The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-08
As the Men Who Are Said to Have Sold
Morton and Miss McPhee.
MUCH INTEREST IN THE CASE
SCENE of ONE OF THE MURDERS
VISITED BY GOVERNOR CRANE.
Mason Alleged to Have Been Identi-
fed by n Woman as a Man Who
Annoyed Her Last Summer.

ments or the day in the Mason case, Wnlcn
has puzzled the police Of Boston since Miss
Clara A. Morton was struck down and
killed in Waverley last Saturday, there are
several striking details. No further evil
dence. however, has been adduced which
tends to incriminate in the case Alan G.
Mason. the member of prominent family,
who is under arrest on the charge of MUIR
der. In fact, the police are inclined to
the belief that Mason stood out clearer In
the light of an innocent man because of
the failure of Joseph Nemser, the jeweler,
to identify Mason as the man who had
offered for sale Miss Morton's watch last
Saturday night.
An important detail in connection with
the disposal Of watches was the establish
ment tonight that the signatures on the
checks kept on file by the jeweler in identi-
fcation of the persons who offered him the
articles were written by one and the same
person. This confirms the story that the
two women were murdered by the same
man. Another late incident was the ar
rest on suspicion tonight at Watertown
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 in
terested himself and looked over the scene
of the murder while on visit to-day to
Waverley.
NEMsER's STORIES.
The jeweler, Joseph Nemser. in whose
store beth the McPhee and Morton watches
were found, was at police headquarters to-
day and repeated his stories about the
watches. after which he started for the
E,a "a NH iai To Ma for he
purpose of Identifying him. Captain Du-
gan. of the bureau of criminal investiga-
tion, said that Nemser had insisted that
it was a mulatto who offered Miss Nor
tons watch for sale on Saturday night.
and that it was the same individual who
brought the watch to the store on Mon
day and sold it 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 to-day In
connection with the pawning of both the
McPhee and Morton watches in that the
address given in the McPhee case was %
Grove street and in the Morton case the
same number-23-in Greenwich street was
given.
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 per-
son who pawned the watch. but it was not
| Mason. The negro who has charge of the
house where the Masons live was about
| his work as usual to-day, although the
police claimed that he had gone away. He
said to-day that he was at his post yes
| terday and could have been found there
| by the police If they had looked for him.
| In probing the case at Waverley, the state
| police have found evidence that Mason
| had made at least two attempts to have
women meet him at night at ''The Oaks
| q section of the Metropolitan Park reser-
| walton not far from the Mclean Insane
on the grounds of which Miss Morton was
| killed.
| The story that a strange negro was in
waverley Saturday evening was made
known by woman who lives in winches-
ter, and who. at Porter's Station, in Cam
bridge. on the Fitchburg division of the
Boston & Maine Railroad, saw a negro
purchase ticket for Waverley.
State Detectives Hammond and Dexter
went to Winchester tonight and together
with Chief of Police Mcintosh, interviewed
! the woman, who is a nurse Her name at
/ present Is withheld. She says that Sat-
urday evening she started for Weston. and
4
train from 1880 until p. m. During this
| time she had an excellent opportunity of
| observing the actions of two white men
| and negro who were at the station, and
| she told the officers to-day that she was
| positive she could identify the three men
| wherever she might see them.
| The two white men were looking at a
photograph, then one of them said: well,
| we might as well buy ticket" They pur-
| chased single ticket to Waverley and this
| ticket, the nurse says, she saw handed
hxy of
| they passed out of the depot although the
| white men and the negro had previously
manifested no sign of recognition. The
| negro took the same train that she did
| and she saw him alight at Wayerley This
| places the negro in Waverley at S:13. or
| about three-querters of an hour before the
| assault upon Miss Morton was committed.
The descriptions of the three men as given
by the nurse considered important
| That of the colored man agrees with the
description Of the negro who accompanied
| the man who pawned Miss Morton's watch
| on Monday morning.
An iron bar was found to-day at the
edge of Handyside pond in Waverley. to
| which, IL is claimed by some. the murderer
| of Saturday night went to wash his hands.
| The bar is two feet long and little rusty
| 1t was on the edge of the pond and the
| drawing of the water brought IL to light.
SAYS SHE WAS ANNOYED.
During the afternoon a Mrs. Sayres from
watertown. called at the Cambridge jail
and told Sheriff Fairbairn that she wanted
to see Alan G. Mason, because she believed
from the pictures which had appeared In
the newspapers that he was the man who
had annoyed her last summer in a library
room in this city. Mason again was placed
in a line with other inmates of the ja.i ard
| with them, was subjected to rigid scrutiny
AS In the case of Nemser's attempt a,
identification, Mrs. Sayers was allowed tc
give no sign or utter no word In the pres
| ence OF the men before her, but when she
l returned to the sheriff's office from ths