The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-11-08
MASON NOT
IDEE<
s ;
Pawnbrok : fails to Re-
q Fac Him.
MORTON MURDER MYSTERY
Developments Fail to Clear
Up the Matter.
Young Mulatto Arrested at Water
town, But Later is Released by
the Police-Governor Crane
Interested in the Case.
MORTON MURDER MYSTERY
Young Mulatto Arrested at Water
n,,x L. p.1aaS1I 6xx

tne uay IN the Mason case which has
puzzled the police Of Boston since Miss
Clara A. Morton was struck down and
killed in Waverly las. Saturday, there
are several striking details. No further
which tends to incrimlnate in the case
Alan g. Mason, the member Of a promi-
nent family. who is under arrest on the
charge Of murder. In fact, the police
were inclined tonight to the belief that
Mason stood out clearer in the light of
Of Joseph Nemser. the jeweler. to iden-
tify Mason as the man who had offered
for sale miss Morton's watch last Satur-
day night.
An important detail In connection with
the disposal of the watches was the es-
to blishment tonight that the signatures
on the checks kept on file by the jeweler
for identification of persons who offered
same person. This confirms the story
that the two women were murdered by
the same man.
Another late incident was the arrest
on suspicion tonight at WATERFOWL of a
young mulatto. He was brought here but
Jeweler Nemser failed to identify him.
The man was released.
So serious has the case become that
Governor Crane has interested himself
and looked over the scene of the murder
while on visit today to Waverly.
Mason Closely Pressed.
Prompted by the finding in a pawnshop
here OF the watches of Agnes McPhee
and Clara A. Morton, the two women
who have been murdered in assault cases
in this vicinity. the police are pressing
with all their energy to place IL possible
the responsibility for the crime.
1t has been learned that a negro en-
ployed by the Mason family has gone
away from the city and the police cannot
ascertain where he is. 1t was a negro
who pawned the Morton watch. The
pawnbroker, Joseph Nemser, in whose
store both the McPhee and Morton
watches were found. was at police head
quarters today and repeated his stories
about the watches after which he started
for the East Cambridge jail to see Mason
for the purpose of identifying him.
Captain Dugan of the Bureau of Grim
inal Investigation, said that Nemser had
insisted that 1t was a mulatto who offered
Miss Morton's watch for sale Saturday
night and thaE the same individual
brought the watch to the store on Mon
day and sold 1t for a. He further stated
that another negro, older, heavier, and
darker than the mulatto Joined the latter
just as he was receiving the money. An
apparent coincidence was noted today in
connection with the pawning both the
McPhee and Morton watches In that the
address given in the McPhee case was q
Grove Street and in the Morton the same
number of q, in Greenwich Street. was
given.
In probing the case at Waverly, the
State police have found evidence that Ma
son had made at least two attempts to
have women meet him at night at THE
Oaks" a section of the Metropolitan
Park reservation not far from the Nc
Lean Insane Asylum. where Mason was
patient, and on the grounds Of which
Miss Morton was killed.
Failed to Identify Him.
Nemser failed to Identify Mason. At the
jail Mason was placed among six other
men and Nemser carefully scrutinized
each one. He picked out one man as the
person who pawned the watch, but 1t
was not Mason.
The negro who has charge of the house
where the Masops live was about his
work as usual today although the police
claimed that he had gone away. He said
RScN
and could have been found there by the
police II they had looked for him.
During the day the attention OF CHIEF
Wade was called to published inter-
view between Nemser and reporters In
which Nemser said that he was paid TO
stick to his story that a mulatto sold
the watch. The Chief said:
THAT is perfectly outrageous The
story Is all bosh. Nemser was told that
he would be paid for closing up his shop
and for going about with the officers to
help them on the case. He will be rein-
bursed also for what he gave for the two
watches. He is a poor Jew and very
much excited. and he told me that he
was besieged by so many reporters that
he did not know what he was saying or
had said"
Chief Wades's statement that Nemser
hardly knew what ne was saying seems
to have been borne out by the fact that
he told the police positively today that
the man who pawned the McPhee watch
was a white man and later admitted that
he might have been colored man, In
fact, he rather thought he was.
Similar Change Of Opinion.
A similar change Of opinion was noted
in connection with the man with whom
Nemser claims tried to pawn the Morton
watch Saturday night. At first the pawn
broker was very positive that it was
negro. Then he said he was of light COM
plexion and might have been mulatto.
Later he admitted that he might have
been a Spaniard or an Italian.
The story that a strange negro was In
waverly Saturday evening was made
knoUn by a woman who lives in Win
chester and who, at Porter's Station. in
Cambridge, on the Fitchburg Division Of
the Boston and Maine Railroad. saw
negro purchase ticket for Waverly
state detectives Hammond and Dexter
went to winchester tonight and together
"a it'll Chief of Police Mcintosh interviewed
the woman. who Is a nurse Her name
at pI esent is withheld
she saws that Saturday evening she
started for Weston and waited in the
Cambridge Station for her train from 7:SO
until p. m.
During this time she had an excellent