Unable to Find a Clue

Revolting Murder of Mrs. Edward Shirley Near Mt. Moriah Still Shrouded in Mystery

SUSPECTS TURNED LOOSE

Farm Hand Establishes an Alibi and Prosecutor is Unable to Secure Evidence That Warrants Placing a Formal Charge Against Davidson Who Was Arrested and Charged With the Crime the Day Following the Tragedy.

The Pot-Telegraph Princeton Mo Wed Sep 27 1911 page 1

Though nine days have elapsed since Mrs. Amanda Lucille Shirley was ravished and killed in her home near Mt. Moriah the crime is still shrouded in impenetrable mystery and there is no clue of the identity of the fiend who perpetrated one of the most revolting and babarous murders that is known in the annals of Missouri tragedies.

Vigilant work marked the course of Prosecuting Attorney Lawhead and Sheriff Mantfold (Manifold? hard to read) immediately following the discovery of the murder and though their efforts have apparently come to naught they must be given full credit for their interest and earnest efforts to discover the perpetrator of the crime.

The coroner's jury returned a verdict that the deceased came to her death by a broken neck received at the hands of some party or parties unknown to the jurors. Just after the burial a farm hand was accused of the murder but had little difficulty in establishing an alibi that could not be doubted and no formal charge was laid against him.

Suspect is Set Free

On Wednesday morning of last week "Bunk" Davidson, residing in the edge of Grundy County, was arrested for complicity in the killing. He stoutly protested his innocence and asserted he would be able to prove he had nothing to do with the murder. The wife of Davidson and Mrs. Shirley had had a quarrel about two weeks ago and Mrs. Shirley is alleged to have gotten the better of the controversy and handled Mrs. Davidson rather roughly. Some believed this fact an incentive to the murder.

A telephone message from Bethany last Friday afternoon stated the authorities had released Davidson that morning. Inability to secure evidence that would warrant the laying of a charge against him was given as a reason for his liberation. Although the officers are still at work on the case they have no other suspects under surveillance.

Story of the Crime

Evidence produced before the coroner's jury warrants the conviction that by brute force the unknown assailant assaulted and outraged his victim and that she paid the ghastly sacrifice of her life as the price for her resistance.

Mrs. Shirley and her little three year old daughter, Blanche, were the only inmates of the home Sunday afternoon. Mr. Shirley and the other children having gone to John Utterbacks, accompanied by an aunt of Mrs. Shirley. Later they went to the home of the husband's father, W.H. Shirley, where they procured some peaches and visited over an hour. When late that afternoon they returned home Mr. Shirley helped the little boys out of the spring wagon and stopped to tie his team. The boys ran to the house but could not get inside and cried out to the father that the screen doors were hooked. Mr. Shirley saw his little daughter at the door inside and his suspicions were aroused. "Big man hurt mamma, she is asleep, can't wake her up, " lisped the little daughter. Breaking open the door they began a search for Mrs. Shirley, a little son finding her dead in an upstairs room. Her neck had been broken and her body was partially denuded bearing mute evidence that she had been assaulted and outraged. There were blood stains on the floor which physicians later testified was not her blood. The wrists of the murdered woman were bloodshot as though they had been firmly gripped in the struggle and her neck also bore the marks of pressure. Everything in the room was disordered, every indication pointing that the brute had met a terrible resistance and only accomplished his purpose after he had killed his victim.

The dining room and kitchen mutely testified that Mrs. Shirley was preparing a late dinner at the time of her assailant's arrival and the conjecture is that she fled upstairs for protection. All the screens were fastened on the inside except one which was broken open and through which the assasulter had evidently made his escape.

Mrs. Shirley was a rugged, robust woman, twenty-seven years of age. She bore an excellent reputation and was held in high esteem by hosts of friends in the community in which she lived.