The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-11-09
MURKY CLEAN ON
THE MORTON CRIME
Two White Men and a Negro
Involved.
WAS THE NEGRO A TOOL?
The Story Of the Nurse Whose Name is Con.
ceaec--- Nemser, the PawnbrOker, Fails
TO Identify Mason When Ccnfroa.-
ed With Him.
ed With Him.
CBy the Associated Press.)

Cd Win tliIIls
CBy the Associated Pressl
Boston, Mass, Nov. THE develop
merits of the day in the Mason case,
which has puzzled the police of Boston
since Miss Clara A. Morton was struck
down and killed in Waverly last Satur-
day, there are several striking details.
No further evidence, however, has been
adduced which tends to incrimi-
nate Allan G. Mason, the member
of prominent family who is under ar
rest on the charge of murder. In fact
the police are inclined to believe that
Mason is innocent, because of the failure
OF Joseph Nemser, the West End jeweler,
to identity 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 the watches was the es-
tablishment tonight that signatures on
the checks kept on file by the jeweler
in Identification of persons who offered
him the articles, We're written by one
and the same person. This confirms the
story that the two women were murdered
by the same man.
So serious has the case become that
Governor Crane has interested himself
and looked over the scene of the murder.
Prompted by the finding in II
pawn shop here of the watches
of Agnes McPhee and Clara A.
Morton, the two women who were murd-
cred in this vicinity. the police are
pressing with all their energy to place,
If possible, the responsibility for the
crimes. The pawn broker, Joseph
Nemscr in whose store both the McPhee
and Morton watches were found, was
at police headquarters today and repeat
e. his stories about the watches. after
which ne started for the East Cambridge
Jail to see Mason, for the purpose of
identifying him. Captain Dugan, of the
Bureau of Criminal Investigation said
that Nemser had insisted that it was
mulatto who Offered Miss Morton's
watch for sale Saturday night, and that
it was the same individual who brought
the watch to the store on Monday and
sold it for 81. He further stated that
another negro, older, heavier and darker
than the mulatto Joined the latter just
as ne was receiving the money An ap-
parent coincidence was noted today 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 23rd, in Greenwich
street, was given.
Nemser failed to identify Mason.
Mason was placed among six other men
and Nemser carefully scrutinized each
one. He picked out one man as the per-
vr-Ixz II.
not Mason.
The negro who has charge of the house
where the Masons' live was about his
work as usual today. although the police
claimed that he had gone away. He
said today that he was at his post yes
terday and could have been found there
by the police if they looked for him.
During the day the attention of Chief
Wade was called to a published inter-
view between Nemser and reporters, in
which Ncmser said that he was paid to
stick to his story and that mulatto
sold +he watch. C1fief said:
THAT is perfectly outrageous. The
story is all bosh. Nemscr was told that
he would be paid for shutting up his
shop and for going about with the
officers to help them on the case He
viii be well reimbursed 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 Wade's statement that Nemser
hardly knew what lie 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 white man and later admitted that
he might have been colorcd man; in
fact, he rather thought he was.
A similar change of opinion YVES noted
in connection with the man who Nemser
claims tried to pawn the Morton watch
on Saturday night At first the pawn
broker was very positive that it was a
negro. Then he said he was of light
complexion and might have been mu-
latto. Later he admitted that he might
have been Spanard or an italian.
The story that strange negro was in
Wayerly Saturday evening. was made
known by 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 a
negro purhase a ticket for Waverly.
State Detectives Hammond and Dexter
went to Winchester tonight, and together
with Chief of Police Mcintosh, inter-
viewed the woman who is a nurse. Her
name at present is withheld. She says
that Saturday evening she started for