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woe < oe . ? WA MBB ok ghee bao tad | BANKER WILLIAM K. HALE returned feom the anneal _ 9 {Texas Fat Cattle Show to find his bome town of Fairfax, Oklahoma, vem gripped by excitement . . . amd fear. As he walked up Main Street from the railway station, bis friends | Stopped him to tell him the news, Their stories were confused, but he : gathered that while he was in Fort ‘Worth, an explosion had Bterally rocked the town, A Jew people wyo happened to be up and about at _ three o'clock that morning had seen a sheet of flames engulf the Bil ~» Smaith home—und then came the blast that ripped the big hoase apart. . ” : “. «Killed Rita and the maid and Bill's dying . . . blew ‘etn to hell and gone . . . not much left.of the house but a pile of Kindlin‘ a * wood,” Some people recalled hearing an automobile race through the ~ _ town a few minutes bafore the explosion. No one could describe the "car or driven, a Despite the confusion, Hale knew. what it was. Tt'was murder, The banker stopped to talk with his friend, the mayor, and discuss the ter- _ ble thing that had happened. Hale left the mayor's office and walked on bp the streel, dunking of Bill Smith. He had known Bill and his wife, Rita, for years. They had lived out in the country until recently, when they decided to move into town. Rita's sister, Mollie, was mtarried to one of Hale’s nephews. So there really was a distant family relationship. Banker Hale still had the Smith murders on his mind a few days later when he sent for Asa Kirby, who frequently did odd jobs for him. The two men talked for a while and then Kirby left the Hale house. Later, Hale strolled downtown. He entered one of the Main Street stores and chatted confidentially with the proprietor. There was talk around town that the storekeeper had a valuable collection of dia» monds.in his safe. That night the merchant dida’t go home. Hs locked himself im the store and waited with a shotgun in his hands. It was about 2:39 a.m. when he beard the rear window of the store being pried open. And then a dark figure was framed in the window. : ‘The shotgun roared, blasting “Ace” Kirby out of the window, mor- eee tally wounded, Dead men icll no tales—-and Karby would never be able ~ Se ta name the man who had paid him and a companion to blow up the rr ae That was Osage County, Oklahoma, in March, 1923, a dark an lie bloody hunting ground if if ever there was onc; and the crailicst hunter eo sae ev te aie . Page 2123 of "The Far Story. eee . A Report te the People” by™ a ; Bon Fhitehead - :