Show farmer shoots rich cattleman chops up body former convict says deed inspired by meed need for money COUNCIL BLUFFS IOWA con bession of a farmer that he shot and killed a wealthy cattle buyer cut the body into bits to speed up its burning on a pile of corn cobs and then scattered the remains on a cornfield was announced by local authorities the slayer C R Brunt bruntlett let t 50 a former convict said he was moti bated by a desire to obtain money to pay his gambling debts and to make a payment on a farm he said he killed the cattle buyer percy J smith 57 after forcing smith to write rite a check for 9 ostensibly lor for 60 head of cattle son unaware of deed while sith maths s body was burning on the bruntlett farm 4 miles southeast of here his son richard smith farm operator went to the scene in search of his father and stood nearby unaware of the trag edy while the slayer assured him smith had left s some ome time before bruntlett has been held since the day after smith a disappearance because be he was the last person known to have seen the cattle buyer alive max studer agent tor for the iowa bureau of criminal investigation said bruntlett gave this account of the slaying he picked smith up at bis his home and drove him to the bruntlett farm on an the ruse that he had 60 head of cattle to sell at the farm brunt lett who owns only 25 head of cat tie tle forced smith at gunpoint to write the check 0 hacked up body then he shot smith in the head twice tossed his body on the pile of cobs poured kerosene he rosene on it and lit the pile this done he went to court cil bluffs where he hired a truck to haul his 25 head of cattle to omaha and telephoned mrs smith that her husband had gone to kansas to buy cattle returning to the farm he found that the body had not burned well he took a corn knife and backed hacked it to pieces put it back on the cobs and poured more kerosene on it during a week of questioning bruntlett a wife mother of three children told authorities her hu hus band didn dian t have 60 head of cattle cattle and that she hadn haan t seen smith haul ing cattle away from the farm |