The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1915-02-19
Stays Brother
in Sunday Row

Seville Sunday afternoon in which
James Mast, an Italian, took the life
Of his brother Napoleon. The cir
cumstances leading up to the shoot
ing were as follows, as related by An
tonic Wing, brother-in-law Of the
Masis and at whose home the shooting
occurred.
About noon James Mast entered the
home Of Wing and found his brother
there. Mrs. Wing was crying. James
asked her the cause but she refused
to tell. Napoleon then stated that
he had slapped her couple of times.
James took him to task for it ana
words were exchanged. Wing re-
turned shortly and he too had words
with Napoleon. James then invited
Wing over to the formers house un-
der promise of a drink. He went.
Later Napoleon appeared at the Wing
home and a heated argument was be-
gun again about the slapping Of Mrs.
Wing.
One word led to another until fin
ally the two Mast brothers clinched.
When they separated James went into
another room and got revolver with
which he struck his brother over the
head. In few moments they began
to fight again and according to Wing,
while Mrs. Wing was trying to hold
Napoleon, James deliberately drew the
revolver, pointed it directly at Napo-
leon and fired. The bullet entered the
abdomen and came out at the back.
1t was of 38 caliber and is in possess
sion of the Prosecuting Attorney.
. The victim was hurried to Wooster
hospital in the vain hope Of saving
his life. He died about 8 o'clock.
James Mast appeared to experience
great remorse over his act at the time
Of his arrest and is said to have given
way to excessive paroxysms of grief
when informed Of the death Of his
brother.
Soon after the death of Napoleon
Mast, no one having made claim for
the body, the hospital authorities
wanted to know from Prosecutor Un-
derwood what disposition to make Of
it.. They were authorized to turn it
over to an undertaken, which was
done. The latter soon became anx-
ious about the matter and the ques-
ton resolved itself to the alternative
of medical hospital or burial at pub
lie expense, unless relatives got busy
Immediately, which at the time they
seemed 10th to do.
| The county commissioners at their
meeting Monday authorized the Woos-
ter authorities to bury Masi's body in
that city at a cost of $685..
At 2:30 Thursday afternoon James
Mast was arranged before Justice o.
o. Van Deusen charged with first de-
gree murder Through his attorney,
Fred lOrmby of Akron, the defendant
entered a plea of not guilty and q
hearing was set for next Wednesday
at IL a. M, before Justice Van
Duesen. Prosecutor Underwood has
engaged Attorney Van Epp to assict
him in the prosecution of Mast. We
understand that there is possibility
of the state modifying the present
charge of first degree pending the
hearing on Wednesday. e..
SEEKS JUSTICE WITH GUN
Acting under the belief that he
could better conserve the ends of JUS
tice by taking the law into his own
hands, Mat. Bower, Austrian, Of
Brunswick, was taken into custody,
early Tuesday morning after parading
the town with shot gun in search Of
a man by the name of Hitchcock,
whom he threatened to kill on sight.
Bowers story is that he hired out
to Hitchcock some time ago for a
year as farm hand, for which he was
to receive 500 a month for the four
winter months and $50 month for
the balance of the year. That after
he had worked couple of months ne
had some differences with Hitchcock,
whereupon the later discharged him.
Bower claims that when Hitchcock
fired him he failed to make proper f.
nancial return. 1t then appears that
Bower either did or threatened to take
the matter into court and that Hitch
cock, according to Bower, then paid
the latter $24 and received from Bow
er a receipt in full. The latter now
insists that he did not intend to sign
any such receipt, and it is on account
of what he Regards as a swindle that
led him to seek the life of Hitchcock.
Not possessed with sufficient natur-
al courage, Bower betook himself to
Cleveland Monday and bought enough
more to help things out. Along with
his bottled besum he purchased a new
shot gun and back he went to Bruns-
wick, He hung around the depot most
of the night with bottle in his pock-
ct and the gun in his hand About
this time Hitchcock learned that Bow
er was after him and he called Sher-
| iff Gehman. The sheriff got over to
Brunswick just before daybreak and
found Bower pacing the park like q
Comanche Indian. He made no effort
to resist Sheriff Gehman, however,
and after the latter had unloaded the
gun, the two came to Medina without
trouble.
In spite of Bowers propensity for
booze, he is quite thrifty fellow He
laid up his money and had $500 on his
person when arrested. He secured
Attorney Van Epp for council. We'd
nesday morning Hitchcock agreed to
pay Bower SIC more and his fare out
of the state if he would consent to go.
Bower agreed, but designated Toledo
as the place where he wished to go.
This was agreed upon and Sheriff