The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-09-18

Lyons, Kan, Sept. 1S.-All great
detectives are not found in fiction,
nor are they named Pinkerton or
Burns.
A Kansas farmer and cattleman.
walking thru the sand hills southeast
of Lyons eleven years ago. stumbled
upon human skull partly protruding
from the sand. Startled, he drew
back a moment, and then after a
more deliberate inspection of the
bleached skull chalk white from ex-
posture, he hurried away to notify the
county coroner.
And after the finding of that skull
and the energetic investigation under
taken by tn then prosecuting attor-
ney, w. w. Stahl. a man now in the
state penitentiary was found guilty
when the evidence had been weighed
by jury. For eleven years he has
served a part of the life sentence be-
fore him. For several years of that
time he has written Stahl asking the
latter's aid in obtaining a pardon.
When you have told what you know
about the murder, and not until then,
has always been the answer sent back
to the penitentiary by the former
prosecuting attorney. Stahl has be-
lieved from his first investigations
that another person was implicated IN
the murder.
Ready to Confess.
The latest letter from the convicted
Stahl will come to get it. Stahl won
ders whether the confession will mean
the final solution of the mystery,
which has never been fully explained
or whether. it will only be the fab
rication of a distorted mind seeking
freedom for the man who has done
his time for eleven years.
There may have been only one man
implicated in the murder. Stahl may
have been wrong in his supposition
= two buried their victims body in the
sand in the darkness of night.
How could a man be convicted with
only a skull for evidence, the skulI
of an unknown man, apparently q
transient, s,ncC no one in the vicinity
had disappeared? That was the ques-
ton which Stahl solved-and because
of it's solution credulence is given TO
the theor..' of a second man in the
crime.
The skull established no identity
since it had apparently been imbedded
in the sand hills for months. The re-
mainder of the skeleton was tound IL
a senni-upright position. Stahl relates,
Several teeth had been knocked out
and the base of the skull was frac-
tured, the prosecuting attorney found.
The clothing was badly decomposed.
Laundry Mark Clew.
Not so badly. however, that it was
beyond being of service to the attor-
himself in the work on this case. The
mans undershirt was washed in boil
ing water for an entire afternoon.
Dimly n laundry mark appeared y
H" and Immediately following TX.
The victims initials and his laundry
basket mark, deduced the county at
torney Inside the shoes dealers
name and address in a small Arkansas
village could be read.
A message sent to the Arkansas
g.. ,fr.N-W1
ton regarding a man whose initials
were believed to be ]. H, and whose
laundry mark might have been TX,
brought the reply that such man
was unknown there but that the
clothing possibly belonged to June
Xix, who disappeared some time be-
fore and who was last heard of at
Great Bend, Kansas.
At Great Bend further investiga-
lions revealed that June HiX had once
had q bank account and threshing
machine but that he had lost the ma
chine thru a mortgage foreclosure.
More Investigations for farmers who
might have employed June Hix re-
suited in a further clue. Two men
from near Lyons had employed .HiX.
One Of them was named Sturm.
The skull. skeleton and clothing had
been found near Lyons, and the search
drifted back home again. Y
There recently died in Lyons a man
named Sam Jones. Jones had a fac
ulty for getting at details. Also,
Jones affiliated himself with Stahl in
the working of bringing to justice the
murderer or murderers of June Xix.
Jones believed that there might be
personal belongings of EIix near where
the unfortunate man had been buried.
Found More Evidence.
Rice county was building a court
house at that time. In the construc-
ton work more sand was needed and
I, Jones obtained permission to send
group of workers to the sand hill
where the skeleton had been found.
He had all sand screened for, ten feet
around the grave.
All that he found was several small
pieces of glass and a fragment of
burned handkerchief to which was
attached a safety pin.
That was a puzZling find to Jones
and he and Stahl studied hours be-
fore they concluded the pin had been
used to tie the handkerchief around
a lantern which was used in burning
the body at night. The small pieces
Of glass. fitted together, proved to be
the remains of a watch crystal
After the handkerchief had been
theroly washed for possible laundry
marks, several letters could be dimly
seen. but so faint were they that the
characters were beyond recognition
Jones was undismayed. He sent the
handkerchief to a Wichita photo
photograp hing of old papers. All inks