New York, W, 1819-1988, Undated

An Assemblage of Hudson Valley Portraiture

JULIUS PRUYN, oil on canvas, 27 x 22"; signed and CYNTHIA WILLSEY PRUYN (Mrs. Lucas Pruyn);
dated in lower right: Bayard Tyler, 1906. oil on canvas, 31%. x 24"; signed and dated reverse:
J. L. Harding Pinxt Nov. 23-1825, Albany.

SARAH LOUISE PRUYN PHILLIP; oil on canvas, ISAAC PRUYN,; oil on canvas, 30 x 25"; half portrait
28 x 23"; signed middle right "Thos. LeClear N.A., of subject as Catskill banker. Signed and dated:
c. 1870. Bayard H. Tyler, 1880.

Anthony J. Gambino Photographs

LUCAS PRUYN (the physician); oil on canvas, 28% x
22"; c. 1845-55. Unsigned but aiso in the James E.
Johnson style.

The Pruyn family portraits, the generous gift of
Gerrit Collier, will be on display at the Bronck Museum.
The highly successful Historic Home Tour in 1977
financed the conservation of the three earlier portraits
painted by James E. Johnson. St. Julian Fishburne of
New Paltz was the conservator.

The Collier gift preserves in this region, prime
examples of regional and national artists’ brush work.
James E. Johnson, the Kinderhook artist, was repre-
sented in the Columbia County ARB Art Exhibit on
July 15-16, 1976. He is known to have painted several
family members as well as other area residents. His
wife, Sarah Ann Van Vleck, was the daughter of
Peter A. Van Vleck; Isaac Pruyn’s mother was Jane
Van Vleck. |

Artist John L. Harding painted in the Albany
area between 1825 and 1838, in Philadelphia from
1841-1845, and in NYC from 1848-1852. Work by
this individual may be seen in the collections of the
New-York Historical Society.

Thomas LeClear (1818-1870), portrait and genre
painter, eventually established his studio in New York
City; in 1863 he was elected to the National Academy.

Bayard Henry Tyler, the subject of ongoing re-
search, contracted with Isaac Pruyn for the latter’s
portrait. He also painted Julius Pruyn in 1906.

MARY ANGELICA PRUYN,; oil on canvas, 27 x 22";
c. 1845-55. Unsigned but conclusively attributed to
James E. Johnson.

ISAAC PRUYN; oil on canvas, 28 x 23"; c. 1845-55.
Unsigned but also conclusively attributed to James E.
Johnson.

CATSKILL MARBLE WORKER
“SCULPTURE BENT”

—Patricia H. Christian
For over a hundred years the descendants of

Joseph Adams wondered who had carved the two
marble medallions that hung over the mantle in the
parlor of ‘Marble Lodge”, built in 1861 on the south
side of the public green in Fair Haven, Vermont.
Joseph Adams was a great-great grandfather to my
husband, John J. Christian, and he was owner and
operator of a marble quarry in West Rutland. The
medallions are now cherished heirlooms, but it was
only recently we realized that they depicted The
Past and The Future.

The Medallions at Marble Lodge

In 1969, while reading a journal kept by great-
great Uncle Hibbard Phelps, I discovered the entry,
“Joseph Adams paid $250 each to Charles Baldwin of
Catskill, N. Y., for two marble medallions.’’ Then a few
years later, the family discovered five letters written by
Mr. Baldwin to Grandfather Adams.

A study of the Baldwin letters reveals that he was
a serious sculptor with aesthetic tastes, and most
assuredly guided by the prevailing Victorian morality
of the nineteenth century. When Mr. Adams expressed
concern about draping, the sculptor replied in a letter:

You say that if the medallion is draped, you think it

should be The Past, and ask me if both should be draped,
if one is. If you ask my views in the matter, I will give
them. The aim of the medallion is to express certain ideas,
and part and portion of them should aid in giving you
those ideas. For The Past, we wish to express memory,
thoughtfulness, looking back over the remembrance of
other days. This is then giving the face an expression
calculated to convey these ideas, a look of thoughtfulness
with somewhat of sadness.

For The Future, we have expectation, hope, determina-

tion, energy of purpose. These are also shown by the

expression of the countenance. As The Past is before The
Future, so the face in the one is represented as older than
the face in the other.

The Future should be draped and The Past not draped
for this reason.

The drapery of The Future seems to express the ideas
of concealment—hidden from view—not yet visible—while
the absence of drapery on the other medallion is to show
that The Past has no concealment—nothing hidden or
obscure.

My reason for writing to you about the matter was
not because I felt doubtful as to how the medallions
should be made in order to express the ideas of Past and
Future, but because something was said about these
things when I was at your house last spring.

You wish to know how much more I will ask to cut
the medallion with drapery than without. If you wish it
draped, I will cut it so, without extra charge, but I would
not advise you to have it draped, as it would not be in
keeping with the rest of the medallion.

You wish to know if a piece of marble less than 4
inches thick would do. A piece that will finish to 3%
inches thick is all that is necessary, but thinner than that
will not do. If it be 19 inches square instead of 20 inches,
it would be just as well, providing it be perfectly sound
entirely to the edge. The object of ordering it 20 inches
square was that I might have an extra inch in case of
small fractures of the edge.

Please reply as soon as you can.

Respectfully yours,

/s/ Charles M. Baldwin
P.S. The piece you sent, I am now working on, and believe
it to be an excellent piece in all respects.

The letters of the sculptor intrigued me to the
point that I felt compelled to learn more about Charles
Baldwin, and obviously Catskill was the place to
commence my search. Heretofore Catskill had just been
a Thruway exit to me, as my husband and I travelled
back and forth from our home in Starlight, Pennsyl-
vania, to summer or fall vacations in his ancestral home
in Fair Haven. So one day I drove to Catskill, looked
through the phone directory and listed all the addresses
of all Baldwins in the immediate area. Then I visited a
local monument shop, as often these businesses in
small towns are passed from generation to generation.
The proprietor of the shop was not a Baldwin, but he
was kind enough to tell me about the Bronck House
Museum and the Greene County Historical Society.
There was not enough time to stop at the Bronck House
that day, but when I returned home I wrote inquiring
letters to the Baldwins I’d gleaned from the phone
book, all to no avail.

Then through correspondence, I became acquain-
ted with Raymond Beecher, who offered to help. Con-
sequently I sent him copies of the five Baldwin-to-
Adams letters in my possession.

During the summer of 1974 I visited the Vedder
Research Library and discussed my interest further
with Curator Raymond Beecher. With stacks of news-
papers and directories, he started me on my research.

Continued on page 3

»

CATSKILL MARBLE WORKER ~— from page 2

Slowly, between my visits and searches, and Mr.
Beecher’s hunts, we managed to accumulate some in-
teresting information about Charles M. Baldwin, a little
known sculptor from Catskill.

Charles Baldwin acquired a facility for working
with marble early in life. By the age of 13 years, he was
already a competent artisan. Supplementing training
received from his father, Israel H. Baldwin, Charles
sought additional experience in stone carving with
George Elliott who operated a stone yard at Jefferson
Heights between 1863 and 1870. Subsequently Charles
worked in his father’s yard at the several Catskill
locations, eventually succeeding to his father’s business.
A substantial number of nineteenth century tombstones
in Catskill cemeteries were from the skilled hands of
the Baldwins.

Israel H. Baldwin, the father, decided in 1834 to
relocate in Catskill. He had been recuperating from a
serious ankle injury at the Catskill Village hotel oper-
ated by Innkeeper Joseph Lynes. Neither Stamford
(Delaware County) nor New Preston (Connecticut)
ever reclaimed him.

The first business advertisement of the Catskill
Baldwins appeared in the Catskill Recorder under date
of February 14, 1834, in the name of Whitney and
Baldwin. Little is known about the Whitney partner,
and that co-partnership did not endure for many years.
The 1834 advertisement reads:

MARBLE MANUFACTORY The subscribers would
inform the public that they have entered into co-partnership
in the business of mfg. and vending Building Marble,
Grave Stones, and Monuments. They have one manufactory
established in Litchfield Co., Conn., another in the village
of Catskill, and a third at the head of the Delaware.

Grave stones, Monuments, and Manufacturing Marble
of every description will be offered at as low a rate as at
any other establishment in the state. Carving done in the
neatest manner, and all orders promptly executed.

J. B. Lynes, Agent, Catskill, N. Y.
and William Willard, Saugerties,
Ulster County, N. Y.

Catskill, Feb 14. 1834

By 1837 Israel H. Baldwin had modified the
weekly advertisement somewhat:

MARBLE MANUFACTORY The subscriber respect-
fully informs the public that he still occupies his old
stand near the corner of Main and Thompson Streets,
where he continues the business of manufacturing and
vending BUILDING MARBLE, GRAVESTONES, AND
MONUMENTS of every description, which will be offered
as low as at any other establishment in the State.

CARVING executed in the neatest manner,
All orders will be promptly executed.
I. H. Baldwin

It was in family living quarters near the marble
yard that son Charles Baldwin, the sculptor, was born.
The newspaper reports on February 5, 1867, that Mr.

Baldwin, Sr., finally purchased Mrs. Ells’ house on
Thompson Street. The yard for the business was nearby
the Thompson Street corner.

Although marble was quarried as early as 1789 in
the Rutland, Vermont area, little of the product was
shipped except locally by horse and oxen. When the
Champlain Canal opened in 1823, the marble was
drawn by team to Whitehall or Comstock, and then
it was shipped down the Champlain Canal and the Hud-
son River to eastern cities. Finally in 1852 the Rutland
and Washington Railroad opened, and the marble
business expanded greatly. During the post-Civil War
era, hundreds of thousands of monuments and markers
were shipped from the Rutland marble quarries. Joseph
Adams had several salesmen traveling from New Eng-
land to St. Louis. Every small town had its monument
shop and marble carver.

Shortly after the Civil War, Charles Baldwin
began to attract local interest with his carving talent.
It was a period of American preoccupation with
sculpture, much of which began to adorn the mansions
and homes of prosperous merchants. At first Charles
Baldwin was satisfied to copy known works of art such
as that of Richard Henry Park. At the first fair held
by the Catskill Agricultural and Horticultural Society
on October 1, 2, and 3, 1867, ‘“‘a medallion in marble
by Charles M. Baldwin, being a copy of Park’s Memory,
was awarded a discretionary premium of $3.00’. The
Catskill Recorder and Democrat in recording the prize,
felt Mr. Baldwin gave promise as a sculptor.

It is known that for a brief period of time in the
latter part of the 1860’s, Baldwin assisted sculptor
R. H. Park and did most of the carving of a head and
bust of Little Nell (Charles Dickens’ character of Old
Curiosity Shop fame). Sculptors frequently worked in
clay, employing skilled stone cutters to execute the
work in marble. But in general, Charles Baldwin’s
artistic endeavors were limited, and he never com-
pletely broke away from his ties with the family and
marble yard. He eventually succeeded his father in the
business, the yard being removed to the head of Main

Street.
Clearly, the problem of how to drape the medal-

lions was solved, and Charles Baldwin delivered the
medallions in person to Joseph Adams in Fair Haven
in May of 1869. The Baldwins continued to be marble
customers of the Joseph Adams firm for many years.
As you stroll through local cemeteries, it might be
well to look for Baldwin sculptures, which probably

are numerous.
After seven generations of Adamses in the old

marble house, it has been sold, but the medallions
have been retained in the family, and always will be.

My contacts with the Greene County Historical
Society, the Vedder Research Library, and the Bronck
House have been my pleasure in every way. Each trip

Continued on page 9

Society shoots wolves,
butthisknown maniac

roamed at large!

BY
VINCENT

\KES JEORG

‘inger Lakes
reverberated
ag of hounds
CCC youths.
\. The week
Junior High
‘anished.

y monoplane
ilot Clifford
and former
sely wooded
n prongs.

y s below

. Five
wind and
ga series of

alder looked
i man, trot-
dsordered the

ome around
? the search-
it to himself.
lis curiosity.
lane, waved

d jerked his
rowing both
ded his gait
crest.
y frightened
nis ship and
But that
ww, followed
mtity as he
an to arouse
‘d the plane
field. There

region. He
un from the
the ground

m Reed had
re had been
nd—taken a
But as time
c to deepest
girl and no
having seen

@ in the
wre coun-

SHE PAID—— tryside it was taken for
EvelynReeddiedbecause granted that when Evelyn
a human wolf was free. Reed was seen again she

would not be alive. The
child’s own parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Reed of Indian
Pines, expressed the feeling of the entire community
when they said:

“Evelyn was not the kind of girl to run off. Why, she
never in her life has slept away from home. If she had
been hurt while on her way home from school she’d
surely have been found long before this. If she’d been
kidnapped for ransom we’d certainly have received
word from her abductors.

“Our little girl has been slain—her body hidden or
destroyed to cover the crime!” ,

And so, it was for the body of Evelyn Reed that Pilot
Van Gelder now searched as he kept his plane just
above the line of trees that bordered the fields adjacent
to Lake Keuka.

The day, clear and bright when Van Gelder had
taken off from the airport at Penn Yan, seemed suddenly
to darken. He looked at his fuel gauge, saw it had
dropped considerably and realized that in the intensity
of his search the time had flown. But before starting
back he took out a small map and rapidly calculated the
position of the field where he'd seen the running man.
It lay, he believed, about half a mile south of the Yates-

Steuben county line and an
SCHOOLMATES—— eighth of a mile west of

Joyce Wheeler walked the road connecting Penn
home with Evelyn Reed. Yan and Hammondsport.

51

wee 9

On his return, Van Gelder reported the peculiar con-
duct of the running man to Inspector John A. Cosart of
the New York Bureau of Criminal Identification, who
had taken charge of the search.

The point marked on the flier’s map was some fifteen
miles south of Penn Yan and at least five miles outside
the area covered by the land searching parties, it was
estimated.

“Too late to do anything tonight, éven if there was a
chance of finding the fellow and questioning him,” In-
spector Cosart said. “But nowadays people in this sec-

tion don’t get panicky just

THE MOTHER—— because they see an air-

of Evelyn Reed waited Plane. Something’s mighty °
‘desperately for six days. strange about the whole

thing. Tomorrow morning we’ll have men comb every
inch of the section. If there’s anything there, we'll
find it.”

Long before the sun rose over the lake-dotted hill
country on the morning of September 25th, Inspector
Cosart sat in conference with Rexford Ransley, superin-
tendent of the White Hollow CCC Camp, and outlined
plans for what he felt would be the last day of the great-
est search in the history of Central New York State.

“We'll have 500 men and boys from the Watkins Glen
and Kanona camps out hunting today,” promised Ran-
sley. I'll start my largest crew in the section flown over
by Van Gelder yesterday, and gradually spread down
along the lake shore.”

But Inspector Cosart did not join the searchers that
morning. Instead, he remained at headquarters in Penn
Yan and went over, step, by step, the progress of his
investigation to date.

Inspector Cosart was convinced that crime had been
committed. He believed the search for Evelyn Reed
was rapidly nearing its.end, and he wanted to be ina
position to proceed against the criminal the minute word
came back from those in the field.

It was just five days before that Evelyn had been last
seen alive. At 3:30 o’clock in the afternoon she had left
the Junior High School in Penn Yan in company with
a classmate, fourteen-year-old Joyce Wheeler. The girls
frequently walked toward home together, Joyce to stop
at Burns Terrace and Evelyn to continue on down the

DEATH SCENE——

District Attorney King

(left), with Inspectors
Cosart and Hoyt (right). . >


ral
se
un
its
od!

ot

He Liked Them Sweet Sixteen

(continued from page 51)

young Wheeler in the criminal files.
They were interested. to learn that
young Wheeler had a record. He had
actually served a stretch for moral of-
fenses in Attica State Prison. Howev-
er, since his release four years before,
his record had been clean.

But that one conviction plus the fact
that he drove a car of the description
given by witnesses made young
Wheelock a prime suspect. The troop-
ers drove the Penn Yan clothing mer-
chant to Steuben County and they
waited near the exchange until
Wheelock emerged.

The merchant studied the suspect
closely, then nodded. “He’s one of
the men who bought a wool jacket
from me,” he said positively.

The officers were definitely en-
couraged, but they still had to place
young Wheelock in the vicinity of the
kidnap scene on the Tuesday af-
ternoon of the murder. They waited
until Wheelock drove off in his truck
and then went into the exchange.

They asked that the records be
checked for September 19. They
were elated to learn from the clerk in
charge that the exchange had in-
stalled a new. phone on September 19
in a home on Route 54 about a mile
beyond the spot where Evelyn Reed
had vanished!

It was decided by Cosart and Hoyt
that they had enough evidence to
make an arrest. That Friday evening,
Scott and Sohmer went to the Wheel-

er home in Prattsburg, an impressive

rambling old mansion.
Young Wheeler himself admitted

the two officers and showed them in- |

side. “What can I do for you?” he
asked politely. “We’d like you to
come with us,” Scott told him.
“Inspector Hoyt wants to speak with
ou.”

“About what?” Wheeler de-
manded, his thin face pale.

“About the murder of the Reed
girl,” Scott said evenly.

Behind the spectacles, panic
showed in the eyes of young Whee-
lock. He wet his lips nervously and
his hands clenched. Suddenly he
rushed wildly for the door.

Catlike, Sohmer leaped after him.
In one bound he reached Wheelock
who had wrenched open the door.
The trooper grabbed his arm and
twisted it behind his back. Scott had a

pair of manacles ready and in an in-
stant Wheelock was handcuffed.

Brought to Penn Yan and con-
fronted with the evidence against
him, Norman Wheelock soon broke
down and admitted that he was the
rape-killer of 16-year-old Evelyn
Margaret Reed.

He told the officers that on Tuesday
afternoon, September 19, he had been
doing a repair job for his father. Sud-
denly he became restless and said he
was going out on an installation job.
He put in the phone and then cruised
along the highway looking for a girl.
Seeking Evelyn Reed walking alone,
he drew abreast of her. He claimed he
offered her a ride and that she ac-
cepted.

As they reached the turn-off to Indi-
an Pines, the girl asked to be let out
but he kept on, stepping up the speed
of the truck. When the girl protested,
he told her that he was just taking her
for a ride.

He reached the abandoned fruit-
stand and drove in back of the shack.

Wheelock said that he then tried to
make love to the girl but she resisted.
Dragging her out of the truck, he
pulled her into the woods and at-
tacked her. Then, fearful that she
would tell her parents, he decided to
kill her. Taking his screwdriver from
the top of his leather boot where he
carried it, he plunged the blade into
the girls’s temple.

Because the crime was committed
in Steuben County, young Wheelock
was hustled off to jail in Bath, the
‘county seat. He was duly indicted for
the heinous crime and after a long trial
in which insanity was offered as a
defense, he was convicted of first de-
gree murder on November 19, 1939.
Justice Nathan D. Lapham sentenced
the prisoner to death in the electric
chair.

On the night of August 1, 1940, af-
ter the prisoner had exhausted his
right to appeal and after his plea for
clemency had been turned down by
the governor of New York, he was
taken into the death chamber in the
prison at Ossining. The switch was
pulled twice and a charge of high
voltage electricity snuffed out the life
of the young rape-killer. *

‘Find Him Fast—He’s One Of Us’

(continued from page 13)

the exact, same location on the night
of November 23rd when a CHP offi-
cer bellowed over his loudspeaker:
“Keep going! Keep going!” Finally
she pulled over to the shoulder of the
frontage road.

“He was talk, talk, talk, and really
friendly,” the woman said. “The
whole thing unnerved me, the fact
that he was so friendly. I was ex-
pecting him to ask me out on a date or
something.”

This time, the woman was let go
without a citation, or even a vocal
warning.

“He had me lift up my hood and
showed me little things I could do to
my engine to safeguard against a fi-
re,” another woman who had been
pulled over near Mercy Road, com-
plained. “He was very, very friend-
i"

a dozen women called, all with
similar stories, each one frightened,
after having heard of Cara Knott’s
fate. But their complaints fell on deaf
ears. CHP Chief Killingsworth
shrugged it off by saying that the offi-

cer did not do anything wrong by tell-
ing the woman to drive off the free-
way.

“We encourage officers to take peo-
ple off the freeway where there is a
particular need, such as heavy traffic,
no shoulder, that kind of thing,” he
told KFMB television.

But secretly, the California High-
way Patrol was instituting an inten-
sive investigation into the complaints,
although at the time, it was impossi-
ble to determine if an outrage had
been committed by one of their own.

The finger of suspicion had been
pointed at Craig Peyer, a 36-year-old,
13-year CHP veteran whose patrol
duties included the vicinity between
Poway and Escondido. His record
was eminently respectable, with
awards for commendable efforts. He
was also married with three children.

His circle of friends at police head-
quarters didn’t care a hoot about the
women who complained that Peyer
had stopped them. He was just doing
his duty, they reasoned.

’ (continued on page 55)

53


Soe.

or fae 1
ne ee ‘ an . P (eC. r ' & .
SHEE LOCK, NOL MAIL, WOLGE, va ‘3
VF Lill 3

grain fields,
down and spotted the form of

ting rapidly toward the wooded
open space.

his hand,

prepared to continue on dow:

open. Instead, his sharp eyes
below for something no longer

CRIME DETECTIVE NAGA
MAY 19406

For just a second the man on the ground jerked his
head half around, looking upward. Then, throwing both

a farmer of the region, Van Gelder lifted his ship and

Van Gelder continued to cruise over the region. He
no longer hoped to see the man who had run from the ;

Passed that hope changed to fear, and later to deepest :

“one reported having seen
DERANGED___ her after 5 o’clock in the
Norman J. Wheelock evening.
knew he was a sick man, Throughout the coun-

STALKING THE MAD

{RAPIST

| AeSy oO THE FINGER LAKES

Flying low over the last field, Van Gelder looked

an overalled man, trot- &

land that bordered the ‘

Yet, the man’s sudden movement aroused his curiosity, »
Van Gelder leaned out the side of his plane, waved

scrutinized the ground
animate,

octmeeiesinietinair hitachi
a

2DWNE

i;

Philosophical utterance in quiet amaze-
ment, Wheelock continued:

“Then she resisted me and started fight-
ing. While I was trying to hold her down
she kicked me in the jaw and knocked
me over. She struggled for quite a little
while, then she became quiet and just sat
there crying for about five minutes.

“Then I began to wonder what would >

happen to me when she got home and
told on me. I always carry a thin screw-
driver shoved inside my high boot. I
reached down for it, held it like an ice
pick, and suddenly jammed it into the
side of her head between her left eye and
ear. .

“She raised her left hand to her temple
but she didn’t make a sound. Then her
hand fell down and I figured she was
dead.

“T left her body there and went back to
the truck where I found her schoolbooks,
which I hid in the brush back of the fruit
stand. I drove away and installed the tele-
phone I was going to, and went home.
I had dinner at home that evening and
went to bed at 10 p.m. I slept quite well.”

In the lengthy confession, Wheelock
admitted that he was “almost always”
hungering for women.

“As long as I was working,” he said,

“T'd be all right. But the moment I was
idle ’'d begin thinking about a woman.
Even in driving from one job to another
I'd get to thinking about them.”

Many interesting sidelights on the
curiously warped personality of Norman
Wheelock were revealed in the trial which
began on October 16, 1939, before Supreme
Court Justice Nathan D. Lapham at Hor-
nell, New York.

As a case history, the 27 years of Whee-
lock’s short life must be of profound in-
terest to students of human behavior,
psychologists and psychiatrists.

This son of moderately wealthy parents
was normal until about six years of age.
Taken ill with influenza, he was inflicted

with insomnia, lost his appetite, did not *

play well. He never seemed quite normal
after that.

He was never able to make friends with
dogs. He twisted the arms of his young
brother.

In 1920, he ran away from school, began
stealing from stores. When he was nine,
he stole an automobile. Taken to a state
hospital for the insane at Warsaw, Nor-
man was examined and was found
sane.

Numerous thefts studded his early boy-
hood. He was expelled from St. John’s

Military Academy at Manlius and from
the Hornell Vocational School.

At the murder trial, all attempts of de-
fense alienists to prove that Wheelock was
insane were blocked by shrewd District
Attorney George A. King of Corning.

The famed Dr. Clarence Bellinger,
medical superintendent of the Brooklyn
State Hospital, after thorough examina-
tion of the slayer, testified that on Sep-
tember 19, Norman Wheelock was legally
sane.

After hearing this expert testimony and
that of other physicians, the jury retired
for a brief three hours to return a verdict
of murder in the first degree.

On his 28th birthday, November 10, 1939,
Norman Wheelock stood with bowed head
before Judge Lapham to hear the stern
words:

“Norman Wheelock, the jury having
found you guilty of murder in the first
degree, I direct that during the week of
December 17, you be put to death in the
manner prescribed by law, in Sing Sing
prison.”

Shortly after the trial, however, Whee-
lock’s attorneys won the right to appeal
the death sentence. But on August 1, 1940,
almost one year after his lustful murder,
the bespectacled killer was electrocuted.

Crash-Out in Skirts

[Continued from page 6]

been drinking with the youth. During
the course of the evening, the party had
turned to other things. It was then Mirl
had placed a knife against the man’s
throat and had taken his wallet.

The fourth member of the group was ©

Margaret Nicholson, also 15. This was her
third stay at the detention house; each
time she had been incarcerated for run-
ning away from home. Her record showed
that the authorities considered the girl a
“very disturbed person.”

Last, but not least, of the malice-bent
quintet was 16-year-old Zelda Hebb De-
Cost. At 14 she had become a child bride.
Marital bliss had lasted exactly 26 days—
then her husband was arrested. Later,
Zelda took to the road, hitchhiking to West
Virginia, to Cleveland and Akron. It was
on the outskirts of the last-named city
that she had been picked up for investiga-
tion by the authorities, when they found
the minor living in a motel.

So much unruliness locked in one room
was bound to explode into bloodshed... .
We've got to get out! was the constant
thought of the five hellions. .. .

The cell division was on the top floor
of the two-story brick building which
housed in separate sections both male and
female juvenile delinquents. Under the
watchful eye of Matron Eula Bonham, 59,
the girls had been brought upstairs from
the recreation room. The time was 8
o’clock Sunday evening, November 27,
1955; it was the period known to the in-
mates as the sandwich hour, when a be-
fore-bedtime snack was served.

The plan the five girls had worked out
and rehearsed was ready for action. On
Friday, while washing windows in the in-
stitution, Ruth Beichler had stolen some
ammonia and had stored it in a cold cream
jar. The ammonia was now poured onto a
washcloth and held in readiness. It had
been decided that when Mrs. Bonham
came into the room with the tray of sand-
wiches, the girls would pounce upon her.
But fate gave the kindly matron a few

SO

extra moments to live. Instead of entering,
Mrs. Bonham stood in the doorway and
pasted the tray into the room. Then she
eft.

A moment of indecision struck the plot-
ters. As Mirl Cain and Margaret Nichol-
son were to say later: “We decided to give
up the idea, but the others called us
chicken. Nobody can call us that.”

Once more the schemers went to work.
One of the girls called Mrs. Bonham and
asked her to bring up a scarf she had
left behind in the recreation quarters. 'The
matron a gaia this time she
walked into the room where the five girls
were waiting.

Said Mirl Cain subsequently: “I was the
one who was auibeaed to grab her and
keep her from screaming. But she had
cold cream on her face and I couldn’t get
a grip. Somebody else grabbed her, too.”

Working with a determination that was
deadly, the five girls threw the elderly
matron to the floor. While three of the
attackers tied her hands and feet with
belts from their dresses, the others
jammed the ammonia-soaked washcloth
into the overpowered woman’s mouth. So
savage was the assault that Mrs. Bonham’s
neck was pierced by the fingernail of one
of the girls. The ensuing hemorrhage and
the smothering effect of the chemical-
soaked cloth down her throat brought
almost instant death to the hapless matron.

While the woman who had always
treated her charges with motherly kind-
ness lay dying, Margaret Nicholson
enateloell the ring of keys from the
matron’s hand—breaking several of the
woman’s fingers in the act—and then
raced down the stairs with the other mem-
bers of the crash-out party.

On the first floor the girls tried a key
to the front door. It proved to be the
a one—the key snapped off in the
ock,

Frantically, the marauding’ young
women raced down to the basement. Near
the furnace they located a long-handled
shovel. With this they smashed the glass
panel and the wire screen.

Ironically, the noise attracted one of the
male guards upstairs, but at that moment
he was supervising a group of 29 boy in-
mates of the institution. Realizing that if

he went to investigate, his charges might
make a wholesale escape, the guard first
herded the boys back into their quarters
and then rushed to the basement. By that
time, however, the girls had made good
their escape.

An alarm was sounded and Superin-
tendent Paul Witwer was notified at his
home nearby. He found Mrs. Bonham
sprawled on the floor, just inside the
dormitory door. She was lying on her side,
her face up and partly under the bed
nearest her. The matron’s hands and legs
were bound with cloth belts.

So tight were the bonds that it was
necessary for Coroner Dr. William J.
Pittenger to cut them off the victim be-
fore he could proceed with his examina-
tion. It didn’t take him long to determine
that the matron had succumbed to strang-
ulation, with suffocation as a possible ad-
ditional factor. A pleasant and cheerful
person, Mrs. Bonham, a faithful employe
of the institution for 16 years, had come
to a horrible and undeserved end.

Mrs. Paul Witwer, wife of the detention-
home superintendent, told reporters that
Mrs. Bonham, a divorcée, had, just before
her death, told her of plans to remarry on
the following Thursday.

In discussing the method used by the
girls to steal the ammonia, Mrs. Witwer
stated: “We don’t even leave things like
toilet-cleaning powders around. The girls
might try eating things to create an at-
tempted-suicide scene. It is hard to say
what we can do to prevent such situations
as stealing the ammonia the way those
girls did. Perhaps we should never have
one person serving as matron alone again.”

An all-steel door has been ordered to
replace the one smashed by the escapees.

Outside, the girls who had sought free-
dom at such a terrible price were facing
obstacles they hadn’t counted on in their
escape plans. A bitterly cold spell had
struck Ohio and snow was falling heavily.
Clad only in thin dresses, the plotters were
frantic. As Mirl Cain later explained it:
“Ruth Beichler had told us that she knew
how to cross wires on a car, and said we
could steal one and drive into Kentucky.
But when the time came we found out she
didn’t know anything about doing that.”

Zelda DeCost was the first of the quintet


Se

—ms =

ee ee

r

small knoll about 70 yards back from the
highway. The spot was well screened from
view by heavy shrubbery and foliage. A
faint path led down to a gully and a road-
side fruit stand. The stand had been closed
throughout the summer, due to illness
of the owner.

Trooper Guyle pointed to a space about
five feet in width between the fruit stand
and the gully.

“He could have parked his car in here
ey easily,” he speculated, “and then,
with the car and stand blotting out the
view from the road, have dragged the girl
up the path to the knoll.”

The ’troopers investigated the soil
around the stand for possible tire marks
and footprints. But the ground was packed

and firm.

By this time the gruesome scene was
alive with those who had been searching
the countryside for the missing girl. In
a few minutes another important find had
been made by Superintendent M. R. John-
son and Frank Kowl of the Kanona CCC
camp. In the thick undergrowth direct]
back of the stand, the school books which
Evelyn had carried on that fatal day were
found.

Inspector Hoyt handled them gingerly.

“There may be fingerprints on them,”
he said. “Chances are they were hidden
there by, the killer.”

In the soft dusk of the September night,
a preliminary inspection of the young
woman’s body was made by Dr. Sanford
and by Dr. Rudolf Shafer of Corning, di-
rector of the Steuben County laboratory.

Dr. Sanford found a small hole about
one quarter of an inch in diameter on the
left side of the girl’s head, directly below
the temple!

“Must have been made by a long, sharp
instrument,” o the physician
grimly. “Something like an ice pick—but
broader. The bruises on the face were un-
doubtedly caused by a heavy blow of some
kind. Skull might be fractured. But it’s
my idea we'll find that this temple wound
caused death.”

At 8 p. m., as darkness settled over the
peaceful waters of Lake Keuka, the lurid,
sudden light of flashbulbs, illuminated the
scene like summer lightning as Sergeant
Elmer LePointe and Trooper Clarence
Pasto of the Bureau of Criminal Identi-
fication photographed the corpse.

Suddenly Trooper Pasto noticed some-
thing that had escaped the eyes of the
others in the ordinary light o day.

Beneath the fingernails of the dead girl
there was a foreign, dark substance!

Working skillfully with a scalpel, he
carefully removed the foreign matter from
the nails, placing it in an envelope.

Carrying on throughout the grim night,
Dr. Sanford, in the autopsy, confirmed
several startling theories.

Death had been instantly caused by
some sharp instrument driven with fiend-
ish skill into the girl’s brain,

The killer had then slashed madly and
sadistically at the white limbs, causing
numerous deep cuts—none of them, how-
ever, sufficiently serious to cause death.

It was definitely established that the
girl had been raped, that she had died
while attempting to defend herself.

Meanwhile, in the Steuben County lab-
oratory, bacteriologist Shafer, working
rapidly with consummate skill, turned the
omniscient eye of science on the trail of
the fiendish slayer.

Carefully dusting onto a slide the con-
tents of the envelope given him by Trooper
Pasto, he passed it under his microscope.

The dark, foreign substance removed
from beneath Evelyn’s fingernails was
wool! Dark blue wool!

Evelyn Reed had been wearing no gar-

48 A

ment containing such material. The wool
must have come from the killer’s clothing!
In her death struggle, the girl had evi-
dently scratched desperately at her as-
sailant, tearing away these tiny fragments
of wool.

That night in Penn Yan, Inspector Hoyt
conferred with Sergeant Harry DeHol-
lander, Troopers Harold Scott, Michael L.
Forte and E. W. Sohner of the Batavia
barracks,

During those six days since the girl’s
disappearance, Hoyt had been working
day and night on a theory—that a sex
criminal was involved somewhere in this
jigsaw mystery.

While others searched for the body,
Hoyt had been concentrating on Ror i
suspects.

His first lead had been Alleen Hallock’s
words: “It was a black truck. It had sort
of a box in the back. It had kind of a reel
on it.”

One by one, he had carefully checked
all such vehicles in Penn Yan and the
surrounding area. But one by one, the
leads petered out.

Finally in the small village of Pratts-
burg, about 28 miles southwest of Penn
Yan, he found a truck which answered to
the partial description given by Miss
Hallock. It was painted black. It had a
horizontal reel on the rear.

But it was not so much the physical
appearance of the truck which interested
him as the curious background, the mental
make-up of the truck’s driver.

The driver of this particular truck was
definitely a psychopathic personality!

In 1934 he had been involved in a second
degree assault charge. He had picked up
a Hammondsport woman near Snug Har-
bor, had hit her over the head with a
piece of wood when she resisted his ad-
vances. For this assault he had served time
in Attica state prison.

The tiny shreds of blue wool scraped
from the dead girl’s fingernails were a
deciding factor in Hoyt’s next move. Dur-
ing his secret observation of the Pratts-
burg suspect, Hoyt had noticed that the
man invariably wore a dark blue sweater
while working!

There was one other highl interesting
angle. In the top of the high leather boots
which he wore on the job, the suspect
carried a long, thin screwdriver. It was an
instrument like this which had pierced the
brain of Evelyn Reed.

Shortly after the conference with In-
spector Hoyt, Sergeant DeHollander sped
through the night over the state highway
to Prattsburg. With him were the three
grim-jawed state troopers.

The address given them by Hoyt was a
large, rambling structure in the best res-
idential section of the village.

Sergeant DeHollander pressed the bell.
A pleasant-faced woman answered the
ring.

“We'd like to see Norman Wheelock,
please,” said DeHollander quietly.

“He’s in the office,” responded the
woman. “You'll find it around to the rear.”

The office door was opened by a dignified
elderly gentleman. His face showed his
bewilderment.

“Why—what’s—” he began.

“We want to see Norman,” said Ser-
geant DeHollander steadily.

He looked over the older man’s shoul-
der to a far corner of the room where a
tall, thin-faced youth glared at him like
a trapped animal. Through silver spec-
irs his eyes blazed like twin fires of

ate.

“What d’ya want with me?” he rasped.
“T haven’t done anything.”

But there was sudden fear in those cruel
eyes now. Fear and venom.

“We'll see about that,” said DeHollander
firmly. “You’d better come along with us.”

“Just a moment,” interrupted the older
man. “What’s this all about?”

DeHollander swiftly produced his cre-
dentials as an officer of the New York
State Police.

“I’m sorry,” he explained, “but Norman
is wanted for questioning in the murder
of Evelyn Reed of Penn Yan.”

The man’s face turned an ashy white.

“For the murder of Evelyn Reed!” he
cried with a sudden, despairing glance at
his son’s rigid face. “But it can’t be—it
can’t—”

“It’s all a lie!” raged the bespectacled
Wheelock, glaring at DeHollander and

Scott. “You'll never take me with you.

. ‘Never... never... never!”

‘ With the fury of a suddenly trapped
beast, he sprang for the door, launched a
savage kick at Scott’s shin. Wheelock was
strong and wiry as a steel coil, but the
battle was short-lived. In a trice, the of-
ficers had snapped the handcuffs on him,
hurried him outside to the waiting police
car.

Acting on Hoyt’s orders, they high-
tailed it through the night to the distant
barracks at Batavia.

There is no telling what an enraged
community might have done to the slayer
of Evelyn Reed if the killer had been
brought back to Penn Yan. In those clos-
ing days of the search, public sentiment
had been at a boiling point.

Even as state police were questioning
Wheelock, another damning bit of evi-
dence was turned up against him.

D. W. Snyder, a Hammondsport fire-
man, told investigators he was driving
along Route 54 near the Chateau Dugas
late in the afternoon of September 19,
when a truck suddenly backed out of the
space near Miller’s fruit stand.

“The truck almost rammed me,” he said.
“T knew it was Wheelock. I could see him
clearly and I’ve known him all my
life.”

Confronted with this latest piece of evi-
dence, Norman Wheelock broke.

Through the long hours of the morning,
while dawn crept through the windows of
the Batavia barracks, he dictated as Ser-
geant DeHollander and Trooper Scott
scrawled down his words in longhand.

In his confession, the 27-year-old mur-
derer outlined the events of that nerve-
chilling, blood-soaked day:

“About 4 o’clock at Lakeview cemetery,
I saw a girl walking. ... She looked about
16....I asked her, ‘Do you want a ride?’
... She did not say anything, but got in
beside me.

“I asked her where she lived. She said
Indian Pines. .. . She asked me where I
was taking her. I told her I was just tak-
ing her for a ride. I asked her, ‘Don’t you
like to ride?’ She said, ‘All right.’

“All the time we were riding she kept
asking where we were going. I didn’t
tell her but I knew where we were go-
ing.”

He said he turned off Route 54 behind
Miller’s unused fruit stand. He forced her
out of the truck, holding her by the wrist.
oo he forcibly dragged the girl up the
knoll.

“T told her to lie down, and she asked
me what for. I told her quick enough what
I wanted from her.”

Then he quoted the girl as saying, “I
don’t know what you mean.”

At this point in his confession, the ab-
normally sexed Wheelock made a slight
digression to observe calmly: “I think all
mothers should tell their young daughters
the facts of life. I think it’s a shame to
keep them so innocent.”

.As the state police heard this calm,


i iy

Girl-Mad Slayer," by
Frank Cassone

STARTLING DRTECITIVE
YEARBOOK, # 1, 1963.

i The bespectacled youth was
traced throngh the peculiar
black truck he was driving
on the day lovely, athletic
Evelyn Reed disappeared
{ so mysteriously. One min-
ute she was walking along
the quiet road, the next
. hi she’d vanished from sight.

22

"Missing Beauty and the

‘

i WHEELOCK , Norman, white, electtocuted New York (Steuben County ) on August 1, 1910
14 9

It took six days of an all-out search to find the corpse of the

A gust of autumn wind, ruffling the |
sparkling face of Keuka Lake, sent a
rush of leaves swirling across New —
York State Highway 54. Ruth Dilson
grabbed at the tiny hat perched on her
flaxen curls, almost dropping the =
school books she carried under her g
arm. She quickened her step to catch §
up with her friend. wg
“My gosh, Evelyn,” she exclaimed, —
“what’s the hurry? We’ve got two long #
miles to go. Let’s walk home, not race.”
Evelyn Reed smiled and slowed
down. “Sorry, Ruth,” she said, “but I @
have a special reason for getting home =
early.” Be |
“What’s up?” her friend wanted to
know.
“It’s Mom’s birthday,” Evelyn ex-
plained. “I want to bake a cake.”
“But I thought your mother was in ©
Pulteney,” Ruth said, “taking care of 4
your grandmother.” i
“She is,” Evelyn told her, “but ~
grandmother is feeling better and Mom ~
will be home this evening. I want to
surprise her with a birthday cake.”
The two girls, seniors at Penn Yan 3
High School, were close friends as well q
as classmates. Ruth lived almost two —
miles from Penn Yan on Route 54.
Evelyn’s home was a short distance
farther on in the small village of Indian
Pines. It was the daily practice of the 7
two girls to walk home together when +
school let out [Continued on page 42} |

u the “

ke, sent a
ross New
ith Dilson
1ed on her
ping the
inder her
2 to catch

»xclaimed,
t two long
not race.”
d slowed
id, “but I
ting home

vAnted to

relyn ex-
ake.”

er was in
g care of

rer, “but
and Mom
{ want to
cake.”
’enn Yan
ds as well
most two
Route 54.
distance
of La an
Tr he
mM en
page 42)

ra eh hey Ns Agtigate

A
é
?

Vanished teen-ager,

FRANK CASSON

RE Fo

=
A

.
| OP

Weeks after discovery of the
ravished corpse, State Trooper
Guyle revisited the scene in
a clearing in some woods.

Two officers walking to rear
of deserted fruit stand where
the young girl was attacked
before her body was secreted.

and then the killer had to be tracked down

IRL-MAD SLAYER |


Into the pone al
detovsirbet in Hone.

his S¥er-indaw
Pia  ccaurahen eed te



ber, o¥eftaking ber i
house and dragging her Ap, 0
Lwhere she fought savage sa
attacks, bat wae ov ' .
atrnggles she bad ber 1

jin two places and received 7 wes
vere wounds and bruives, Sb
tmankged to break away, 0

‘agighbor' #bonse, He
neighor and ‘they went 6 the. Deity,
home and did what they in aid-}
iog Mr. Doffy and Mre
(fvers were at once pe
a search, teking three
girl for ident fivation bef she foally :
named Williamson as
was. brought to the county
| the action of the — ja

| ‘Matson: has been per
Tner, screaming with frh
dangere.. It ie believed: that tbis is
jth the fact that be iad
and when hse: of the dre

died prcihione morning
Lot murder inthe fist deg
jis one of the most dastar iy
the mast revolting in the bi
4couaty, and in SaVARErY
{segxests the locally cel
jimarder of “eixty years ag
juris to this county to be


(3 PARKER'S CRIMINAL REPORTS 199)
WILSON, George, black, hanged at White Plains, N, Y., on July Hh, 1856.

"Although little has been said, of late, respecting the murders perpetrated on board the
Schooner EUDORA IMOGEN in November last, and which, as our readers will remember, caused
creat excitement at the time, the subject has not been allowed to sleep, nor is it, likely
that the public justice will remin wholly unsatisfied, It is, indeed, to be regretted
that, after the schooner was raised and brought ashore on City Island, no further traces

of the fate of the missing captain and mate were discovered, than one small piece of human
flesh, and the bloodstained garments which were ripped from their bodies when the murderer
proceeded to dispose of them, The river between City Island and Hart Island had been dragge
such tackle as could be prepared on the spot and more available apparatus had arrived

from (?) when bad weather set in and rendered all further efforts to mek recover any por-
tion of the remains altogether fruitless. Of course, no future attempts will be made.
There is no doubt that the negro Wilsojn chopped the corpses of the unfortunatemen into
pieces, and either threw them immediately overboard, or rowed them to some distance in the
yawl-boat; but, however, he disposed of them, there is no probability that any further frag-
ments of them can now be recovered, at least in such a state of, preservation as to render
identification possibles For mrder, therefore, the negro, unfortunately, cannot be trieds.
but it is the intention of the U.. S. District Attorney to try him for scuttling the

vessel, ‘The proceedings against him will not be long delayed,,

"..~eThe EUDORA left. the Island some weeks since and proceeded to NewHaven where she dis-
charged her cargo, The spot on the deck where the, bodies were chopped to pieces, was
discovered by theindentations made in the planks by the edge of the axe, and by, other in-
dications, such as portions of human hair, where were forced by the violence of the blow
itto the indentations and were there lodged, These marks were covered, while the vessel
was at Gity. Island by. the coal, which at the time of her sinking was dislodged from her
holds Yet, even theseproofs of commission of the mrder, in addition to those numerous
ones previously discovered at City “sland, afford no legal ground for prosecuting the

negro on the chargee ; ‘ ' cad

"He remains securely imprisoned in the jail‘of Westchester County, at White Plains, When
curiosity, led many peeple daily to visit him, he would only consent to exhibit himself on
thepayment of a shilling by each persons, His‘visitors now are not so numerous and he no
longer exacts a fee as theprice of their gratification. He talks freely from his grating
of his cell with the other prisoners (who are all confined in separate cells) and has
ceased to allued to the subject of the schooner, When questioned on the subject, he
remarks that when he said at first that the bodies would no- be found, and that nothing
could be brought home to him, people wouldn't believe him, ' but now they find that he
spoke the truth, and so he isn't a bit afraid,' He exhibts no signs of remorse or dread.
Juding from his demeanor, one would suppose him to be reaping the reward of an applauding
conscience for some noble deed that he had performed, Physiologically his countenance is
most. repulsive, lt is stamped with all the @vidence of a depraved heart,- and bears unmis=
takable testimony to the hardened villainy of its possessor," TIMES, New York, 1-31-156(4,/5

"..e(at)his examination in the U. S. Circuit Court, on the charge of* scuttling the vessel on
thehigh seas - an offense punishable by death, the lawyer, whom he had retained manged to

get him clear of that charge, as the statute applied only to vessels scuttled on the high
seas, and by no corstructior could it refer to a schooner scuttled in a river, lake, bay

or other water, within the territorial jurisdiction of any state or county,

"The negro was accordingly returned to his old dungeon at White Plains, from which, a week or
two afterwards he wasreleased on a writ of habeas corpus by the exertions of the same lawyer
and actually set at liberty, The feelings of the Westchester people towards him being
well known, he was not allowed to leave the jail as another discharged prisoner would have
been, but was brought’ to this City under protection, and preparations were made for getting
him a situation on board some ship that would speedily go to sea, But Wilson had the bold- |
ness to visit the U. S. Marshal s Office, and demand the restitution of some wearing dip ated
which had been taken from him when first committed to prison. !o his astonishment he was _
instantly arrested in the office on a new charge, that of creating a’ revolt on board the |
EUDORA. He was sent to the Tombs, and from week to week his examination was held before Mr.
Commissioner Morton, who decided to remand him for trail, notwithstanding the earnest

efforts of his dawyer aforesaid to procure his discharge a second time, Hewas returned to
White Plains. 7 ain :
"Alexander Flanderau, residing near New Rochelle, while walking on Sunday afternoon ‘last

along the beach at Hunter's Island, about a mile above City Island, discovered the body ef a

of the box and various jewel cases were not taken. He said they were all at the end of
a ribbon about her necks" JOURNAL, Pensacola, Flas, Septe 10, 1915 (2/he)

"(AP) New York, Oct. 29. = Onnie Talas, a youthful houseboy was found siasey of murder in

the first degree tonight for complicity in the murder of his #&% wealthy employer’,

Mrs, Elizabeth R. Nichols, who was killed in her home several weeks ago by several

men who robbed her of many thousand dollars worth of jewelry. Mrs. Nichols, whose

death was due to strangulation, according to testimony at the trial, was found dead

in a bedroom in her palatial home in East 79th Street, just off Fifth avenue, on’

the night of September 8, last. She had been robbed of jewelry valued at about

$18,000, Talas, who is 21 years of age, declared that he had been bound by‘ 3 men who entered
the house. He took the stand in his own defense and denied that he confessed to the

police or that he knew anything concerning the crime, The police charged that he had admitted
the robbers to the Nichols home. Talas testified that Arthur Waltonen, a former’ ©

butler at the Nichols home, had asked him to arrange matters so that Waltonen and

others could enter the house to rob Mrs, Nichols, He said he refused to listen to

this suggestion, Waltonen and two other men are being sought. Aside from Talas and a maid
who also was bound by the intruders there was no one in the house but Mrs. Nichols."
ADVERTISER, Montgomery, Alabama, October 30, 1915 (1-2. )

WALLACE, Martin, white, hanged at Salem, N, Y., on Dec, 1, 1858.

"At Salem, N, Y., Dec, 1, 1858, Martin Wallace was executed for the mrder of Barney McEntee,
The parties had been friends, and WALLACE committed the mrder for money, After a painful
scene, in which his wife was deeply affected, he himself comparatively unmoved, the condemmed
man was led up the scaffold by Sheriff COWAN and his Deputy where he emgaged in prayer and
the peculiar ceremonies of his Church, in com pany with his Spiritual adviser, a Catholic
Priest. The Troy WHIG says: 'He seemed truly fervent in his devotions, The priest then

took Leave of WALLACE, and after the reading of the death warrant, he shook hands with the
Sheriff and Deputy, and the black cap was placed over his eyes, At this moment he asked leave
of the Sheriff to engagemtin prayer, which was granted, and he fell on his knees and prayed fo
some time. After he had concluded his prayer, he remained in a kneeling po ture, The
Sheriff descended the steps of the scaffold, put his foot upon a spring at the bottom, the
drop fell, and MARTIN WALLACE was launched into eternity. Owing to his position, the un-
fortunate man did not fall far. His neck was not dislocated; he died by strangulation, but
very easily. There were for about the space of 11 minutes movements in the arms and apparent
attempts to breathe; but there were no struggles, and a handkerchief in his hand was quietly
held there after life had become extinct." TIMES, New York, N. Y., 12/8/1858 ( 3-3.)


\ Case of tames Walsh — New jorkK /§§2

some

Ateordihtg To account of bis executor th The Ntw ork Herale
1/[A4 [92 3:5, The name plate on hts Cokin Specrtied his
age as /9 years, 5 months and / day. This would mean that
his date of birth Was 2-40-63. The crime wes Committed
on |-3-31 which means that he was 8 days Shy of bis [81h
birthda y when he Committed his crime. Therehire James
Welsh must be adbled 7o the list of executed | juvenile S.

~
3 y &
y 3
eee

of the stage who appro-
hem. Then Mary Ander-

hy 4 tei aw

cht of two-teakettle
mplete.”

Bspian sirensandtfaded

he river is enough
bd Black Crook’
yanddusty, from.

8 spectacle that in-

ofglue and escaping

hon-protessional spec- . a

iver Doud Byron with

r his favorite stage
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them to seek a fresh victim. It was vi-
tal to snare the Yates County rapist
before he struck again. .

State Police Sgt. H. M. DeHolland-
er rushed the school books and
screwdriver to the BCI laboratory in
Albany for study by technicians.
Meanwhile, officers canvassed all
homes in the murder area and the spot
on Route 54 where Evelyn Reed van-
ished for persons who had seen any
automobiles on Tuesday afternoon.

A farmer living about half a mile
from the shut-down fruit stand report-
ed that he had seen a car driving along
the road about 5 o’clock Tuesday af-
ternoon.

“I remember,” he told Trooper
Guyle, “because the fellow in the car
used to work for me. He gave me
some trouble, so I had to get rid of
him. Half the time he was drunk and
when I sent him to town for supplies
I sometimes wouldn’t see him for the
rest of the day. He’d find some girl
and just take off.”

On the basis of this tip, the troopers
picked up Fred Denson and brought
him in for questioning. Denson was a
hefty six-footer with big bony shoul-
ders and hands like meat hooks. He
was about 30 years old, tanned from
working in the open fields and had
thick brown hair that fell over his
forehead.

“Sure, I drove past that shack last
Tuesday,” the farmhand agreed, “but
I didn’t have anything to do with kill-
ing that girl. I can get all the gals I
want without killing them.”

“Did you know the Reed girl?” Co-
sart asked.

“Never heard of the kid until I read
the story in the papers about her being
missing,” Denson said.

“How did you get that scratch on
your face?” Hoyt demanded.

“Don’t rightly know,” Denson said
slowly. “I got liquored up Saturday
night and when I woke up Sunday I
had the scratch.”

“Sure you didn’t get that scratch
last Tuesday?” Cosart asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Denson retorted.
“T can’t figure why you got to pick on
me. I wasn’t the only guy near that
shack when I drove by.”

“You saw somebody else there?”
Hoyt demanded. oe

“Well, I saw another car,” the
farm-hand declared.

Pressed by the officers, Denson
said that as he drove along the high-
way he saw a small truck turn into

the road from behind the shack.

“Tt went the other way, so I didn’t
see the driver,” Denson added. “It
was a black job, open in back. There
was a reel mounted on it like they use
to carry wire or cable.”

