Show S SKELETONS RECALL THRilLING DAYS OF MAPLE HILL Fri Friendship Leads to Discovery Discovery Dis Dis- c covery ery of oJ Mysterious Murder Farm MAPLE HILL Ka Kan n. n Sept 2 Con Con In a townsIte fight born with a murder Maple Hill has had many stirring stirring stirring stir stir- ring days but the excitement since the thes s settlement by the whites never equaled the present resent succession of oC and horrors horn hor- rs Thousands ot of flint flint arrow heads picked up by early day settlers marked the I battleground of the Indian tribes A settler was killed In the early sixties ina Ina in ina a quarrel over the purchase of or a mill mUl and andis is burled buried a short distance from the town After ACter that came the day of or the ranch ranch- es Several ranchmen fought over the location of or the townsite when the Rock Island railroad o 0 was built through Wabaunsee Wabaunsee Wa- Wa county in the eighties George Fowler a a- a member of the packing firm Won and the town was located upon his property known as the Middle Ranch The day the lots were sold several everal special special special cial trains were run from Kansas City to Maple lull JIm A few minutes after the first train arrived a dozen gambling games were going Someone shipped In a acar acar acar car of liquor There were fights without number and in one olle of them a young man was stabbed to death LIFE IS TuRBULENT TURBULENT The life liCe of ot the town the next several years was turbulent In the nineties the settlers had become so numerous the ranches were much smaller and of oC the original only one the old Fowler ranch now known as the Tod ranch remains today The last thrill furnished by the ranches was in 1898 when John Thomas a cowboy cow- cow I boy bov was discharged Returning from Kansas City a few da days s after losing his job Thomas rode rod to I what was called then the West Vest Ranch and opening a door to a a. room in which several men were sitting fired a a. dozen I shots with a 1 revolver wounding five persons persons per per- sons two of whom died I Thomas fled led and never was captured There are hardly a dozen living i in Mapel Hill Mill who were here in the earlier earlle and more stirring days The motorcars motorcar's honk has displaced the wild shout of th the cowboy Pretty girls and their beaux and farmers their wives old women on ona one a widow and the once cowpunchers cowpuncher gulped their whisky straight MURDER FARM FOUND It was the friendship of two old women women wom- wom en one a widow and the other o on he her herd d deathbed that led to the discovery o othe of the mur murder er farm two weeks ago Mrs Louisa Sams wife of oC William A. A Sams was sick The house shortage prevailed even In this little town of I i persons Mr Sams could not find a suitable house for Cor rent in which his sick sic i wl wife could be cared fO for fori i I Grandma br I Sarah Clements widow 1 owned a room five-room home For weeks sh she sheI I talked over their troubles with Mr and andI Mrs Sams She and Mrs Sams had been I I frien friends s for tor years At last the suggestion was made by Mrs 1 Clements that she would sell far te r rhome home in order that her sick friend might have a suitable place to live Mrs Clements said she would rent rooms nearLY nearby where she could help care for the sick woman The property was transferred transferred trans trans- Mrs Clements moved her belongings belongings belongings belong belong- ings into one room nearby and Mr ant and Mrs Sams moved Into the Clements home Clements kept her promise to help take care of or her sick friend being with Mrs Sams almost day and night until the end late In May SKELETON FOUND After ACter the funeral Mrs Clements began looking for a new home A three-room three cottage two blocks away had been vacant vacant va va- cant more cant more than a year since Rule Rufe King te teamster and former liveryman had gone to Colorado l Ir Mrs Clements sought the owner In a nearby town made an offer and after atter a delay of several w weeks eks it was accepted She says a representative of King who l tid h paid the rent on the I house hous while It was vacant tried to prevent prevent prevent pre pre- vent the purchase In cleaning up the house basketfuls of cheap Jewelry were found In it it When some trash was being removed from a shed a human skeleton was found in a gunny sack The skeleton was identified fled fied by relatives as as- that th of Reuben Gutshall The finding of the jewelry had recalled to Maple Hill folks the fact that King also had said he had purchased a team and dog from an old Jewelry peddler who frequently had stopped at the King livry livery livery liv liv- I ery ry stable Digging Dig in the lot near the livery stable what is believed eved to be the sl skeleton eleton of or the peddler was found I I L Later ter a a. skeleton Identified as that of John Woody formerly employed by King was found in the same lot Authorities are digging now In the hope of finding sl skeletons of other missing men Kin King in the county Jail at Topeka denies denies denies de de- de- de nies th the murders He makes no effort to explain x plain the finding of the skeletons |