OCR Text |
Show II SUICI THEORY IS I injMHD Belief Is Growing That Xeplii M. Sheets Took His Own Life. I MANY REASONS ARB ADVANCED FOR THEORY ( Principal One Being That He Recently Took Out Additional Addi-tional Insurance. Interview! with the county attorney nnd others who have been working overtime on the Sheets murder case, bring out the Information thai the suicide theory Is now the most plausible, and the belief is grow-Ing grow-Ing that Nephl M. Sheets shot himself on the night of December 2K. Many reasons nre advanced In support of the theory. among them being the established fact that he recently took out $25"0 additional Insurance; the fact that ho paid his prem-turns prem-turns the day of his death; the fact that a man who greatly resembled Mr. Sheets was seen on the evening of December JSS walking back and Forth In the vicinity of where his body was found a short time later, and the further fact that In all proKabllltv th.- weapon used was his own. 1 Why Pockets Were Turned. As an explanation of why the pockets wire turned Inside out. County Attorney Christens, n said Thursday afternoon thut nothing would be more plausible than that Mr. Sheets, after making up bis mind to 1 take his own life, also determined to leave ' e Idenee Of a hold-up behind Of course. If these deductions are correct. It will be practically impossible to either disprove the murder or prove the suicide theory, as DO not. was left Or word spoken, so far as is known, that would tend to corroborate ' this explanation of his death. One More Clue. , The latest clue, or wh.it may prove to be a clue, is B rumor thut Mr. Sheets was en- gaged In some other line of business than the one credited to him and thnt he may hav Incurred the - nihlty Of some man or n n ii s waj not yel explained. Just what business he was engaged In Is hot i known, although the county attorney , thinks It maj have been as an agent for i some collection agency or possibly as a i detective. Durand Sure He Saw Sheets. James Durand. a teamster, is almost certain that he saw Mr Sheet9 on the i vening of the murder, and but a few , minutes befon the fata shol was fired. k He wai ig coal at a house near- , i and noticed particularly thai o man of , Mr Sheets a build and description was walking back and forth In front of the , McAllister home Aft-r seeing a pholo- graph of the murdered man he was all but convinced that his statement before , the coroner's Jurj was correct, although he still refuses to make a positive state-mcnt state-mcnt to this effect. Case Will Be Hard to Solve. fl But the truth of the matter seems to be that the officers have all tut given up the idea of finding the murderer, if. indeed. It was a murder, of Nephl M. Sheets. If the shot was fired by hold-up or thug the ! guilty man would have had ample oppor- 1 tunlt "i making his escape from thi citj and State, and with little or no tangible clue to work on. defeat seems to be star- : ing justice in the face. Tru. . ihe coroner's BBBBBbI jury will again take up Its labors on Uon- Idav next, and true It Is that the officers are still working on the cast, but It Is fieely predicted by those who have been ' following the case that the murderer will J never be found. |