The farmhand was questioned for
hours but stuck to his story. He
claimed he knew nothing of the mur-
der and swore that he had actually
seen a small black truck drive away
from the abandoned fruitstand. With
nothing concrete against the man, the
officers allowed him to leave until he
could be investigated further.

“That black truck may be some-
thing Denson just dreamed up to cov-
er himself,” Hoyt said. “But if he did
see the truck, then it’s probably the
car we’re looking for. In that case
some one may have seen it on Route
54 last Tuesday when the girl disap-
peared.”

Troopers and deputies were dis-
patched at once to talk with people
who had homes or business places on
Route 54 near Indian Pines. In this
manner Trooper Forte came to a vege-
table stand on the highway, a quarter
of a mile beyond the turn-in to Indian
Pines. He described the black truck to
the clerk.

“Yes, I remember that truck, the
clerk recalled, ‘and the reel it had on
the back. And there was a girl sitting
in front, next to the driver. It was
maybe half past four in the afternoon.
It went by fast and I didn’t get a good
look at either of them. I never con-
nected the truck with the Reed girl.”

Denson’s story about the black
truck with the reel mounted on it
abruptly took on vital importance. It
seemed that the farmhand had, after
all, been telling the truth. |

An intensive hunt at once com-
menced for the suspect vehicle. While
almost every farmer in the area
owned a truck, this one was more
likely to be one used in some business
involving machinery. It might belong
to a plumber, an electrician, or possi-
bly to the telephone company. The
search began.

Meanwhile the autopsy had been
completed, confirming Dr. Sanford’s
preliminary finding that the girl had
died of the wound in the temple. The
post mortem also definitely estab-
lished that the school girl had been
raped.

More important, the autopsy had
uncovered a tangible clue to the killer.
Under the dead girl’s fingernails on

her right hand, the doctor found tiny
pieces of dark blue wool lint. Since
the specimens could not have come
from anything the girl wore, it was
presumed to come from a garment
worn by the killer. ;

Officers canvassed the clothing
stores in the county for dark blue
woolen shirts or jackets whose
material matched the specimens. On
Wednesday, September 27, officers
visited a Penn Yan clothier who had a
stock of dark blue wool zipper jackets
which seemed to be of the proper
material. Lab men tested the dye
which proved to be identical with
that of the specimens.

The merchant checked his records
and found that he had sold 22 jackets
from that lot. Some of the sales had
been charged and could be traced.
Others the dealer remembered. The
police were able to trace 17 of the
jackets to their owners. These men
were closely screened and checked
out. That left five of the jackets still
not accounted for.

Simultaneously the officers were
continuing their search for the black
truck. One by one the plumbers and
electricians in the Penn Yan area
were screened and eliminated. The
telephone company searched its re-
cords and reported that no trucks had
been out on the Tuesday afternoon of
the disappearance.

Besides the main telephone compa-
ny, there were several small rural
exchanges which operated indepen-
dently, and the investigating officers
turned their attention to these.

On Friday, September 29, they in-
vestigated such a rural exchange in
Steuben County. Troopers Harold
Scott and E.W. Sohmer went to the
Wheelock exchange and _ looked
around. One of the first things they
noticed was a small black truck with
a reel mounted on the back of it.

Norman Wheelock, son of the
owner, was the outfit’s repairman.
He was a tall, lanky young fellow of
27. He wore spectacles and had a
mop of thick black hair. The troopers
spoke with young Wheelock and he
assured them that he had been no-
where near Indian Pines on the af-
ternoon of Tuesday, September 19.
The officers inspected the truck and
could find nothing to arouse suspicion
in it.

Going back to Penn Yan, the two
troopers made a routine check on

(continued on page 53)
51


—

cers was even more frightening. Eve-
lyn Reed was a pretty girl with a
lush, ripening figure. Perhaps a pair
of lustful eyes had fixed greedily on
her fresh young beauty as she walked
along the road.

In view of the lack of clues, the of-
ficers could only speculate, but they
were certain that the teenager had

been forced or enticed into the car of a-

sex fiend. But was he a stranger just
passing through the area or was he
someone known to the girl?

“My guess is that he belongs in
these parts,” Guyle conjectured. “We
don’t see many strangers around here,
not at this time of year when the re-
sorts around Keuka Lake are shut
down after the summer season.”

Cosart nodded. “A stranger would
be more apt to let the girl go, once he
was through with her. He could free
her in the woods and just keep going.
But a guy who lives in the area

‘would be scared stiff she’d put the

finger on him. He might be scared
enough to kill in order to shut her
lips.”

Neither officer held out much hope
that the missing girl was still alive.
Had the abductor released her she
would almost certainly have been
found by morning. It was more likely
that her corpse was hidden some-
where in the stretches of fields and
woods around Keuka Lake or even in
the deep lake itself.

“ There was little the officers could
do in the meanwhile except press the
search for the girl or her body and
seek out persons who might have
spotted a suspicious looking car on
Route 54 at the time of the disappear-
ance.

As the news that Evelyn Reed had

vanished spread over the countryside,

scores of volunteers converged on
Penn Yan to join the posses of search-
ers. Farmers and fruit growers, a
large group from Penn Yan High
School, firemen and Civilian Conser-
vation Camp workers augmented the
small army of state troopers and sher-
iff’s deputies which fanned out across
the fields and plunged into the
woods.

Cosart phoned the distant Haw-
thorne State Police Barracks in West-
chester County and requested that
bloodhounds be rushed to the scene of
the search. Clifford Van Gelder, a pi-
lot from Bath in adjoining Steuben
County, took to the air, flying low to
scan open fields and meadows. Offi-

cials began dragging Indian Pines’
water reservoir, a mile from where
Evelyn Reed was last seen.

State Corporal W.W. (Cy) Horton,
widely known as a dog handler, ar-
rived from Hawthorne in mid-af-
ternoon with old Bessie, famous in
her own right, and two other hounds.
Given the scent from a pair of shoes
belonging to the missing teenager, the
animals were started on the trail at the
Dilson home.

Bessie began circling madly and
then, with a series of deep bayings,
she plunged ahead on the highway.
For 200 yards she lunged ahead tug-
ging so fiercely at her lead that Cy

William Bowen was traced
through the peculiar black
truck he drove on murder day.

Horton had all he could do to hang on.
Then, at the side of the road, she
came to an abrupt halt. She sniffed
and scurried about, clearly trying to
pick up the scent again. She whined
and darted about in frenzied circles.
But always she came back to the
same spot in the road.

Twice more Corporal Horton
started her on the track from the Dil-
son home, and each time she came to
a stop at the same point in the road. It
was obvious that the trail ended
there.

Horton shrugged and turned to Co-
sart and Guyle. “The girl was picked
up in a car here. It has to be that way.
If she’d gone any farther on foot, old
Bessie would find her trail.”

Cosart and Guyle looked at each
other and nodded. Bessie’s keen nose
had only confirmed what they already
believed—that Evelyn Reed had been
driven away from the area in an auto-
mobile.

While the search of the countryside
went fruitlessly on, Cosart and Guyle
weren’t overlooking other channels
of investigation. They examined the
missing girl’s room, looking for let-
ters that might reveal some carefully
guarded romance. They found noth-
ing of the kind.

They closely questioned the girl’s
heartbroken parents about Evelyn’s
habits. The parents assured the offi-
cers that Evelyn had never been
known to accept a lift from strangers.
Moreover, the Reed couple said, Eve-
lyn didn’t know any boys who ha
cars of their own.

In the days that followed, troopers
from other districts were funneled in-
to the massive, hunt. Cosart appealed

‘to his headquarters for more help, and

the Bureau of Criminal Investigation

1° sent another of its top sleuths, Inspec-

tor Eugene F. Hoyt of Troop A, Bata-
via Barracks, to team up with Cosart
in the probe. Hoyt arrived on Satur-
day with Trooper Michael Forte.

The search of the countryside
reached a peak of intensity on Sun-
day. Late that afternoon Pilot Van
Gelder reported in from his flight over
the fields and woods with some in-
teresting information.

He had been flying low over some
thick woods near the Chateau Dugas;
a well known vacation resort on the
shore of Keuka Lake. As his plane
swooped down, he said, he spotted a
man skulking in a small clearing.
Hearing the plane’s motors, the man
had looked up, apparently startled.
Then hiding his face with his arm, he
had darted into the woods. Van Geld-
er was unable to describe the man
from that one brief glimpse.

Because of the gathering darkness,
a search of the dense woodland was
not possible that Sunday evening, but
on Monday morning a posse of 200
searchers converged on the east shore
of the lake. Spaced ten feet apart they
plunged into the woods.

Slowly the long line of officers and
volunteers moved ahead, exploring
every bush, looking behind every out-
cropping of rock. Then, at three in the
afternoon, Lester Ramsey and Walter
Cieslewicz, two of the volunteers,

(continued on page 49)

17.


Ome Ro

whe

UM tee

vw

said.

“I don’t think so,” Hook replied.
“He didn’t seem nervous.

“Let’s see what he drives.”

They found a ‘72 Lincoln Conti-
nental parked behind the radiator
shop. It matched the one seen speed-
ing from the Arimont apartments,
except it was white.

“The construction worker said it
was golden,” Hook said. “There is no
way this could be it. It’s white as an
egg.”

Darrow got out of the unmarked
car and walked over to the Lincoln.
“Fresh paint,” he said. He took a coin
from his pocket and scraped away a
few flecks of paint from the rocker
panel.

Pale green paint shone underneath.
“In the right light that would look
golden,” he said.

. Hook was walking around the car.

‘“What a lousy paint job,” he said.

“This looks like a Tijuana special. Or
maybe a do-it-yourself number.”

Darrow pulled the hidden micro-
phone from the cruiser’s glove com-
partment and reported’ the license
number to the dispatcher. Fifteen sec-
onds later he got a response from Sac-
ramento that the car was registered to
David Weeding.

“This looks like our boy,” Hook
said.

The investigators regrouped at the
El Cajon police station and mapped
out a course of action. They agreed
that Weeding looked like the right
suspect but decided to gather more ev-
idence before going to the District At-
torney for the search warrant.

In the meantime, Weeding was
placed under surveillance. The cop
chosen for the job was Sergeant Dick
Nafis. In a way, Nafis was the logi-
cal choice. An old pro, he had
worked undercover operations for
years and was considered one of the
best in the department.

But Nafis was an odd choice, too.
By coincidence, he had known Steve
Petix for 18 years, beginning when
he drafted the then 13-year-old Petix
to play catcher on his Pony League
baseball team.

Petix had been like a second son;
now Nafis was being asked to tail the
man who might be his killer.

Nafis didn’t flinch; he said he
would do the job. He wouldn’t like
it, but he wouldn’t screw up either.

For the next seven hours the un-
dercover officer hung to the suspect

like a shadow. He followed Weeding
from work to an apartment in Mission
George and then to a small neighbor-
hood bar, where he pulled up a seat
and engaged Weeding in idle bar chat-
ter.

“It was the toughest assignment I
ever had,” he admitted.

Weeding left the bar at 8:50 p.m.
and headed for home. He got halfway
to his car in the lot when police sur-
rounded him.

“Hey, what’s all this about,” he
blurted.

He was taken to the police station
and questioned about the Petix mur-
der. Afterward, he was booked into
county jail on suspicion of murder.

Armed with warrants, police con-
ducted searches of the Lincoln Conti-
nental, the radiator shop and Weed-
ing’s apartment in Mission Village.

The manager of the complex was
astonished when reporters contacted

him later and asked for his reaction to

the arrest of one of his tenants in the
headline making murder case. “I am
astounded,” he said. “He has never
been a problem. He always has been
nice and quiet.”

He wasn’t always so nice and qui-
et though. In 1976, while assigned to
the Army’s Ist Calvary Division at
Fort Hood, Texas, he broke into a
home and raped and robbed an offi-
cer’s wife. He was convicted and
spent ten years in the U.S. Penitentia-
ry at Fort Leavenworth before he
was paroled in May, 1986.

The break-in, investigators noted,
was similar to the one that led to the
Steve Petix murder.

Police have reportedly uncovered
physical evidence connecting him to
the murder of Steve Petix and the at-
tempted rape of his wife.

Police say that they have recovered
a blue uniform similar to the one de-
scribed by witnesses at the Arimont
Apartment during a search of Weed-
ing’s apartment.

Weeding, according to reports, also
closely resembles the composite
sketch of the murderer and has been
picked out in a photo line-up.

A witness has told detectives that
he saw Weeding hastily painting his
Lincoln Continental the day after the
murder. Used spray cans have been
recovered from Weeding’s garage,
police said. ‘

On Wednesday, May 25, Steve Pe-
tix was buried at the El Cajon Ceme-
tery. Four hundred people attended

the simple ceremony, including some
of the detectives involved in cracking
the case.

The newspaper hired a temporary
clerk to take phone messages so the
entire newsroom staff could attend
the funeral.» :

At a vigil held the night before,
Steve’s widow told mourners her
husband of just nine months enjoyed
life and its humor and that he would
not want this to be a solemn occa-
sion. ,

She coaxed a laugh from those in
the crowd when she remarked that
Steve’s golf game would improve
now that he was in Heaven. Her fa-

.ther, a golfing enthusiast who died a

few years ago, would be able to give
him lessons, she said.

David Weeding was arraigned May
25 on charges of murder, attempted
rape and burglary. He pleaded not
guilty. Bail was set at $1-million.

Deputy District Attorney Les Du-
bow said his office is considering fil-
ing for the death penalty.

David Weeding remains in San
Diego County Jail. His trial is ex-
pected sometime in 1989. Until then,
he must be considered innocent of all
charges against him. *

The Sex Killer
Liked Them
Sweet-Sixteen

(continued from page 17)

made the grim find which was to
transform what had been a search for
a missing person into an all-out hunt
for a brutal, girl-mad slayer.

In a patch of matted weeds and
grass, hidden from any chance glance
by a clump of elm trees, the two pos-
semen came upon the twisted crum-
pled body of the young girl. Ramsey
let out a yell and other searchers came
running. Soon Cosart, Hoyt and their
aides were at the spot.

Evelyn Margaret Reed lay on her
side, her Jeft temple crusted with
dried blood from a vicious wound in
the skull. Bruises on her face were
evidence of the fierce resistance with
which she had tried to fight off her
killer. It had been a futile resistance,

(continued on next page)
49

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He Liked Them Sweet Sixteen

(continued from page 49)

for ruthless, lustful hands had ripped
and clawed at the girl’s clothing,
leaving her half naked. Nearby, torn
by those savage hands, were the
school girl’s panties.

Because the body was found just
across the Yates County line in Steu-
ben County, Dr. James A. Sanford,
coroner of Steuben County, was
called to examine the body.

The coroner pointed out dark purple
blotches on the girl’s arms and
wrists. “He must have been a strong
man,” the doctor declared. “It looks
to me as if she was still alive when
she was brought here. He grabbed her
by the arms and dragged her into the
woods.”

“What made that wound in the
head?” Cosart wanted to know.

“Some instrument, narrow and
sharp,” the coroner said. “It was
plunged into her temple.”

“Could it be this?” Guyle asked.

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SHE GAGE Roe ae Ee a Ge Seg

SS ee oe ell

50

Seeencannenaee

You're mad at
your boss,
worried about

money, and

you think you
might be —
pregnant again.

Bad days. We all have them. And on
those days good parents will often
lash out at their kids. When troubles
push you to the brink—stop.
Take time out.

Phone a friend. Take a shower. Do
some sit-ups. Don't take hold of your
child until you get hold of yourself.

For more parenting information, write:

National Committee for Prevention

of Child Abuse
Box 2866, Chicago, IL 60690

Take time out. |

Don't take it out
on your kid. “esmes Bu

His sharp eye had caught the glint of
metal in the weeds and he picked up a
screwdriver, holding it carefully so as
not to obliterate possible prints. It
was a long, thin-bladed tool, and on
the blade were dark rust stains.

The coroner nodded. “Very likely,”
he said. “The shape and size fits.”

There was no need to ask the coro-
ner if a sexual attack had been made.
The bruised body and _ ripped-off
clothing were answer enough.

Offering an opinion that the girl had
been dead five or six days at least,
the coroner prepared to move the
body to Bath, seat of Steuben County.
He promised to get started on the au-
topsy at once.

While the corpse was being carried
in a litter to the highway about 70
yards away, the officers began a
search of the murder scene. Trampled
weeds and broken brush showed the
course taken by the killer as he hauled
the girl through the woods. Follow-
ing the tracks, the officers came to a
path which wound through the
woods to a shack on the highway.

Now shut down, it had been oper-
ated as a fruit stand during the tourist
season. In the soil behind the shack
the officers detected faint wheel
tracks. Evidently a car had been
parked there. In a patch of weeds
some 20 feet away, the officers came
upon some school books bound to-
gether by a strap, and the flyleaf of
each volume bore the name Evelyn
Reed.

“It’s a pretty clear picture so far as
it goes,” Hoyt told his colleagues.
“The killer picked up the girl on
Route 54 near her home. He drove her
here and dragged her into the woods.
She resisted and he killed her. Maybe
because she fought him off or because
she could identify him. Our job is to
find him before he gets a yen for an-
other girl.”

The inspector was merely reflect-
ing the opinion of all the officers who
realized the importance of closing in
on the killer fast. They knew from
experience that sex criminals attack
again and again in a rhythm that fol-
lows the surging waves of their ab-
normal appetites. Sated by one foray
for a short period, they remain inac-
tive until a new spasm of lust drives

(continued on next page)


ice

for

jacket with zipper front, ankle socks and brown and white
sport shoes.” -

At 1:15 a.m., the eerie screech of the Penn Yan fire alarm
summoned volunteer firemen to augment the several hun-
dred residents and Boy Scouts who were already scouring
the hillsides along Lake Keuka from Penn Yan to Keuka
Park. .

By dawn of that day, September 20, 1939, the most intensive
search in the history of the county was under way, directed
by Trooper Guyle, who, after 12 years in the community,
knew practically every bypath, every road of the surrounding
country.

State troopers from the main barracks at Oneida and
Batavia, New York, led the hunt, with American Legion-
naires, 300 Boy Scouts and volunteer workers forming a
far-flung front across the area. Spaced at intervals of six
feet, the searchers moved over the hilly countryside like
a gigantic comb with human teeth.

Meanwhile, investigators had turned up two concrete facts:

Mrs. Gladys Turner of Indian Pines had seen the girl walk-
ing along the road near the Lakeview cemetery about 4
o’clock. She was then exactly one half mile from her home.

The last known person to see Evelyn Reed was Miss Alleen
Hallock, saleslady at the Howard Burt roadside vegetable
stand on the north side of Route 54.

“I was carrying some vegetables to the stand,” she said,
“when a light truck went by. Evelyn Reed was sitting next
to the driver. I couldn’t see him. She waved at me and I
waved back. The truck was painted black and had sort of a
box in the back. It had kind of a reel on i a

Inspector Eugene F. Hoyt of the State Police Bureau of
Criminal Identification immediately set out to investigate this
angle. Working with him was [Continued on page 47]

Upon his capture, the youth dryly confessed to authori-

ties that he was “almost always

* hungering for women.

Trooper Fred H. Guyle at spot where battered corpse of
Evelyn Reed was found, after intensive search of area.

yf

“e

My : on


mass of curling brown hair which framed her oval face.

Looking quickly up and down the apparently deserted
highway, he brought his truck to a stop and called to the
girl in a honeyed voice. ‘

“Do you want a ride?”

In an instant he had transformed his thin-lipped sharp-
edged face into a friendly, smiling mask.

But behind that mask, shielded by glasses, those dark eyes
still glittered, savagely, cruelly speculating. ...

At 9:30 that evening, Trooper Fred H. Guyle of the New
York State Police Troop D Sub-Station in Penn Yan an-
swered his insistently ringing phone.

“This is Sidney Reed speaking,” said the voice at the other
end of the wire. “My wife and I are terribly worried about
our daughter, Evelyn. She hasn’t come home from school
as yet. It’s the first time she’s ever done anything like
this and we don’t quite know what to make of it.”

Trooper Guyle knew the speaker well. The family lived
in Indian Pines, along the shores of Lake Keuka, about half
a mile south of the Penn Yan village line. He also knew
that Reed was not the kind of man to become unnecessarily
alarmed. ;

“’ll be right over,” he said quickly, without wasting time
on further questioning.

Leaping into his white police car, Guyle streaked to the
Reeds’ stucco house. He found the family worried and dis-
traught, but holding themselves under control.

“Mrs. Reed came home about 9:30,” explained the husband.
“She’d been over visiting in Pulteney and I thought Evelyn
might have been with her. But when she came home alone,
I naturally began to get worried.”

“When did you last see her?” asked Guyle.

“Not since she left for school this morning.” Mrs. Reed
explained. “So far as we can discover, no one has seen her
since school was dismissed.”

“None of the neighbors?” i

“Not a soul. She just seems to have—well—disappeared.”

“Do you happen to have a photograph of her handy?”

Mrs. Reed produced a photograph. It was the picture of a
charming young girl holding a tennis racket in her hands,
smiling into the sun.

“She’s our only child,” said Mrs. Reed slowly. “She’s never

Vivacious Evelyn Margaret Reed loved life dearly; when
a beguiling stranger offered her a ride along highway,
below, right, she didn’t know that what he had in store
for her would lead to the end of her promising. days.
Trooper Fred Guyle and Police Chief James Moody discuss
the many baffling angles to this shocking lust murder.


‘A

ia

ty | i
hs Ancamiiyadny. kd

Investigators head for spot at the rear of roadside fruit
stand where the sadistic sex criminal perpetrated his
foul deed upon the innocent young schoolgirl, at left.

gone around with boys, and I know she wouldn’t stay away
like this without letting us know in some way. You see, today
is my birthday and Evelyn was going to bake a cake for
me.”

Putting the photograph in his pocket, Trooper Guyle sped
back to Penn Yan, talked with Richard Canuteson, principal
of the Penn Yan Junior High School, at which the missing
girl was a senior grade pupil.

“She’s a fine girl,” said Canuteson. “A fine, dependable
youngster, a model student in every way.”

Mrs. Reed had said that Evelyn had several girl chums
who might know where she went after she left school.

From one of them, Trooper Guyle learned that Evelyn
had walked with her from the school to the friend’s residence
in Burns Terrace.

“I borrowed 15 cents from Evelyn to buy a loaf of bread for
Mother,” she said. “After we bought the bread, she came
to my house and Mother gave her the money.”

The girl’s mother said Evelyn had left their house for home
about 4:06 p.m.

At midnight, with shrewd intuition and without waiting
for the customary 48 hours to elapse, Trooper Guyle sent this
message crackling over the teletype alarm to eight states:

“Missing from her Penn Yan home—Evelyn Margaret
Reed, 17. She is five feet three inches tall, weighs about
108 pounds, has brown hair and eyes, and when last seen
was wearing a green woolen skirt, white shirt, plaid sport

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en to

The caddie was scornful. “That may
have been what he wanted you to think,”
he replied, “but he was out in the truck
with Hough. I’d know that orange-red
lumber jacket of his anywhere.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
Wiebicke asked sternly.

“Nobody asked me,” the caddie said.

Nor did subsequent questioning cause
him to change his story.

Yet a doubt remained in the chief’s
mind. Donald L. Theis was the scion of
one of Rockland County’s oldest, most
respected and best-known families. Only
a few weeks before, his father had been
re-elected to serve as superintendent of
highways for nearby Orangetown. Theis
was married, the father of two children,
and lived with his attractive young wife
at Lake Lucille. Yet, if the bow story
was true, Theis was the last person to have
seen Hough alive. He ordered the 33-year-
old man brought to the district attorney’s
office for questioning by Chief Criminal
Investigator Stern, Sergeant Sullivan and
himself.

For three hours, Theis, short in stature
and of muscular build, listened to the
officials with stoic calm; answering ques-
tions only after due consideration and ap-
parently having all the answers. He de-
clared that Myron Hough had always been
his friend and that he had no cause to
wish him harm. Theis denied that he had
ridden with Hough on Monday afternoon.
It must have been somebody else, he
stated, somebody else who had a jacket

which looked like the one he wore. Wie-
bicke finally interrupted.

“But you do have a gun?” he ques-
tioned gently.

“I have a gun,” Theis admitted, “but I
wasn’t hunting on Monday. I was in the
boiler rooms, like I said.”

“What gauge is it?” Sullivan asked.

“A .16-gauge,” Theis answered. “What’s
that got to do with it?”

“A very great deal,” the chief observed,
in the silence which followed. His eyes
traveled to a circular-shaped piece of
dirty cotton lying on the table; Theis’ eyes
followed. “The man who killed Hough was
careful not to leave a telltale shell,” he
remarked, “but he gave no thought to the
wadding. It came from a .16-gauge shot-
iin ands'\<5), 3."

Theis did not wait for hiin to finish. He
sprang from his seat, staring at the wad-

ing with horror-filled eyes. “You don’t
have to say any more,” he cried. “I did it.
I zoe him so he wouldn’t take away my
jo ”

Indicating his willingness to make a
formal statement, Donald Theis waited
until Gerald Bymes of the district at-
torney’s staff prepared to take steno-
graphic notes. The prisoner began his
confession by stating that he had been em-
ployed at the Dellwood Country Club as
a maintenance man for two years. Hough,
his friend and supervisor, had been care-
taker at the club for about six years.

Obviously under a mental strain, Theis
revealed that the murder had come about

as the result of an obsession that Hough
was threatening to take his job away. Re-
sentment had begun building up in the
prisoner’s mind when it became noised
about the club that the owners were think-
ing of paring expenses by letting either
Hough or Theis go. Suspicious that Hough
had nm complaining to the club officials
about his work, Theis determined on that
fatal Monday to “do something about it.”
Ironically Hough, himself, unsuspectingly
paved the way for his own death that
same afternoon by suggesting to Theis that
they go hunting.

The two men had started out in gay
spirits. But murder was lurking in the
mind of the unhappy maintenance man.
Awaiting his chance at the fall of dark-
ness, he substituted a cartridge containing
birdshot shell instead of deer slugs; he
blasted Hough from behind at a distance of
from three to four feet. Then he slipped
away, joining the Clarkstown police the
next morning as they their search
for the missing man. He had hidden the
death shell inside a cinder block in the
cellar foundation of his home. Police sub-
sequently recovered it.

On Friday morning, December 2, 1955,
Theis was arraigned in New City Court-
house on first-degree murder charges be-
fore Justice of the Peace Charles T.
Blavelt. The prisoner was committed to
the county jail to await grand jury action.

It will remain for a judge and jury to
determine whether Donald Theis is guilty
or innocent. :

Scarlet Trap of Passion

[Continued from page 41]

rT John Cosart of the Oneida bar-
racks,

What type of black truck had “kind of
a reel on it”?

“It could have’ been an electrical
worker’s truck,” speculated Inspector
Hoyt. “Or possibly one belonging to the
telephone company.”

They began a thorough survey of all
garages housing such trucks in the area.

At 4 a. m. of the 21st, having had no
sleep for 36 hours, Trooper oie pureed
on with the search, using bloodhounds
brought from the Hawthorne barracks by
Trooper W. W. Horton.

Givena of Evelyn’s pajamas to sniff,
the hounds picked up the scent at the
grocery store in which the girls had bought
the bread. Through the purplish, indistinct
light of dawn, they led the way down the
deserted road to the Penn Yan reservoir,
342 feet above Lake Keuka and about one
mile from the cemetery.

Commandeering a truck, Trooper Guyle
had a rowboat brought to the spot. An air-
plane, piloted by Clifford VanGelder, Bath
grocery store proprietor and sportsman;
swoo low over the reservoir. But the:
search was in vain. The immense tank’s
nine feet of water did not hold the body
of the missing girl.

On Sunday afternoon, pilot VanGelder,
who had been skimming low over the lake
waters, banked in a sharp turn over the
Chateau Dugas, famed summer resort on
the west bank of the lake.

Diving at a steep angle to pick up speed,
he suddenly noticed a e standing com-
pletely motionless in a small clearing
about half a mile from the chateau. As
VanGelder pulled back the stick, the man
in the field suddenly threw his hands over
his face, ran pell-mell into a thicket.

VanGelder chuckled to himself. Prob-

‘ably some farmer who thought he was

going to crash. But the laugh died sud-
denly on his lips. There had been some-
thing furtive about that man. Why had
he thrown his hands over his face? The
instinctive gesture of a frightened man
would have been to throw his arms
about his head—or to fall to the ground.

Banking again, VanGelder shot back to-
ward Penn Yan with his motor wide open.

He immediately conferred with Inspec-
tor Cosart and Rexford Ransley, superin-
tendent of the Civilian Conservation Corps
camp at Watkins Glen, New York. They
quickly checked the spot on the map. It
was 10 miles south of the Penn Yan vil-
lage line, about two and a half miles south
of Branchport.

“Tl get some of my boys up that way
at daybreak tomorrow,” said Sasistey.

VanGelder disparaged his lead.

“It’s only a hunch,” he said. “After all—”

“That’s all right,” shot Cosart. “We can’t
afford to pass up any clue. We’ve tracked
down hundreds of them already, and one
more won’t make any difference. It only
takes one lead to solve a case, you know.”

The next morning at dawn, trucks bear-
ing scores of CCC boys roared up to the
Chateau Dugas, disgorged their load of
husky, sun-tanned youths.

All through the morning and afternoon,
the unwavering line pressed forward. But
at 3:30, they had only scratched hands and
torn trousers to show for their work.

Twenty minutes later, Lester Ramse
and Walter Cieslewicz, two of the CC
youths, who had become separated from
the others, approached a heavily wooded
hollow.

“We must be pretty close to the state
highway,” said Lester. “I can hear cars
going by. I wonder—” ;

He never finished that sentence.

He stood as though suddenly struck
dumb, gazing with horror at a spot about
50 feet from where they stood.

There among the brilliantly colored

autumn leaves, her head turned patheti-
cally to one side, was the crumpled body
of a beautiful young girl.

The silence that lasted for a full 60
seconds was tomblike except for the
mournful cawing of a crow somewhere in
the far forest. :

Then Walter spoke in hushed tones.

“That must be her.”

Lester nodded silently.

An hour later, Inspectors Hoyt and
Cosart, Sergeant Charles Manning and
Trooper Guyle were at the scene. In the
soft light of the dying sun they looked
silently at the pathetic figure, huddled
grotesquely against a sapling.

The body was naked from the waist
down. Above that it was clothed in the
plaid jacket. A white slip was rumpled
above the girl’s limbs.

One side of the fair face was horribly
discolored, as though her assailant had
dealt a terrific blow with some blunt wea-
pon or a fist.

A stream of blood, now dried and black-
ened, coursed from the nose and mouth.
On the young woman’s white legs there
were several deep gashes, obviously made
by some sharp weapon.

The faces of these officers, who in their
time had looked at sudden death in its
most terrifying forms, were inscrutable.

Inspector Hoyt broke the silence.

“Her wrists seem to be blacker than
the rest of her body,” he said. “It looks
as though she put up a terrific fight against
her attacker. He probably held her wrists
and forced her up the knoll, then knocked
her unconscious with a blow on the side
of the head.”

He turned to Trooper Guyle.

“This is across the Yates County line,
isn’t it, Freddy?” he asked.

Guyle nodded. “About half a mile or
less. We’re in Steuben County now.”

While awaiting the arrival of Coroner
James A. Sanford of Bath, the investi-
gators noted the complete scene in detail.

The body was on the south side of a

A 47


man, entirely naked and in a partial state of decomposition, From its appearance he be-
“lieved it to be the body of, Capt. Palmer. of. the Eudore and he sent tidings of, the discovery
to the City Islanders who saw the schooner sank and afterwards captured the regro, Capt,
4evinas and Messrs. McClennan and Pendleton soon repaired to the Spe, took charge of the
body and conveyed it to City Island where, it was packed in ice,
"On Monday, Coroner Morrell of Portchester, impanneled at Jury at McClennan's Hotel at City:
*sland, and proceeded, to take, testimony, Dr. Bayles of NewRochelle, deposed that he had ex-
amined the body and that the detéased had evidently come to his death by violence; the skull
on the left side was extensively, fractured by a blow dealt by some heavy instrument, such as
head af an axes theblow was struck just behind the ear, and the skull was split; another
> violent blow had broken theleft che&=<bone, and crushed it in; either blow was sufficient. to
cause deaths; thelittle finger of theleft hand was missing; from thebreast a large portion of
the skin had been cut away with a knife, as if to remove some mark that might lead to iden-
tification; a portion of the flesh of the left arm between the elbow and the wrist, had also
been ‘removed; the top of the skull is bareof flesh, and the bones of the limbs are in some
places exposed from the length of time it has een. in the water; theleft leg had been, tied
‘near the ankle by a repe to which a weight seemed to have been attached; the rope had chafed
the flesh almost entire away, but portions of the yarn still remained,
-Next appeared testimony of Captain Justus Arnold, Palmer's brother-in-law, in which he
positively identified body as that of Palmer, 58-years-old,. ard describing tattoos which were
where flesh had been cut awaye Coroner's jury then returned finding that body found on May
1, 1856, was that of Palmer and that he had been killed by Wilson, Wilson already under,.
arrest at White Plains as mentioned above, Body delivered.to Arnold for return to Deep
River, Conn,, for burial, ‘when Wilson was informed of discovery of the body, he said: 'So
I heard three times before. Glad to hear it. Has, the Captain got four bodies, 1 wonder?!
However when informed of markings on body and the positive idemtification, '.. he. ‘instantly
lost his firmness and gave evidence of the most abject fright.""| TIMES, New York, 5=1)-'56 ‘= gh

© TRIAL BEFORE COURT OF OYER & TERMINER, WESTCHESTER” co,

Trial began 6-12-1856, for murder of Capt. William‘Palmer. Wilson pleaded not geuilty =“ when
he said he was unable to emp Loy counsel , Messrs. Bailey of Putnam Co,, Larkin, of Sing 8 ing

andClapp*of White Plains were appointed, Motion to postpone trial denied, District Attorney
Edward Wells of Westchester Co, assisted by D. W. Travis of Peekskill, -TIMES 6/13/1856(8/5)

i . EXECUTION

"The curtain fell ices ahday upon the last scene of the EUDORA. tragedy, when the execution of
the negro, George Wilson, ;took place in the-yard of the Westchester County Prison, at White
Plains for the murder of Captain Palmer as proved at the trial, and for the alleged murder of
the mate of that vessel, Gilbert Pratt, whose body has not. been found.
"Since his conviction l@aon has evinced the same general hardihood which distinguished him
from the time of his first arrest. At times he has shown that he feared death, but, in his
worst moments, he was buoyed up with hopes of a reprieve, About a week after his sentence,
he inquired of Mr, Little, the Sheriff, whether if he were insane he would be executed, and

- \upon Mrs Little expressing doubts upon the subject, he proceeded to, feign insanity, rending
his clothes to tatters, clanking his chains, and screaming and shrieking in true Bedlam
fashion, So well did he act his part, that he almost succeeded in imposing on the physician
in attendance, but after ten days! perseverance, finding he made no impression on the Sheriff,
he dropped the part he had assumed, and became as sane as ever, He had torn his clothes
literally into shreds, and with the exception of a fragment of shirt, sufficient to cover
his shoulders, was comletely nude, 7
"On Thursday our reporter visited him, in company with officers of the prison, and Rev. R,
B, Lockwood of Phillipsburg, N. J., who, happening to be staying in the neighborhood, kindly
offered his services, Although he had but a few hours to live, Wilson was quite jocose, He
said he flet like dying, and therefore wanted planty to eat and drink, He complained that
he could get nothing stronger than water, and wanted wine or brandy. In reply to a question
as to his religious creed, he said he was a Know-Nothing, but remarked that the parsons had
been pursuing him so long that they ought to have converted him, Upon Mr, Lockwood asking
if he had seen him (Mr. L) before, he said the revererd gentleman's face was familiar to
him, and that he greatly resembled Greer, .the:Confidence Man, or, if he had bem taller,

“he would have been Like Mayor Wood (Fernando Wood, Mayor of New York), He was quite per-
suaded that he wuld be reprieved, and insisted that it was in the Sheriff's power to par-~ ‘,

don him, His pardon, he asserted, could be procured fo he S
but, unfortunately, Re was a poor’man, He persis ed te ae bic teee fat Sekee

he would be hung if he macrsra racer captain and mate in de eee hpesein One Of his visitans,,

g


with spectators. Outside and insidetheprison, there were from three to four thousand
persons present, - act | cet. at « , ;

'The last execution in Westchester County took place 7 years ago when Amos Northrop was hung
for murdering a young ladg who refused to marry him, The uprights at Wilson's gallows yes-
terday were the same'that were used at Northrop's.execution,

"after the body was cut down and removed to the gaol, the large,crowd silently dispersed.

We noticed the father of themrdered Captain Palmer at oneof the Sheriff's windows, overe
looking the scene, The City +slanders, who arrested the negro when he left the EUDORA,

were present in large numbers,

-"The conduct of some of the military caused considerable remark, They dere very officious

and to keen bask the crowd, some of whom had the Sheriff's orders for admission, thrust at
them: with their bayonets and pricked them, One man was run through the arm, We were told
that he obtained a warrant for thearrest of theman who woundedhim," TIMES, New York City,

Ne Ye, 7-26-1856 (1/6). . :

g 4 R


WILSON, George, hanged WhitePlains, N,. Y,, 7-25-1856 - Continued

thinking to take him by surprise, inouired suddenly if Captain Palmer struggled and cried
out, or whether the first blow killed him, ‘ttf I could tell you that,' said Wilson, 'I
could tell you all about it,’ Yet, on.several occasions, we were assured he was on the
point of:imparting something of mement to the Sheriff, or other officer in attendance, but
before anything of importance escaped him he would take second thought and become sullen
and mute, oy
"The gallows was erected in-a small yard between the Oourt House and the Surrogate's office,
Early yesterday morning people from all parts of the country began to arrive,on foot and in
every description of vehicle, The trains brought. hundreds from New York, New Rochelle,
Williams! Bridge, and other intervening places. The National Guards of Morrisania, Company
A, number 28 mskets, arrived at 9 o'clock, About 10 o'clock, the Lockwood Guards. of Sing
Sing, numbering 22 muskets, reached the village, The place outside the prison was like a
fair. Booths were erected for the sale of beer, cider, oysters, clams, cakes, pies and
cigars. One would have thought that a great jubilee was to take place, and not that a man
was to be hanged,
"During the night, Rev. Mr. Lockwood had been almost constantly in attendance upon him,
About midnight he requested the reverend gentleman to pray with him, and said he forgave |
all his enemies and trusted they wuld forgive him, He was a member, he said, of the "oman —
Catholic Church, He had been baptized in that Church, and had received the sacrament
frequently at the hands of its priests. Mr, Lockwood asked if he wished a priest to attend
him, He replied that he did not, and refused to converse on the subject of his guilt or
imnocence, Besides Reve Mr. Lockwood, Messrs. Tees and Griffin have offered him spiritual
consolation, but found him on all occasions very hardened, stubborn and intractable,
"During the forenoon of yesterday the minister remained with him, and he was frequently
visited by the Sheriff and other gentlemen, fo all their remarks and queries he returned
no answer, but remained prostrate on his bed, with his face buried in the clothes, Eithr
being unableor pretending inability to dress himself, the Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff put on
him a pair of linen pants, and a white shirt edged with black braid, About 200 persons,
including the Jury, reporters, and National Guard, having been admitted into the yard, he
wasremoved from his cell and theprocession was formed to the gallows, At 1:13 o'clock, the
Sheriff, Depurty Sheriff, Rev. Mr, Lockwood, and the rest of the procession reached the
scaffold, The prisoner was so prostrated by fear that he was incapable of walking, and had
to be carried to the spot. When placed upon the scaffold, he sank down,to all appearances, ©
a lump of inanimate flesh, Several times the Deputy Sheriff from New York, who assisted at
the execution, endeavored to raise him, but failed to do so, A chair was finally brought,
and the prisoner was placed in it, but no effort €ould keep him upright. He collapsed and
fell forward, and seemed on the point of expiring.
"Rev, Mr, Lockweod then addressed the crowd as follows: 'I will say to the gentlemen present
that I was with the prisoner last evening in his cell, I there conversed with him upon re=
ligious subjects, and he desires now no further religious instruction from me, He wishes
to die in peace, and desires no further religious instnuction, !
"The superintendent of the execution then whispered in the prisoner's ear, and, addressing
the Skporters and the Sheriff, said: 'He confesses - he syas he did it.! The ex-Yheriff,
Mr, Lockwood, went on the scaffold and asked him if he intended to confess, He replied:
' They misunderstand meg I am innocent,' Mr. Lockwood then said to him, 'George, you
have only a minute to live, Do not go out of theworld with a lie in your mouth, Are you
émitty or innocent?! Wilson faltered out, ‘Innocent, let me die,'!
"He asked for adrink of water, which was given him, and the noose having been adjusted, he
was ordered to stand up, Notwithstanding his previous helpless state, he at once stood
firmly erect. Therope was immediately severed; the weights descended, and the wretched
creature was jerked up some3 feet fromthe ground, By a sort of retributive justice, the
rope was cut with the same axe that the murders were committed with,
"His death was not a hard one, as he struggled, and than not violently, less than 3 minutes.
In 5 minutes pulsation had ceased. He hung 20 minutes and was cut down and placed in a pine
coffin painted red. A gentleman from the establishamnt of Messrs. Fowler & Wells, of this
Wity, was in attendance to take a cast of his head,
< "The windows of the prison, theroof of the Surrogate's office, and all available points

“ from which a view of the wholeor a part of this execution gould be witnessed, were crowded

Nee

ee ad

WILLIAM K. LAIDLAW
ATTORNEY & COUNSELLOR AT LAW

ELLICOTTVILLE, NEW YORK 14731

-.17 May 1976

Donald L. Smith, Senior Investigator,
New York State Police,
Batavia, N.Y.
Dear Trooper Smith:
The copy of the material
about the “imple case that I sent to you was
a copy that I made for you and you may keen it

Ten or Fifteen years ago’ my wife and I
made copvies of the inscriptions on all the
stones in the Jefferson Street cemetery, but
there is no stone marked “Wilson or “illson.
After the Sunset 4ill Cemetery was onened,
some bodies were moved there, but there is no
stone tnere either.

I enclose the article ‘rom The Post, 4 July
1288, the only article I have noticed about
the crime, except the article in 20 July 1887,
which I enclose also. | | |

Sincerely yours,

\

e

Memo: 116 NE 1066
WALDENEN, Arthur, white, electrocuted at Sing Sing (New York) on July 12, 1917.

"New York, September 10, 1915-The police today finished their arrangements for a
widespread dragnet for the man responsible for the death of Mrs. Elizabeth Nichols,
the wealthy widow, whose home was robbed late Wednesday night through the confessed
collusion of Owney Talas, the hall boy. The names so far as known, of the three

men wanted, together with their descriptions, were made known, This information

has been sent broadcast. The descriptions follow: Arthur Walton (sic), 25-years-
old, 175 pounds, five feet teen or e@even inches tall; has blond hair, blue eyes and
light complexion, has one gold tooth and a scar on back of one of his hands, Eddie,
last name unknown, 23 years old, 160 pounds, five feet, six inches tall; has blue eyes and
light hair. Italian, 28 years old, 160 pounds, five feet, eight inches tall, dark
eyes, hair and complexion. ‘heir value of the stolen jewels is placed at $17,200.
Talas was taken to police headcuarters today when he was photographed, fingerptints
made and given over to the scrutiny of 350° detectives. Talas is hold on the general
charge of homicide," JOURNAL, Pensacola, Florida, 9-11-1915 (1:3.)

"New York, September 9 = Owney Talas, a Russian Fing, a hall boy in ‘the home of Mrs.
Elizabeth Nichols, the aged wealthy widow who met death las t night at the hands of
masked men who robbed her of goods valued at $10,000, was arrested today after he had cone
fessed, the police assert, to having played part in the crime. He was formally charged
with murder, All other servants were freed of suspicion, Deputy Police Commissioner
Lord announced, Preliminary examination of Mrs. Nichols' body revealed the proba-
bility that she had died of fright and not of strangulation as first supposed. Mr.
Lord said, 'An autopsy to be performed late today will disclose the exact cause of
deaths! Although the burglars stripped their victim's fingers and ears and diamonds
and other jewels worth $1,000 they failed to rifle the strong box of her safe th which she
kept gems valued at from $250,000 ti $5009000. Talas and the maid were kept up
virtually all night be detectives who made them repeat their stories again and
again, Commissioner Lord said today there were many minor discrepancies in their
accounts. Significance was placed by the police in a statement attributed to the
cook, Leona Tiovonen, that on leaving the house she met a former employee of Mrs,
Nichols, who had frequently called at the house after leaving her employ and borrowed money
from other servants. Two other men, the cook said, were loitering nearby, Mrg.Lord said
that after the cook and the butler, Ernest Vital, had left the house, Talas had been
seen to leave the premises several times to converse with men in front of the house,
Mrs. Nichols was the widow of James Edwin Nichols, founder of the wholsesale grocery
firm of Austin, Nichols & Co. She was reputed to be worth about $2,000,000 and it
was known that much of this was invested in gems which she kept in the house, She
was 60 years old and quite stout. In an effort to recover the stolen jewelry,
and perhaps thereby obtain a clue to the burglars, a detective was stationed in
every pawnshop in New York City. A general alarm and a description of the valuables
w ere telephoned from headquarters to every city as far north as Buffalo and as far
south as Philadelphia, Talas, in what the police claim was his confession, is
alleged to have said that for some time several men had been endeavoring to get him

'to stand in whth them' to rob Mrs. Nichols, but that he had refused such advances
until Tuesday night when he consentedg ypon the understanding that Mrs. Nichols was
not to be harmed, It was understood that only the jewels his employer wore on her
person were to be taken. The police version of the confession quotes Talas as
saying that the men arrived at the Nichols home at 9 o clock last night by appoint-
ment and in response to a double ring at the basement door, he admitted them, He
told of being backed into a corner by the men and the finding by them of the maid in
the butlerfs room, The maid, he is alleged to have said, was tied up. One man was
left to stand guard over her while the others hurried to the apartment of Mrs,
Nichols. Talas is said to have asserted he was entirely ignorant of what happened
in the apartment as he heard nothing. He did say, however, that the men were up~
sstairs ten of fifteen minutes, leaving him by the basement door and passing him

by without comment. Inspector Fayrot, chief of the detective bureau said the men
had ample time to enter the strong box, but that contrary to reports, the keys &f

Rime

Officers walking behind the fruit stand where the attack took place. Killer then dragged body away.

ROR 2 He

SING SING
SCRAPBOOK

by GEORGE LAVORATO

gust of autumn wind, ruffling the sparkling face of Keuka Lake, sent a rush of leaves
swirling across New York State Highway 54. Ruth Dilson grabbed at the tiny hat per-

ched on her flaxen curls, almost dropping the school books she carried under her
arm. She quickened her step to catch up with her friend.
14

[> [148%


THAT MAN IS
HERE AGAIN

LPHONSE
CAPONE,
long known by
associates as
“Scarface Al’
‘and “The Big
Fellow,’’ is free
_ again. But it is
an unenviable kind
of freedom—a
freedom hampered
by disease and by
_. the fact that there may still be men
=~ alive who wish him dead.
_ After’ eight years in federal pris-
* ons, most of the time in Alcatraz,
«~~ Capone was discharged on November
} 16, only to enter a Baltimore hos-
=. pital for a three weeks’ treatment for
ye ory He says he will then go to
iami, and has promised Attorney
General Frank Murphy that he is
“going straight.” :
* Capone’s career is a powerful

— run with enemies’ blood, but
pone himself steered clear of the
dirty work. He pulled the strings,
~ gave the orders—and collected the

pone was a
colossal crook, a leader of gangsters.
~ Everybody knew he fattened on com-
© mercialized crime and terrorism. The

couldn’t get anything on him. For
* years Capone was known as “too hot
~ to _handle”—too erful to buck.
*» But the federal government wasn’t
~ afraid of Capone. The feds landed
~ on him like a ton of bricks, charged

: pag collapsed like a house of cards.
wher can’t lead a gang from Alcatraz.

“unsubstantiated rumors came out of
_ “The Rock.” Capone was hated by
convicts . .

. Capone was

lened fellow pris-

. -. Capone was out of his head

e h paresis, a brain disease... .
* Eight years of this was no Picnic

% Al. Now he’s out—but he is
© guarded by three government agents
5» and a police detail. These men
aren

“ believe that Capone’s life is in danger.
». Capone still has some money—he
took a $30-a-day suite at the hospital
~—but the future must look far from

»,. Meanwhile, Chicago authorities are
_~ investigating the murder of Edward

i cece: in typical gangster fashion on
November 8. O’Hare was president
~ of the Sportsman’s Park Race Track,
and he first entered Chicago racing
“circles as manager of Capone’s dog
track. The police are probing the
: — that the slaying might
ve been committed by remnants of
the Capone mob who thought that
"Hare “ ” on Capone,

i police Inew it too, but they said they:

"t there just for fun. They must _

INSIDE DETECTIVE

(Continued from page 46)
will which made Freeman executor of
Saunders’ estate and guardian of the latter’s
sixteen-year-old son who was named as the
sole heir!

Thus had Dr. Jeptha Stephens Freeman
placed all of Aaron Saunders’ earthly pos-
sessions in his own merciless care!

Because of the condition of the body,
autopsy surgeons had been unable to detect
traces of dope in Saunders’ system. Like-
wise they had found the gash on his fore-
head to be an old one, possibly remaining
from the accident of May 31. But the
opinion remained that there was more than
a suspicious likeness between the victim's
“sleepy-like” condition as he began work on
the truck, and Cole’s lingering unconscious-
ness following his mishap.

The inquest resulted promptly in Free-
man’s detention for the grand jury to an-
swer two counts, one charging the murder
of Aaron Saunders, “by saturating his body
with gasoline and thereto setting fire,” and
the other the attempted murder of Henry
C. Cole.

“But both Saunders and Cole were my
friends!” protested the doctor angrily.
“How can you accuse me of that?”

But Freeman could not explain how he
had expected to make a dead battery—
which had no connecting cables—start a
completely disabled truck. He couldn’t ex-
plain his inordinate interest in elderly men
who had no close adult relatives. And so
the grand jury promptly indicted him for
murder and attempted murder,

N THE opening day of his trial before

Judge Hal Hawkins in Cobb County
superior court, Freeman appeared calm and
confident. Only a nervous roving of his
eyes belied his outward nonchalance.

A startling addition to the already damn-
ing facts was brought out in the testimony
of Dr. J. C. Yancey, a retired physician
and one of the neighbors attracted by the
fatal fire, and by Goodwin, who had been
the first to reach the scene.

Dr. Yancey declared that as soon as it
had appeared that the fire had been ex-
tinguished Freeman had approached him
with a pretense of grief and horror and
an instant later had suggested that Saun-
ders be given a “shot of something to put
him out of his misery!” Freeman, the wit-
ness said, had become insistent that
Yancey furnish some morphine and a hypo-
dermic to be administered at once.

“I told him I had none,” Yancey con-
cluded, “and that I wouldn’t be a party
to its use if I did have.”

Goodwin, who had already testified to
Freeman’s efforts to delay rescue and
waste the water with which he had pre-
tended attempts to extinguish the flames,
added significantly :

“When I went to call an ambulance,
he insisted that we could get better service
by calling one from Atlanta instead of
Marietta, although it would have been sev-
eral miles further and the city traffic would
have delayed it still more. He said
Saunders would get better care in Atlanta.”

On Thursday, July 27, after only three
hours of deliberation, the jury returned a
verdict of guilty of murder in the first de-
gree, but with a recommendation of mercy
making a life sentence mandatory.

Freeman, ashen-faced, slumped deeply in
his chair, received the verdict with little
sign of emotion. Not until he was led
from the hushed courtroom to return to his
cell in the county jail did his body rack
with bitter sobs as he saw freedom slipping
permanently behind him.

Defense counsel immediately announced
motion for a new trial on grounds that
the verdict was contrary to the evidence
presented. The motion was promptly de-
nied, whereupon appeal was filed with the
Georgia supreme court.

As this is written, Dr. Jeptha Stephens
Freemari, the man of courts and courtships
and of peculiar associations with strange
accidents, remains in his Marietta jail cell,
hoping against hope that he has not yet
reached the end of his precarious career.

Crimson Crime
At Lake Keuka

(Continued from page 10)

enough to send a man to the electric chair.
And thus Inspector Hoyt added another
note to his mental memorandum. Find a
man who was wearing a blue wool shirt,
sweater or coat the day Evelyn Reed dis-
appeared.

Who was that man?

Inspector Hoyt thought he knew... .

VELYN REED’S body had not been in

the Bath morgue many hours on the
night of September 25, when a trim white
police car shot down the road away from
Penn Yan. At the wheel was Sergeant
Harry DeHollander of the state bureau;
with him, grimly silent, were three
troopers, Harold Scott, M. L. Forte and
E. W. Sohner.

They turned off Route 54 a few miles
past Branchport, passed through Pulteney
and went on to Prattsburg. They left the
business district behind, rolled slowly down
a tree-lined residential street and stopped
in front of a large house.

