Arizona republican., 1921-11-24
BELIEVE BODY
 IF MISSING MAN
 HASbEENFOUND
Charred Bones Discovered On Desert Believed To Be Those Of John J. Knight, Who Disappear ed July 9

A skull and the charred bones of man, believed to be John J. Knight, wealthy business man of Wichita Falls, Tex, who was last seen at Buckeye on July of this year, have been found IT an arroyo about F miles from Buckeye, two and a half miles up the Hassayampa river from the main road and three miles down the river from the point where the stalled automobile of Knight was dis covered.
 The find was made by two Phoenix young men, Albert Eversold and Tom Houck at the end of a systematic search of two weeks. Following the arroyo. they came to a. place where the earth seemed to have been dis 1 turbed and after further investiga- tion discovered a skull ,protruding. The other bones were almost com pletely incinerated and all had been buried in trench not more than a | foot in depth
 The fire which had burned the bones was evidently fed by gasoline
 or some other highly inflammable oil | poured over tne body, as there were no ashes in t .e hole. A few pieces ! of charcoal was found in the trench | indicating that few pieces of wood | had been placed Tn the hole and cov- cred with dirt while still live coaIs. | The vegetation near the hole was l scorched and the grass, which was | nearly a foot high, was burned away and withered by the flames.
 There were no marks of identifica- | ton in the hole aud no bits of cloth
 ing, with the exception of small l fingered canvass glove partially
 burned. The skull was removed in- 1 tact and mos oi the teeth were re- l covered. Only a small bone was un- | burned by the flames. The rest of
 the bones were badly incinerated and parts of them crumbled when touched | Officers believe they have a piece
 of every bone in the body. with a l complete vertebrae of the back. A
 small portion of tf C hair on the back of the head was found, and the eye
 brows were intact.
 Hair Resembles Knights
 The discovery of the body was made
 on Tuesday by Houck and Ebersold | who came to Phoenix at once and mo- tified Undersheriff C. H. Bowers. Yes l terday morning Sheriff Montgomery
 and Undersherifl Bowers. accompa-
 nied by the two boys, went to the
 place and began uncoyering the body
 Ahc nceto was ItIfiONSu llTSIs then l0t
 neck, the shoulders and so on to ths
 feet Coroner F R. Mitten swore ss
 a coroner's jury and will hold the in.
 quest at a later date.
 According to Sheriff Montgomery
 the identification of the body can b, made only by dentistry work done oI
 the teeth and ny comparing knowI
 broxen bones sustained by Knight dur |, ing his lifetime with the knitted
 places indicating breaks in the bone , found. The hair found. the sheriff said, closely resembles the hair o Knight. The skull. he said, was fine ly shaped and the bones indicate tn i, man was about Knights build am } height.
 Sheriff Montgomery said he was o
 the opinion that the body had bee
 burned in the place where the charre' [ bones were found within the last g [ days because of the growth of gras l about the place prior to the fire A l the time Knight disappeared in Jul there had been little rain to gro, \ vegetation and since then there hay l been several floods, furnishing plent , of water He stated he believed tn I body had been stripped of its cloth g ing after the murder and wrapped i . cloth and buried. Later it was du
 up and burned in the arroyo.
 y In the top of the skull. the sherii n said, was a small round hole abou t the size of half dollar indicatin ' that the fatal wound had been mad l. by a small headed hammer. Tn