Leon Reporter Leon, Decatur, Iowa Thursday, May 26, 1904 The readers of The Reporter are all familiar with the circumstances of the mysterious disappearance of W.P. Clark, the well known grocer of this city, who left Leon on Oct. 13th of last year, ostensibly to visit his brother-in-law at Atchison, Kas. He never reached Atchison, and all trace of him was lost after he reached St. Joe. His disappearance has caused his family and friends great uneasiness, as there were suspicions that he had been foully dealt with, but from information received during the past week. It appears that he has been in Cuba the past winter, and is probably at some place on that island at the present time. The discovery of his whereabouts came about in rather a strange manner. A distant relative of Mrs. I.N. Clark, who lives at Port Arthur, Texas, was talking to some friends who spent the winter in Cuba, and told them that the family thought Mr. Clark might have gone there. The lady said they had met an American at Matanza, Cuba, in a hotel the first of February, and on being shown Mr. Clark's photograph said she was sure she had seen him. She gave the address of the hotel and it was sent to Leon, from which place a photo of Mr. Clark and his description was forwarded to the hotel keeper. Last Saturday a letter was received by Mr. I.N. Clark from the hotel keeper, John B. Escalante, proprietor of the Grand Hotel at Matanzas, saying that on Feb. 2, 1904, a man who registered as B.P. Clark, Leon, Iowa, stopped at his hotel four days and that he resembled the picture of Mr. Clark so much that he was satisfied he was the same man. He writes that Mr. Clark was talking of buying land but did not find any that suited him, and when he left that city was going to Puerto Principe. There is no question but what W.P. Clark was there at that time and the registering under the name of B.P. Clark can be explained by the Cuban being mistaken. Mr. I.N. Clark has written for the page of the register containing the signature and is confident that when it arrives he will recognize Willard's handwriting. This is the first definite news that has been heard from Willard since he left home, and efforts will be made to trace him in Cuba, and his friends hope that before long he will return to Leon and explain his long absence. Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert Willard P. Clark did not return home. According to Emma (McClelland) Clark's obituary, she went to Denver which is where her sister Etta (McClelland) Hall lived. She went on to Elgin, Illinois where she taught school, until her death in 1924.

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