“This is the place,” DeHollander said.

“You think he'll be here?” Scott asked.

“I’m sure he will. Gene Hoyt’s had him
under surveillance for a couple of days.
We'll go round to the back where the
office is. He’s probably there with his
father.”

“That looks like the truck in the garage
there,” Forte said, glancing around as they
walked past the house toward the rear.

DeHollander nodded. “Yes, that's it. You
take care of it before we leave here. Drive
it to Hammondsport. Pasto can take his
pictures there.”

Forte and Sohner remained outside the
house, Sergeant DeHollander and Scott
knocked at the office door and were ad-
mitted. There were two men in the small
back room; one, elderly, pleasant-faced,
looked at the officers in surprise; the other,
considerably younger, stared at the visitors
rudely.

DeHollander ignored the older man and
gave the other a challenging appraisal.

He saw a strange triangular face; thin,
beady-eyed and cruel, like that of a praying
mantis. He saw cold narrow eyes that
darted back and forth behind gold-rimmed
spectacles. He saw long unruly black hair
that rose high above the forehead like a
wet mop hung upside down, and a mouth
whose edges were white from pressed lips.

“Norman Wheelock,” DeHollander said
quietly, “I want to talk to you.”

The younger man bristled with defiance.
“Anything you have to say to me,” he said
tartly, “you can say in front of my father.”

The elder Wheelock, plainly _ baffled,
turned toward the officer. DeHollander
reached for his state police identification
card, showed it to the two men.

“Wheelock,” he said to the young man,
“you are under arrest!”

“Under arrest?” young Wheelock snarled.
“What for?”

“For questioning in the murder of
Evelyn Reed!”

The ominous words cracked like a snap-
ping whip. Father and son looked at one
another—one, agonized, stunned, unwilling
to believe what he suddenly suspected; his
offspring mirroring a sharp blend of fear

'
|:
|
Of
|

and truculence. And_ finally Norman
Wheelock faced DeHollander again, with
fists clenched and eyes flashing. .

“I won't go! You haven't got a thing
on me!” .

The police officer was prepared for op-
position. His hand flashed out, grabbed
young Wheelock’s wrist, pinned it with
cold steel. Scott, coming around to take
the other arm, was suddenly knocked off
balance with a vicious kick on the shin. And
in that instant the small office rang to Nor-
man Wheelock’s outraged cries, the screams
and growls and panting of a_ trapped
animal. He fought the hands of law and
justice, fought again the touch of metal
around his wrists. And he fought what he
must have feared—oblivion.

They dragged him, still protesting, to the
police car and whisked him away to distant
Batavia—and a long night of questions
which perhaps only he could solve.

HO WAS Norman Wheelock? Every

man and woman in Steuben and Yates
Counties knew the answer to that before
another day. He was the amazing ma-
terialization of Inspector Hoyt’s hypo-
thetical suspect—and the dark cloak fell
around his stooped shoulders as though

it had been hand-tailored. The detective

had come across his name in those county
records of crime—Norman Wheelock, pos-
sessor of a long police record, trouble-
makér, reform school graduate, auto thief,
and once imprisoned for attacking a young
Hammondsport girl.

Hoyt had watched Wheelock. He had
discovered that the twenty-seven-year-old
suspect worked for a private telephone
company owned by his father, that he had
left home on September 19 to install a
phone in Penn Yan. And the stern finger
of accusation made a final damning swing
in his direction almost coincidentally with
the finding of the body, when Hoyt and
other investigators heard the story of D. W.
Snyder, a Hammondsport fireman.

Snyder, who had known Wheelock for
a number of years, declared he was driv-
ing toward Hammondsport on the after-
noon of September 19. He was rolling
along the highway near the Chateau Dugas
when a truck suddenly backed out from the
wooded spot next to the small fruit stand
where Evelyn’s schoolbooks were later
found.

“I had to jam on my brakes,” Snyder
said. “I slowed down and had almost come
to a stop when I got to Wheelock’s truck,
I recognized him right away. He didn’t
say anything . . . just turned his truck
around fast and stepped on the gas.” :

Hoyt found himself in a paradoxical situ-
ation. He was convinced he was trailing a
murderer—and yet there was no evidence
of a murder. But when that bruised little
body came to light in the lonely forest, the
equation was complete. And so, when he
rushed Sergeant DeHollander to arrest
Norman Wheelock, he acted with an un-
canny certainty that must have staggered
Wheelock himself.

Did Norman Wheelock attack and mur-
der Evelyn Reed? :

The answer flashed over the wires from
Batavia before dawn the following morn-
ing, when Sergeant DeHollander, haggard
and hoarse, told Hoyt that the Prattsburg
man had confessed the monstrous crime.
It was a_ revolting tale that Norman
Wheelock told.

“I left home about three o’clock on the
afternoon of September 19,” he said. <=
told my father I was going to install a
telephone in Penn Yan and I drove away
in the small company truck. I just started
out to look for any female I could find.
I drove around Penn Yan for half an hour
until four o'clock and I didn’t see anybody.

“Then starting out Route 54, I saw a

INSIDE DETECTIVE

pretty girl walking along by the cemetery.
She looked to me to be about sixteen. I
pulled the truck up to the curb and I called
out to her: ‘Do you want a ride?’ The
girl didn’t say anything, she just got in the
truck and sat down beside me. I asked her
where she lived and she said at Indian
Pines. So I drove along the road, passing
Burt's fruit stand where the girl waved to
a woman.

“We went right on past Indian Pines,
and the girl wanted to know where I was
taking her. I told her I was just taking
her for a little ride. I said, ‘Don’t you like
to ride?’ She said, ‘All right.’ She kept
asking me when I would take her home, but
I knew all the time where I was going to
take her.

“When I got out there by Miller’s empty
fruit stand, I drove the truck off the high-
way and asked the girl to get out. But she
wouldn't. Then I grabbed her left arm,
pulled her out, and led her up the grade
into the woods.

“She resisted and started fighting, and
while I was trying to hold her down she
kicked me in the jaw and knocked me over.
She struggled for quite a little while, then

‘got quiet and just sat there crying for

about five minutes.

“I began to wonder what would happen
to me when she got home and told on me.
I always carry a thin screw-driver shoved
inside my high boot. I reached down for
it, held it like an ice-pick, and suddenly
jammed it into the side of her head be-
tween her left eye and ear. She raised her
left hand to her temple but she didn’t make
a sound. Then her hand fell down and I
figured she was dead.

“T left her body there and went back to
the truck where I found her schoolbooks,
which I hid in the brush. I drove away
and installed the telephone I was going to,
and went on home. I had dinner with my
wife that evening, and went to bed.”

b Fs <nerd WAS no remorse in Norman
Wheelock’s lust-sodden mind. He told
that nauseating story calmly and admitted
that he slept well the night he came home
with the murdered girl’s blood still on his
fingers. .

He unwittingly added another link to his
own chain of guilt when he said he had
been wearing a blue sweater that horrible
afternoon. And Sergeant DeHollander
found the deadly screw-driver when he
searched the work clothes Wheelock was
wearing at the time of his arrest.

Wheelock based his entire defense on a
plea that he was and is insane, when he
went to trial before Supreme Court Justice
Nathan D. Lapham at Hornell on October
16. Attorney Alton Wightman, who had
been appointed by the court to defend
Wheelock, told the jury in his opening
statement that the young man’s parents
had “spent thousands of dollars trying to
straighten out his quirk.”

But the jury thought otherwise.

The jury listened to the monster’s ap-
palling confession when Judge Lapham
admitted it ‘into evidence after a stormy
argument between defense and prosecution.
And, having heard, it took them less than
three hours to find the accused man guilty.

On November 10, on his twenty-seventh
birthday, Wheelock heard Justice Lapham
pronounce sentence.

“Norman Wheelock, the jury having
found you guilty of murder in the first
degree, I direct that during the week of
December 17 you be put to death in the
manner prescribed by law in Sing Sing
Prison. . . .”

And so, at this writing, and unless an
appeal for a new trial is won, Wheelock
is doomed to walk the last mile a few
days before the nation rings with joyous
Christmas bells.

“FOR VALOR:
y

(A policeman must be al-
ways alert, always ready to -
brave danger, always careful of in-
nocent citizens. Here ts a true story
from the records of the New York
City police, showing how one officer
won honor.) ,

LOUIS DIETZ was a smart bar-
tender. When two men—Meyer-
owitz and Piazza—entered the tap
room where he worked and said,
“Get ‘em up, boys,” Dietz got ’em
up promptly. But he was even
cleverer than that, for when he saw” -
the figure of Patrolman Carmine W.
Tramutola passing the window, he

raised his hands still higher, hoping

that the officer would glance in and
notice that something was wrong.
. And Tramutola did look in. He
saw two men holding up the cus-
tomers and bartenders of the bar at
61 Columbus Avenue, New York

» City.

Patrolman Tramutola walked into

. the bar, gun in hand, and ordered

the stickups to drop their weapons.
Instead of complying, they threw
themselves flat on the floor and be-
gan firing at the officer. He fired
back, and they leaped to their feet
to flee. This effectively prevented
Tramutola from firing further shots,
lest a stray bullet injure one of the

© customers or employes.

As the bandits ran out, one of the
customers threw a chair at them,
drawing a shot in reply. Tramutola
ran out one door to await the bandits
at another exit, toward which they
were heading. When they emerged,
he shot at them again, and they fied.

As Tramutola chased them up the
street, they separated. The officer
saw two other patrolmen on guard
duty nearby, and shouted for help.
These two chased Piazza, while
Tramutola continued after Meyero-

* witz, whom he finally cornered in

the employes’ entrance of a Childs
restaurant.

Meyerowitz was still armed and
dangerous. Hiding in his nook, he
shot it out with Patrolman: Tramu-
tola, who took cover behind a parked
car. Then the noise of gunfire drew _
Patrolman John Concannon to the
scene, and Meyerowitz, his gun
empty, surrendered.

Meanwhile Piazza, otherwise
known as John Ronelli, managed to
keep a few yards ahead of Patrol-
men Joseph Kennelly and John
Schroeder, his pursuers. But in
watching behind, he forgot to look
ahead—and ran almost into the arms
of Patrolman John Keane.

Thus two dangerous bandits were
arrested, And Officer Tramutola
was awarded the Sherman Day
Medal for Valor. For, as Bartender
Dietz put it, “He showed a lot of
guts—and used his head!”

$1


Vivacious young Evelyn Reed,
the athletic teenager who
stumbled on to a ghoul.

. “My gosh, Evelyn,” she ex-

‘claimed, “what’s the hurry? We’ve

got two long miles to go. Let’s walk
home, not racé.” © °° es

Evelyn Reed. smiled and slowed
down. “Sorry, Ruth,” she said, “but I
have a special reason for getting home
early.” zh

“What’s up?” her friend wanted to.
know.

“It’s Mom’s birthday,” Evelyn ex-
plained. “I want to bake a cake.”

“But I thought your mother was in
Pulteney,” Ruth said, “taking care of
your grandmother.”

“She is,” Evelyn told her, “but

grandmother is feeling better and.

Mom will be home this evening. I
want to surprise her with a birthday
cake.” :

The two girls, seniors at Penn Yan
High School, were close friends as
well as classmates. Ruth lived almost
two miles from Penn Yan on Route
54. Evelyn’s home was a short dis-
tance farther on in the small village of
Indian Pines. It was the daily practice
of the two girls to walk home togeth-
er when school let out—usually
around three in the afternoon.

In spite of Evelyn’s desire to start
work on the surprise birthday cake,
she stopped off for a few minutes to

(continued on next page)

State Trooper at the scene of
the corpse’s discovery where
forestwas cleared. _

”
¥

e
‘7.


say hello to Ruth’s mother. Mrs. Dil-
son served cookies and cocoa to the
two youngsters and then Evelyn
picked up her books and headed for
home.

At 4 o’clock on that Tuesday af-
ternoon, September 19, 1939, Mrs.
Nancy Heldman, who. lived across
the road from Lakeview Cemetery,
saw the pretty teenager hurry by on
Route 54. The woman waved a
greeting to the girl, and Evelyn
waved back. Then she continued on
her way toward the turn-in to Indian
Pines.

It was in that short stretch of her

journey between Lakeview Ceme-
tery and her home on the outskirts of
Indian Pines that 16-year-old Evelyn
Margaret Reed vanished as if into thin
air. :
At six, that evening, Sidney Reed
came home from work to find the
house empty. He was surprised, but
not immediately worried’ by his
daughter’s absence. Pulteney was on-
ly some ten miles away and he as-
sumed that Evelyn had gone there by
bus to accompany her mother home.

It was only when Mrs. Reed re-

~ turned home at eight with the news ~

that she hadn’t seen Evelyn that the
father became alarmed. Hurriedly the
anxious parents looked through the
house. They couldn’t find Evelyn’s
school books or any other indication
that she had been home since leaving
for Penn Yan that morning. —

They began a frenzied round of
phone calls to Evelyn’s friends. From
the Dilsons they learned that Evelyn
had actually started for home at four
in ‘the afternoon. What could have
happened to the girl?

Almost out of his mind with wor-
ry, Sidney Reed called State Po-
liceman Fred H. Guyle at the Troop D
sub-station in Penn Yan,

Trooper Guyle knew the Reed fam-
ily too well to ascribe Evelyn’s disap-
pearance to some juvenile peccadillo.
Mr. and Mrs. Reed were highly re-
spected in Yates County and Evelyn
was a level headed girl and devoted
to her parents.

Wasting no time, Guyle got busy
on the teletype, clacking out a de-
scription of the pretty high school girl
to Troop D headquarters at Oneida
Barracks and to the sheriff’s office in
Yates County. Then the — trooper
hopped into his car and raced to Indi-
an Pines.

After talking with the frightened:

16

parents, he interviewed Ruth Dilson
and her mother. Guyle grew even
more troubled when he learned how
anxious Evelyn had been to get home
and bake a birthday cake for her
mother.

Getting back to his car, Guyle be-
gan a meticulous search along Route
54. He drove slowly, raking the
fields and brush that fringed either
side of the road with his headlights.
He made inquiries at every home or
business place on the highway.

Of all the persons he questioned,
only one recalled seeing the girl that
afternoon. Mrs. Heldman told the
trooper of waving to Evelyn as the
girl was passing Lakeview Ceme-

Six days of an
all-out search
were needed
before they
found the
corpse of the
vanished teen.
When they saw
its condition,
they knew
they had
another search
ahead of them
—fora
monster-fiend.

tery. From that point on, the trooper
was unable to pick up any trace of the
vanished high school senior.

According to Ruth Dilson, Evelyn
had been wearing a gray skirt and
sweater ensemble, a light sport jack-
et, a checked scarf and a blue beret. A
search of the girl’s clothing in her
room showed that these articles were
missing and presumably Evelyn was
still wearing the same outift when
she vanished.

These details were added to the
missing persons alarm which had

been flashed throughout Yates County
and adjoining areas. Throughout that
Tuesday night, troopers and deputies
tooled their cars in and out the maze
of backroads that thread the shores of
Keuka Lake. Officers on foot, carry-
ing lanterns and flashlights, spread

out from the highway to search the

vineyards for which the region is fa-
mous.

Trooper Guyle needed help in the
expanding hunt, and on Wednesday
morning Inspector John Cosart of the
Criminal Bureau of Investigation hus-
tled over to Indian Pines from Troop

D headquarters. Guyle quickly

briefed his superior.

“What about boyfriends?” Cosart
asked.

Guyle shook his head. “I’ve ques-
tioned her folks, I’ve talked with her
friends at school. As far as they
know, she wasn’t serious about any
boy. She had gone to some parties,
dances and affairs like that, but other-
wise she is pretty much of a home
girl.”

He explained that Evelyn had ap-
peared much more interested in athlet-
ics than in romancing with the other
sex. Popular at school because of her
prowess at tennis and swimming, her
name had never been linked with that
of a boy. Plenty of the local boys had
tried to date her since Evelyn was de-
cidedly pretty, with vivacious brown
eyes and light chestnut hair, but the
girl had never seemed more than cas-
ually interested in them. At 16, her
tastes were still more those of the
child than of the budding young
woman.

“The way I see it,” Guyle went on,
“Evelyn got a ride before she reached
home. Maybe she knew the driver or
perhaps she was forced into the ma-
chine. But, one way or another, I fig-
ure she was taken away in an auto-
mobile.

According to all indications, then,
Evelyn Reed had been abducted by a
motorist whose car must have been
traveling over Route 54 at about 4
o’clock Tuesday afternoon. The pur-
pose behind that abduction seemed
only too ominously clear.

The Reeds were people of moder-
ate circumstances, hardly the type of
family to be the target of professional
kidnappers bent on exacting a rich
toll in ransom. Moreover, no demand
note or message had been received.

The only other alternative that pre-
sented itself to the minds of the offi-

cers was eve
lyn Reed w
lush, ripenin
of lustful ey
her fresh yot
along the roa

In view of
ficers could
were certail
been forced :
sex fiend. EB
passing thrc
someone kn:

“My gue:
these parts,
don’t see m:

‘ not at this t

sorts aroun
down after t
Cosart nc
be more apt
was throug]
her in the v
But a guy
would be :
finger on |
enough to
lips.”
Neither «
that the m
Had the 2
would aln
found by n
that her c
where in t
woods aroi
the deep la
There w
do in the 1
search for
seek out
spotted a
Route 54 <
ance.
As the |
vanished s
scores of
Penn Yan
ers. Farn
large gro
School, fi
vation Ca
small arm
iff’s depu'
the — field
“woods.
Cosart
thorne Sti
chester (
bloodhou:
the searct
lot from
County, t
scan ope!


o~

36

when it really stands for Washington.
What was meant is ‘Renton, Wn.’

_ That is a town close to Tacoma. Detec-
tives learned that Karl Pedersen had
worked in that district ‘during his stay in
Tacoma. ; ;

A telegraphic warrant for the suspect's
arrest was radioed to the Stockholm; then
on the high seas. Pedersen was clapped
into the brig until the Ship arrived in
Gothenburg, Sweden, on October 30th.
He was jailed in that city.

A two-year tug of war between Norway
and the United States followed. Tacoma
wanted him to face a first-degree murder
charge for the slaying of Mrs. Rice. Nor-
way Offered two reasons for wanting him.
First, it was claimed he.was wanted there
on a morals charge. In the second place,

..Norway has no capital punishment, and

declared it was not right for one of her

citizens to.face a possible punishment

that was illegal in his. own country.
The case was in Swedish courts for

two years. (During that time, Mrs. Lytel’s
husband returned from Korea, and she
presented him with a son, Sam Lytel, Jr.)

The Swedish Supreme Court finally de-
cided in favor of the United States. In

October of 1952, Detective Peterson flew.

to Sweden to return Pedersen to Tacoma.

There was a further delay when Peder-
sen refused to fly the ocean. The Tacoma
detective was forced to bring the accused
man by ship and train. The crossed the
Atlantic aboard the famous liner Grip-
sholm.

Pedersen, who has steadily denied the
crime, was jailed in Tacoma. On Novem-
ber 13th, 1952—two years and a month
after the brutal crime, he faced a pre-
liminary hearing and was bound over to the
superior court for trial sometime early in
1953.

The State of Washington based its case
on three claims:

1, That Pedersen’s bloody thumb print
had been found at the scene.

2. That he was a neighbor of the victim.
3. That he fled Tacoma immediatel ;
after the murder. 3
If convicted, he may receive either a life nf
term or death on the gallows at Walla ©
Walla. E e
Following Pedersen’s return to Tacoma, © 2
Captain Farrar retired from the force. *
Largely because of his work on the case,
he was elected to the State Legislature by a
a big majority. - . a
Police Commissioner William Farrar— —
the captain’s brother—issued a statement
praising all officers who worked on. the
case. Ay
“This case has reached its present stage
because of perfect. teamwork between two
different flelds of crime detection—straight
and scientific detective work,” the com-
missioner concluded. _

Eprror’s Note: The name “Rubber” a
Edwards used in the foregoing true-de- a
tective story is: fictitious. °

LUST SLAYING ON CEMETERY ROAD

(Continued trom page 31)

is for our men to find a black truck at

the father’s place, and we may have the
killer.”

At that very moment, Troopers Scott
and Sohmer were knocking at the door
of a rambling old Colonial house in Pratts-
burg, the home of the young former
parolee, Norman James Wheelock. They
were admitted by the elder Wheelock, who
seemed puzzled at a visit from the State
Police. At their request, he summoned
his son.

The officers in turn were somewhat sur-
prised at the calmness shown by the
suspect when he confronted them. Young
Wheelock, 27, was lanky and bespectacled,
yet strapping and bronzed from outdoor
work. He appeared entirely at ease and
replied in an even voice to the preliminary
questions asked by the troopers.

When it developed that he was being
questioned about the Reed murder, he
reminded them that he already had ‘been
questioned in connection with this case
and dismissed. He admitted frankly that
he had served a short term in Attica for
assault on a girl, but insisted that since
his release from prison he had been going
straight.

“It’s as simple as that,” he said with a
faint smile. “You wouldn’t want to hold
a man’s past against him for the rest of
his life, would you?”

But the troopers failed to be persuaded.

. “We have our orders,” Scott said sternly.

“Inspector Hoyt wants to talk to you back
in Penn Yan. Let’s get going.”

Wheelock glowered at them for a mo-
ment in silence. Then he suddenly cursed
and made a dash for the door. But Scott
and Sohmer were ready. They lunged to
block his way. After a brief struggle he
was subdued and handcuffed.

With Norman Wheelock in custody, the
Officers moved swiftly to close the case.
They established that his father owned

a small black truck with a reel for carry-

ing telephone wire mounted on the back
platform. They seized the young man’s
blue woolen zipper jacket and sent it to
the BCI laboratory for analysis. The gar-
ment was found to contain the same qual-
ity of thread and dye as that of the lint
scraped from beneath the slain girl’s fin-
gernails. :

Confronted with the lethal screwdriver,
the father admitted it was one of a set
he owned and that Norman had been
working as a lineman for the private
phone company since his release from
prison.

The investigators soon uncovered other .

circumstances of young Wheelock’s move-
ments on the day of the murder. Most
important was the statement of a Ham-
mondsport fireman, who said he was driv-
ing along Route 54 around five o’clock
the afternoon of September 19th and as
he passed the abandoned roadside stand a
truck backed suddenly out of the weed-
grown driveway and nearly caused a col-
lision. The fireman jammed on his brakes
to avoid crashing into the truck, and then
recognized young Wheelock as the driver.
He explained that he knew the youth well,
but did not think of him as a murder
suspect at the time.

Armed with all this evidence, Inspector
Hoyt now sent for Norman Wheelock and
confronted him with it. The stolid pris-
Oner saw that further denials were useless.
“All right, I killed the Reed girl,” he ad-
mitted in a low voice. “I was afraid she’d
tell her folks what I did to her.”

WHILE a stenographer took down his

words, young Wheelock made a de-
tailed confession. He said that on the
forenoon of Tuesday, September 19th, he
had been working on a repair job for his
father. When he went home for lunch,
he suddenly was overcome with a feeling

of restlessness. It was this same strange

psychological quirk in his nature, he ad-

mitted, which had. been his downfall time
and again.

After lunch, he told his father he was
going out on another installation, but
actually he had something else on his
mind. Taking the truck,- he completed
the job as quickly as possible, then drove
toward Penn Yan with the intention of
picking up a girl—any attractive girl. - a

He cruised around for a short time ©
without success, then he started home.
As he passed Lakeview Cemetery on Route
54, he saw Evelyn Reed walking along
the road alone. He pulled over to the
side and waited until she -was abreast, 4
then asked her if she would like a ride’ +
home. She accepted and got into the
truck cab with him. - aa

Evelyn had explained where she lived, =
but as they reached the turn-off to Indian
Pines he speeded up the truck. Alarmed,
she demanded to know where he was ——-
taking her. git Pe

“Don’t worry, honey,” he
“We're just going for a ride.”

She seemed reassured and he kept on
until he reached the abandoned road-
side stand. There he turned in, drove
behind the shack and stopped. st

Wheelock said he attempted to make
love to his victim, and when she protested
he hit her. Then he dragged the limp girl
out of the truck, pulled her into the. deep
thicket and attacked her.

After the assault, it suddenly occurred
to him that she would tell her parents
what had happened and that he probably _
would be identified. In a panic of fear,
he decided to kill her. Be

He reached for the screwdriver which ~
he always carried in the top of his leather x
boot. Holding it behind him, he walked E
over to where the girl sat on the ground %
weeping, and plunged it into her head at =
the temple. He said she toppled over and 3
lay still. ~ a

Hurrying back to the truck, he noticed ©

replied.

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| He tossed them into the brush, started

the motor and drove at top speed for his
home. He said the elapsed time since
leaving the telephone installation job was
so close to the actual time required for
the normal completion of the assignment
that he had no fear his alibi would be

faulty.

Because public feeling in the community
was running so high, Wheelock was im-
mediately whisked away to the county
jail in Bath before the news of his arrest
was announced. A Steuben County grand
jury quickly indicted him on a charge of
first-degree murder.

Wheelock’s trial began on October 16th
in Supreme Court at Hornell, before Jus-
tice Nathan D. Lapham. The State’s case
was conducted by District Attorney George
A. King of Corning, who bitterly opposed
defense efforts to prove Wheelock was-
insane because of his numerous sex of-
fenses and the fact that once he had been
confined for a short time in a State mental

‘institution.

Dr. Clarence H. Bellinger, superintend-
ent of Brooklyn State Hospital and a noted
psychiatrist, testified for the State and
proved to the satisfaction of the jury that
the accused man knew the difference be-
tween right and wrong and the conse-
quences for his criminal acts if he were
found out.

The case was one of the most sensa-
tional ever handled in that part of New
York State. The victim was a winsome,
well-behaved girl, the idol of her parents
and popular with everybody. The defend-
ant came of fine people, and had been
behaving himself properly for a consider-
able period, but then apparently went
haywire.

At the close of the month-long trial,
the jury found Wheelock guilty as charged.
On November 19th, Justice Lapham sen-
tenced him to die in the electric chair.

The usual appeal was made, while the
prisoner languished in the Sing Sing death
house for almost a year. But the convic-
tion was upheld and a last-minute plea to
the Governor for clemency was denied.

On the night of August Ist, 1940, Nor-
man James Wheelock was strapped into
the electric chair and put to death for the
rape-murder of an innocent girl.

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(Steuben Co.) on 8/1/190,,,

The peculiar-shaped truck was used
by the rapist when he lured an in-
nocent girl to her horrible death.

The girl's tears of
shame at the ignominy
visited upon her
young body drove the

sadist to a worse act

BY CARL BALL

Exe man with the lean, hatchet-like face drove his girl-
trap truck through the peaceful streets of Penn Yan, located
in the middle western section of New York State.

Behind silver-rimmed spectacles, his black, piercing eyes
darted quickly from side to side like a predatory animal
seeking its prey. In that baleful gleam was the insensate
desire for a woman—any woman.

As the man inched his odd-shaped vehicle along the tree-
lined streets of the serene village, his eyes feasted on the
laughing girls in their pretty skirts and dresses. They glittered
at the sight of perfectly formed breasts and shapely limbs.
His. warped mind conjured up the stolen delights that would
soon be his—if he was lucky.

He glanced sharply at his watch. Four o’clock! Time now
to prowl on the outlying streets! In the sparsely populated
districts there would be fewer prying eyes, less chance of

Scarlet trap
Of passion

detection. His crafty mind told him that he would have to
be careful. Once before, the sex mania had put him behind
prison bars.

But it wouldn’t happen again. He would see to that. With
a twisted grin, he turned his truck around and wheeled
slowly along Route 54, which winds out of Penn Yan along
the West bank of Keuka Lake.

His thin, ascetic-appearing face lighted suddenly as he
neared.a lonely stretch of the highway beside the Lakeview
cemetery.

There on the narrow walk which runs for half a mile along
the city of the sleeping dead, his ravenous gaze fastened
on the shapely, well-developed figure of a beautiful young
girl. The mad lust swelled within him as he saw the clean,
tanned limbs visible beneath the swinging green skirt and
plaid sport jacket.

As he slowed down beside the striding girl, he noticed

_ her soft brown eyes, vital and sparkling with life, the

> om

|
| es ae A é

ATA eS pias Magesne
NV] G10h- LIS G


*

a tough problem. Many small black trucks continually traveled
the highway, and girls often rode with the drivers. The time
of her observation, however, seemed to fit into this case, and it
was worth investigating. But to isolate one black truck out of
thousands in use by the fruit and vegetable growers in that area
was next to impossible without more detailed information. Yet the
fact of the reel on the back platform might provide a means.

What kind of trucks, Hoyt speculated, carried such reels? The
most likely would be those used by a plumber, electrical worker
or possibly the telephone company.

At the inspector’s order, troopers in plain clothes were quickly
assigned to find and question all plumbers, electrical workers
and telephone company supervisors in the district. Of each, the
same question was asked. Were any of their trucks out the after-
noon of Tuesday, September 19th, and if so were they in the
vicinity of Route 54, and who was driving them?

A hurried check-up for the day and time made by the telephone
company brought negative answers. None of their trucks were
in the area of the murder scene on that afternoon, and all were
reported in the company garage at five o’clock.

There were a dozen plumbers who might have had calls in the
vicinity of Indian Pines from their shops in Penn Yan and other
nearby villages. All were checked, and each one accounted satis-
factorily for their trucks and men.

The same story was repeated at the electrical repair stores.
None had calls in the vicinity on the day of the crime, and a
check of their time records showed that none of their employes
could have been at the scene during the hours when the girl was
abducted and murdered.

ey was afraid she’d
tell her folks what I
did to her,” the killer
shown here confessed.

A somewhat disappointing report, meanwhile, was received by

Inspector Hoyt from the BCI laboratory at Albany where the.

books and screwdriver had been sent for examination. The stains
on the blade were proved to be human blood of the same type
as that of Evelyn Reed, positively establishing it as the murder
weapon. But no fingerprints were found on the screwdriver, and
the few prints discovered on the books were smudged beyond any
possible classification.

The autopsy report was more encouraging. As Doctor Sanford
had surmised, the girl had been beaten and raped, then killed
instantly when the sharp screwdriver was plunged into her brain.
From under the fingernails of her right hand, tiny particles of
blue wool lint had been scraped. Since the girl wore no clothing
of that color or material at the time of her death, it was concluded
her attacker must have been wearing a blue woolen shirt or
jacket.

OYT and his men considered this as the best clue discovered

thus far. The inspector ordered the wool lint sent to the
laboratory for anaylsis while his officers visited men’s clothing
stores in Penn Yan in search of shirts and jackets of the same
color and texture. It was not long before their quest brought
results.

In a Penn Yan store where heavy clothing was sold to la-

borers, a dark-blue wool zipper jacket was found which, under
microscopic examination, proved similar to the lint from beneath
the dead girl’s nails. Further chemical tests, made hurriedly,
proved the dye in both was the same.

The merchant was asked to search his at a records for a
year back in an effort to determine, if possible, the persons who
had bought these garments. His original stock ‘had included four
dozen jackets, of which he now had six remaining on his shelves.
The check was a stupendous task, but the retailer went at it with
a will, aided by his clerks and two State Troopers.

At last the work was completed. Of the 42 blue woolen jackets
the merchant had sold, only 15 could be traced through charge
accounts and: the personal recollection of clerks as to the pur-
chasers. The names and addresses of these persons were taken
down, and officers were sent out to question them.

Of the 15 who had bought blue woolen jackets, 10 shortly
were eliminated as substantial citizens who could account for
their activities on the day of the crime. Two others proved to be
transients who since had left the area. The names of the remain-
ing three were studied carefully by Inspectors Hoyt and Cosart
before they decided to concentrate on one.

After conferring with Sergeant DeHollander, they dispatched
Troopers Harold Scott and E. W. Sohmer to interview a young
man who lived with his parents at Prattsburg, in Steuben County,
some 28 miles southwest of Penn Yan.

Hoyt and Cosart waited impatiently for the troopers to return,
for they held high hopes that the sdlution to the mystery of the
Reed girl’s murder was now close at hand. The two inspectors
discussed this possibility while they marked time. Hoyt explained
that the young man now being questioned had been a suspect
early in the case, but that a thorough undercover investigation
had seemed to indicate he was in the clear.

“This fellow was one of those we questioned as a known sex
offender,” Hoyt told Cosart. “He has a bad record on morals
offenses and did a stretch in Attica State Prison for assault four
years ago. But since being paroled he has worked steadily for his
father and has kept out of trouble of any kind—that is, so far as
we could learn,”

Hoyt added that the young man’s father, an honest, reliable
and wealthy citizen, had accounted for every minute of his son’s

time on the Tuesday when Evelyn Reed was slain, and for this,

reason the son was not detained further.

Cosart nodded understandingly. “That was before you had
heard the story from the woman at the vegetable stand,” he
pointed out. “Do you by any chance know what the father’s

- business it?”

_ “Why, he owns a small rural telephone exchange over in Steu-
ben County,” Hoyt replied. He stopped short and slapped the
desk. “Say! That certainly fits! The truck with the reel on the
platform, and the electrician’s screwdriver!”

“And we already know the young fellow has a blue woolen
jacket,” Cosart added. “Now all we need (Continued on page 36)

31

é

James Williams - Hlectrocuted, Auburn Prison, on Sept. 16, 1912

WILLIAMS, David, white, hanged Cayuga Co., NY a 180),
From The New York Spectator, September 25, 1804

HORRID MURDER! The recent murder of Ira Lane, who was murdered on the 27th of last
& month aged 7/7 years by DAVID WILLIAMS ,..aged Yohuls Bere aig > nob QUIT
Milton and County of Cayuga, depicts the depravity of oe fen Weare and. che im-
becility of the human mind in so impressive a manner as to leave no doubt that with-
out the protection of Divine Providence, man, left to himself, becomes his own des-
troyer. The circumstances attendeding this inhuman and most awful murder are marked
in so peculiar a manner as to disarm the vain boast of self-sufficiency. And if this
atrocious act is duly considered, will direct us to look up to that God from whom we
have our being, as our only shield and defence from the seductive snares of our frail
and depraved natures. The circumstances which attended the awful catastrophe are as
follows: The said David Williams when examined before the magistrate after committing
the horrid deed, declared that he was tired of existence and determined to rid him-
self of the burden of life and at first determined to commit suicide. But the fear
of a future punishment after this life and self-murder being an offence against the
Supreme Being,, he thus thought that if he died instantly he would have no time for
repentance. He therefore thought that if he killed another person he must necessarily
undergo the forms of law before execution, which would afford him an opportunity for
repentence. After abandoning the idea of self-murder for the reasons above stated,
he sent for a young woman of his acquaintance in the neighborhood to come to his
father's house to see him, (the day he committed the deed), or it would be too late.
After that, for the purpose he had in view by requesting the interview. She having
refused to come, he then determined to kill the first person that came his way.
Shortly after the refusal of the young woman being made known to him, the unfortunate
Ira Lane, a neighbor's child, was going home from school and saw Williams with a gun
in his hand near the house of Williams' father, and familiarly asked him if he was
going to shoot a hawk. Williams replied in the affirmative and instantly discharged
@:: gun at the boy which slightly wounded him in the abdomen, after which he carried
the boy into the house and laid him on a bed. The boy called for his father but
Williams told him that he would go and call him and went for his axe, bringing it
concealed behind him. The boy having followed him, he took him a second time and
put him to bed and then struck him three blows with the edge of the axe, aiming at
his neck. The two first missing the same, mangled his face prodigiously but the third
cut off his head, after which Williams retired in a wood near the fatal spot awaiting
for his pursuers who shortly after came up to him. At their approach he made no
attempt to escape but surrendered himself without resistance. When being carried
before a magistrate, he confessed the fact and assigned the foregoing reasons as
the cause, exhibiting no sign of sorrow or confusion for what he had done. He was
committed to Cauandaigua Gaol there to await the sitting of the Supreme Court. On
being asked if he was condemned to be hung, would he wish to be reprieved, he an-
swered in the negative and said that he wished not to be tried until he had time
to repent. The reason he assigned for selecting the child for the victim was his
being young and innocent and needed no time for repentence.

These things we infer from this monstrous deed and the conduct of the murderer:
First, the frailty of human reason. Secondly, the total depravity of the human heart.
Thirdly, a belief in a future state having a great influence upon the most abandoned,
to deter them from the commission of crimes. Take away the idea of future punishment
and the influence of religion on the human mind and our eyes would often behold mur-
ders, suicides and every species of crime and sink man far below the brute creation.

The Indian executed in the same county for murder assigned the same reason FOr
committing the act. It is “worthy. ‘of remark in favor of the population ‘of the county.
that the spectators who attended his execution were computed at 8000.

A followup article tn the issue of Oct. Y states that the reason fer Willianes’ origsonal despondency
WAS an iyiry he suffered tn a ogg1ng accitent at age 19 that left him lame. Other boys sae i)
on actount of his Jameness and no gir! would consider hint. ete.

_ WILIETTS; Louis, white, hanged hanged |

Tr comments me ean

CE ee arn ne Nene ie ome bien merge:

,
4

Pen

at Kingston, NY, on May 20, 1886,

B1L000_ rae ARD 1
ae Oe ; ‘”" ULsTER’s District ATTORNEY’s OFFICE,
— 7 , KInGsTon, N. Y., January 18th, 1884.

Cuarces Crosny. « “ white :
The crime was committed at Kingston on the 8th day of January, 1884. . aoe
Willette is of French descent, about 18 years old, 5 feet 8 inches high, dark complexion, very black eyes, straight

_ black hair, slightly round-shouldered, of boyish appearance; is inclined to be slovenly; is a good Pool player; has

been a cotton spinner, a boatman and a berry picker; has a decided taste for flash reading; he wore when he left King-

ston a black diagonal sack coat the slceves of which were too short for him, greenish colored trousers, buttoned shoes
with faded green cloth tops; he carried a double case silver watch with gold-plated chain to which was attached as ane

charm a five cent nickel without the word “‘ cents.”

To avoid disputes the certificate of the District Attorney of Ulster County is made final and conclusive evidence
of the right of the person presenting it to such reward.
_ A requisition upon the Governor of any State in the Union with the warrant of the Governor of the State of New
York will be furnished by the subscriber on his being furnished with reasonable proof that Willette has been appre-

hended. :

Information regarded as important may be sent by telegraph to the subscriber, who will pay for the transmission

of the message. ;
_A. T. CLEARWATER,
District Attorney of Ulster County, Kingston, N. Y,

oe, vraag once atin tf mr  Vwatns 5 ceennha eset . ~~ — ae

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sunday
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THAT JOHNSTOWN HANGING. Ctx.

Bis

*

4 Correspondent Gives Some Farthor Iv ,

formation Concerning the. Execution
of “Nigger, Wil.”

A correspondent of the Mohawk Val.

ley Democrat writes that paper. as
follows, concerning an article which

‘recenlily appeared in the Republican

and was a. in other papers in the
Mohawk Valley

“I notice in your columns a state:
meut copied from some other paper,
that a-negro had been hung in Johns-
town for arson and also that some
years afterward’a woman covfessed
that she was the eulprit. I would cor-
rect the above by the following facts:
in 1826 a colored youth, generally

known as “Nigger Will,” set fire to a

dwelliiig house in’ Clapton, but, ne
lives .yere. lost.’ In ‘those days, how-
ever, this was a capital offence and ha
Was convicted and hanged. : No ona
subsequently ‘confessed, the’ erlme—

“which Indeed ‘he did not deny. Under

the clrewmstauces this hanging was,
a legal outrage—a. judicial murder; Vw
In those days there was very Httle' Sy
terference In such casos.’ Nigger Wil
Was hanged on the fiats on the néri
side of éhe Cayadutta, just opposit
the old burying ground in Johnstown
and Charles aston was the sherttt
The gallows Js still preserved in thi
garret of the old Johnstown .cour
house, and Is probably the only thin,
of the kind now in existence, IHettee
it may be considered one of the curios
ities of our obsolete form of penalty.’

CWecrmcmem so 2 oO saeetee Ome oe Dewees eee ees ame

ae a ae oo haem Sey a ee

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at Che Ovecution vk Whe Dewees ok earthy

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we Vi yor vk Oveants Qowwty, ow Shwe
fe Sou wh owe, \BS3, at Wart-'6 asl S)

9 ‘ehoel wv. WW.

Please Presen* this invitation at the Door,
If you cannot attend vlease notizy me AT ONCE,

Dated thts day of S' “ne, (SSS.

Ban aed LE fale

ShertZ of Orleans County.

Not TRANSFERABLE.

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od

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—
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70

NOVEMBER 13

TURIN, Iraty—A pardon of part of the
offenses of the man officially known as
Mario Bruneri and whose real identity
has been for years one of Italy’s most
publicized mysteries has been announced
by the King’s Attorney. Mario Bruneri
was pardoned of three of the five charges
of theft and fraud and now he hag but
six months to serve of his four-year sen-
tence at Pallanza, on Lake Maggiore.
(The story of Bruneri appeared in August,
1932, T. D. M., under the title: “The
Mystery of the Unknown Man of Col-
legno,” as written by Comm.-Dott.. Giu-

seppi Dosi, Chief Commissioner of Police,

at Rome.) ‘

NOVEMBER 15
WINSTON-SALEM, N. C.—Libby Hol-
man and Albert Walker were freed of
murder charges in the death of Smith
Reynolds by the State here today. Miss
Holman had previously sought a complete

WALSH, Vincent, white, elec, NY (New ¥.) 1/10/1935,

True Detective Mysteri G -
rue Detective Mysteries Fel- , vA Sf 3 Ay

acquittal by a jury trial but the State
ruled that the charges should be filed away
for future reference. This means that if
the State sees fit at some time in the fu-
ture to dig out the charges, issue new
capiases for the arrest of the accused and
proceed with the trial they may do so on
sufficient new evidence. :

NOVEMBER 16

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsyitvania—Mr.
and Mrs. George Harrison Frazier Jr.,
wealthy residents of the suburban Chest-
nut Hill section here, were "bound ant
gagged in their home by two masked
bandits who escaped with $9,000 in jewels’
last night. Mrs, Frazier told the robbers
where the jewels could be found when
they prepared to apply a lighted candle
to her husband’s bare feet. .

NOVEMBER 18
NEW YORK, N. Y.—Judge Joseph E.
Corrigan yesterday sentenced four young

men, who lived by the gun and killed
Patrolman Joseph P. Burke in a speak-
easy hold-up, to death at Sing Sing Prison
during the week of December 26th. A
fifth has been convicted and the electric
chair is mandatory. The young killers
are Russell Kelley, Vincent Walsh, Al-
fred Celentano, and his brother Joseph.
Walsh fired the shot that killed the patrol-

man.
NOVEMBER 20
ASHEVILLE, N. C—Colonel Raymond
Robins, prohibitionist and friend of
President Hoover who mysteriously dis-
appeared several months ago and who was
discovered living in the Great Smoky

*Mountains district near here under an

alias was not a victim of amnesia ac-
cording to information received here to-
day. This new slant on the Robins case
1s said to have come from two unrelated
sources and gives as his reason for dis-
appearing a desire for a change in life and
to pursue peace and quiet.

Stalking the Fiend of Forest Glen

frenzied night was nearly mad with anx-
iety. He was unable to view the body.
Mr. Donohue, the dead woman’s brother-
in-law, made the necessary identification.

Chicago, gime-hardened as it is, was
horrified at the Lavander murder. This
was no mere gangster slaying. Civic
bodies passed resolutions demanding the
capture and conviction of the slayer of
the thirty-one-year-old wife and mother.
Newspapers offered rewards. -

Terror gripped the Forest Glen district.
Its residents were in a fever pitch of fury
and indignation. The mob feeling was so
intense that had the slayer been captured
in those first few days, he might have
been strung up on one of the trees in
the forest preserve.

OUSEWIVES in the neighborhood

were afraid to venture from their
homes or answer the doorbell. Children
were kept inside. The frightened women
realized how easily they might have been
the one to meet the fate of Mrs. Lavan-
der. For days knots of people gathered in
front of the Lavander home to gaze curi-
ously at the little house with its blinds
tightly drawn, the bottle of milk and
rolled newspaper still on the back porch.
Mr. Lavander and the baby had gone to
live with Mrs. Paske.

The men of the neighborhood formed
a vigilantes squad to patrol the lonely
spaces of Forest Glen at night. The awful
thing that had happened to their popular
neighbor was the only subject of conver-
sation. Even the stoutest-hearted shunned
the forest preserves during this reign of
hysteria and fright. ;

There was not one clue to the crime.
The murderer had taken the money Mrs.
Lavander had in her purse, and had tossed
the purse about ten feet from the body,
first. strewing its contents—compact, lip-
stick, and mirror, in the ditch. There were
a few footprints in.the mud, but the
searching party of the night before made
them useless as far as tracing the slayer
was concerned. Every inch of ground,
every nook of the big forest preserve was
searched for possible clues, with no re-
sult.

Where had Mrs. Lavander met her as-
sailant? Had he waylaid her on the three-
block walk, northeast from her home, or
on the station platform? There is no
ticket agent there.

y men made a house-to-house can-
vass of the neighborhood, hoping to find
someone who had seen her during the
walk to the station. No one had. Seven

(Continued from page 33)

o’clock is the dinner hour and the streets
are usually deserted.

Our first helpful information came from
four small boys who came to the station.
They said they had been singing and
playing the ukulele on the northbound
platform of the station at five minutes
after seven and had seen Mrs, Lavander
on the southbound platform.

“About seven-fifteen she called across
and asked when the train for the city
would arrive. We told her we thought it
should have come at seven-eleven, She
was walking up and down the platform at
seven-twenty when we left,” Poe said.

Neither they nor Mrs. Lavander knew
that the train schedule had been changed
that morning, and that the train she was
waiting for had passed a few minutes be-
fore she left her home.

From this information, my men recon-
structed the crime. Mrs. Lavander must
have been held up in the lonely station
and forced, at the point of a gun, to march
northward along the railroad tracks.

About eight hundred feet from the sta-
tion, indications in the mud showed that
the woman put up her furious struggle for
life. Unable to control her, the assailant
shot her, dragged the body to the edge
of the railroad embankment and hurled
it down into the ditch where it was found.

Our first theory was that a degenerate
or prowler had killed Mrs. Lavander. No
doubt he had intended to assault her but
found her resistance too fierce.

# hne a surprising discovery was made
that led to another theory and brought
added mystery to the case. Colonel Cal-
vin Goddard, ballistics expert, reported
that the 32 bullet taken from the woman’s
brain was an old one that had been kept
in a drawer for at least eight years!

This indicated that the slayer was per-
haps a person who did not habitually
carry a gun, but had taken the weapon
out that one time for a calculated purpose.
Also, it must be a person intimately
familiar with Mrs. Lavander’s habits,
even to the knowledge of her plans to
attend the theater with her husband that
evening.

What could be the motive for such a
slaying? Was the peaceful happiness of
her life only on the surface and did she
actually have a bitter enemy who de-
liberately planned her murder?

We began a new investigation along
these lines that some associate of Mrs.
Lavander was the slayer. We made a
thorough study of her life, digging into

the past before her marriage. It was
fruitless.

. Her friends and neighbors knew noth-
ing but the best of her. They dwelt at
length upon her charm, her generosity,
her devotion to her husband and child,
But when my detectives broached the
subject of persons who might possibly
harbor ill-feeling against her, the answer
always was, “Impossible!” There didn’t
seem to be a reason in the world why
— should want to harm a hair of her
head,

Her husband aided us in every way. In
minute detail he covered his movements
on the evening of February 17th, from
the time he left his office’ until he re-
ported his wife’s disappearance, and we
were able to check them all.

“She had no enemies,” he repeated
again and again. “She was the most pleas-
ant and agreeable woman in the world.”

Wi decided to abandon this theory for
Vv the time being, and began an investi-
gation of the movements of inmates of
Dunning, an insane asylum two miles
from where the murder took place.

Inasmuch as the slaying apparently had
no motive, a lunatic might have’ com-
mitted the deed. We did find one fugi-
tive from the asylum, but we were con-
vinced he had nothing to do with the
crime. Finally this theory, also, was
thrown into the discard,

Then we received a hot tip from one
Harry Abitz, ticket agent at the Jeffer-
son Park Station, about a mile from For-
est Glen on the Northwestern Railroad.

“A sallow, unshaven man appeared at
the station about seven forty-five the
night of the murder,” Abitz told us. “He
was nervous.

“ve got to get out of here right now,’
he said. ‘If you haven’t any passenger
trains, is there a freight?’

“I told him there would be no train
for more than an hour and advised him
to try to get a Milwaukee Road train, but
he said, ‘No, I can’t wait” He had a
fresh wound on his left cheek and kept
pulling up the color of his torn blue over-
coat to hide it,”

This last information made it im-
probable that this man was the murderer,
for, as the officers pointed out, Mrs. Lav-
ander wore gloves and could not have in-
flicted the scratches. However, his de-
scription was broadcast and railroad offi-
cials wired their yard detectives to search
all freight trains.

Mcanwhile, many suspects had been ar-


JOE WALTZ ~ from page 1

A petition, signed by many local residents and
forwarded to Albany for a “stay of execution” in order
to determine sanity, is an indication of the public
feeling—a feeling which suffered an abrupt reversal
when the prisoner ‘struck down” his jailer in a final
attempt to escape from the Catskill jail.

— —— On May 1, 1873, while doing chores on his
father’s farm between Catskill and Athens, Joseph
Waltz observed the arrival of the scissor-grinder, Har-
mon Holcher (also spelled Hulcher in the newspapers),
of Albany. Like “Yankee Peddlers”, Holcher earned
his livelihood traveling about the countryside with his
portable grinding machine; his bell alerted potential
customers. It being late in the day, the scissor-grinder
sought and secured supper and overnight lodging at the
Waltz farm.

After eating the evening meal and exchanging the
news of the day, all retired early. Sleep came rapidly
to all but Joe Waltz. “Some very bad spirit entered
into me,” claimed young Waltz in his later confession
as reported by Special Correspondent Walton Van
Loan. “I went to my room, I opened my Testament to
read. I laid down on my bed and the spirit overcame
me. I resisted this spirit again and the spirit resisted
me back again. After I was completely overcome, |
went out doors and got a hatchet..... I went in slyly
with a low lamp, and set the lamp on the floor, and
then my conscience fought with all its might not to do
the act, but the evil spirit was stronger—I took up the

hatchet and struck Holcher on the head... .”
Over the next few days Joe managed to wrap the

body in a family blanket, bury it on the farm in a
shallow grave in the plum orchard, break up and dis-

pose of the grinding machine, hide the victim’s clothing

and shoes under the barn floor, and secrete the bell
and the pocketbook with sixty or more dollars. He
also managed to convince his father that Holcher had
left the farmhouse at daybreak, taking the blanket
with him; the father in turn, reported the supposed
theft of the blanket to the sheriff's office in Catskill.

To further divert suspicion, Joe placed misleading clues

in the vicinity of Coxsackie. He threw part of the
broken grinding machine on the lawn of the present
Musial home on Route 385 and also tacked a note to a
telegraph pole in that vicinity,

The authorities’ suspicions were soon focused
on the Waltz family, the father and son being taken
to Catskill for questioning. On the following Monday

. morning, handcuffed and closely supervised, the two

men were returned to the farm where a crowd of
about 300 had assembled as rumors of the murder
began to circulate.

The first time, walking with the authorities around
the farm, Joe had little to say. But upon entering the
house he asked to have the window blinds closed; he

then confessed to the murder. “You, father, Nlooking
at his parent), are innocent.’’ Walton Van Loan, cover-
ing the story, reported that Joseph Waltz had confided
to him that he did not want the scissor-grinder’s
money, and that he could only account for his manv
bad deeds by an evil spirit getting the mastery over
him. (He had earlier set fire to local schoolhouses and
also had stolen schoolbooks). After the victim’s body
was unearthed, Joe was returned to Catskill jail, being
very communicative, expressing relief and praying.

In a March 1874 session of Oyer and Terminer,
85 names were drawn before a jury could be selected—
John Goodwin, Lewis Barton and Jeremiah Overbaugh
of Catskill; Lysander Lennon and Peter Evory of
Cairo; Alvah W. Bliss, Henry S. Mace, Jeremiah Cun-
ningham and Puluski Brown of Durham; and Abram M.
Hallenbeck and John Van Dyck of Coxsackie. Theo-
doric Westbrook was designated Trial Judge: Sidney
Croswell, District Attorney, was assisted by John A.
Griswold. The prisoner was defended by A. Melvin
Osborn and C. C. Givens. Supported by a full con-
fession, the jury found Joseph Waltz guilty of murder,
insanity being ruled out.

Stephen Vining in later years recalled the sen-
tencing; the prisoner became very obstreperous and
had to be controlled. The presiding judge pronounced:
“Your sentence is that you shall be kept within the
walls at the Greene County jail until the first day of
May next.’’ At this point Joe interrupted by saying,
“Go home then?” The judge continued: ‘Then you
shall be hung by your neck until you are dead.”

