I did a walk while Kevin went to chiropractor, and he got done before I did!

already had my daily steps in, so all bonus. then we went to Taco Bell for supper! he is not a Taco Bell fan, but it's my kinda Mexican food. he is such a sweetheart. so when we came home I made him a spice cake. finished the hummingbird, so Christmas birds are done. need to get back to The Bigfoot Quilt....

MURDER IN FOX CREEK

Bethany Clipper Friday September 22 1911

Mrs. Ed. Shirley Found Dead at Her Home With Neck Broken.

Last Sunday night Coroner Bonser was telephoned to come to the home of Ed. Shirley in Fox Creek township, that Mrs. Shirley had been found in an upper room of her home with her neck broken and with other evidences of violence on her body.

Coroner Bonser started for the Shirley home Sunday night, but a rain interfered with the trip and he came back to Bethany. Monday morning, in company with County Clerk Towns, Mr. Bonser went to the sceneof the tragedy and held an inquest.

Jasper E. Shirley, husband of the dead woman, Dr. E. Saylor, and Dr. J.A. Macgraw testified to the following facts:

Mr. Shirley says he is the husband of the woman over whose dead body this inquest is being held. I left home between 10 and 11 o'clock a.m., Sunday, Sept. 17, 1911 and did not return until between 4 and 5 o'clock, p.m. I drove up near the house and let the two boys out and then tied the team. The boys ran to the house and tried to open the two doors, but found them locked. They went to a window where a screen had born torn off, and I told one of the boys to climb in the window and unlock the door. When I got to the house the boys had gone up stairs and I started after them. When I got part of the way up the stairs the boys said mamma is asleep. My first thought was she had fainted. I took her by the hand and saw she was cold in death. I phoned for my father and went to the door and called to Tom Maxwell and family, who were on the hill south of the house, to come as quick as possible. We then telephoned for Dr. Saylor. When I first observed my wife's body she was lying on her back hands outward and backward, her dress about half above her knees. Our little girl, about three years old, was at home with her. The boys said when going up stairs, Blanche told us "Mamma is asleep."

DR. J.A. Macgraw says: In company with Dr. Saylor we passed up stairs to where the body of Mrs. Shirley was lying on the floor. We found her lying on her back, the shoulders turned some to the right, the head to the left, the face lying flat on the floor, her arms at right angles, the elbows flexed, extending above the head; the hands lying on the back and slightly flexed. The limbs were seperated with the right foot slightly bent inward. The floor was sprinkled with blood. We found no broken bones or open wounds , but her neck was broken. On the left limb below the knee were spots of blood. There was no part of the body the blood came from. The dress and skirt were above the knees and the underpart beneath the hips, with one large spot of blood on them near the bottom. Decomposition had set in when I first saw her, on the underside of the body, and around the wrists, but on no other part of the body. In my judgement the marks around the wrists had been caused by pressure. Her drawers were unfastened and lowered from and below waist. In my judgement the cause of death was a broken neck. There was no evidence of strangulation or self destruction.

Dr. Saylor's evidence was practically the same as Dr. Macgraw's testimony.

Verdict of Jury.

We, the undersigned jurors, impanneled and sworn, on the 18th day of September, 1911, at the township of Fox Creek, county of Harrison, state of Missouri, by A.C. Bonser, Coroner in and for said county, to dilligently inquire and true presentment make, how and by whom Amanda Lucille Shirley came to her death. Having viewed the body and heard the evidence, do find that the deceased came to her death , at Fox Creek township, Harrison county, Missouri, by a broken neck; received at the hands of some party or parties unknown to the jurors.

Given under our hands, this 18th day of September, 1911.

E.W. Davidson

Wm. Thomas

Jacob Little

B.S. Taylor

R.A. Bond

F.S. Springer

"Bump" Davidson, of Fox Creek township, has been charged with the awful crime. He was placed under arrest by H.H Eades, , deputy sheriff, Wednesday morning. Later Sheriff Manifold had him taken before F.S. Springer, justice of the peace and we have not heard what action has been taken.

$1000 REWARD FOR MURDERER

The Princeton Post, Princeton, MO Thu Oct 5 1911 page 1

Harrison County People Will Pay this Sum for the Arrest of Party Who Killed Mrs. J.E. Shirley.

While more than two weeks have passed since the murder of Mrs. Jasper E. Shirley, south of Mt. Moriah and no one has been arrested for the dreadful crime, the people of that vicinity and Harrison county are yet hopeful that the guilty party will be found. No clues have developed during the past week, and the affair is yet a deep mystery.

One thousand dollars have been offered for the apprehension and arrest of the guilty party or parties. The Harrison county court, last week, made a standing offer of $400. Another reward of $400 has been offered by the people of the neighborhood where the Shirleys reside. There is an additional $200 offered by parties in different parts of the county, making the total sum of one thousand dollars which will be given to any person who knows or can find out facts that will locate the guilty person.

A grand jury has been called for circuit court which convenes in Bethany, Monday, and they will be instructed to make inquiries into and ferrit out, if possible, the person who murdered Mrs. Shirley.

CHILD GIVES ONLY CLUE TO MURDER MYSTERY

The Princeton Post Princeton Mo. Thu Sep 28 1911 page 1

Harrison County Officals Have Little to Work on in Finding the Slayer of Mrs. Jasper E. Shirley. - Suspects Prove their Innocence and are Released. Bloodhounds fail to Pick up Trail.

