El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-12-15
MAN CONVICTED,
BELIEVED DEAD
Wife Heard Before Grand
Jury and Indictment of
Both Follows.

Plainview, Texas, Dec. Eight
years in the penitentiary is the SEN
tence given ! A. Morgan in the dis
trlct court Of Castro county on a
charge Of fraud and arson.
Morgan. whose home had burned, ad-
rnitted that bones found in the ruins
we're those of a calf he had put there
himself Sixty bones had been found
in the ruins Of Morgan's home and had
been buried under the belief they were
the charred remains OF Morgan
The grand jury of Castro county re
Gently returned indictments charging
arson against Morgan and wife Mrs:
Morgan was held by the officers OF
that county while the sheriff and MS
deputies searched for Morgan He was
located at Sweetwater.
on November the Morgan home. .
two room house on the Dr. W oll ,.'.' u u
ranch near Springlake pasture, was
burned. It was alleged by MIS- MOT
gan. when neighbors reached the place,
thai the house caught fire while she
and her husband and little chlidfeh
were at the barn milking
Rushing back to the house they We're
able 10 recover a few household Ell
fects. She said, IL IS alleged, mat she
saw her husband coming from tne
house with an aTmful OF Dedoine- JUST
then
The house was blown TO atoms. can
OF gasoline having exploded Her
statement further was that her nus
band burned to death while she and
the children looked helplessly on
Bones In Ruins
Search OF the ruins was made ana
the ueighbors found buckles from the
mans trousers. few coins, his purse
a mutilated watch, a shoulder BLADE, a
few ribs. back bone and a heart over
the supposed remains OF the laInshteG
man. neighbOrs watched that night and
soon afterward burial was made. run
Masonic rites being administered. Mrs
Morgan stating that he was member
OF that order. 4 purse or about $500
was made up in the neighborhood ana
given TO Mrs. Morgan.
Morgan was insured in two compa-
MES holding one $4,000 policy and an
other for S2560- Both companies issued
their checks for the amount. saIisfac-
tory death claims having been made.
and the Plainview representatives OF
the companies held checks ready TO
turn over TO the supposed widow
Overhearing a conversation IN a
Plainview garage in which one of the
men stated that he had known Morgan
for many years and that his record
vas questionable, Hal A Wofford,
Plainview insurance man, wired ms
company that proceedings should De
STAYED in the matter until further no
tice. In the meantime the lodge. IN
DER whose auspices the service was
held. had made efforts 10 find out
what lodge Morgan belonged to, and
found that he had passed two degrees
of the Masonic lodge, but that he had
rot been given the other degrees.
Grand Jury Indlcts.
On December 4 the grand jury OF
Castro county was empaneled by dis
trict Judge r &. Joiner and investiga-
ton was begun of the case Of the Nor
cans. The bones were ordered eX-
humed and q post mortem examination
was made. Dr. !. c. Anderson. Or. r
L Ramsdeu, Of Plainyiew, two physi-
clans OF Hereford, Texas, and one from
Dimmitt, Texas, concurrinS in the
opinion that the bones were those OF
an animal. supposedly a calf, and not
human bones Mrs. Morgan was taken
before the grand jury The Indictment
OF the two followed
Il has been brought out that a man
named Morgan on q previous occasion
attempted 20 defraud insurance COM
panies- Il IS alleged that in Fort
Worth. Texas. several years ago, a
Morgan insured a healthy woman. who
impersonated his wife, for $4,000,
while his wife was at the point OF