During the ensuing months awaiting hanging or
commutation of sentence by Governor Dix, and while
his sanity status was being debated by experts in the
field of mental diseases, Joe Waltz occupied much of
his cell time by writing and illustrating bizarre verses,
using colored pencils to decorate the hand-lettered
sheets. One such “artistic” effort was a balloon draw-
ing. It carried the name ‘“‘Excelsior’’, and an American
flag. Joe drew himself in the balloon’s basket, saying
“Good by, mother earth!”

Joe Waltz's

Baloon
Sketch

~A,J, Gambino
photo

Continued
on page 9


WALTZ, Joseph, white, hanged at Catskill,

The Quarte

rly JOURNAL

A Publication of the Greene County Historical Society, Inc.

~\ U.S. Route 9-W

/

Coxsackie, N. Y. 12051

Vol. 2, Issue 1

Spritg, 1978

JOE WALTZ—
BETWEEN MURDERS HE WROTE POETRY
—Editor’s Research

For sheer drama, few events in Greene County s
history can top the apprehension, the trial and convic-
tion, and the hanging of Joseph Waltz more than a
century ago. A tragedy of major proportions, it catered
to the avid interest and the insatiable curiosity of the
public. Before the final act was played out, jailer
Charles Ernst would die, the National Guard would
be sent down from Albany to prevent a lynching, and
the county newspapers would print special editions;
through it all Joe Waltz would write his poetry,
fantasizing his leaving this world and traveling to
outer space for a permanent residence.

Tangible reminders of these bizarre events are to
be found in the archives at the Vedder Memorial
Library at Bronck House. Among these are Joe Waltz’s
large decorated sheets of crude poetry, the newspapers’
special editions, an oil sketch of the Waltz homestead
between Catskill and Athens (scene of the first crime)
as painted by Benjamin Stone, and Sheriff Platt Coon-
ley’s bill for services rendered in connection with the
hanging on May 1, 1874.

The experts were sharply divided as to Joseph
Waltz’s responsibility for his actions. Doctor George
H. Choate, an expert in lunacy who interviewed him
after the trial, declared him insane and not a fit sub-
ject for hanging. Dr. Brown of the Bloomingdale
Asylum came to the same conclusion after studying the
trial testimony and interviewing Joe Waltz for more
than three hours. Both doctors were supported in their
opinions by Dr. Kellogg of the Poughkeepsie Asylum.
In contrast, Dr. Gray of the Utica Asylum and Dr.
Ordonaux of the State Commission in Lunacy rendered
the professional opinions “‘feigned insanity”’.

Artist's Sketch -- Joe Waltz
Continued on page 6

He 4 zs 7 ” pe ‘gs mae
Balt tel,
LHI IY bak ol MOL ae
SY ih CR Ea ocak AT Lb RG
Haines Sawmill Near The Falls

SAWMILLS ON A MOUNTAIN TOP
—Esther H. Dunn

The Catskills are lands of mountain streams, not
lakes. In the 1700’s and early 1800’s the waters
dropped precipitously downward from their heights
with a force and fullness in each narrow bed which we
do not see today. The sun seldom touched their
cold surfaces because of the forest cover. Man rarel:
went within the spooky, beast-inhabited terrain. He
had little reason to. i

I write specifically about the eastern Mountain
Top--the lands of Haines Falls, Tannersville and the
‘platter’ of Platte Clove to its south, all located in
Great Lot No. 25 of the Hardenbergh Patent. These
were harsh lands, and dank.

To the east the deep and rocky gorges of the
Kauterskill and the Platterkill lie outside the borders
of the mountain summit. But they draw from the
high mountains above, if sometimes circuitously, a
network of waters intent on reaching the ocean by the
fastest route.

Westward, the Catskills slope gradually downward
in widening valleys with high ridges. The larger streams,
added to by many tributaries, were solid gold—meaning
that the strong current which could turn a mill wheel
was to be a blessing to the settler. The Schoharie Kill
alone could support eight mills to the mile.

First it had been the sawmill which opened this
more workable region. Settlers from Connecticut came
in through a northern boundary. Then the needed
gristmill came. Next came the hemlock-destroying
tanneries. Almost simultaneously there came many
small and varied industries, using water power. Saw-
mills were multiple. By mid-century the lands were

Continued on page 7

-


[We S|

AUG. 5, 1882.)

e stepped out to speak to
him, and asshe did so he stabbed her in the
left breast, just above the heart. She died a
few moments after receiving the wound. The
weapon, a large sized pocket-k nife, was found in
the street in front of the house, and it was after.
wards proven that Walsh had spent some time
during the afternoon at his place of employ-
ment, sharpening |‘. Half an hour later he was
found struggling in the water of the Gowanus
canal into which he had thrown himself with
suicidal intent. He was tried, convicted and
sentenced to be hanged on May 20, 1881. The
case was carried to the Court of Appeals, but
the effort resulted poly in postponing the execu-

tion till July 21, 1982.
—_i__.¢. *

A Desperate Woman.

As one of the Grand street ferryboats from

Wd XA ROS OS Wiliamsburg was crossing the east river, N.Y.,

a cs aaa as on the night uf the lith ..ist., filled with pas-
Sengers, 8 Woman sprang up on oneof the seats

Josava W. Wrexe, in the after cabin and plunged head foremost
out of the window. Two of the passengers who
were near made attempts to hayl her back,
but their grasp on her clothing was weak and
She slipped away and fell to the water. There
was a great cry of horror from the crowd on the

4 RELIGIOUS REFORMER OF WOODSTOWN, Read;,

ARLESTED ON A CHARGE OF BLACKMAIL.
wk

HOW A BROOKLYN MAN

boat who had witnessed thi
There chanced, however, to
when the woman fell into
boatman succeed@@ in hat
suicide into {i The won
Amella Dayton, wife of Joh
Gates Avenue, Brooklyn. 8
five years of age and has tw:
l


SAWMILLS ON A MOUNTAIN TOP

continued from page 7

those early days and later, by horse and stoneboat,
which is flat and slides easily over the ground. Many a
cottage at Onteora Park has had its foundation stones
delivered that way.

Of course ‘Christian Charlie’ had work of his
own to be done at the mill. He was enlarging his home
to a boarding house. He had barns, sheds and fences to
mend. Like others, he owned woodlots from which his
lumber came. The need for sawn wood was constant.

Typically, the road to his mill from the “village”
went directly to the bank of the Kauterskill creek.
The dam there was big and built in an old-fashioned
way with logs and no nails. Erect logs crossed each
other, notched; rocks filled in the bottom space;
slabs lined the slanting upper parts. A trestle-like
sluiceway carried the dam waters to the overshot
waterwheel. The saw was up-and-down.

When “Christian Charlie” died, in 1895, the wheel
of his mill stopped turning. Five years later, when the
dam was being repaired, a workman left sparks which
by accident burned the old mill to the ground. It was
the end of the century, the end of an era.

googqgnpn00

Esther H. Dunn writes from a lifetime of personal
research and experience of this section of the Catskill
Mountains. A direct descendant of one branch of the
Haines family, for whom the falls and the hamlet are
named, she has shared her knowledge with the reading
public in articles published in The Conservationist,
The Catskills magazine and our Journal.
—The Editor

g00g0 0000

The Reverend Ida van Dyck Hordines, with ties to
this region, has provided a generous check in memory
of her parents, Edwin Henshaw van Dyck and Emma
Daley van Dyck. The Hordines have also contributed
useful material for the Vedder Library, a part of which

will eventually be published in our Journal.

CATSKILL MARBLE WORKER —

through the Catskills on our way to the old marble
house in Vermont, my husband and I manage to visit
another magnificent part of the Hudson River Valley
and the Catskills. One of my great thrills was finding the
site of the old Catskill Mountain House and viewing the
expanse of the river valley. On that same day, |
discovered the Kaaterskill Falls and the area formerly
occupied by the Laurel House. Little wonder that
those Hudson River painters were so inspired. My
Starlight flower garden now contains some lovely
Coxsackie loosestrife and West Windham thyme, me-
mentos of my Baldwin search.

from page 3

{ey 0 pe a J |

JOE WALTZ

Joe had become interested in outer space from
having observed an insane man at Kauterskill several
months earlier. That individual had alarmed the coun-
tryside by proclaiming himself ‘“‘a disciple of the sun

from page 6

and the moon”.
Not only did Joe

illustrate his poetry, but he

used a different colored crayon pencil for each succeed-

ing word. The one reads:

Far up in the moon no

bad spirits can go,

And thus it will make a bright home for this Joe
And there I’ll see God and the angels no doubt,
And so I must go—my dear friends let me out.

And now let me shake off this slumbering trance,
And kill every devil, and onward advance,

For my spirit is like an
In which I am going to

inflated balloon,
sail to the moon,

A second illustrated poem which has survived is

in the same theme:

Books! Buried Books, and Bells!
A Lost Man and a Lost Summer

I wished to go astray

And travel for awhile
And then perhaps I'd stay
Upon some pleasant Isle.

And there I’d build a tower
So strong and very high
That no infernal power
Could to its summit fly.

And there upon the sky,
I’d live alone and free;
And then when I would die
I'd near to Heaven be.

I'd fit out a great balloon,
And then when all is done,
I'd sail into the Moon,
And then I’d see the Sun.

And there I would explore
The surface of the Moon;
Until my feet get Sore,
And then I'd rest at noon.

For here I cannot see

The Sun, a moon or more,
And therefore I must flee
And break this Iron door,

And then | would prepare,
To make the grand ascent,
And everyone would stare
"Till all His time is spent.

Some powerful tellescopes [sic],
I'd take with me up there;

And a lot of strings and ropes,
‘Pr hanging in the air.

I'd see Our Earth afar,

And other planets too

And many a bright new star,
And worlds and suns I'd view.

But what if there should be,
No noon or evening there;
And what if I should see,
Strange people everywhere.

The months dragged on for Joe Waltz in his
Catskill jail cell. His date with the hangman was fast
approaching. Should he attempt to escape? If so, how?

(To be concluded in the Summer issue.)

AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SOCIETY
Bronck House Tile _ $3.73
Vedder—Greene Co. History 8.50
ARBC— Greene Co. History 6.00
Beecher—Letters from a Rev. 3.50
Beecher— Out to Greenville and Beyond;

Historical Sketches 5.50
Beers’ Greene Co. Township Maps 4.00
Plus Sales Tax and Handling


JOE WALTZ—BETWEEN MURDERS
HE WROTE POETRY (Part 11)
—Editor’s Research
During the months following his conviction for
the scissor-grinder’s murder, and while awaiting hang-
ing, the public’s interest in the Waltz case continued
to grow. Detailed descriptions of the refurbishing of
the gallows in the Greene County jail found their way
into the local newspapers. The gallows had last been
utilized in the 1847 hanging of John Kelly for the

“robbery and murder. of. Lucretia Lewis of Prattville i in
her “cakes and beer” shop. It had been devised by
William H. Crosby i in 1846 on order of Sheriff Robert
Fulton. The newspapers did concede the entire ar-
rangement for the forthcoming execution of Joe
Waltz was being done in the most humane manner.
“An oak beam is pivoted to an ae in the garret
of the old jail. At the west end of the beam, the rope
passes down through a hole in the ceiling to the cell
below, in which the condemned man is placed for
execution. Everything is therefore, out of his sight.
Iron weights of about 200 pounds are fastened to the
opposite end of the beam, giving leverage of two to
one, and sufficient to spring the condemned man
instantaneously the required height. The weiglits are
held in place with a catch in control of the sheriff.”

The public continued to debate if Joe Waltz
would ever be hanged; opinions were sharply divided.
The prisoner, facing execution at noon on May 1,
1874, for the murder of the scissor-grinder, Harmon
Holcher almost a year earlier, began to devise delaying
tactics. He suddenly confessed to a second murder and
burial on the family farm between Catskill and
Athens. As a result of this action, the sheriff sought
and obtained permission of Governor Dix to take

Waltz on the farm to locate the second victim’s body.

On a Tuesday morning at 4 a.m. (to avoid curious
onlookers), the secret trip commenced up the Albany
and Greene Turnpike to the family farm just beyond
the Catskill town line. When they stopped at the
turnpike tollgate, the prisoner hailed the old woman
gatekeeper as a witch. Upon reaching the farm, Joe
led the sheriff's men on a tour of the premises,
examining trees and shrubbery, finally pointing out
where the alleged second victim was buried. Careful
exploration and digging by William Smith and his
gang of laborers failed to reveal any such body. It was
finally concluded the second confession had been a
hoax.

Returning to the Greene County jail, Joe amused
himself by tossing orange peels through the grated
window. He made inquiries of jailer Charles Ernst as
to the day and hour of hanging. That same afternoon
Father O'Driscoll of Albany, as well as several local
clergy, visited Waltz in his cell.

The next day (Wednesday), Joe contrived to

loosen several large nuts from the cell's iron lining
but yielded them up upon demand of Sheriff Coonley.
When Joe saw undertaker Kortz, he was heard to
remark, ‘There is my coffin maker.’’ Van Gorden

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Joe Waltz Sketch of Farm, Showing Ascending Balloon

came to take his photograph but Joe refused to
cooperate, hiding behind the stove. An artist from

Albany later was authorized to cial the sketch of
the prisoner illustrated in the spring issue of this
Journal.

The attack on Jailer Ernst was part of a carefully
planned attempt to escape; it occurred on April 30.
For the past several weeks Joe had been most co-
operative in following orders, and was freed of his
restraining chains. Unbeknown to the jailhouse staff,
Joe had used a sharpened spike asa chisel and screw
driver to remove twenty large countersunk screws out
of the iron band which¢Was part of the cell’s lining.
Of it he made a murderous weapon, using his mattress
to cover up his efforts.

Delaying any escape attempt until the last, in the
hope of a Governor’s reprieve, Joe waited until other
officers were at dinner, a time when visitors would be
most unlikely to call at the jailhouse door. After
Ernst entered Joe’s cell, the latter struck down the
officer with the improvised weapon, dragged the body
to the cell corner, covered the blood with newspapers,
and secured the jailer’s revolver and key to the outer
door to the cell which was fastened with a,small
padlock.

At the crucial moment, by one of those rare
coincidences of fate, Messrs. Olney and Edwards
sought admission to the jail by ringing the doorbell.
This brought jail officials from their dining room since
Charles Ernst did not respond to the bell’s ringing.
Sheriff Coonley, hearing groans, called out ‘‘Charlie?”’.
Receiving no reply and sensing trouble, jailer Olm-
stead and Sheriff Platt Coonley proceeded to the cell,
broke open the outer door, nad found jailer Ernst
trying to get up, bleeding from ‘eveial wounds.

First aid was immediately applied; shortly Ernst
was removed to an upper room, Doctors Mackey and

Wetmore being summoned. Upon washing the blood

continued on page 4!


JOE WALTZ - fromm page 3

away, four very serious wounds were discovered, one
over the right eye and three on the scalp. A portion
of the skull was found to be pressing on the brain.
Dr. Swinburne was promptly summoned from Albany
for trepanning. In the meantime, Sheriff Coonley,
finding Charles Ernst’s revolver missing, returned to
Waltz’s cell and demanded the weapon. Strangely
enough, Joe surrendered it without a struggle.

Although receiving the best medical assistance
available, jailer Ernst died within a few days of the
attack. Rufus H. King had immediately telegraphed
Governor Dix: ‘Waltz has killed his keeper. A large,
excited crowd is about the jail with implements to
hang him. If word is received that his reprieve is
granted, he will probably be lynched.” In a few
minutes the reply from Governor Dix: “R.H. King,
No reprieve.”’

After Joe Waltz struck down Ernst, the former
spoke only twice in his remaining hours. At no time
did Joe look at anyone or make any reply by word or
glance. Fearing an attack on the Catskill jail, Sheriff
Coonley asked for troops and 105 men were sent
from Albany by special train. Company B of the 10th
Regiment and Company | of the 25th (National
Guard), under the command of Major Davis, arrived
by rail on April 30. Facing an immense crowd, often
hostile, one company stood guard until 2 a.m. when
they were relieved by the other. Edward Mackey,
William Minnock and W. H. Whitcomb served in the
capacity of deathwatchers the last night.

The local newspapers reported several visitors
had called on Joe Waltz during his last hours, two of
them being Mrs. Holcher (wife of the victim) and her
sister. She tried to converse with Joe but he made no
attempt to reply.

On May 1, 1874, a year to the day of the murder
of Harmon Holcher, at 8:20 a.m., the prisoner was
dressed in a new suit, he standing stolidly with an
expressionless face. At 8:45 a.m. Mrs. Waltz and her
daughter, Thekla, came for a final meeting. Joe
immediately showed anger toward the mother and she
left saying: “Joseph, repent and pray for your sins.”
His sister remained for ten minutes speaking to him
in German in a similar vein.

At 9 a.m., Father O'Driscoll arrived but Joe
would not respond to his offers of prayer. At 10:11
a.m., the priest led the way from the cell, reading
prayers, followed by Joe Waltz and his jailers. Seated
in the chair under the gallows, the prisoner was read
the death warrant by Sheriff Platt Coonley. It was
lated March 14, 1874, and was signed by T. R.
Vestbrook, Judge of the Supreme Court, and Isaac B.
Steele and Lewis Crandall, Justices of Sessions. At
10:16 a.m., Sheriff Coonley pulled the cord, the
weights fell, and Joe Waltz was hanged in the presence

of a 12-man jury, the Honorable M. B. Mattice, O. V.
Sage and Doctors E. R. Mackey and A. V. D. Collier.
The medical men examined the dead body and re-
ported the neck had broken instantly.

When Joe was hanging about six minutes, his
father came in and gazed upon him. After 40 minutes,
the body was lowered and given in charge of under-
taker Kortz who supplied a neat coffin with silver
plate engraved “Joseph Waltz, aged Twenty-Three
Years.’’ No cemetery in Catskill was willing to inter
the remains so Mr. Kortz took the coffin up to the
family farm where it was buried on Saturday after-
noon in the presence of the family and a few
neighbors.

A post-mortem of the brain of the prisoner
indicated no signs of damage; intellectual capacity,
due to the size, was judged to be of the maximum.
The Catskill papers went into great detail in reporting
the brain measurements, and the opinions of the
various examiners.

Charles Ernst died at 11:35 a.m. on Monday at
his residence to which he had been removed on Satur-
day. The funeral was held on Wednesday from the
Reformed Church, G. A. Howard, D.D., preaching the
sermon to a large congregation. The Hendrick Hudson
Lodge No. 189, 1.0.0.F. of Catskill and several
neighboring lodges were well represented. Subscrip-
tion lists at the Tanners’ Bank and at the Catskill
Bank were started for the relief of the Ernst family.

Joe’s second victim had been born in Germany,
coming to the United States as a young man. He was
appointed to the jailer’s post shortly after coming to
Catskill. While still in Germany, he had been ac-
quainted with the Waltz family. In his many years of
work at the jail, Mr. Ernst served primarily as a
detective and was chiefly instrumental in the detec.
tion of the Scissor-grinder’s murderer. Ernst had, in
previous years, attempted to befriend Joe Waltz and
it was at the former’s urging that the shackles were
removed from the prisoner during the last weeks.

—One hundred years later, in cataloging thie
county archives as an American Revolution Bicenten-
nial project in 1975, the Bronck Museum staff found
the following document:

Catskill, Nov. 19, 1875
Platt Coonley (Sheriff)

1874

May 1 To Services hanging Joseph Waltz $250.00
Noon Credit by cash 50.00

Balance $200.00

0:60.00. O20 3 .&

Two coin silver serving spoons, with the Willard
name and hallmarks, in excellent condition, have been
acquired from a Catskill source. They complement
other Catskill silver in the museum’s collections.


Y ) U. S. Route 9-W

oe |

The Quarterly JOURNAL

A Publication of the Greene County Historical Society, Inc.

(Wat Z]f

Coxsackie, N. Y. 12051

Vol. 2, Issue 2

Summer, 1978

FITCH—DALEY LETTER DOCUMENTS
PRATTSVILLE LIFE IN 1840's,

Editor's Note: This 1909 letter was found among the
effects of the late Ethel Daley of Prattsville, aunt to
Mrs. Ida van Dyck Hordines, and is made available for
publication through the latter's generosity. Mrs. Ida
van Dyck Hordines is an ordained minister with
Presbyterian Church ties. Her forebears are closely
allied with early Greene County families. John Hor-
dines, a retired educator, and the Reverend Ida, spend
their summer months at their rural home at Harvard,
New York, where they sponsor a variety of projects
for the less fortunate. Both are active supporters of
the Greene County Historical Society and its Bronck
House Museum.

Brierfield, Alabama
November 30, 1909
James B. Daley
Prattsville, N. Y.

My dear Sir:

Your obliging and satisfying letter of the 26th
received. (We await the civil laws delay and results
with patience.) Your friendly mention of the Catskill
Mountains, as you say, familiar to me, kindles a flame
of pleasurable memories. I do not suppose that there
is any one in Prattsville now, who can recall and re-
count the felicities of the palmy days of the village.

- In 1845-6-7 and 8, the conditions there became
favorably familiar to me. My three brothers and one
sister were satisfied with the place. F. J. and J. I.
Fitch were ‘‘attorneys at law and solicitors in chan-
cery’, and Thomas Fitch, Physician. In 1847-48, I
was a student at the Prattsville Academy, and at the
close of school, valedictorian.

In those years Zadock Pratt’s Tannery (between
the village and the creek) employed 300 hands. There
was an India Rubber factory at the foot of Main
Street, controlled by H. S. Sage; and a foundry and
machine shop, a planing mill and a tin shop in that
vicinity. At the upper end of Main Street was a
woolen mill with a great sign on the comb of the
building spelled “Woollen Mill” and people jeered. At
the falls of Huntersfield Brook, there was a furniture
factory, a tannery for deer skins, a tobacco factory
(fine cut a specialty), a match factory; and near
where Grace Church was, one named Pitcher had a

(continued on page 7) |

Luman Reed (1787 - 1836)
Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art

LUMAN REED—
HE MADE AMERICAN ARTISTS THE FASHION
—Editor’s Research

In a letter to Thomas Cole at Catskill, dated
June 7th 1836, Asher Durand (the artist) writes:
“The fatal hour has come. Our dear friend is dead.
The funeral will take place on Thursday afternoon.
Come and look for the last time on the man whose
equal we shall never see again. I can say no more.”

And from Thomas Cole’s notebook under date
of June 13th, we find: ‘On the 11st inst., I returned
from the city to which I had been called upon the
melancholy occasion of the death of Mr. Reed, my
best and kindest friend. He died on the morning of
the 7 inst., after a sickness of five weeks. His mind
was clear and calm to the last. In Mr. Reed, I have
lost a true, generous and noble friend. I could ex-
patiate upon the grief I feel at his departure but words
are poor things. I will simply say, he was admired and
beloved, and cannot be forgotten.”

Such strong emotional expressions from two
giants in the field of American art bear further exami-
nation. These farewells were among a number ex-
pressed for Luman Reed (1787-1836) whose forma-
tive years were spent at Reed’s Landing, Coxsackie.

The Hudson River School of Art has received
extensive coverage both in books and in magazines.
Its founder, Thomas Cole, has merited equal attention.
Yet strangely enough, Greene County has been slow
to publicize the role of Luman Reed in this art move-
ment whose artists’ canvases are among the major

(continued on page 5)


LUMAN REED - from page 1

treasures of the nation’s museums. It was Luman
Reed, the successful New York merchant, who pro-
vided some of the earliest financial support to both
Thomas Cole and Asher Durand—a Luman Reed who
grew up at Coxsackie in the sight of the Catskill
Mountains and the Hudson River.

Like the village of Catskill, Coxsackie’s river
landing was the result of post-Revolutionary War
development. Luman’s father, Eliakim Reed II,
(1752-1830), had been supporting his growing family
by farming and other activities at Green River (Aus-
terlitz) in Columbia County; it was here that Luman
Reed was born on June 4, 1787. Attracted to the
river landing as a place to operate a mercantile
establishment, Eliakim Reed purchased from the Van
Bergens, land in lot 48 of the Coxsackie Patent.
Robert Henry Van Bergen (Ye Olden Time) states:
“Eliakim Reed bought of the Van Bergens, before
1800, a part of the lot and built a wharf and small
storehouse at the northeast corner of a ledge of
rocks.” After a few years of both land speculation and
storekeeping, Eliakim sold out the major part of his
holdings to Thomas E. Barker, Ralph Barker and
William Judson. This was in the year 1804; it is be-
lieved he removed to Greenville about this time.

The Orrin Stevens residence on Stevens Hill just
east of Greenville village was Eliakim’s home. The hill,
in the Coxsackie Turnpike manuscripts, is referred to
as Reed’s Hill. Luman Reed appears to have been ‘‘on
his own’? and did not remove to Greenville. But his
brother, Abijah, became his father’s business partner
as well as being active in Greenville affairs. Abijah’s
house (now torn down for the corner gas station) was
on the northeast. In the early 1930’s it was owned
by the Wessels family.

Eliakim Reed Homestead, Greenville, with Subsequent Architectural
Modifications; Present Orrin Stevens Residence

Luman Reed, subject of this article, was one of
two sons and four daughters of the 1772 marriage of
Eliakim Reed II and Rebecca Fitch. Their oldest

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5

child, Lydia, subsequently married Sylvester Ford.
Eliakim Reed Ford, a child of this marriage, became
one of Oneonta’s leading citizens. His daughter mar-
ried Mr. Bundy who helped form the company which
later was to become IBM. Lauria (Vina) born in 1775,
married Jonathan Sherrill, pioneer Greenville business-
man. Sally, (1777), married her second cousin, Roswell
Reed of Coxsackie. The fourth sibling, Abijah, (1782),
married Sally Ford. Luman Reed was next in line in
the year 1787. The last was Jane, wife of Epenetus
Reed; she died early in married life. All left numerous
descendants, some of whom still retain ties with
Greene County.

The Reeds were descended from John Reed of
Cornwall, England, who fled that country for political
reasons about 1660 and settled in New England. John
died at Norwalk in Connecticut about 1730, aged 98
years. Little is known of the second generation except
for the son baptized John. The third generation is
represented by Daniel (1697-1763). Eliakim Reed I
of the fourth generation married Sarah Richards
(1727-1795) at Stamford, Connecticut in the year
1748. Eliakim Reed II, father of our Luman Reed,
was one of their seven offspring. The family even-
tually removed from Connecticut to South Amenia
in Dutchess County. The grandparents of Luman are
buried in the Amenia Cemetery where, in later years,
a monument was erected to their memory.

In a time of meager education and gainful em-
ployment at an early age, Luman Reed was put to
work in his father’s store at Coxsackie. Through the
interest of an older second cousin, Roswell Reed of
New York City, Luman was financed to limited
schooling. The first evidence of his acting in an adult
capacity is found in his several months’ involvement in
lumber speculation at Oswego. Upon returning to
Coxsackie, he found employment in the Barker mer-
cantile establishment at Reed’s Landing. Demonstra-
ting an aptitude for such work, he was soon taken in
as a partner, the firm being then known as Barker
and Reed.

This tie was further strengthened by Luman’s
marriage to his partner’s relative (probably sister)
on April 30, 1808. Polly Barker (not Baker as listed
in some publications) and Luman Reed were united
in the Dutch Reformed Church at West Coxsackie,
the marriage appearing in that church’s register.
A study of local land records by Frances Adams
(Mrs. Reed Adams) leads to the conclusion that
Luman and Polly kept house in the vicinity of the
present village building on Mansion Street hill.

The Barker and Reed firm traded extensively
with the New York City market, utilizing their own
Hudson River sloop. On it they shipped farm produce
and returned with manufactured goods for resale.

(continued on page 6)

SAMUEL PLATT SCOTT (1835-1917) -
Catskill Artist

Each year visitors to Bronck House find more to
attract their interest and attention as the collections
expand in scope and quality. The latest significant
addition is Samuel Platt Scott’s painting of the Haines
sawmill, a gift of Esther Haines Dunn, as a memorial
to her grandparents, Charles W. and Adaline Bligh
Haines. In the Spring, 1978, issue of this Journal
Miss Dunn traced the history of the sawmill. We are
further indebted to her for the following biographical
material which helps to document the work of this
little-known Catskill artist.

Although a resident of Danbury, Connecticut,
Samuel Scott established his permanent tie with the
Catskill region by reason of his marriage to the
youngest sister of the sawmill operator; Clarinda
Haines was his wife. The Scotts spent their summers
in the house which still stands somewhat back of the
former Claremont Hotel just east of the small village
of Haines Falls—this is, of course, in the Catskills
proper. The area where Samuel Platt Scott summered
is in the very heart of the wild and precipitous
Catskills so dear to and often trod upon by Thomas
Cole, A. B. Durand, Kensett, Gifford and other mem-
bers of the Hudson River School. Certainly he must
have known the work of these earlier artists very well
and benefited from observing their skills, even though
he went his own artistic way.

This artist, in his painting of the ald sawmill
of “C.W.” Haines, has utilized a very fine brush
technique, an entirely different handling from that of
his large canvases of Kaaterskill Falls, Haines Falls,
Snake Creek in the Poconos (done very early in life),
“Civilization Wends Its Way Westward,” and other
scenic works. To do it he took a feather, rather a
small one, and stripped off the sides of it until he
had only a small end portion at each side of the main
rib. He often used this method in painting water and
it appears in certain of his still-lifes, such as “‘Lilac’’
and “Calla Lily.”

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The C. W.” Haines Sawmill

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Samuel and Clarinda Scott Entertaining Two Young Visitors

Just when and where the artist worked on his
canvases is not known. On location? At the summer
cottage? In Danbury, in the winter months? An easel
in later years stood in the front parlor of their Cats-
kill Mountain cottage, and S. P. Scott is known to
have done some of his work there. The room, in
recollection, was typical of its day in the early years
of this century: lace-curtained, pristine, and silent.
The shades were drawn to the sills except when
guests came. To children it had a special aura of
excitement. Out of the blackness of pulled shades, the
flood of sunshine exposed a collection of stuffed
wild animals, some in glass cases. There were curiosi-
ties in wood carvings too. All of course were the hand-
work of the artist.

“Uncle Sam” or “Uncle Scott”, as many called
him, was a fine-looking man. He was thought to have
“means” which permitted him an independence of
time and activity. His wife, Clarinda, is quoted in
family annals as saying, “‘.... no, he wasn’t much of
one to work but fine at talking to the visitors.’ That
meant the boarders next door at the Vista, a Haines
family affair. Back in Danbury, the artist had the
distinction of owning a pipe organ. The couple had no
children but young relatives often visited, remember-
ing the pumping of the organ.

Currently there are perhaps no more than
twenty-five known paintings by S. P. Scott—others
have disappeared. Each was done as a gift to a family
member living in the Catskills; no price was attached
to them. Several of the very large ones hung for many
years in the old Lox-Hurst, in the Claremont, and one
in the overmantel at the Vista, boarding houses lo-
cated in a row fairly near to one another.

Although Scott is presumed to have been self-
taught, present day professional critics rate his work
as in a class with top-level 19th century American
artists. His handling of falling water, sky, and rock
is much in the style of Thomas Cole.

It is the intention of the Bronck Museum staff to
display the mill painting with an assemblage of photo-
graphs of the sawmill which will serve to enhance the
viewers’ knowledge of this aspect of Haines Falls’ his-
tory.

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JOE WALTZ—BETWEEN MURDERS
HE WROTE POETRY (Part II)
—Editor’s Research
During the months following his conviction for
the scissor-grinder’s murder, and while awaiting hang-
ing, the public’s interest in the Waltz case continued
to grow. Detailed descriptions of the refurbishing of
the gallows in the Greene County jail found their way
into the local newspapers. The gallows had last been

utilized in the 1847 hanging of John Kelly for the

robbery and murder of Lucretia Lewis of Prattsville in
her “cakes and beer” shop. It had been devised by
William H. Crosby in 1846 on order of Sheriff Robert
Fulton. The newspapers did concede the entire ar-
rangement for the forthcoming execution of Joe
Waltz was being done in the most humane manner.
“An oak beam is pivoted to an upright in the garret
of the old jail. At the west end of the beam, the rope
passes down through a hole in the ceiling to the cell
below, in which the condemned man is placed for
execution. Everything is therefore, out of his sight.
Iron weights of about 200 pounds are fastened to the
opposite end of the beam, giving leverage of two to
one, and sufficient to spring the condemned man
instantaneously the required height. The weiglits are
held in place with a catch in control of the sheriff.”

The public continued to debate if Joe Waltz
would ever be hanged; opinions were sharply divided.
The prisoner, facing execution at noon on May 1,
1874, for the murder of the scissor-grinder, Harmon
Holcher almost a year earlier, began to devise delaying
tactics. He suddenly confessed to a second murder and
burial on the family farm between Catskill and
Athens. As a result of this action, the sheriff sought
and obtained permission of Governor Dix to take
Waltz on the farm to locate the second victim’s body.
On a Tuesday morning at 4 a.m. (to avoid curious
onlookers), the secret trip commenced up the Albany
and Greene Turnpike to the family farm just beyond
the Catskill town line. When they stopped at the
turnpike tollgate, the prisoner hailed the old woman
gatekeeper as a witch. Upon reaching the farm, Joe
led the sheriff's men on a tour of the premises,
examining trees and shrubbery, finally pointing out
where the alleged second victim was buried. Careful
exploration and digging by William Smith and his
gang of laborers failed to reveal any such body. It was
finally concluded the second confession had been a
hoax.

Returning to the Greene County jail, Joe amused
himself by tossing orange peels through the grated
window. He made inquiries of jailer Charles Ernst as
to the day and hour of hanging. That same afternoon
Father O’Driscoll of Albany, as well as several local
clergy, visited Waltz in his cell.

The next day (Wednesday), Joe contrived to

loosen several large nuts from the cell’s iron lining
but yielded them up upon demand of Sheriff Coonley.
When Joe saw undertaker Kortz, he was heard to
remark, “There is my coffin maker.” Van Gorden

oJOYg Oulquvry ‘[ Kuoyjupy

came to take his photograph but Joe refused to
cooperate, hiding behind the stove. An artist from
Albany later was authorized to make the sketch of
the prisoner illustrated in the spring issue of this
Journal.

The attack on Jailer Ernst was part of a carefully
planned attempt to escape; it occurred on April 30.
For the past several weeks Joe had been most co-
operative in following orders, and was freed of his
restraining chains. Unbeknown to the jailhouse staff,
Joe had used a sharpened spike asa chisel and screw-
driver to remove twenty large countersunk screws out
of the iron band which was part of the cell’s lining.
Of it he made a murderous weapon, using his mattress
to cover up his efforts.

Delaying any escape attempt until the last, in the
hope of a Governor’s reprieve, Joe waited until other
officers were at dinner, a time when visitors would be
most unlikely to call at the jailhouse door. After
Ernst entered Joe’s cell, the latter struck down the
officer with the improvised weapon, dragged the body
to the cell corner, covered the blood with newspapers,
and secured the jailer’s revolver and key to the outer
door to the cell which was fastened with a small
padlock.

At the crucial moment, by one of those rare
coincidences of fate, Messrs. Olney and Edwards
sought admission to the jail by ringing the doorbell.
This brought jail officials from their dining room since
Charles Ernst did not respond to the bell’s ringing.
Sheriff Coonley, hearing groans, called out “Charlie?”.
Receiving no reply and sensing trouble, jailer Olm-
stead and Sheriff Platt Coonley proceeded to the cell,
broke open the outer door, and found jailer Ernst
trying to get up, bleeding from several wounds.

First aid was immediately applied; shortly Ernst
was removed to an upper room, Doctors Mackey and

Wetmore being summoned. Upon washing the blood
(continued on page 4)


JOE WALTZ - from page 3

away, four very serious wounds were discovered, one
over the right eye and three on the scalp. A portion
of the skull was found to be pressing on the brain.
Dr. Swinburne was promptly summoned from Albany
for trepanning. In the meantime, Sheriff Coonley,
finding Charles Ernst’s revolver missing, returned to
Waltz’s cell and demanded the weapon. Strangely
enough, Joe surrendered it without a struggle.

Although receiving the best medical assistance
available, jailer Ernst died within a few days of the
attack. Rufus H. King had immediately telegraphed
Governor Dix: “Waltz has killed his keeper. A large,
excited crowd is about the jail with implements to
hang him. If word is received that his reprieve is
granted, he will probably be lynched.” In a few
minutes the reply from Governor Dix: “R.H. King,
No reprieve.”

After Joe Waltz struck down Ernst, the former
spoke only twice in his remaining hours. At no time
did Joe look at anyone or make any reply by word or
glance. Fearing an attack on the Catskill jail, Sheriff
Coonley asked for troops and 105 men were sent
from Albany by special train. Company B of the 10th
Regiment and Company I of the 25th (National
Guard), under the command of Major Davis, arrived
by rail on April 30. Facing an immense crowd, often
hostile, one company stood guard until 2 a.m. when
they were relieved by the other. Edward Mackey,
William Minnock and W. H. Whitcomb served in the
capacity of deathwatchers the last night.

The local newspapers reported several visitors
had called on Joe Waltz during his last hours, two of
them being Mrs. Holcher (wife of the victim) and her
sister. She tried to converse with Joe but he made no
attempt to reply.

On May 1, 1874, a year to the day of the murder
of Harmon Holcher, at 8:20 a.m., the prisoner was
dressed in a new suit, he standing stolidly with an
expressionless face. At 8:45 a.m. Mrs. Waltz and her
daughter, Thekla, came for a final meeting. Joe
immediately showed anger toward the mother and she
left saying: “Joseph, repent and pray for your sins.”
His sister remained for ten minutes speaking to him
in German in a similar vein.

At 9 am., Father O’Driscoll arrived but Joe
would not respond to his offers of prayer. At 10:11
a.m., the priest led the way from the cell, reading
prayers, followed by Joe Waltz and his jailers. Seated
in the chair under the gallows, the prisoner was read
the death warrant by Sheriff Platt Coonley. It was
dated March 14, 1874, and was signed by T. R.
Westbrook, Judge of the Supreme Court, and Isaac B.
Steele and Lewis Crandall, Justices of Sessions. At
10:16 a.m., Sheriff Coonley pulled the cord, the
weights fell, and Joe Waltz was hanged in the presence

e

of a 12-man jury, the Honorable M. B. Mattice, O. V.
Sage and Doctors E. R. Mackey and A. V. D. Collier.
The medical men examined the dead body and re-
ported the neck had broken instantly.

When Joe was hanging about six minutes, his
father came in and gazed upon him. After 40 minutes,
the body was lowered and given in charge of under-
taker Kortz who supplied a neat coffin with silver
plate engraved “Joseph Waltz, aged Twenty-Three
Years.” No cemetery in Catskill was willing to inter
the remains so Mr. Kortz took the coffin up to the
family farm where it was buried on Saturday after-
noon in the presence of the family and a few
neighbors.

A post-mortem of the brain of the prisoner
indicated no signs of damage; intellectual capacity,
due to the size, was judged to be of the maximum.
The Catskill papers went into great detail in reporting
the brain measurements, and the opinions of the
various examiners.

Charles Ernst died at 11:35 a.m. on Monday at
his residence to which he had been removed on Satur-
day. The funeral was held on Wednesday from the
Reformed Church, G. A. Howard, D.D., preaching the
sermon to a large congregation. The Hendrick Hudson
Lodge No. 189, LO.O.F. of Catskill and several
neighboring lodges were well represented. Subscrip-
tion lists at the Tanners’ Bank and at the Catskill
Bank were started for the relief of the Ernst family.

Joe’s second victim had been born in Germany,
coming to the United States as a young man. He was
appointed to the jailer’s post shortly after coming to
Catskill. While still in Germany, he had been ac-
quainted with the Waltz family. In his many years of
work at the jail, Mr. Ernst served primarily as a
detective and was chiefly instrumental in the detec-
tion of the scissor-grinder’s murderer. Ernst had, in
previous years, attempted to befriend Joe Waltz and
it was at the former’s urging that the shackles were
removed from the prisoner during the last weeks.

—One hundred years later, in cataloging the
county archives as an American Revolution Bicenten-
nial project in 1975, the Bronck Museum staff found
the following document:

Catskill, Nov. 19, 1875
Platt Coonley (Sheriff)

1874
May 1. To Services hanging Joseph Waltz $250.00
Noon Credit by cash 50.00
Balance $200.00

ooo0oaa0ac0a0a 0

Two coin silver serving spoons, with the Willard
name and hallmarks, in excellent condition, have been
acquired from a Catskill source. They complement
other Catskill silver in the museum’s collections.

b ‘

VEDDER MEMORIAL LIBRARY NOTES

Catalogued for reader use: Peluso’s J. & J. Bard
(ship painters); The Parish Register, 1708—1840, con-
taining the so-called Kocherthal Records on board the
Globe in 1708, and continued by him in New York, as
well as St. Paul's Parish (West Camp); Piwonka’s
Views of Mount Merino, South Bay, and the City of
Hudson painted by Henry Ary and his Contempora-
ries.

The Julia M. Dolan Collection of 31 bound
volumes and 98 file folders relating to the Dolan Sand
Company, the Farmers Freighting Line Company, and
other Dolan activities in Coxsackie have been pro-
cessed this late winter and early spring. The gift was
arranged by Thelma Dolan.

Subject Collections (Fifth Edition) (R. R. Bow-
ker Co.) is being reprinted; it gives line space to
five main subject areas held by the Vedder Library.

Henry Tryon of Coxsackie has contributed two
interesting documents relating to shipment of bales of
hay from Schoharie via the Albany and Susquehanna
Railroad and then down the Hudson on the newly
constructed barge Baldwin of New Baltimore in the
year 1865. Additionally, he has given a copy of Van
Loan’s Road Map of the Catskills and Vicinity, post-
card views of the Catskill Mountain House and Hotel
Kaaterskill, A Checklist of Eighteenth Century Albany
Imprints and other printed material.

Georgia S. Murray of Plains, Pennsylvania, has
furnished us with a revised fan chart of the descen-
dants of Wilbur Chapman Smith. She invites an ex-
change of information.

The Illustrated News, issue of May 7, 1853, con-
taining the double-page spread about Prattsville, the
the tanning industry and Colonel Pratt, has been
acquired from a New Jersey source.

An urgently needed catalogue file has been pur-
chased with memorial money received from friends
and relatives of Mary Hardy; Walter Whitbeck; Flor-
ence Cooke; and the Rev. Ida van Dyck Hordine’s
parents, Edwin and Emma Daley van Dyck.

Special Libraries Association, Upstate New York
Chapter, is updating its 1976 publication A Directory
of Special Libraries and Research Resources in New
York State. The Vedder Library has been approved
for listing.

Mrs. Clarissa E. Ketcham, NYS Vice Chairman
of Genealogical Records, NSDAR, has supplied us
with a copy of her excellent work relating to the
Newell family of Durham. Her thoughtfulness is most
appreciated.

Dennis Buckley, contract photographer for the
ARBC county history (1976), has signed over his
interest in more than 220 photographic negatives with

a wide range of Greene County content.
0ooaqqag0gu ao Oo

FITCH-DALEY LETTER - from page 1

glove factory where buckskin gloves of many stiles
[sic] were made.

And Prattsville had a bank, Zadock Pratt, Presi-
dent; John Hopkins, Cashier; James E. Ostrander,
Teller; and two immense dogs chained at night to
keep off burglars! Dynamite was not the ready instru-
ment of burglarsin those days.

I saw the artist cutting the rock on Pratt’s Hill
and enjoyed many glorious days up there. Col. Inger-
soll’s son was there once with champagne serenade
and many happy days occurred.

Goldsmith’s ‘‘Deserted Village’’ is nothing to the
change at Prattsville. Besides the industries mentioned,
there was an immense oil cloth factory near the old
Snyder residence. The Society in Prattsville was then
in full bloom.

A man known as Major Lewis was from Boston
and experienced in theatricals, while two or three
others of some experience joined Lewis in the adven-
ture of a play. The oil cloth factory was to be the
theatre. The hanging oil cloths, the proscenium. A
stage was erected, a great curtain and rollers and the
many appointments made as to the duties of “Stage
Manager’, Jackson. He arranged signals when the
great curtains should roll up and then down. He had
been an actor and dressed especially for the occasion
with large white patches on his pants and knees. His
coat was a long swallowtail. The town (of 1600
residents) was all aglow about the play. The rehearsals
had fed the flame. Even Judge Fitch had consented
that his daughter, Philomena, should be in it. The
hour arrived; the audience also. Stage Manager Jack-
son had set the actors on their several places on the
stage and himself with back to the curtain giving
last instructions, when by some misunderstanding, the
curtains rolled up Jackson’s coat tails, and exposed his
white patches and lifted him up from the floor dang-
ling below the curtains. Everybody in consternation
and Philomena’s Mother screamed to her ‘‘come out
of there.” Judge Fitch, then a Society man in dress
suit and white kid gloves, came to the front of the
stage and expostulated that it was all a mistake, but
no avail, and so ended the theatricals of that day in
old time Prattsville.

You speak of wintry weather and my familiar
mountains covered with snow. We rarely have any in
Alabama, though some times in former years some.

This fall has been exceptionally fine. No storm,
no very cold weather. Land suited to cultivations,
days very fine to pick cotton. Temperature at 6:00
a.m. 40 degrees. At 3:00 p.m. 70 degrees.

I beg to be Sir; Your Obliging Friend,

/s/ Frank Fitch

ooaqa0aca 0

LUMAN REED - from page 5

Luman Reed frequently accompanied the sloop, acting
in the capacity of supercargo. The trips of from
seven to ten days, depending upon wind and weather,
provided Luman Reed with valuable experience and
contacts in the metropolitan area.

During his Coxsackie stint, around the period of
the War of 1812, Luman Reed also had financial
interests with Theron Skeel. In the Tunis Cochran
manuscripts are receipts for lumber and for other
payments dated 1812 and 1813 and signed by
L [uman] Reed and Skeel.

As time progressed, Luman began to consider
a complete change of scene and was attracted to New
York City. His cousin, Roswell Reed of that place,
who had earlier helped finance Luman’s limited edu-
cation, offered him a position of clerk in the former’s
wholesale grocery business and he accepted. The
Luman Reeds removed to New York City. Demon-
strating the same talent for business as heretofore,
Luman rose rapidly in his cousin’s esteem and by the
year 1815, had become a partner. Until the year of
his death in 1836, he was regarded as one of that
city’s leading merchants.

Accumulating a substantial capital, Luman Reed
contracted for the construction of a mansion on
Greenwich Street (Manhattan); it was one of the
first in that city to have its own private art gallery.
Readers of Antiques magazine (July 1977) may recall
the description of that gallery which was open to the
public once each week. Louis Legrande Noble, Cole’s
biographer, also mentions this private art gallery
which occupied the entire top floor of the Luman
Reed residence.

Luman Reed, the wholesale grocery merchant,
was first attracted to European art -the Old Masters—
but was shrewd enough to realize he was being de-
ceived as to the paintings’ quality and authenticity.
He then decided to support living American painters
both by purchasing their art and by financing their
studies abroad. Among these were Thomas Cole,
Asher B. Durand, William Sidney Mount, and George
Flagg.

Thomas Cole, after his first European trip,
established his studio in rooms at the corner of Wall
and Broadway where he both painted and exhibited.
As Cole later related the incident, it was here a most
fortunate circumstance occurred: ‘“‘There came in one
day, a person in the decline of life,—took rather a
hasty turn round the room, serving as a gallery, and
went out without a word. There was that, however,
in the appearance of this silent visitor, as he looked
quietly, but intelligently from picture to picture,
which could not be readily forgotten.” Cole im-
mediately formed a highly favorable opinion of this

eo

visitor; an introduction followed. The man was Luman
Reed.

Noble reports that in the course of that winter
Cole received Reed’s commission for a large Italian
landscape, and during that time Reed did mention his
contemplated private art gallery. By letter from
Catskill, dated September 18, 1833, Thomas Cole
mentions the famous Course of Empire series: “‘I have
had some little trouble in finding at once a compre-
hensive and appropriate title for the Series of pictures
I am now painting for Luman Reed. The one which I
have at last adopted, although some may consider it
lofty and ostentatious, appears very well to me. I call
it ‘The Course of Empire.’ ”

The price of the series of large canvases was
first set at $2,500; they were eventually to become
highlights of native American art. Visitors to the New
York State art exhibit recently held at the South Mall
in Albany, may recall this famous group on display.

John Durand, biographer of Asher B. Durand,
reports that Luman Reed’s interest in Thomas Cole
erew rapidly, the planned visit to Cole’s Catskill
studio in the spring of 1836 being delayed only by the
continued deterioration of Luman Reed’s health.

Following this art patron’s death in 1836, his
collection of about 80 paintings was turned over to
the New York Gallery of Fine Arts, Reed’s son-in-law,
Theodore Allen, attempting to secure local support
and funding for a permanent public art gallery. But
such backing failed to appear and in the year 1855,
the Luman Reed collection was given to the New-
York Historical Society. After being in and out of
fashion for more than a century, it now serves as the
nucleus of that institution’s famous collection of
American art.

Of Luman Reed, it can be said he was among the
first to encourage the American artist by both word
and financial support. In gratitude, his artist friends
elected him the first nonprofessional member of the
Sketch Club.

A fitting epitaph is to be found in a newspaper
in the year of Luman Reed’s death:—“It is well to tell
the young artist who has to make his way in this
country that his art once had a generous friend who
sought to advance its interests by considering the
feelings and capacities of its votaries. This was en-
couragement of the right stamp. To call Mr. Reed a
patron of art in the usual acceptance of the word is to
give a feeble idea of his usefulness and to the spirit
which animated him. He aimed to smooth the path
for those who travelled it by letting them pursue it
as was most agreeable to themselves. If he ever sought
to point the way by making suggestions or requesting
favours, it was done with that consideration for the
artists’ inclinations which made it gratifying to oblige

(continued on page 8)


BUILDING FUND DRIVE IN FINAL STAGES—
CAN YOU HELP !!!

The year 1979 will complete the first half-
century’s existence of the Greene County Historical
Society. Within a few years of its founding in 1929, a
permanent headquarters and museum had been pro-
vided by Leonard Bronk Lampman. And over these
last decades, with dedicated volunteer help and with
no subsidy from either county or town budgets, this
Society has enhanced the quality of life in Greene
County by collecting, preserving and interpreting the
history of the region; it is an important educational
function.

The officers and trustees have done a remarkable
piece of work raising the yearly funds to cover opera-
ting expenses, insuring a conservative, balanced bud-
get each fiscal period. But all their work and effort
could not foresee the sudden deterioration of settling
foundations, buckling walls and sagging roofs of these
two stone and brick pre-Revolutionary buildings.

Determined to adequately preserve these NA-
TIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK STRUCTURES,
under the chairmanship of Wilbur Cross, Executive
Vice President, Catskill Savings Bank; H. Milton
Chadderdon, GCHS Board Chairman; and Ruben
Garcia, GCHS President, a SAVE THE BRONCK
HOUSE campaign has been launched. Of the approxi-
mately $113,000 cost, $81,500 has been secured;
$31,500 is needed. To date pledges and contributions
have amounted to $22,000. Town chairmen serving
are Charles Stiefel (Catskill), Walter Fox (Athens),
John MacNaughton (Coxsackie), Herbert S. Cahn
(Greenville), Charles J. Brown (Windham, Ashland
and Jewett), and Paul E. Ackerman (New Baltimore).
Contributions may be sent to them or mailed directly
to the GCHS Building Fund, c/o Catskill Savings
Bank, Catskill, N. Y. 12414.

IF YOU HAVE ALREADY RESPONDED
GENEROUSLY, WE DO THANK YOU. IF NOT,
WON’T YOU PLEASE JOIN THIS “GRASSROOTS”
EFFORT TO SAVE BRONCK HOUSE?

oooao0aqa0aqa 0a

DATES TO REMEMBER —
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

June 3—Greene County Historical Society’s Historic
Homes Tour, Catskill - Leeds area.

June 11 at 2 p.m.—annual meeting of Society at
Bronck House, bring chairs. Special program of
events to be announced.

July 29 at 2:30 p.m.—Albert Figols and Priscilla
Gordon will sing the leading roles in a three-part
Zarzuela (Spanish Folk Opera). Donation $2.00;
to be held rain or shine; bring own chairs. Last
year’s ‘La Boheme’ was well received and this
year’s performance should be equally enjoyable.

LUMAN REED - from page 6

him. It was not alone this motive, however, which
prompted an acquiescence with his view. Though not
not possessing an educated judgment, he had a natural
pictorial perception and good taste which was always
in sympathy with the more extended knowledge of
his artistic friends. A gentleman observing his munifi-
cence once remarked to him, ‘These pictures, Mr.
Reed, must have cost considerable money.’ ‘They
did,’ he replied, ‘the outlay is my pleasure—I like it;
besides,’ his eye lighting up as he spoke, ‘the artists
are my friends, and it is the means of encouragement
and support to better men than myself.’ ”

Luman Reed isa part of Greene County’s history;
his parents lived at Coxsackie and Greenville; they
are buried in the latter place. His early years were
spent at Coxsackie, and here he was married. He knew
the river and the Catskills which meant so much to
the early Hudson River art school. He gave Cole,
Durand and others significant early encouragement.
Wilfiain Dunlap, art historian, ranks Reed as among
the great of American benefactors to the fine arts
that this country produced.

ooagonoo0oadag
KEEP US INFORMED IF ! !

