Evening star., 1933-01-10
investigators Refuse Details,
but Indicate Lead May Take
Them to Baltimore.
new FACTS MAY REVEAL
BOTH MOTIVE AND AGENT
Stump Blower" Still Detained by
St. Marys Authorities as
Probe Continues.
BY stan Correspondent of The Star.

ny u Stau correspondent OF The Star.
LEONARDTOwN. Md, January 10
Discovery of a possible explanation to
the death Of Miss Ida Kirk in mysteri-
GUS explosion Saturday was announced
here early today by investigators, who
indicated the new lead might take
them to Baltimore.
Authorizes refused to discuss the new
clue other than to say it may bare the
motive and possibly the agent believed
to have planted an explosive in the au-
tomobile of the 73-year-old philan-
thropist, known as the angel Of st.
Marys County"
The possibility that the fatal ex-
plosion was an accidental result of ac-
cumulation Of gasoline in the muffler of
Miss Kinks car was secuted by Detec-
tive Sergts. Walter Martin and William
j. Feehley of the Baltimore police force.
"Stump Blower" Stin Held.
John Gross, colored, 45-year-old
stump blower" was still being held for
investigation today as authorities ran
down rumor that an automobile was
seen parked at Chaptico about 1870
o'clock Saturday morning near the par
the night before the fatal blast.
passer-by, who explained he was un-
suspicious at the time and did not
notice the license number. He was un-
able to describe the automobile, police
were told.
A circumstance which lent some
weight to the accident theory was that
the choke on Miss Kinks car was out
when she was assisted from the explos-
ion-torn vehicle a few miles from the
Leonardtown- Washington highway near
Chaptico
Investigators said that an automo-
bile driven with the choke out might
line in the muffler, the front end OF
which was torn and twisted by the
explosion.
Fail to Discover Bomb.
A careful search of the scene Of the
explosion and the wrecked automobile
failed to disclose any traces Of bomb,
although the muffler was shattered in
way to indicate an Internal machine
had been fastened on top of the muff-
Ter. Miss Kirk, her legs mangled, died
at st. Mary's County Hospital In
Leonardtown an hour later. Her COM
panion, Mrs. Elva Gibson. wife of the
Episcopal minister at Chaptico, es-
CdpCu AuJuly.
Miss Kirk was buried yesterday after
noon in the churchyard of historic
Christ Church Of Chaptico, four miles
from the Kirk homestead on Sunny
brook farm where she was born. Miss
Kirk had been member of the church
since infancy and was one Of the most
beloved residents of the community.
Detectives have been unable to find
a trace of personal enemies which Miss
Kirk might have made, other than the
fact that she had ordered Gross from
the kitchen of the Kirk homestead
about week ago, when she found the
colored man visiting her servants.
A shotgun shell from which the
powder had been removed vas found
near the parsonage yard where Miss
Kirk left her automobile Friday night.
The shell, cut in half with a sharp
blade, represents the sole tangible bit
Of evidence in support OF the bomb
murder" theory.
More than 400 neighbors, relatives
and lifelong friends of Miss Kirk, at
tended the funeral yesterday. The de-
ceased was the grandniece Of w. w.
Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Art
Gallery, and number Of her first
cousins are prominent residents of
Washington.