The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-07-10
Young Farmer Held in COnnec-
ton With Mysterious Killing.
IntimatfOn That Xix Was MUIR
dered Over Money.
STARTS CASE
"Sam" Jones' Investigation Es-
tablishes Dead Mans Identity.
Prisoner Tells Conflicting Tales
Denied by Others.

Lyons, Kan, July 10.-Pearl Sturm,
a young farmer, whose home is near
Saxman, Rice county, is under arrest
and being held for investigation in con-
nection with the alleged murder OF W.
H. Xix, whose body was found In the
sand hills near Saxman, June Is. Sturm
admits he knew Hix, but denies any
knowledge Of his death.
A farmers boy, while looking after
his cattle in a. large pasture three miles
east of Saxman, Sunday afternoon,
June Is, discovered the body of a man
partly covered with the sand. He
quickly notified neighbors and the corc-
ner and sheriff were summoned. 1t
was at first believed Identification
would be impossible.
The body was about to be buried
when Sam Jones, an attorney, who
solved the mystery in the Turner muir
der case last year. insisted on less
haste. He took charge of the removal
of the body and after washing the
clothes he found they bore the brand
of R. Bethel & Son of Des Arc Ark,
the county seat of Prairie county. Tue
shirt had a laundry mark, wv. H.
Hix."
The matter was Immediately taken up
with Bethel & Son and the sheriff at
Des Arc, and a reply was had that
7. H Hix had been in Des Arc afc
had come to Kansas in the summer OF
1910 and had q brother. Joseph Hix, at
greensboro, KY, to whom a letter was
written about the affair. Joseph Xix
replied that he had a brother, j. Il.
Hix. but the last he knew of him he
was at st. Joseph, Champaign county,
III.
Sturrn Talks Too Much.
About this time Pearl Sturm drop
ned an idle remark about having work
ed in Barton county with a man named !
T4i,<, but that he was from Illinois aac
could not have been this man as ne
had seen him in Great Bend In De-
cember. 1910. From the condltlon Oh
the clothing and the body 1t had beeIl
fairly well developed that Xix had peen
killed in the fall of 1910. me oIncS[s
immediately questioned Sturm- lie
talked freely at times, but several
times. it is alleged, he contradicted hlni-
self. -ra11
as that of his brother, Xix was ST.
| tionary engineer. In the summer anu
fail of 1910 he worked in central Kan
sas. mostly in Barton county az
| +hreshiny machine engineer. Sturm salo
| he had worked with him IN Bar.sA
county and that with two otner nl en-
| had sued a Barton county farmer IoI
= 4hreshing bill. They obtained Judg-
mant which was paid in Decem per.
! a411rrr, saws he met F1ix on the streets
| az Great Bend at this time ana pa10
him his share of this money.
Trunk Story False.
! Ar first StuTIn ScblQ LlAc1t AC
no one was present when ne pdlo f1lA..
Int later said a negro, a cook in Great
Bend Der was present. The officers Went tc
Great Bend but found that the negro
had left Great Bend in October: s Iat
also said that when they leIt Iree''
PEND nix shipped his trunk to Ster-
ling and the drayman was named who
hauled the trunk The officers went
with the young man to the drayma,n
who denied any knowledge OF tns
trunk. They found no trace Of the
trunk at Sterling and no record Of its
When he left Des Arc, Ark, Hix had
| c1eclrs which he had deposited in the
citizens National bank Of Great Bend
! He boarded at the rooming house OF
Mr.. Fruit. When leaving October he
co,11,+IT tc run a. corn shelter. No more
vas seen of TIix until his body was
found half buried in the sand.