The mailing of the Quarterly Journal is a time-
consuming task for volunteer help. We want you to
receive your copy or copies without delay or confu-
sion. Please notify us at R. D. Coxsackie, 12051 if
there is a problem either with your name or address.
This summer we expect to revise the master list from
which we prepare the addressograph plates. If you
have a preference for Ms., Mrs., or Miss, that infor-
mation would be helpful. The addressograph machine
is owned by Friends of Olana and is used in a
cooperative effort with that non-profit organization.

DUES FOR 1978 SHOULD BE SENT TO
DOROTHY SMITH, BOX 97, CATSKILL, N.Y.
12414. Regular membership is $5Si§ttinj
Supporting $15 or above. Cs

ollars =< B

ae
Greene County Historical sofa whe gps 2 \ HEechoppeam

Ra nd Beecher, Editor (QO ee
R. D

COXSACKIE, NEW YORK


The Quarterly JOURNAL

A Publication of the Greene County Historical Society, Inc.

U. S. Route 9-W

Coxsackie, N. Y. 12051

Vol. 2, Issue 1

Spring, 1978

JOE WALTZ—
BETWEEN MURDERS HE WROTE POETRY
—Editor’s Research

For sheer drama, few events in Greene County’s
history can top the apprehension, the trial and convic-
tion, and the hanging of Joseph Waltz more than a
century ago. A tragedy of major proportions, it catered
to the avid interest and the insatiable curiosity of the
public. Before the final act was played out, jailer
Charles Ernst would die, the National Guard would
be sent down from Albany to prevent a lynching, and
the county newspapers would print special editions;
through it all Joe Waltz would write his poetry,
fantasizing his leaving this world and traveling to
outer space for a permanent residence.

Tangible reminders of these bizarre events are to
be found in the archives at the Vedder Memorial
Library at Bronck House. Among these are Joe Waltz’s
large decorated sheets of crude poetry, the newspapers’
special editions, an oil sketch of the Waltz homestead
between Catskill and Athens (scene of the first crime)
as painted by Benjamin Stone, and Sheriff Platt Coon-
ley’s bill for services rendered in connection with the
hanging on May 1, 1874.

The experts were sharply divided as to Joseph
Waltz’s responsibility for his actions. Doctor George
H. Choate, an expert in lunacy who interviewed him
after the trial, declared him insane and not a fit sub-
ject for hanging. Dr. Brown of the Bloomingdale
Asylum came to the same conclusion after studying the
trial testimony and interviewing Joe Waltz for more
than three hours. Both doctors were supported in their
opinions by Dr. Kellogg of the Poughkeepsie Asylum.
In contrast, Dr. Gray of the Utica Asylum and Dr.
Ordonaux of the State Commission in Lunacy rendered
the professional opinions “‘feigned insanity”.

Artist's Sketch — Joe Waltz

Continued on page 6

OR. ‘

ill Near The Falls

Haines Sawm

SAWMILLS ON A MOUNTAIN TOP
—Esther H. Dunn

The Catskills are lands of mountain streams, not
lakes. In the 1700’s and early 1800’s the waters
dropped precipitously downward from their heights
with a force and fullness in each narrow bed which we
do not see today. The sun seldom touched their
cold surfaces because of the forest cover. Man rarely
went within the spooky, beast-inhabited terrain. He
had little reason to.

I write specifically about the eastern Mountain
Top—the lands of Haines Falls, Tannersville and the
“platter”? of Platte Clove to its south, all located in
Great Lot No. 25 of the Hardenbergh Patent. These
were harsh lands, and dank.

To the east the deep and rocky gorges of the
Kauterskill and the Platterkill lie outside the borders
of the mountain summit. But they draw from the
high mountains above, if sometimes circuitously, a
network of waters intent on reaching the ocean by the
fastest route.

Westward, the Catskills slope gradually downward
in widening valleys with high ridges. The larger streams,
added to by many tributaries, were solid gold—meaning
that the strong current which could turn a mill wheel
was to be a blessing to the settler. The Schoharie Kill
alone could support eight mills to the mile.

First it had been the sawmill which opened this
more workable region. Settlers from Connecticut came
in through a northern boundary. Then the needed
gristmill came. Next came the hemlock-destroying
tanneries. Almost simultaneously there came many
small and varied industries, using water power. Saw-
mills were multiple. By mid-century the lands were

Continued on page 7

SAWMILLS ON A MOUNTAIN TOP

—continued from page 1

well-cleared and excellent for farming. The soil was
good. But on our Mountain Top by mid-nineteenth
century, sawmills on its smaller, if rapid streams,
were in fair number only. They now often served as
an adjunct to a man’s way of making a living.

The first sawmill within our lands was part of a
real estate promotion by James Desbrosses, owner of
Great Lot No. 25 and more, who wished to open up
and thereby capitalize on his untouched forest hold-
ings. He found two prominent and wealthy men in
Kingston, Jacob Tremper and Peter VanGassbeck, to
whom in 1787 he leased 700 acres in the area of the
Roaring Kill and today’s Elka Park. Shortly thereafter,
within that mountain-top parcel, a sawmill was built
on the double stream which is a headwater of the
west-running Schoharie, above Dibble’s Dam. A grist-
mill was soon built, presumably by Alexander Boyd
who was a Specialist in millstones imported from
France.

The lure which had attracted the two wealthy
Kingston men was: magnificent forest trees; water
power from rushing mountain streams; a ready market
for lumber in Kingston which had been burned by the
British; easy access there through the cut at Mink
Hollow and via Woodstock; and all at a very low price.
When the lure “took’’, Mr. Desbrosses advertised in
Connecticut newspapers and elsewhere for settlers for
his ‘“‘opened” territory. “Cheap lands in the west’, he
cried. Rent would be due only each seven years and

3-life leases were available.
Between 1790 and 1800 some sixty families

moved in to our dark and isolated territory, felled the
trees, built homes, sheds, stonewalls, locked their
animals securely in at night. The howling of wolves was
fearful. The soil was poor, the growing season very
short. With the exception of perhaps four families,
thirty years later, they moved out en masse to the
Middle West where living was to be easier.

This first settlement on our Mountain Top is not
recorded in history books. Yet it is documented pre-
cisely by original lease and rent books, census records,
deeds, etc. A surveyor’s map shows the location of the
early sawmill and gristmill.

Water power was as basic to those people, in their
daily use of wood products, as electricity is to us today.
Water power they had, in a myriad of streams. The
men were ingenious enough to harness it. A very simple
mill, without a dam for sustained force, could be
worked when melting snows and spring freshets filled
the streams, to the benefit of its owner and likely his
neighbor. Neighbors helped each other.

Certain men on the Mountain Top today, born to
the land, know where sawmills have stood at various
times. They can name a dozen and more locations on

the various streams. The one on the Roaring Kill below
the bridge is usually mentioned first. These men know
from hearsay, family ownership, remnants of founda-
tions and dams, from certain logistics mixed with in-
stinct. Surveyors run across the mention of mills
when checking land rights; lawyers in old deeds and
wills.

Sawmills and their dams were located with a
shrewd eye to nature’s ways. A site downhill from
where the logs were to come was an asset. A place to
unload behind the mill made getting them onto the
carrier easier. Traffic often built the road to a mill. The
buildings were of rough boards and little more than
framework. They were never painted. Wheels vibrating,
the saw screeching, sawdust flying, mills had a quality
which distinctly said it was man’s domain.

Up-and-down saws were in common use on the
Mountain Top until far into the 1800’s. The blade was
about 8 feet high and 8 inches wide, set in a strong
rectangular frame of wood. The saw moved up and
down, cutting on the down-stroke only. It was driven
by a wooden crank from below, powered by the
turning of the waterwheel. Few nails were used in the
mechanism, no belts, little iron. The circular saw, much
faster cutting, had long been invented but was not
popular until, many years later, the strength of its
teeth was perfected.

One, two or three men might run a sawmill. The
sawyer directed the cutting of the wood. His was the
skill that got the best from a log and avoided waste.
A second man placed the log on a cradle which moved
forward to meet the saw. The third man removed
the log latterly. Old-timers did it with a bar after each

cut.
About a quarter-mile back from the high water-

fall at the head of Kauterskill Clove, a mill and dam
was in continuous use from 1848 to 1895. It stood
downstream where the waters run in a long, smooth
stretch, on the north bank of the creek. These waters
start, mainly, on the south slopes of the North Moun-
tain ridge. By 1860 much of that land had been cleared
for pasture and grain. More people now lived on the
Mountain Top; the boarding house era was starting;
summer parks would come later. The mill and dam
belonged to Charles W. Haines, known by all as
“C.W.” or “Christian Charlie’, a man born to the
land. The high waterfall, which in summer he put on
display to the public for 25¢, carries his name.

Like other farmers with mills, he did custom-
sawing for the people around. Logs of hard maple were
often taken to him to be cut for making stoneboats, as
essential to a mountain man as wagon or sled. It took
a knack for a sawyer to make the upward turn in the
boards, like a toboggan. The ideal log was a maple with
a natural crook which could be cut with the grain for
greater strength. Stones were cleared from fields in

Continued on page 9

> *

SAWMILLS ON A MOUNTAIN TOP

—continued from page 7

those early days and later, by horse and stoneboat,
which is flat and slides easily over the ground. Many a
cottage at Onteora Park has had its foundation stones
delivered that way.

Of course “Christian Charlie” had work of his
own to be done at the mill. He was enlarging his home
to a boarding house. He had barns, sheds and fences to
mend. Like others, he owned woodlots from which his
lumber came. The need for sawn wood was constant.

Typically, the road to his mill from the “village”
went directly to the bank of the Kauterskill creek.
The dam there was big and built in an old-fashioned
way with logs and no nails. Erect logs crossed each
other, notched; rocks filled in the bottom space;
slabs lined the slanting upper parts. A trestle-like
sluiceway carried the dam waters to the overshot
waterwheel. The saw was up-and-down.

When “Christian Charlie” died, in 1895, the wheel
of his mill stopped turning. Five years later, when the
dam was being repaired, a workman left sparks which
by accident burned the old mill to the ground. It was
the end of the century, the end of an era.

onoaqo00na

Esther H. Dunn writes from a lifetime of personal
research and experience of this section of the Catskill
Mountains. A direct descendant of one branch of the
Haines family, for whom the falls and the hamlet are
named, she has shared her knowledge with the reading
public in articles published in The Conservationist,
The Catskills magazine and our Journal.
—The Editor

ooaqaqaaa

The Reverend Ida van Dyck Hordines, with ties to
this region, has provided a generous check in memory
of her parents, Edwin Henshaw van Dyck and Emma
Daley van Dyck. The Hordines have also contributed
useful material for the Vedder Library, a part of which

will eventually be published in our Journal.

CATSKILL MARBLE WORKER —

through the Catskills on our way to the old marble
house in Vermont, my husband and I manage to visit
another magnificent part of the Hudson River Valley
and the Catskills. One of my great thrills was finding the
site of the old Catskill Mountain House and viewing the
expanse of the river valley. On that same day, I
discovered the Kaaterskill Falls and the area formerly
occupied by the Laurel House. Little wonder that
those Hudson River painters were so inspired. My
Starlight flower garden now contains some lovely
Coxsackie loosestrife and West Windham thyme, me-
mentos of my Baldwin search.

from page 3

ooagoacd6dvcaoj6UdNndLcoO

JOE WALTZ — from page 6

Joe had become interested in outer space from
having observed an insane man at Kauterskill several
months earlier. That individual had alarmed the coun-
tryside by proclaiming himself ‘‘a disciple of the sun
and the moon”’.

Not only did Joe illustrate his poetry, but he
used a different colored crayon pencil for each succeed-
ing word. The one reads:

Far up in the moon no bad spirits can go,

And thus it will make a bright home for this Joe—
And there I’ll see God and the angels no doubt,
And so I must go—my dear friends let me out.

And now let me shake off this slumbering trance,
And kill every devil, and onward advance,

For my spirit is like an inflated balloon,

In which I am going to sail to the moon.

A second illustrated poem which has survived is

in the same theme:

Books! Buried Books, and Bells!
A Lost Man and a Lost Summer

I wished to go astray

And travel for awhile
And then perhaps I’d stay
Upon some pleasant Isle.

And there I’d build a tower
So strong and very high
That no infernal power
Could to its summit fly.

And there upon the sky,
I’d live alone and free;
And then when I would die
I’d near to Heaven be.

I’d fit out a great balloon,
And then when all is done,
I’d sail into the Moon,
And then I’d see the Sun.

And there I would explore
The surface of the Moon;
Until my feet get Sore,
And then I’d rest at noon.

For here I cannot see

The Sun, a moon or more,
And therefore I must flee

And break this Iron door.

And then I would prepare,
To make the grand ascent,
And everyone would stare
Till all His time is spent.

Some powerful tellescopes [sic],
I'd take with me up there;

And a lot of strings and ropes,
For hanging in the air.

I’d see Our Earth afar,

And other planets too

And many a bright new star,
And worlds and suns I’d view.

But what if there should be,
No noon or evening there;
And what if I should see,
Strange people everywhere.

The months dragged on for Joe Waltz in his
Catskill jail cell. His date with the hangman was fast
approaching. Should he attempt to escape? If so, how?

(To be concluded in the Summer issue.)

Bronck House Tile

Vedder—Greene Co. History
ARBC— Greene Co. History
Beecher—Letters from a Rev.
Beecher— Out to Greenville and Beyond;
Historical Sketches
Beers’ Greene Co. Township Maps 4.00
Plus Sales Tax and Handling

AVAILABLE THROUGH THE SOCIETY

$3.75
8.50
6.00
3.50

5.90


JOE WALTZ — from page 1

A petition, signed by many local residents and
forwarded to Albany for a “‘stay of execution” in order
to determine sanity, is an indication of the public
feeling—a feeling which suffered an abrupt reversal
when the prisoner “struck down” his jailer in a final
attempt to escape from the Catskill jail.

— — — On May 1, 1873, while doing chores on his
father’s farm between Catskill and Athens, Joseph
Waltz observed the arrival of the scissor-grinder, Har-
mon Holcher (also spelled Hulcher in the newspapers),
of Albany. Like “Yankee Peddlers”, Holcher earned
his livelihood traveling about the countryside with his
portable grinding machine; his bell alerted potential
customers. It being late in the day, the scissor-grinder
sought and secured supper and overnight lodging at the
Waltz farm.

After eating the evening meal and exchanging the
news of the day, all retired early. Sleep came rapidly
to all but Joe Waltz. ‘“‘Some very bad spirit entered
into me,” claimed young Waltz in his later confession
as reported by Special Correspondent Walton Van
Loan. “I went to my room, I opened my Testament to
read. I laid down on my bed and the spirit overcame
me. I resisted this spirit again and the spirit resisted
me back again. After I was completely overcome, I
went out doors and got a hatchet..... I went in slyly
with a low lamp, and set the lamp on the floor, and
then my conscience fought with all its might not to do
the act, but the evil spirit was stronger—I took up the

hatchet and struck Holcher on the head... .”
Over the next few days Joe managed to wrap the

body in a family blanket, bury it on the farm in a
shallow grave in the plum orchard, break up and dis-
pose of the grinding machine, hide the victim’s clothing
and shoes under the barn floor, and secrete the bell
and the pocketbook with sixty or more dollars. He
also managed to convince his father that Holcher had
left the farmhouse at daybreak, taking the blanket
with him; the father in turn, reported the supposed
theft of the blanket to the sheriff's office in Catskill.
To further divert suspicion, Joe placed misleading clues
in the vicinity of Coxsackie. He threw part of the
broken grinding machine on the lawn of the present
Musial home on Route 385 and also tacked a note to a
telegraph pole in that vicinity.

The authorities’ suspicions were soon focused
on the Waltz family, the father and son being taken
to Catskill for questioning. On the following Monday
morning, handcuffed and closely supervised, the two
men were returned to the farm where a crowd of
about 300 had assembled as rumors of the murder
began to circulate.

The first time, walking with the authorities around
the farm, Joe had little to say. But upon entering the
house he asked to have the window blinds closed; he

“

then’ confessed to the murder. “You, father, (looking
at his parent), are innocent.’’ Walton Van Loan, cover-
ing the story, reported that Joseph Waltz had confided
to him that he did not want the scissor-grinder’s
money, and that he could only account for his many
bad deeds by an evil spirit getting the mastery over
him. (He had earlier set fire to local schoolhouses and
also had stolen schoolbooks). After the victim’s body
was unearthed, Joe was returned to Catskill jail, being
very communicative, expressing relief and praying.

In a March 1874 session of Oyer and Terminer,
85 names were drawn before a jury could be selected—
John Goodwin, Lewis Barton and Jeremiah Overbaugh
of Catskill; Lysander Lennon and Peter Evory of
Cairo; Alvah W. Bliss, Henry S. Mace, Jeremiah Cun-
ningham and Puluski Brown of Durham; and Abram M.
Hallenbeck and John Van Dyck of Coxsackie. Theo-
doric Westbrook was designated Trial Judge; Sidney
Croswell, District Attorney, was assisted by John A.
Griswold. The prisoner was defended by A. Melvin
Osborn and C. C. Givens. Supported by a full con-
fession, the jury found Joseph Waltz guilty of murder,
insanity being ruled out.

Stephen Vining in later years recalled the sen-
tencing; the prisoner became very obstreperous and
had to be controlled. The presiding judge pronounced:
“Your sentence is that you shall be kept within the
walls at the Greene County jail until the first day of
May next.’’ At this point Joe interrupted by saying,
“Go home then?” The judge continued: ‘‘Then you
shall be hung by your neck until you are dead.”

During the ensuing months awaiting hanging or
commutation of sentence by Governor Dix, and while
his sanity status was being debated by experts in the

field of mental diseases, Joe Waltz occupied much of
his cell time by writing and illustrating bizarre verses,
using colored pencils to decorate the hand-lettered
sheets. One such “‘artistic’’ effort was a balloon draw-
ing. It carried the name ‘Excelsior’, and an American
flag. Joe drew himself in the balloon’s basket, saying
“Good by, mother earth!”

Joe Waltz's
Baloon
Sketch

—A,J. Gambino
photo

Continued
on page 9


CURATOR’S CORNER

A pilot program for a regional consortium dealing
with American art is being undertaken in western
New England with financial support from the National
Endowment for the Humanities. The program was
initiated by the Dunlap Society, a non-profit associa-
tion, whose aim is to increase and broaden the aware-
ness and appreciation of American Art. The Bronck
Museum has been invited to participate; its art holdings
are rated as having both regional and national signifi-

cance.
The National Geographic Society’s 1977 publica-

tion, Visiting Our Past—America's History Lands has
one section on the Dutch in the Hudson Valley; the
Bronck House is illustrated.

Ella Dedrick Walsh of Catskill has contributed
2 early baby bonnets, lace with drawstring, found in
the Bible of her mother, Emmagene (Van Aken)
Dedrick of Old Kings Road, Catskill. The Dedrick
farm is now La Rive Restaurant. Also included was a
calligraphic fish, drawn on paper, from the Van Aken
family.

Ray Van Valkenburgh writes from Daytona
Beach, Florida, that he enjoyed the Soap Box Factory
article (Vol. 1, Issue 3, Fall, 1977). One of his Rice
ancestors was known to have had a wooden button
factory at Leeds. Mr. Van Valkenburgh and his sister,
Dorothy, have four direct ancestral families who have
each been in America almost 3% centuries. Few fami-
lies can equal that!

Special exhibits are being planned for the 1978
season with contents being drawn from the Bronck
House holdings in storage, as well as from friends of the
society. A wide variety of nineteenth century flower
vases, “fancy” needlework, and letter writing equip-
ment will comprise three separate exhibits for the
hyphen hallway showcase.

Louise S. Messenger of Delmar, a Vedder Library
patron and contributor, has been researching the Rea
family of Coxsackie. Last fall she visited the William
Rea plot in Riverside Cemetery. While on site, on
impulse, she softly called ‘William Rea, where are
you?”’ With that the nearby vault door slowly swung
open. Was he trying to tell her something? Mrs.
Messenger’s sister was so startled, she dropped a pack-
age she was carrying. Actually, Louise Messenger
writes, the workmen were in the cemetery and had
temporarily left the storage vault door unlatched.
But the incident is on its way to becoming a classic

family story.
From Brockton, Massachusetts, we have received

some useful genealogical information from Mary Ved-
der Kamenoff, sister of the late Lovisa Vedder Smith
of Roxbury. It also contained a promise to help with
the editing of Mrs. Levi King’s Cairo diary when

selected portions are published.
oo00q00dg

VEDDER MEMORIAL LIBRARY NOTES
The Society has acquired and catalogued the

monumental Index to the Public Records of the County
of Albany, 1630-1894. The thirty-seven large folio
volumes covering grantors, grantees, mortgagors, etc.,
should be of use to local researchers since, until
the year 1800, Greene was part of Albany County. The
acquisition and transportation was handled by Trustee
Thomas Blaisdell and Historian Mabel Smith.

A thorough research work of genealogical interest
has been prepared by Mrs. Marguerite B. Simpkins
under the auspices of the Meeting House Hill Chapter,
NSDAR. Covering Bible records of Baker, Parks, Simp-
son, Vermilyea and White families, a typed copy, with
a useful index, has been deposited with us.

The James Malcolm Pierson Collection of Civil
War manuscripts, among which are a number pertain-
ing to Greene County men, has been donated by
Dr. Alexander P. Leverty II, of Richmond, Virginia.
A subsequent Journal article will discuss their content,
particularly in connection with the famed 120th Vol-
unteers, NYS Militia.

goo0q0qagqc060gudano cao
Recent acquisitions now on the reference shelves:

Maas—The Victorian Home In America

Aronson—On the Mountain, in the Valley...

Fellows—Dutch Systems in Family Naming

McIntosh—The Forests of the Catskill

Piwonka—Ammi Phillips

Greenville Central School—Silhouette, Vol. 2, No. 1

Durham Township—AR Bicentennial Booklet

Miller—Timbers of Time

Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery Book

Adams—Guide to the Catskills

Haskins—Fireside Recollections

Mitchell—Land in the Catskills

Piwonka—A Visible Heritage

Clough—Dutch Uncles and New England Cousins

Friends of Olana—Olana Cookbook

Kelly—Reformed Churches, Coxsackie; Marriages

NYS Museum—Recent Contributions to Hudson Valley
Prehistory

Hall—Ice Industry

Felt—Researching ... . Local History

Beers—Albany County Atlas (reprint)

Can You Help Us Locate Any of These Volumes

for the Vedder Memorial Library?

Foster, John O. (Rev.); Life and Labors of Mrs.
Maggie Newton Van Cott; Cincinnati, Hitchcock
and Walden

Robbins, Phyllis; Maude Adams, An Intimate Portrait;
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1956

Henry, Arthur; The House in the Woods; Tannersville,
(about 1900)

McAllister, Ethel M.; Biography of Amos Eaton

Eaton, Amos; The Young Botanists’ Tablet of Memory;
Nathan Elliott, Catskill

Van Cott, Maggie Newton; Aunt Maggie Bascom's
Soliloquy for Wornout Preachers; George W.
Squires, publisher, Cairo, New York


young breasts as they raised and
lowered with her breathing.

I got to Penn Yan just as the Junior
High School was being let out. I fol-
lowed the Reed girl and her friend
out past town, staying always a couple
of blocks behind them. I kept get-
ting hotter—madder—with that awful
craving.

Then, I saw the other girl go into
a house at Burns Terrace and the
Reed girl continue on alone. I de-
cided to offer her a ride. I never
planned to touch her. I only wanted
to be close to her little body—to
watch.

Near the cemetery I drove along-
side of her and stopped. “Want a
ride?” I asked. She didn’t say any-
thing, but kind of smiled and got in.
I asked her where she lived and she

said Indian Pines. I really didn’t have

to ask, though. Plenty of times I’d
seen her going home before. ;

But when we got in front of her
house I kept right on going. She
asked me why I didn’t stop and I told
her I had to look at a telephone pole
about a mile down the road, that I'd
turn arourid and bring her back in a
few minutes.

She believed me. Then it was that
I began to plan what I would do. I’d
take her out to a little shack I knew
of. She was big for her age—I
thought she was about sixteen. Big
enough to want a little love.

I SPEEDED the truck up and pretty
soon she started yelling for me to
stop. But I went all the faster. I
reached over and grabbed her around
the waist so she wouldn’t try to jump
out. When we got opposite the old
shack down by the lake shore I
couldn’t wait to talk to her.

I pulled her from the cab and held
my hand over her mouth so she
couldn’t scream. I managed to drag
her down to the cabin. She was
screaming and clawing at me with her
hands, but that just made me worse.

Of a sudden she became quiet. My

CRIME
DETECTIVE

brought to this country from abroad.

Mrs. Lauer at that time was one of
many wealthy American women who
considered it a great joke to “put
something over” on the customs offi-
cials. But the publicity attendant
upon her arrest roused the judge’s
ire, and for years to come Elma was
a good girl. ; ‘

Then, in the fall of 1938, a maid in
the home of Judge Lauer took excep-
tion to some cracks made by his
honor’s swank dinner guests. Some-
body said something about a heel
named Adolf Hitler. The maid
didn’t like it and the next day she
sneaked off to the customs officials
and tipped them that the sudeys good
wife had been up to her old tricks
again.

Judge Lauer’s home was raided. A
flock of expensive furs, other im-
ported luxuries were yncovered and
once again his socialite wife found
herself furnishing front-page copy. :

Convicted in Federal Court in April
of 1939, Mrs. Lauer was sentenced to

CRIME DETECTIVE

jaw ached where she’d kicked me dur-
ing the fight and I sat back rubbing
it. She got half up and sat whimper-
ing, kind of, against the wall. She
didn’t bother to try and get her clothes
straightened out. ,

Pretty soon I wanted her in my
arms again, and that time she didn't
try to stop me. She’d quit crying and
just seemed sort of like she was in a
daze.

After that I began to get scared. I
was afraid of what she might do if I
took her home. I saw her clothes were
bloody and knew that even if she
didn’t tell, her folks would know
something was wrong. Then I talked
to her for the first time since we’d
entered the shack.

“Do you know my name?” I asked
her. It was a long time before she
answered. I had a hard time telling
what she said even when she did
speak—she talked so low.

“I know you work for your father,
fixing the telephones,” she said.

I was reaching in my pockets, hunt-
ing for a handkerchief so I could
wipe some of the blood away, when

‘my hand touched a small screw-

driver I always carry. I guess that
gave me the idea.

Anyway, the next thing I knew I
was rushing at her with the screw-
driver in my right hand. She started
to rise. I plunged it into her head
just over the left eye. Her hand
reached up, but as it touched my
wrist it fell again and she leaned back
against the wall. She was terribly
still and I knew she must be dead.

My first thought was to get rid of
the body, so no one would ever find
it. I dragged her out through the
back, up a little path through the
trees. I’d gone about sixty or seventy
feet when I realized-I had no shovel
with which to dig a grave.

My fear came back and I dropped
her suddenly and turned. I ran to the
truck and got her books where they
had fallen to the running board dur-
ing our first struggle. I brought them

93

back and threw them into the shack.
I didn’t want to go in there again
myself.

Then I drove back into Penn Yan.
I put in the telephone and hurried
back to my father’s house in Pratts-
bore: That night I slept with my
wife.

For a week I worried for fear I’d
left some clue in that cabin, but I
feared to go near it. Then, the day
before yesterday, I learned that the
searchers were concentrated farther
north and decided to take the chance.

I drove down Route 54 to a point
about a mile south of the shack, then
went through the forest and circled
around to enter it from the east. I
was just crossing a grain field when
I heard the sound of a plane over-
head. I tried to get to the woods be-
fore it was too late, but I knew the
pilot had seen me. He was about a
hundred feet over me, but I covered
my face and head so he wouldn’t
recognize me.

I ran back to my truck and decided
not to try it again.

WO months later Wheelock went

on trial before Judge Nathan D.
Lapham in Supreme Court at Hornell,
New York, charged with first degree
murder.

The Prattsburg maniac calmly ad-
mitted his crime, basing his sole
defense on insanity. His attorney
claimed that Wheelock’s parents had

spent thousands of dollars trying to’

“cure him,” but was forced to admit

that no attempt had been made to!

have him permanently confined to an
institution.

Less than three hours after the jury
heard a reading of the confession

given police by Wheelock following —

his arrest, they returned a verdict of
guilty. There was no. recommenda-
tion for mercy.
Unless an attempt is made to ap-
pow the case Norman Wheelock will
e electrocuted at Sing Sing prison
early in 1940.

“CAFE” SOCIETY

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35

serve three months, fined $2,500.

A 0 of commoners—Jack Ben-
ny and ee Burns of radio fame—
appeared before a federal judge and
admitted having had stuff brought in
through the same methods as used by
Mrs. Lauer. First offenders, they paid
fines and went their several ways.

Albert N. Chaperau, a self-styled
diplomat and a man long considered
by those not quite in the know as a
member of the international social
crowd, drew a two-year federal peni-
tentiary term for aiding Mrs. Lauer
and the others.

Back in September, 1935, Evelyn
Hoey was a party guest in the West-
chester, Pa., home of Henry Hud-
dleston Rogers, 3rd. Henry had_ only
recently inherited a half-million-dol]-
lar trust fund from the estate of his
late father, Colonel H. H. Rogers, for-
mer Standard Oil tycoon.

After capers threatening to kill
herself, the actress went off to her
upstairs bedroom alone. There was

a shot. Henry and:a friend, William

J. Kelley, a jobless movie man, ran
up to find her dying of a bullet wound.

Two days later a coroner’s jury re-
turned an “open verdict.” Immediately
the Rogers clan gathered up some
twenty-four witnesses and insisted on
a grand jury investigation. It was
brought out that one of the members
of the coroner’s jury had been intox-
icated at the time of the investigation.
Others had “been too familiar with
newspapermen.”

An official verdict of suicide was
rendered and young Rogers and his
pal were completely cleared.

Only two months before, the Rogers
had been in the news when Mrs.
Helen M. Bemis, a Bridgeport, Conn.,

rivate secretary, sued to retain a
$175 pension which had been cut off
after the Colonel’s death. She ¢laimed
that after serving faithfully for years
as secretary to the original Henry
Rogers, Sr., later to his son the Col-
onel and still later to the Colonel’s
second and third wives, they’d left
her out in the cold. Mrs. Bemis lost


along a little-travelled country road.

“Yes—she was in the front seat of a
small truck. When it passed my stand
Evelyn waved to me and I waved
back. I thought that because of the
sudden chilliness she’d taken a lift,
but it never occurred to me to watch
to see if she got out at her house down
the road.”

“Did you recognize the truck? The
driver?”

“Well . . .” Miss Hallock hesitated.
“I’ve seen it drive by here before, but
I don’t know to whom it belonged.
It’s a brown truck and in the rear is
a large spool of wire. I’ve never
noticed the driver at all.”

“And you say Evelyn smiled and
waved to you—didn’t show any trace
of fear or alarm?”

“Oh, no. It must have been some
friend of hers. She certainly isn’t the
kind of girl to allow strangers to pick
her up.”

Inspector Cosart was genuinely
puzzled. Already the alarm had been

sent out and residents for miles .

around had volunteered their services.
Surely, he thought, if any innocent
person had picked the girl up that
day he would have come forward to
tell his story.

Miss Hallock’s information could
mean one thing only. Before the
mystery of Evelyn Reed’s disappear-
ance could be solved he must find the
driver of that truck. The spool of wire
would mean either a telegraph or
power company lineman; or possibly a
farmer out fixing fence lines, Cosart
figured.

Working with Inspector Eugene E,
Hoyt, veteran Criminal Identification
Bureau official from Batavia, Cosart
started making a canvass of the en-
tire neighborhood. For four days their
investigations were carried on in
deepest secrecy, and now, as he sat
summing up his material he waited
only for the expected message from
those men out there searching. He
ree little doubt as to what they would

nd.

Ro while the inspector sat there
waiting, two young CCC lads
from the White Hollow Camp were
painstakingly tracing the tracks left
in a grain field fifteen miles south the
day before by a man rushing madly
for cover.

“You can see where he turned and
started to run when Van’s plane came
close over him;” said Lester Ramsey
to his fellow enrollee, Walter Ciesle-
wicz, pointing to deep marks left
where a man’s heels had scooped up
the soft damp earth.

The boys followed those tracks, saw
them gradually become dimmer as the
ground turned hard, then disappear
altogether at the edge of the woods.

“We'll try to cover the land under
the trees for a hundred yards north,
south and west of the point where he
entered,” young Ramsey decided.

For two hours the youths continued
their search, climbing over fallen
logs, peering sharply down into deep
ravines and behind boulders and tree
stumps.

CRIME DETECTIVE

91

THE MAD RAPIST

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 53

Suddenly Ramsey stopped dead in
his tracks. A moment later his hys-
terical voice reached Cieslewicz.

“Walt! Come quick!”

The other lad ran up and the two
stood frozen in horror as their eyes

eee

Sens i

Benny Ertel, en route to the electric chair at Sing Sing for his part in

FOR CHAIR

young body. Over the entire body
were great bruises and sharp, short
cuts such as might have been left by
cruel, long fingernails. On the left
side of the face was a deep wound.
Whether that wound was left by a

the slaying of a detective in an East Side, New York City, candy store

in 1937.

fastened to a heap of clothing on the
ground not ten feet in front of them.
Beneath that clothing they knew what
they should find.

hen, ‘half an hour later, other
searchers joined them at the spot, the
badly beaten body of Evelyn Reed
was uncovered. She still wore the

bright plaid jacket she had on when
last seen alive almost a week before.
But now it was torn and blood-spat-
tered. The pale ‘green skirt had been
ripped entirely off and thrown back
over the naked lower portions of her

His bride is reported to have turned him in to the police.

bullet or some thin stiletto-like in-
strument would only be known after
a medical examination.

When Inspectors Cosart and Hoyt
received the news they rushed out to
the scene with Dr. James J. Sanford,
Steuben County Coroner. Before their
arrival, however, State eh oy fol-
lowed a tiny path down a gu ly lead-
ing from the scene of the boys’ grisly
find toward the roadway paralleling
the lake.

Soon the troopers came upon a
small shack, concealed by a great

i


ea tReet 1a

92

tangle of undergrowth that had
climbed its long-abandoned walls.
Entering, they saw great splashes of
blood on the bare wooden floor. At
one side lay the school books that
Evelyn Reed had carried under her
arm when she left the Penn Yan
school nearly a week before.

Later that night, back in the mortu-
ary at Penn Yan where the child’s
grief-stricken parents came to look at
her horribly mutilated body, Coroner
Sanford made his examination and
pronounced the cause of death.

Evelyn had died from a cerebral
hemorrhage, caused by the thrust of
a thin, sharp instrument into her left
temple. Before death, she had been
cruelly beaten and violated by a sex
maniac!

That the girl had put up a valiant
battle before the insane lust of her
assailant was evidenced from material
scraped from under the fingernails. A
microscopic examination of this ma-
terial revealed traces of skin and dried
blood—bits of blue wool fibre.

A conferring quietly with the
coroner, Inspector Hoyt went
rapidly out to the front room where
he had a few brief moments of con-
versation with Sergeant Harry De
Hollander of the State Police.

Five minutes later a fast state car
roared down the road from Penn Yan.
In it were De Hollander and three
other troopers. Speeding down past
the little shack where Evelyn’s: body
had been discovered only a few hours
before, the police car continued south
to the little town of Prattsburg. De
Hollander drove straight through the
business district and to the southern
outskirts where he pulled the car to

-a halt in front of a large, unpainted

frame house.

As the sergeant approached the
front door the other troopers sur-
rounded the building, their guns
drawn and their eyes watching every
possible exit. Other troopers joined
them. For three days this house had
been under constant surveillance.

Inspectors Cosart and Hoyt had
waited only until the body of Evelyn
Reed was found before giving the
word to close in.

An elderly, kindly-faced_ man an-
swered Sergeant De Hollander’s
knock. His eyes went immediately to
the officer’s uniform, then, slowly
turning his head, he stared long and
hard at the pale features of a slim
youth sitting by a stove at the far
end of the front room.

“We've come for your son, Mr.
Wheelock.”

As he spoke, the sergeant stepped
forward, motioning for the younger
man to remain seated.

“Is he in trouble again, officer?”
The old man’s eyes went to the floor,
his face suddenly gone gray and

gard.

“Serious trouble, this time,” replied
Sergeant De Hollander sympatheti-
cally. “I’m afraid this will be the last
trouble you'll have with him, though.”
Then, raising his voice as he advanced
on the younger man at the back of the
room, the officer reached for his hand-
cuffs and addressed the other for the
first time.

“You're under arrest, Norman Whee-
lock. Better come along quietly.”

The youth half rose, his long,
stringy black hair droppin down
over narrow yellow eyes while his
thin lips jerked wordlessly.

“Arrest. for what? Come on, out
with it. Don’t mind the old man—if

CRIME DETECTIVE

you've got anything on me, let’s have

“For the rape and murder of Evelyn
Reed. For the most vicious crime in
your long criminal career.” Even as

-he spoke the officer’s hand was reach-
ing toward the other.

The next instant there was a scream
and Norman Wheelock rushed from

SCARS

Alice Ingram, of Los Angeles;
shows the scars she received when
her companion in a cafe, Les
Bruneman, was killed by gunmen.

his chair, striking the officer a glanc-
ing blow with his fist as he ran.

At the front door he was met by
Trooper Harold Scott. There was a
brief scuffle, then young Wheelock
dropped to the floor and a moment
later Sergeant De Hollander was en-
circling his thin wrists with steel
handcuffs.

Two automobiles left the Wheelock
house that night. In the first, sur-
rounded by state troopers, was the
young maniac who three days before
had been fingered by Inspectors Hoyt
and Cosart as the man responsible for
Evelyn Reed’s disappearance. In the

- other was a lone state officer. He

drove a small brown truck, the car in
which the thirteen-year-old girl had

last been seen alive. The truck, with
a spool of wire in the rear, had been
found in the Wheelock garage.
Inspector Cosart, convinced that if
he found a man who had a record in
the neighborhood as a sex criminal,
he would have found the man who

‘could tell him something about what

had happened to the Reed girl, had
gone over police and court records of
both Steuben and Yates counties.

He learned that young Wheelock
two years before had been arrested
following an attack on a young Ham-
mondsport girl. Other minor crimes
of a similar nature were chalked up
against him in both counties.

_ But instead of attem ting to ques-
tion the youth at that time, Cosart
had conducted his investigation quiet-
ly. He learned that Wheelock worked
with his father operating a private
telephone system, drove a brown
truck about the country and was re-
puted to have asked numerous young
girls to go riding with him.

Confident that all he had to do was
keep a close watch on his suspect
until the body of the missing girl was
uncovered, Cosart had made no move
to or Wheelock in. He knew only
too well that before any man can be
convicted of a crime there must be
concrete evidence that crime has been
done. To have confronted Wheelock,
an experienced sex criminal, with a
charge upon which he could not pro-
duce actual evidence, would only
have given the man warning and al-
lowed him time to prepare an alibi.

An hour after his arrest, Wheelock
stood between two husky state
troopers, looking down upon the body
of the little girl he had brutally as-
saulted the week before. He uttered
no word.

Inspector Cosart, standing behind
him, spoke slowly. “Ready to tell us
about it?” There was no reply.

“Come on, Wheelock. We've got the
goods on you this time. You were
seen driving past the Burt fruit stand
with her. The sweater you are wear-
ing this minute was ripped when you
fought; there were traces of. fibre
from it under her fingernails.” ;

Still no answer came. .

“Maybe you’d rather go outside
there now—go out and explain to that
crowd that’s waiting to hear your
story?” .Cosart’s voice had taken on
a menacing note. .

For the first time a look of genuine
fear came into the eyes of the twenty-
seven-year-old Prattsburg man. His
face suddenly drained of all color, he
turned to the inspector.

“Get me out of here! Get me away
from this place... . I'll tell you every-
thing .. . just get me away before
they come in here!” .

An hour later, in the little county
jail at Batavia, Norman Wheelock told
his story... . .

I’ve always. been crazy (said the
Prattsburg sex-fiend), crazy about
young girls. I married one. We had
a baby, and I thought I was getting
over it. Then, about six months ago
it came on again. For weeks I'd drive
around the country watching girls,
wanting them.

Last week, on September 19th at
about 3 o’clock, I left home to install
a phone at Penn Yan. But on the way
over the craving came strong to me.
I drove around looking for a girl—
not really figuring on doing anything.
I just wanted to watch her... watch
the way her little body moved, so
soft and quick, like a kitten, when she
walked ... to keep my eyes on her

diets O aim

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every
we'll

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oector
derin-
tlined
zreat-
ate.
: Glen
Ran-
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down

; that
Penn
vf his

been
Reed
‘ina
word

a last
i left
with
girls
» stop
1 the

THEY TRAILED A WOLF——.

Left to right: Corp. Lippert; Sgt.
DeHollander; Trooper Fort; In-
spector Hoyt; and Trooper Scott.

road past St. Michael’s Cemetery to
her own home in suburban Indian
Pines.

Before parting, the girls made
plans for playing tennis the follow-
ing afternoon. “I’d like to make it
today—I feel in top form,” Evelyn
laughingly told her friend. “But I’ve
promised to get home early to help
mother.”

That was at four o’clock. Already
the sun had begun to sink low over
the ridge of tree-lined hills in the
distance and Evelyn felt a mild chill
as the cool autumn wind rose up
through the red-tinged foliage bor-
dering the roadway. She quickened
her pace.

Just before reaching the cemetery an automobile ap-
proached from the rear. A horn sounded and Evelyn
turned and waved to Mrs. Gladys Turner, a neighbor.
The car continued on. Later, Mrs. Turner was to
recall... .

“More than once I’ve offered Evelyn rides, but she
was an athletic girl and enjoyed her walk home from
school. It never occurred to me to stop and pick her up.”

It was the day after the girl’s disappearance that In-
spector Cosart got his first lead. Retracing the route she
had taken toward her home, the state officer came to

a the Burt fruit stand, facing the highway about 300

yards from the Reed residence. He approached Miss

TO THE CHAIR——
Norman Wheelock
starts for Sing Sing.

Arlene Hallock, the attendant, started his routine
questioning. ;

“Why, Evelyn came by here just before 5 o’clock yes-
terday,” Miss Hallock volunteered immediately. ‘She
was riding, though. Not walking as usual.”

“Riding?” The inspector’s surprise was in his voice.
Here at last was something which fitted in with his
conviction that no person can totally vanish from the
face of the earth while walking (Continued on page 91)

53


messes ns

brass band, a fairly good one. The bearded
musicians took part in all Benton Harbor
and St. Joseph street parades and even
toured with the baseball team.

Such things as amusement parks, base-
ball teams and marching bands may seem
ridiculous hobbies for a prophet. But King
Ben knew exactly what he was doing.
This uneducated hillbilly had an instinc-
tive grasp of public relations. In later
years, when one morals charge after an-
other was being brought against him,
local public opinion was always on his
side. Wasn’t he one of Benton Harbor’s
leading businessmen? Besides, how could
a man who loved baseball so much ever
do the things Ben Purnell was accused of?

And the morals charges were bound to
come. Because in spite of his wealth and
his new air of respectability, King Ben
still kept in force the “cleansing of the
blood” rites the Fifth Messenger had in-
troduced. Whenever a Flying Roller girl
caught his eye, he’d send one of his as-
sistants to call on the parents and sug-
gest it was time for their daughter’s re-
ligious instruction to begin.

“I remember when they first sent me
to Diamond House,” one young lady later
testified. “A bunch of us girls went in
together and they made a ceremony out
of it. The band was playing and every-
body was lined up. Queen Mary was wait-
ing at the top of the steps to welcome
us. Then King Benjamin came out and
stood beside her, all dressed in white.
Why, I thought I was going right into
the gates of Paradise!

“Afterward, when I saw my folks again
and told them what was happening, they

’

said I'd burn in Hell if I talked that way
... that everything King Benjamin did
was right and good.”

On secluded High Island in Lake Mich-
igan, Ben built a luxurious summer home.
Even today there are old Indian fisermen
living on neighboring islands who remem-
ber the sight of the bearded king sunning
himself on the beach with a dozen pretty
girls clustered around.

In spite of the many precautions taken,
rumors of what went on at Diamond
House could not be kept from the outside
world. In 1910 the first morals charge
was brought against Ben Purnell in open
court. He attempted to avoid the ordeal
of a trial by marrying off his entire cur-
rent harem, but a warrant was still issued
for his arrest. He fled to Canada and
stayed there until his lieutenants were
able to quiet things down.

In 1914 a man named Mose Clark, the
husband of a former Flying Roller girl,
charged Ben with seducing his wife. Once
again the king made a quick trip to Can-
ada. In 1919 a woman named Isabelle
Pritchard, a former colony member, swore
out a complaint on behalf of her two
daughters. Ben slipped out of this one
by having an affidavit testifying to his
“purity of conduct” prepared, and forc-
ing every Flying Roller woman to sign it.

But by 1922 the rising pressure of pub-
lic indignation could no longer be ignored.
The authorities were forced to act. A
standing warrant was issued for Purnell’s
arrest and raid after raid was made on
the colony. But King Ben was suddenly
nowhere to be found.

In the end, like Prince Mike before him,

‘ ASRS

King Ben was betrayed by a woman. On
the night of November 16, 1926, a girl ©
named Bessie Daniels walked into police ©
headquarters, told the startled authorities —
that Purnell had never left the colony,
and offered to lead them to him. Deep in
a secret system of rooms and passage-
ways beneath Diamond House, the 65-
year-old king was surprised in bed. He
and the three harem members attending
him at the time were hustled off in their —
nightclothes. ‘tee
In spite of the magnitude of the State _
of Michigan’s case against him, King Ben _
escaped punishment. When a physician *
announced that he most likely had only —
a short time to live, Ben was allowed to oi
return to his home, accompanied by an 3

8

a eee

ic aah
MS ee

oes

injunction prohibiting him from associat-
ing any way with the girls of the colony,
Even on his deathbed the court didn’t _
trust him. Fy:
He died on December 16, 1927. The Fly- ©
ing Rollers enshrined him in an elaborate ©
casket, then announced to the world that
he would return from the dead within ;
four days. A Michigan law requiring the
embalming of a body within 72 hours was £
extended by special court order to give
the corpse every possible chance. But
when the specified time passed with no
sign of life in the clever old fraud, who —
even in death seemed to be secretly laugh-
ing at those who worshipped him, the _
newspapermen went on to new assign-
ments and the world forgot King Ben,
leaving the bearded cultists to wait for his
resurrection in silence and obscurity.
Even today in Benton Harbor, Michi-
gan, a few of them are still waiting. a

74

Missing Beauty

[Continued from page 22]

—usually around three in the afternoon.

In spite of Evelyn’s desire to start work
on the surprise birthday cake, she stopped
off for a few minutes to say hello to
Ruth’s mother. Mrs. Dilson served cookies
and cocoa to the two youngsters and then
Evelyn picked up her books and headed
for. home.

At 4 o’clock on that Tuesday afternoon,
September 19, 1939, Mrs. Nancy Heldman,
who lived across the road from Lakeview
Cemetery, saw the pretty teenager hurry
by on Route 54. The woman waved a
greeting to the girl, and Evelyn waved
back. Then she continued on her way
toward the turn-in to Indian Pines.

It was in that short stretch of her
journey between Lakeview Cemetery and
her home on the outskirts of Indian Pines
that 16-year-old Evelyn Margaret Reed
vanished as if into thin air.

At six, that evening, Sidney Reed came
home from work to find the house empty.
He was surprised, but not immediately
worried by his daughter’s absence. Pul-
teney was only some ten miles away and
he assumed that Evelyn had gone there by
bus to accompany her mother home.

It was only when Mrs. Reed returned
home at eight with the news that she
hadn’t seen Evelyn that the father be-
came alarmed. Hurriedly the anxious
parents looked through the house. They
couldn’t find Evelyn’s school books or
any other indication that she had been
home since leaving for Penn Yan that
morning.

They began a frenzied round of phone
calls to Evelyn’s friends. From the Dilsons

42

they learned that Evelyn had actually
started for home at four in the afternoon.
What could have happened to the girl?

Almost out of his mind with worry,
Sidney Reed called State Policeman Fred
H. Guyle at the Troop D sub-station in
Penn Yan.

ke, Guyle knew the Reed family
too well to ascribe Evelyn's disappearance
to some juvenile peccadillo. Mr. and Mrs.
Reed were highly respected in Yates
County and Evelyn was a level headed
girl and devoted to her parents.

Wasting no time, Guyle got busy on the
teletype, clacking out a description of the
pretty high school girl to Troop D head-
quarters at Oneida Barracks and to the
sheriff’s office in Yates County. Then the
trooper hopped into his car and raced to
Indian Pines.

After talking with the frightened par-
ents, he interviewed Ruth Dilson and her
mother. Guyle grew even more troubled
when he learned how anxious Evelyn had
been to get home and bake a birthday
cake for her mother.

Getting back to his car, Guyle began a
meticulous search along Route 54. He
drove slowly, raking the fields and brush
that fringed either side of the road with
his headlights. He made inquiries at every
home or business place on the highway.

Of all the persons he questioned, only
one recalled seeing the girl that after-
noon. Mrs. Heldman told the trooper of
waving to Evelyn as the girl was passing
Lakeview Cemetery. From that point on,
the trooper was unable to pick up any
trace of the vanished high school senior.

According to Ruth Dilson, Evelyn had
been wearing a gray skirt and sweater
ensemble, a light sport jacket, a checked
scarf and a blue beret. A search of the
girl’s clothing in her room showed that
these articles were missing and pre-

sumably Evelyn was still wearing the
same outfit when she vanished. FE
These details were added to the missing
persons alarm which had been flashed
throughout Yates County and adjoining
areas. Throughout that Tuesday night,
troopers and deputies tooled their cars in a
and out the maze of backroads that thread —
the shores of Keuka Lake. Officers on foot, ©
carrying lanterns and flashlights, spread
out from the highway to search the vine- .
yards for which the region is famous. —.
«Trooper Guyle needed help in the ex- ©
panding hunt, and on Wednesday morn-
ing Inspector John Cosart of the Criminal
Bureau of Investigation hustled over to _
Indian Pines from Troop D headquarters. ee
Guyle quickly briefed his superior.
“What about boyfriends?” Cosart asked.
Guyle shook his head. “I’ve questio:
her folks, I’ve talked with her friends at am 9
school. As far as they know, she wasn’t
serious about any boy. She has gone to :
some parties, dances and affairs like that,
but otherwise she is pretty much of a _
home girl.” Bas
He explained that Evelyn had appeared ©
much more interested in athletics than in
romancing with the other sex. Popular at
school because of her prowess at tennis
and swimming, her name had never been
linked with that of a boy. Plenty of the _
local boys had tried to date her since _
Evelyn was decidedly pretty, with viva- —
cious brown eyes and light chestnut hair, —
but the girl had never seemed more than =

Uta
geod

5 rece a as
Saris te

tastes were still more those of the child _
than of the budding young woman. "4

“The way I see it,” Guyle went on, ~
“Evelyn got a ride before she reached —
home. Maybe she knew the driver or per- |
haps she was forced into the machine.
But, one way or another, I figure she waS ~~
taken away in an automobile.” a


NY on 8-1-1910

WHEE

LOCK, Electrocuted

scene

sense:

POLICE DETECTIVE, September, 1969

RAGEDY sat at the wheel of the black truck that
prowled slowly along the road out of Penn Yan, New
York on a gloomy September afternoon.

The driver’s narrow eyes glanced quickly back and forth
across the road as he drove. Then, as his moving eyes seem-
ed to find what they were searching for, he smiled strangely
to himself and brought the truck to an abrupt stop.

A young attractive girl of high school age, school books
in hand, dressed in a sports combination of blazer and green
skirt, looked up as the truck neared her. The driver smiled
tenderly, “Would you like a ride?” and ‘swung open the
door. The girl climbed into the car. It moved away. “How
far are you going?” the man queried.

“Down the road a little way. I live in Indian Pines
Road,” she replied.

The lean faced man stepped on the accelerator and
smiled softly at his new driving companion as the black
truck became a vague outline on the shadow-flecked high-
way.

“Missing from her Penn Yan home for three days, Evelyn
Reed, age thirteen - last seen dressed in sports blazer, green
skirt, and tan and white saddle shoes. Description follows:
Blonde hair, blue eyes, very pretty, attractive figure - looks
older than her thirteen years. If seen, please notify this
station or the nearest police immediately.” Radio station
WESG blared forth this message to citizens of Western New
York State. Newspapers made the disappearance a headline
story.

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Reed, Evelyn’s parents, frantically
implored Sheriff Jay Fitswater of Yates County to do
something. “Find our daughter,” they pleaded. “She must
be found. . . She must!”

