Havana Democrat:—A mystery to be solved in Mason county, how a traveling bag with men’s clothing and nearby, a shirt and pants with blood stains on, came to be there, and who they belong to, and whether there is a murder mystery attached to it.
On Wednesday afternoon Sherman Lane was trapping on the Harve Ade land, southeast of Kilbourne. He came upon a man’s grip, containing clothing, a silk shirt, and an overcoat, and all of good quality.
Sheriff Blessman was called and he with Constable Harfst went to the location and made an investigation and found a shirt and a pair of pants about forty feet from where the grip was found, and these garments contained blood stains.
On Thursday morning, Coroner Niederer, Sheriff Blessman, Donald Holland, Frank Hughes, Sherman Lane and Eilert Harfst made a more thorough search of the neighborhood and they found more clothing scattered about.
The clothing brought into the coroner’s office was carefully examined. All marks of identification had been removed. A place where the bag had evidently had a name tag on it was cut out. The bag was ripped open and in the lining was a letter addressed to “Shelton.” The letter was dated August 9th and read, “The bearer is Jim Durkin, known to me and o. k.” and was signed “Dud.”
A Jim Durkin has been missing from near Astoria for a number of months and officers are investigating this clue. It is said the clothing was of the size that would be worn by the missing man.
Mr. Durkin married Miss Faye Parker, residing west of Astoria, about four years ago. He is a cook and usually has had a position with construction companies. He was here in September and when he left he told his wife that he was going down in the southern part of the state. She has not heard from him since.
Mrs. Durkin went to Havana Saturday and identified the blood-stained clothing as being those of her husband.
* * *
The body of James Durkin, who has been missing since Sept. 21 and whose blood-stained clothing was found near Kilbourne two weeks ago was found yesterday, buried in a two-foot grave about three miles from where his clothes were found.
An amazing story of murder has been unfolded in its grim details to Mason county authorities Tuesday, following the arrest late Monday of R. H. Gilmore, 23, of Kilbourne. Confronted with the evidence that he had sold the car of James Durkin, Astoria, to a Petersburg auto dealer, Gilmore confessed to slaying Durkin on the night of Sept. 22.
Later last night, Gilmore led a group of officials and several other men to a dense woods near Kilbourne where the body of Durkin was found in a shallow grave.
The body was taken to the Niederer Funeral Home in Havana.
Going into the minutest detail, Gilmore told of how he and Durkin had quarreled in the Durkin car when they differed as to making a trip to Springfield. Durkin, he said, struck him with an axe handle and he immediately shot him, killing him instantly.
The confession in part reads: “I, Roy H. Gilmore, do hereby certify that the following is true and complete and that I did shoot Jim Durkin, whose name, I understand, is James Durkin, after he struck me with an axe-handle. I took the body a short distance from where the shooting occurred to a point one-quarter mile west of Mason City and laid it in the road. I drove the Durkin car to Mason City to obtain a supply of gasoline and returned, picked up the body, placed it in the car and drove about with it for a considerable length of time.
“I drove about with the body in the machine until 2 o’clock in the morning then returned to my home where I obtained a spade and then went to a spot in a timber land on the farm of Mrs. Sylvia Cave, one-half mile south of my home, went about 50 feet into the timber where I dug a grave and buried Durkin’s body.
“For many hours I drove about in the machine, throwing articles of Durkin’s clothing, his grips and an auto blanket from the car at various places along the roads traversed, also two spare tires and wheels.
“I do further affirm that, as God is my judge, that the above statement is true and that I killed Jim Durkin, the killing occurring on the night of Sept. 22 in Mason County, Ill.”
The solving of the mystery came about late Monday when Moulton Hudspeth located the death car in Miller’s garage at Petersburg after tracing the motor number through the license plate issued to Durkin and from papers in his clothing. Hudspeth, with officers went to Petersburg where they located Wilbur Karl who had obtained the car after Gilmore had traded it in at the garage.
Officers drove to the Gilmore home where they found Gilmore and took him into custody for questioning. On the way to Havana he told the officers of the slaying. After reaching the Mason county jail a confession was made and signed.
Later in the evening a party of men including the sheriff and deputy drove with Gilmore to the spot where he said the body had been buried and a few moments after reaching the secluded point, the slayer unearthed the body at the exact spot where he had told the officers it would be found, in a grave about two feet deep, despite the fact that wintry winds had blown leaves and debris about in such a manner as to cover the spot and that rain and snow had beaten the mound of earth to a level with the surrounding property.
The ghastly find was taken at once to the Neiderer Funeral home in Havana and the murderer returned to a cell in the county jail.
After shooting Durkin with the .32 calibre revolver, he dumped his body out of the car at the side of the road and went to Kilbourne where he purchased gasoline for the car. He then rode around while attempting to make up his mind what he should do. At 2 o’clock on the morning of Sept. 23, he returned to his home, secured a spade and, picking up the body of Durkin took it into the woods and buried it in a shallow grave.
Gilmore told officers he had known Durkin in Wisconsin and had worked with him there. He expressed the opinion that Durkin at the time of his death was connected with a Chicago gang.
The actual murder of Durkin took place on the road between Havana and Mason City, Gilmore said in his confession and the two men had planned to go to Springfield when the argument arose.
Mrs. Durkin, who lives west of Astoria with her mother, Mrs. Lon Parker, was immediately notified of the discovery of the remains. She went to Havana Tuesday morning where she made a satisfactory identification.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus