparently
as much shrouded in mystery as ever.
From information received by the police
| they had reason &c believe that the
weapon in question had been the property
of Jules Henry, Mrs. Bonine's brother,
who lives in St. Joseph, Mo. Yesterday
word was received from Detective Ser
| geant Michael Muller, who was sent to
| that city to trace down tine clue, that the
| man who had nickel plated the weapon
/ for Mr.. HENRY had identified the weapon
with which Ayres WIS killed as the one
on which he had worked. Tie despatch
also stated. however. that the dealer who
sold MI Henry the revolver positivey
| declared that the weapon was not the
one bought by Mr.. Henry.
| Ever since the discovery of the tragedy
| on the morning of May 10 the detectives
| have searched in every direction to estab-
! lish the identity of the owner of the
| weapon with which the shooting was
| done, but although they have diligently
| followed every clue, their work so lar
| has been in vain. At one time It was
| thought that a valuable clue had been
| obtained when it was found that a
weapon of the same make had been SOLD
at Walfords store on Pennsylvania Ave
nue. to a man who gave the name OF /. q.
Sweebill and his address as 533 III Street
northw est Investigation proved that
there was no such number on the street
named and that there was no such name
as Sweebin in any of the directories of
the thirteen principal cities OF the
country.
The revolver sold was registered as No
sol and that number was also borne upon
the cylinder of the revolver with which
Ayres was killed. The weapon with
which the murder WAS committed also
bore the numbers 2.50l IpoE the portion of
the barrel extending. over the cylinder,
and 092, J0l upon the frame of the butt
under the rubber grips. AS only the
terminal figures agreed 1t was concluded
that the identity of the weapon was not
established.
Recently the police came into the pos
session of an anonymous communication
from St. Joseph, Mo-, stating that Mr..
Henry had owned such revolver and
that there was reason to believe that the
weapon with which tie murder had been
committed was his. The police au.hori-
ties of st. Joseph were communicated
with and ouch announcement received
that Detective Muller was given the
weapon and sent on the secret mission.
He alone of all the members of the Police
Department. excepting Major Sylvester
and Captain Boardman. knew of the pur-
pose of his mission, and 1t was given out
that he was going to Terra Haute on
other business. 1t was the desire of the
District Attorneys Office to secure the
Information. If II was true. and keep it
secret surprise to be brought out at
the trial. Detective Muller was even in
structed not to communicate with the
Office, for fear that something about his
trip might leak out.
Yesterday morning. however when the
story reached the public, Captain Board
man telcgraphed to Detective Muller TO
know the result of his Investigations and
received the information that while the
nickel platter Identified the weapon. the
dealer who sold the one to Mr.. Henry
stated positively that it was not the one
that he had sold to Mrs. Bonine's
brother
Detective Muller viii probably continue
his invs stigations in st. Joseph In the
endeavor to secure something definite re-
garding the ownership of the weapon.