Finally, the sheriff - desperate, stymied - called in In-
spector Eugene Hoyt of the Bureau of Criminal Investiga-
tion at Batavia, New York. Soon after Hoyt’s entrance
upon the case, Inspector John A. Cosart of Oneida threw
the full power of his brilliant police organization into the
search for the missing schoolgirl.

Two bloodhounds, unusually alert animals, were given
bits of Evelyn Reed’s clothing as a scent tracer. . . Routine
steps were being taken but, thus far, all efforts had proved
futile. A tenuous thread of doubt ran through the minds of
the officers. Had Evelyn Reed been murdered? If so, for
what reason? Attacked? Kidnaped? A victim of a sadist? If
a major crime had been committed, what happened to the
body?

The investigators were treading on shaky ground. . . Per-
haps the girl was off on a lark? Maybe she was visiting
friends? But no, the parents were certain that their daught-
er had done neither of these. (Continued on page 45)

EVELYN REED LOOKED MUCH OLDER
THAN HER THIRTEEN YEARS:

SHE NEVER RETURNED ALIVE FROM
HER RIDE IN THE BLACK TRUCK!


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According to all indications, then,
Evelyn Reed had been abducted by a
motorist whose car must have been
traveling over Route 54 at about 4 o’clock
Tuesday afternoon. The purpose behind
that abduction seemed only too ominously
clear.

The Reeds were people of moderate
circumstances, hardly the type of family
to be the target of professional kidnapers
bent on exacting a rich toll in ransom.
Moreover, no demand note or message had
been received.

The only other alternative that pre-
sented itself to the minds of the officers
was even more frightening. Evelyn Reed
was a pretty girl with a lush, ripening
figure. Perhaps a pair of lustful eyes had
fixed greedily on her fresh young beauty
as she walked along the road.

In view of the lack of clues, the officers
could only speculate, but they were cer-
tain that the teenager had been forced or
enticed into the car of a sex fiend. But
was he a stranger just passing through the
— or was he someone known to the
girl?

“My guess is that he belongs in these
parts,” Guyle conjectured. “We don’t see
many strangers around here, not at this
time of year when the resorts around
Keuka Lake are shut down after the sum-
mer season.

Cosart nodded. “A stranger would be
more apt to let the girl go, once he was
through with her. He could free her in
the woods and just keep going. But a guy
who lives in the area would be scared
stiff she’d put the finger on him. He might
be scared enough to kill in order to shut
her lips.”

Neither officer held out much hope that
the missing girl was still alive. Had the
abductor released her she would almost
certainly have been found by goto, 7 It
was more likely that her corpse was hid-
den somewhere in the stretches of fields
and woods around Keuka Lake or even
in the deep lake itself.

There was little the officers could do in
the meanwhile except press the search for
the girl or her body and seek out persons
who might have spotted a suspicious
looking car on Route 54 at the time of the
disappearance.

As the news that Evelyn Reed had
vanished spread over the countryside,
scores of volunteers converged on Penn
Yan to join the posses of searchers.
Farmers and fruit growers, a large group
from Penn Yan High School, firemen and
Civilian Conservation Camp _ workers
augmented the small army of state
troopers and sheriff’s deputies which
fanned out across the fields and plunged
into the woods.

Cosart phoned the distant Hawthorne
State Police Barracks in Westchester
County and requested that bloodhounds
be rushed to the scene of. the search.
Clifford Van Gelder, a pilot from Bath in
adjoining Steuben County, took to the air,
flying low to scan open fields and
meadows. Officials began dragging Indian
Pines’ water reservoir, a mile from where
Evelyn Reed was last seen.

State Corporal W. W. (Cy) Horton,
widely known as a dog handler, arrived
from Hawthorne in mid-afternoon with
old Bessie, famous in her own right, and
two other hounds. Given the scent from a
pair of shoes belonging to the missing
teenager, the animals were started on the
trail at the Dilson home.

Bessie began circling madly and then,
with a series of deep bayings, she plunged
ahead on the highway. For 200 yards she
lunged ahead tugging so fiercely at her
lead that Cy Horton had all he could do
to hang on. Then, at the side of the road,

she came to an abrupt halt. She sniffed
and scurried about, clearly trying to pick
up the scent again. She whined and darted
about in frenzied circles. But always she
came back to the same spot in the road.

Twice more Corporal Horton started
her on the track from the Dilson home,
and each time she came to a stop at the
same point in the road. It was obvious
that the trail ended there.

Horton shrugged and turned to Cosart
and Guyle. “The girl was picked up in a
car here. It has to be that way. If she’d
gone any farther on foot, old Bessie would
find her trail.”

Cosart and Guyle looked at each other
and nodded. Bessie’s keen nose had only
confirmed what they already believed—
that Evelyn Reed had been driven away
from the area in an automobile.

While the search of the countryside
went fruitlessly on, Cossart and Guyle
weren't overlooking other channels of in-
vestigation. They examined the missing
girl’s room, looking for letters that might
reveal some carefully guarded romance.
They found nothing of the kind. el

They closely questioned the girl’s heart-
broken parents about Evelyn’s habits. The
parents assured the officers that Evelyn
had never been known to accept a lift
from strangers. Moreover, the Reed couple
said, Evelyn didn’t know any boys who
had cars of their own.

In the days that followed, troopers from
other districts were funneled into the
massive hunt. Cosart appealed to his head-
quarters for more help, and the Bureau
of Criminal Investigation sent another of
its top sleuths, Inspector Eugene F. Hoyt
of Troop A, Batavia Barracks, to team up
with Cosart in the probe. Hoyt arrived on
Saturday with Trooper Michael Forte.

The search of the countryside reached
a peak of intensity on Sunday. Late. that
afternoon Pilot Van Gelder reported in
from his flight over the fields and woods
with some interesting information.

He had been flying low over some thick
woods near the Chateau Dugas, a well
known vacation resort on the shore of
Keuka Lake. As his plane swooped down,
he said, he spotted a man skulking in a
small clearing. Hearing the plane’s motors,
the man had looked up, apparently star-
tled. Then, hiding his face with his arm,
he had darted into the woods. Van Gelder
was unable to describe the man from that
one brief glimpse.

Because of the gathering darkness, a
search of the dense woodland was not pos-
sible that Sunday evening, but on Mon-
day morning a posse of 200 searchers con-
verged on the east shore of the lake.
Spaced ten feet apart they plunged into
the woods.

Slowly the long line of officers and vol-
unteers moved ahead, exploring every
bush, looking behind every out-cropping
of rock. Then, at three in the afternoon,
Lester Ramsey and Walter Cieslewicz,
two of the volunteers, made the grim find
which was to transform what had been a
search for a missing person into an all-
out hunt for a brutal, girl-mad slayer.

In a patch of matted weeds and grass,
hidden from any chance glance by a clump
of elm trees, the two possemen came
upon the twisted crumpled body of the
young girl. Ramsey let out a yell and other
searchers came running. Soon Cosart, Hoyt
and their aides were at the spot.

Evelyn Margaret Reed lay on her side,
her left temple crusted with dried blood
from a vicious wound in the skull. Bruises
on her face were evidence of the fierce
resistance with which she had tried to
fight off her killer. It had been a futile
resistance, for ruthless, lustful hands had

ripped and clawed at the girl’s clothing,
leaving her half naked. Nearby, torn by
those savage hands, were the school girl’s
panties.

Because the body was found just across
the Yates County line in Steuben County,
Dr. James.A. Sanford, coroner of Steuben
County, was called to examine the body.

The coroner pointed out dark purple
blotches on the girl’s arms and wrists. “He
must have been a strong man,” the doc-
tor declared. “It looks to me as if she was
still alive when she was brought here. He
grabbed her by the arms and dragged her
into the woods.”

“What made that wound in the head?”
Cosart wanted to know.

“Some instrument, narrow and sharp,”
the coroner said. “It was plunged into her
temple.”

“Could it be this?” Guyle asked. His
sharp eye had caught the glint of metal
in the weeds and he picked up a screw-
driver, holding it carefully so as not to
obliterate possible prints. It was a long,
thin-bladed tool, and on the blade were
dark rust stains.

The coroner nodded. “Very likely,” he
said. “The shape and size fits.”

There was no need to ask the coroner if
a sexual attack had been made. The
bruised body and ripped-off clothing were
answer enough.

Offering an opinion that the girl had
been dead five or six days at least, the
coroner prepared to move the body to
Bath, seat of Steuben County. He promised
to get started on the autopsy at once.

While the corpse was being carried in
a litter to the highway about 70 yards
away, the officers began a search of the
murder scene. Trampled weeds and
broken brush showed the course taken by
the killer as he hauled the girl through the
woods. Following the tracks, the officers
came to a path which wound through the
woods to a shack on the highway.

Now shut down, it had been operated
as a fruit stand during the tourist season.
In the soil behind the shack the officers
detected faint wheel tracks. Evidently a
car had been parked there. In a patch of
weeds some 20 feet away, the officers came
upon some school books bound together
by a strap, and the flyleaf of each volume
bore the name Evelyn Reed.

“It’s a pretty clear picture so far as it
goes,” Hoyt told his colleagues. “The
killer picked up the girl on Route 54 near
ther home. He drove her here and dragged
her into the woods. She resisted and he
killed her. Maybe because she fought him
off or because she could identify him. Our
job is to find him before he gets a yen for
another girl.”

The inspector was merely reflecting the
opinion of all the officers who realized the
importance of closing in on the killer fast.
They knew from experience that sex
criminals attack again and again in a
rhythm that follows the surging waves
of their abnormal appetites. Sated by one
foray for a short period, they remain in-
active until a new spasm of lust drives
them to seek a fresh victim. It was vital
to snare the Yates County rapist before
he struck again.

State Police Sgt. H. M. DeHollander
rushed the school books and screwdriver
to the BCI laboratory in Albany for study
by technicians. Meanwhile, officers can-
vassed all homes in the murder area and
the spot on Route 54 where Evelyn Reed
vanished for persons who had seen any
automobiles on Tuesday afternoon.

A farmer living about half a mile from
the shut-down fruit stand reported that
he had seen a car driving along the road
‘about 5 o’clock Tuesday afternoon.

“I remember,” he told Trooper Guyle,

43


“because the fellow in the car used to work
for me. He gave me some trouble, so I had
to get rid of him. Half the time he was
drunk and when I sent him to town for
supplies I sometimes wouldn’t see him
for the rest of the day. He’d find some
girl and just take off.”

On the basis of this tip, the troopers
picked up Fred Denson and brought him
in for questioning. Denson was a hefty
six-footer with big bony shoulders and
hands like meat hooks. He was about 30
years old, tanned from working in the
open fields and had thick brown hair that
fell over his forehead.

“Sure, I drove past that shack last Tues-
day,” the farmhand agreed, “but I didn’t
have anything to do with killing that girl.
pene get all the gals I want without killing

em.”

“Did you know the Reed girl?” Cosart
asked.

“Never heard of the kid until I read the
story in the papers about her being miss-
ing,” Denson said.

“How did you get that scratch on your

. face?” Hoyt demanded.

“Don’t rightly know,” Denson said
slowly. “I got liquored up Saturday night
and when I woke up Sunday I had the
scratch.”

“Sure you didn’t get that scratch last
Tuesday?” Cosart asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Denson retorted. “I
can’t figure why you got to pick on me.
I wasn’t the only guy near that shack
when I drove by.”

“You saw somebody else there?” Hoyt
demanded.

“Well, I saw another car,” the farm-
hand declared.

Pressed by the officers, Denson said that
as he drove along the highway he saw a
small truck turn into the road from be-
hind the shack.

“It went the other way, so I didn’t see
the driver,” Denson added. “It was a
black job, open in back. There was a reel
mounted on it like they use to carry wire
or cable.”

The farmhand was questioned for hours
but stuck to his story. He claimed he knew
nothing of the murder and swore that he
had actually seen a small black truck
drive away from the abandoned fruit-
stand. With nothing concrete against the
man, the officers allowed him to leave
until he could be investigated further.

“That black truck may be something
Denson just dreamed up to cover himself,”
Hoyt said. “But if he did see the truck,
then it’s probably the car we’re looking
for. In that case some one may have seen
it on Route 54 last Tuesday when the girl
disappeared.”

Troopers and deputies were dispatched
at once to talk with people who had homes
or business places on Route 54 near
Indian Pines. In this manner Trooper
Forte came to a vegetable stand on the
highway, a quarter of a mile beyond the
turn-in to Indian Pines. He described the
black truck to the clerk.

“Yes, I remember that truck, the
clerk recalled, “and the reel it had on the
back. And there was a girl sitting in front,
next to the driver. It was maybe half past
four in the afternoon. It went by fast and
I didn’t get a good look at either of them.
I never connected the truck with the
Reed girl.”

Denson’s story about the black truck
with the reel mounted on it abruptly took
on vital importance. It seemed that the
farmhand had, after all, been: telling the
truth.

An intensive hunt at once commenced
for the suspect vehicle. While almost every
farmer in the area owned a truck, this one
was more likely to be one used in some

44

business involving machinery. It might
belong to a plumber, an electrician, or
possibly to the telephone company. The
search began. :

Meanwhile the autopsy had been com-
pleted, confirming Dr. Sanford’s pre-
liminary finding that the girl had died of
the wound in the temple. The post mor-
tem also definitely established that the
school girl had been raped.

More important, the autopsy had un-
covered a tangible clue to the killer. Under
the dead girl’s fingernails on her right
hand, the doctor found tiny pieces of dark
blue wool lint. Since the specimens could
not have come from anything the girl
wore, it was presumed to come from a
garment worn by the killer.

Officers canvassed the clothing stores
in the county for dark blue woolen shirts
or jackets whose material matched the
specimens. On Wednesday, September 27,
officers visited a Penn Yan clothier who
had a stock of dark blue wool zipper
jackets which seemed to be of the proper
material. Lab men tested the dye which
proved to be identical with that of the
specimens.

The merchant checked his records and
found that he had sold 22 jackets from that
lot. Same of the sales had been charged
and could betraced. Others the dealer re-
membered. The police were able to trace
17 of the jackets to their owners. These
men were closely screened and checked
out. That left five of the jackets still not
accounted for.

Simultaneously the officers were con-
tinuing their search for the black truck.
One by one the plumbers and elec-
tricians in the Penn Yan area were
screened and eliminated. The telephone
company searched its records and re-
ported that no trucks had been out on
the Tuesday afternoon of the disappear-
ance.

Besides the main telephone company,
there were several small rural exchanges
which operated independently, and the
investigating officers turned their atten-
tion to these.

On Friday, September 29, they inves-
tigated such a rural exchange in Steuben
County. Troopers Harold Scott and E. W.
Sohmer went to the Wheelock exchange
and looked around. One of the first things
they noticed was a small black truck with
a reel mounted on the back of it.

Norman Wheelock, son of the owner,
was the outfit’s repairman. He was a tall,
lanky young fellow of 27. He wore spec-
tacles and had a mop of thick black hair.
The troopers spoke with young Wheelock
and he assured them that he had been
nowhere near Indian Pines on the after-
noon of Tuesday, September 19. The
officers inspected the truck and could find
nothing to arouse suspicion in it.

Going back to Penn Yan, the two
troopers made a routine check on young
Wheeler in the criminal files. They were
interested to learn that young Wheeler
had a record. He had actually served a
stretch for moral offenses in Attica State
Prison. However, since his release four
years before, his record had been clean.

But that one conviction plus the fact
that he drove a car of the description
given by witnesses made young Wheelock
a prime suspect. The troopers drove the
Penn Yan clothing merchant to Steuben
County and they waited near the ex-
change until Wheelock emerged.

The merchant studied the suspect
closely, then nodded. “He’s one of the men
who bought a wool jacket from me,” he
said positively.

The officers were definitély encouraged,
but they still had to place young Wheelock

in the vicinity of the kidnap scene on the
Tuesday afternoon of the murder. They
waited until Wheelock drove off in his
truck and then went into the exchange.
They asked that the records be checked
for September 19. They were elated to
learn from the clerk in charge that the ~
exchange had installed a new phone on

had vanished! a

"It was decided by Cosart and Hoyt that ~—
they had enough evidence to make an ~
arrest. That Friday evening, Scott and —
Sohmer went to the Wheeler home jn =
Prattsburg, an impressive rambling old —
mansion. a

Young Wheeler himself admitted the ~
two officers and showed them inside. ©
“What can I do for you?” he asked politely. 7

“We'd like you to come with us,” Scott 7
told him. “Inspector Hoyt wants to speak @
with you.” ; -

“About what?” Wheeler demanded, his |
thin face pale. .

“About the murder of the Reed girl,” ae
Scott said evenly. =

Behind the spectacles, panic showed in “|
the eyes of young Wheelock. He wet his
lips nervously and his hands clenched. “=
Suddenly he rushed wildly for the door. ~

Catlike, Sohmer leaped after him. In’ ™
one bound he reached Wheelock who had
wrenched open the door. The trooper
grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his
back. Scott had a pair of manacles ready
and in an instant Wheelock was hand-
cuffed.

Brought to Penn Yan and confronted
with the evidence against him, Norman
Wheelock soon broke down and admitted
that he was the rape-killer of 16-year-
old Evelyn Margaret Reed.

He told the officers that on Tuesday
afternoon, September 19, he had been do-
ing a repair job for his father. Suddenly
he became restless and said he was going
out on an installation job. He put in the
phone and then cruised along the high- =~
way looking for a girl. Seeing Evelyn —
Reed walking alone, he drew abreast of ~
her. He claimed he offered her a ride and 7|
that she accepted. =

As they reached the turn-off to Indian @
Pines, the girl asked to be let out but he @
kept on, stepping up the speed of the |
truck. When the girl protested, he told her @
that he was just taking her for a ride. 4

He reached the abandoned fruitstand =
and drove in back of the shack. Wheelock 4
said that he then tried to make love to the >

£

Pak rt iRRRa i aie tlle Baia ade a al

girl but she resisted. Dragging her out of =
the truck, he pulled her into the woods
and attacked her. Then, fearful that she 7
would tell her parents, he decided to kill =
her. Taking his screwdriver from the top =
of his leather boot where he carried it, 7
he plunged the blade into the girl’s temple.

Because the crime was committed in ~
Steuben County, young Wheelock was ©
hustled off to jail in Bath, the county
seat. He was duly indicted for the heinous
crime and after a long trial in which in-
sanity was offered as a defense, he was —
convicted of first degree murder on No- —
vember 19, 1939. Justice Nathan D. ~
Lapham sentenced the prisoner to death ~
in the electric chair. :

On the night of August 1, 1940, after ~
the prisoner had exhausted his right to —
appeal and after his plea for clemency ~
had been turned down by the governor of ~
New York, he was taken into the death ~
chamber in the prison at Ossining. The ©
switch was pulled twice and a charge of —
high voltage electricity snuffed out the ~
life of the young rape-killer. ¢

(The names Ruth Dilson, Nancy Heldman ——
and Fred Denson are fictitious to protect the ~~
identities of persons indirectly involved in the —
probe.—The Editor)


everything was taken into considera-.
tion. ‘Ever the testimony of the medi-
| experts leaned bis way; but with al:
thie in mind, sn nnd | by soles,
jabtinl and just, And with.

came to the onanimons, conclusion
Williams was guilty of murder in ‘thi
|| first degree and there was nothing for
| Justice Benton to do but fix the date.

for hie execution, the statute —
what the penalty mst be,

The story f bis crime is a story of @
most infamy ns outrage. H at been
committed fr pootiete iams
would id’ the. ten.

| paid by niembers of: bis

| burned at aay aR

everything that he ‘could: ask or: ‘claim
in the way of a fair and just trial, and,
‘din spite of doubts- and sneers of those
who. have little faith, in the Jaw, or’ BO
profess, it’ was demonstrated that the
; legal way ‘is the beat and ° that ample
justice was done, and. bie in the
promptest: manner,

Some of the details of his oa are
80 repulsive and revolting that they
| bave no place in the public prints, and
in fact they were not brought out on}
the trial, and others of them were!
touched upor_ only very lightly. The |
jary did not *kibw of. them; they are |

the ad } re told only by one man
{to an) ni Whispers bit never by
ja welt ry court fr even by a4
man to xe . Had the jary known

the full story the verdict would prob-
ably have been reached in about three
| tiiinutes, for in spite of oaths and @bli-
gitiona, in apite of solemn charges not
ta be intlagnced by passion or prejudice
pyran, gould not be abumab bein
}and. put: such matters’ ‘from his mind
| Otder to: deal fnirly ‘with a defendant.)
The district attorney epoke with an
tensity ‘which he could poorly cor
when be opened bis summing nop
|marks by saying that be was th
plead! for the Aterican noe au

ir was opened by a 1 with al
fone aod, a tevolver in the |,
He aaid, “Haye you got any
® and Doffy jokingly replied, |)
‘ote of it.” Then the negro pat)
revolver in hie pocket, whirled his
aloft: with both hands and dealt |
& crushing biow on the nang


‘ a The execat
pers Contained a thrill
Williams’ tions. when b


a a.

Gmeseo the past week bas been |
the trial of J ‘Williams, « colored
Dhan, On BC ‘of marder ip the firet

|| degree. Not since the conviction of
|Samuel Waymes for the murder of
{Emory Thayer twenty-one years ago
| bas 8 Livingston “eounty jury had the
solemn duty imposed apon it of decid.
ing whether # boman life bad been
‘taken wilfully and must be paid for by
the legal taking of another buman life,
Three sugh trials have been started bat
the district attorney cach time bas ec:
cepted‘a ‘plea by the defendant to a
‘| Jesser degree and vo the case of laat
week was, as said, the first one in twen-
| ty-one years to'reach-the jury, ,
It was a solemn and an.awfal thiog.
| THe defendant was. a colored man of
4 very. low intelligence. “His crime wae
fonl and dastardly, . There was no plea
to the effect that the wrong man-¥ae in|
énetody, for bis identity was establikted |
beyond yuestion, Neither® wad there
any denial of the charge age t
His attorneys admitted that be ts
the deed, and @ host-of witneenée i
stories ‘ were absolutely’ beyond’ aby
question of ‘dispute testified to: all. the
detaile of the crime charged against the
man, it was simply 8° qneetion” as to
whether he was of so flow a degree of
intelligence that he was frreeponsible
for what he bad done and shonid be
treated as an insane man rather than as
a desperate niurderer.

hy



September 25 was one of those sunny, diamond-clear days
for which the pastoral Finger Lakes region is known. The
leaves looked camouflaged by autumn’s brush in yellow, red
and brown. The crests of the hills were as sharp and bright
as coxcombs against the sky. And over every mile of that
scenic stretch along the lake, from Bluff Point to Penn Yan,
men and boys continued their search for the missing Evelyn
Reed.

Among them were two young men, Walter Cieslewicz of
Rochester and Lester Ramsey of New York who, with other
CCC lads from the White Hollow Camp, had been assigned
to scour the area where Van Gelder had seen the mysterious
figure. They had started out at dawn from the field marked
on Van Gelder’s map.

The stranger’s tracks were quite distinct.
where he had been standing when the
plane skimmed over the ridge, and where
his heels had scooped the soft damp
earth when he turned to run. From that
spot across the field the tracks were
widely spaced, thinning out where the
ground turned hard, and disappearing
completely at the edge of the woods.

“Well,” said Ramsey, “we'll just have
to take a patch at a time.”

The sun climbed up over the lake, hot
and .glaring; noon came, and with it
discouragement. This was hard, tiring
work, The undergrowth had a thousand
sharp fingers to tear skin and clothes;
the ground in spots was rotten and soggy
with the dead leaves of countless years.
There were steep ravines, rock-bound
gullies, occasional pits—a wild region
where one could find a score of places
to hide a body that might never be
found again.

They paused to eat sandwiches, then
went on. An hour passed... two hours,
and already the sun was sliding down
toward the rim of the sky and the after-
noon air was brisk and cool. It was
nearly four o'clock when they toiled up a gully and reached
a small clear space fringed by gnarled oaks. They knew the
highway was not far distant, they could hear an occasional
car whining around the sharp curves of the lake road. And
suddenly, as Ramsey paused for breath,and wiped his wet
face, he grabbed his companion’s arm with a fierce grip.

“Walt! Look at that, Walt!”

Cieslewicz stiffened, gulped and turned a puzzled look on
Ramsey. “What’s the matter? What do you mean?”

“Over there! Under that tree!”

“Oh, my gosh, Les—that must be her. . .

They found

HE TWO BOYS stood transfixed at the spot, staring.

The wind whimpered through the trees, and far off across
the hills there were muted echoes of sounds that meant life—
a speeding auto, the melancholy mooing of a cow, the thin
yip of a dog. But here was silence, frightening; here was
death, a scant ten yards from their white faces.

Evelyn Reed’s harmless, childish little life had found a
violent exit beneath those rustling limbs.

The late sun came down through the trees in strings of
dusty light that touched bare white flesh long since cold. She
was still wearing the bright plaid jacket in which she left
home a week before, but her neat green skirt and other
clothing had been torn off and flung to the ground several
feet away. What wounds she had they could not see; what
agonies she suffered none could know. But the hand that
had done this thing must have been impelled by a twisted
brain, for that slim youthful body was mottled with bruises
and cuts, and the left side of her face was horribly crushed.

Ramsey and Cieslewicz had seen enough.

10

JUSTICE Nathan Lapham said: “I
direct that you be put to death in
the manner prescribed by law. at

Sing Sing Prison. .. -

They backed away across the flat place, and in a moment
the hills throbbed to their shouts. And because sad news
travels swiftest, that unnatural tomb was soon swarming with
men and boys, and down in Penn Yan the stunned parents
could not believe what they heard.

Before the sun went down the hidden half-grave became a
gathering place for a group of somber men.

Inspectors Hoyt and Cosart were there; Dr. James J. San-
ford, Steuben County coroner, and Dr. Rudolf Schafer of
Corning, director of the county laboratory, came to take the
body. There were numerous troopers, Sergeant Elmer Le
Pointe, the official cameraman, sheriff’s deputies and repre-
sentatives of District Attorney George A. King.

They found what was almost a natural path down the gully
to the Route 54 road. And following it carefully, they came
upon a boarded shack, and a clump of
bushes that yielded Evelyn’s schoolbooks.
The small frame building, used as a fruit
stand during summer months, had been
closed up some weeks before, but there
was evidence that someone had broken
into it from the rear. In that shack,
Inspector Hoyt speculated, Evelyn Reed
might have fought and succumbed to an
attacker:

Gazing down at the grotesque figure
of murder’s tragic victim, Hoyt was
struck by the ferocity with which the
crime had been done. What manner of
man—or beast—would so batter a help-
less child? The detective got to his
knees on the damp ground and turned
on his flashlight to pierce the lengthen-
ing shadows.

“Say, doctor,” he said to Dr. San-
ford, “looks like she has some kind of
a wound on the side of her head.”

“Yes,” the coroner agreed, peering
closely at a small, blood-clotted spot
over the temple. “It seems to be a hole,
and a deep one at that.”

“Bullet ?”

“I don’t think so. The edges are too rough, and the diameter
of the wound is too small. But the autopsy will give us a
better idea.”

The autopsy did give a better idea.

It showed not only that Evelyn Reed had been slain by
an appalling thrust from some sharp instrument that cut deep
into her brain—but Dr. Sanford and Dr. Schafer found proof
that the girl had been violated. It was difficult for the
physicians to guess what weapon had pierced her head. But
it was something long and thin, about a quarter of an inch
in diameter, and had been sharp enough to drive through the
bone structure without much pressure. Death, Dr. Schafer
told Hoyt, had been mercifully instantaneous.

Working swiftly before a sudden fall rainstorm could destroy
possible clues to the crime, the state officers took numerous
photographs at the scene. They found a faint trail of foot-
prints where the fiend had scrambled down the gully to the
highway, and more footprints near the shrubs where the books
were found. On the soft earth near the shack were some tire
imprints, made by a car or truck that had been driven in off
the road.

There was one more clue—and it came from that pitiful
little body itself.

Trooper Clarence Pasto of the Bureau of Criminal Identi-
fication, photographing the dead girl’s injured face and other
parts of the body, noticed a dark discoloration under her
fingernails. He scooped under the nails with a scalpel, dropped
the scrapings under the microscope. And when the analysis
was done, he found—in addition to bits of skin, dust and dried
blood—that he had some blue wool fiber.

Not much, perhaps—but it might be (Continued on page 50)

She shot a man
dead on a crowded

Dallas street .. .

CORINNE MADDOX (right) takes a cigarette
as she tells police of the alleged knifing she
had suffered at the hands of Brooks Coffman.
whom she killed on Dallas’ Main Street.

N A BUSY street in Dallas, Texas,
on November 20, an alluring blond
girl suddenly stopped, drew two pistols
from her purse, and opened fire on a
man who was approaching. :

A bullet struck him and he fell.
“Stop!” he pleaded. “Don’t shoot any
more.”

She kept shooting, as passersby ran
for cover. The man lurched to his feet,
tried to run, then fell again as the blond
girl still poured bullets from both guns.
Then he lay quietly, and the girl put
away the guns from which she had fired
eleven bullets and surrendered to the
police. ;

The girl was twenty-six-year-old
Corinne Maddox, a stenographer and
daughter of a local bank official. The
man, who died soon afterward, was
Brooks C. Coffman, prominent, forty-
year-old Dallas attorney, a married man
with three children. ee

“I killed him because I hated him,
she said. “I was afraid of him, The
man was crazy.” 2 :

Behind this bizarre shooting, police
found an equally bizarre story. Two
years ago Miss Maddox had obtained
a peace bond against Coffman, charging
that he was about to attack her. Then
last May, she said, Coffman had taken
her for a drive. Outside the city he
parked and urged her to go to Cali-
fornia with him. When she refused, he
allegedly stabbed her three times with
an ice pick, puncturing both lungs.

Miss Maddox later recovered in a
hospital, and Coffman was awaiting
trial for assault when he was slain.

On November 30, a grand jury con-
sidered these things, refused to indict
Miss Maddox, set her free.

EVEN THE HARSHNESS of a police photo
‘ ight) cannot dim the beauty of this girl who
says she slew as a climax to a feud which
endangered her life. She was set free.

+ tues - : Se
& «= SPECTATORS gather at the spot where -
Ta the gitl shot down Coffman, ignoring {..-

= ve his pleas | “Stop—don't shoot any more.” Meat

« * re ae
0 OE ate nce BOS Em,


6)
6

DENN YAN

(AY |
oe ' BS
DRATTSBURG@) g >
ADs
ee
w WATKINS
©

(e) BATH

LAKE SENECA

es

~DENNSYLVANIA.

Even before tragic Evelyn
Reed’s body was found, the
law was watching her slayer!

DEATH FIRST SAW Evelyn Reed late on a September
afternoon.

She was walking gaily along the road on the western arm
of Lake Keuka, that lovely shimmering water that lies like
a silver tuning fork across Yates and Steuben Counties in
western New York. She was alone, en route to her suburban
home beyond Penn Yan, the bustling little town at the head
of the woods-fringed lake, where she attended school.

There was a cool breath of fall in the air that rippled the
face of the lake; the leaves on oaks and elms and other trees
were ruddied by the first soft brush of mellow autumn age.
There was laughter on her full lips, the sound and spirit of
Joyous youth, and perhaps a silent song in her throat.

Death looked at her through the lusting eyes of a twisted
human. And Death had his disciple wondering when he could
risk making the first move—wondering how to trick her, how
to betray her.

Today? No—not today, but soon.

He saw her swinging along the road to her home at Indian
Pines—a girl with a lithe, lowing figure developed far beyond
her thirteen years. He saw her breasts swelling against the
thin sports waist she wore. Her legs, bare and unhampered

PRETTY EVELYN REED (left), good student, good
athlete—what caused her to vanish as she
walked homeward from school in broad daylight?

INSIDE DETECTIVE, February,

j
he.

THE CRIMSON CRIME
AT LAKE KEUKA

MAP at left shows (A)
spot where the crime
was committed: Penn
Yan (B). where Evelyn -
Reed lived; Prattsburg
(C). where the killer was
under constant surveil-
lance: and Hornell (D).
where a jury condemned
him to the chair.

By Ward

Winslow

THE ACCUSED man
(center, right) is shown
between Sergeant Har-
old DeHollander and
Trooper Harold Scott,
who had to subdue him
by force at his home.

in roomy shorts, were strong and white and full of grace. She
was pretty, too, and the sun mirrored the gold lights in her
hair and the brightness of her smile.

And his mind was suddenly drowned in evil. His eves fol-
lowed her down the road, until she turned into the neat, red-
trimmed house just beyond the thinning fringe of town. And
then Death went away and left him there alone, in torment,
But not for long... .

EPTEMBER 19, 1939... . Shortly after 3:30 Pp. mM. when

the closing bell rang, dozens of boys and girls poured
out of Penn Yan's beautiful new junior high school, in the
center of town just a few short blocks from the business
district. And among those laughing youngsters swinging
their books and shouting greetings to one another, were Evelyn
Reed and her chum, Joyce Wheeler.

“Playing tennis today, Evelyn?”

“I don't think so, Joyce. Got some work to do at home.”

“Tlow about tomorrow ?”

“Well,” Evelyn replied as they reached Joyce’s home on
Burns Terrace, “I guess that'll be all right. I'll bring my
racket anyway.”

“A'l right. See you tomorrow.”

The tao girls parted company and Evelyn went on alone.
She shivered a little, and felt a sudden nerve-tingling sweep
of apprehension, as though someone were stepping softly at
her heels. She glanced back over her shoulder, but the side-

190

walk was deserted in that block. Perhaps it was the chill of the
air; perhaps it was a remnant of imagination. What was that
story they'd had in school? Oh, yes—the headless horseman.
Evelyn hurried on.

She came to St. Michael’s Cemetery, the citadel of the dead
whose silent stones stud a sharp slope of ground on the out-
skirts of town. The cold wave crept down her spine again;
she could not shake it, but there was still no one behind her
—and nothing on the street itself except a slow-moving truck
two blocks back.

She quickened her steps a little. The sun dropped fast
these late September afternoons and the weather’s tongue had
a cold, skin-prickling lick. The cemetery, whose last row of
nournful markers she had still not passed, seemed more for-
lorn, more depressing than ever before.

Cold brown earth. Aging trees wagging bony fingers.
Buried remnants of forgotten ancients. This was no place for
eager youth. Hurry ... hurry home.

And then suddenly, a voice calling. Calling to her, softly. ...

At six o'clock, with the shadows down deep over the sky
and a brisk wind whipping through the trees indicative of rain,
Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Reed allowed their worries to take con-
crete shape. Evelyn should have been home long before. She
would have telephoned if she had been delayed.

So they began and continued all those heart-breaking
gestures that parents frantically make when a child is lost—
phone calls to friends and neighbors, calls to hospitals and
police and the school. Standing in the-road to call her name

7

2

\

nl

f‘oqtum ‘fueUto

*2eTS

CL

) ueqne4s)

O°

">
‘

T fT gsnsny (£4ur

MOLITS


Le | following: ‘his: -conviction>of first der 34
Sot See murder here yesterday. after-

Sing. ‘Prison

Set

was ordered for Norman James

ME Rome ie

Wheelock, Bet B “of “Prattsburg

ese

oon: in the ‘sex. slaying of vein

Reed, 43, of. Penn Yan.
G Supreme - Court’; Justice Nathan
| D.:Lapham of Geneva. pronounced
j sentence and-set the week of Dec.
1 17. for. carrying out his order. Fil-
4 ing. of -an appéal will. automatically
stay xthe. _sentente, however. _
#: Although *Wheelock was not con-
: a picies aes ~until 3:44 p. m. after
sa — fone Seatac minutes: of delibera-

i. C@efendant «waived the
y lapse between the

|
t
|
\
|
. | J
_. NORM
|
|

; the time of »sentence.
“Sseaectelephone lineman, who is 27 Norman Wheelock, shown handcuffed in a recent. pose; was Siegen 8
‘#aced the court and ‘heari| sentenced. “yesterday to die in the electric chair the week :
| the-sentence pronounced. The de-| of Dec. 17 for the sae of Evel er > On Satur
\fendant-showed no visible. emotion j- SORE . : ee é, bes Po chime a ce | 27th birth
feo. i> f Prattsburg

| when. ‘he heard; that. “he was to die/

| ther of two
taken from
Sing prison
hewis sente
during ‘the

HTD: asous
an UGAY. 0) .5
BMOINEYS
iMdoYy Jo ‘uy
BE UerpTga
F.  ‘uoou

t of: (WAS Se

mony. +o deliver eh to. the ‘War-3: as oe a a. B betes s 3 ay maly. fiche,

ae of Sing: eines rison 4; Ossin- as ae oe = |e * ent JR Bench, vey : i *BAoT
ee et hess Baye £ ee mg He : z | Atreres pu

{heard Henry ‘Tuttle, Fremont, juror
he Nerdict venie es

re EM a ee ce he et an An. Nusnep as
. smoking a cigarét,. Norman. ‘Wheelock: ‘Saturday. afternoon |: pads s9UL0}0
left. the ne Mahe Jail ; for ane: ee oor to await | ‘gy ne
a “ al jemoy ‘pape

ess: ato: Deputy ‘Sheriff Daniel ‘Aber, tite “aochieal b-onery
_amin Faved farewell tb Sheriff. Bailey and. others, ‘of: theistafft ai y
bees ei mee : 4 2

ae is “ a
ins he” “automobile. ‘which “bore ef #0 sa
“ qheclock; on his 27th birthday to‘a. og
cyan appeal: “death “house ...cell, --were - Under- aLouL ABp
> Defense wo ft at Albany’ sheriff Lester Andrews and Deputy 4-8U[ S398
: Tt was’ ingict set aside. - ie Kruse, ‘besides Deputy’ “Aber {siayA epy
ater thatys Edna ey left at 12:35 pom. po. 35% ye SEY eag
ta Sail een i “Wheelock: may not: cdiedn: ‘the ea pUE se;
aia “electric” ‘chair »at :Sing-Sing.* the: “p SBy Os
rv ee font Seas todays) week of Dec. 17, as. scheduled. An BIA 401904
appeal. froin. the; decision: of: ithe > aq a:
“jury > which. Friday: sconvicted ‘him anc

of: the:.first ‘degree murder of .13- any £

“year-old Evelyn Reed will be taken # Y oui

4 93. paroxt

rosit ‘defense attorneys. «
IT -WILL SERVE as. a hee of &
Rexseation’ should -the Court ,of Ap-
-peals not; hand down-a- decision un-
til after-the: ‘date xset Friday “by (yi
‘Justice’ Nathan D. Lees for th
execution, | ay
4 Visited Snturdey’ morning’ ar his.
“ewite and. father, ‘Wheelock: display-
ad mo emotion. They conversed ‘pri- 1)
vasely - in ..as room - adjoining the

Binet? “We find the: spoke. fo Nor-

‘tale

roan: “Wheelock, “guilty yor. murder *

“Mrs: ‘Gidney Reed,” eatauis’ of: the?
afionl gave “no: ase ‘of: oe at

a ‘Wheelock showed . eth
i). beef -btew ‘at noon,’ He -had;
ed: solitaire. after, fast.

tre visitors arrived “At .10;30.

Reed: poser paptl ie
District mAttorney ‘George AL Hing

Munior. High School, was: a ptua: in

oe " chaos?
sf “Anthony 'gilinonte.? "of ° Johnson
City: AWEB eonvicted - here in. (1936. "at

Disappearance...
‘orth’ -one ofthe “most * extensive
searches in the history of Yates
-and Steuben: counties. “Blood+
ate and. see aided . police,
unteers an
the card : oe workers | “in
‘The detonae ; ntended | at “the
trial,” “which. opened» Oct. 16, that
“Wheelock ‘was: of “unsound mind”
and urged the juryto:commit-him
_to..the “proper: institution’. ‘for the
-rest of his days.”; <The | “prosecution:
‘Jabeled this contention “absurd, fe
‘ yand asked ‘the death ‘penalty, ;
‘The body was: ‘found: by two: ccc
: workers and the gir Y's schoolbooks ;
short ‘distance;
pecreted: ‘beneath onan *of;

; “Addison ¢ “farmers, 2) ‘4
onte’s conviction was aivnea “by.
the’ Court wot “Appeals” but* a -Gov-)
“ernor’s -ommission » ‘ruled. him | in-
o pane. He is now” ‘at Dannemora
State: hearth aos for.tne an
wane.” a? ;
: ynatice’ 4 ssentenced
' ‘Wheelock; ’ praiged ar: King, Attys.
Wightman . and. W.. ?Harle’ ‘Costello
of :Corning, .and: court” attendants
+ forthe! manner in “which -the ‘trial
“aves conducted. . He'said:in part: |
TEE COURT» desires ‘to * thank
the, sheriffs: and. his) staff. and
< especially the’: . four officers «in
charge ot the jury. Not one dreath
. off criticism .has: ‘reached. thé. ears
a ofthis court.on the smanner. sich.
ithéy “handled the: jury-‘during’: ‘this
Jong “trial,” :I- think’ the: citizens,
should know. the type* ‘and character.
ot. service ‘being rendered, tor this

tence. forvan' aitac! na: Serdar’ }
L this owith -witn es’ .stoties:
that'a“ telephone “lneman’s* truck,
at “been.seen near swhere: the’ ‘body,
was found, they arrested Wheelock}

cand claimed he confessed the crimes

mond lL. Andrews}! ty

and, Albert. “Randall, “the. erier.. ;
‘There is no court in“my: pinion, ee) i
which is conducted with: more :dig-: z :
nity and efficiency than the ‘Court es se Poe :
of . Steuben County.

i
|

. H

Bee a ee Ec RT |


ese

i

=

i,

. .. anxiously scanning every face and figure that came along
the dim-lit street. Prodding their stunned minds for some
clue to her whereabouts, some shred of conversation idly
dropped.

But the hours crawled on toward midnight—and there was
nothing. Evelyn Reed had vanished as irrevocably as though
she had been dropped into one of those moss-grown tombs
on the rolling slopes of St. Michael’s.

There was a brief flurry of hope once
early in the evening, when a neighbor
said he thought he had seen her on the
road to Pulteney, a small village some ten
miles southwest. Her grandparents, Mr.
and Mrs. William Coryell, were ill at their
home there, and Evelyn had gone there fre-
quently. But another phone call broke that
slim thread. Evelyn was not in Pulteney.

To the kindly people of Penn Yan, Ham-
mondsport, Bath, and other historic towns
that cluster around the picturesque lake, it
was inconceivable that a girl could disap-
pear so quickly, so completely, without a
trace.

Joyce Wheeler had left her about four
o'clock. Another friend, Mrs. Gladys
Turner, had seen her approaching the
cemetery half an hour later. Mrs. Turner
was driving home to Indian Pines, but did
not stop.

And when morning rolled around, Sheriff
Jay Fitzwater of Yates County had only
those two small futile links to a puzzle that
was soon to assume a monstrous shape. But
as yet there was nothing ominous, nothing
to betray the shadow of death. Just a little
girl missing—and the citizens of the two
counties took upon themselves the task of
finding her.

In the history of the Finger Lakes there
has never been a search so intense, so far-
flung. Before the end of that week actually
hundreds of men, women and children were
sweeping across the steep and rugged hills,
through tangled brush and clotted woods.
From every village within thirty miles
came troops of Boy Scouts; from Watkins
Glen and Kanona came 500 CCC youths
who knew every twisting canyon and grass-
grown path around the lake.

And while these searchers worked, the
law considered the problem in its own light.

Batavia sent husky Inspector Eugene F.
Hoyt, veteran of the New York State
Bureau of Criminal Identification; Oneida
dispatched lean and sharp-eyed Inspector
John A. Cosart of the same bureau; more
than a dozen state troopers came from
other towns to join Sheriff Fitzwater and
his deputies.

Inspector Hoyt took charge of the in-
vestigation on the assumption that a crime
had been done. He wasn’t sure—he could,
only guess. Kidnaping ? Seduction? A sex
murder? All three, perhaps. Those things had happened before.

HILE Inspector Cosart assumed command of the search-
ing forces with headquarters in the Yates County court-
house at Penn Yan, Hoyt began retracing Evelyn's route
from the junior high school to the cemetery. He called on
residents along the way, asked questions. He stopped in at
stores and gas stations, searching for the elusive thread.
_And finally he came upon the Burt fruit stand, facing the
highway not far from the Reed home, and introduced himself

8

to Miss Arlene Hallock, the attendant. Miss Hallock had
reported to the Penn Yan police that she had some information
on the mystery, and Hoyt asked her what she knew.

“Well, I saw Evelyn the afternoon she disappeared,” Miss
Hallock said, “She was riding——" -

“Riding ?” Hoyt interrupted in surprise.

“Yes—in a truck. It went right by my stand and Evelyn
waved at me.” .

What luck! Hoyt thought. Yet he nodded almost as though
he had expected that answer. It fitted in with his theory—

almost too well.

“What kind of a truck was it, Miss Hallock?” he asked.

“Oh, I can tell you that all right,” the young woman
answered. “I had never seen Evelyn riding a truck before.
Well, it was a dark-colored machine with some kind of a
reel on the back of it.”

“A reel? You mean like on a fishing pole?”

“Yes, only much bigger.”

Hoyt was silent for a moment, and his mind speculated on
that unique piece of information. What kind of a truck would
have a reel on its roof? A fire wagon? No—not that color.
A tow car, perhaps? A telephone company repair truck? Yes
—a lineman’s truck was the most likely. But even so, why
was the girl riding in it?

“You're sure it was Evelyn?” he asked.

“Oh, yes.”

“And the driver?”

Miss Hallock shook her head. “No—I'm sorry. I couldn’t
see who was driving.”

“But you say she was smiling and waved. Must have been
some friend of hers. Someone she trusted.”

“Undoubtedly. Evelyn wasn’t the sort to ask rides of
strangers.”

Inspector Hoyt hurried back to Penn Yan with the tense-
ness of a man who has a live wire in his hand. Find a man—
he told himself—who works for the telephone company and

who might have been repairing lines near the cemetery on
September 19. Find such a man who knew Evelyn Reed or
had seen her. And—grim and appalling thought—find a man
with a record as a sex offender.

But suppose the one hundred-to-one chance did succeed and
this nebulous character really existed. Then what? Arrest
him? For what crime? He had to have a crime first and then
—God forbid—a body. But he could go halfway. He could
be ready, there was no law against that. And so, before an-
other night dropped down over the secretive hills, Inspector
Hoyt was deep in the archives of Yates County crime—
searching for something he might never find... .

The hunt was some six days old when Clifford Van Gelder
of Bath, widely known Steuben County sportsman and former
airmail pilot, took off from Penn Yan to aid the posses from
the air.

Flying low in his sleek craft, Van Gelder first slid over the
densely wooded bluff that splits Lake Keuka into two narrow
prongs. The day was clear and bright, with the roads and
cleared places standing out like bald patches on the rugged
head of Bluff Point. Here and there he spotted groups of
CCC and Boy Scout searchers who waved to him as the plane
swooped low, dipped and shot on down the lake.

Van Gelder had been in the air perhaps an hour without
seeing anything worth reporting, when he crossed the line into
Steuben County and began hunting over a new area. And
there, dropping down over a slight ridge rimming a small
grain field, the flier saw the figure of a man.

He throttled down, banked and made a lazy arc over the
field, and thrust out his hand for a friendly wave. But sud-
denly, like a scarecrow come to life, the man bolted across the
stubble with great long strides. And as Van Gelder watched
in amazement, the thin leaping creature put his head down,
covered his face with his hands, and scuttled off into the
woods.

“Well, I'll be !” said Van Gelder aloud.

He cruised over the field a few minutes longer and then, his
suspicions crystallizing, he got out his map. The field, he
calculated quickly, was about half a mile south of the county

line, and perhaps 300 feet west of Route 54, the highway
paralleling the lake and connecting Hammondsport and Penn
Yan. He noticed a narrow gully west of the field, and spotted
the Chateau Dugas Restaurant on the road a little north of
the place. And then, shoving on the throttle, Van Gelder
streaked back to Penn Yan.

Inspector Cosart and Rexford Ransley, superintendent of
the White Hollow CCC Camp, heard the sportsman’s story
with a new surge of hope. ;

“That's quite a way south,” Cosart said, checking a map.
“About fifteen miles.”

“Yes,” Ransley agreed. “I don’t think any of my boys have
gotten down that far yet.”

“Well,” Van Gelder said, “what I saw might not mean any-
thing. This fellow may have been a farmer who thought my
ship was going to crash,”

“Sure,” Cosart nodded. “But we're not passing up anything,
no matter how slim it looks.”

“Okay,” Ransley said. “I’ll get a squad up there first thing
in the morning.”

9


Evelyn Reed, left, looked older than her years, Trooper
Fred H. Guyle is at the spot where the girl struggled with
her assailant. Above, two officers follow the footpath
into the woods over which the girl was led to her death.

a steady boy friend and. only occasionally went out with
the opposite sex to parties at the home of some girl friend.
Without exception her father called for her when it was
time to come home,

A search of the girl’s room disclosed nothing of im-
portance, no letters, addresses or telephone numbers of
friends. Reed remembered that when she left home for
school that morning she was wearing a gray skirt and
sweater ensemble, a light sport jacket, a checked scarf
around her neck, and a blue beret. This was verified when
Mrs. Reed checked her wardrobe. Immediately a ten-
county alarm was sent out on the state police teletype.

Early Wednesday morning, Inspector Cosart arrived in
Penn Yan to take personal charge of ‘the investigation,
After going over the route the missing girl was known to
have taken and examining all the facts so far assembled,
he requested bloodhounds from Hawthorne Barracks in
the hope the famous state police man-hunters would be
able to pick up the trail somewhere near the last known
spot Evelyn had been seen.

Meantime the stispicion that a sex criminal was at large
in the vicinity could not be ignored by the grim-faced law-
men. So far there was not the slightest evidence the girl
had left home of her own free will. Nor was it likely she
had been run down by some hit and run driver for hospitals
in Penn Yan and nearby towns had been contacted. More-
over, every foot of the heavily traveled Route 54 had been
searched far back from the shoulders on the chance the
girl might have been thrown to the side of the road by
some swiftly moving car or truck,

The forenoon of September 20th, organized posses of
volunteers including school children, Penn Yan police and
firemen, Yates County deputy sheriffs and Civilian Con-
servation Camp workers, began searching the countryside
and shores of Keuka Lake. The shallower parts of the lake
were examined from the air by Clifford Van Gelder, a
pilot from Bath, in Steuben County, adjoining Yates. The
troopers, under the direction of Guyle, dragged the village

36

wate
disa
Evel

TI
hand
old '
shoe
store
brea:
thro:
follo


ae”

Death and the Maiden |

[Continued from page 37]

from which blood had spread over her
marble-like features. :

There was not a doubt from the first
that the body was that of Evelyn Reed.
Soon Inspectors Cosart and Hoyt,
Sergeant DeHollander and other troopers,
arrived. It was seen at once that the
spot was about seventy yards from the
main highway and just across the Yates
County line in Steuben County. For this
reason, Dr. James A. Sanford, Steuben
County coroner was summoned.

While awaiting the arrival of the
medical man, troopers fanned out and
began a close search for clues. Nearby
they found the silk pants the girl had
worn, There was evidence she had made
a desperate fight to save herself from her

“attacker. But nothing else was discovered

nearby.

Turning their attention now on the
possible route taken by the murderer, it
was not difficult to trace a path through
broken undergrowth This trail led about
fifty feet to a wider, little used path which,
in turn, took the searchers to a shack
along the highway once known as
“Miller’s Roadside Fruit Stand.” The
place was unused for a long time and
weeds grew profusely all around it. At
one point behind the shack there was
evidence that a car had been parked
recently, but because of the hardness of
the ground no tire tread impressions could
be found.

Here agaiti a new search was instituted
for clues. Presently, Frank Kowl, of the
Kanona CCC camp, shouted for the

troopers. Lying in the weeds, twenty feet

from where the car had stood, were three
school books bound together with a strap.
In each was written the name of “Evelyn
Reed.” Obviously, the murderer had
thrown them there either before he had
dragged his victim into the brush or as
he was leaving.

Upon arrival, Coroner Sanford made
a partial examination of the body. The
victim’s arms and legs bore dark bruise
marks, indicating that she had been
beaten in her struggles to ward off her
assailant. Her wrists, especially, were
covered with contusions, indicating: the
abductor had put great pressure on them
in forcing her into the woods, The head
wound, Dr. Sanford said, was caused by
some sharp instrument which had been
plunged through the soft left temple into
the brain causing instant death. The
girl’s torn clothing and the partially nude
condition in which she was found was
evidence she had been raped.

When the body was lifted onto a
stretcher for removal to Bath, where an
autopsy would be conducted, Trooper
Guyle reached down and picked up a
long-shanked, thin-bladded screwdriver.
This he handed to Inspector Hoyt, who
examined it carefully. Dark stains on it
appeared to be dried blood. :

“Undoubtedly the murder weapon,” the

inspector stated, scowling and shaking .

his head in unbelief at the thought. “Send
it to the laboratory and have it examined
for fingerprints. If that’s blood on it,

» have it typed, too,” he ordered Sergeant

DeHollander.