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a special to The Post from the Bethany Clipper, just before going to press, states that Judge Wanamaker has called a grand jury for circuit court which begins there October 9th., to inquire into the facts of the murder of Mrs. Shirley.

With the only clue, given by the two yeare old daughter, that the murderer of Mrs. Jasper E. Shirley at her home nine miles south of Mt. Moriah, a week ago, is a big fat man, the Harrison county officials have little to work on and it seems that the brutal murder will remain a mystery. They are now searching for a big man with scratches on his face and hands, as blood spots on the floor of the house give evidence that the woman's assailant was injured in the fight. No one in the neighborhood, so far found, has these marks.

Several clues have been picked up and run down by the officers, only to end in nothing, and now it is believed they are completely at sea. Bloodhounds were brought there from Beatrice, Nebraska, but the trail was so cold that it could not be picked up. All the people are anxious to find the murderer and bring him to justice, but they know not which way to turn nor where to look. It seems that this must go down in history as one of the great crimes unsolved.

Bunk Davidson, a cousin of the murdered woman, a close neighbor and who is a big man, after being held two days and closely questioned by the officers, was released Friday. He was in a pasture near the Shirley home on the afternoon of the murder, it is said, but his presence there was satisfactorily explained. Another man, reported under suspicion because his face was bruised, proved an alibi by showing that his injuries were received in riding a wild horse.

The affair, so shrouded in mystery, is a peculiarly sad one, as the victim was a woman highly respected in the neighborhood where she lived, was twenty-seven years old and mother of four children ranging in age from two years up to nine.

At the home, made sad and desolate by the act of some low, brutal miscreant, there was a pitable sight. The wife and mother lying cold in death, the good neighbors gathered around with tear-stained cheeks, the four motherless little children nestling close to the distracted husband and father whose frame quivered with the pent up emotion of his awful sorrow, made a gloom which the bright sunlight streaming in through the windows and across the casket could not dispel.

When the casket was placed in a spring wagon to convey the body to the little cemetery only about a half mile away, it seemed that the poor distracted and bewildered companion's heart would break. The children, barely old enough to realize the meaning, huddled close to the father, and the little girl who witnessed the crime, not knowing that her mother was forever gone, put her arms about the father's neck. "Mamma is sleeping," she said.

The crime, which was committed Sunday a week ago, is one of the worst in the history of this country. Mrs. Shirley and her two year old daughter were left alone at the farm house that day while Mr. Shirley and the three boys went to a neighboring farm. When they returned late that evening they found the house locked. Gaining entrance through a window, they found teh wife and mother lying on the floor, cold in death. The little child was in the house with the corpse. The lady had been attacked by a man during the husband's absence, and her neck was broken.

A complete report of the coroner's inquest will be found on page 3 of The Post.

The Boonville Daily News Boonville Missouri Thu Sept 28 1911

Bunk Davidson, a farmer about 25 years old, is being held by Harrison County authorities near Melbourne in connection with the murder of Mrs. Edward Shirley of the same neighborhood. No formal charges have been preferred against Davidson. He is being guarded at his home. He is married and has two children. Mrs. Shirley was murdered Sunday in her own home after being attacked. When her husband and little son returned from a day's trip they found the doors locked. A 2-year old daughter, who remained with the mother, was in the house unhurt. The little girl told them that a a"big fat man had fought with mamma and that mamma was asleep now."

FARMER HELD AS SUSPECT

The Columbia Daily Times Columbia Missouri Tue Sep 1911 page 5

HARRISON COUNTY, MO., STIRRED BY FOUL CRIME

Woman is Murdered by an Unknown Assailant in Presence of Two-Year-Old Daughter.

Trenton, Mo., Sept. 22 - Bunk Davidson, a young married farmer, about 35 years old, and father of two children, is being held by the Harrison county authorities near Melbourne, in connection with the killing of Mrs. Ed. Shirley, of the same neighborhood. No formal charges have been preferred against Davidson, but he is being guarded at his home.

The holding of Davidson addds new fire to the already heated sentiment in the Brimson neighborhood, the outcome of one of the most brutual crimes ever known in this section of Missouri. Mrs. Shirley was murdered Sunday by an unknown assailant, who broke her neck. When her husband and little son returned home from a day's trip they found the doors locked. A 2-year-old daughter, who had remained with the mother, was inside, unhurt. The assailant had evidently escaped by a window. Mrs. Shirley's body bore no marks save bruises on her wrists, but on the window was blood, showing that her antagonist had probably not escaped unscratched.

The little girl told those who arrived later that "a big fat man" had "fought with mamma" and that "mamma was asleep now." An effort was made to get bloodhounds to the scene, but they were late in arriving and accomplished nothing.

$1,000.00 REWARD

Bethany Clipper, Bethany, MO Fri Sept 29 1911 page 1

The county court in vacation last Monday made a standing offer of $400.00 for the apprehension and arrest of the person or persons guilty of the murder of Mrs. Ed. Shirley. Another reward of $400.00 has been offered by citizens of the Shirley neighborhood, with an additional $200.00 by parties at different localities in the county, making the total reward about $1,000.00.