Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1921-09-14
'Higher-Up'
In Murders
OfAutoMen
Chicago Police Seek master
Mind" Back of Brutal Slsy.
inss Of Statesmen By
Young Criminals.
Third Cangster Is jailed
Chicago Tribune -Omsha he. Leased Wire

Chicago Tribune-Omaha Zee Leased whs
Chicago, Sept l5.-Despite lorl
detailed confessions by Harvey W.
Church and Leon Parks, that they
and Clarence (Bud) Wilder murdered
the two Packard automobile sales
men, Bernard J. Daugher,y and Carl
A. Ausmus. there remains an un.
solved mystery in the sordid crime.
This is the identity OF the master
mind who planned the murders.
Detectives fecl certain some Older
criminal used the three young men as
his tools. There is also a belief that
back OF the entire crime is the syndi-
cate engaged in stealing automobiles
outright, or buying" them. paying
the price and then holding UP the
agent and robbing him OF the price.
Church and Parks admit they went
into the deal solely because il offer
ed some easy money. Church. in his
second confession. names Parks sr
the one who conceived the en,iN
plan. The police say, however. that
Church is much the superior OF Parks
in mentality and he was undoubtcd-
ly the leader, or rather the active
agent of criminal still higher up.
Gould See Rope"
Parks, who made long, detailed
confession late last night, undertook
TO repudiate it today. When asked
TO sign his confession, he at first re-
fused.
ITS not the truth" he said. Il
! didn't - l won't sign it. What
| said was not true"
You're liar!" shouted Church,
leapng to his feet and shaking his
fist in Parks face. "You know it is
true, every word OF it, Yellow, that's
what you are, yellow all through"
Parks delayed for two hours
longer and then signed his confes-
sion. at is true and | might as well
sign it." he said. Il could see the
rope dangling in front of my eyes
and thought maybe l could escape
it by denying my confession, but it
is true" And he affixed his sigma
ture.
Third Gansster Arrested.
Clarence Wilder, the third OF the
cuthroat gang, was arrested today
and held incommunicado by the
police. His attorney made frantic
efforts to get to him with writ Of
llabeas corpus, returnable instanter,
but could not find where the police
were holding him. Chief of Police
Fitzmorris said he did not have
Wilder, but there are many police
stations in the city and it is certain
Wilder was being held in one OF
them. This is borne out by state
ment he made to the police. denying
any knowledge or part in the double
murder.
Two more men were arrested to-
day. One was an employe of Gus
Benario's garage where Church aid
Parks had been employed. The
other was picked UP at Wilder's
home.
Benario Questioned.
Benario himself was questioned
at length by the police after they
had found large quantity of alleged
stolen automobile accessories in his
garage. Benario said Church had
left the accessories there.
There also remains to be solved
the ownership and history Of $1,000
in Liberty bonds found in Church.
apartment
In their latest confessions, which
the police believe to be approximatel,y
the truth, with the exception tina,
both men are shielding some on,
higher up, the murderers told in de
tail, how they slaughtered Daugher.
ty and Ausnus without giving then
the slightest chance for their lives
Daugherty, it appears. was knocked
on the head before he had time te
make an outcry. Parks says they
beat his head, fracturing his skull.
IN several places and then cut his
throat with a hatchet.
Call Ausmus yellow"
Ausmus. they describe as yellow
iie begged for his life, but it availed
him nothing. They garrotted him.
but he was not dead when thew
buried him face down in the shallow
grave scraped in the cinders of the
garage. In crowding him into the
pit. which was too short. Church
stamped upon his head until he broke
the victims neck.
After this they went to supper. an.
parently with no hint of remorse.
After supper Church, with the stolen
machine, went joy-riding through
the parks with his companions and
three girls. Just before daylight thew
took the body of Daugherty from
coal bin, carried it in the machine
to the Des PLANES river and pitched
It over a parapet. At no time in
their stories, do either of them ex-
press the slightest regret. The police
regard it as singular that Dauehetty
and Ausmus were so easily over
come. but the murderers say Daueh-
erty had no chance for his life and
Ausmus made no show of putting up
a fight.