The school books also were sent to the
BCT laboratory to'be examined for finger-
prints in the hope the killer. may have
left some tell-tale impressions.

Following hot on the news of-the find-
ing of the girl’s body, another. bit of

46

:: aes

information came to Inspector Hoyt from
Miss Alleen ‘Hallock, a clerk at the
Howard Burt vegetable stand on the
north side of Route 54. This was located
about a’ mile beyond the place. where
Evelyn Reed would have turned off to go
to her home in Indian Pines. Miss Hal-
lock, who said she had been away visiting
since the day after Evelyn’s disappear-
ance and had just returned and heard of
the tragedy, remembered seeing a black
truck pass the vegetable stand late Tues-
day afternoon, about 4:30, she thought,
in which a girl was riding beside the
driver. She said the girl waved at her
but at the time she didn’t recognize who
it was. Miss Hallock was now‘under the
impression it might have been Evelyn.
She didn’t notice the driver.

. The truck, she recalled, was a small one,
black in color and on the back platform

. there was something that looked like a

reel, The vehicle sped on down the road
and she thought no more about it.

Inspector Hoyt pursed his lips and
scowled as he heard the story. There
were many stall, black trucks traveling
the highway at all times and plenty of
girls rode in them with the drivers. But
the time seemed to fit into the picture of
Evelyn’s disappearance and slaying. At
least, it was worth closer investigation.

To isolate one black truck out of the
thousands in use by the fruit and vege-
table growers in that area was a task
Hoyt knew to be next to impossible, es-

ecially with such meager information.

et the fact of the reel on the back
platform might mean something. What
kind of trucks, mused the inspector to
himself, carried reels?

A plausible answer came quickly. Of
course, that of a plumber, electrical
wotker or perhaps the telephone com-
pany. There orababt were others, too,
but here was a starting place, at least.

Swiftly, troopers in plain clothes were
assigned to ferret out and question all
the plumbers, electrical workers and the
officials of the telephone company in the
district. The same question was asked of
everyone. Were any of your trucks out
the afternoon of Tuesday, September 19th,
and if so were they in the vicinity of
Route 54 and who was driving them?”

The telephone company could offer no
help after a hurried check-up for the day
and time. All trucks and outside employes
were quickly accounted for. In fact, none
of their trucks were in the area of the
murder scene on the 19th and all were
reported in the company garage at five
o’clock that afternoon.

Of a dozen plumbers in Penn Yan and
other nearby villages who might have
had calls in the vicinity of Indian Pines,
all accounted for their vehicles and men
satisfactorily.

The same lack of useful information
came from electrical repair stores. None
had calls in the vicinity and employes’
time was so recorded that none could
have been at the scene during the hours
the girl was spirited away and slain.

_Meantime a report was received from
the BCI laboratory at Albany where the
books and screwdriver had been sent for
examination and study. No fingerprints
were found on the screwdriver but the
stains on the blade were human blood and
the type was the same as that of Evelyn
Reed. This positively established it as
the murder weapon. Several fingerprints
on the books were so badly smudged
technicians were unable to classify them.

The autopsy on the girl’s body es-
tablished what Dr. Sanford had suspected
when he first examined it at the scene of
the murder. She had been beaten and
raped, then killed instantly when the

-f-

‘

screwdriver was plunged into her brain.
Moreover, from under the fingernail of
her right hand, minute pieces of dark
blue wool lint had been scraped. As the
girl wore no clothing of that color or

’ material at the time of her death, it was

concluded her attacker must have been
wearing a blue woolen shirt or jacket.
This now was regarded as the best clue
uncovered, The wool lint was sent to
the laboratory for analysis while detec-
tives visited men’s clothing stores in Penn
Yan in search of shirts and jackets of the
same color and texture.
_ The qttest for wool fabric similar to
the lint taken from under the dead girl’s
fingernails proved hopeful. In a Penn

Yan store where heavy clothing was sold °

to laborers, a dark blue, wool zipper jacket
«was found which, under microscopic ex-
aniination proved similar to the suspect
lint. Further chemical tests, made hur-

pam ered the dye was the same in-

both, The merchant was asked to search
his sales records for a year back in an
effort to deterinine, if possible, to whom
he had sold the garment. His original
stock had included four dozen jackets,
and now he had six remaining on his
shelves. It was quite an order but the
man, anxious to be of assistance in soly-
ing the brutal murder, went at it assisted
by his clerks and two state troopers.

The clothing merchant’s check of his
sales records was only half as effective
as the inspector had hoped it might be,
but this was expected. Of the forty-two
blue woolen jackets he had sold, only
fifteen could be traced through charge
accounts and the personal recollection of
clerks as to the purchasers. But with the
thoroughness for which the state police
are noted, the names of these persons
‘were taken and officers sent out to ques-

-tion them,

Ten men were quickly eliminated, all
being reliable citizens who could account
for their time the day of the murder. Two
proved to be transients who had left the
vicinity. Of the other three, Inspector
Hoyt studied the name of one for a long
time before conferring with Inspector
Cosart and Sergeant Herollander, An
hour later Troopers Harold Scott and
E, W. Sohmer were dispatched to ques-
tion a young man who lived with his
parents at Prattsburg, twenty-eight miles
southwest of Penn Yan, in Steuben
County.

Inspectors Hoyt and Cosart were grim
visaged as they awaited the return of the
troopers. They spoke quietly, but with
the assurance of men who, after being
thwarted in their search, at last looked
hopefully towards a solution. Hoyt, the
more cheerful of the two, explained that
he had been suspicious of the fellow his
men tlow were interrogating, but that a
thorough undercover investigation had

indicated he was in the clear as far as the

Reed girl’s murder was concerned,

“He has a bad record on morals of-
fennses,” he told his companion, “and he
did a stretch in Attica State Prison for
assault four years ago, but since being

aroled he has worked steadily for his
ather and kept out of trouble as far as
we could find out. He was one of the first
of the known sex offenders we checked.
His father, who is an honest, reliable and
wealthy citizen accounted for every min-
ute of his son’s time on that Tuesday
which caused us to pass him up as a
suspect.”

Inspector Cosart was thoughtful a
moment, “It’s the best lead we’ve had
yet,” he said. Then as an afterthought,
“You know what the old man’s business is,
don’t you?”


WHeLLOCK, Norman, white, elec, Sing Sing (Steuben County) A ugust 1, 19409/
; co o Pi ee] 5 y

Horror stalked the young girl on the lonely cemetery road

Peety Evelyn Margaret Reed, Penn Yan high school senior, had. no thought of
impending disaster when she started home from her classes on the pleasant fall after- |
noon of September 19, 1939. Nor was the bustling Yates County seat at the head of

Keuka Lake in New York’s Southern Tier vineyard country prepared for the tragic

and shocking series of events that was to follow in the wake of her disappearance,

Evelyn left the Penn Yan High School at 3 o’clock and started home, a distance of
two miles, with several girl chums. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs, Sidney Reed, lived in
a neat, two-story house in Indian Pines, on the outskirts of the village. A mile from
their starting point only Evelyn and Jane Seymour were left of the little group. They
stopped at a neighborhood grocery store and bought a loaf of bread for Jane’s mother.

Upon reaching the Seymour residence, Mrs. Seymour served them with cocoa and
cookies,

Shortly before 4 o’clock, Evelyn said she must hurry on home. It was her mother’s
birthday and she had promised to bake her a cake, The elder woman had been spending
several days with her aged, ailing parent in Pultney, ten miles away. At 4 p.m., Mrs.

Gladys Turner, whose residence was on Route 54 directly across from Lakeview Ceme-
tery, saw the girl pass and waved to her, receiving a cheery “hello” in response. She
was alone at the time.

Thereafter, Evelyn Reed could have walked straight into the bottomless deep of babe
mysterious Keuka Lake for all anyone knew or heard of her for the next six days.

That much of the girl’s movements was quickly established by the New York State
Police when, at 10 o’clock that night, Sidney Reed reported his daughter missing, Reed i)
said he had not informed the troopers of her disappearance sooner because he had not rte
cone home from work until late and thought Evelyn probably was with her mother. iy)
It was not until Mrs, Reed returned from the grandmother’s home in Pultney at “ih
8 o’clock that the father became aware that his daughter was missing. After phoning
the homes of several of his daughter’s friends where she frequently visited, among
then, being the Seymour place, and learning the gir] was not at any of them, he notified
State Trooper Fred H. Guyle, of Troop D sub-station in the village.

Had the call concerned an unknown person it might have been momentarily regarded
as the case of an irresponsible jitterbug out on a date, or an elopement, to be broadcast
on the police teletype at once and investigated at length and leisure the next morning.
But Guyle was personally acquainted with the Reeds, members of an old and highly
regarded Yates County family. He also knew the girl was not the type to stay out at
night unless her parents were aware of her whereabouts. :

Evelyn was extremely popular with her schoolmates, boys and girls alike, but had
not reached the age for serious romancing. She was an exceptionally pretty and chic
little miss, well developed for her age, with brown eyes that constantly twinkled be-
neath a mass of light chestnut hair crowning her head. Tennis and swimming were
het hobbies and she was remarkably proficient in both sports. She was studious enough,
obedient, and confined her activities to clean, wholesome fun and companionship.

Knowing all this, Guyle fost no
be 7] ys H F time directing those in his sub-station
4 ¥@ Ay command to an immediate investiga-

tion. At the same time he reported di-

rectly to his superior, Inspector John He
“ Cosart, of the Criminal Bureau of In- Ny
vestigation, Troop D, Oneida Bar- ih
‘racks, of the State Police. if

Long before morning the serious-
ness of the girl’s disappearance was i
apparent. Neighbors and friends had i

been roused from their slumber and ite
questioned, Every foot: of ground i
along the route Evelyn was known to re

have taken up to the time she passed }
the home of Mrs. Turner, was (
searched, From that point it was but “4
a half mile to the Reed place and this i
area was thoroughly combed. I
Mrs. Reed, terrified and with a fore-
boding of tragedy, told the investiga-
tors what she knew of her daughter’s
activities. She said Evelyn never had

BY HORACE B. BROWN

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water reservoir, a mile from the point where the girl
disappeared. After hours of diligent search no trace of
Evelyn had been found.

That afternoon Corporal W. W. (Cy) Horton, noted
handler of bloodhounds; arrived from Hawthorne with
old “Bessie” and two other dogs. Using one of the girl’s
shoes as a scent, the animals were started from the grocery
store where Jane Seymour and Evelyn had stopped for
bread. Soon Bessie ‘picked up the trail, let go a deep-
throated bay and lunged to her work with the other dogs
following in hot pursuit. Horton and an assistant had all
they could do to hold the hounds until they reached a point

.a hundred yards beyond the home of Mrs. Turner, who

last saw Evelyn, There the dogs lost the trail at the edge
of the highway. No matter how much they circled they
could not pick it up again. Twice more Corporal Horton
tried it with the same result.

“T’d say she got in an automobile right here,” he said
to Inspector Cosart.

The BCI chief nodded. “Perhaps forced into a car against
her will.” :

“Think it’s a kidnapping, then?” the corporal questioned,

Cosart was silent, his heavy brows knitted in perplexity.
Finally he said, “Could be, but before we jump at any con-
clusions I want to question her folks as to whether she was
in the habit of accepting rides home with people she did
not know.”

But this idea proved fruitless for the girl’s parents said
they never had known of Evelyn doing anything of the
kind. “Nor did she know any boys who had cars to drive,”
Mrs. Reed said tearfully.

Nightfall found the investigators no nearer a solution
to the mystery than they had been in the beginning, The
girl’s parents were verging on hysteria. Baffled by any
clue as to what had happened to Evelyn, Inspector Cosart
requested assistance from one of the top flight investigators
in the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, In-
spector Eugene F. Hoyt, of Troop A, Batavia Barracks.

A few hours later Hoyt, with Sergeant H. M, DeHol-
lander and Trooper Michael Forte, arrived on the scene.
By now a score of troopers were working on the case.

At the high school where Evelyn attended classes, Prin-

cipal Richard Canuteson assembled the pupils and urged .

each of them to make every effort to remember any incident
concerning Evelyn and her associations with boys and girls
and inform the state police. “Some very inconsequential
thing that you wouldn’t consider important at all, might be
just the clue the troopers need to find out what happened
to her,” he told them,

None came forward with anything useful.

Convinced by this time that the missing girl had been
kidnapped, Inspector Hoyt ordered a check of all known
sex offenders within a radius of fifty miles of Penn Yan.
Of a dozen such, known to the police, seven were found
and questioned, But they supplied alibis acceptable to the
inspector. The others were reported to have left their usual
haunts and had not been seen for months,

Then, just as the case seemed hopeless and destined to
go down in the records as unsolved, Pilot Van Gelder re-
turned from a routine searching flight and reported he had
observed a suspicious man in a clearing of dense woods
near the Chateau Dugas, a popular summer resort on
Keuka Lake. Van Gelder said the fellow had looked up on
hearing the plane and when he banked and turned for a
better view, the man had covered his face with his arms
and scurried away into the thicket. This was on Sunday,
September 24th, five days after Evelyn had disappeared.

It was too late that day to organize a searching party
but plans were made to have a hundred CCC workers from
Watkins Glenn in Schuyler County, under the direction
of Superintendent Rexford Ransley, at the scene at dawn.

As the September sun rose over the rim of the low,
rolling hills along the eastern shore of the lake, a hundred
young men, spaced ayerie five feet apart, were instructed
to search every foot of the wooded area surrounding the
place where Van Gelder had seen the mysterious man the
evening before, moved into the thicket. All day they beat
the brush, quartering back and forth through the woods
and clearings.

It was not until late afternoon that this action paid off.
About 3 o’clock, Lester Ramsey and Walter Cieslewicz,
who had become separated from their companions, halted
suddenly and stared at the semi-nude body of a young girl,
almost at their feet. On the left side of the head, near the
temple, there was an ugly wound [Continued on page 46]

The small black truck with a reel on top, seen on the road that led to The psychopathic criminal, with a record
the girl’s home, caused officers to suspect a plumber or an electrician. of morals charges, who abducted the girl.

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me,” he snapped, “‘let’s hear it.”

“Wheelock, you’re under arrest!”
barked DeHollander.

“What are you saying?” the father
gasped. ‘‘What for?”

“We think he can tell us what we
want to know about Evelyn Reed’s
death,’ DeHollander returned.

Wheelock’s eyes glittered. His first
opened and closed spasmodically.
“Get out of here,” he gritted. “I don’t
have to go! You don’t have a thing on
me!”

The tropper had faced resistance be-
fore. He was ready for anything. His
hand firm and powerful, clamped
Wheelock’s arm. Trooper Scott moved
in to lend assistance. Noting his ad-
vance, Wheelock, with the lightning
movement of a caged mink, landed a
well-aimed kick on the calf of Scott’s
leg. Then, clawing and shrieking, he
turned on DeHollander. Norman
Wheelock, propelled by a sobbing,
blinding fury, was fighting - fighting
for his very life.

Handcuffed, but far from subdued,
the twisting, kicking man was half
carried from the house and dumped
into the waiting police car. The black
truck was driven to Penn Yan for
identification.

The forces of the law were working
with comet-like speed...A murder
had been committed - a body found. A
man had been arrested. But - all this
was not as conclusive as it might
appear. The officers had yet to sur-
mount the last and most difficult
hurdle in the steeplechase to justice;
they had yet to prove, beyond grounds
for further argument, that their sus-
pect attacked and killed trusting
young Evelyn Reed.

At the time of the Prattsburg line-
man’s arrest, he was wearing a royal
blue sweater. Fibers from that sweater
checked with blue fibers that had
lodged under the fingers of the frantic
girl - on that horrible evening in the
lonely woods. The trucker, Sam
Layton, again came forward and
identified Wheelock’s ‘trouble truck’
as the one he had seen pulling away
from the stand. Miss Neiman claimed
that it looked exactly like the one she
had seen. A screwdriver found in the
lineman’s possession fitted perfectly
the description of the murder weapon.
On the fatal night Wheelock was
known to have been in the vicinity
where the murder occurred.

Wheelock saw these hard facts being
driven like nails into the walls of con-
viction that were rapidly encompassing
him. However, he remained unshaken.

The officers examined, re-examined,
and cross-examined him. Perhaps Gene
Hoyt was mistaken. Maybe Wheelock
was not guilty. The night of question-
ing wore on. Only time would tell.

A short time later, Sergeant De-
Hollander and Trooper Micky Forte
reported to Inspector Hoyt.

“Wheelock confessed! It took all
night, but he finally admitted guilt!”
Harry DeHollander placed a neatly
typewritten four-page confession on
Hoyt’s desk.

“He sure was a stubborn bird. I was
beginning to think he’d never crack.
But the evidence proved too much for
him. I suppose his conscience couldn't
take it.

Inspector Eugene Hoyt smiled.
“Great work, men. Great! I knew the
two of you would bring results if
Wheelock were guilty, and I was
positive he was the killer!”

Later, Norman Wheelock repeated
his sordid tale of murder.

“Tuesday about three-thirty, I left
my father’s shop, driving the black
trouble-truck. I drove south out of
Prattsburg, on the Prattsburgh-Bath
road, to Bean Station. Then I went up
the lake road to Branchport; then over
to Penn Yan. I got there as near as I
can recall at about four p.m. I drove
around Penn Yan for awhile and then
back along Elm street to the first
cemetery on the right hand side...
This was about four-twenty.”

“T saw a girl walk along at an
ordinary gait. She looked like a pretty
kid. I slowed up and asked her, ‘Would
you like a ride?’ She came over to the
car, and I opened the door. She got in
alongside me and didn’t say a word.
After starting, I said, ‘How far are you
going?’ She answered, ‘Down the road
a little ways. I live at Indian Pines
Road.’ We drove by a fruit stand, and I
saw a woman standing in front.

I drove right by the Indian Pines
Road where she lived. She got a little
nervous at first and asked me, ‘What
do you mean? Where are you going?’ I
said, ‘Down the road a little way.’ I
continued driving and she spoke again,
‘Where are you going down that way?’
she said. I answered her. ‘What’s the
matter don’t you want to go for a
little ride?’ She looked at me for a few
seconds then said, ‘All right.’

“TI then drove toward Branchport on
route 5 where I drove off the highway
about fifteen or twenty feet... She
started to scream and kick when she
realized what I was doing. I was afraid
that someone might hear her, so I
decided to kill her right there. I had a

screw driver in my right hightop shoe. .

I removed the screw driver and held it
in my right hand. Quickly I jabbed the
sharp end into her temple on the left
side. I jabbed it in as far as it would
go, and it didn’t seem to go in very
hard. She didn’t cry out, but she just
put her hand to her temple. She didn’t
move any more.

I returned to the truck and removed
her school books which were on the
seat. I hid them behind the fruit stand
and covered them with a pile of dried
weeds. Then I drove home, ate supper
and spent some time with my family. I
had no trouble in going to sleep after I
went to bed - ”

Lake country citizenry was in-
flamed. Threats hung in the air. Secret-
ly, Wheelock was taken from Batavia
to Hornell by a devious route and
placed under heavy guard. It was
feared that the killer would never
come to trial.

Insanity was the wedge with which
Allan J. Wightman and Earl Costello,
Wheelock’s defense counsel, attempted
to pry the killer free. A jury was called
and the trail set for October 16th, at
Hornell, New York. Attorney George
A. King and Clarence Brisco, the
proscution, enlisted the aid of Alien-
ists Doctor J.L. Van De Mark and
Doctor Richard H. Hutchins who
found Wheelock sane, but with mark-

ed criminal tendencies. Vocal contro- |

versy waged for hours. Finally, the de-
bate terminated when Justice Lapham
admitted the killer’s confession as
evidence! It took the jury exactly
three hours to find Norman J. Wheel-
ock guilty of murder.

And, for the first time, as he stood
there before the bench and heard the
death sentence pronounced, Wheelock
seemed to sense something of the
enormity of the crime. On August 1,
1940, Norman Wheelock was electro-
cuted in the Death House at Sing Sing.

When pretty, trusting Evelyn Reed
stepped into the black truck at the
invitation of a smiling, kind-faced
stranger, she had evidently forgotton
the warning that should constantly be
drilled into the minds of young girls
everywhere: A kind face and a tender
smile might easily be the lure of a
fiendish killer.

Note: The names Janet Thompson,
Edith Neiman, Bertha Neil, and Sam
Layton are pseudonyms used to pro-
tect those persons innocently involved
in this case. :

-— THE END —
47

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HITCH TO
THE GRAVE

(Continued from page 8)

The inspectors began an almost
hopeless task. Cliff VanGelder, local
aviator of Bath, New York, offered his
services to Cosart. He spent hours in
the air - circling, swooping, searching.

Days slid by. Inspector Hoyt, with
the able assistance of trooper Micky
Forte, worked tirelessly to solve the
mystery which shrouded the girl’s dis-
appearance. He interviewed Janet
Thompson, the Reed girl’s chum and
the last person to see Evelyn Reed.

She told of leaving school with
Evelyn, then parting as each went
home. Evelyn, she said, nearly always
took the route past the cemetery. The
Reed parents claimed that she never
hitch-hiked, and had never been in-
terested in boys.

The case assumed monstrous pro-
portions. Public interest flared, but
was of little aid. Inspector Hoyt and
Trooper Forte took the route to
Branchport - the last road known to
have been traveled by Evelyn Reed.

Hoyt brought his car to a stop at a
roadside fruitstand. A woman came
forward, evidently thinking them
customers. Hoyt explained his mission,
and the woman’s face turned thought-
ful. Then, slowly, she said, “Yes, I saw
Evelyn Reed and it was just on that
afternoon of the nineteenth!”

“What?” Hoyt was surprised. “Are
you absolutely certain it was Evelyn
you saw?” he asked.

“Yes, it was about half- -past four,

Tuesday. I was carrying vegetables ©

from my stand to a customer’s car
when Evelyn Reed went by. She was
riding in a black truck, and she smiled
and waved to me.”

“A black truck? Are you sure?”

“Yes, with a reel in back.”

“Did you recognize the driver?”

“No, I couldn’t see his face.”

‘Did you notice the license
number?”

“No, I didn’t think to look at it.”

“Would you be able to identify the
truck if you saw it again?” Mickey

asked her.
“I’m sure I would,” the woman

returned.

Thus, Miss Edith Neiman, the pro-
prietor of the roadside stand, gave
Hoyt his best clue to date.

The officers swung back to Penn

Yan.

“Forte, | want every truck driver in
this territory questioned,” Hoyt order-
ed. “Apparently, the last person to see
the girl was the driver of that black
truck. If you have any success, try to
tie it up with Miss Neiman’s identifi-
cation of the truck. That’s our best
lead.”

Micky Forte nodded and started to
work. Black trucks were numerous.
Driver after driver was questioned. Of
the men who drove trucks answering
the description given by Miss Neiman,
all seemed able to give satisfactory
accounts of their whereabouts at the
time the girl disappeared. However, a
few of them were under constant
surveillance.

But Gene Hoyt was not finished
yet! Making certain that no possible
source of information had been over-
looked, the officer again retraced the
route that Evelyn Reed usually
traveled from school to home. This
time he walked. Working directly from
the school, he stopped at stores, gas
stations and every house on the road.
On the way, he flung question after
question at pedestrians...Do you
know Evelyn Reed? Did you see her
riding in a black truck on the 19th?
Does anyone know a man accustomed
to picking up girls - a man who drives a
black truck?

When this process of questioning
had yielded a negative answer, Hoyt
hurried back to the school where he
talked with the girl’s teacher, Mrs.
Bertha Neil. Perhaps the parents had
been mistaken in their daughter. Did
Evelyn seem boy crazy? Did she ever
pick up rides? The teacher’s answer to
Hoyt brought him no nearer a solu-
tion: Evelyn Reed was a perfect
student. No, she wasn’t boy crazy even
though the boys in the school had
found her quite attractive. She was
fond of athletics and was well liked by
her school mates. Certainly not! She

never had been known to solicit rides.

Many times, she had told her how she
enjoyed the walk home after spending
the day in school.

It was logical to assume that Evelyn
had received a ride from someone she
knew. But who was that person? Clues
began to drift in. Citizens of Penn Yan
and the surrounding territory, in
answer to a widespread appeal from
newspapers and radio broadcasts, tried
to recall events of the evening of
September the nineteenth. One man
even told police that he heard a
piercing scream near Lakeside Park on
the night of Evelyn’s disappearance.

But all the leads and the clues that
had been amassed, when tracked
down, had proved to be worth little.
Evelyn Reed had been missing for
nearly a week. It was the sixth day -
and still no sign of her.

The door opened. A hulking figure
of a man loomed in the doorway, hat
in hand. He spoke, hesitatingly. .

“I don’t know if it’s important or
not,” the man told the officers, “but
the night the Reed kid disappeared I
saw a black truck that acted kinda
funny.”

“How do you mean funny?” Cosart
demanded.

“Well, I was hauling a truckload of
grapes, up near Chateau Dugas, when
all of a sudden a truck backed out
from behind a roadside stand. I had to
slam on the brakes to keep from
hittin’ it. The bird that was driving
looked excited. He beat it so fast I
couldn’t overtake him.”

“What did the truck look like?”

“It was a little black ‘pick up’ job.”

“Did you get the license number?”

“No, I didn’t have time for that.”

“Could you get a look at the
fellow?”

“The only thing I noticed was that.
he wore glasses. But I’d know that
truck again anywhere.”

“Sergeant,” Cosart turned to Ser-
geant C.L. Manning of the Oneida
barracks. “Search the vicinity of that
fruit stand! There’s a detail of Boy
Scouts searching that district now, but
they might have overlooked the
stand.”

Arriving at the stand, Sergeant
Manning and the trucker noted that it
had not been in use for some time. He
tried the door. It was unlocked. Tense
with anticipation, dreading what he
might find on the floor of the little
shack, the trooper swung open the
door and crossed the threshold.

“Empty!” the word burst in the
confines of the small room dispelling
the atmosphere of dread. A sigh of
relief escaped from the officer’s lips.

“Tet’s see if the tire marks of that
truck are visible,’ suggested the
sergeant. Peering intently, the two.
men were able to distinguish the tell-
tale marks to the point where the
vehicle had come to a halt.

“Took!” Sergeant Manning almost
shouted. “Here are two sets of foot
tracks leaving the car. They’re not very

clear, but you can make them out.”

The trucker bent to examine the
trooper’s find. “Neither set of tracks

- looks like a girl’s,” he offered.

“The small ones could be hers,”

45


Manning replied as his trained mind re-
called a description of the missing girl.
“She was wearing flat-heeled sport ox-
fords.”

The tracks could not be followed
more than a few feet from the drive.
The two men began a search of the
brush. Sergeant Manning, who was
directly behind the fruit stand, was
examining a clump of bushes...
Suddenly, he stiffened. His hand shot
into the bushes and drew forth several
objects: Two note books with dark
covers, two green books, and a brown
suede pencil case. His lips tightened to
a white line as he stared at the name
written on the inside of one of the
books. It was Evelyn Reed!

The two men were about to con-
tinue their grim search when the
woods, but a few yards distant, rang
with shouts.

Manning, closely followed by the
trucker dashed into the woods. A few
yards away, he came to a dead stop at
the sight of two shouting youths. The
boys’ eyes were fastened on the
huddled form of a girl, half buried in
the earth beneath a tall oak.

Here, far from watchful eyes and
helping hands, Evelyn Reed’s life had
slipped away.

Moving closer, Manning noticed that
the prostrate figure was attired in a
bright plaid jacket. His face winched as
he beheld a large clot of blood on the
side of the childish face. Her cold
body was covered with cuts and
bruises.

Immediately, Hoyt and Cosart were
summoned. Dr. James J. Sanford,
‘coroner of Steuben County, and Dr.
Rudolf Schafer of Corning’s labor-
atories with Sgt. Lee Pointe, and
Troopers Forte, Scott and Pasto,
accompanied by men from District
Attorney George A. King’s office were
soon grouped about the half hidden
body. An ugly wound gaped from the
left temple. It appeared to be a bullet
hole, but closer inspection identified
the wound as one caused by a sharp
instrument. The doctors judged that
the murder weapon must have been
long and sharp in order to penetrate
the bone structure of the skull and
Pierce the brain - something not unlike

_ an ice pick. A group of somber men

set about staking out the spot where
the girl’s broken body had lain.

Hoyt and Cosart scooped up the top
layer of dirt and placed it in cello-
phane bags. They carefully removed all
residue from the girl’s fingernails and
placed it in envelopes. Methodically,
Hoyt and Cosart inspected the death

46

scene. The schoolbooks found by
Manning were dusted for latent prints -
but without success. Contents of the
cellophane bags and envelopes were
considered an important factor. The
two inspectors were fully aware of the
“invisible clue” angle. They were
determined to give the spectroscope a
chance to display its amazing useful-
ness.

The lake country had become
aroused - frantic - belligerent.

Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Reed beseiged
Inspectors Hoyt and Cosart hourly.
‘Find the monster who murdered our
daughter!”

The sixth day had turned to night.
The two inspectors were conferring.
Inspector Eugene Hoyt sat at his desk
thumbing over a batch of reports.
“John, I have a complete list of known
criminals in this district.”

Cosart nodded. “Good idea. But the
country is filled with transient grape-
pickers. Any one of them could have
committed the murder. Still, you may
be able to get a lead from that list.”

The two men were silent. The
horror of their discovery still lingered
on their minds.

Then, slowly, an expression began
to take shape upon Hoyt’s face. “A
reel in back,”’ he murmured.

“What was that, Gene?” Cosart in-
quired.

“John, I think we’re near a solution.
If we can tie up the loose strands we
may have an immediate suspect. That
fruit stand attendant, Miss Neiman,
claimed that the black truck had a reel
in back. That can mean only one thing

“A telephone trouble truck,” said
Cosart.

The two poured over the list Hoyt
spread before him. Coming to one,
Hoyt paused and read aloud.

“4-14-31, grand larceny - stolen
auto. Five years probation. 4-24-34
assault Ist degree. 15-9-34 robbery.
6-5-34 assault. 15-25-34 sentenced to
Attica state prison for two and one
half years for Ist degree assault.” Hoyt
lingered over each word - enunciating
slowly.

“This boy looks like a repeater, all
right,” observed Cosart.

“He certainly does, and, if I’m right,
the clues all lead up to one fact: The
girl’s attacker is someone who lives in
this vicinity — ” .

“Let’s review this fellow’s history —

Fifteen minutes of silence were
broken only by the rustling of pages as
the two inspectors read.

“Here it is! His father owns a tele-

phone company at Prattsburg! It all

ties up.”

“Gene, we’re on our mettle now.
The entire community is in arms. We
can’t afford to make any slip-ups. And
we've got to work fast.”

“I know, John. I know. We'll each
send a couple of men after ‘ this
fellow.”

“I think it would be best to take
him in for questioning.”

“Right!”

The two criminal investigation
chiefs summoned four of their most
reliable men and gave them crisp, con-
Cise instructions.

Hoyt snapped additional instruction
as the troopers filed out. “Move fast,
men. Speed’s urgent. Give this fellow
relay questioning if necessary. We
must find the murdered!”

Sergeant Harry DeHollander and
Troopers Harold Scott, Micky Forte,
and E.W. Sohner were sent to Pratts-
burg.

A black truck, the type known to
telephone linesmen as a “trouble
truck,” pulled into a garage at the rear
of a large establishment on a quiet
residential street in the town of Pratts-
burg. A man stepped from the truck,
flung a quick glance in the direction of
the road, then entered the house.

“Hello, son”, he was greeted by an
elderly man of genial appearance. “‘Did
you get that ’phone installed?”

“It’s all set, dad,” the young man
replied as his lean frame eased into a
chair.

Suddenly, like a wire being perked
taut, the young man’s body tensed. A
sharp rap had sounded at the door.

“Tl answer it,” the father offered.
He moved to the door and swung it
open.

In strode two men - one attired ina
trooper’s uniform.

“I’m Sergeant DeHollander - State
Police,” the man in plain clothes spoke
up. He flashed his identification card.
“I want to talk to Norman Wheelock.”

Nonplused, the man who had
Opened the door nodded in .the
direction of the chair occupied by his
son. Norman Wheelock leaned for-
ward. His whitened knuckles gropped
the arm of his chair. His stare was de-
fiant.

DeHollander’s glance fell upon the
younger Wheelock. He saw a man, tall
and lean, with a thin predatory nose -
sharp virulent eyes set in the mark of a
Satyr face. Slowly the man rose from
his chair.

“If you have anything to say to

edt. Sa eee tae, et hae ee ae


HITE, CHéSter, black,

elec. NYP (Nassau) January 24, 19§7

wisting and dodg-

getting to stay in
> rest.”

Kuhlman, Poh-
considered as a
police. However,
ned his men that
1 would shoot. to

carried a gun
He was a petty
often for a living
ct of squalid con-
e had been work-
day of his arrest.
larper, Kuhlman
ype that abhors

talk in Ohio,
said: “Wait until
nown as a square

< to Matt Leach.
‘lice. commander
quickly, taking

finger missing.
d I would know

ial difference in
»y Poholsky and
ky placed Hicks
it actually at the
Captain Miller.
1 take part

the offer
because

ers, was

:d as coldly
mberment as of
ch he had ‘been

1 and Hicks had
ome on the pre-
roducing Kuhl-
hisky salesmen.
the auto while
he house. Soon
ticks called for

onscious on the
lind while he,
ook the uncon-
ito. Hicks later

to Cincinnati.

1ots

Warsaw, Ken-
ited for a ferrt,
ining. Poholsky

leaned back,
own with one
es with a gun
aptain Miller’s
drove to Madi-
back into Ken-

he lonely bap--
iad decided to
| digging. After
1 rock and had

tremor how he
inds. “I expect
('m ready. But
iger on Hicks

ed on Decem-
e C. O’Byrne
~*s*« Kenneth
and J.
¥ gen-

ng on
che trail

aa1S progress

/

was marked by holdups and led through
Nebraska. Once they thought they had
him in Lincoln, but he escaped to the
West Coast.

Early the morning of December 10
two bandits held up a downtown Port-
land, Oregon theater, tied up the theater
official employes and officials, and walked
out with a bag containing almost $1,000.
Unfortunately for the bandits, two police-
men aproached the theater just then to
act as guards for the transfer of the very
money the bandits carried.

Suspicious of the two strangers, the
officers followed them to an auto parked
nearby, then accosted them. One bandit
reached for his gun. A police fist swung
and connected hard with the bandit’s eye.
The bandit crumbled.

He was William Kuhlman. His finger-
prints quickly showed what he was
wanted for and before many hours In-
diana State Patrolmen Barton and Sheriff
Pulskamp were on a plane headed for
Portland.

Kuhlman‘ confessed to Portland Police
Chief H. M. Niles. He waived extradi-
tion, confessing again to Captain Matt
Leach after a fast return by plane to
Indiana. He told the Hicks’ jury essen-
tially the same gruesome story Poholsky
already had so unfeelingly told them.

He told Leach of a girl Williams Wad
picked up in Chicago and fallen in love
with, refusing to leave her. State detec-
tives immediately obtained information
about the girl. In Chicago they found her
parents. And on that day, Captain Matt
Leach in Brookville at the Hicks trial
offered to bet that Williams would be
under arrest in five days.

From the parents the detectives had
learned that the girl wrote letters to them,
and obtained the address of her apart-
ment in San Francisco.

Steps Into Police Trap

ATE December 16 a young man who

only a few days before had obtained
employment in a San Francisco dry
goods store as a salesman walked into the
apartment of the girl with whom he had
fallen in love.

It was into the arms of the police he
walked instead of into the arms of the
girl. He told her he hoped to escape the
electric chair and come back to her some-
time. She told him she would be waiting.

But opposed to the story of Frank Gore
Williams that he only thought Captain
Miller was to be kidnapped and that he
was not in the auto when the captain was
shot were the adverse stories of the
others. The same fate threatened him
that the jury had given to Heber L. Hicks
on December 21.

“Guilty of first degree murder as
charged in the indictment.”

That same night Judge O'Byrne sen-
tenced Hicks to die April 10 in the elegeric
chair.

Williams, Poholsky and Kuhlman were
whisked away to the state reformatory
after the trial because of fear that a jail
delivery would be attempted. Their pleas
were taken in February.

The piece of flesh and piece of home-
made shirt found about a mile and a half
from the baptismal pool was called only
a coincidence by the prosecution in the
Hicks trial. The jury said in its verdict
that the jurisdiction was in Indiana. Even
if the shots had been fired in Kentucky.
the state established through medical tes-
timony that the blows struck in- Indiana
would have been fatal.

OHN FIORENZA, depraved sex
/ murderer of Mrs. Nancy Titterton in
New York, was executed in the Sing
Sing death chair after appeals and peti-
tions to the governor had failed. A
sirigle strand of rope was the clue that
doomed Fiorenza to death.

od

Theodore DiDonne, 31, and Joseph
Bolognia, 24, two of six thugs who killed
a subway collector for a bagful of nickels,
paid for their brutal crime in the electric
chair.

5d

Louis R. Shaver, 58, was hanged at San
Quentin prison for the murder of his wife,
Lillian. Jealousy was the motive for the
murder.’

ad

Jesse Roberts, 24, a grocery clerk,
turned bandit and.killed a tavern keeper
in Chicago during a gun battle in which
he was wounded.: The wound proved
fatal. Roberts’ first crime, was his last.

bd

Tommie Howard was hanged in Caddo
parish jail, Louisiana, for the ambush
shooting of Daniel’L. Perkins, who sur-
vived his wounds. but was, crippled for
life.

ad

Louis Lazar, 29, was electrocuted for
the murder of Morris Saskowitz, 55.
Lazar killed Saskowitz during an argu-
ment over a $25 paint bill.

>

Chester White, 33, who slew his sweet-
heart: Charles Ham, 20, and Fred Fowler,
who killed a man during a holdup, were
executed on the same night at Sing Sing
prison.

ad

Edward Williams, 62, a confidence man
in the county jail at Chicago, complained
of rheumatic pains and was given a cup
of linament. He drank it and died a
suicide.

Ad

One of Sing Sing’s- oldest inmates,
Jack Parker, 76, died. there recently of
pneumonia. All his life Parker had been
in and out of prison. At the time of his
death he was serving a life sentence as
a fourth offender. He was known as
the “Gold Brick King."

CRIME NEVER PAYS

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Darine Detective 81


ry)

he would have looked almost noble,

When he was asked if he had anything to say he replied
in a firm, strong voice, "I have not."

The black cap was quickly adjusted, the lever pressed
and the drop fell. The body shot straight down, turned te
one side, and hung still. Not a muscle stirred. The neck
was broken and death was instantaneous. At 10:264 life was
pronounced extinct; in a few minutes the body was taken
down and the black cap removed. The features were veaceful,
and the only indication of his terrible fate was a slight
stain of blood on the side of his neck and a slight
blackness about the face.

The body was given to the undertaker who enbalmed and
placed it in an elegant casket covered with broadcloth,
which Wilson had paid for by selling horse-hair watch chains
and other trinkets which he made. The remains were then
taken to the 12;38 train, which reached here >t 7:34,

A large crowd had gathered at the depot to meet the remains,
which were taken to the residence of one of his sisters

who reside here. A large number of people gazed at the

dead man Thursday, and all that remained of George ‘“ilson

was committed to the earth at three o'clock in the afternoon

of that day, in the Jefferson stree cemetery, the Rev. Aubrey F.
Todrig officiating.

Wilson protested his innocenee to ‘the last. He Tornerly
lived here for many years, and both himself and wife were
well known here. Two sisters live here, and many other
relatives reside elsewhere in the County, and it was at his
earnest request that his remains were brought to Ellicottville
for burial. In a letter written Tuesday he requested that
a small green-covered book entitled "Forget Me Not,"
niso a coat and handkerchief which he wore be buried with

him.

The crime for which Wilson was hung is, so far as is known,..
as follows: He lived with his wife and family, in Albion.
It seems that he was paying considerable attention to a girl
named Laura Thompson, a servant who worked in town. To put
an end to this Mrs. Wilson wrote a letter to the girl's

6?

GEORGE \. WILSON |
PAYS THE EXTREME PENALTY OF THE LAW.

HIS BODY LAID TO REST *NEATH ELLICOTTVILLS SOIL
Full Particulars of the Last Act in the Horrible Tragedy
Enacted in Albion Eighteen Months Ago. - The Condemned Man
Meets Death Unflinchingly and Protests His Innocence to
the Last. -The Crime for “hich His Life Paid the Penalty.

The execution of George “ilson took place at Albion
Wednesday at 10:15 a.m., in the presence of only the jury,
officers, physicians and clergymen. His last night was spent
in a restless manner, although he endeavored to appear cool
and collected, and did not seem inclined to talk about
himself. Early in the morning a large crowd gathered
but a strong guard of G.A.R. veterans armed with repeating

rifles kept the mob at a distance. Wilson awoke at half-past

five and appeared much rested. He refused to taste of his

breakfast, but later partook of crackers and coffee with

a relish. At 9 o'clock the Sheriff read the death warrant

to Wilson, who sat with bowed head, evincing no emotion

and without any remark. |
At 10:12 the jail door opened and the Sheriff appeared,

followed by “ilson who was supported by a minister on either

side and conducted by two deputies. He was dressed in

a navy-blue sack suit, white shirt, stand-up collar, a collar

button inlaid with pearl, and a light»plaid tie. He wore

neat alligator-skin slippers, and carried a neat bouquet

of white flowers. His face wore a determined expression,

and/walked with a firm step, and quickly ascended the steps

to the gallows. One of the clergymen read a nortion of the

Scriptures and offered a short prayer after Wilson's arms

and legs were pinioned and the rope adjusted. The scene was

an impressive one. As the condemned man stood there with

death staring him in the face the glorious sunlight streamed

down lighting up his magnificent form and making his light

colored hair appear like gold, and but for a brutal expression,

& George H. Wilson, who formerly resided near here
and has relatives in town, was convicted of the murder
of his wife last week at Albion, and was sentenced
to be hanged. The Buffalo Evening News, which contained
engravings of Wilson, his wife and children; also of
the sheriff and district attorney, and the girl for
whom, it is supposed, the murder was committed, says:
The convicted man is not bad looking, and there is
something in the face that does win the friendship
of people. He is not intelligent and cannot read or
write, but he is as reckless in his amours as Don Juan,
and about as successful. He had a failing for pretty
faces - and this was his ruin - for the man had no
other bad habits. He was always industrious and faithful.

| PHeee eee
ff | The. Post, Ellicottville, N.Y., 20 July 1887.


father stating the situation. The next morning “ilson went

to a neighbor's and said his wife was dying, and asked
the neighbor to go and stay with her while he went for
a doctor. The neighbor did as requested, and found that
Mrs. Wilson had apparently been dead for several hours.
The examination developed the fact that she had been suffocated.
Wilson was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to be
hanged September 9, 1887. A stay was granted pending an
appeal for a new trial. The decision wss affirmed and
Wilson resentenced.
i ae
The Post, Ellicottville, N.Y., 4 July 1888.
### e+
The Rev. Aubrey F. Todrig was Rector of St. John's
Episcopal Church at Ellicottville.
There is no monument in the Jefferson Street cemetery,

nor in the Sunset Hill Cemetry.


Michael’s: Ce ome,
to: a :

j plant; Be

ae

“prize blo

fears

ake Road may,

aetna ilies

*: Fie. “How-close Evelyn Reed, missing Penn Yan. child: was to. home’: |

were give ae ; : when she. disappeared Tuesday: afternoon+is. shown: by: this map: of ©
Articles. of} Fer ‘Home neighborhood. Mrs. Turner, a neighbor; passed her by®
& were se-/ ithout. ‘giving her 2 ride ause She’ was -,s ear’ her home
rfor . taking peak oe aa Ss = = : = : 3 *

SE,
4

“Road

p traveled’ and thousands

have passed over it, since the: hunt
began, it“was hoped: the. dogs, one|-..

of which,'is ‘valued at: more. than:

- $1,000, would: be able to lead troop-|
-~ ers to somé’ sort of a clue.;° The)
animals aré: credited’ with’ clearing!

up four murder cases in ‘the last|
four years and-have. been known to} ;
successfully: follow~5-day-old trails. |”

- The girl's disappearance: from: a

_ busy road im broad daylight has
baffled even. veteran investigators.
_ She was- last seen Tuesday. about
4:30 p. m., walking along the well-
traveled. West’ Lake: Road: toward
her home a few hun red. yards
away at Indian Pines. =.=

heri'very
home, as ‘she. strolle
' her. schoolheoksx and. z be
bread: ‘under her: arm, ‘may-. have
- been indirectly: responsible for her
" disappearance: Mrs: Gladys Turner,
. and Indian. Pines neighbor, saw the
<*> Sirh-but ‘did not: pick 3

¥

sesame:

laide:
baat)


> definite

@ attrac-}%

tive eighth’ grade pupil. : ;

We An thes facilities. of’ the. State
Police,.county and: Village ‘authori-
“ies, Boy. Scouts, . schoolmates,

eeAmerican Legion; volunteer firemen

and other groups: were thrown: into
the hunt for the. girl, the only child

of Mr. and’ Mrs. Sidney + G.. Reedf

f' Indian Pines; a. half-mile
of Penn Yan... ;
ee ; — eg :

She was: last. seen about: 4:

i ‘Pe m. Tuesday- walking. toward

shome near the

es. told]

Her father,’ superintendent: ‘of

lines in the Pe

poration, missed her’ when F

he- returned home:
Gid not

“2 turned. from.

of,

sehen Oe ft: a ‘
Satire tot e

An. intensive’ search. for ‘some

' trace of the girl was started and }:"

“at L15.a. m. the Penn Yan fire
alarm whistle summoned volunteer
firemen to augment several hun-
dred residents: and Boy Scouts: in
scouring the hillsides along nearby

e Keuka- from Penn Yan to

Keuka Park.

Scores of flashlights, searchlights |.
On fire and municipal trucks. and{

car headlights were. used in the

all-night search of St. Michael's}.

and Lakeview Cemeteries along the
west lake road.

:. CGP ote at SRP gens

night}

‘ the: Reed home.”
~ Police also. were working on the.

every:

tweer:

wn hair}

last: seen: wa:

green ; woolen # skirt}

laid: sport: jacket with}

@ 80x and brows
hoes. ps

Fre: Guyle. in|

Ch. issued an ap.
any: information
nswering this de-
,, Pointing out.
tip: and ‘clue received

an. h
schoo! work...’

the girl may have

t her grandfather, |

ho has been

upplied. with f-::

cakes: by the

' the Salvation!

een

y Oneida Bar-

Ment’ from Troop
at: Hawthorne arrived Fast night

He search, ‘*

pith-trained bloodhound’ to’ assist [2""
in: the: it aN a fe

Object of Search Ne

Na

-old Evelyn Reed: ‘above, dau;

2s

hg

“Reed of. Penn: Yan, still was ¥

ving disappeared-while-on hey
; Volunteers a


“Penn Yan —A 27-year-old
_ telephone lineman, arrested}:
| within an hour after the body
\ of Evelyn Reed, 13-year-old :
( ,Penn*Yan school girl, was| *
4, found in-a lonely: wood near}
=s\ Branchport yesterday after-|
j noon, was scheduled to be.ar-|
i -raigned: in Bath ‘today .on a
's Murder. charge... =~ phone
|; ‘He -is’) Norman’ “Wheelock . of |
Prattsburg, -married and
of:.two..children.: >.’ -

“= "veillance for ‘three nd.a half days,
“after . police:“traced ‘persons previ-
ously convicted on-assault charges
dn the ‘area. Steuben County fail}
-”,Fecords show Wheelock ‘-was.'sen-
_tenced to 2% -years in Attica State

vot Tison on: Oct. -25, 1934;after ‘he |’
‘#) pleaded <guilty” to assault, seconil
degree, on a 23-year-sld,-woman. >’

2. Inspector Hugené Hoyt’ of: Troop
AY Batavia “state police “barracks,
“seid-that” Wheelock“ ximiitted “the
» Reed girl's. slaying) 3
~." Coronér .James Sanford -of Bath|
announced “after an/ autopsy’: early):
“today in a’ Hammondsport: funeral
“home that the girl-died of “shock |_
and °.acerebral. hemorrhage in-

\.) duced by,.a sharp instrument.” ©)
“State police ‘said, thé-scene where
‘the : body. .ayas found “showed ‘evi.
dence sof -a .strugplei?\“The girt's >,
wrists were bruised as though they |.

| had “been: bound or,held

eka es ‘bunt for pretty Evely.
oh tat A inte one.) teday.:° Her’ attered body %
a pala eh sd Suara ete feoes| miles South of Branchport®

Pee cane h ie en ee litelemhome dineman ‘was .arres
the. scene of the crime, , He Wass os

, Moveg ‘tothe Batavig!trooper bar-| SN Me Sh elise BONES ee
mache’ Gua held under’close guard, |from-*the -Branchport-Hammonds-,
»>. Inspector Hoyt “refused to give|port state highway, d'in:
_)details“of circumstances which ‘led la plaid’ jacket’ itr

to Wheelock’s arrest. and alleged henor. student had Or
confession; -but it “was reported last Ty day. “The skivi
“that. auto tire tracks and “other{|/@8t Tuesday. T oe
clues” were found at the scene... |Clathing were missing
* Evelyn, ‘the only child'of Mr. and!’ Evelyn’s books were
Mrs.. Sit Es
Penn" Yan,

a

nt of lines | Branchpor
district of thelwhere the body day
Corporation.» '; riche and Gas | covered tump.
Nd Mate el gh cae og Pe AD woman. iving in. the vicinity)’
; jel geama 9 of ae eck lente DY of the ‘knoll, whose identity was |,
edie ts mere AON) wETOP | not ‘disclosed, told police:she heard
~ enrollees climaxed a ‘six-day search ia ecream vabout dusk: last’ Tuesday.
in which’ more than 1,000 Persona eho eee ma

‘an airplane and state police plood-|Plane Sights Man *
hounds’ took part. Credit’ for -the}, Not at away.-was field: ‘wher
was BivenGto‘Lestepenine “ain, ia ma
di" Walter*-Cieslewies Clifford Van Gelder, Bath’ airplane

the White Hollow Cc

pilot, reported’ seeing a’man vrun

rat top.speed into wooés last Friday
% pir: , (388 he circled in his plane overhead.
ee sr “A A searching party directed to ‘the
wien te TP oP. oe more than oanispot by, Van. Gelder reported “find-}>.
on. Doce. ieee. whe oes terday ; oe 200) ing footprints are) led. down’ into
‘isinegoded lien along’ he went |&£U7Y and ended at the date nign

ey THenboa ee a init thorities a man ran’to thethighwa

“between two ‘gullies abont 200 “feet


OPERATION HELP ! ! !

Letter from the President:

These are the times that try men’s souls—and
their finances, too! The Board of Directors has been
wrestling with the super-challenge of raising $31,500
in order to match the newly-received Federal-State
grant of $31,500. This new grant will assure us the
funds needed for the second phase of restoration work
for our unique and beloved Bronck House. In the first
phase, the Society used $25,000 of its own funds to
match the first Federal-State grant of $25,000. The
total restoration work has been estimated at $113,000.
This seems like a lot of money—and it is. But no
amount of money could possibly replace the Bronck
House with its historical traditions that span over
300 years.

Wilbur Cross of the Catskill Savings Bank is head-
ing the fund drive. To date, about $15,000 has been
donated or pledged by businesses, banks, organizations
and individuals. However, at this point, the fund drive
is being directed at the general membership, from
whom we hope to raise the balance. The enclosed
brochure will explain further and help you make your
generous tax-deductible contribution in the knowledge
that you are helping preserve for future generations an
important part of our heritage—our roots here in the
Hudson Valley. Remember that the Society receives no
taxpayer support and is operated through memberships,
admissions, contributions and bequests, and volunteer
help. Its operation is truly a “labor of love.”

If you haven’t yet sent your membership to
Dorothy Smith, please do so at the earliest, so that
we may continue sending you the Quarterly Journal.
We would appreciate hearing your comments on the
Journal. Also, if you have suitable material, contact the
editor, Ray Beecher.

This summer we will engage in some interesting
activities, such as a new Historic Home Tour, another
operatic performance by the singing Figols family,
more landscaping by the Men’s Garden Club and a
Nature Walk for all to enjoy.

We are looking forward to the Society’s 50th
anniversary in 1979. Hopefully we will have a restored
Bronck House in which to celebrate. Please help us
materialize these plans. The restored Bronck House
should be a cultural center, rich in its heritage of the
past, but also a dynamic force for the culture of the
present and the future.

Sincerely,

J. Ruben Garcia

ooood0ad
Anthony J. Gambino, former New Baltimore town
historian, and contributing photographer to this Jour-
nal, is researching material for his forthcoming book
dealing with sloops, steamboats and river men of that
vicinity. Any information and photographs would be

appreciated. Contact him at Box 159, New Baltimore. ;

oooad0d

PLANS FOR
1978 TRADING POST SEASON UNDERWAY

Who left that box of merchandise? Should it be.
priced now? Is that a piece of antique glassware? Is this
fork plated or sterling? Which sales room for display?
Such questions and many others arise each day as
volunteers staff the Trading Post during the summer
months. This phase of museum operations, conceived
by George Bagley, each year raises thousands of
dollars toward the Bronck Museum’s budget.

