Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-08-02
AFTER wEsTyRooks MURDERER
Church Committee of Des Moines
Tracing Glue in Murder Mystery.

Tracing Clue in Murder Mystery.
The unique situation of church
committee attempting to run down the
murderer Of a fellow member is at
tracing widespread interest in Des
Mones, and will be of great interest
here and at Grinnell, owing to the tact
that the murdered man is well known.
The Plymouth Congregational church
of Des Moines, has committee III
charge of the efforts to locate the muir
derer of Fritz Westbrook, who was
shot on the night of July IA, and died
a week later.
While there are no definite clues In
the case, the detectives have hopes OF
effecting an arrest before very long. Inc
Des Moines Capital tells OF the later
/ phases of the search for the murderer
as follows:
"a strange man who boarded a
south bound Eleventh and IWedlh
street car ait Forest avenue a llttle al :
ter II o'clock the night on uhe tfitz
| Westbrook murder and talked eAclleo-
ly about the hold-up is the present
1 subject of the murder inVeshgatlon.
The Plymouth church commutee was
/ informed of this man and ms surange
i actions by party who was on uhe car
1 and whose identity they VIII not re-
| veal Every effort is now being MADE
| to locate the other passengers on the
| car that night.
'.How did this man know anything
about the hold-up is the question the
church people are asking. NO person
\ left the Proper house where west
\ brook lay from IL to II O'Clock that
could have carried the news and given
i the particulars of the tragedy as the
/ man on the car gave.
1 1.-THE other passengers on the car
are the only persons who can throw
any light on the case. Efforts are pc
/ ing made to find them 80 as to hear
| their stories. The conductor, Frank
/ c. Kirwin, 1882 Woodland avenue, re-
members no incidents OF that special
trip. He has little recollection OF the
number of passengers, or OF anythlng
unusual I remember that some man
got on just before we reached North
| street. said Kirwin this morning, but
/ / failed to notice him especially. There
was some talk about the hold-up. One
! passenger stated that some one ran
past him saying that q man had been
shot. 1 do not remember whether IT
was the strange man that got on the
car near the scene of the shooting
"The members of our investigating
committee are desirious THAT any one
who can throw any light on the iden-
tity of the passengers of the south
bound Eleventh and Twelfth street
car shortly after II o'clock the night of
July z, will bring such information to
us at once, said l.. j. Kasson, chair
man of the committee this morning.
sThis strange mans actions were GER
|'tainly peculiar and will bear tnvesti-
i CATION. We were given the tip of this
i clew by a party on the car whose
identity we cannot reveal at present.
we are not working in the dark as
much as some people suppose
Police officers are still hard at work
4 on the case 1t was reported that the
solution of the shooting might reveal
that Westbrook had had trouble with
some man over a woman but this re-
port could not be verified, and while
the police admit the case has its In
tricate details, it was given out posi-
lively that nothing has been discover
ed up to this time which indicates
that Westbrook committed any GRIMM
al act for which any person would
have been justified in shooting him.
1.-The Plymouth church committee
has been informed that Westbrook
said to one woman that he would tell
the name Of the man who shot him If
he lived but that if he found he was
going to die he would keep his lips
sealed.
"It is common gossip in the neigh
4 borlood where Westbrook lived that
the young man knew his assailant
and would not tell bes ause he did not
think the murder waa entirely un-
justified.
"The outraged husband story that
has been talked about is not believed
by either the police nor by any of
! westbrook's intimate friends. Alder
man Whitney, cousin of the late
westlbrook, says that most stories OF
the crime are that two men attacked
WestIbrook. If it was some husband
who had real or imaginary griev-
ance against the young man it is ar
gued that the man would have made
his attack entirely alone"