Evening star., 1933-12-11
THREAT BRINGS OUT TROOPS.
Oklahoma Officers Act to Save SIayins
Suspect.

Oklahoma Officers Act to Save Staying
Suspect.
| BY the Associated Press
| KINGFISHER, Okla, December IL
Hustled away in tense atmosphere Of
vague mob rumors and amid the mobi-
lization Of troops, Jack Wisdom, whose
arrest barely preceded discovery Sunday
OF the body of Mrs Harry Pritchard,
was held today in a secret place of
safety.
The Kansas cow hand was sought in
connection with the disappearance No
vember 23 Of Mr.. and Mrs. Pritchard of
Wichita, Kans. They disappeared after
allegedly having sought to collect from
wisdom, under threat of prosecution.
for no-fund check
Oklahoma and Kansas officers, mean
while, moved to carry out in a syste-
matte way the search for Pritchard's body
that spread over the country south of
here last night, when officers drove the
handeuf1ed Wisdom over side roads,
trying to follow his confused directions
as to where the body was hidden.
Links Another in Case.
He claimed to know where it was.
but he said he didn't kill them" said
Sheriff Ed Martin of Kingf1esher.
There's another man mixed up In it,
according to him."
Officers seized the swarthy little cow
boy before dawn in a hideaway nestled
in the lonely Eastern Oklahoma hills
south Of Jay, rushed him hundreds of
| miles to Kingfisher and, spurred by
discovery of Mrs. Pritchard's body under
culvert near Bison, few miles north
OF here, started search for the body of
Pritchard.
Then rumors of lynch law" began
to ny. Hearing that "a mob is forming
IN wichita" Gov. William H. Murray,
from Oklahoma City ordered field ar
tillery batteries mobilized at Kingfisher
and Enid, told troops to "shoot to kill
II necessary" and added
homa'
Wisdom Moved From Scene.
But before the Guardsmen could
mobilize, alarmed Wichita officers had
roared northward with Wisdom in a
motor car.
Il don't know where they went" said
Sheriff Martin, but other investigators
thought Kansas was the likely destina-
ton. possibly the State reformatory at
Hutchinson.
Alert for any additional sign OF
trouble. Guardsmen jammed the county
jail here until midnight, when it be-
| came apparent there was no basis for
the mob rumors.
Authorities thought the congested
condition of the highways. crowded by
curious and well-meaning folk who
flocked to join the search for Pritefiard's s
body. had given rise to many of the
alarming reports.
Wisdom, 26. insisted at Jay that he
knew nothing of the Pritchards' dis
appearance.
The search for him became intense
when the couples motor car. blood
spattered and bullet-torn, was found
near Depew, Okla.
5000 Joined Search.
A week ago more than 5000 persons
hunted vainly for the Pritchards in
Southern Kansas, and rewards for
solution of the case reached 1900.
c. C. Cooksey, hunter, found the
woman's body. 1t was identified
quickly at Enid, but its condition pre-
vented immediate determination Of the
manner of death.
| Wisdom Is under murder charges foI
the death Of Emery Large, elderly cow
boy with whom he worked on ranch
in Meade County. Kans. Large's
bullet-pierced body was found in a vel
November 80. After Large had vanished
two months earlier, Wisdom told L
Johnson. his employer: 1.-THE old mar
has quit" Wisdom also was accused
Of the theft of cattle from the ranch
| A 16.year -old daughter, Carlene
survives the Pritchards. Pritchard was
q merchant.