Bargain hunters, antique dealers and collectors of
all sorts, as well as the visiting museum public, find
their way to the buildings west of the parking lot.
Some donate as well as purchase. Cut glass has gone to
Texas, documents to California, furniture to New York
City — as collecting tastes continue to change and
broaden, a wide variety of stock is sold.

The secret of this highly successful Trading Post
lies in the dedication of some twenty volunteers, some
of whom come weekly, others serving as substitutes
on call. Some days little is sold as patronage is light.
On other days the staff is busy. It is all part of the
story.

In hot weather, cool weather, in sunshine and in
rain, Kay Newbury’s volunteer staff is on deck. Some
like to work in teams such as Betty Greene, Eleanor
Albright (Athens), and Pauline Smith; Elsa Unterbusch
and June Vincent; Kay and Danny Monahan; Marion
Becker and Edna Muller; Mildred Van Ess and Olga
Santora. Others like Walter and Frances Dietz, Mary
Lankenau, Thelma Dolan and Laura Irwin provide
essential substitute coverage. And certainly no one
over the years has been more diligent in attendance
than Edna Gallt of Catskill.

As Kay Newbury starts to plan the 1978 season
which runs from mid-June into early September, give
some thought to becoming a volunteer. Or if you have
merchandise to donate (other than used clothing),

write her a note at R.D. Coxsackie, 12051. Join
these Friends of Bronck Museum!

ooo0aq000d
Greene County Historical Society NON-PROFIT

Raymond Beecher, Editor

R. D.

COXSACKIE, NEW YORK 12051 PAID

ORGANIZATION
U. S. POSTAGE

CATSKILL, N. Y. 12414
PERMIT NO. 91


to her brain.
fingernail of
‘ces of dark
iped. As the
hat color or
death, it was
st have been
rt or jacket.
the best clue
was sent to
while detec-
cores in Penn
ackets of the

c similar to
e dead girl’s

In a Penn
ing was sold
zipper jacket
sroscopic ex-
the suspect
5, made hur-

the same in -

ced to search
* back in an
dle, to whom
His original
zen jackets,
ining on his
rder but the
ance in soly-
at it assisted
roopers.

s check of his
as effective
it might be,
he forty-two

d sold, only

ough charge

scollection of

But with the

: police
persons
oO ques-

iminated, all
ould account
nurder. Two
had left the
‘e, Inspector

ae for a long -

:h Inspector
lander. An
d Scott and
hed to ques-
red with his
y-eight miles
in Steuben

rt were grim
return of the
ly, but with
after being
: last looked
1. Hoyt, the
xplained that
he fellow his
z, but that a
tigation had
as far as the
icerned,
a morals of-
ion, “and he
e Prison for
since being
adily for his
ble as far as
ae of the first
we checked.
. feliable and
every min-
hat Tuesday
lim up as a

thoughtful a
.d we've had
afterthought,
's business is,

“Sure, he owns a small rural telephone
exchange over in Steuben County. Made
a stall fortune at it, they say.”

Hoyt stopped speaking as abruptly as
he had replied. “Say, the piece fits into
the puzzle better than I thought.” He
spoke rapidly as he went on. “The truck
with the reel on the platform, that elec-
triclan’s screwdriver. Now all we need is
to put that blue, woolen jacket on the
young fellow, find a black truck at the
old man’s place, and there’s your mur-
derer.”

“You've got the jacket on him already,”
Inspector Cosart reminded with a grin,
“Didn’t he buy one at that clothing store
in Penn Yan? As for the truck, well,
let's wait and see what the boys find.”

Meanwhile, Troopers Scott and Soh-
mer arrived at the home of Norman James
Wheelock,. in Prattsburg and were ad-
mitted to the rambling old mansion by
the elder Wheelock. ene

They told him they wanted to talk with
his son, Norman. Puzzled at a visit from
the state police, he sttnimoned the
youth,

Youtig Wheelock was a lanky, be-
spectacled, yet strapping fellow of 27
bronzed from outdoor work. He appeared
perfectly at ease and replied in an even
voice to the preliminary questions the
officets asked. As soon as it-developed he
was being interrogated about the Reed
murder, he reminded them others already
had talked with him about it and that he
had heen exonerated of any complicity.
He adtnitted frankly that he had served a
short sentence in Attica for assault on a
girl, But he insisted he had been going
straight sitice being released from
prison.

Nevertheless the troopers told him In-
spectot Hoyt wanted to talk to him in
Penn Yan. For a moment, Wheelock re-
mained silent, then he suddenly cursed at
the officers and made a dash for the door.
But Scott and Sohmer, anticipating such
a tnove, wete ready. Before the fellow
had moved more than a half-dozen steps,
he was manacled and, after a brief strug-
gle, subdued.

With the arrest of Nortnan Wheelock,
the investigation moved rapidly. It was
foutid the youth’s father owned a small,
black truck with a reel for carrying tele-
phone wire mounted on the back plat-
form. The young man’s blue, woolen
zipper jacket was seized and when ana-
lyzed in the BCI laboratory, was found to
contain the same quality of thread and
dye as that of the lint takeh from under-
neath the dead girl’s fingetnail. Re-
luctantly, the father admitted the screw-
driver was one of a set he owned and that
Nortnan had been working as a lineman
for him since his release from prison,

Other circumstances of Wheelock’s
movetnents the day of the murder soon
were uncovered, chief of which was the
statement of D. N, Snyder, a Hatmmonds-
port fireman, who said he was driving
along Route 54 about 5 o’clock the after-
noon of the 19th and as he passed the
Miller shack a truck backed out of the
abandoned driveway and nearly caused a
collision. Snyder was forced to stop to
avoid crashing into it and then recogtiized
young Wheelock was the truck driver,
He said he knew the accused man welb but
did not. think of him as a murder suspect
until after his arrest. ‘

Confronted with all the evidence ac-
cumulated against him, young Wheelock
confessed that he murdered Evelyn Reed!

He said he had been working during the ~

forenoon of Tuesday, June 19th, on a
repait job for his father. When he went
home for luncheon, he suddenly was over-

come with a feeling of restlessness. This |

strange psychological quirk. in his nature
had been his downfall time and again, he
admitted, So, after luncheon, he told his
father he was going out on another in-
stallation, Taking the truck, he completed
the job as quickly as possible, then drove
toward Penn Yan with the intention of

picking up a girl, After cruising around '

for a short titme without success, he
started home. As he passed Lakeview
Cemetery on Route 54, he saw the Reed

_ girl walking alone. Pulling to the curb he

waited until she was abreast, then asked
her if she would like a ride. She accepted
and got into the truck cab with him.
As they reached the turn-off to Indian
Pines, Evelyn asked to be let out but he

kept on, speeding up the truck. She then.

mba to know where he was taking
her.

“Oh, just for a ride,” he replied. When
the girl did not protest he kept on until
he reached the abandoned Miller’s Road-
side Fruit Stand. There he turned in,
drove behind the shack and stopped.

Wheelock said he attempted to make
love to his victim and when she protested
he hit her. Then, dragging her out of
the truck, he pulled her into the deep
thicket and attacked her.

It suddenly occurred to him that the
girl would tell her parents what had hap-

ened and that he would probably be
identified. Overconie with fear he decided
to kill her. In the top of his leather boot
he always carried the screwdriver. With-
drawing it, he walked to the side of the

irl, who was sitting on the gronie cry

ing, and pings it into her head at the
pernale, e said she toppled over and
ay still.

Wheelock confessed that he then went
hack to the truck, noticed the girl’s school
books and after throwing them into the
brush, drove home. He said the elapsed
time since leaving the telephone installa-
tion job he was assigned to was so close
to the actual time required for the normal
completion of that work, that he had no
fear his alibi would not stick.

Wheelock was immediately whisked
away to the couttty jail in Bath before the
news of his arrest was made known. He
was quickly indicted by a Steuben County
Grand Jury for murder in the first
degree.

The trial, which was a long one and
bitterly fought, began on October 16th
in Supreme. Court, Hornell, New York,
before Justice Nathan D, Lapham. The
prosecution was conducted i District
Attortiey George A. King, of Corning.
An effort to prove Wheelock was insane
because of his numerous sex offenses and
the fact he ottce had been confined for a
short time in a state mental institution,
proved tnavailing. Dr. Clarence Bel-
linger, tnedical superintendent of Brook-
lyn State Hesoltel wna a famous alienist,
testified for the state and proved to the
satisfaction of the jury that the accused
man knew the difference between right
and wrong atid the consequences for his
criminal acts if he were caught.

A month later the jury found Wheelock
b acpi as charged and on November 19th
“he was sentenced to death in the electric
chair in Sing Sing Prison by Justice
ac er

Imost a yest elapsed, during which the
usual appeal to the Appelate Division was
made and resulted in the conviction and
sentence’ of the lower court being upheld.
When appeals to the New York State

overnor for clemenc

orman James Wheelock walked to the
death chamber in the fatnous Hudson
River penal institution and was executed
on the night of August 1, 1940.

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47


9 i ;

ee Evelyn

was attacked and —

with his life! By JIM FERRIS

work late and assumed Evelyn was with her mother. But when
Mrs. Reed arrived from the ailing grandmother’s home in Pultney
at eight o’clock, they realized their daughter was missing.
Anxious phone calls to the homes of several of Evelyn’s friends,
including Jane Seymour, failed to locate her. Then Reed phoned
Troop D sub-station of the State Police in the village.

The call was taken by Trooper Fred H. Guyle, who knew the
Reed family. He was aware that Evelyn was not the type to stay
out at night without letting her parents know where she was. Con-
vinced there was real cause for alarm, Guyle started an immedi-
ate investigation from his sub-station, at the same time notifying
Inspector John Cosart of the Criminal Bureau of Investigation
at Oneida Barracks.

By midnight Tuesday, September 19th, 1939, it was apparent
that the girl had vanished without a trace. Neighbors and friends

had been awakened and questioned. Troopers had gone over >

-very foot of ground along the route Evelyn was known to have
iken up to the time she passed Mrs. Turner’s housé. The half-
tile between that point and the Reed home was _ searched
thoroughly.
From Mrs. Reed, sick with worry, the officers learned some-
thing of her daughter’s activities. She said that Evelyn never

Reed, whe = i

had a steady boy-friend and went out with boys only occasionally
to parties at the home of some girl chum. Her father always
called for her when it was time to come home.

In a search of the girl’s room nothing of importance was found
—no letters, addresses or telephone numbers of friends other
than those which already had been checked. Her father recalled
that when she left home for school that morning, Evelyn was
wearing a gray skirt and sweater ensemble, a light sport jacket, a
checked scarf around her neck and a blue beret. Mrs. Reed veri-
fied this by checking her wardrobe. With this information, a 10-
county alarm: was sent out immediately on the State Police tele-
type.

But no response to the alarm had been received by Wednesday
morning, when Inspector Cosart arrived in Penn Yan to take
charge of the investigation. After studying all the facts developed

_so far and going over the route the missing girl was known to

have taken, Cosart requested bloodhounds from the Hawthorne
Barracks in the hope that these dependable manhunters would
be able to pick up the trail somewhere near the spot where
Evelyn last was seen.

a BECAUSE of the girl’s youth and attractiveness, the investigators

suspected that she might have been the victim of a sex criminal.
There was no indication so far that she had left home of her
own free will, nor was it likely that she had been run down by
some hit-run driver, for all hospitals in the surrounding area
had already been checked. Furthermore, every foot of the heavily
traveled Route 54 had been searched far back from the shoulders
on the chance that the girl might have been tossed to the side of
the road by same fast-moving vehicle.

As word of Evelyn’s disappearance spread, organized posses of
volunteers, including school children, Penn Yan police and fire-
men, deputy sheriffs and CCC workers, began searching the coun-
tryside and shores of Keuka Lake. A private pilot from Bath,
in the adjoining county, flew low over the shallower parts of the
lake where he could scan the lake bottom from the air. State
Troopers, directed by Guyle, dragged the village water reservoir,
a mile from where Evelyn had disappeared. But after hours of
persistent searching, no trace of the girl had been discovered.

Early that afternoon, Corporal W. W. Horton arrived from
Hawthorne with three bloodhounds. Using one of the missing
girl’s shoes as a scent, the dogs were started from the store where
Evelyn and Jane Seymour had stopped to buy bread. The hounds
picked up the trail immediately and the officers had all they could
do to hold them until they reached a point 100 yards beyond the
home of Mrs. Turner, where Evelyn last was seen. There, at the
edge of the highway, the trail ended. No matter how wide the
dogs circled, they could not pick it up again.

“It looks to me,” Corporal Horton told Inspector Cosart, “as
if the girl got into an automobile right at this spot.”

“Certainly seems that way,” the BCI chief agreed. “She may
have been forced into a car against her will. But before we jump
at any conclusions, I’d like to find out if she was in the habit of
accepting rides home.” :

Questioned about this possibility, the girl’s parents said they
never had known Evelyn to do anything of.that kind. Neither did
she know any boys who had cars to drive, Mrs. Reed added tear-
fully.

Meanwhile, at the high school where Evelyn had attended
classes, Principal Richard Canuteson assembled the pupils and
urged each of them to try to recall any incident concerning Evelyn
and her associations with boys and girls which might be helpful
to the State Police. But none came forward with anything of value.

By late afternoon the officers were no nearer a solution of the
mystery than they had been at the outset. Evelyn’s father and
mother were close to hysteria. Without a single clue to indicate
what had happened to the girl, Inspector Cosart asked for as-
sistance from Inspector Eugene F. Hoyt of Troop A at Batavia.

Hoyt arrived on the scene that evening with Sergeant H. M.
DeHollander and Trooper Michael Forte, bringing the number of
officers working on the case to more than 20. een

Inspector Hoyt soon came to the conclusion that the missing
girl had been kidnaped. He ordered an immediate check of all
known sex offenders within a radius of 50 miles of Penn Yan.
Out of a dozen listed in the police records, seven were found and
questioned. But all furnished alibis which satisfied the inspector,

29


Arrow. in® this: photor
indicates: where« body* |
of: the girk was-founds

\
si 5 + ~ 9 » 7 smuatoan Teayt ‘4 4 S 2De i Lueust 1 nf 0
WHEELOCK, Norman, white, electrocuted New York (Steuben) on Aug ee 940)»

Shrewd sleuthing cracked this case<mand a murderer paid
3 REAL DETECTIVE, MARCH, 1953. as

HE MOST pathetic part of this tragedy was that the victim
had everything to live for. Evelyn Margaret Reed was, in
every sense of the word, a typical American girl. Pretty
and vivacious, she was well-developed for her age, with
twinkling brown eyes beneath a crown of light-chestnut hair.

She was good at tennis and swimming, her favorite sports, and
outstanding in her studies at the high school in Penn Yan, New
-York where she was a senior.

Although Evelyn was extremely popular with her classmates,
both boys and girls, she had not reached the age for serious ro-
mancing. Dutiful and obedient to her parents, she confined her
activities to clean, wholesome fun and companionship which
reached its peak at well-chaperoned school parties.

Certainly there was nothing whatever in this charming girl’s
background to hint at the disaster which impended when she
started home from her classes that pleasant afternoon in Septem-
ber. Nor was anyone prepared for the shocking series of events
which were to follow in the busy Yates County seat at the head
of Keuka Lake in the Southern Tier vineyard country ‘of New
York State.

It was three o’clock when Evelyn left the Penn Yan High
School and started home with several other girls. She lived with

-

her. parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Reed, in a frame house in
Indian, Pines, two miles from the school, on the outskirts of the
village. After they had walked half that distance, only Evelyn
and Jane Seymour were left of the little group. The girls stopped
to buy a loaf of bread for Jane’s mother and then went into the
Seymour house, where she served them cookies and hot chocolate.
It lacked a few minutes to four o’clock when Evelyn announced —
that she must hurry home. “It’s my mother’s birthday,” she ex- ~
plained, “and I promised to bake her a cake. She’s been staying
over in Pultney with Grandma, who hasn’t been well. I- don’t.
want to disappoint her.” + eS
At exactly 4 p.m., Evelyn passed the house of Mrs. Glady: od
Turner on Route 54 directly across from Lakeview Cemetery.
Mrs. Turner saw the girl and waved, receiving a cheerful “hello”
in response. She was alone and headed toward Indian Pines.
That was the last anyone saw of Evelyn Reed. She could have
walked straight into the depths of Keuka Lake for all that
heard of her during the next six days. - RK.
Her disappearance was reported to the New York State Police-
by her father at ten o’clock on the evening of the day she failed:
to come home from school, Sidney Reed told the troopers that
he had not notified them sooner because he had returned :

——

while the others were reported to have left their usual haunts
and had not béen seen in recent months.

The next few days passed slowly as the officers worked doggedly
to develop some new clue, but without success. Then on Sunday,
September 24, five days after Evelyn had vanished, Pilot Clifford
Van Gelder returned from a routine searching flight and reported
he had spotted a suspicious man in a clearing of dense woods
near the Chateau Dugas, a summer resort on Keuka Lake. Van
Gelder said the suspect had looked up on hearing the plane, and
when he banked and turned for a better view the man had covered
his face with his arms and scurried away into the brush.

The report came in too late that day to organize a searching
party, but plans were made to have a small army of CCC workers
from Watkins Glen, in Schuyler County, under the direction of
Superintendent Rexford Ransley, assemble on the scene at day-
break.

EN the sun came up over the rolling hills along the eastern
shore of the lake, 100 young men, spaced 25 feet apart,

- were instructed to search every foot of the wooded area surround-

ing the place where the pilot had seen the mysterious stranger

. late the day before. At a given signal, they moved into action.

30

All morning. and part of the afternoon they beat the brush, back
and forth through the thickets and the clearings.

A few minutes after three o’clock, two of the searchers made
a gruesome discovery. Walter Cieslewicz and Lester Ramsey, who
had become separated from their companions, stumbled across
the half-naked body of a young girl. ;

She lay on her back, bare legs spread wide apart and her arms
outflung, her face bathed with blood from an ugly wound in the
left temple. But her features were unmistakably those of Evelyn
Reed.

When Inspectors Cosart and Hoyt arrived with other officers,

‘they saw at once that the spot was about 70 yards from the main

highway and just across the Yates County line in Steuben County.
Because of. this they summoned the Steuben County coroner, Dr.
James A. Sanford. ™

While his arrival was awaited, troopers fanned out in a care-
ful search of the immediate area for clues. Broken twigs and
trampled grass around the spot where the body lay indicated that
the girl had put up a desperate fight with her attacker. Nearby
the officers found the torn silk panties she had worn. But they
discovered nothing else.

The route taken by the murderer was easily followed through
the broken underbrush. This trail led some 50 feet to a wider,
little-used path which in turn took the searchers to a shack along
the highway once operated as a roadside stand. The structure
had been long unused and was surrounded by tall weeds. These
had been crushed at one point behind the stand by a car which
had recently been parked there. But no tire-tread marks had been
left in the hard ground. .

A’ new search was begun in the vicinity of the stand, and
shortly Frank Kowl of the Kanona CCC camp called to the
troopers. In the weeds 20 feet from where the car had stood,
he found three schoolbooks bound together with a strap. On

the flyleaf of each was written the name “Evelyn Reed.” The

slayer obviously had tossed them there either before he had
dragged the girl into the brush, or as he fled. ,

Soon after this discovery, Coroner Sanford arrived and ex-
amined the body. He noted dark bruises on the victim’s arms
and legs, indicating the fury of her struggle with her assailant.
Her wrists were severely abraded by the great pressure her ab-
ductor had put on them in forcing her into the woods. |

“She has been dead for about six days,” Doctor Sanford said,
“or since shortly after she disappeared. She was killed almost
instantly by some sharp instrument which was plunged through the
soft left temple into the brain.”

Although he could not be certain until an autopsy, the coroner

said the girl’s torn clothing and the partially nude condition in
which she was found indicated she had been raped.
' When the body was lifted to a stretcher for removal to Bath,
where the autopsy would be performed, Trooper Guyle reached
down and picked up a long, thin-bladed screwdriver. He handed
it to Inspector Hoyt, who studied the blade closely. It bore dark
stains which appeared to be dried blood.’

“This must be the murder weapon,” Hoyt said grimly, turning

ee
Pe

Ed

ee

to Sergeant DeHollander. “Rush it to the laboratory and have
it examined for fingerprints. If those stains are blood, have it
typed for comparison.”

The inspector also directed that the schoolbooks be sent to the
BCI laboratory for examination on the chance that they might

- bear the slayer’s fingerprints.

GOON AFTER the girl's body was discovered, the officers lo-

cated an important witness. She ‘was a woman clerk at a
vegetable stand on the north side of Route 54, about a mile beyond
the place where Evelyn Reed would have turned off to go to her
home in Indian Pines. The woman had been away visiting since
the day after Evelyn disappeared, and she had just returned.
Hearing of the tragedy, she recalled seeing a black truck pass the
vegetable stand late Tuesday afternoon, around 4:30, in which

a girl was riding beside the driver. She thought the girl might —
y

have been Evelyn Reed, but she hadn’t noticed the driver.
The woman remembered that the truck was a small one with

something on the back platform that looked like. a reel. The :
vehicle was soon out of sight and she -had thought no more about ~

it until learning of the murder.

Her story interested Inspector Hoyt, but at the same. time posed —

3
:
) a
q

<x

Attacker, smiling, |

leaving courthouse
im custody of Dep.
Sheriff J. Semple.


VO de OLIN Py 4 saaRC

| ATROCIOUS MURDER. —

‘Confession and dying declaration of Isaac Wu-
“HERDARNE, Who was executed at Buffaloe, 'N. Y.

on the 4th of April, for the murder of his wife

- and six children.

“I was.born at Buffaloe, in the state of New=|

York, of worthy, kind ynd respectable ‘pa-
_ rents, who endeavored to instil-into my mind
|every honorable and virtuous principle as a
- Christian, according to the laws of Gud, which
are here established before our eyes. |

‘During my youthful days, my father made
. it an- unalterable rule to perform family wor-

“ship and, prayer, which was done with pure
love towards God, every evening. :

_ Tleda religious life for twenty-seven years,
at which age f married a fine woman from the

, town of Erie, Pa. some miles distant up the:

lake from Buffaloe. I lived -with her for se-
venteen. years, enjoying all the pleasure and
happiness which a man possibly could expe-
rience in this frail world :—during which time
“we had a family of six children, two boys and
‘four girls. At this time I followed that

highly cherished. amd useful occupation, a

farmer, and with the profits, arising from the
A i

[Did YA

=a oO Q and slash among these four, while’ they Iay ,
aly TE bis a | GCé ACE sleeping ; the first was my wife, the eed

4

| Wife and six children tay floating in.their ave,

ect But'my tnforeseen “is 8re: Daw... begine
‘riing s ‘abotit'thia tints Tbegan'to.grow ioege :
‘drinking, the Hoot oevil;. and: keeping bad.

‘hour as near as I can recolléct,*1 ‘endeavors ;;
ed with the stun of my woihd;* to‘trawl ‘to.
_wards the house, and more js‘ the:-pity, for.
"the first thing’ which presented Itself to my
hand was the WOOD AXE! and now bee
‘ing prepared like a butcher going ‘to slaughe
ter, I started: and came to the bed where my ,
wife and three‘ehildren were laying. I did
not hesitate one. moment, but began: to cut {

‘buried in her basom the -chileren Clarg so. \
-Close'to her that they were cut to pieces, and ;
by this time the bed was overfowed with hue.
—man-gore—The sound of these distressed |
Sufferers alarmed my other three shildren—,
Alas ! “what must have been my feelings at.
this time? they began to be such confused,,
but T still. pursed my slaaghtering until my.

blovile-°

The savage heart is never satisfied : after,
committing this horrid. act upon iy own
flesh anc blood, my two servants becaine the
objects of my burchering heart; they. had
‘game suspicion of ny intention, aid there-
fore endeavored te make..their scare
¢lirough a’back window in the tower part of
the house; the old black woman being half
in and half out; a ran with my axe “and cot Be

va, Her legs off, as she was going out of the wir
dow 5. her daughter who hada tender feeling
‘for. ber.mother, came to me and implored
mercy from my. hand, but the devil would not
) let.my savage soul styptiere,and fimo tie
lately put an-end to their existence 5 this lye

hing done, there then lay nine innocent. suils

floating in their own crimson gore.

- Still not, being satisfied with. what | had
already done, I first took the tio, servay
‘antl built a fire.in, the -kitchen | fire plac
which was largeenough to hald half a qi
ter of wood, then placing the old wainanto
the back part of the fire, and the dausht
‘on the, front, I went up ‘stairs and bough
«down the bodies ‘of my. wife and chil
and burnt them likewise !! i ar

After. committing. these. most. dread
crimes; I felt.Jow. and dull in epints,
mauchy concerned abqut_ my ‘misconduct.
expect. the inhuman, acts: which I have le
guilty, of, will stand hefore,me in my |
days, which will +e, pow very,soon I expec

HIS ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC. ©

Friends and, Fellaw-citizens, .

Thope you will. take, this untimely 4
ll tak rapa

asan everlasting. warning. axainst_Ke

-bad-company.and gambling and the ust of
dent liquors, . Take this shout account, of
transactions ipto your hands and read tte
and over again, and, when done, sea)’
your memories, and the hearts of your ¢
dren, that they may-never deviate from
paths of virtue and honesty, that they
be.rewarded by the Almighty, for, thet
tues, and not suffer as Ihave to tto, by #
timely and aif ignomitiious it

OF we TS


DOE & MEANS

PLACE — ciITY OR COUNTY

Discs Poth | rareanilee, My. | calapues?_)
5 Cat beah lintia| :

Blilێ

: wed ee: o/bF7 hac Suis
bas 7 ee omane

27-26-29 [1E59
apres v4

LAST WORDS

EXECUTION

otlllios ¥ Chg de BBIA-Z2R4

FRANK NEWTON Office suPPLY-oOTHkn


}

_ SRR.

> Frank, “blac 4

| eigual for the turning ou of the elec-

sé

elect

Ady

a

»’  OSWEUO DAILY PALLADIUM: TUESDAY DECEMBE

“ (G03
R 29—PAGE 4.

<eR Ole Bay. ; - .
ott Fees BiCiN.. prmssew- wap pacvers

ocuted New York (Oswego County) on 12-29-1903.

,

ciaiummtimnabimmens

‘PAID PENALTY .

FOR HIS CRIME.

White Electr
This . Morning.

ocuted at Auburn

.

Walked to Death Chamber Surround.
ed By Attendantu—six Contacts
Necessary Before Life Wag
‘ Extinct —~An Odor of ©
Burning Hair—story
of the Crime,

AcnuRN, Dee. 29.—(Special.)—At
6:32 o’clock this morning Frank
White paid the penalty of his crime

{in the electric chair at Auburn State

prison fx the murder of George Clare

'|in Scriba on Suuday, September 15th,
‘) L90L.

Six contacts of the ele¢tric
current were necessary. before White
was pronounced dead. Doctor Stein,
of Buffalo, une of the witnesses to the
execution, fainted dead away at the
|scene and fell from his chair to the
||floor. He was carried out by the

“| keepers and soon revived in the open
,) air and returned to the death cham-

Went to Death Quietly.

It was expected, on account, of his
previous actions in the death cell,that
when the time came for White to ‘be
electrocuted that he would make a

scene. Butthis was not the case.
While Warden Mead had provided
forthe subduing of any demonstra-
tion which White would make, the
latter walked from the death cells to
the chair without speaking toa single
person or making a demonstration of
any kind, keeping his eyes on the
ground, :

ungs were contracted he gave t

he

: w
tric current. -

| electrician’s cabinet. He was picked

: given to a Coustable to serve and

contact of the head electrode emitted
sparks and there wasan odor of burn-
ing hair. - As the first shock went
through White’s body the muscles
stiffened out and his straining on the
straps which bound him made the
electric chair equeak. |

Electrician Davis tightened the ap-
pliance and turned on another shock.
Prison Physician Gerin applied a
stethoscope and shook his head. Life
was not extinct. After another con-
tact the physician stepped forward,
but stopped when a long gurgling
sound issued. from the throat of the
man in the chair and horrified the
spectators. After another shock Dr.
Ulysses B. Stein, of Buffalo, used
the stethoscope, but again cardiac ac-
tion could be detected. Doctor Stein
resumed his chair in the front row
{and another contact was given.

Doctor Stein Fainted.

Simultaneously with this shock,
Doctor Stein suddenly collapsed and
pitched forward headlong upon the
stone floor just as Principal Keeper
Tupper shouted, ‘‘Catch him.’’ . The
doctor’s inanimate form lay beside
the death chair almost within the

up by three keepers and carried from
the death chamber. He revived in
time to return at the finish. -

Other physicians then ‘examined
White’s heart, throat and pulse and
annvunced that all respiration nad
ceased. ‘ Fes :
- 'White’s body was then taken to the
dissecting-room, where the post-mor-
tem was held. “After this the body
was prepared In quicklime for burial
and was interred in the prison ceme-
tery. This is done when the body of
a condemned man is not claimed by
relatives,

The Post-Mortem.

Doctor Mansfield and Sheriff Cook
Jeft for Oswego at 10:30 aA. M. The
‘post-mortem examination revealed
nothing in the organic conditions of
the body that were other than normal.
The smell of burning hair and the hot
vapor from the flesh of the victim
made the atmosphere in’ the death
chamber anything but. pleasant, and
it was not at all wonderful that Doc.
tor Stein, of Buffalo, toppled over.
vy aire & Avery rig for the purpose of |
riving out to the Clare farm.

His Qaarrel With Bundy.

White then went out in the country
work and way a farm hand, He
orked for Homer Bundy near Battle
sland. He and Mr, Bundy had
rouble and White attacked the latter

went to Lake View, where he was
traced by Sheriff Warren and Under-
SheriffDeanis. He refused tosurrender
when called upon and ran out on the
ice a distance of nearly half a mile
and then only surrendered after the

offcers of the law had fired several.

shots at him. Upon his release he
went to work for William Keltee, in
the Town of Scriba, and there he was
quarrelsome and Mr. Kehoe was
forced to discharge him. He’then
went to work fr George Clare, the
man he murdered.

Ashamed of His Negro Blood.

White tried to hide the negro blood,
of which he was ashamed. He de-
clared, when asked if he was a negro,
that his parents were French Cana-
dians and that they had Indian blood
in their veins. He was considerably
lighter than the usual mulatto, yet he
had the thick lips and kinky hair
which showed the negro blood. He
tried to whiten his face by using pow-
der, and made his lips red with a
grease paint. These articles of per-
sonal adornment were found in his
pockets when he was searched at the
Clare home thenight that the murder
was comunitted.

The Trip tothe Jail.

The night White was taken to the
Jouuty Jail, De. J. K. Stockwell was
in the hack with him and addressing
White said:
for you. There are just two things
that you have got to do; either show
that you werenot near the Clare house
all dav yesterday,or account for every
minute of your time. You might as
well commence now.”? White talked
volubly, but rambling, and did not
account but for the few hours hespent
in this city. When asked abcut the

cartridge found in his pocket
by Detective Dempsey, he _ de-
nied all knowledge of it and

said that he didn’t know it was there.
On the trial District: Attorney Bart-

lett showed that the bullet and other}

bullets taken from. the revolver had
particles of red grease paint on them
which was found in White’s pocket
when the powder puff was found,
White also said when coming into
this. city in the hack, and without
being questioned: ‘It scem queer
that if four or five shots were fired
that no one heard them.”’

“Who told you that four or five
shots were fired??? White was asked,
and he answered, ‘I heard it,’ and
refused to talk further on the subject,

After his sentence White sald:
‘Tvs pretty hard to go up aginst
that sentence; I guess I will have to
go”? ‘ i
Talked Freely of the Critic.

When placed in the County Jall
White could not be kept from telling
of the crime to the other prisoners iu
the jail. He talked freely of the mur-

“White, it looks black | |

“iS Nap ia aoe 3h

ae

der and described in detail how he} pass

had done the shooting. All this evi-
dence was used on the trial.

ind left him in his house for dead.
A. warrant was iasued for White and

@ brought the warrant to the Sheriff's
olfice in this city anit Uader Sherif?
Dennis, accompanied by Pulicemea
McCarthy and Milo, of the Osweg >

i

revelver and the

18 Was ued~hot ‘tel Prdceeaea ww ;

rod the body, if
book, which contained aboui twenty
doiiars, and

He took the pocket-

the only thiag of yvatuu
u the pockots of the dead man. The}

empty pocket-b ok |

White hid under a st i. tetrac euitis it am iis
; force ; P " Stump and, retrae-,Wwas guilty of the crim :
Odor w Barning Hair, ha All dri rnhe nee a ing his steps, returned ty this city, . lprconeded ta getting him'to
State Electrician Davis, who hag | been told that the man: had a Je spent the money ‘reely iu gey-i conte siva, aud he entered a

eral places and later ia the evening | nigat ab: 4

: | Higa’ about twelve o’clock g
returned to the Clare house aud was! to the Clare tarm and showe
im the house when Sheritf Warren, | fivers where he had hidden t
Under.Sheritf Dennis, —Detective| book and revolver, and also

Dempsey and Doctor Stockwell ar-| for the benetit
ry ° ne of
rived, White, after a struggle, was the shoei

taken into enstody and searched. -In
his pockets were found grease paints,
a powder puff and several thirty-two
caliber bullets and other articles,

killed more than seventy persons le-| shotgun and had deted any one to
gnily, and who receives $150 for each| take him. ‘They fund White in a
execution, was In the little room to| !Use near Battle Island. White was
the right of the main entrance and Ss ve but he war not givens
which is the third door leading from brought to ahis city. oe thie odktos
.{the death chamber. ITe, too, was|he was indicted by the Grand Sury

watching Warden Mead and when| {He was also placed under a bond to
the signal was given he turned onthe

keep the peace and not being able to

AT ocket
current of 1,700 volts, which was re. furnish the bond was locked up in| was taken to the County Jail in this : ern
, ’ the County Jail in this city. Hel] city and locked up. The Sheriff and| Best 50c tea in the

peated after a few seconds and the

‘

escaped one Winter's

day and | the other ofticers were sure tbat White’ Dutcher’s,

.


Seven years had passed since President
, | JAMES A. GARFIELD had died after being shot by an

¥ assassin, September 19, 1881.

. | The Union consisted of only 38 states: The
aeatud of Liberty, a gift from France, had been erec-
ted in New York for two years. Some homes in our
county were equipped with telephones. Our forefathers
had access to, and read the following newspapers:

The Buffalo Evening News
The New York World
@® , Orleans Republican
| Holley Standard
Elmira Telegraph

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
(weekly and daily editions)

Rochester Daily Herald
Rochester Post Express
Rochester Union & Advertiser
The Albion Saturday Chronicle
Medina Register

Medina Tribune

Batavia Daily News.

Big League Baseball was fast becoming a

popular pastime and Metropolitan newspapers were


The Supreme Court of the United States
is currently hearing arguments regarding the legal-
ity of Capital Punishment. Let's look back in the
history of our County for an example of Capital

Punishment at the local level.

On Wednesday morning, June 27, 1888,
GEORGE W. WILLSON, a convicted murderer was hung by

the neck in the jailyard at the village of Albion;

the only instance of Capital Punishment within the

boundaries of this County. What were the events and
circumstances which led to that June day, eighty-four

years ago?
“

GROVER CLEVELAND was in office as the 22nd
President of the United States. DAVID B. HILL was
Governor of New York State and had followed CLEVELAND
in New York's Executive Mansion. IRA EDWARDS from
Holley was Orleans County's Member of the State

Assembly.

The Country was at peace; it would be ten

‘years until the Battleship Maine would be sunk in

Havana Harbor, 1898.

pate a

devoting daily Helens to thie eno. Our citi-
zens of that era head bat rows as a means of
mass transit. Passenger service was provided on
both the New York Central & Hudson River Kind. Rome
Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroads. The service
was efficient and the cost to the traveler reason-

able. «

Three thousand men were involved in the
Medina Sand Stone Quarry industry, and no farmland
was at that time in the Soil Bank. Now, let's get

back to the subject......

GEORGE W. WILLSON was born a WASP (White
Angol-Saxon Protestant) at Cattaraugus County, New

York in the year 1852. GEORGE was too young to have

served in the Civil War. In 1871, at the age of

nineteen years, he moved to Orleans County and worked
on the farms of STEPHEN HALLOCK, PETER COLE and

WILLIAM ROGERS.

On April 19, 1872, GEORGE married eighteen
year eid. ALICE PIERSON, who had resided in the area
of Richards Corners, in the Town of Albion. In the
year 1883, WILLSON became a coachman, gardener, and

custodian for Mr. EZRA T. COANN, President of COANN'S


THE ONLY LEGAL EXECUTION IN ORLEANS COUNTY

THE HANGING
of

GEORGE W. WILLSON
Albion, New York

Wednesday, June 27, 1888

This case was researched during the months of
January, February and March, 1972 by Donald L.
Smith, 19 E. Union Street, Holley, New York.

BANK in Albion. ‘Mr. COANN was the County Treasurer |
of Orleans County during the 1850's and the Civil
War years that followed. GEORGE resided with his
wife and five children on Washington Street, in

the Village of Albion. The oldest, MARY, was 13
years of age and the youngest, an unnamed girl was

born October 3, 1886. There were three girls and

‘two boys. GEORGE WILLSON was 6 feet tall and

weighed 200 pounds. His wife ALICE, was 5 feet, l

inch tall and weighed 100 pounds.

During the 1880's, GEORGE displayed a
keen interest in other women. As far as could be

determined, this was his only vice and the reason

he committed murder in the month of January, 1887.

and died on the gallows one and one-half years later.
GEORGE'S last affair commenced in the month of March,
1886 with seventeen year old, LAURA THOMPSON of
Kuckville, in the Town of Carlton. Sik was emp loyed
as a maid and housekeeper at the South Main Street,

residence of Mr. and Mrs. DWIGHT S. BECKWETH, of

“Albion. As a result of his relationship with LAURA,

his marriage and family life weakened. Frequent
arguments with ALICE over his affections for LAURA

developed. GEORGE had been known to refer to his


—

At 5 AM, GEORGE went across Washington
Street to the southside residence of BARRE and
MAGGIE JACKSON, stating to them, that his wife was
seriously ill and would they help. Mrs. JACKSON
crossed the street to WILLSONS and found ALICE dead,

lying on the bed fully clothed.

twas

Dr. TOUSLEY B. LEWIS of Clinton Street,

Albion was shortly summoned to the house and suspected

that death was not due to natural causes.

Dr. DANIEL BRENNAN of Barre Center, a
County Coroner was contacted by telephone and arrived
at about 8 AM. The Coroner examined the body and in-

structed that it not be moved.

A snowstorm was in progress and GEORGE
WILLSON reported for employment at Mr. COANN'S resi-
dence as usual. GEORGE took COANN to the bank at
8 AM and then drove the sleigh to Richards Corners to

inform his mother-in-law of his wife's death.

At 9 AM, Dr. BRENNAN the Coroner, went to

the Business District of Albion and summoned a
ten-man coroner's jury. GEORGE W. OUGH, an Albion
retail furniture dealer and undertaker was sworn in,

as Foreman of this investigating body. The entire

%

wife as a, "“Goddam bitch" and, on occasion, he would

threaten to, "Cut her heart out".

ALICE PIERSON WILLSON was of strong

Pennsylvania Dutch stock. She was not about to give

up her husband without a fight. He efforts to keep

GEORGE home would cost her, her life.

On Friday, January 14, in the year 1887,

ELIAS THOMPSON, LAURA'S father at Kuckville, received

‘a letter written by ALICE WILLSON complaining of

LAURA'S association with her husband. On Monday
afternoon, January 17th, ELIAS took the letter to the
residence of WARREN S$. DANOLDS on the corner of Main
and heaves Streets in Albion. LAURA had been employed
by WARREN and EMILY DANOLDS since November, 1886 after
being discharged by the BECKWETHS. ELIAS was upset
with his daughter and the accusations made in writing
by ALICE WILLSON. LAURA'S father cautioned her re-
garding the consequences of her associations with a

married man.

On that same Monday, January 17, ALICE
went to COANN'S BANK and talked at length to EZRA T..
COANN about her husband's conduct. COANN later in

the afternoon advised GEORGE that, if he did not

conduct himself as a family man should, he would
bring discredit on his employer and would have to

be discharged.

On Tuesday evening, January 18, GEORGE
WILLSON visited LAURA in her room at the WARREN
DANOLDS residence in the Village of Albion. GEORGE
was then for the first time, informed of the letter

that ALICE had written to LAURA'S father. WILLSON

remained with LAURA until 2 AM that morning,

Wednesday, January 19, 1887. DANOLDS and his wife
were unaware of the visit. GEORGE returned after

2 AM and ALICE had apparently waited up for him.
Whether heated argument followed his arrival

home is unknown, but at sometime within two hours
after he entered his Washington Street home, WILLSON
wrapped a towel around his wife's external breath-
ing passages and asphyxiated her. GEORGE was twice
the size of ALICE and she was unable to repel his

advances.

MARY, the oldest daughter, age 14, testi-
fied later, she heard unusual noises in the kitchen

but did not investigate.


wo

é&

jury went to the WILLSON home on Washington Street
about 11 AM, January 19, in a chartered sleigh.

The body was examined by the jury under the direc-
tion of the Coroner. The jury was then adjourned
until the following morning at 9 AM, when testimony
would be taken and an inquest conducted at the

Orleans County Courthouse.

Dr. BRENNAN ordered an autopsy in the

case and this was assigned to Dr. TOUSLEY B. LEWIS

and Dr. E. P. SQUIRES, both Albion physicians. They
commenced the post-mortem examination on the body of
ALICE WILLSON in the kitchen of her home at 3:15 PM,
January 19th. Dr. BRENNAN attended, as did WILLIAM
P. L. STAFFORD, the District Attorney of Orleans.

County, with determination, death by manual suffoca-

tion. The autopsy was completed at 6 PM.

" At “about 8 PM, EDWIN VanSTONE an Albion
Constable arrested GEORGE W. WILLSON at his home on
a charge of Murder in the First Degree. GEORGE went
willingly with the officer and was arraigned before
Justice L. R. SANFORD of Albion. WILLSON waived his
right to a preliminary hearing and was ordered held

for the Grand Jury. The prisoner was committed to

. the Orleans County Jail.

ae The determination of the inquest con-
. Pee ducted on Thursday, January 20th was that ALICE
3 WILLSON came to her death by suffocation at the
hands of her husband, with criminal intent. ALICE
was buried on Friday, January 2lst, after a funeral

service at the Methodist Episcopal Church.

On the llth day of February, 1887, a

| Supreme Court Grand Jury indicted GEORGE W. WILLSON

for Murder in the First Degree. The trial was com-
& me ' menced in Supreme Court, a Court of Oyer and Terminer,
in the Orleans County Courthouse, Albion, New York,
Tuesday, July 5, 1887. The weather was hot and humid.
The Honorable Justice ALBERT HAIGHT of Buffalo presided.
The case was prosecuted by District Attorney WILLIAM D, i.
STAFFORD, assisted by IRVING M. THOMPSON. WILLSON Wak
defended by JOHN H. WHITE and BENJAMIN E. WILLIAMS. |
All of these attorneys practiced law in the Village of

3 ~ Albion, New York. WHITE and WILLIAMS were appointed

by the Court to conduct WILLSON'S defense.

Two hundred and eighty-one prospective
jurors were examined before the final twelve were

6o selected. The prosecution produced 55 witnesses; the

ee |.

defense 15, one of which was the defendant. The
principal witnesses against WILLSON were his
daughter MARY, his neighbor, BARRE JACKSON and
the coroner's physicians. The jury received the
case at 6 PM, Thursday, guly 14th and returned
to the courtroom at midnight with a verdict,
| GUILTY OF MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE.

On Friday, July 15th, the sentence was passed as
follows:

"Justice ALBERT HAIGHT: The judgment

of this Court is that you be removed

to the County Jail of this County, and

that you be there imprisoned until

Friday, the 9th day of September next,

Pont on that day, between the hows of

10 o'clock in the forenoon and 4 o'clock

in the afternoon, you be hanged by the

neck until you be dead and may God have

mercy upon your soul."
WILLSON was returned to the County Jail. This case
would be argued before the Court of Appeals in the
month of April, 1888, and, at that time, the con-
viction of GEORGE WILLSON was affirmed. On Friday,

the 13th of April, 1888, at Warsaw, Wyoming County,

} ee me: ee

. New York, ROBERT VAN BRUNT was hanged on the
gallows that ten weeks hence, would be used to

take the life of GEORGE W. WILLSON.

} | | On the morning of May 28, the defendant

-was brought before Supreme Court Justice HENRY A.

CHILDS at Albion. Sentence was again passed and
the execution scheduled for Wednesday, June 27,
1888. WILLSON remained in the County Jail. The
prisoner had been and would continue to be an
ideal inmate, causing, no disciplinary problems.

: WILLSON expressed his desire to pay for his own
& funeral expenses ae not be a nied burden. |

GEORGE spent the time in his cell making hair watch
chains which ia readily sold. In addition to this,
the inmate caused his photograph to be taken and
then sold pictures of himself to curiosity seekers

for 50 cents each. Prior to June 27, 1888 GEORGE
purchased a new suit, shirt, shoes and related

accessories. A death watch had been posted outside

ts

> sae his cell. ‘Deputy Sheriff JOHN G. RICE and MILO W.
EDDY per formed this duty on 12-hour shifts. The
Reverend Dr. A. C. OSBORN of the Baptist Church of

Albion would stay close to the condemned man and

ee act as his spiritual advisor. The Reverend


“~-

ae

Army of the Republic men, one from Albion and one
from Medina, in full uniform, with firearms en-
circled the jail and the ousthousa: The crowd
that would eventually be estimated between 1,000
and 1,500 began to arrive in hopes of catching a
glimpse of the events inside the yard. The crowd
was orderly, but newsmen reported, no one had
sympathy for WILLSON. The condemned man greeted
the death watch upon rising, stating, "It would

“goon be over."

WILLSON took a bath and sent for a
barber and was shaved, after which his hair was
trimmed. After this, he requested the sheriff to
allow the barber to fix his hair and mustache after
-he be placed in his coffin. The Reverend Dr. OSBORN
entered the cell block along with Mr. H. B. ONDERDONK,
the undertaker. GEORGE handed Dr. OSBORN his money,
$37.05, and instructed him to pay Mr. ONDERDONK. This
amount of money evidently covered the undertaker's
bill. An inexpensive coffin had been placed in the

jailyard near the gallows.

At 9 AM, Sheriff EDWARD SEARLE had read the

death warrant to WILLSON. The prisoner then dressed

~y

Dr. OSBORN seemed to be WILLSON'S only friend.
No record can be found of WILLSON'S relatives
from Cattaraugus County visiting him while he

was incarcerated at the jail. GEORGE had no

relatives in the Orleans County area. GEORGE'S

daughter MARY had died before her 16th birthday.

In the last attempt to save WILLSON,

the Reverend Dr. OSBORN obtained petitions, many

from his parishoners, asking Governor HILL to

commute WILLSON'S sentence to Life Imprisonment.

On Saturday, June 23rd, the gallows
arrived from Buffalo. A man from Erie County
accompanied the morbid device and it was assembled
in the jailyard. This same gallows had taken the
life of eight men and was used by President GROVER
CLEVELAND when he was Sheriff of Erie County, to.
hang JACK GAFFNEY, February 14, 1873. The gallows
was erected a short distance south and east of the
present courthouse. The prisoner was moved from
the west side to the east side of the jail so he
could not witness the activity in the yard. The
jailyard was fenced in, and State Law dictated who

the few were, who were entitled to be present at

*%

¥

- 13 -.

axecaticw: Public executions in New York State
had been outlawed in the year 1835. The gallows
was Aesotibed in the Orleans Republican as being
1445 feet high, os two uprights and a crossbeam.
The platform was 12 feet square and 7 feet from
the ground. Eleven steps led from the ground to
the platform. The rope was described in the
Democrat & Chronicle as being five-eights inch,
manila, new and made expressly for the purpose for
'which it was to be used. There Was 54 feet of
slack in the rope, so that when the bolt was with-
drawn from the drop or trap door, the victim would
be hanging with his feet 18 inches to 2 feet from

the ground.

On Tuesday, June 26th, Governor DAVID HILL
telegraphed Reverend Dr. OSBORN, stating he would not
interfere in the case, or commute the sentence of the

prisoner.

>

- Orleans County Sheriff EDWARD P. SEARLE
had sent the cards of invitation. They were printed
with a black mourning border; the law limited those
present to twelve jurors, two clergymen, two physi-

cians, the sheriff and undersheriff, six deputies,

- 14 -

the county judge, the county clerk, the district

attorney and members of the press.

WILLSON was interviewed on the evening

of the 26th of June by a Rochester Post Express

reporter. Regarding the execution, the prisoner
stated, "T have made all arrangements for tomorrow.
Today, I wrote 3 gumber of letters to my friends.
They contained all that I have to say. There is
nothing to add to them. I have been treated well
since I came here. The sheriff has provided me

with the best of everything and these gentlemen,

(pointing to the death watch) have done everything
in their power to relieve the unpleasantness of the
prison life. I faired well, and have no reason to
complain. Nothing bothers me and I can sleep well.
The only annoyance I have endured is from the
curiosity seekers. They have given me no end of

trouble." Sheriff SEARLE asked the prisoner,

""GEORGE, are you going to stand it like a man?"

Quoting GEORGE, "Yessir." WILLSON replied, "I'll
walk out there firmly and if necessary, put the rope

about my neck."

- On the morning of Wednesday, June 27th,

the prisoner rose at 6 AM. Two detachments of Grand


e*. 1

bad

- 16 -

in a new, navy blue suit, with alligator skin tie
shoes, white shirt with straight standing collar
and light plaid neckscarf. He wore a red rose

in his lapel.

‘About 10 AM, WILLSON drank some coffee
and ate cookies. A breakfast served earlier to
GEORGE, consisting of eggs, toast and coffee was

not consumed.

Shortly after 10 AM, in the morning,

Sheriff SEARLE appeared at the jail door, followed

by Deputy JOHN G. RICE who preceded WILLSON who
walked with his spiritual advisor. The prisoner
carried a bouquet of pure white flowers presented
him in the jail lobby by the wife of one of the
deputies. He walked with a firm step and was not
handcuffed. GEORGE was followed two by two in
regular order by the following: ’

WILLIAM P. L. STAFFORD, District Attorney

Dr. E. P. SQUIRES, Jail physician

DY. E. BE. MUNSON, Medina physician

Dr. HARVEY JAMES, Shelby physician,
and the following deputy sheriffs:

MILO EDDY, EDMUND FULLER, JOHN B. O'HERA,

E. P. SIMMONDS and D. A. WILLEY.

a a

oo LE
No member of the jury that convicted GEORGE W.
WILLSON during the month of July, 1887 accepted

an invitation. Proxies for the jurymen were as

follows:
CORNELIUS FENNER - Kendall
- JOHN ALDERSON - Murray
J. G. BARRE - Shelby
WILLIAM H. HILL - Medina ~
ZIBA ROBERTS - Shelby
W. H. PRESTON - Albion

JOHN P. LEVY - Yates

WILLIAM H. H. GOFF - Clarendon

OLIVER CLARK - Carlton
HENRY REED - Albion

JOHN B. LOHOMMDEIEU - Shelby
WILLSON crossed the sawdust covered yard and
rapidly ascended the eleven steps Sheriff EDWARD
SEARLE had taken his place at the foot of the steps,
after pushing the drop or trap door into place. On
the platform with the prisoner were Reverend Dr. OSBORN,
Reverend GEORGE CAIN of the Presbyterian Church and
Deputy JOHN G. RICE. WILLSON stood still. It was

a clear day--the yard was filled with a warm June

7

ie, ee
sunshine. The Reverend OSBORN uttered a prayer and
commended the soul of the condemned man to his maker.
When asked, if he had anything to say, GEORGE re-

plied in a loud clear voice, "I have not."

Deputy Sheriff JOHN RICE pinioned his arms
and legs, drew the black cap over his head and ad-
jJusted the noose around his neck; the knot placed

under his left ear. At the word, "Amen" spoken by

the Reverend Dr. OSBORN, Sheriff SEARLE pulled the

lever and the drop fell at exactly 10:15 AM.

WILLSON weighed 240 pounds, having gained

40 pounds during his 18 months in custody.

The physicians in attendance stepped for-
ward.....the body hung motionless and death was
officially announced at 10:26 AM. The body was taken

down at 10:30 AM and Mr. ONDERDONK prepared the remains

for burial. GEORGE had died at the age of 36. Burial

followed the next day, June 28, at Ellicottville, in

.Cattaraugus County.

Three times previous to this, men had been
sentenced to hang in Orleans County; twice for Murder

and one for Arson. Each of these sentences was

‘s

rs,
a “ *y

on ED ae
commuted. It would be seven years before another
convicted murderer from the County of Orleans

would die in the electric chair at Auburn State

Prison during the year 1895.