The Wagner leader. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1912-1912, 1912-02-23
QuEER\M MURDER Is
A POLICE PUZZLE

Topeka. Kan. Feb. 19.-That Clara
Belle Stickney, IA years old, was muir
dered by her stepfather IN her way
to school, eight miles north of To-
peka, because she had refused his
opportunities, Is the theory of the
police, who likewise believe that the
s%tepfather, John ]. Rickels, aged "a.
was murdered by an unknown man.
Both were found in a slough on the
Riekels farm by ~neighbors. The girl
was shot in the back of the head with
the shotgun Rickels carried. Rickels
was killed by a blow over the head
from an ak or sledge, or some similar
farm instrument.
Posse Changed Its Purpose.
Mystery surrounds the double
murder. No clew to the person or
persons who did the killing has yet
been found by a searching party or
which since has been reorganized
into a posse to trace the murderer.
The bodies were found in a slough
in the alfalfa field after a short
search by a party composed of mem
bers of the Rickels family and w. t.
and Roy Peck, all residents of that
part of the country. The mans body
lay over that of the girl. Fear that
something a happened to the girl
was aroused in the Riekels household
when little Herbert Rickels, the girls
half brother, returned home from
school and told his mother the girl
had not been at school all day. The
mother had not seen her husband in
as long a time and Immediately began
the organization of the searching
party.
WayIaid His Stepdaushter?
One theory is being advanced by
the mother CT the girl and wife Of the
dead man. She says she is firm in
the belief that Rickels waylaid his
stepdaughter as b was walking
through the alfalfa field to school
Yesterday morning, dragged her to a
slough in the field and there muir
dered the child by firing a load of
buckshot into the back of her head.
The woman believes some other per-
sons who saw the crime committed
then turned upon Rickels, struck him
a blow on the top of the head and
killed him.
There had beer trouble between
my husband and my daughter for
some time" Mrs. Rickels said. Il
feel sure my husband planned to muir
der my daughter"
The posse found the shotgun with
WHICH tIJt HAL htltCd liz Sll ~ a.
between the two bodies, the man av-
ing fallen over the girls body. Ar
examination of the wound in the
back of the girls head showed that
sort OF weapon a been used to Kill
her. 1t also showed that the charge
was fired at close range.
Their was nothing to indicate that
the man had taken his own life, and
the wound which caused his deatt
was such as practically to preclude
suicide. He was struck on the tor
of the head. The blow was a heavy
one, evidently dealth with a heavy
weapon. The man was found lying or
his face, his head in a pool of blood
His death. too, had evidently been In
Simultaneous. No weapon of any kind
however, vas found to indicate Will
what he had been killed.
III murderer or -murderers, so fal
as could be found, a covered ever,
possible clew to their identity. Ther'
was not wen a track through thu
alfalfa field that might be distin
guished. and which might lead to tn
discovery of the person who did thu
killing.
II developed that Rickels had take,
the shotgun out with him a little be
fore s o'clock in the morning, saying
he was going to hunt rabbits.
Albert J.. S~tickney, 81 years old,
brother of the murdered girl. was sicl
IN bed in a room that overlooked tn
alfalfa field. He said he saw nothin'
unusual happen all day. He could no
see into the slough where the mIrd
occurred, however.